#stmperth

↳ Rhea Ripley for stmperth

THIS WOMAN. PLEASE SHE IS FLAWLESS!

RHEA RIPLEY for SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE 📷: Ian Munro

by David Shields

"#RheaRipley is a role model. A heavy metal-loving, iron-pumping, chest-thumping role model and superstar of World Wrestling Entertainment. But when she was growing up in Adelaide as a blonde-haired, sport-loving Aussie kid called Demi Bennett, the future Women’s World Champion had few heroes to follow. Most of her favourites were blokes — Triple H, CM Punk and The Miz — and she didn’t see much of herself in the female wrestlers during the so-called Divas era. “Everyone was very petite, skinny and they all looked like people you see on magazines,” @rhearipley_wwe tells Simon Collins, ahead of her appearance at WWE Elimination Chamber at Optus Stadium on February 24. “I knew I wasn’t going to grow up and look like that.” But three time women’s champion Beth Phoenix was a beacon and now Ripley is proud of the influence she’s having on her millions of fans. “It’s wild, to know how much of an impact you can have on someone’s life just from doing the one thing that you love and being yourself doing it,” she says. Read the full story and see photos from our exclusive photo shoot at TWR at Crown Towers inside Sunday’s #STMPerth."

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