page_title: Rhea Ripley
section_title: NXT Women's Champion (2019–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Rhea Ripley / Professional wrestling career / WWE / NXT Women's Champion (2019–present)
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Rhea Ripley posing before her match at NXT Fullsail 9/25/2019
context_page_description: Demi Bennett is an Australian professional wrestler, currently signed with WWE where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Rhea Ripley. She is the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion and a former NXT Women's Champion. She is also the only person to have won both titles, and the first female Australian champion in WWE history.
context_section_description: On 28 August 2019 episode of NXT, Ripley made her surprise return to the brand when she interrupted NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler. Swiping the microphone from Baszler, Ripley said that Baszler may have beaten everyone on NXT, but she hasn't beaten her, signalling a feud between the two; this also established her as a face.
  In parallel to her feud against Baszler, on 1 November episode of SmackDown, Ripley and Tegan Nox were one of the many NXT wrestlers to invade the show, challenging Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville to a tag team match, from which Ripley and Nox emerged victorious. Later that night, Ripley joined Triple H and the rest of the NXT roster as they declared war on both Raw and SmackDown, and vowed to win the 2019 Survivor Series brand warfare. As part of the ongoing storyline, she defeated both Raw's Charlotte Flair and SmackDown's Sasha Banks in a triple threat match on 22 November episode of SmackDown.
  At NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Ripley led Team Ripley in the first ever women's WarGames match against Team Baszler (Baszler, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, and NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray); despite teammate Dakota Kai turning heel and attacking Tegan Nox before the two even entered the match, leaving Ripley and Candice LeRae in a de facto two-on-four handicap match, Ripley gave her team the victory by pinning Baszler.
  The following night at Survivor Series, Ripley was part of Team NXT, who defeated Team Raw and Team SmackDown, and the leader of her team in the 5-on-5-on-5 women's elimination match, which her team won after she last eliminated SmackDown captain Sasha Banks, with she, LeRae and Shirai as the survivors.
  On 18 December episode of NXT, Ripley defeated Baszler to win the NXT Women's Championship. This made her the first person to have won both the NXT Women’s and NXT UK Women’s Championships. She then successfully defended the title against Toni Storm on 25 January 2020 at Worlds Collide.
  Ripley made a surprise appearance on 3 February 2020 episode of Raw, confronting Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair and suggesting that Flair should use her Royal Rumble title opportunity to challenge Ripley for the NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36. Flair appeared in the following episode of NXT to give her answer, but was interrupted by both Bianca Belair, Ripley's future title contender at NXT TakeOver: Portland, and Ripley herself, with the two eventually teaming up and attacking Flair. At the aforementioned event, Ripley successfully defended the championship against Belair, and was attacked by Flair, who accepted Ripley's challenge.  Ripley then lost the title to Flair at the second night WrestleMania 36. The next day after WrestleMania, WWE announced that Ripley took hiatus from WWE and returned to Australia due to her visa issues. After a one-month hiatus, Ripley returned on 6 May episode of NXT after Flair got herself disqualified in an NXT Women's Championship match against Io Shirai by attacking Flair. A backstage interview with Ripley and Shirai was shown afterward where they began arguing and eventually brawling to be separated by officials. On 7 June at NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Ripley and Flair both lost to Io Shirai in a triple threat match for the NXT Women's Championship. On the 1 July episode of NXT The Great American Bash, Ripley defeated Aliyah and Robert Stone in a 1-on-2 handicap match by submission.
caption: Ripley performing her signature hand gesture
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