A few short months ago, WWE stars Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair and Iyo Sky walked into Survivor Series as allies — but this weekend, they walk into WrestleMania as enemies. As three of the most decorated wrestlers in WWE’s Women’s Division, Belair, Sky and Ripley are no strangers to fighting for the spotlight, but this year’s road to WrestleMania has been rockier (and more personal) than ever before.
Ahead of their triple threat match for the WWE Women’s World Championship on night two of WrestleMania 41, Belair, Ripley and Sky spoke to Variety about how their longstanding friendships turned sour.
According to Ripley, tensions started rising after she inadvertently interfered with a match between Sky and Liv Morgan, leading to Sky being disqualified and losing a chance to compete in the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
“Obviously, my emotions seem to get the best of me at times. I couldn’t help myself,” Ripley says. “I was pissed. I ran out there and I got in her face. I didn’t mean to hit Liv. But when someone pulls your hair, you’re going to strike back. All I wanted to accomplish was to help Iyo, but she didn’t understand that. Iyo didn’t give me the time of day to even explain myself, she made up her mind and stormed out.”
To make amends for costing her longtime friend and rival a potential spot at WrestleMania, Ripley (who was champion at the time) offered Sky a match for her Women’s World Championship.
“Iyo’s been with me since NXT days. We’ve always been in everything together,” she adds. “Even when I was part of The Judgment Day, I helped Damage CTRL with War Games. We were always on the same page. Me going and giving her a Women’s World Championship match, that’s a massive deal. She’s someone I’ve never beaten before, that is a massive risk for such little reward for me. But as soon as I told her the match was made official, her mood instantly changed.”
Though Ripley claims to have been manipulated by a friend, Sky maintains it’s just business.
“I love Rhea Ripley. Maybe she loves me too,” Sky says. “We’ve trusted each other and been rivals for a long time. She gave me an opportunity to challenge for her title, which was good sportsmanship. She had confidence that she could defend against me, but I’m always ready. I am a champion, so I took my chance.”
Taking the Women’s World Championship off of Ripley officially makes Sky a WWE Triple Crown Champion: one of the few women in the company’s history to hold three different singles titles. Sky is no stranger to collecting gold. Before coming to WWE, she reigned as a dominant champion in Japan’s World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion.
“When I was in Japan, I was honored to be the top of Joshi wrestling. I wore all of the titles,” Sky says. “That was my first dream, my next dream after that was to become number one in the world. I cashed in to become WWE Women’s Champion, so that was one dream come true. But I want to challenge for a title, not cash in. Cashing in was great, I made a great moment. But cashing in, I could watch and wait for timing. ‘Oh, now Bianca is exhausted.’ This championship, it was equal, a fair fight. I defeated Rhea Ripley, who is a big star in the women’s division. So many people congratulate me, so congrats to me. I’m so happy.”
Decidedly not as happy is Ripley, who’s spent the past few months attempting to claw her way back into the world title picture.
“It felt like she played me,” Ripley explains. “She manipulated my emotions, which, kudos to her, it worked. She’s Women’s World Champion, and now I’m the one struggling to get back into the WrestleMania match.”
But as Ripley struggled to reclaim her spot at WrestleMania, Bianca Belair punched her ticket to Las Vegas by winning a tumultuous Elimination Chamber match in March. Though Belair is excited to be returning to WrestleMania, she tells Variety her victory is tainted by the ongoing conflict between Naomi and Jade Cargill, two of her closest allies.
“I feel like in past years, it’s been all about me focusing on trying to win a title or trying to stay undefeated,” Belair says. “This year, with Jade and Naomi falling out, it’s the first time I’m going into WrestleMania completely alone. I’ve lost all my friends. Even one of my closest friends, Rhea Ripley, is emotionally all over the place right now, and it really has me out of my element. My path to WrestleMania was supposed to be a clear path, but it’s been full of nothing but blood, sweat and tears.”
Ripley, for her part, admits she’s unsettled by how much insight Belair has into her psychology, given their extensive history: Sky, Belair and Ripley all participated in the inaugural NXT Women’s War Games match in 2019.
“She’s another one that I’ve gone through everything with from NXT,” Ripley says. “We were really the core three, so I’ve come up with her, and known her for a long, long time. I’ve always been competing with Bianca. We’ve always been on opposite brands but in a similar spot in the women’s division.”
