Rhea Ripley Retains WWE Women's World Championship at Elimination Chamber

Mami is headed to WrestleMania, and will face Becky Lynch!

By Haley Miller

Rhea Ripley is officially headed to WrestleMania.

At the Elimination Chamber PLE, Ripley put the Women's World Championship on the line against one of the most dominating women in WWE currently -- Nia Jax. Jax appeared on WWE Raw a few weeks back, attacking Ripley from behind and igniting a feud between the two. Hot on the heels of her explosive feud with "The Man" Becky Lynch, Jax wants to take away the one thing Lynch desperately wants: the women's championship.

Despite her best efforts, Ripley ended up retaining the title in Australia, a memorable moment for the Australian-born star. The match itself was full of impressive moments from both Jax and Ripley, displaying their impressive power right from the start. Ripley opened up the match with a fierce combo that included a vicious headbutt to the challenger, and that brutality continued throughout the match.

These two superstars are used to holding the power advantage over opponents, which made this match-up a rarity for both. Despite that, Ripley was able to pick up Jax and slam her down, though one attempt mid-way through the match ended up getting Ripley smashed through the announce desk after Jax dove from atop the barricade. That led to several big spots from both stars, including an attack from Ripley that slammed Jax down onto the ring apron. The two also battled it out in several spots on the turnbuckle, but Ripley was able to gain the final advantage there, bringing Jax down to the mat. Then Ripley went to finish the match with an impressive Riptide on Jax, getting the pin and the win.

This was Ripley's first time competing in Australia since she signed a contract with NXT UK in 2017. During her NXT journey she would very quickly win the NXT UK Women's Championship off of Toni Storm and appear overseas in the United States. She quickly became one of the highlights of the women's division and took part in a new era of women's wrestling in WWE. Ripley was a member of the first women's WarGames match in 2019 against the likes of Bianca Belair, IYO SKY, Shayna Baszler and Kay Lee Ray (Alba Fyre). She has gone on to hold the NXT Women's Championship (that was merged with the UK title), the Raw Women's Championship, and the tag team championships with Nikki ASH.

RHEA-RIPLEY-BECKY-LYNCH-WWE-WRESTLEMANIA-40
(Photo: WWE)

Mami Mania

With this huge win over Jax, Ripley now heads to WrestleMania 40 where she will face the winner of the women's Elimination Chamber match, Becky Lynch. Lynch and Ripley's history goes all the way back to NXT. In 2019, before the two fully embraced their personas as "The Man" and "Mami" they faced each other one-on-one. The match would eventually end in a "No Contest." They haven't faced each other since but Lynch is looking to reclaim her spot at the top and prove to everyone, including herself, that she's still "The Man." Come WrestleMania, Ripley will have held the championship for an entire year after defeating Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles. As the only female member of the Judgment Day, Ripley is one of the most magnetic faces in all of WWE.

  • WWE Women's World Championship Match: Rhea Ripley (C) def. Nia Jax
  • Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Finn Bálor & Damian Priest (C) def. Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate
  • Women's Elimination Chamber Match (to determine Women's World Championship No. 1 Contender at WrestleMania): Becky Lynch def. Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Naomi, Tiffany Stratton, and Raquel Rodriguez
  • Men's Elimination Chamber Match (to determine the No. 1 Contender for World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins at WrestleMania): Drew McIntyre def. Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley, LA Knight, Kevin Owens, and Logan Paul
  • Seth "Freakin" Rollins and Cody Rhodes to appear on The Grayson Waller Effect

Are you excited to see Ripley and Lynch finally face off at WrestleMania 40? Let us know in the comments!

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