Dethroning the Queen

Dethroning the QUeen

Luis Vega

Arguably the hottest young talent in all of wrestling is Rhea Ripley. She burst onto the scene two years ago during the Mae Young Classic. Since then she has completely transformed her look and taken the wrestling world by storm. With a lengthy stint as the NXT UK Women’s Champion it was only a matter of time till she would make waves on the main roster. She announced herself in a big way during Survivor Series weekend by pinning Charlotte on Smackdown Friday night, winning WarGames Saturday night, and then winning for team NXT on Sunday. She followed that up by fi nally ending the reign of Shayna Baszler as NXT Women’s Champion. I’ve constantly said she is the closest thing I’ve seen to Charlotte Flair (who I think is the greatest female wrestler of all time). This weekend during Wrestlemania I get to see them go one on one.

Rhea was also the most recent subject for one of my illustrations. I tweeted a work in progress picture, and it made my day when Rhea herself retweeted it. A steady stream of likes followed. Here’s hoping that Rhea’s star continues to rise and she can overcome the Queen. —LV

Luis Vega