Natalya is back, but not to the help of Maxxine Dupri.
Dupri received her rematch for the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship on the Jan. 19 episode of Raw. Raw took place this week in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the champion Becky Lynch was in her home country. Lynch didn’t receive the warmest welcome as she had a lot to say during the commercial break to the crowd.
In the sixth match between the two Superstars over the past several months, Dupri was hoping to become a two-time champion and win back the gold. Prior to the match, Natalya made her first appearance on Raw in months after being featured in vignettes showing her training of Dupri. The two women, having one of their best matches over the course of their rivalry, had Dupri just a mere second away from winning the title back. This came off of an exposed turnbuckle by Lynch which backfired as she was the one to land face first into it. Dupri went for the pin, however, at the count of two, Natalya placed Lynch’s foot on the bottom rope.
Dupri was obviously stunned and focused on why Natalya did this to her, which gave Lynch the opening. The champion landed the ManHandle Slam on Dupri, pinning her to retain.
After the match, Natalya would attack Dupri multiple times while putting her in the Sharpshooter.