Is The Modern Day Chyna Moniker Accurate For WWE's Rhea Ripley?
Over the course of 2022, "WWE Raw" superstar Rhea Ripley has set herself apart from the rest of the women's roster. Instead of focusing on the "Raw" Women's Championship or settling petty disagreements with others in the division, Ripley has thrived as a member of The Judgment Day — alongside Finn Balor, Damian Priest, and Dominik Mysterio. Ripley brings a unique dynamic to the group that has proven rare across wrestling history with only Chyna and her role in D-Generation X being comparable.
Known as "The Ninth Wonder of the World," Chyna's dominant presence in the ring led her to accomplishments no other woman has achieved to this day. For example, Chyna is the only woman ever to capture the Intercontinental Championship and did so on three separate occasions. She was also the only woman to qualify for the King of the Ring tournament, the first woman in a Royal Rumble match, and the only woman to ever be No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship. Though Ripley hasn't fully jumped into the realm of intergender matches, she has shown that she, too, isn't afraid to get physical with male competitors. During an October 2022 episode of "Raw," Ripley picked up and body-slammed Luke Gallows of The O.C. with ease on the outside of the ring, adding insult to injury by taunting Gallows after, shouting, "You know who the hell I am!"
The Similarities Continue
Both Chyna and Rhea Ripley's fearless approaches to working with the men's roster have added a different wrinkle to WWE programming. In past eras of WWE, it was more common for men and women to engage in the ring physically with the women often on the receiving end of wrestling maneuvers in those interactions, but Ripley and Chyna have been presented as an equal threat to anyone on the roster.
Furthermore, they were both shown as an enforcer of sorts for their respective factions, instantly elevating the women within the groups, especially considering their stablemates have been former World Champions like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Finn Balor. And though it's a small aesthetic detail, Ripley and Chyna have visually presented themselves in similar ways, bearing studded and spiked accessories and all-black attire.
Ripley has addressed said similarities in the past, talking with Inside The Ropes and sharing her thoughts on such comparisons to the WWE Hall of Famer. "I love that. People keep making edits, and I think they're absolutely hilarious," she said. "I did like Chyna; I thought she was an icon. And she didn't fit in, which was great. Like, she was so different to everyone. She was muscley and just –- she was beautiful," added Ripley. "The others were beautiful, too. I'm not saying that they weren't, but she was beautiful in a different way."