On the Sept. 15 episode of SmackDown, Asuka went one-on-one with Bayley as a precursor to her WWE Women’s Championship match next week. Dakota Kai was at ringside for Bayley but the champ IYO SKY was not present.
The match ended up spilling to the outside as Bayley worked her way out of an armbar. After planting Asuka face first into the ring apron, Bayley had control. She took her over to the barricade and tossed her down before clearing off the announce desk.
Bayley returned to Asuka at the barricade but Shotzi would pop up from the other side and scare her. Shotzi chased Bayley back into the ring which led to Asuka getting the victory off of a backslide.
Post match backstage in a Digital Exclusive, Bayley and Dakota explain that Bayley keeps getting interrupted in her matches by Charlotte Flair, Asuka, and Shotzi. She calls them bullies because they know that Kai is injured and Damage CTRL is currently outnumbered.
Check back for more news and results from the women of SmackDown.
Damage CTRL did not take their loss lightly on this week’s SmackDown.
The WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY along eith Bayley took on Bianca Belair and Charlotte Flair. The final moments of the match had Flair tag in Belair and deliver a big boot on Bayley. This place Bayley in the KOD by Belair who got the pin.
Moments after the match, Belair was being interviewed as she was ambushed behind by all three members of Damage CTRL. They targeted the already injured knee of the EST as Dakota Kai offered the steel chairs to SKY and Bayley.
Beth Phoenix also appeared on this week’s show as she was there for Edge’s 25th Anniversary.
A tale as old as time played out on SmackDown this week, can they coexist?
Ahead of them challenging Asuka for the WWE Women’s Title Bianca Belair and Charlotte Flair teamed up to face the WWE Women’s Tag Twam Champions Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green.
The final moments of the match had Flair get a blind tag as Belair had Green up and ready for the KOD. Flair hit a big boot on Green causing her to fall off of Belair’s shoulder. The two argue before Flair pins Green to get the victory.
The champion Asuka appears later in a locker room segment between IYO SKY and Bayley. Asuka says that if SKY considers to cash in on her then she will regret that decision forever.
SKY responds saying it doesn’t matter who wins at SummerSlam because she will be leaving as WWE Women’s Champion.
For the first half of the match, Jade was dominant and keeping Brooke down. However, the match started to take a turn when Kelani Jordan distracted Jade. The distraction gave Brooke the opportunity to hit a drop toe-hold on Jade into a chair. Jordan gave Brooke a pink kendo stick which she utilized on Jade’s back before hitting her with a suplex into a stack of kendo sticks that were piled up on the chair. Brooke got the win by hitting a Swanton Bomb on top of Jade and the kendo sticks/chair.
The main event match was the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley facing Lyra Valkyria in a non-title bout. Ripley prevailed as expected but Valkyria put on a great showing. A Riptide ended the match. After the match, Ripley still told Valkyria to make a statement against Jacy Jayne.
In a WWE exclusive, Ripley was backstage being interviewed. She explains that anyone that gets in her way will be stopped. Valkyria enters and says instead of proving to Ripley what she can do against Jacy Jayne, she wants to step up to her instead.
Ripley warns Valkyria that may not be the brightest idea as she is the most dominant woman across all brands. However, Ripley gladly accepts.
Ripley has shown admiration to Valkyria in the past and has spoken highly of her.
Prior to the July 21 episode of SmackDown, it was confirmed that Asuka will face both Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair in a Triple Threat at SummerSlam for the WWE Women’s Title. Flair would be in action following this announcement against a woman who will be paying very close attention to that Triple Threat – Ms. Money in the Bank IYO SKY.
The match between the two was very back and forth and was given plenty of time. The match started to breakdown when Bayley came off of commentary to cause a distraction to Flair. SKY took advantage and went for a Sunset Flip Powerbomb off the top rope. Flair was able to kick out.
A montage of Shotzi cutting her hair from last week with her maniacal laugh played on the big screen which freaked out Bayley. She kept looking around and told SKY she had to go as she retreated to backstage. SKY being left alone continued to fight off Flair.
The two continue to get near falls back and forth by trading moonsaults and even submissions. It came down to Natural Selection to put away SKY as Flair emerged victorious. Her celebration didn’t take place though as the WWE Women’s Champion Asuka attacked Flair from behind getting the last laugh.
