Rhea Ripley's Stunning Evolution From Riot City Wrestling To WWE's Mami

Rhea Ripley has undergone one of the most dramatic transformations in modern WWE history, from both her looks and her attitude, to even her place on the card. Her nicknames have also changed throughout the differing stages of her career to better match her aesthetic. The real-life Demi Bennett has gone by her real name in the ring, before changing her name in WWE and being nicknamed "The Nightmare" early in her "WWE NXT" days. She is now, of course, famously known as WWE's "Mami" following a storyline with Dominik Mysterio. Despite the pair's on-screen breakup, Ripley remains "Mami" to the masses.

She started on the independent scene in her native Australia before signing with WWE in 2017. Ripley made her way to the main roster following the height of the pandemic in 2021 after spending time in "NXT" both in the United States and United Kingdom. Since arriving on the main roster, Ripley has torn her way through some of the other top talent, including Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, and more, all while cementing herself into the hearts of fans whether she's working as a heel or a babyface. She's worked her way up from her humble beginnings in Riot City Wrestling back in 2013, to becoming the inaugural "NXT UK" Women's Champion, to having multiple WrestleMania matches revolving around the company's top titles.

Ripley has set her place in the wrestling world's history books at the young age of just 28. Her stunning evolution in WWE is truly something to behold, and looking back on all she's been through in less than a decade, the adoring fans of "Mami" can witness the story of Demi Bennett coming into her own as a performer on a massive stage.

Ripley started her career using her real name Demi Bennett as her ring name in Riot City Wrestling, headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia in 2013. She won her first wrestling championship in RCW in May 2014 after defeating Savannah Summers. Ripley held the RCW Women's Championship through November 15 that year. After challenging for the title a few times unsuccessfully, she won it back in October 2016 in a triple-threat match. Ripley held the title for the rest of her time with RCW and retained it during her final match in April 2017. Some of her matches, interviews, and other segments live online on the promotion's YouTube channel.

Ripley also worked in other independent promotions throughout her home country, including New Horizon Pro Wrestling located in Perth, Australia. She debuted in NHPW in May 2014 and had a few matches throughout the years for the company, including a fatal four-way including the elder Saraya Knight. Ripley also made appearances in Pro Wrestling Alliance, Newcastle Pro Wrestling, and Melbourne City Wrestling, where she defended the RCW Women's title numerous times.

Like many wrestlers do, Ripley took to Japan for a tour of its wrestling scene before signing with WWE. She made her Japanese debut for Pro Wrestling ZERO1, at Super Fireworks Pro Wrestling, in a tag team match in April 2015. That same month, she also debuted at REINA Mexico Fiesta in another tag team bout. Ripley also worked with World Women Pro-Wrestling Diana at its fourth-anniversary show. 

Armed with her knowledge from the independents of both Australia and Japan, Ripley would go on to work with WWE in its developmental brand, where women were flourishing within the company.

Bennett officially became Rhea Ripley on July 13, 2017, when she debuted for WWE in the first WWE Mae Young Classic tournament. She made it to the second round after defeating Miranda Salinas in the firs, but was eliminated by Dakota Kai. Ripley was officially signed to WWE and joined the "NXT" roster on house shows. Her first singles match in "NXT" outside of the tournament was a September 2017 house show in a loss to Bianca Belair. Ripley would go on a string of losses on house shows to the likes of Kai, Ruby Riot, and Shayna Baszler. Her first house show victory didn't come until February of 2018 when she defeated Aliyah.

Ripley competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic with an entirely different look and attitude, moving more toward the goth "Mami" fans adore today. With her new aggressive attitude, Ripley defeated MJ Jenkins, Kacy Catanzaro, and Tegan Nox, but lost to Io Shirai, now IYO SKY, in the semi-finals. 

Shortly after the tournament, Ripley and her new, fiercer look moved over to the "NXT UK" brand. She competed in another tournament to determine the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion. Ripley defeated Toni Storm in the final to win the championship and the honor of becoming WWE's first female Australian champion. She held on to the gold for 139 days before dropping the belt to Storm in January 2019 at a TakeOver event.

While still with "NXT UK," Ripley entered the 2019 Women's Royal Rumble at number 24 and scored three eliminations before going over the top rope herself. Before departing "NXT UK," Ripley feuded with Piper Niven over who was the most dominant woman on the roster. Ripley's final match on the brand was October 5, 2019, when she defeated Nina Samuels.

