Rhea Ripley and Buddy Matthews' Relationship: All About the Wrestlers' Romance

WWE wrestler Rhea Ripley and AEW wrestler Buddy Matthews went public with their relationship in 2022

Former WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley may be known for her WWE character’s relationship with Dominik Mysterio, but in real life she is engaged to AEW wrestler Buddy Matthews.

Ripley is one of the biggest superstars in WWE, having reached the company’s pinnacle. In 2023, she was named ESPN’s Female Wrestler of the Year and the No. 2 ranked wrestler by Sports Illustrated. She also won the WWE Women’s World Championship at WrestleMania 39 that year — which tied her with Bayley as the longest reign ever before she had to vacate the title due to injury in April 2024.

Matthews also wrestled in WWE under the name Buddy Murphy. He was named CBS Sports' Breakthrough Wrestler of the Year in 2018 and won titles including the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, WWE Raw Tag Team Championship and NXT Tag Team Championship. In 2022, Matthews moved over to AEW — which stands for All Elite Wrestling, a fast-growing wrestling promotion founded in 2019 that features many former WWE superstars — where he has held the AEW World Trios Championship and is part of the House of Black stable.

The Australian-born wrestlers met while both working in WWE and went public with their relationship in 2022 when they began posting pictures on Instagram of themselves working out together. In March 2024, Ripley was interviewed by fellow WWE star Logan Paul on his podcast Impaulsive and talked about her relationship with Matthews.

“He’s very comfortable in what he’s doing and who I am,” Ripley said at the time. “He also loves to help me along the way and help me grow, which is what a relationship should be. It’s a team.”

The couple’s love of wrestling even extends to birthday wishes and celebrations. On Ripley’s 27th birthday, Matthews posted a picture on Instagram of Ripley dressed as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in his early days.

“Happy Birthday to my Rock! You are an absolute superstar, a work horse & one hell of a partner in crime! Love you!” Matthews wrote in the caption.

Here’s everything to know about the relationship between WWE star Rhea Ripley and AEW star Buddy Matthews.

They met while both wrestling in WWE and confirmed they were dating in 2022

Ripley and Matthews met while both wrestling in WWE. While they both got their start on the company’s developmental NXT brand, they eventually moved up to the main roster while overlapping on the NXT roster for a year.

Matthews joined WWE under the NXT brand in 2013 and won the NXT Tag Team Championship before joining the main roster in 2018. Ripley’s WWE tenure also began in NXT in 2017, where she won the NXT Women’s Championship before making her main roster debut in March 2021.

Matthews was notably engaged to WWE superstar Alexa Bliss — who is now married to musician Ryan Cabrera — when Ripley was beginning her run in WWE, before Bliss and Matthews amicably split. Matthews and Ripley overlapped on the main roster for a few months following Ripley’s March 2021 debut before Matthews left WWE in June 2021 and joined AEW in February 2022.

In April 2022, the two first posted videos on Instagram of themselves working out together. Ripley confirmed their relationship when a fan on X (formerly Twitter) asked her, “Rhea what does he have that I don’t have?” and she replied, “Me.”

They were named as CBS Sports' Breakthrough Wrestler of the Year in consecutive years

Matthew and Ripley may have an eight-year age difference — he was born in 1988 and she was born in 1996 — but the world took notice of their rise in the ranks of wrestling around the same time. They were named CBS Sports' Breakthrough Wrestler of the Year in consecutive years, with Matthews receiving the honor in 2018 and Ripley in 2019.

Matthews won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in 2018 while Ripley began that year as the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion. Matthews became the first Australian to hold any WWE Championship belt, and Ripley became the second.

They are both supporters of the Adelaide Football Club from their native Australia

Ripley and Matthews are both Australian — Matthews was born in Adelaide and Ripley hails from Melbourne. The two even make light of this, with Ripley writing that they were “Happy little Vegemites” in the caption of a picture she posted on Instagram of the couple working out.

One thing the wrestlers do take seriously is their love of soccer in Australia. Their favorite team is the Adelaide Football Club, who posted a picture on Instagram of the wrestling couple attending a game together.

“Aussie WWE wrestler @rhearipley_wwe and AEW wrestler @snm_buddy are all aboard the Baggers bandwagon 💙,” the Adelaide Football Club wrote in the caption.

They regularly work out together

Being a wrestler requires a great deal of athleticism, strength and stamina so for many wrestlers, their second home is the gym. This is true for Matthews and Ripley as they frequently post pictures and videos on Instagram working out together.

Their first public appearances together were clips they posted working out together and they haven’t stopped since. In February 2023, the couple shared a picture of themselves posing with their biceps flexed.

“Couples that workout together… stay together! Couples that takeover the world… takeover it together!” Matthews wrote on Instagram.

They got engaged in 2023

The news of Ripley and Matthews’ relationship made waves when they got engaged in August 2023, considering that many of her fans thought she was dating Mysterio at the time. However, once she posted a picture on Instagram of herself kissing Matthews’ cheek on a beach while wearing an engagement ring, everyone could see how happy she was with her new fiancé.

“1000x YES! Pure F------ happiness! ❤️,” Ripley wrote in the post's caption.

Matthews is supportive of Ripley's successful career

Matthews and Ripley have both achieved great success in their careers, but Ripley has ascended to the pinnacle of professional wrestling. Not only has she been named the best female wrestler by outlets such as ESPN, but she also is the only woman in history to hold five of the major women’s WWE titles: the Women’s World Championship, WWE Women’s Championship, WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship, NXT UK Women’s Championship and NXT Women’s Championship.

Fellow WWE superstar Paul asked Ripley on Impaulsive if this ever bothers Matthews, and Ripley said her fiancé has been nothing but supportive.

“He loves it. He’s happy for me and he also knows how far I can go in this company,” she said. “Obviously, it’s a male-dominated sport, so there’s only so many females in it. So if you really show that you’re different and you connect with the crowd in a certain way, you’re obviously going to skyrocket to the top.”

“I feel like he doesn’t get threatened by that, and he says he doesn’t either, so I take his word. I trust him. I believe him,” Ripley added. “If I’m winning, he’s winning.”

Matthews wished Ripley luck before the biggest match of her career at WrestleMania 39

In April 2023, Ripley was heading into the biggest match of her career at WrestleMania 39, but not without support from Matthews. Ripley was vying to win the Women’s World Championship against 14-time WWE Women’s World Champion Charlotte Flair.

“Good luck to my precious tonight! 'Mami' to some! 'Babe' to me! Not many people make [me] smile! She does every day! @rhearipley_wwe,” Matthews wrote on Instagram at the time.

It appears Matthews’ well-wishes worked, as Ripley went on to defeat Flair with her finishing move — Riptide — off the top rope in what is considered to be one of the greatest women’s wrestling matches of all time.

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