Moments later in the women’s locker room we saw Bayley and SKY arguing about what happened out at the ring. Bayley kept telling SKY that they need to go and to worry about it later. It was then that Bayley saw her luggage was sliced up and there was a photo of her with scissors stabbed into it. Bayley and SKY fled out of the locker room.
NXT Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton was in the crowd for the show and was seen on camera before the women’s match. She also had a dark match before the show versus Kiana James. Stratton won and reportedly played the baby face role.
Thea Hail is still looking to become the NXT Women’s Champion. After failing to win the title against the champion Tiffany Stratton a few weeks back, Hail is looking to prove she can become champion. She cause Stratton to tap out in that title match and if the referee wasn’t distracted we would have a new champion right now.
On the July 18 episode of NXT, Hail earned a victory against Elektra Lopez with the same Kimura submission maneuver she used on Stratton. Post match, she demanded a rematch and had the crowd firmly behind her. Stratton emerged and would agree to the match but as champion she has final say.
Hail then requested the match to be a submission match. Stratton would not agree before Hail locked her in the Kimura causing the champion to tap and scream in pain while agreeing to the stipulation. The match will take place at the Great American Bash on July 30.
A second match has been confirmed for that event and it will be Blair Davenport vs. Roxanne Perez. On this weeks NXT the two had a face to face interview backstage. Davenport told Perez that she didn’t belong here with the adults as Perez states she has had a fire inside of her ever since losing the NXT Women’s Title. The Great American Bash will be in Perez’s home state of Texas.
Kiana James and Gigi Dolin had a rematch. This time, James picked up the win. Dolin had the bag of James and as the referee was struggling to get it out of her hands, James hit the 401K on Dolin who landed on the bag.
A backstage moment between Rhea Ripley and Lyra Valkyria took place. Ripley has been singing the praises of Valkyria but wasn’t pleased that she lost to Jacy Jayne. Valkyria confirms the next time she is in the ring with Jayne she will be victorious.
There was a promo for Dana Brooke and Kelani Jordan. Jordan felt back losing to Cora Jade. Brooke and Jordan would show what they can do and what Jade can’t and that is gymnastics. Brooke will be taking on Jade next week in a Kendo Stick match.
On the July 17 episode of Raw, Ronda Rousey challenged her former best friend Shayna Baszler to a match at SummerSlam.
The segment came after Baszler defeated Nikki Cross in about five seconds. Rousey called out Baszler after the match as she was in the upper part of the arena. Rousey continued the talk about how she used the back door to get into WWE while Baszler used the front. The difference is that per Rousey she got thrown to the wolves with little to no training and within a year became a future Hall of Famer.
Baszler responds by saying that she is a better version of Rousey. She wanted to fight Rousey right there but the Baddest Woman on the Planet declined. Rousey does want to see Baszler at SummerSlam tho. This way Baszler can actually be booked on SummerSlam according to Rousey.
Also on this week’s Raw, Maxxine Dupri was speared threw a table by Valhalla. During the Viking Rules match between Alpha Academy and the Viking Raiders, Dupri landed a crossbody on Valhalla and got her letterman jacket back. Valhalla didn’t take this lightly and speared Dupri threw a table sitting in the corner. The Viking Raiders would go on the win the match.
On Miz TV, he hosted Becky Lynch and talked about her downward spiral. He reminded her that she has lost to Trish Stratus, then lost Money in the Bank, and most recently lost to Zoey Stark last week.
Lynch wanted to cut to the chase and yelled at The Miz to just bring out Stratus and Stark. To which he did. Lynch wants another match with Stratus but Stratus doesn’t feel she has to honor that as she has already defeated her. Finally after Lynch made Stratus agree to another match, Stratus says in order for Lynch to get that she has to defeat Stark next week.
We also crowned new Women’s Tag Team Champions which you can read about here.
Asuka defended her WWE Women’s Championship in the main event against Bianca Belair on this week’s SmackDown.
To kick off the show, Belair took to the ring for a promo. After getting the crowd hyped up, Charlotte Flair made her way out to the ring. The two exchanged words with Flair telling Belair that she is manifesting a Belair win tonight. Why? Because Flair wants first shot at Belair when she becomes champion. Belair, leary of agreeing to this, stated that if she wins the title in the main event then she will accept Flair’s challenge at SummerSlam.