As she was finishing up with "NXT UK," Ripley made her return to the stateside brand in August 2019. She turned up to the show and immediately challenged then-NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler and Ripley became the babyface in the feud. She was also part of the "NXT" takeover of "SmackDown" during the infamous incident of WWE stars unable to get off the ground on a plane in Saudi Arabia, causing talent to miss the Friday show. Ripley wouldn't just be part of the "NXT" team during the 2019 Survivor Series brand warfare match, she was the developmental brand's captain in the match. Ripley's team defeated the women of the main roster at the premium live event with Ripley and Candice LeRae remaining for Team "NXT."

Ripley then went on to defeat Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship that December. She became the first person to have won both "NXT" titles in the United States and the United Kingdom. Ripley confronted Charlotte Flair on "Raw" following "The Queen's" first Royal Rumble victory that year and suggested the pair face off at WrestleMania 36, an event that was held during the pandemic in the WWE Performance Center with no fans present. Flair accepted at TakeOver: Portland after Ripley successfully defended her gold against Bianca Belair.

Flair defeated Ripley for the NXT Women's Championship on night two of WrestleMania that April. Ripley attempted to win the gold back multiple times but was unsuccessful. Her final match in "NXT" was a Last Woman Standing match loss to Raquel Gonzalez (now known as Raquel Rodriguez) at New Year's Evil in January 2021. That month, Ripley entered the Women's Royal Rumble once again and scored a total of seven eliminations in the match.

Ripley made her main roster debut after a video package aired on "Raw" in February 2021, hyping up her arrival to the red brand. Before she arrived, and even before she had a set landing spot between "Raw" and "SmackDown," she teased a slightly new look for her main roster transition. Ripley shared a photo to her Instagram page where she rocked a leather jacket and leather mini skirt alongside her blond pixie cut. She captioned the post "I'm an odd combination of 'Really Sweet' and 'Don't Mess With Me!'" and tagged a WWE photographer.

She made an impact immediately by challenging Asuka to a match for the Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania 37. Ripley took the title from "The Empress of Tomorrow" on night two of WrestleMania 37. This time, Ripley competed in front of at least a half-capacity WrestleMania crowd in Tampa, Florida, compared to her first experience at the quiet Performance Center in the "pandemic era."

She retained the title over Asuka, who asked for a rematch in the following days, as well as Charlotte Flair was who was added to their match at WrestleMania Backlash by Sonya Deville, who was an on-screen official at the time. Ripley's first main roster championship reign ended at just under 100 days when she dropped the title to Flair at Money in the Bank in July. 

Ripley officially held the "Raw" Women's Championship for 98 days. The former "NXT" and "NXT UK" Women's Champion may have arrived with a bang on the main roster, but after losing her "Raw" championship gold, Ripley began to flounder a bit in her newfound position. She was still a little over a year from coming into her full gothic look and "Mami" persona.

Ripley may have been out of the top title picture following her "Raw" Women's Championship loss to Flair, but she would soon capture gold of a different kind within WWE. Ripley failed to regain the championship at SummerSlam in a triple threat match against then-champion Nikki A.S.H. and Flair. Despite the loss, Ripley started teaming with A.S.H the next month and the pair defeated Natalya and Tamina to capture the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships, though they would only hang on to them for a month before losing to Carmella and Queen Zelina on a November episode of "Raw." 

Back in 2021, Ripley said she was at first "a bit standoffish" when paired with A.S.H., but said she was growing on her. Ripley said she needed to calm down a bit personally, and she was glad to have the former Nikki Cross on her side with her positive persona. Ripley said she was having "the time of her life" in the tag team, but did miss singles competition. The pair teamed together through January 2022, when it was A.S.H. to turn heel on Ripley.

In March, Ripley began teaming with future nemesis Liv Morgan. The pair challenged for the titles on night two of WrestleMania 38 in a fatal four-way tag team match in a losing effort. The pair tried to win the titles again on "Raw," but Ripley attacked Morgan and turned heel for the first time on the main roster after they lost to champions Sasha Banks and Naomi. Ripley hit Morgan with a Riptide and beat her down in the middle of the ring. At the time of her heel turn, Ripley had already been rumored on joining a new stable on "Raw" led by WWE Hall of Famer Edge, who was working alongside Damian Priest.