“She also knows too much about me,” Ripley adds. “She knows the struggles that I go through mentally. Obviously, I don’t like to show them to everyone, but she knows what’s going on inside my head most of the time.”
For Ripley, seeing Belair cheering for Sky during their title match was confirmation that any prior friendship was over. “To have Bianca go out there and sit there and cheer for Iyo, when all Bianca and I have been talking about for years is facing each other at WrestleMania, I had to take a couple steps back. I felt like Bianca was lying to my face. That’s where this all started with Bianca.”
Before they took their feud to WrestleMania, Sky and Ripley attempted to settle the score in a singles match with Belair serving as special guest referee, but the chaotic affair ended with Belair calling a DQ. Ripley says she was unimpressed with Belair’s refereeing skills.
“I’ve had a lot of bad referees in a lot of different sports, but I think Bianca Belair takes the cake,” Ripley claims. “If you can’t do the job, don’t do it. Politely decline. But instead, Bianca wanted the spotlight. She wanted to be the EST, blah, blah, blah. You’re not the EST of referee-ing, that’s for sure.”
Unable to resolve their issues, tensions continued to boil over until Ripley convinced Raw general manager Adam Pearce to add her to Belair and Sky’s WrestleMania title match, officially making it a triple threat.
“With Iyo, I gave her the opportunity for a championship match and she wasn’t willing to give me a match back until Adam Pearce made it official,” Ripley says. “I’m gonna have to have that killer attitude and go out there and get what I want. And I want my Women’s Championship back. Honestly, I think Bianca is a little scared of going 1-1 with me at WrestleMania. She’s scared of her streak being ruined.”
Belair is currently on a four-year WrestleMania winning streak, but admits Ripley seems to have her number in head-to-head matches.
“We have such a long history. She’s beaten me twice in singles competition. She’s one of the most talented women in WWE. As a competitor, there’s nothing more I’d love than to take Rhea Ripley down. I’m going to have to use all my ESTs: fastEST, roughEST, toughEST, everything,” she says.
Belair continues, “Then you throw Iyo in that equation, who is one of the best in the division. With Iyo Sky you have to figure out a way to play her game. Iyo has the most experience out of all of us. When she’s in the ring, you never know where she’s gonna come from. She’s agile, she’s high-flying, she’s aggressive. Rhea’s never beaten Iyo before. Iyo’s beaten me before, there’s a lot going on.”
It’s true — though Ripley is one of WWE’s most dominant competitors, she’s come up short every time she’s squared off with Sky.
“Every strategy I’ve tried has never worked with Iyo,” Ripley admits. “Going into WrestleMania, it’s a completely different match, it’s a triple threat. Anyone can slip up for a second, which costs the other two the match. I have to have eyes in the back of my head. Bianca and Iyo have both proven to me that friendship comes second. My mindset going into this match is that those two women don’t care about my feelings and they don’t care about what’s going on in my head. They want to win, so I need to have that winning mentality as well.”
As for Sky’s game plan heading into WrestleMania?
“Strategy is a hard question,” she says. “They are very strong and powerful, but I can fly. Last year, I walked into WrestleMania as a champion, but I was a heel. This year, I’m a babyface, so many people are excited to see me defend my title, not only Japanese fans. I’m so honored to be somebody’s hero who is moving from a different country, who is very small.”
As for what her title reign looks like beyond WrestleMania, Sky says she’s excited to clash with NXT Women’s Champion (and fellow Stardom alum) Stephanie Vaquer.
“I know Stephanie Vaquer said her dream opponent is me. She’s amazing, I would love to wrestle with her.”
Belair also cited Vaquer as a dream challenger, should she walk out of WrestleMania as champion. “Stephanie Vaquer, of course. Giulia. I think Sol Ruca is amazing. Lash [Legend] and Jakara [Jackson], I had a few run-ins with them in the tag division. Lash has the power and the size, Jakara has all the tools she needs. I’m excited to see some of these NXT call-ups.”
Lash Legend similarly caught the eye of Ripley, who’s looking for a lineup of powerful challengers post-Mania.
“I like my big beefy girls, so Lash Legend is one. I love her, she’s super cool,” Ripley says. “Jordynne Grace, she’s definitely a little juggernaut. Obviously, I gotta go with my Aussie Zaria, for sure. It’d be awesome to see two Aussies representing. She started in the same place that I started, Riot City Wrestling. I would love to step in the ring with her and not only represent the school, but also South Australia and Australia in general.”
This interview has been edited and condensed.
