WWE WrestleMania 40 Results As Rhea Ripley Beats Becky Lynch

Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch at WWE WrestleMania 40.

Rhea Ripley beat Becky Lynch with two Riptides to continue her dominant reign as WWE women’s world champion. Ripley received a superstar entrance as Motionless In White played Ripley out live.

This was a back and forth war between two of WWE’s greatest Superstars of all time in their prime, and in the end, Ripley continued her years-long unbeaten streak.

Rhea Ripley is currently WWE’s biggest women’s star and has more followers on TikTok than any full-time WWE Superstar. Ripley’s rabid fanbase is nothing short of a cult, but in a good way if that was ever possible. During a C4-branded event for SummerSlam weekend last year, multiple fans asked, tongue-in-cheek (I think), if she could take a picture of her stepping on their heads.

Ripley’s star power has outshined her role as a heel, however, with fans refusing to boo the dominant WWE women’s world champion. The overpowered Rhea Ripley hasn’t suffered a pinfall or submission loss since May of 2022. After headlining WWE’s Elimination Chamber in her home continent of Australia, Ripley felt unstoppable heading into WrestleMania season and was the odds-on-favorite to retain.

Ripley’s lack of being booed created a conflict with her story against Becky Lynch, who was portrayed as protagonist challenger looking to do to Ripley what Kevin Nash did to Goldberg and end her multi-year winning streak. And while fans didn’t necessarily boo Lynch leading up to WrestleMania 40, fan support has leaned in Ripley’s direction even after excellent heartfelt promos from Lynch invoking her child and her late father. Lynch’s promo about her father not being able to see her become a mother was a response to Ripley delivering a heel line about becoming Roux’s “Mami” during the March 25 broadcast of WWE Raw.

The heel line received cheers and chants of “Mami.”

During the ring introductions, fans did indeed boo Lynch while vociferously cheering Ripley, chanting “Mami!” and “let’s go Mami!”

Storyline aside, Ripley and Lynch have the skills do deliver the WrestleMania match of the weekend. Fans were furiously invested in the WrestleMania opening match, and one which Lynch took great pride in being part of.

“I’m not worried about card order,” Lynch told ClutchPoints.com (h/t CageSideSeats.com). “I would love to open the show. I would love that. I’ve never opened WrestleMania before.”

“And to open this one, as big as it is in Philadelphia, I’m just putting that out there. It would be pretty cool because if it’s not the main event, I always want to be the opening spot — it’s always a great place on the card because people are so excited.”

“I would love to open the whole of WrestleMania, you know what I’m saying?” Lynch continued. “Just [to] be that first match for that whole event.”

“[Opening the show will] give me enough time that I can relax and really enjoy Colby [Lopez, Seth Rollins’ real name] main eventing WrestleMania and getting to watch him do that because that will be so special.”

Ripley and Lynch opened WrestleMania in a heated match in a relatively balmy Lincoln Financial Field. The show opened at 54 degrees, but weather hardly played a factor in what was a red-hot opener.

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