Jade Cargill says Rhea Ripley was not her first choice for WWE WrestleMania 42
Barely four years after her first pro wrestling match, Jade Cargill is set to face Rhea Ripley in one of the premiere matches at WrestleMania 42. But Ripley was not her first choice for a Mania opponent, and she claims that Ripley had more help getting to this point than she did.
Cargill shared her thoughts in an an appearance on the Joe Budden Podcast. First, she was asked if she would rather be facing Charlotte Flair instead of Ripley.
“It was just, we’ve always teased Charlotte Flair since day one,” she said. “And every time I had a face-to-face with this girl, we got a huge reaction. I’ve had maybe two face-offs with Rhea. The reaction, it was a total difference in reaction here. I would think that we’ll build more to Rhea because we don’t have history. Not saying Charlotte and I have history, but there’s been more of a reaction with Charlotte and I having attitude and yelling at each other than that.”
Cargill conceded that she does understand why Ripley is getting the match now: “I believe the reason why we went this route is because it’s more money that’s going to be made going against Rhea.”
Cargill followed by claiming Ripley was ‘built by WWE.’
“I want to say this. I want to say this,” Cargill said. “Yeah, she’s great. She’s great. But, however, she also is backed and always has been built by WWE. She came from the indies. Yes, she went to NXT. Her character has developed along the way. If you see how she looked when she first got into wrestling to now, it’s a huge transformation.
“But also the machine does that for you, she continued. “It pushes you. It helps you try different things, you know, and she goes out there and she delivers every single time. So, you’re going to do nothing but invest more and more and more.”
In Cargill’s eyes, she didn’t get the same kind of help. “I’m raw,” she said. “My first match ever was on TV. Like I just said, I didn’t go through the indies. I didn’t go through all the training. I didn’t do all that. My NXT was AEW.”
Cargill’s first ever pro wrestling match was a mixed tag on AEW Dynamite in March of 2021, teaming with NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal (in his second match ever) against the team of Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet.
