"You're gonna leave people behind" - Rhea Ripley recalls WWE veteran's blunt advice; calls SmackDown star her 'best friend'

WWE's Chief Content Officer Triple H recently voiced his admiration for Rhea Ripley, claiming that she is on Roman Reigns' level. While that amount of pressure could take a toll on anybody, the 26-year-old revealed in a recent interview that Raquel Rodriguez and Scotty 2 Hotty are the ones that have kept her sane over the years.

The Australian is already a mega-star in the wrestling world, especially after her performances in the Women's Royal Rumble match and against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39. Being the current SmackDown Women's Champion, Rhea Ripley is arguably the most sought-after female wrestler in WWE.

While making an appearance on the latest episode of the After The Bell podcast, she broke character to discuss some of the advice she received from veteran Scotty 2 Hotty. He was a mainstay on WWE's roster from the Attitude Era through the Ruthless Aggression Era (1997-2007). Ripley also called Raquel Rodriguez her best friend:

"The two people that I really like have to give credit to are Raquel Rodriguez. She's my best friend. We went through so much at the Performance Center together. We were the only two girls in Scotty's class. Scott is the other one. Every single day at training he would see me be so depressed and upset and question everything. He would take me to the corner of the ring, tell me to wipe my eyes and give me a little pep talk sort of thing. He'd be like, 'You're doing great. Don't listen to people. You're doing fantastic. You're learning, you're improving, it's gonna get better, and you're gonna leave people behind', and that's exactly what happened. So Scotty and Raquel are the main two." [H/T: WrestlingNews.co]

After being released by WWE on May 18, 2007, Scotty 2 Hotty, real name Scott Ronald Garland, made sporadic appearances for the company. He returned to the WWE Performance Center on September 7, 2016, as a trainer and remained in that post until November 23, 2021.

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Rhea Ripley wants a one-on-one match with two WWE Hall of Famers

After Freddie Prinze Jr. recently expressed his desire to bear witness to the payoff between Beth Phoenix and Rhea Ripley on WWE TV, after what happened between the two at Extreme Rules 2022. The Eradicator has now revealed she too wants that match.

In the aforementioned interview, she named Phoenix and Lita as her dream opponents:

"I think one of the main ones is, I want my singles match with Beth Phoenix. I want my singles match, not a tag, a singles. But if she doesn't fit the mold of what we're going with, and we're going with first time ever, I want to say Lita. I think that would be a lot of fun." [H/T: WrestlingNews.co]

While Beth Phoenix was last seen at Elimination Chamber in February, Lita and Becky Lynch dropped their Women's Tag Team Championship to Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan. On the latest edition of Monday Night RAW, Trish Stratus replaced Lita on account of a backstage incident and subsequently attacked The Man post-match.