As the match starts in the main event, we see IYO SKY with her Money in the Bank briefcase as well as Bayley who purchased a ticket to be in the front row. Moments later, Flair made her entrance on the other side of the crowd with a ticket in hand.
Final momenta of the match had Asuka catch Belair with a knee strike before going for a Fujiwara Arm Bar. Belair reversed it and planted a spinebuster on Asuka for a near fall. Asuka tried to go for a submission again, but Belair broke the hold. Asuka caught Belair with a Code Breaker. The action spilled to the outside where Belair would land a KOD to the champion onto the announce table.
This outside action caused both SKY and Bayley to hop the barricade. Flair did as well and landed a big boot to Bayley. SKY slammed Flair into the ring post before turning her attention to Belair. SKY locked eyes on Belair, but she got out of the way before Flair speared Belair, causing the disqualification.
After the bell rang, SKY realizes that everyone is down including the current champion Asuka. She intends to cash in as Bayley holds the briefcase for her. SKY gets Ausuka back in the ring and sets her up for a moonsault. As SKY climbs up top, Bayley tries to tell the referee that SKY is cashing in. However, Asuka gets up and mists the eyes of Bayley which allows her to escape with her title and no cash in taking place.
Earlier in the night, Bayley took on Zelina Vega with SKY by her side.
The final moments of this match had Vega get hung up in the ropes by Bayley who was on the outside. Back in the ring, Bayley capitalized and hit the Rose Plant for the win. Bayley came to the ring for this match with the piece of Shotzi’s hair that she cut a couple weeks back.
Post match, a vignette of Shotzi appeared on the screen. Shotzi pulled out the hair razor and stated she is in control and not Bayley. She admits to being a little strange but that’s why she has the control. She continues to shave her head and says some people fear change but she invites it.
Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville are the new number one contenders for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. They defeated four other teams after entering first in a Tag Team Turmoil bout.
The other teams involved were The Way (Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell), Nikki Cross & Emma, Tegan Nox & Dana Brooke, and Katana Chance & Kayden Carter. They entered the match in the order listed. The champs Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan sat at ringside.
This match was Hartwell’s official debut on Raw since being called up to the red brand during the last WWE Draft. She had suffered an injury which has kept her out of the ring.
After taking out Hartwell and LeRae, Emma and Nikki Cross would enter the match. Cross came in with the energy but it quickly became a 2 on 1 affair between Deville/Green vs. Emma. Cross saw LeRae was injured on the outside. She went outside to show her concern for LeRae and stayed out the the remainder of her teams time in the match. Emma was pinned.
Next up was Brooke and Nox. The makeshift team did what they could but in the end would fall like the teams befofe them with a running knee by Deville. Lastly, the longest reigning NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Chance & Carter entered the ring. They have a prior win over Green and Deville.
The match certainly picked up in this last part of the bout. The final moments had the KC’s going for the After Party finish but eventually it would be the UnprettyHer from Green to get the pin and the victory.
The challengers and champions have a short stare off in the ring after the match. We do not have a date of the championship match at this time.
Charlotte Flair entered this week’s SmackDown in the United Kingdom attempting to become a 15-time champion. She faced a familiar foe in Asuka for the WWE Women’s Championship.
One woman who wasn’t in the match but has been upset that she hasn’t received her rematch is Bianca Belair. Adam Pearce had previously told her that she could not be at ringside for this match, so she played the game and purchased a ticket to be front row.
The final moments of the match had both Flair and Asuka on the outside. Asuka was at the barricade in front of Belair. Flair went for a big boot and Asuka pulled Belair in the way which is who Flair hit instead. Moments later once Belair composed herself, she hopped the barricade and went right after Asuka causing the disqualification. Belair continued her attack on Flair who warned her about putting her hand in her face.
Belair would stand tall in the end after hitting a KOD on both Asuka and Flair on top of the commentary table.
The other women’s match of the night was Bayley vs. Shotzi. A match that was cut last week happened tonight and it had Bayley’s spot in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match on the line. If Shotzi would have won then she would have replaced Bayley.
