Rhea Ripley, WWE
Rhea Ripley points at the WrestleMania sign after winning the Women's Royal Rumble match on January 28, 2023. WWE

KEY POINTS

  • Rhea Ripley knows she cannot just mimic Chyna's storied WWE career
  • The comparisons are justified in a few other ways aside from their hulking physiques
  • Ripley will challenge Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Title at WrestleMania 39

The 2023 Royal Rumble event as a whole drew rave reactions from fans despite its predictable nature in this year's edition and one women's star who is set for the grand stage of WrestleMania is Rhea Ripley.

Because of her untouchable aura inside the ring, Ripley is fully aware of WWE fans comparing her to the late great Chyna for a multitude of reasons.

Speaking with BT Sports' Ariel Helwani following her Royal Rumble win, Ripley acknowledged the comparisons.

"I love being compared to Chyna. I know I get a lot of hate, which at the same time is weird, but I understand where it's coming from where like, 'You can't be the next Chyna!' Yeah, I know. I can't be the next Chyna," Ripley stated.

"She was absolutely amazing, and she was herself, and she was unique to her, but I'm the first Rhea Ripley. If I can get somewhat compared to her, like I'm doing something right, but I'm also going to be doing it in my own special way."

In modern WWE, no one has ever closely resembled Chyna in terms of her in-ring presence and overall vibe other than Ripley because of her imposing size.

Standing at 5'10", Ripley easily towers over most of the women's roster and the company has used that to perfection ever since she made her way to WWE in 2017 as part of the Mae Young Classic.

Her star has been steadily growing and her time in NXT helped mold her into WWE's next big thing for the women's division and her growing physique drew even more attention from the fans as she grew closer to looking a lot more like Chyna.

Worries about her spot on the main roster became the talk among fans as WWE could go either way with her, but creative did great in turning her heel against Liv Morgan on the April 18 episode of Raw, which opened up to her inclusion into The Judgment Day.

The heel faction has come a long way from its initial conception as a group with supernatural elements and is now one of the most highly anticipated attractions on Raw.

Turning Dominik Mysterio on his father Rey and Edge was predictable, but his dynamic with Ripley had opened up another comparison to Chyna–it being the on-screen partnership between Chyna and Rey Mysterio's longtime friend Eddie Guerrero.

While WWE has not shown any indication of it turning into a romantic angle like that of Chyna and Guerrero, the chemistry between Ripley and Mysterio had fans drawing up parallels between them.

Outside of her work with The Judgment Day, Ripley dominated the Women's Royal Rumble Match as she outlasted 29 other stars to etch her name in the record books as the first one to win it all from the No. 1 spot.

On the post-Royal Rumble episode of Raw, Ripley made it known that she was going after Charlotte Flair's SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 39.

The bout will be a rematch of their WrestleMania 36 clash in which Ripley lost the NXT women's title to Flair–a move that observers at the time believe derailed Ripley's momentum.

WWE has repeatedly teased fans that Ripley was willing to take on anyone in the ring like in her impromptu Raw match against Akira Tozawa on the December 19 episode.

Whether WWE pulls the trigger on Ripley going after a singles title like the Intercontinental or United States Championships, the comparisons to Chyna is not expected to cease anytime soon which could drive her, even more, to separate herself from the legend as she noted with Helwani.

Chyna
WWE Hall of Famer Chyna. WWE
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