On Raw, the women’s brackets started for the Queen of the Ring tournament. Three women made it through the first round so far.
Zoey Stark will now take on Lyra Valkyria in the quarterfinals while the winner of Shayna Baszler vs. Zelina Vega at this weekend’s live event will next take on IYO SKY. These quarterfinals will take place on the May 13 Raw.
Now for the SmackDown side of the bracket. On May 10 we will get the first round matches of:
The Tonga Twins have left WOW (Women of Wrestling) and threw some scathing remarks on their way out. They wrote the message below on social media. Known individually as Kona and Kaoz, the twins are now free agents.
WOW has had many ups and downs over the years, with its latest relaunch in 2022. Over the years the “superhero” promotion had such talent as Kiera Hogan, Jessicka Havok, Thunder Rosa, Nikkita Lyons, Gisele Shaw, Katie Lea/Winter, Alisha Edwards, Diamante, and many more.
The Tonga Twins are former WOW Tag Team Champions when they defeated Miami’s Sweet Heat in June 2023. Before joining WOW, they wrestled as the MK Twins in AEW as Ashley MK and Steff MK.
The women of AEW Dynamite are looking to make some statements this week, as Double or Nothing inches its way closer.
Before we start off the night, Harley Cameron along with Saraya has a message for Mariah May as they are set to face one-on-one tonight. Cameron is scheduled to make her in-ring debut on AEW Dynamite and wants to make “Tiny Storm” aware about why everyone around the world “simps” for Harley Cameron.
Tony Schiavone is live on stage and introduces Serena Deeb as she is set to face “Timeless” Toni Storm for her AEW Women’s World Championship at Double or Nothing. Deeb says that losing is not an option for her after fighting for her life over the past 15-months being on the shelf. Storm arrives and unceremoniously doesn’t care about Deeb’s story. Unfortunately for Storm, she is met with a wicked knockout by Deeb.
May comes out for her match against Cameron, looking a bit concerned for her tag team partner who just made it to the back. Cameron takes advantage of this moment and gets a strong start against May.
May manages to make things even, and the two begin trading blows back to back. Saraya manages to get involved, but May gets some revenge on Saraya and continues to hit the May Day on Cameron for the win. Saraya and Cameron do not take lightly to this, and attack May post-match. Until some familiar music hits as Stardom’s Mina Shirakawa comes in to make the save for her Rose Gold tag team partner. The two end off the night with how they normally do, with more champagne.
The TBS Champion, Willow Nightingale is being interviewed backstage and is a little beat up after her Manitoba Massacre match against Skye Blue last week. After a successful first title defense, she has words for her challenger Mercedes Moné and asks her if she is ready.
Later in the night, Moné responds and says she’s excited to make her return to the ring and “damn right” she is ready for Nightingale at Double or Nothing.
What did you think of tonight’s AEW Dynamite? Can Deeb overcome the odds? Sound off in the comments below!
AEW and NJPW’s Forbidden Door event is rapidly approaching. The event takes place next month on June 30.
In the prior two years since this event was created, it hasn’t been friendly at all to STARDOM in having their talent join in on the card. Even with STARDOM working with NJPW. This year will be different as STARDOM talent is definitely planned to join. We saw some talent from STARDOM worK recent ROH events which now shows the working relationship with AEW.
Per Fightful Select:
NJPW/AEW Forbidden Door may have some additions to it.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful spoke with Rocky Romero ahead of the May 11 NJPW Resurgence show, and spoke to him about the genesis of the Forbidden Door show. While he clarified that Forbidden Door will always be an NJPW/AEW co-branded show, he also opened up about other companies possibly being involved.
In the past, NJPW and AEW have split many of the costs associated with Forbidden Door.
Romero told Fightful that STARDOM will “definitely” be a part of this year’s Forbidden Door, and said that CMLL “very likely” will. He followed up and says after that, the sky is the limit.
CMLL and both AEW and NJPW have partnerships.
Forbidden Door takes place June 30 at the UBS Arena on Long Island.
It was announced on the May 7 episode of NXT that Jacy Jayne is out due to a broken nose that required surgery.