Bayley would win the match and remain in MITB. The final moments had IYO SKY help her Damage CTRL partner by placing her foot on the rope as Shotzi was near a count of three. This distracted Shotzi and then the referee who tried to get SKY to back off. While the official wasn’t looking, Bayley raked the eyes of Shotzi and hit her with Rose Plant to get the three count.
After the match and moments later backstage, Shotzi came running up to Damage CTRL saying she isn’t finished with them yet. The numbers game was too much for Shotzi who was taken down on top of a table. Bayley grabbed a pair of scissors as SKY held down Shotzi and cut a chunk of her hair. Bayley left with the hair in hand.
In a promo backstage, AJ Styles accepted a challenge from Karrion Kross and stated that if his woman (Scarlett) was to get involved then he has someone who can stop that as Michin appeared.
Money in the Bank takes place tomorrow at 3PM ET due to the event taking place in the UK. Diva Dirt will have a Discussion Post to talk about the show live, come join.
A NXT Women’s Title match kicked off the June 27 episode of NXT. Tiffany Stratton defended against the number one contender Thea Hail.
The match was fast paced with Hail impressing the crowd. Hail had who she thought was in her corner at ringside. Along with Duke Hudson, Drew Gulak and Charlie Dempsey watched on before they interfered. The final moments had Dempsey pulling back the ropes so that Stratton couldn’t reach it. This caught the referee’s attention along with Gulak jumping on the ring apron.
With the referee busy with Gulak, Hail locked the Kimura in on Stratton causing her to tap but the official didn’t see it. As Hail argues with the referee, Stratton rolls her up into a bridge to get the win.
After the match, Gulak and Dempsey start yelling and targeting Hail. Hudson enters the ring and the duo attacks him. This leads to Andre Chase’s return.
There is a backstage segment that was taped from last week. Dana Brooke was in medical with ice on her knee from her defeat. Kelani Jordan emerged and the two have a conversation. Brooke says that she has been watching her and is happy to see a fellow gymnast. She says once she is healed she would like to get in the ring with Jordan.
The Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley makes an appearance backstage to warn Carmelo Hayes to stay away from the Judmenr Day.
The second women’s match was between Gigi Dolin and Kiana James. This rivalry has been brewing a few weeks with Fallon Henley sharing some words of wisdom to Dolin about her former tag team partner.
The final moments of the bout had James attempting to hit Dolin with her bag, but Dolin avoided it. Dolin hit the Schoolboy Bomb on James for the pinfall victory.
Post match, James hit Dolin from behind with her bag and followed up with a flatliner. James pulled two cans of paint out of her bag and dumped it on Dolin.
Ripley appeared backstage once again after Lyra Valkyria beatdown Jacy Jayne. She says that Jayne deserved it.
If you missed the June 26 episode of Raw then here is what happened on the last Raw before Money in the Bank this weekend.
All six women who will compete in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, (Becky Lynch, Zoey Stark, IYO SKY, Bayley, Trish Stratus, and Zelina Vega) met for a summit discussion.
The segment kicked off with Corey Graves attempting to explain the rules to the match but Bayley interrupted him. She boasted that she is the only woman in this year’s match who has won one of these and she would put down the crowd saying they likely don’t know the rules of the match even though everyone else does.
After SKY got in a few words stating basically that she can win the briefcase, the discussion shifted to Zelina Vega. Vega provides reasons why she will become Ms. Money in the Bank and every other woman in the match will not. She pointed out that Trish Stratus may be a Hall of Famer but she has never been in a ladder match.
Stratus took to the mic to respond but shortly thereafter when she addresses Lynch things got physical. She says when everything is said and done and she wins the briefcase can Lynch be man enough to say Thank You Trish?
Lynch launched the first punch which first had Stratus and Stark on her as Damage CTRL targeted Vega. Eventually everyone would spill out of the ring except for SKY and Lynch. SKY would be launched onto the ring apron before taking out the field on the outside with a moonsault. Lynch climbs up a ladder and unhooks the briefcase signaling what we may see take place this Saturday as she stands tall.
Elsewhere on Raw, Ronda Rousey won a match against Raquel Rodriguez. Rodriguez showed how she can overpower over Rousey, but a distraction on the outside would allow Rousey to take advantage and get the pin. On the outside, Morgan leapt off the steel steps and took down Shayna Baszler. These two teams meet on Saturday for the Undisputed Women’s Tag Team Titles.
