
A top WWE star has opened up about a persistent lower back injury that almost forced her to miss a big title match at WrestleMania 41.
Night Two of WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, NV opened with a show stealing three-way for the WWE Women’s World Championship, as IYO SKY defended against Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley.
The match was regarded by many fans to be the highlight of the weekend’s action, however, as revealed by Rhea Ripley in a new appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, her participation in that match almost didn’t come to fruition.
Ripley was asked by Van Vliet whether any part of her body hurts due to wrestling, which led to the WWE Raw star opening up regarding an ever present lower back issue that she’s been dealing with since her time in NXT.
Ripley said:
“Normally my lower back, especially lately, I don’t know what’s been going on. I think it actually started from the match I had with Raquel in NXT, where she gave me the back body drop onto the announce table, but we undershot it and I hit the very edge of the table, like right on my lower back. After that, my lower back was never the same.
“But I mean, I do whatever I can to try and make it better. I have a masseuse Matthew come over and he works on it. He helps stretch me out, and puts my hips back in line pretty much, and just fixes all that.
“And thank God for him that he comes over to help. Because sometimes it gets really bad. I didn’t think that I would be able to wrestle at WrestleMania 41.“
Ripley discussed the efforts of her masseuse in getting her physically ready for WrestleMania 41, as well as detailing the pain she’s been dealing with since then:
“WrestleMania 41, I didn’t think I was going to be able to compete because my back was so bad leading up to it. The two nights beforehand, I got [my masseuse] Matthew to come to my room, and he worked on me the night before Hall of Fame and the night of Hall of Fame.
“I was like, I need you to make sure I can walk tomorrow. And he worked on me those two nights, and it loosened completely just in time for the match.
“Then after the match, it was okay, and then, slowly, because I’ve been wrestling more, it’s just slowly tightens up, but that’s because I just don’t stretch on my own, so that’s my fault as well.
“It gets really bad. I don’t know if it’s a sciatic thing or whatnot, or just my body in itself, the shape of my body and how I’m put together. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s something. But it does go down, and it definitely revs up sometimes, and sometimes it’s just bearable.”
Ripley is set to compete at this Saturday’s WWE Night of Champions premium live event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, taking on Raquel Rodriguez in a Street Fight.
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Transcript via ChrisVanVliet.com
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