The message was provided by Jayne’s partner Jazmyn Nyx who explained what happened. In last week’s match against Thea Hail, Hail punched Jayne in the nose causing the injury. Nyx wants some justice from this and wants Hail punished.
Jayne posted the photos of her nose after the incident and has now provided a picture of herself post surgery.
Hot damn, the majority of NXT last night was packed with women’s content! My reviews are long enough as is but going forward for the NXT recap articles I’ll give an overview of each segment instead of detailing the play by play.
First match of the night saw the returning Shayna Baszler take on new talent Karmen Petrovic and this match is booked exactly how it should’ve been. Shayna really had little to no problem dominating Petrovic, which she shouldn’t, and makes short work of Nattie’s training partner. Feels like the story between these two teams is over and they’ll be going their separate ways, hopefully we still get Natalya vs. Shayna though while they’re both in NXT
Winner: Shayna
Recap of Fallon Henley’s heel turn last week.
Kelani Jordan is in the locker room fuming over Fallon’s betrayal and vents to the other women. Fallon comes into the segment and defends herself by reiterating her point from last week that “Fallon comes first.”
We see highlights of the NXT Combine. It consisted of 9 grueling events to test each performers Speed, Power, Strength & Conditioning. Thea Hail and Kelani Jordan are frontrunners in the Speed portion of the Combine!
Backstage our prayers have been answered as we cut to Chelsea Green, Arianna Grace and Gigi “Georgina” Dolin discussing tonight’s NXT Women’s Championship match. Really fun segment, Chelsea and Arianna play off each other perfectly, the segment ends with Gigi claiming she’s had enough and storming out of the locker room.
We cut to an interview backstage with Roxanne who seems completely unbothered by the match tonight because she’s “The Prodigy.”
Michin vs. Arianna is up next, Michin made her entrance before the commercial break, so great seeing her in NXT (or really just be used ya know). Arianna struts to the ring and does her “violence is not the answer schtick” to which Michin just scoffs at.
After some brief offense, Arianna takes control of the match as she works on Mia’s arm. Yim reverses the arm bar into a powerbomb for a 2 count!
Arianna looks to almost have victory secured when she has Michin in a pinning attempting, holding onto the ropes for leverage but before the ref counts three, he spots the attempted foul play and dismisses the fall. Grace argues with the official which ultimately ends up in her eating da-feat as Michin scores the pinfall!
Winner: Michin
This is Michin’s first televised victory since defeating Tamina on Main Event in February, 2023.
Women’s Combine is back and this time we’re measuring Power! I understand why these segments are pre-taped but it would be cool to see some of the competitions uploaded to youtube or something. Jaida Parker and Michin are frontrunners in this category!
Kelani vs. Fallon is up next!
NXT wastes no time pushing their talent into action, Fallon just turned last week and is already putting her new character on display against the incredibly likable Kelani. A snap of Kelani’s neck has Fallon in control, slow build to the match as we go into commercial.
This match gets a good amount of time, over 10 minutes, allowing both Henley and Jordan to show off their in ring repertoires which imo was needed for both. While Kelani still has a lot of fleshing out to do with her character overall, her personality comes through in her ring work and I do find myself rooting for Jordan based on her expressions and mannerisms. Fallon just turned heel last week and already has great foundation from her previous work to build upon in NXT. I’m thinking we’ll get a rematch between these two to qualify for the N.A. Championship with Henley once again being victorious.
Winner: Fallon Henley
Strength is up next in the Combine, there were multiple standouts noted here with Lash Legend, Monday Night Raw’s Ivy Nile, Sol Ruca and Izzi Dame to name a few. The twelve superstars moving on to the next round will be announced later tonight!
General Manager Ava has me busy tonight bc she’s up next and announces the 12 Superstars advancing to the match qualifiers:
1. Sol Ruca
2. Thea Hail
3. Jaida Parker
4. Brinley Reece
5. Michin
6. Fallon Henley
7. Lash Legend
8. Ivy Nile
9. Izzi Dame
10. Kelani Jordan
11. Tatum Paxley
12. Wren Sinclair
Jazmyn Nyx has a backstage promo asking why Thea Hail hasn’t been fined or suspended for being reckless after breaking Jacy Jayne’s nose last week which explains why Jacy isn’t participating in the Combine.
