WWE's Rhea Ripley Talks Receiving Opportunities Due To Injuries & Crowd Reactions Read More: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1898930/wwe-rhea-ripley-talks-receiving-opportunities-due-injuries-crowd-reactions/

As the saying goes, plans are always subject to change in WWE. In Rhea Ripley's case, two major changes previously worked in her favor, specifically by taking her career to new levels. During a recent appearance on "Insight With Chris Van Vliet," Ripley reflected on these pivotal moments, the first of which came about under some rather unfortunate circumstances.

Amidst the 2018 Mae Young Classic, Ripley faced Tegan Nox in the quarterfinals, with Nox slated to advance to the next round against IYO SKY (then known as Io Shirai). Due to a mid-match injury to her knee and tibia, however, Nox was deemed unable to continue. As a result, the referee awarded the victory to Ripley, who went on to wrestle SKY instead.

"[IYO] didn't really speak English at that time either. It was very, very rough. We had 20 minutes to put a 15-minute match together and it was just alright, plan something," Ripley said. "I'm still trying to get over this really traumatic situation which I was just a part of. I still had Tegan's screams in the back of my head and just the noises that were coming out of her ... It's just like a really specific noise that a human makes when they're in literal pain. But then going out there and putting on such a good match with IYO, first time ever touching, having Hunter come out and raise my hand on the stage, it was just like I feel like they're noticing now."

Prior to her impromptu match against SKY, Ripley noted that WWE didn't use her on "WWE NXT" programming, though she did make rounds on the brand's untelevised live events. In general, Ripley felt like she didn't belong amongst the developmental roster, as many of her cohorts picked on her. After seeing her performance against SKY and a nod of approval from Paul "Triple H" Levesque, however, she felt more included and set on an upward track.