Rhea Ripley Fined $10,000 by A&E Parent Company, Walt Disney

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Rhea Ripley Fined $10,000 by A&E Parent Company, Walt Disney

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Rhea Ripley fined $10,000 by A&E Parent Company, Walt Disney
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TONY FRANKLIN
August 8, 2022
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Credit: EBWF / Rhea Ripley's Twitter

It has only been one week since the controversial signing of Rhea Ripley to EBWF. In that one week many backstage reports have already come out that Rhea has already been officially fined $10,000 from A&E thanks to her segment tonight on Warfare. Well, specifically, Rhea was fined from A&E's parent company, Walt Disney thanks to two specific moments that occurred. This information has been reported by two highly respected members of Professional Wrestling Media: Dave Meltzer of the Observer and Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful. Both have reported key pieces of this story that will be collected here.

Meltzer was told by his sources inside EBWF's locker room, that after Rhea's impactful debut that she wasn't seen backstage in any capacity before her scheduled match with Aalyah. Dave, at the time from these reports, assumed that this might be Rhea leaving for a period as was previously recorded of her mysterious behavior from her previous employer. Dave's conclusion was that the behavior she had previously might actually just be her normal. Sean Ross Sapp's report later tonight has given more insider information on what really occurred and that Rhea was very much inside the building at all times. Sean reports, from a respected staff member in the EBWF, that Rhea was actually quickly grabbed and sent to Jim Ross's office for a breakdown of why she was being fined $10,000 from A&E, specifically from A&E's Parent Company: Walt Disney.

Here is the segment of the report that Sean has just published on Fightful:

"[Rhea] was called into JR's office for breaking a number of rules that A&E has had for Warfare since their move to the station. One was her initial action of how she spoke down so openly about Walt Disney's Disneyland attraction mixed with the swearing she had in the dialogue about Disney's Copyrighted Property. While that would have been probably a warning, as many inside EBWF have stated for the rules traditionally, she then risked a riot on A&E programming and also threatened a child on Disney owned Television in the same moment. EBWF was openly asked if this was part of the show and had to admit it at least wasn't cleared with anyone in Administration. This led to Disney's anger coming down on EBWF, and an agreement of the amount of fine that would be appropriate for [Ripley]." - Sean Ross Sapp's report from Fightful.com.

What will this mean for Rhea? I don't think anyone can say who isn't inside the EBWF. EBWF was warned on multiple accounts by many different people about Rhea's actions leading to possible issues. That said, while the full ratings haven't came in for a program I'm actively watching at this moment, compared to last week, there were a lot of eyes on Ripley for her in-ring debut by multiple tracks on the program. So, it will be up to the EBWF on if Rhea will have to be reigned in more than they traditionally have allowed their talent. The one thing we do know for sure, it is clear she will be $10,000 less rich.

As fans though, we all have to admit her debut segment that EBWF produced last week and this one has seemed to have fit well in the exciting television that EBWF has produced as of late. It seems weekly on Warfare, EBWF talent has made a point to continue to compete among themselves and this may be another sign of that. Rhea, so far, has produced a few more eyes to the product and that may be well worth leaving her alone for the EBWF. Biases aside about whatever you feel about her, she's admittedly very talented and has appeared to be very watchable by fans. We will have to see what occurs from this news.

Stay tuned for more news as we gather more information in the coming weeks!

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Tony Franklin is the owner of wrestling website Heels for Faces and is host and cohost of multiple podcasts on YouTube, Spotify and everywhere you find podcasts (Link on website). You can follow him on Twitter and elsewhere for more.