Qualifying Matches next week are announced:
Izzi Dame vs. Sol Ruca
Ivy Nile vs. Lash Legend
Speaking of Lash, just gonna leave this here between MetaFour and Trick Willy Wonka
NXT Women’s Championship match is up next and I am strapped in for this championship bout!
Chelsea gets a nearfall early on in the match and shows she’s all business, a championship is on the line! Perez literally slaps the taste out of Green’s mouth and zips around Chelsea like it’s nothing, so arrogant. Chelsea get’s her lick back on the champ with viscous slap of her own as we cut to commercial!
Admittedly I haven’t watched much of Chelsea’s work outside of WWE so as a newer fan of hers, I appreciate getting the opportunity to see what Green can do when she gets the chance to really go in the ring. Chelsea doesn’t work with the same intensity as a Bianca Belair or Rhea Ripley but she still has personality in spades. All the more reason a women’s mid-card belt needs to be introduced on the main roster.
Roxanne would ultimately end up being the victor of the bout to which I had no doubt and was the right call. This isn’t a dig against Perez’s ability between the ropes because she’s excellent from a technical standpoint, but I’m still not connecting to this version. It comes across to me that Roxanne is trying to portray a character that requires a level of range from the performer that goes beyond what the WWE PC usually teaches. That’s just my two cents though.
Match was solid, if you’re a fan of Chelsea Green and her antics, definitely worth checking out. She looked great in defeat and the champ has another successful title defense on her notch.
Winner: Roxanne Perez
Great show again from NXT and I didn’t even get to the Lash/MetaFour/Trick Williams stuff. Sound off in the comments with your pick for the 6 Superstars that should compete in the Ladder match to crown the first Women’s North American Champion!
On the May 7 episode of NXT we witnessed the pre-taped women’s combine to determine the 12 women who would go on to qualifying matches. These six qualifying matches will determine which six women will compete in a ladder match for the Women’s North American Championship at the upcoming Battleground event.
The 12 women who makes the cut and their scores were as follows –
The first two qualifying matches take place next week:
WWE Performance Center recruit Breanna Covington has received her in-ring name. She will be known moving forward as Layla Diggs. It was reported that the ring name was trademarked on May 2. Covington has confirmed the name by her social media handle change.
Covington was featured on the Roku series WWE: Next Gen and part of the Next In Line (NIL) program. She has had several matches at NXT live shows, with her most recent in a loss against Tamyra Mensah-Stock in March.
On the May 7 episode of NXT, there will be a very important women’s combine!
From the combine, the NXT General Manager Ava has concluded that 12 women will be picked to move forward into qualifying matches.
From those six matches, six women will emerge and they will get the opportunity to become the first-ever NXT Women’s North American Champion. Those six women will participate in a ladder match at Battleground on June 9 to determine the champion.
Which women do you see making it to the 12 who will compete to narrow it down to six? Comment below.
Check back in with Diva Dirt tonight to talk about this live!
Monday Night Raw featured the qualifying rounds for the Queen of the Ring tournament matches and what a night! Let’s dive right in!
Natalya vs. IYO SKY kicks off the Queen of the Ring tournament! As soon as the bell rang, both women wasted absolutely no time! If I detailed the play by play of this match this recap would be pages because the wrestling and reversals performed had me engaged the entire match! Nattie looks great in the first half of the bout, showing off her cardio and endurance but Iyo has a slight upper hand!
Back from the break, Nattie and Iyo are exchanging blows in the middle of the ring showing no signs of exhaustion, despite the hard hitting match!!
TOP ROPE SUPERPLEX BY NATALYA!! Only a two though for the Queen of Hearts!! This match is great!!
Iyo locks in a cross face and more action ensues that I can only urge you to watch for yourself bc I am not doing this match justice. Nattie hits a nearfall after a sit out powerbomb but Iyo is ultimately victorious with the moonsault, being the first woman to advance in the Quarter Finals of The Queen of the Ring Tournament.
