"Look at my eyes, this is do or die!" Watch Motionless In White bring the metal and play Rhea Ripley to the ring in style at Wrestlemania 40

Chris Motionless and Rhea Ripley at Wrestlemania

(Image credit: WWE (via Youtube))

WWE's flagship event, Wrestlemania, took place for the 40th time this past weekend at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania over two blockbuster nights, with classic matches, memorable returns and historic title changes all taking place across the weekend.

The very first match on this year's card featured none other than WWE Womens World Champion Rhea Ripley defending her title against Becky Lynch. Ripley, a lifelong metalhead, has her theme music performed by Pennsylvania natives Motionless In White, and on Saturday evening at night one of Wrestlemania, the metalcore mainstays made a special live appearance at Lincoln Financial Field to play Ripley to the ring.

Watch footage of Motionless In White playing Demon In Your Dreams live at Wrestlemania via the official WWE Youtube channel below.

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In 2021, Ripley explained to Metal Hammer that her love of professional wrestling and heavy metal went hand-in-hand, appealing to her as a young misfit in high school who didn't find mainstream sports or culture particularly appealing.

“All us ‘outsiders’ came together and made our own little group,” she said. “I definitely felt more normal being with my wrestling crew; we all listened to the same music, which was fantastic. Every time we’d go into the gym and work out before wrestling training, my coach would be blasting heavy metal, and it just made the environment so good. I think that’s what made my love for heavy metal grow even more.”

Ripley performs a classic 'deathcore stomp' as part of her entrance - a tribute to one of her heroes, former Suicide Silence frontman Mitch Lucker, who died in 2012 in. a motorcycle accident.

“Yeah, it’s the Lucker stomp,” Rhea confirmed to Hammer. “I still have my Mitch Lucker memorial shirt that came out ages ago, and it’s still my favourite shirt. I wear it at least twice a week.”

Find out where you can watch repeats of Wrestlemania 40 here.

Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.