WWE: Rhea Ripley’s not in Australia, but she should go to Raw

While reports conflict whether Rhea Ripley is in Australia or America, there’s only one destination we want the WWE Superstar to wind up next: Monday Night Raw.

In case you missed it, there’s been a weird hullaboo regarding the in-country status of one former WWE NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley after WrestleMania.

Several reports suggested that she was now in Australia and her momentary move back to her homeland due to visa issues was cited as reason why WWE decided to book Charlotte Flair to beat her for the title at Mania. Then, Ripley herself posted an Insta story confirming she’s in America, so that shut those reports up right quick.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t personally care which country Ripley is in while she’s not working. What she does off camera on her time is none of my (or, frankly, anyone’s) business as far as I’m concerned.

What I am concerned with, however, is when and where the next time I will see The Nightmare will wrestle. Well, more so then where. With the world in the middle of an apocalypse right now, “when” is very up in the air, but when it comes to where, I can’t help but feel like it’s time for Ripley to make the move to Raw.

I understand why someone else may argue that it would be a rush to bring her to Raw so soon after becoming the face of NXT’s women’s division after dethroning Shayna Baszler of her elongated title reign. However, let’s think of this in a kayfabe sense for a sec.

Charlotte Flair winning an NXT title would suggest that Flair herself will be moving to NXT full time, but given the caliber of her star, we shouldn’t be surprised if she pulls double duty on both shows. Even Flair herself told talkSPORT she would love to defend her belt across all three brands.

In theory, what sounds more likely or at least believable for Ripley’s character: learn from the soul crushing loss she had at WrestleMania and rebuild her momentum from scratch on NXT, or charge straight into the face of The Queen looking for a rematch? For a raging, racous juggernaut who calls herself The Mosh Pit Kid, I’d take the latter.

Speaking of momentum, taking ourselves back out of kayfabe, we have to at least acknowledge the acclaim, attention and momentum that said Mosh Pit Kid has gained from working with Flair on Raw.

Go back to the shows where she made her entrance on the red brand. Despite helming the show with the least amount of viewers out of all three shows, Ripley was over and that overness among mainstream audiences only escalated week after week, promo after promo, and match after match.

When WWE has someone under their nose who is that over and has benefitted from working alongside one of their top stars, it doesn’t make sense to send her back to square one. In the eyes of fans and critics alike, Ripley has already graduated to the big leagues. It would be a travesty for WWE to keep her on a small time show and watch her momentum diminish.

I don’t say that to disrespect NXT by any chance. NXT is great, but in terms of popularity, for now at least, NXT is not in the league of the longer tenured red and blue shows. Of course she’s going to be over in the smaller Full Sail venue, but seeing how over she was in arenas for Raw, there’s potential for an increase.

Don’t waste Ripley’s momentum while she’s hot, WWE. Keep it going and whatever you do, keep her on Raw.