Winner: Iyo Sky
Dakota Kai and Kairi join Iyo in the ring and Kai informs the audience she will be taking Asuka’s place in the next round against the debuting Lyra Valkyria and asserts Damage Control will be getting back their Tag Team titles and taking over Raw.
Zoey Stark, who get’s the jobber entrance (boo!). Ivy Nile is out next (unfortunately without the Creed Brothers) for their qualifying match.
Zoey takes control right out the gate and asserts her power over the smaller competitor. Nile proves she’s not to be underestimated and hits a standing vertical suplex for what felt like 10 seconds, impressive strength and control!
Stark has a really cool spot where she hits a direct shot missile dropkick onto Nile from across the ring. On the top rope, both competitors are positioned for a back superlex spot but Ivy reverses it into a diving bulldog and goes for the pin! Only a two count though as Stark powers out, both performers are frustrated.
The first round match comes to a close after Zoey slips through Nile’s second superplex attempt on the top rope, hits a reverse fall slam and then finishes off Ivy with the Z360 to advance to the next round!
Winner: Zoey Stark
Becky Lynch has an in ring segment with Michael Cole next! Major adulation for The Man starting out. We cut to the tron to show off Becky’s outfit from the Kentucky Derby this past Saturday (love that we’re getting this). We change topics onto the queen of the ring tournament and the new Raw draftees! Becky praises Alba Fyre (noting her 600+ NXT UK Women’s Champion reign), Isla Dawn, Kiana James and Lyra Valkyria; the latter she puts over as someone Becky can trust.
Liv Morgan interrupts to come out and unleash some rage on the champion!! Liv touts off not only her accomplishments but new found purpose. Morgan only continues to improve week after week!
Damage Control interrupts next! Kai runs down Becky and backs up her point from earlier in the night and then Damage Control surrounds the ring to take out The World Women’s Champion and seemingly the #1 Contender but Liv bounces last second abandoning Lynch for the 3 on 1 attack!
Lyra makes the save, scoffing at Liv on her way to the ring and we’re onto the final Queen of the Ring qualifying match of the night!
Lyra immediately takes control in the opening parts of the match, there’s a cut to a Planet of the Ape’s spot which is annoying. It’s happening to the women for the second week in a row, back to the match Lyra is still in control, hits a Northern Lights Suplex for 2! Kai outsmarts Lyra and then a scissor kick to the head going into commercial.
Back from the break Lyra is showing out, flying all over the ring, good pairing with the cagey Dakota who is made of steel. Kai continues to kick Lyra in the back of the head but Lyra takes control after some brief “Let’s Go Lyra” chants!
Shortlived though as Dakota hits another blow to the head in the corner but only for 2! Another really cool Scorpion Kick from Kai but Lyra finally has enough and hits the Nightwing to advance to the next round!
Winner: Lyra Valkyra
Quarter Final Matches for the Raw Bracket
Iyo vs. Shayna/Zelina
Lyra vs. Zoey
Author’s Note
This Raw was packed with women’s action across the show. The format of the King/Queen of the Ring made this feel like a PLE in a way because all of the matches were competitive and given time.
The opening bout of Natalya vs. Iyo was great, seriously go watch!! Set the bar high for the rest of the tournament and despite being on the losing end, for the second week in a row Nattie reminds everyone why she still has her spot.
Damage Control has once again taken a different structure with the unfortunate news of Asuka’s injury. While Dakota narrated herself as the new leader of the stable, it was Iyo who advanced to the semifinals and was imo the biggest winner of the night.
A great night for the Raw Women’s Division with the exception of pushing Shayna vs. Zelina onto a live event card. I’m of two minds about it because on one hand, I’d rather the qualifying matches receive the time they did last night but nothing says I’m not winning this tournament more than being pushed off tv. Curious to see how they handle timing on Smackdown this upcoming Friday.
*Dakota Kai replaced Asuka who is confirmed to be injured.
Stark will take on Valkyria on the May 13 episode of Raw in the quarterfinals. Shayna Baszler vs. Zelina Vega will take place during a live show this weekend. The winner of that will face SKY on May 13 as well.
