Natalya Wanted To Give Rhea Ripley A Handshake And Hug After Their Match On Monday’s RAW

Natalya and Rhea Ripley battled once again on RAW, and this time the battle was much longer than previously.

With Ripley’s WWE Women’s World Title on the line, the two women went to war on Monday’s RAW, with WWE higher ups happy with the matchup.

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Natalya was asked how she felt after the match and stated she wanted to hug The Eradicator after.

“Yes, I did. I went from, going into the match, ‘Okay I can do this, I think I can do this.’ I’m being open and honest about my confidence being rocked since Night of Champions, I fell to a low point. I went into that match on Monday with unsteady confidence. I came out of it like, ‘Yes, I am one of the best women’s wrestlers on the planet, and I can still hang at this level.’ Not only can I hang at this level, but I exceeded everybody’s expectations and going into this match, I think Rhea Ripley underestimated me. It truly felt like a Rocky story. I felt like I was Rocky. Prior to the match, she didn’t think anything of me. She really thought, ‘I’m in there with Nattie, she’s respected.’ She had no idea that I was going to take her to her limit. At the end of the match, what I wanted to do when it was all said and done, I wanted to shake her hand. I wanted to shake her hand and give her a hug. I never got that chance because she beat me up after the match. What I felt was that it was my cry to the world that I could still do this, but I never really lost it. People were like, ‘Nattie really brought it, she had something to prove.’ This has been me the entire time, I haven’t always had that opportunity in the last couple of years, I haven’t had that chance on this stage with somebody like Rhea. It’s been great,” she said.

She continued, “It’s not like I don’t like doing tags, I love being part of a tag team. The stuff that I did with Tamina was awesome and the stuff I did with Shotzi at WrestleMania was fun. To get into a really deep story, I think about my work with Charlotte and Ronda Rousey. I love being a singles competitor and I think about the women that I still want to work with. I want to work at a high level and stay at a high level. Monday night proved that and I’m excited to see where WWE is going to go with me next. We all have to believe in ourselves. You have to have some sort of ego if you’re going to be in this industry. I love being humble and there is a real side of humble Nattie, but I’m also like, I am one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world and I want to go and stay at a high level. On Monday, I brought our 26-year-old Women’s Champion to her knees and made her believe in me, and made the whole world believe in me. I’m ready to stay at this level and prove I belong at this level.”

Natalya

Ripley would end up the victor in the match, but Natalya made it incredibly hard on the champion to walk away with her title.

We will have to wait and see what comes next for Nattie and Rhea.

H/T to Fightful

Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter

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