Raw opened with Rhea Rhipley addressing the crowd relaying unfortunate news that due to injury, she would be relinquishing the Women’s World Championship. Nick already posted an article covering the emotional segment but I’ll post my thoughts at the end of the recap as I alluded last week to feeling strongly that Rhea’s reign had achieved its purpose and felt very much ready to see the title move on to another wrestler.
First piece of in ring action of the night is a rubber match between The Way’s Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae vs. Ivy Nile & Maxxine Dupri. Tension is palpable between the former NXT Tag Team Champions as they make their entrance. Action starts with Nile and Indi exchanging mat based techniques. Maxxine gets the tag and shows off the fruits of her training with an impressive Fisherman Suplex!
Maxxine’s momentum is halted after Indi makes the tag to Candice and the wily veteran reminds Maxxine of her place at the bottom totem pole. Maxxine is all heart though and manages to plant Candice with a spike DDT! The poison pixie laid motionless in the ring as Dupri stirs towards her partner only for Hartwell to finally succumb to LeRae’s bullying and make the switch.
After distracting the ref to prevent Nile from entering the match, Hartwell nails a big boot to the rookie Diva and places Candice over the fallen Dupri for the 1,2,3! Candice & Hartwell pick up the win! Match was short but did its job in bringing attention to Maxxine’s arsenal expansion and Indi aligning with LeRae’s heel persona.
Chelsea Green & Piper Niven vs. Katana Chance & Kayden Carter next and we get entrances for both teams! Which is great for me bc Katana & Kayden always serve a much appreciated dose of energy to the show. This is always reflected in the pair’s offense but tonight the speedy teamwork is no match for Piper’s brute force and power.
Some brief offense by the faces after Niven makes the tag while Chelsea serves character with her over the top selling. Match comes to an end with Green picking up the win over Carter after the latter got flattened by a running cross body ala Piper. Right to the point, story driven match.
Backstage interview with Nia Jax and Cathy Kelly! Cathy questions the former champion on her thoughts pertaining to Rhea relinquishing the title earlier in the evening. Nia brings the conversation back to herself stating there are two types of people in this world, those who fear Nia Jax and those who learn to fear Nia Jax. A bold statement book ended with Nia vowing to be the next WWE Women’s World Champion.
Liv Morgan has a backstage segment too and gets to display her growth on the mic. Her cadence and delivery are on point as Morgan justifiably exclaims why she feels zero remorse for what happened to the now injured Rhiply. Liv goes on to state the LMRT is only just beginning and won’t end until she’s the WWE Women’s World Champion. Watch me!
Author’s Thoughts:
All in all a big improvement from last week with the major story from tonight’s show being Rhea relinquishing her title after an impressive 380 day reign. The injury is unfortunate timing as Rhea has been cemented at the top of the division but the silver lining to all of this is the injury weaves seamlessly into the story they’re telling between Rhea and Liv. It also cements the babyface turn for the inaugural Women’s World Champion as the audience had already accepted Rhipley as a top star and this storyline will only further cement it. Not to mention with the draft looming around the corner, both divisions have the opportunity for a refresh which only heightens the excitement for the upcoming weeks. Good stuff!
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