A more detailed results article from Monday Night Raw will be published later.
Becky Lynch has granted Liv Morgan her wish and the two will meet for the Women’s World Championship in three weeks at the King And Queen of the Ring event.
On the May 6 episode of Raw, Lynch had a sit down interview with Michael Cole in the middle of the ring. They went over how much the champion is the face of WWE and that requires them to go to big events. This was just that for Lynch as she attended the 150th annual Kentucky Derby this past weekend.
The conversation shifted to the recent WWE Draft and how the new rosters are settled in as of today. Lynch went over the newcomers go Raw and explained what they are bringing to the table. She commented on Alba Fyre being the longest reigning NXT UK Women’s Champion which also makes her the longest reigning women’s champion overall of the modern era. Lynch then talks about Isla Dawn, Kiana James, Lyra Valkyria, and Zelina Vega. She spends some time talking about Valkyria and their connection from Lynch’s recent stint in NXT.
Liv Morgan would come out to interrupt. She was tired of being overlooked and didn’t hear her name from Lynch’s mouth. So she questioned when she was getting her championship match, which Lynch said she can have in three weeks. Morgan now says she has purpose and this is what will make her finally defeat Lynch.
The segment continued with Dakota Kai, IYO SKY, and Kairi Sane making their way out to the ring. They were planning an attack on both Lynch and Morgan, but Morgan rolled out of the ring and said this wasn’t her problem.
Heading into the May 6 episode of Raw, there was supposed to be four women’s matches and four men’s matches for the Queen and King of the Ring tournaments. However, one women’s match along with one men’s match has been moved from Raw to the upcoming live event this weekend.
So Shayna Baszler vs. Zelina Vega first round match has been moved to the live event along with Kofi Kingston vs. Rey Mysterio. A reason for the change was not announced.
The Raw side of the brackets can be viewed below, while the SmackDown has yet to be confirmed at the time of this writing.
There have been two women’s matches added to the already exciting NXT episode this week for May 7.
Already previously announced is an NXT Women’s Championship Match between the champion Roxanne Perez and challenger Chelsea Green. A combine has also been confirmed which will light the fuse to determine who winds up in a six woman ladder match to crown the first Women’s North American Champion at Battleground.
Now we can include two more matches. Shayna Baszler will be taking on Karmen Petrovic. Baszler locked Petrovic in the Kirifuda Clutch last week during Natalya vs. Lola Vice Underground match. This led Nattie to rescue Petrovic but ended up losing to Vice.
Next we will have Michin taking on Arianna Grace. Michin didn’t care for her opponent last week when Grace tried to make all the women get along who want to participate in the upcoming Women’s North American Title ladder match.
It is being reported by Fightful that NXT’s ring announcer Alicia Taylor will be promoted to the main roster. SmackDown’s ring announcer Mike Rome will be moved to NXT.
Fightful Select reported that Mike Rome is imminently set to begin announcing for NXT, a role he held between 2016 and 2019.
This left a lot of questions for fans on what would come of Alicia Taylor, who has served as NXT’s ring announcer for the past few years, and has also filled on some main roster shows when needed. Fightful Select’s Corey Brennan has learned that Taylor is set for her own callup to the main roster post Backlash, with Rome going the other way.
As of this writing, there hasn’t been an indication of which main roster brands Alicia and Samantha Irvin will ring announce for. Taylor has been ring announcing for NXT since 2019.
Lyra Valkyria is one of the newest members of the women’s Raw roster. She along with Kiana James and Blair Davenport were called up during the recent WWE Draft. Davenport going to SmackDown.
While still in NXT, Valkyria won the NXT Women’s Title from the highly decorated veteran Becky Lynch. Valkyria now sees herself on Raw where Lynch is the current Women’s World Champion.
While speaking with TV Insider, Valkyria shared the beat advice Lynch has given her.
She told me to just be myself and have a lot of trust in what I bring, and I think it’s so clear she has been herself her entire career. That is what has taken her so far. I find that incredibly motivating.
