Rhea Ripley has revealed a recent scary interaction with a fan.
WWE stars encountering overzealous fans has become a problem in recent times, with people invading the privacy of wrestlers at airports and hotels. It’s been a cause for concern for female talents especially, with incidents such as potential stalkers getting arrested from outside of WWE Performance Center or someone sharing Roxanne Perez’s home address with a threatening message.
During her recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Rhea Ripley revealed that she faced similar harassment recently when a fan showed up at her house unannounced and stayed there for a long time:
“I’m sorry if you’re watching this lady, but you were terrifying. She was scary, she rang the doorbell, she got real close to it and just [smiles creepily]. Then she looks at her phone and she [smiles again], and she did this for so long.
She was there for like 10 minutes, and then she left, came back, did it again, and then she left, and then she came back wearing something different and rang the doorbell.”
What Could Have Happened: Rhea Ripley
Rhea Ripley noted how wrestlers are normal people outside of their work, and they like their privacy. She said that they also like their normal humanity, and this kind of incident is crossing a line that people shouldn’t be doing.
Thankfully the Mami or her husband and fellow wrestler Buddy Matthews was not at home at the time. Though the former Women’s Champion noted how the whole thing was still very scary and anything could have happened if she was there:
“I was just like this lady really thinks that we’re home, the cars are there because we left them there. If I was home, I wouldn’t know what to do. If I opened the door and she was just standing there, what could have happened?
She could have done anything, I don’t know you; you could have attacked me, and I don’t know how she got her car in the gate. We have a gated community, no one lets you in, terrifying.”
Ripley later discussed how a number of such incidents have taken place in recent times. Rhea explained that people need to understand that wrestling is their work, and what you see on TV is not how they are in real life. She stated they are normal people and asked the fans not to stalk them or threaten them over WWE storylines.