SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley is delighted to be the ‘Mami’ of WWE and has shared how her role came about.
Sitting down with the “Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenburg” podcast, Ripley explained how the fan response to her wearing an Eddie Guerrero shirt proved pivotal in her career. She said,
“I had a few weeks off and I was like, ‘I know I’m coming back soon’ and I got told that I was coming back when it was Rey’s anniversary. I was like, ‘You know what, I might as well come back with a bang’ and I ordered an Eddie Guerrero shirt.
“I wore it and the internet exploded, people went wild, started calling me Papi and all of that fun stuff. I sort of just kept running with it. Eventually, I was like, ‘Yo, we should make some more shirts’ but they were like, ‘Maybe we’ll change it to Mami.”‘
Ripley’s role as ‘Mami’ has seen the Australian Superstar work closely with Dominik Mysterio, someone she hadn’t gotten to know prior to their on-screen alliance. She said,
“I didn’t really get to know him. Especially, because I was more just in the women’s division, where like now, I get to experience and make friends with the guys as well, because I’m actually working with them, but our friendship just sort of bloomed. Then you know, I ended up beating him up a couple times and choking him out with my legs and it’s where this romance story started.”
Ripley was drafted to RAW with the rest of The Judgment Day during the recent WWE Draft but remains the SmackDown Women’s Champion.
During the interview, Ripley also discussed working with the faction and you can check out her comments here.