Later on in the night, Lynch and the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley ran into each other. Lynch says when she was champion she was busy main eventing Raw. Now that Ripley is champion she is too busy being the side champion of the main event.
Natalya had a backstage interviewed where she challenged Rhea Ripley for Raw next week.
Maxxine Dupri continues to warm up for her eventual in-ring debut.
Charlotte Flair returned to the ring for the first time since WrestleMania on the June 23 episode of SmackDown. One week away from Flair challenging Asuka for the WWE Women’s Championship, she faced Lacey Evans.
In a short match and after Evans did her part in taunting the crowd, Flair won after applying the Figure Eight. After the match, Flair still had the submission applied as Asuka attacked her challenger. She left Flair laying in the ring as she retreated up the ramp.
Flair will be challenging Asuka next week in the UK the night before Money in the Bank.
Bianca Belair has been taking her power into her own hands and told Flair last week she will be at ringside during the title match. She wants whoever walks out as champion. This week, Belair is back in Adam Pearce’s office who says she is banned from ringside but promises her she will get her rematch.
There was a match cut from this weeks SmackDown and it was Bayley vs. Shotzi. If Shotzi won then she would have replaced Bayley in the MITB match. Now it seems Bayley will remain in the match.
It has been advertised for this Monday’s Raw on June 26 that all six members of the MITB match will meet in a Summit segment.
For the results of the Women’s Tag Team Unification Match and the return of Liv Morgan you can click here.
Meta-Four members Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson picked up a big and much needed win on the June 20 episode of NXT. Legend and Jackson have formed a stable with Oro Mensah and Noam Darr.
Legend and Jackson took on Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon. The match was on the shorter side, but both teams showcased what makes them good teams. Lola Vice and Elektra Lopez came out on the ramp to watch the match.
Mensah would interfere in the match which led to to Leon taking him out on the outside. Feroz would get back in the ring and meet a big boot of Legend who scored the pin.
Tensions have been high ever since a Battle Royal a few weeks ago which saw the return of Dana Brooke to NXT. Most in particular between Brooke and Cora Jade.
The match between the two took a turn when Brooke went for a move in the corner and fell down on the mat due to her knee. A stretcher comes out to help her but Jade continued to mock her and get in her face. As the stretcher was taking Brooke out, she would slap Jade and continue the match.
From there on, Jade continued to target the knee and locked in a single leg crab submission. Brooke refused to tap, but the referee had enough and stopped the match giving Jade the win.
Thea Hail had a pep rally ahead of her title match next week. Tiffany Stratton interrupts and the two get physical with Hail getting the last laugh.
Next week we will see Hail challenge Stratton as well as a match between Gigi Dolin and Kiana James.
Thea Hail will be getting her NXT Women’s Championship opportunity during the second week of Gold Rush on June 27. She won the number one contender Battle Royal last week by last eliminating Cora Jade and Dana Brooke.
Hail took on Jade this week on the June 13 episode. Prior to the match, Brooke was being interviewed. She was interrupted by Jade who told her to watch her match. She then slapped Brooke.
Match time, Brooke looked on with interest from the ramp before moving to ringside. Once at ringside and the action spilled to the floor, Jade punched Brooke in the face before reaching for her kendo stick. As she goes to use it on a fallen Hail, the referee took it which allowed Brooke to push Jade into the steel steps. Hail capitalizes by getting Jade back in the ring and applying the Kimura Lock to get the submission victory.
Later on in the night, Duke Hudson said how proud he was of Hail. He says she has the possibility of becoming the youngest NXT Women’s Champion and wants to hold a pep rally next week. Stratton appears and says that Hail won’t be winning.
The second women’s match was between Roxanne Perez and Tatum Paxley. Paxley has shown interest in being by the side of Blair Davenport since the latter was revealed as the mystery attacker. Perez picked up a victory here after hitting Pop Rox. After the match, Perez took to the mic and vowed to get revenge on Davenport after all the attacks she had done to the locker room.
A video package was shown for Davenport.
Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson joined Noam Dar at ringside as Oro Mensah defended the Heritage Cup. Dar wasn’t able to compete to defend it. In the end Mensah lost the cup for Dar to Nathan Frazer. A distraction occured as Yulisa Leon and Valentina Feroz came after Legend and Jackson at ringside.
There was a video package for Lyra Valkyria who said she would overcome her recent losses.
Jacy Jayne and Elektra Lopez were watching Valkyria’s vignette. Lola Vice appeared and reminded Jayne that Valkyria eliminated her from the Battle Royal. She says to Lopez that she doesn’t like too many people but she likes Lopez. Lopez agrees that she likes Vice.
Gigi Dolin found some solice in Fallon Henley as the two marked their discontent for Kiana James. Henley told Dolin to watch her back on James.
If you missed the June 12 episode of Raw, Zoey Stark started to cement her spot on the main roster ahead of Money in the Bank.
Becky Lynch took to the ring to face Chelsea Green, but after a short promo she would get interrupted by Stark. Lynch said in her promo that Trish Stratus was so scared at Night of Champions that she got herself an insurance policy in that of Stark. The two traded back and forth insults including Lynch telling Stark she has no personality while Stark told Lynch to look at herself in the mirror. Stark also adds that Lynch will never beat Stratus.
Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville would then enter the mix as Green was set to take on Lynch. During the match, Stark watched from the top of a ladder that was on the stage. Lynch would pick up a win after a fun transition in the end.
Green went for the Unprettier which was reversed by Lynch into the ManHandle Slam. Green countered that into a roll up but Lynch kicked out at two and applied the DisArmHer which gave her the victory by submission.
Natalya was backstage in a quick interview with Byron Saxton. Saxton mentions how Natalya hasn’t been quite herself since losing so quick to Ripley at Night of Champions. Natalya mentions she hasn’t been the same and maybe she shouldn’t be her former self.
In a Digital Exclusive, Kayden Carter and Katana Chance were seen walking backstage talking about Money in the Bank hoping to get a tag team title opportunity. Deville and Green were laughing at them walking by and called them walking highlighters based on their outfits. Deville stated that both her and Green will always be first in line for a tag title opportunity. The KC’s said that they are always complaining so they are never having fun. After they are done with their pity party then they can come to the after party.
A second women’s match of the night was between Shayna Baszler and Raquel Rodriguez. Rodriguez was big on offense at first, but it only took Rousey to get involved to cost her the win. As Rodriguez attempts to take care of Rousey on the apron, Baszler rolled her up near the rope while Rousey used her foot to keep the pin down. Baszler achieved the victory.
There was a promo that aired for Rhea Ripley. She received a new title belt now named the Women’s World Champion as the SmackDown Women’s Title is no more. The lineage continues from one belt to the other. For more on that you can click here and view the promo below.
On Raw Talk we see Lynch training for Money in the Bank.
Lastly, we saw Maxxine Dupri get physical with Valhalla. During a match between Chad Gable and Erik, Valhalla went after Dupri but was met with an arm drag that distracted Erik enough for Gable to get the win. Dupri has been training with Gable and Otis.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for any future news and results from the women of Raw.
Two more women have qualified for the 2023 women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match. A match that will take place on July 2.
Heading into the June 5 episode of Raw we only knew one out of six women for the MITB match. That woman is Zelina Vega who qualified on Friday’s SmackDown after defeating Lacey Evans. Now, two more women join Vega and those are Becky Lynch and Zoey Stark.
Lynch defeated Sonya Deville to qualify but it wasn’t for lack of distractions. Not only did Deville have Chelsea Green at ringside with her but Trish Stratus and Zoey Stark emerged who have a special interest in taking down Lynch. In the end, Lynch would get the ManHandle Slam on Deville to give herself a victory.
Speaking of Stark, she would be the second woman on Raw to qualify after taking out the veteran Natalya with a Z360. This result came after Stratus tripped up Nattie at the ropes unbeknownst to the referee. It is very good for Stark to have a Hall of Famer in her corner!
We will find out who will take spots four and five this week on SmackDown. As a reminder, Michin takes on Bayley as IYO SKY battles Shotzi.
A third women’s match took place on Raw. The new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Shayna Baszler and Ronda Rousey continued to feel confident after their victory and encouraged any other tag team to stand up to them. NXT Alum and former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions and newcomers to Raw – Kayden Carter and Katana Chance – did just that. The KC’s had their in ring debut against the champs in a non title affair.
