Night Two of WrestleMania 37 saw WWE fully commit to bringing in the next generation of women’s wrestling. Last night Bianca Belair won the SmackDown Women’s Championship and tonight a new RAW Women’s Champion was crowned in an excellent passing-of-the-torch match.
Ripley looked every bit the megastar she is destined to be as she was played to the ring with a live performance of her entrance theme by Ash Costello.
The match kicked off in furious style, with Asuka flying at Ripley and knocking the Nightmare off guard. Asuka’s vicious kicks kept Ripley grounded, but a missed hip attack allowed Ripley to turn the tide of the fight.
Ripley beat slapped and mocked the champion before planting her with a German suplex. Ripley continued to grind Asuka down with a barrage of heavy blows that kept the Empress of Tomorrow at bay. Asuka managed to avoid a top rope suplex and create an opening with a missile dropkick, German suplex and a hip attack.
The action spilt outside with a brutal DDT from the ring apron to the floor. Somehow Ripley recovered by the count of eight but ate a kick upon her return to the ring. Ripley returned the favour with a flurry of stomps into the Nightmare lock. Asuka countered into an armbar, but Ripley powered out.
Asuka continued her attack, but Ripley dodged the final kick and transistioned into the Riptide for the victory and the RAW Women’s Championship.
This match was an intense and physical fight that made Ripley look like a force to be reckoned with. The championship win continued to usher in a new ear of the WWE women’s division.
Earlier on in the night, we saw Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler successfully defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships against Natalya and Tamina.
Nia Jax came in and threw Nattie to the ground before calling in Tamina. A gnarly exchange of headbutts followed. Natalya entered, and Jax succumbed to a double suplex. Baszler then came in to meet the same fate.
The action went up a level when Baszler ate a brutal slingshot superkick that looked to knock her silly. The Queen of Spades recovered and planted Nattie with an equally vicious knee strike. Jax took out Tamina at ringside while Baszler attacked the ankle of Natalya.
Nattie, on her own, attempted to fire back, but Jax smashed her with her one-armed spine buster. Tamina broke up the pinfall and destroyed Baszler until Jax evened the odds. The two then went at it with the crowd firmly behind Tamina, and she managed to slam Jax for a near fall. Tamina then missed a splash attempt.
Nattie synched in the sharpshooter to Jax, who wasn’t the legal woman. Baszler then locked in the Karifuda clutch to put Nattie to sleep and retain the tag team titles.
In the first match of the night, we saw Alexa Bliss seemingly turn on the Fiend. Bliss transformed from the Firefly Funhouse co-star to a black goo oozing tiara sporting evil queen, maybe?
What did you make of the results? Let us know in the comments below.
