She Almost Lost It: WWE Star Rhea Ripley Admits She Was One Slip Away From Disaster at the 2023 Royal Rumble
WWE fans remember the moment perfectly. Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, and Asuka were battling on the apron in the final moments of the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble. Liv took the green mist, Asuka was eliminated, and then came the winning move—Rhea sweeping Liv off the apron with a head scissors throw.
It looked like a flawless, career-defining victory.
But according to Ripley herself, the whole thing nearly fell apart in the most terrifying way possible.
In a candid new interview with ESPN, the current champion revealed she was dangerously close to botching the entire finish. The reason? Pure sweat and exhaustion.
Ripley explained that she entered the match at the dreaded number one spot, meaning she had to outlast 29 other women. To make things worse, she had already been speared by Beth Phoenix on the hard concrete floor earlier in the night. By the time she reached the final three, her body was running on empty.
“I was so sweaty, my hands were wet and I slipped,” Ripley admitted. “As soon as I grabbed it, I was like, ‘Do not let go. For the love of God, through all the weights that you picked up while being sweaty, this is the one you can’t drop.'”
When asked just how close she came to losing her grip on the ropes and ruining the finish, Ripley didn’t sugarcoat it.
“Very close. Very close,” she confessed. “I was so scared.”
The revelation adds a nerve-wracking new layer to what fans thought was just another iconic Rumble moment. For a few seconds, the entire match hung by a literal thread—and Rhea Ripley’s slippery fingers.
