Top WWE Star Rhea Ripley Marries AEW Wrestler
By Jason Hall
June 27, 2024
WWE superstar and former Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley and All Elite Wrestling star Buddy Matthews got married Sunday (June 23), according to a joint Instagram post shared on Wednesday (June 26).
"Til death. 🖤23.06.24," Ripley wrote in the caption of the post.
The couple's wedding took place amid both of their absences from their respective television shows. Ripley, 27, suffered a shoulder injury during a backstage segment with Liv Morgan -- the current Women's World Champion -- that forced her to relinquish her title in April.
Matthews, 35, a member of the House of Black faction, appeared to injure his knee during a post-match beatdown by The Patriarchy during a live episode of Collision on June 15, however, PWInsider's Mike Johnson later reported that it was part of "a storyline" in order to allow Matthews time off to attend a family event with Ripley in their native Australia, though not specifying if that was their wedding at the time of the initial report.
Ripley has emerged as one of professional wrestling's brightest female stars, having held the Women's World Championship for a recognized 379 days -- tying a record previously set by Bayley in 2020 -- and serving as the lone female member of the Judgement Day stable, which has shown signs of dismantling in her absence recently. Matthews, who previously wrestled for WWE as 'Buddy Murphy' from 2013 to 2021, made his AEW debut as a member of the House of Black alongside Malakai Black and Brody King -- a stable that later added Julia Hart -- in 2022 and the group won the AEW World Trios Championship in March 2023.