The match was given a good length of time and the KC’s took the champs to their limits. They even delivered the After Party which gave them so many wins in the past but Shayna Baszler made sure to pull Chance off of Rousey to continue the match. Rousey even went for the ankle lock which Chance was able to escape. Eventually, the champs would win after Baszler locked in the Kirifuda Clutch on Carter who tapped out.
The SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley was a feature on Miz TV as Dominik Mysterio was a special guest. He traded words with Cody Rhodes before slapping him and running scared behind Mami to protect him. Of course Cody wouldn’t touch Rhea but perhaps another Rhodes would.
Lastly, Maxxine Dupri appeared backstage with Alpha Academy. They talked about her interaction with Valhalla last week and they think she is ready to take her own. Gable says he will help train her but she has to get her gear on.
On the May 29 episode of Monday Night Raw, new WWE Women’s Tag Tam Champions were crowned in a Fatal Four Way. Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler became the new champions against Raquel Rodriguez & Shotzi, Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville, and Damage CTRL.
The match received a decent amount of time and in that Rodriguez was very much the focal point through most the match. However, the final moments of the match came down to Shotzi and Ronda Rousey. Shotzi attempted a back drop from the top rope but landed into an arm bar and tapped out to Rousey.
Elsewhere on the show, Trish Stratus gave a promo and introduced her help from Night of Champions – Zoey Stark. Becky Lynch would come out but be attacked by both women to end the segment.
Maxxine Dupri seems to be fully with the Alpha Academy now. She came to the ring dressed in a “shoosh” shirt during her teams match against Imperium. Valhalla appeared and went after Dupri. She gave her a kick to the head before running and screaming away with Valhalla chasing her to the back.
Raquel Rodriguez is getting acclimated to her new tag partner in Shotzi.
Since having to vacate the tag titles due to Liv Morgan’s injury, Rodriguez had to find a new tag team parneter. She will get a chance to win the tag team belts back with Shotzi on this coming Monday’s Raw. It will be a Fatal Four way that also includea Damage CTRL, Sonya Deville & Cheslea Green, and Shayna Baszler & Ronda Rousey.
Before they get to Monday however, Rodriguez and Shotzi had to take on Damage CTRL’s Bayley and IYO SKY. The final moments of the match had Bayley go for a sunset flip on Rodriguez but couldn’t get her over. SKY, who was on the top rope, backdropped on Shotzi. However Rodriguez was able to pin Bayley picking up the win.
As Night of Champions is set for tomorrow, the Raw Women’s Champion addressed her opponent Asuka. Belair stated the Asuka she knew at WrestleMania she respected. But this Asuka? She does not. She was not happy about Asuka interrupting her home championship celebration a few weeks ago. Asuka’s music would hit and she would emerge from behind Belair in the ring
Asuka locked in an arm bar and wouldn’t release until officials had to come out and break it up. The women broke free and Belair went for the KOD but Asuka landed on the officials. She quickly rolled out of the ring and laughed as she exited up the ramp.
Diva Dirt will have a Night of Champions Discussion Post ready to go at 1 PM ET on Saturday.
Night of Champions biggest women’s bout has been signed on the dotted line. On the May 22 Raw go-home episode, Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus had a contract signing. Stratus made note that this is her first ever and vowed it would be Lynch’s last.
Lynch quickly signed the contract prior to Stratus making her way out to the ring. When Trish entered the ring she started the talk first. She continued to gloat that there wouldn’t even be contract signings if it weren’t for her. She adds that she has been number one since stepping foot into WWE and didn’t need a punch in the face to become so.
Lynch would eventually bite back and stated even with the badness in her head she has had a a career that Trish can only dream of. She says if Trish thinks barking like a dog was embarrassing, just wait until she beats her at Night of Champions. Becky added a bitch and a woof to the end of the segment which cause Stratus to dump the table on Lynch before running out of the ring.
Elsewhere on Raw we had two women’s matches. First we had Zoey Stark take on Candice LeRae. Prior to the match a vignette aired for Stark which was a nice touch to promote the newly called up talent. The match itself should have been twice as long as they gave it, but it served its purpose.
