open-menu

Bianca Belair And Rhea Ripley Return To NXT To Celebrate With Raquel Gonzalez

Wrestling Sasha Banks
Jeremy Lambert Apr 13, 2021 9:40PM

The future is now.

It was a hell of a week for Raquel Gonzalez, Bianca Belair, and Rhea Ripley as all three captured titles on their respective brands. Gonzalez defeated Io Shirai to win the NXT Women's Championship at night one of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, Belair defeated Sasha Banks at night one of WrestleMania 37 to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, and Ripley defeated Asuka to win the Raw Women's Championship at night two of WrestleMania 37.

Tony Khan Will Have To Eventually Consider Succession Plans For AEW But Is Having More Fun Than Ever

The three friends and NXT standouts reunited on Tuesday's NXT, holding a mini-celebration at the Capitol Wrestling Center.

All three women have been very complimentary of each other in recent interviews.

Gonzalez told Steven Muehlhausen of DANZ, "I would say it's not even so much just the new athlete, but I think it's the new powerhouses. I think the women's division has always had maybe one or two women that are considered powerhouse athletes, powerhouse sports entertainers. Now you have multiple ones but powerhouses that are different in their own styles as well because Bianca as we know is very agile, and she can flip, and she can jump. She's strong, she's powerful, and she can throw. Then you have Rhea Ripley, and she's quick, she's swift, she's vicious, and she's brutal with everything that she does. Then you have someone like me who's taller, strong, and developing a more big man type of style. But at the same time, we all find our similarities amongst each other. I think that's what pushes us to be the new kind of athlete, like you said, of the women's division in WWE because we all came into the Performance Center it was something that was more unspoken, but it's something that you develop when you're a part of a team, and that is you push each other in a good way, you push each other to work harder, you push each other to make the other person want to work harder for themselves by being your best, but you also want to see them succeed. I think that's what all three of us have in common is that we kind of share that as a group and as family and as friends."

Ripley told Scott Fishman of TV Insider about the original photo, "I found that photo and just posted it. Raquel had already won the NXT championship [at TakeOver on April 7] and thought, “Why don’t we make it a trifecta.” And it ended up happening. We’re here now and taking over. I actually got teary watching Bianca wrestle and become SmackDown women’s champion. I knew I had to bring it for my match. I was the only one without a championship out of us three, and then I won. We’re definitely going to have to get an updated photo now."

Check out Fightful's coverage of NXT by clicking here. You can also watch the post-show podcast for a full review of the show by clicking here.

Get exclusive pro wrestling content on Fightful Select, our premium news service! Click here to learn more.