Former WWE Superstar and WWE Performance Center trainer, Scott Garland aka Scotty 2 Hotty, talks about training a young Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez.
Garland was part of the boom in tag team wrestling which occurred in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. His tag team, Too Cool, along with Grand Master Sexay was a joke tag team that always performed well despite not being taken seriously. However, that all changed when they were joined by Rikishi. It was during this time they reached the peak of their popularity.
Garland left WWE in 2007 and would make sporadic appearances for the company until 2016. In 2016 he was hired as a trainer for the WWE Performance Center.
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During Garland’s time as a trainer for the NXT wrestlers, he trained some of the top young stars of WWE. Two of these stars are Rodriguez and Ripley.
On a recent episode of Wrestling With Johners Podcast, Garland talked about how proud he is of how far Ripley has progressed since he last saw her.
“Even from the last time I spoke or saw Rhea to where she’s at right now, just the way she’s grown and developed and the character has taken on a life of its own, that’s what you hope for,” Garland said. “Not only as a coach, but as talent that’s what you hope for. Not only as a coach, but as talent. That’s what you hope for.” H/T To Wrestling Inc. For Transcription
Ripley’s Reign Of Dominance in the WWE
Ripley has cemented her place as the most dominant woman on the roster and the second most dominant wrestler on the roster, second only to Roman Reigns. She is the Women’s World champion and is the second longest reigning champion when taking into consideration its previous SmackDown Women’s Championship name and reigns.
Ripley’s popularity has continued to rise year-after-year as she continues to improve. Her work with the Judgement Day has been excellent and it is no secret that she is the leader of the faction. The unofficial title of leader has been bestowed on her because of her impressive work in the ring and on the mic.
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Garland continued his praise for Ripley and spoke on how happy he is for Rodriguez by talking about how difficult it can be to find something that “has never been done before” for his trainees. He revealed sometimes he just has to hope for the best.
“Sometimes it’s hard to sit down and just kind of rack your brain and come up with something and sometimes you just have to hope that it happens and it’s happened, definitely for Rhea,” Garland said. “We see it starting to happen with Raquel where she is starting to take off now.
That’s something a lot of people saw way back. They saw something special in both of those ladies and just to see what they are out there doing now is so cool. I mean Rhea, both of them, they’re both bigger than wrestling. I could definitely see Rhea going on doing movies and Raquel doing movies.”
Rodriguez has been a major force in the women’s division since her time in NXT. Much of her time in NXT was in the tag division and won the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships with Dakota Kai. However, she is a former NXT Women’s champion as well.
When Rodriguez was called up to the main roster she continued to compete mainly in the tag division and won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships three times. However, recently she has set her sights on singles gold and more specifically the Women’s World Championship around Ripley’s waist.
For the past almost two months Rodriguez has found herself in the middle of a battle for Ripley’s championship. Along with Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark, Rodriguez will compete in a Fatal 5-Way match this Saturday at Crown Jewel for Ripley’s Women’s World Championship.
Do you think Rodriguez and Ripley are ready to be the top stars of WWE? Or do they still have a lot to learn? Are they both ready or does one need more time? Are you looking forward to the Fatal 5-Way? Let us know who you think should walk out as champion this Saturday on social media.
Sources: Wrestling With Johners Podcast, Wrestling Inc.
