The Aug. 11 episode of Raw continued its weekly enjoyment of the women’s division being showcased throughout the night. As we headed into Raw, WWE announced on its social media that Naomi was not medically cleared to compete. Despite saying to tune into Raw for more information on this, we were then told to watch WWE’s social media for more information. More information has not happened yet. Naomi was scheduled to defend the Women’s World Title against IYO SKY.
Backstage, SKY was visibly upset that she was not able to get a chance at regaining the Women’s World Title due to Naomi not being medically cleared. Adam Pearce understood the frustration but his hands were tied. The Judgment Day’s Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez approached SKY in a mocking tone that she wouldn’t get her shot at regaining the title. They stated that it was a good thing, so she couldn’t lose to Naomi again. SKY then requested a match against Perez, which Pearce granted.
SKY went into the match confident, explaining that she has defeated Perez before. She was greeted by former Damage CTRL members Asuka and Kairi Sane (Kabuki Warriors). For the second week in a row, Asuka and Sane offered help to SKY and wanted to be in her corner to help offset Rodriguez. SKY once again denied any help and said she wanted to go at it alone.
The match itself was a certified hit and delivered. What SKY didn’t want to happen did, and that is Asuka and Sane coming down to the ring to assist. While Rodriguez was distracting the referee, Asuka and Sane jumped on the ring apron and attempted to go after Perez and distract her. However, when SKY went after Perez she dodged the advance and SKY nearly knocked into her former Damage CTRL mates. Perez then knocked SKY into them, throwing them off the ring apron and onto the ringside floor.
Perez rolled up SKY and grab a hold of the tights to get the victory. Perez has defeated a former champion.
Moments later backstage, SKY was mad that Asuka and Sane costed her the match against Perez. Especially since she asked them not to get involved. The segment ended with SKY and Asuka shouting and Asuka leaving. Sane stuck in the middle.
Later in the night, SKY was seen once again walking backstage and ran into Stephanie Vaquer. Vaquer is supposed to take on Naomi at Clash in Paris at the end of the month. She let SKY know that she wasn’t the only one to lose a title opportunity. After Vaquer walked off, Rhea Ripley appeared to try and give some encouraging words to SKY and apologize that she wasn’t able to have her title match. SKY wasn’t happy with Ripley and asked her to leave her alone.
A championship match that did take place on Raw this week, was a match for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship. A first title chance for Maxxine Dupri as she faced the champion, Becky Lynch. Dupri had her best match yet on TV and you could tell that she was still holding back to tell the story of the rookie taking on a highly skilled veteran. Dupri got in a few nice counters and even got a near fall. She countered the ManHandle Slam into a Stunner at one point. Dupri even survived multiple Bexploders.
The final moments did come down to the DisArmHer which Dupri tapped out to. Natalya and Akira Tozawa was at ringside to cheer on Dupri. Lynch went after Natalya after the match with a kick, knocking her down.
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