There are plenty of fans who haven’t exactly been happy about the story WWE is telling with the women’s world championship heading into WrestleMania 41. Iyo Sky is the champion but much of the focus has been on the two women who are challenging for her title — Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair. In a chat with The Takedown on SI, Ripley actually addressed as much.
Here’s what she had to say:
“I don’t want to say we’re overlooking IYO, because we’re not. We know that she’s a threat. We know what she’s capable of. Hell, I’ve never beat her in a one-on-one competition. I know exactly what IYO brings to the table. I feel like when it comes to me and Bianca, what we’ve been saying over the last two, three, four years is we’ve wanted to face each other at WrestleMania… We’ve wanted it to be a one-on-one thing.”
To go even further, she said:
“We’ve accomplished so much. We’ve been on opposite brands, but still kind of in line with each other and taking over and being the faces of those brands and the women’s divisions.”
It’s a bit baffling that WWE inserted Sky into this story in the way they did, considering they very well could have done all of this without her. Like Ripley said, they are running parallel career paths and a one-on-one showdown at the biggest event of the year makes all the sense in the world.
Having said all that, Ripley is also making clear things are getting spicy and folks can think what they want:
“The story is getting spicy. I know a lot of people online don’t want to realize what’s going on, because they hate me or whatever it is. People are going to feel whatever they want to feel. I’m not going to argue with 16 year-olds on the internet, but that’s the story. And I mean, going into WrestleMania 41, I feel like, yes, I’m going to be focusing on Bianca, because she screwed me out of my opportunity twice now by being there and wanting to be a part of the spotlight and taking that away from me when she knows how much this opportunity meant to me.”
Which, yeah, of course fans can have their issues and ultimately find entertainment in the end product but it’s absolutely fair to wonder why this is the creative route the powers that be settled on. The match, if nothing else, should be fantastic, with Rhea adding it’s “just going to mesh really, really well.”
We can only hope.