Ripley's career really took off into the "Mami" we have today when she aligned herself with Judgment Day, then led by Edge. The stable would grow to include Finn Balor in addition to Ripley and Priest, and Edge was kicked out as the leader of the group almost as quickly as it was built. Judgment Day began feuding with the Mysterios and successfully recruited Dominik into their stable. As Mysterio turned heel, he adapted an Eddie Guerrero-esque Latino Heat gimmick, and Ripley began calling herself Mysterio's "Mami." During this time, Ripley began fully leaning into her darker, more seductive, gothic look as a heel.

Ripley would once again enter the main event title scene with her victory in the Women's Royal Rumble match in 2023. She and Liv Morgan were the first two women to enter the match and were the final two standing in the ring to end it. With her win, Ripley became the fourth wrestler, and the first woman, to win a Rumble match as the first entrant. She declared she would challenge Flair for her "SmackDown" Women's Championship at WrestleMania 39 and was successful in her challenge in April. With the win, Ripley became the fifth Women's Grand Slam Champion in WWE history and the youngest grand slam champion of either gender at just 26.

The championship was renamed to the Women's World Championship while Ripley was still holding the gold. She defended her title successfully numerous times, including in her home country of Australia at Elimination Chamber in Perth in February 2024. Her reign was ended at an impressive 380 days, tying Bayley's record as longest-reigning Women's World Champion, in April. Ripley was attacked in a backstage segment by former tag team partner Morgan and was legitimately injured and forced to vacate the gold.

Ripley injured her right arm during the segment and appeared on the next episode of "Raw" to vacate the gold, but not before calling out Morgan before leaving for a three-month hiatus. While she was gone from television, Morgan attempted to seduce Mysterio and take him away from Ripley on what she called part of her "revenge tour." Ripley returned at the beginning of July, just ahead of SummerSlam to confront both Morgan and Mysterio. She was able to get her "Latino Heat" back on her side, but not for long.

By the time Ripley was back from injury, it was Morgan who was holding the Women's World Championship. Ripley challenged her at SummerSlam but was defeated, and Mysterio turned on his "Mami" and kissed Morgan on the entrance ramp. Ripley was now a babyface for the first time in over two years and the crowd was ready to fully accept her following her departure from Judgment Day. Balor kicked both Ripley and Priest from the stable and the pair teamed together for a short time to get their revenge.

Ripley and Morgan entered a seemingly endless feud, which was at one point put on hold when Ripley suffered a legitimate orbital bone injury and WWE wrote her off television with another backstage attack by Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. She wasn't on the shelf for long this time, however, and made a surprise return to enter the Survivor Series: WarGames match for the babyface team alongside Bianca Belair, IYO SKY, Naomi, and Bayley. Ripley pinned Morgan in the match, scoring the victory for her team.

Ripley kicked off 2025 with a bang when she finally won the Women's World Championship back on the "Raw" premiere on Netflix in January. She defeated Morgan, despite interference from Rodriguez and Mysterio, and finally ended their feud. Ripley celebrated her victory alongside The Undertaker, who appeared on the show as his "American Badass" persona and rode around the ring on his motorcycle to pose with the new champion on the stage.

She was only able to defend her title successfully once, however, and lost it once again to IYO SKY on a March episode of "Raw." She was distracted by the winner of the Elimination Chamber match and her potential WrestleMania 41 opponent, Bianca Belair, at ringside, allowing SKY to pin her for the win and end her reign at just 56 days. As of this writing, Ripley is fighting her way into WrestleMania this year, even attempting to sign her name on the contract for SKY and Belair's match. While "Raw" General Manager Adam Pearce was adamant that her signature wasn't legally binding, Ripley will challenge SKY on "Raw" once again, and there are rumors of a triple threat match between the women on "The Grandest Stage of Them All."

Though she's currently toeing the line of heel and babyface ahead of WrestleMania, Ripley is still one of the hottest stars in WWE right now. Ripley has risen from a champion on the Australian independent scene to the WWE Universe's "Mami." From the cover of "WWE 2K24's" deluxe edition to being named one of the 30 best professional wrestlers under 30 by ESPN, in addition to its Female Wrestler of the Year in 2023, Ripley is more than likely to reach new heights, both in WWE and beyond, in the coming years.