Originally published at Rhea Ripley says she had panic attack 'for like two hours' before Wrestlemania 40 match
Rhea Ripley recently opened up about what Wrestlemania nerves feel like for her.
Ripley appeared as part of the Wrestlemania 40 Saturday lineup, putting her Women’s World Championship on the line against Becky Lynch. During a panel at WWE World the following day, Ripley detailed the stress that she went through before her 17-minute match that resulted in a victory.
“I legit was having a straight-up panic attack for like two hours before I walked through the curtain,” said Ripley, in a video posted by WrestlingNewsCo. “I was like violently shaking, nervous. If you don’t get nervous before you go out, especially at Wrestlemania, you obviously don’t love it enough. That’s the way I think about it. So I’m glad that the nerves were there, but at the same time they were sort of taking over my body.”
Ripley went on to mention that coming out to a live performance from Motionless In White, a band that she has listened to since high school, instantly put her in the zone to perform.
“So when I got to step through onto the stage with the band Motionless In White, with Chris, all those nerves that I had just sort of flew away,” she said. “I was in the zone, I was moshing out like it was a little mosh pit, I was living in the moment. That’s what I love about this business, we get to live in this moment all the time. I snap into Rhea Ripley, and I’m instantly comfortable, instantly ready to go and ready to fight.”