Demi Bennett (born 11 October 1996) is an Australian professional wrestler. As of July 2017, she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Rhea Ripley. She is a former two-time Women's World Champion and a two-time WWE Women's Champion. Ripley's first reign as Women's World Champion is tied with Bayley as the longest in the title's history at 380 days.
After competing on the independent circuit under her real name since 2013, Ripley joined WWE and participated in the inaugural Mae Young Classic in 2017. After reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 edition of the tournament, she was part of the original roster of NXT UK, becoming the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion in August 2018. After a run on the NXT brand from 2019 to 2021, which saw her win the NXT Women's Championship and become the brand's first member to defend an NXT title at WrestleMania, WWE's flagship event, she was promoted to the main roster on Raw where she joined The Judgment Day in 2022.
In addition to the NXT UK Women's Championship and NXT Women's Championship, she is a former two-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion (with Nikki A.S.H. and Iyo Sky, respectively). After winning the SmackDown Women's Championship in April 2023—which was renamed as Women's World Championship that June—she became the seventh WWE Women's Triple Crown Champion and fifth WWE Women's Grand Slam Champion, as well as the only wrestler to have held all five of these titles. She is also the first female Australian champion in WWE history. Ripley was the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble winner, becoming the fourth wrestler and the first woman to win a Royal Rumble match as the number one entrant.
Demi Bennett was born on 11 October 1996 in Adelaide, South Australia. She is of Italian descent through her mother's side. Bennett grew up in the beachside Adelaide suburb of Glenelg and attended Henley High School throughout her teenage years. She played association football in her youth before becoming a professional wrestler.
Bennett debuted in Riot City Wrestling on 22 June 2013 at the age of 16. She spent several years in the promotion, where she became a two-time RCW Women's Champion. Bennett made her New Horizon Pro Wrestling debut on 24 May 2014 during the opening night of the NHPW Global Conflict where she joined the Global Conflict Tournament. She was eliminated during the first round of the tournament by Mercedes Martinez. She returned for the second night of the NHPW Global Conflict event, competing in a four-way mixed tag team match paired with Garry Schmidt. Six months later, Bennett was part of the opening night of the NHPW Final Chapter event, wrestling a four-way match against Madison Eagles, Evie and Saraya Knight for the vacant IndyGurlz Australia Championship, but was unsuccessful.
Bennett made her Melbourne City Wrestling debut on 14 June 2014 at MCW New Horizons where she defended the RCW Women's Championship in a three-way match against Savannah Summers and Toni Storm. On 9 August at MCW Clash Of The Titans, Bennett defeated Miami to retain her championship. On 22 April 2017, Bennett wrestled her last RCW match at RCW Strength where she successfully defended the title against Kellyanne.
From April to June 2015, Bennett toured Japan, wrestling for Pro Wrestling Zero1, Reina Joshi Puroresu, Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling, and World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana. She wrestled the first bout of her tour on 5 April at Diana's 4th Anniversary Show in Tokyo's Korakuen Hall, losing to Kyoko Kimura, and the last match of her tour on 23 June, defeating Konami in a bout for Reina in Tokyo.
In 2017, Bennett signed with WWE, and it was announced that she would compete in the inaugural Mae Young Classic under the new name "Rhea Ripley". Bennett came up with the ring name while mixing and matching possible names, settling on Rhea from the Greek goddess of the same name, and Ripley after Ellen Ripley from the Alien film franchise. She defeated Miranda Salinas in the first round but lost to Dakota Kai in the second round. Ripley made her NXT television debut on 25 October 2017 episode of NXT, participating in a battle royal to determine one of the contenders for the vacant NXT Women's Championship at TakeOver: WarGames on 18 November, which was won by Nikki Cross. Sporting a new look, Ripley competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic, displaying a new aggressive and disrespectful attitude. She defeated MJ Jenkins, Kacy Catanzaro, and Tegan Nox in her first three matches but lost to Io Shirai in the semi-finals.
Inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion (2018–2019)
Shortly after the 2018 Mae Young Classic, Ripley became part of the NXT UK brand as part of the premiere of the newly created NXT UK show.
During the television tapings of the show in August (that aired throughout November), Ripley took part in an eight-woman tournament to determine the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion. She defeated Xia Brookside in the first round, Dakota Kai in the semi-finals, and Toni Storm in the finals to become the inaugural champion. With the win, Ripley became the first female Australian champion in WWE history and the second Australian champion after Buddy Murphy. Ripley also competed in a dark match before the first ever all women's pay–per–view, Evolution, on 28 October, where she successfully defended her title against Kai (due to the tournament having yet to air at the time, she was not yet recognized on-screen as champion). Throughout her reign, Ripley went on to fend off title contenders such as Isla Dawn and Deonna Purrazzo.
On 12 January 2019 at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool, Ripley lost the title to Storm, ending her reign at 139 days and marking her first defeat in the brand. At Royal Rumble on 27 January, Ripley made her first appearance on a main roster pay-per-view by entering the women's Royal Rumble match at number 24, eliminating Kacy Catanzaro, Dana Brooke, and Zelina Vega before being eliminated by Bayley. Afterwards, Ripley feuded with the debuting Piper Niven for the remainder of the year over which one was the most dominant woman in the NXT UK roster. The two traded victories with each other before teaming up after Ripley saved Niven from an attack by Jazzy Gabert and Jinny, whom they defeated in a tag team match on 4 October. Ripley wrestled her last match in the brand on 5 October 2019 tapings of NXT UK, defeating Nina Samuels.
NXT Women's Champion (2019–2021)
On 28 August 2019 episode of NXT, Ripley made her surprise return to the brand when she interrupted NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler, stating that Baszler may have beaten everyone on NXT, but not her, turning face and beginning a feud between the two in the process. In parallel to her feud against Baszler, on 1 November episode of SmackDown, Ripley and Tegan Nox were one of the many NXT wrestlers to invade the show, challenging Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville to a tag team match which Ripley and Nox won. Later that night, Ripley joined Triple H and the rest of the NXT roster as they declared war on both Raw and SmackDown, and vowed to win the 2019 Survivor Series brand warfare. As part of the ongoing storyline, she defeated both Raw's Charlotte Flair and SmackDown's Sasha Banks in a triple threat match on 22 November episode of SmackDown.
At TakeOver: WarGames on 23 November, Ripley led Team Ripley in the first ever women's WarGames match against Team Baszler (Baszler, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, and NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray); despite teammate Dakota Kai turning heel and attacking Nox before the two entered the match, leaving Ripley and Candice LeRae in a de facto two-on-four handicap match, Ripley gave her team the victory by pinning Baszler. The following night at Survivor Series, Ripley was part of Team NXT, who defeated Team Raw and Team SmackDown, and the leader of her team in the 5-on-5-on-5 women's elimination match, which her team won after she last eliminated SmackDown captain Sasha Banks, with she, LeRae and Shirai as the survivors.