As we enter a new month that means that the next pay-per-view event is rapidly approaching. Extreme Rules is on July 14 which is only one week from Sunday. It was made public last week that Becky Lynch will team up with her real-life boyfriend Seth Rollins in a Winners Takes All match. They will have their titles on the line against Lacey Evans and Baron Corbin.
Earlier today, WWE broke the news that a new implication has been added to this already heavy weighted mixed tag team match. This encounter between these four will now be under Extreme Rules.
There were several matches that featured women on tonight’s show. Lacey Evans defeats Natalya to give her some momentum to face Lynch in a week from Sunday.
For the first time in a long while the women’s division wasn’t as predictable as one would think. Sure we had the same women on the show that we normally have, except one. Maria Kanellis returns to RAW with her husband Mike.
In a backstage interview, Lynch and Rollins were talking with Charly Caruso about their Extreme Rules match with the lovebirds. ‘The Man’ was showing who wears the pants in their relationship when this abruptly ends when the Kanellis’ entered into the picture.
First, it was Maria who takes offense to them declaring that they are the first couple of WWE. She then was bragging that her having a baby was more of an accomplishment than Lynch beating Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania.
Maria then challenges the power couple to a match between her and Mike after calling him her bitch. The match itself sees Maria barking out orders for Mike to be a man and make short work of Rollins. After some short in-ring work, Rollins forces the hand of Mike to tag in his wife. Becky is in turn tagged in.
After Becky is officially in the match Maria freaks out and hops down from the ring apron to grab a mic. She then tells her husband that she should have known that he couldn’t mop the floor with Rollins as he can’t even mop the floor at home, Lynch charges.
Maria announces that she is pregnant!
Lynch backs off and Mike is shocked to hear this news. Lynch locks in the Dis-Arm-Her on him and wins the match via submission. Maria finishes the segment by saying that she cannot believe that he is the father of her children. She confirms that the only man that was there tonight was ‘The Man,’ Becky.
The last women to grace the presence of the WWE Universe were Alexa Bliss and her guest Nikki Cross on A Moment of Bliss. Bliss gave gratitude to Cross for winning her match on SmackDown. This gave Alexa Bliss a rematch for Bayley‘s title at Extreme Rules.
Carmella interrupted Cross’ moment by attempting to talk some sense into her. This led to a short 30-second match between Carmella and Bliss. Cross then has a match of her own with Carmella where she pulls out a victory.
Let’s get into the winners and losers of this week.
WINNER: Maria Kanellis
This goes without saying that Maria is THE winner tonight. Not only did she show up on RAW when no one expected it, but she arguably had the best segment the women have seen since WrestleMania. She didn’t even need to get her hands dirty during the match to provide sheer entertainment.
Of course, it is undetermined if this appearance will be a regular thing in the future, but the mic work was much appreciated. It was nice to see something that actually evoked a solid reaction from the crowd.
WINNER: Nikki Cross
Nikki Cross continues to pick up wins. She beat the SmackDown Women’s Champion last week and this week she picks up a win on Carmella.
She also picked up a win on two women that Alexa Bliss hasn’t been able to defeat as of late. Bayley who defeated her at Stomping Grounds and Carmella who just defeated her in mere seconds. She continues to be a focal point surrounding a championship which is very promising.
Cross has been appearing on both shows for the past several weeks. There are a few more shows before Extreme Rules that Cross could maybe wake up and realize that Bliss doesn’t have her best interest at heart.
Perhaps Cross could find her way into the SmackDown Women’s Championship match where a triple threat match could take place.
LOSER: Natalya
There weren’t many women on the show this week that would be considered on the loser list per se. With that being said, Natalya was delivered to help Lacey Evans get over in a match that wasn’t the most memorable.
The match was solid but it did nothing for Nattie. It just continued to use her to fill in any gaps where another female talent needs to be in a match. She made Evans look good, so there’s that.
Coming off a potential tag team teaser with Naomi last week, it would have been nice to see Naomi help her out in this match. Naomi wasn’t anywhere to be found.
What did you think of this episode of RAW? Who were your winners and losers? Discuss this show in the comment section!!
Check back in with Diva Dirt for this weeks SmackDown’s Winners & Losers.