She also shared the bond they have by saying:
I only met her a little down the line in my career. It has been so incredible to have that person to look toward who grew up down the road from me. An Irish girl who has come so far is just crazy. To come from a place like Ireland, a lot of people don’t have that person they can look up to. So to see what is possible through her and how far one can go is incredible.
Valkyria will make her official Raw in-ring debut on tonight’s Raw facing Asuka. The winner moves forward in the Queen of the Ring tournament.
In case you’ve missed it, WWE has been airing QR codes and also flashing clues of an upcoming faction forming. Although nothing has been confirmed for a name, many are referring it to the Wyatt 6 as that was previously an idea.
According to a report from PWInsider:
All of the QR Codes on WWE programming of late are leading, as you may have surmised, to a new group that will play off of the Bray Wyatt Intellectual Property.
What is interesting about this list is no Alexa Bliss. Bliss was previously linked to Bray Wyatt and would make an obvious choice for the faction. Even though she isn’t in the list, a QR code that was aired during Backlash took you to a phone number and a voice that sounds a lot like Bliss.
The System are out for a Championship celebration.
Brian Myers starts out by talking about how great the group is. Moose takes over and says mostly the same stuff. Eddie Edwards praises his wife and one half of the new TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions, Alisha Edwards. Eddie calls her the greatest Knockout of all time. While Alisha is talking, a video plays on the video screen that starts out as The Systems entrance video. Halfway through, “Broken” Matt Hardy interrupts the video and makes his way out. Hardy crashes the celebration, saying that he got the better of Moose last night even though they picked up the win.
The System all start beating down Hardy and put a chair around his neck, just like they did to Nic Nemeth this past Thursday. Before they can hit Matt with a chair, Ryan Nemeth makes his way out with a kendo stick and clears the ring. Nemeth and Hardy stand tall.
Former Busted Open Radio producer and current Gabby AF host Gabby LaSpisa is out to interview Ash By Elegance. Xia Brookside interrupts, Ash says she’ll give Xia one more match later tonight, but if she wins then she gets her rings back that she lost in Las Vegas for Rebellion.
Ash By Elegance def Xia Brookside
16 person tag team match
-Eric Young, Joe Hendry, SDL, Spitfire, Ryan Nemeth, Matt Hardy, & Sami Callihan def TNA champions when “Broken” Matt Hardy pinned Brian Myers.
-At some point during the match, Ali left/quit the match.
Post- match, PCO offered SDL a rose and she reluctantly accepted.
These matches will be aired sometime over the next two weeks, and then TNA rolls into Newport, Kentucky on May 18-19 for two days of TV tapings.
There are NEW Goddess of Stardom Champions and they are also record breakers. The new champions FDC (Hazuki and Koguma) became the first ever three time champions by defeating Crazy Star (Suzu Suzuki and Mei Seira). This left Crazy Star’s reign at 36 days.
The newly formed Marigold promotion is set with their first show, Fields Forever, on May 20. This promotion was created by STARDOM’s co-founder Rossy Ogawa. Ogawa was fired from STARDOM earlier this year.
The card has been confirmed and below you will find the matches.
Giulia & Utami Hayashishita vs. Sareee & Bozilla
Mai Sakurai & Zayda Steel vs. Nagisa Nozaki & Myla Grace
Women’s World Champion Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins attended the 150th Kentucky Derby race. It is the most watched and attended horse race in the United States and is held in Louisville, Kentucky.
On the red carpet, many show up to show off their fashion and Lynch and Rollins were no different. Being interviewed by NBC Sports, the married couple discussed their fashion choices as Lynch explained she got the inspiration from the “Then, Now, Forever, Together” slogan of WWE.
Lynch adds she got her hat at a boutique in Barcelona. They tease the WrestleMania announcement which later was revealed to be the location as Las Vegas in 2025.
WWE has confirmed its next WrestleMania location. It will be WrestleMania 41 and taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Allegiant Stadium.
The last time WWE held WrestleMania in the Las Vegas area was way back in 1993 at WrestleMania IX. There was not a women’s match on that card, however, Sensational Sherri joined Tatanka to the ring as he faced Shawn Michaels who had Luna Vachon in his corner.