Aussies Abroad: Rhea Ripley’s dominant return amidst heartbreak in AEW
Welcome back to the second installment of ‘Aussies Abroad’, where we take a deep dive into all the major news from Australian wrestlers doing our country proud overseas every week.
Let’s kick things off strong this week with the news that has been dominating social media since last Tuesday. Fans and the WWE locker room alike have felt the absence of Adelaide-turned-global star Rhea Ripley since an injury earlier this year saw her out of the ring since April, when the 27-year-old saw her belt relinquished in the ring as she took a break from the wrestling world. In the few months since the eradicator’s been gone, the belt has switched hands from WWE women’s veteran Becky Lynch to 2022 Money in the Bank winner Liv Morgan. The feisty competitor has recently found herself inching her way into both The Judgement Day and Rhea’s on-screen partner Dominick Mysterio’s heart after stating she’ll “take everything Rhea loves” away from the former champion. The tension reached boiling point this week when Morgan assisted Mysterio in catching the first-ever win over his “deadbeat dad” Rey Mysterio. However, the two’s in-ring (and awfully cozy) celebration was abruptly interrupted by the roaring voice of Motionless In white’s Chris Motionless singing “this is my brutality”. What followed was an intense first encounter between Mysterio and Ripley since her leave that saw Liv scrambling out of the venue for safety. At the time of publication, an official match has not yet been announced between the parties involved for next week’s RAW, but we can’t wait to see Rhea unleash her full wrath on the locker room when she kicks the episode off this week.
The RAW brand also saw South Australian Bronson Reed come out on top after destroying the former NXT tag champion Pete Dunne. Despite some painful blows to Reed’s lower arms and hands by Dunne, it was a massive tsunami that saw the Aussie take the win. Reed didn’t slow things down even after his match, as he made a bold call-out to WWE legend John Cena, wishing to take on the veteran star before his official retirement from the ring in 2025. Bronson took to social media to challenge Cena, writing: “Big match John can get this work”. Reed is also set to face Sheamus this Tuesday following a heated backstage confrontation.
NXT Heatwave saw an exciting opportunity for Adelaide-born Duke Hudson and his tag-team partner Andre Chase for the championship belts against Nathan Frazer and Axiom. Neither team could get the upper hand at the beginning of the match until Axiom hit a mean dropkick followed by both him and Chase exchanging pin attempts. Later in the match, Duke showed off an impressive leap moving into a German Suplex across the ring. Another highlight for Duke was when he hit Trish Stratus’ signature Statusphere move, which saw the hall-of-famer taking to Twitter to express her appreciation. Chase was also able to land a Russian leg sweep on Axiom followed by the Chase U stomp routine before going top rope and hitting a cross-body block. That still wasn’t enough to take the belts though, with a Golden Ratio kick to Chase by Axiom sending him down for a pinfall win.
On the blue brand, this week’s Smackdown saw Aussie Grayson Waller and his newly found tag team partner Austin Theory in a rematch for the tag team championship. The two once again went up against DIY’s Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. Things weren’t going too bad for the duo until Waller and Theory went for a ‘meet me in the middle’ on Ciampa who moved out of the way just in time for Theory to accidentally take the full strike instead. This led Gargano and Ciampa to hit Waller with a shatter machine and a successful ‘meet me in the middle’ leading to a 3-count pin.
Heartbreak was in the air this week with the ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm left in a bloody mess after a post-match attack at the end of AEW’s Dynamite. In a shocking turn of events, Mariah May attacked her so-called idol after her win in the 2024 Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. After May held the three count against Willow Nightingale for the win, Storm joined her in the ring in victory before the two ran hand-in-hand to collect the cup. It wasn’t until May set eyes on the women’s world championship belt hanging off the cup did she realise she would be facing Storm for the title in August. In a fit of rage, May struck Storm across the face with the belt before continuously beating her mentor until she was left in a pool of her own blood. May took to local media post-match to explain the reasoning behind her attack, saying that the carnage felt like a “celebration” for all the work she had done to be this year’s winner. She also claimed to “destroy what’s left of Toni Storm” when she goes head-to-head for the championship at All In.
The heartbreak didn’t end there for AEW talent, with Aussie Kyle Fletcher also missing out on his shot at the AEW Internationsional Championship at Dynamite. The ‘Aussie Arrow’ competed in an impressive four-way match with Tomohiro Ishii, Claudio Castagnoli, and PAC, but was unable to pick up a win after tapping out of a mean locked submission hold.
Taking a trip across the world to Japan, NJPW has reportedly re-signed TMDK’s Shane Haste for another run with the brand. Rising Perth talent Lena Kross has also been making waves in Japan with Sendai Girls Prowrestling this week. Kross made her Japanese debut in 2022 with the same brand, and the run has been described as a long-term dream for the star.
With many Aussies carving their mark on the global stage, we can’t wait to see their next moves in rings across the world- till next week!
News Writer + Aussies Abroad. Based in Adelaide and winner of the 2023 CPA Young Journo of the year, has been a news and arts journalist for a number of years working across radio and print, but has decided to take her wrestling addiction to PWDU. You can find her at any local wrestling night across the state with a beer in-hand and a front-row ticket to the action.
