WWE: Video shows Rhea Ripley looking stressed as she’s swarmed by fans

Disturbing footage has surfaced of Australian WWE superstar Rhea Ripley looking stressed and overwhelmed as she was recently swarmed by fans at the airport.

A video of the SmackDown Women’s Champion signing autographs while apparently in distress was widely shared on Twitter last month, leading some wrestling fans to say the autograph hunters — who were mostly young men — had gone too far.

Adelaide-born Ripley, whose real name is Demi Bennett, was clearly exhausted when the group of men didn’t flinch, even when she said she wanted to leave.

According to the TikTok user who uploaded the footage, the 26-year-old grappler asked, “Do you mind if I go?”

“It’s so upsetting that she thinks she has to ask,” the TikTok user wrote in the caption. “A large group of men… It must be so intimidating.”

A Twitter fan page for Ripley later reposted the video, where it was viewed millions of times, alongside the caption, “This is so sad. You can easily tell she’s tired and annoyed by it.”

After the incident, Ripley opened up about the situation to the USA Network, explaining how things escalated when she refused to sign merchandise for one fan.

This fan’s request encouraged others to do the same and she was blown away. Her fear only grew when the group started to follow her as she ran away.

“It’s kind of a right if some fans expect us to just do it and they start making a fuss when we say no,” she said.

So I had a fan follow me outside the airport today because I said no to them because I didn’t have time and it was all the same things they wanted to sign.

“It was one fan specifically, he’s notorious, he’s always at the airport getting our autographs and selling them on eBay. We know his face, we know who he is.

“He was the main instigator, he followed me out and others followed him too and they all followed me trying to find my Uber.

“So I try to tell them no and they’re all persistent and I ended up getting lost – I had no idea where my Uber was, and I ended up going down the stairs away from everyone else and I’m just surrounded by these five guys and they fall just bothering me.

“I don’t think people understand how threatening that is. Mainly because you don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know these people.’

She also addressed the moment on Twitter, sternly warning fans.

‘People have to respect that no means no!’ she tweeted.

“At airports, don’t follow me out. Today totally put me off! I won’t sign anything that isn’t a personal photo of us anymore.’

She added, “Hate me, I don’t care. Don’t agree with me, try putting yourself in our shoes for a day.’

Ripley became the first Aussie to win the Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 37 in 2021.

She quickly became known for her hard-core, hardcore-style matches – and while the results are predetermined, there’s nothing fake about being slammed onto a pile of thumbtacks or thrown from a ladder onto a table.