WWE: Rhea Ripley gets an incredible complement from a two-time Hall of Famer (2024)

Rhea Ripley is an absolute star.

A triple crown champion who became the youngest person in WWE history to accomplish the feat at WrestleMania 39, Ripley is currently entrenched as the first-ever WWE Women's World Champion in day 106 of her reign, and while she hasn't had a relentless schedule, she remains one of the most popular performers in the entire promotion, as she's gotten the rub on RAW, on SmackDown, and even in NXT, where she's working angles with Carmelo Hayes and Wes Lee.

Speaking about the former NXT Women's Champion-turned WWE Women's World Champion in a conversation with WrestleBinge heading into The Great American Bash, Shawn Michaels was asked how Ripley compares to one of his former DX cohorts, Chyna, a relatively common comparison thrown around once the “Eradicator” made it onto the main roster. While HBK has nothing but nice things to say about Ripley, he believes the duo are both incredibly important to WWE history and as a result, one isn't a clone of the other.

“Chyna was one of the rare and unique people. I think she changed the face of women's wrestling in a big way. I guess I'll always kind of be biased in respect to Chyna. I mean, I think she was just unlike any others before. But look, Rhea is absolutely one of my favorites,” Shawn Michaels said via Wrestling News. “I knew it from the day I walked into NXT that you could see that she was something special. and, you know, wanting to do everything that I could to be a part of her career. I mean, when she started out with us in NXT UK, man, I'm just telling you, you could see her grow. You could see her confidence grow and watch her evolve and just turn it into a fantastic performer and then came over here to NXT and continued that ascension. So I'm not surprised one bit at her success on the main roster. She's still so very young. So, look, she's gonna surpass certainly, again, respectfully, anything that Chyna accomplished, but I don't think that'll ever, you know, take away from what Joanie contributed to the WWE and the sport in general.”

Has WWE hinted at some Chyna-esque spots with Ripley? You bet; she powerbombed Luke Gallows on an episode of RAW and routinely gets in between Dominik Mysterio and opposing Superstars not just because babyfaces don't hit girls but because if they did, she would hit back a whole lot harder. But for the most part, Ripley's been booked like a dominant female performer more so a female enforcer who can beat up on the likes of Chris Jericho. Assuming her career trajectory continues to climb, it's safe to say Ripley'll likely join Chyna in the WWE Hall of Fame one day, even if she doesn't go down as Chyna 2.0.

Shawn Michaels has love for Rhea Ripley's faction mates too.

Discussing other members of The Judgment Day who took inspiration from Shawn Michaels' previous faction, HBK was asked about Damian Priest's use of the Razors Edge finisher made famous by his former Kliq member Razor Ramone, who unfortunately passed away in 2022. In the opinion of Mr. Michaels, he has no issue with performers taking influence from the past, as his generation clearly did enough good things to become so inspirational.

“A lot of times, you see the influence that, you know, not just the Kliq, but certainly our generation altogether, have on this generation, just like again, you know, as we all grew up, you know, the people before us influenced us as well,” Michaels said. “That's certainly something here at NXT that we obviously are thrilled about. We try to instill certainly all the best qualities of the WWE and the world of wrestling into the NXT superstars. Obviously, I think that you can see that flourishing now on the main roster as 98% of the main roster, the Superstars of SmackDown and RAW are all people that came through NXT. So yeah, that's one of the greatest attributes of this job, for both Hunter and myself, is the opportunity to give back to a business that was so wonderful, and it continues to be wonderful to us, and hopefully instilling in the hearts and minds of young men and women that come through NXT and work for him on the main roster. You know, to appreciate and respect the generations before you, one of the ways to do that is obviously by what you saw last night with Damian Priest.”

Though it may get overlooked at times, it's pretty crazy to realize that two of the most popular performers of the last four decades are suddenly back on top of WWE, booking the shows and molding the next generation of certified Superstars. That is an asset that very few other professional wrestling companies can boast in 2023, and fantastic news for Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio, and every other performer who makes their way through the PC, as they are truly learning from the best.