Rhea Ripley Reveals How Riptide Finisher Was Created

Rhea Ripley
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 21: Rhea Ripley at day 2 of Fanatics Fest NYC 2025 at Javits Center on June 21, 2025 in New York City. Copyright: xMediaPunchx
by Ishaan Sharma

Rhea Ripley has revealed how her Riptide finisher was created.

Ripley’s Riptide has become one of the most protected finishers in WWE over the years and has helped her defeat some of the biggest names in the women’s division. In a recent interview, Mami revealed how she came up with this finisher.

Also read: Rhea Ripley Opens Up About CM Punk Pep Talk Before SummerSlam 2024 Match

Rhea Ripley Reveals How She Came Up With Riptide

Speaking with ESPN, Ripley explained that the move came together while she was training with Tegan Nox and getting advice from Shane Haste.

Shane gave her different moves to try, and Ripley realized that she couldn’t perform this move long term. So she tweaked it a little bit, and came up with Riptide. Here’s what Ripley said:

“I was just trying things. I was practicing with Tegan [Nox], and Shane was feeding me different moves to try. He’s like, ‘Try the Pump Handle Slam,’ and I was like, ‘Okay.’ I tried it and I was like, ‘That’s really cool.’

I did it for a little bit going into the second Mae Young [Classic] and then obviously NXT UK. I would sit out with it and that was the way that I would do it for a while, and then my butt just hurt too bad. I was like, ‘I can’t do this. This is gonna really screw up my back later on, so I’m just gonna start going to my knees.’ So that’s how it all came to life. It was really Shane Haste’s idea.” (H/t WrestlePurist)

Also read: Rhea Ripley Reveals She Almost Lost Hold of Ropes During 2023 Royal Rumble Win

You can watch ESPN’s video in the embed below:

Ripley first started using the move during her run in NXT UK before bringing it to NXT and eventually the WWE main roster. Over time, the Riptide became one of the signature parts of her matches. WWE has also protected the move heavily, with very few stars kicking out of it.

The former Women’s World Champion has used the Riptide in several major matches during her career, including bouts against Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Liv Morgan and more recently against Jade Cargill.

Do you like seeing Riptide on WWE television?

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Main image credit: Imago