Here are two things you have to remember about social media spats between wrestlers like the one we saw between Rhea Ripley and Jade Cargill on X from Saturday to Monday.
No matter if it’s a work or a shoot, or if they worked themselves into a shoot, the audience is being worked. No matter what it is, it’s good for business leading into the match and can make WWE a big winner.
Now, a portion of the fan base who pays attention to those sorts of things — likely the ones who buy tickets — are emotionally invested in a match that really didn’t have much going for it other than Cargill needed to prove herself against one of WWE’s top stars at WrestleMania. Fans will spend hours on social media analyzing it.
Whether manufactured or real, there is now a deep personal animosity added to their WrestleMania 42 story for Las Vegas after the back and forth that started with the Elimination Chamber winner Ripley trying to correct the WWE Women’s champion’s statement that she was her second choice for the match behind Charlotte Flair by unearthing a video interview in which Cargill called her a dream match.