By Glenn Schouw
Johannesburg — Right time, event and venue. The stars are lined-up in the WWE Universe this weekend for Rhea Ripley to rip up the script and boost her superstar status.
The event is the crown jewel of sports entertainment – the two-day WrestleMania event, is often referred to as the greatest stage of them all.
🤩 #WrestleMania Saturday and #WrestleMania Sunday cards 🤩, as first revealed on @FirstTake! pic.twitter.com/CzHw91fVot
The venue is Hollywood where dreams are made. Gothic-looking and mean-spirited Ripley takes on eye-candy blonde golden girl Charlotte Flair, who holds the SmackDown crown.
Flair, who recently returned after a seven-month break due to an injury, is acknowledged as the greatest women’s champion in history.
WWE royalty runs through her veins. She is the daughter of 16-time World Champion Ric Flair. He ranks in the top five of all-time greats.
Ric’s daughter’s slim waist has been embraced by the championship belt 14 times.
Ripley, while respecting Flair’s skills, is hell-bent on sending the WWE queen into exile on the opening night.
Ripley in a interview, said: “At this point, I’m just trying to get in Charlotte’s head and stay under her skin. When you think of Charlotte Flair, you think of the championship gold. Every time she’s gone, she comes back, and she’s in the championship picture, and she somehow ends up with the championship.
“Yes, Charlotte is bloody good. But I’m gonna use that against her at the same time because I feel like Charlotte doesn’t know who she is without the championship, and once I take it from her at WrestleMania, she is gonna be a shell of her former self, and I cannot wait to see that.
“I think the statement is taking the championship from her at Wrestle-Mania. When she thinks that she is unstoppable, taking the one thing that makes her feel so very special in this company, ripping it from her hands and walking out with it, and then getting to hold it up, (on) SmackDown, Raw, wherever the hell I want to go. But her just knowing that I’m the SmackDown Women’s Champion, that’s all I need.”
In their only previous encounter, Ripley lost to Flair which stopped her momentum. Ripley had defeated Asuka at WrestleMania 37 to win the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. This was her main roster debut.
Ripley’s potential as a future all-time great was highlighted when she shocked the WWE Universe by winning the sixth Women's Royal Rumble in January.
Ripley made history. After entering the ring first, she was still there – an hour later. She outlasted 29 other rivals. No other woman had achieved the astonishing feat.
The 26-year-old Aussie is the future while Flair, at 36, is the same age as two other superstars. These being crowd favourites Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey, a former MMA star and Olympian judo bronze medallist.
Ripley’s ring ferocity since Wrestle-Mania Backlash last year where she turned heel and joined Judgement Day caught the attention of millions of fans from all corners of the globe.
She has taken over Rousey’s mantle as the “baddest” woman on the planet, aka Mike Tyson, in his prime, the “baddest” man on the planet.
This has influenced the high rollers in the City of Angels into stacking mountains of chips on no angel Ripley.
She is no stranger to controversy. Last year, a fan posted a video on Twitter where one can see a girl extending her hand to get a tag from Ripley while she was walking toward the backstage area. Ripley did not oblige, and she was heard saying: “Don’t even think of touching me. I dare you.”
Get ready for #WrestleMania #SmackDown TONIGHT as @CodyRhodes and @WWERomanReigns meet face-to-face ahead of their #UndisputedTitle showdown, WWE Superstars compete in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, two massive tag team encounters and more!#WWENow
— WWE (@WWE) March 31, 2023
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Recently, Ripley taunted and mocked a fan from the ring. The girl was distraught after Ripley had inflicted a crushing defeat on her hero, Liv Morgan. Ripley also put a picture of the crying youngster on her Twitter, then, this past week, an incident at an airport got Ripley fired up.
Ripley offered a strong message to fans looking for her autograph.
“People need to respect that no means no!” she wrote in a tweet.
“At airports do not follow me outside. Today has put me off completely! I will not sign ANYTHING that isn’t a personal photo of us anymore.
“Hate me, I don’t care.
“Disagree with me, try putting yourselves in our shoes for one bloody day.”
WrestleMania 39 card – Two nights
NIGHT ONE Predicted match order:
United States Championship Match: John Cena vs Austin Theory (c).
Rey Mysterio vs Dominik Mysterio.
Women’s Showcase Tag Team Match: Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs Shotzi and Natalya vs Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler vs TBD.
Hell in a Cell: Edge vs Finn Balor.
SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte Flair (c) vs Rhea Ripley.
Universal WWE Tag Team championship: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs The Usos (c).
NIGHT TWO Predicted match order:
Lita, Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus vs Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky).
Brock Lesnar vs Omos.
Seth “Freakin” Rollins vs Logan Paul.
Men’s Tag Team Showcase: Ricochet and Braun Strowman vs The Street Profits vs Alpha Academy vs Viking Raiders.
Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship Match: Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus vs Gunther (c).
Raw Women’s Championship Match: Bianca Belair (c) vs Asuka.
Universal Title: Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns (c).
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