Nikki Cross did come out to ringside in an attempt to help LeRae but it would still be Stark to pick up the win. She delivered a Z360 and got the pinfall.
The second match was between Raquel Rodriguez and Sonya Deville. Rodriguez defeated Chelsea Green last week after finding out Liv Morgan was injured and the two couldn’t defend the tag titles. The titles have now been vacated and new champs will be decided next week.
This was another rather short match which Rodriguez would win off of a spinning senton in the corner and then the Texana Bomb. Post match, Green kneed Raquel in the head before Deville took her down with a running knee. Shotzi’s music hit and she came down to make the save.
Later it was confirmed that Shotzi would be the partner of Rodriguez in the upcoming Fatal Four Way on May 29. The other two teams involved are Shayna Baszler/Ronda Rousey and Bayley/IYO SKY.
Maxxine Dupri was on this week as the valet for the Alpha Academy. It seems she may have jumped shipped from the Maximum Male Models as they haven’t been too pleased with her absence. Dupri did have a run in with Valhalla ring side but she scared her away. This did help Chad Gable pick up the win.
For those that may have missed the May 15 episode of Raw, here is what took place.
Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler return on Raw now that they are drafted to the red brand. The team has not been seen since WrestleMania where they won the WrestleMania Showcase. Rousey has been injured prior to that match and that is what has kept them off TV since.
They made their return after one-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez defeated Chelsea Green. A match that was supposed to be for the gold that had to be changed last minute due to an injury that Liv Morgan suffered on SmackDown. As Rodriguez was celebrating her victory up the ramp and to the stage, Rousey appeared and kicked her followed by Baszler appearing as well.
Rousey and Baszler tell Rodriguez that they are tired of waiting for a title shot and that Rodriguez can defend the gold with or without Morgan. However, if she chooses not to defend the titles then she will continue to get the same beating week after week.
For more on Liv Morgan’s injury you can click here.
Outside of the tag team division, Becky Lynch challenged Trish Stratus for a match at Night of Champions. More on that here.
Backstage Zoey Stark continues to harass Nikki Cross until Candice LeRae appeared. The two would verbally get into it as Stark mocks LeRae’s “weirdo” family. A match between the two has been made for next week.
Lastly, as the promo ended for Lynch, we witnessed the SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley backstage watching it on the monitor. She was approached by Cathy Kelley who asked Ripley about Natalya’s addition to Raw and how she came down last week to confront her.
Natalya told Ripley that she is the most dominant woman who has ever held the SmackDown Women’s Title. And that she doesn’t need to continue to kick people when they are down like she did to Dana Brooke last week. She deserves respect which she isn’t going to get running through the division.
Ripley says that Natalya came down to the ring last week not because of Dana Brooke but because she wants everyone to care about her again. Ripley warns her if she ever interrupts her again, she isn’t going to help her career but she will end it.
Barlow, who has had several appearances on NXT Level Up, was taken out of action last July due to an ACL injury. Now she is back and took on Kiana James at the NXT Live show in Davenport, Fla. on Friday in a losing effort.
Barlow has had Level Up matches against James, Fallon Henley, Thea Hail, and Ivy Nile.
While Barlow makes her return, Harleigh White makes her debut. This is Harleigh’s real name and has not been given a ring name yet. She teamed up with Cora Jade in a losing effort against fellow newcomer Kelani Jordan and Thea Hail.
White is a Clemson University track star – 2022 ACC triple jump champion. She joined NXT with the fall class that also included Kelani Jordan.
Ivy Nile was also in action as she defeated Lola Vice.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for more news and results from the women of NXT.
Asuka is back and is on her new home of SmackDown.
Asuka hasn’t been seen since her loss against Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Title at WrestleMania six weeks ago. Now she is back and still not over her loss.
That's one way to celebrate @BiancaBelairWWE's historic reign… ?
Bianca Belair went to the ring for a celebration in her hometown. But before Belair could even grab a mic, the Empress was on her way to the ring. Asuka extended her hand to congratulate Belair for becoming the longest reigning woman’s champion in the modern era. Reluctant at first, Belair shook Asuka’s hand but was greeted eith the blue mist right to her face.
Belair sold the mist perfectly as officials came down to the ring to help her and keep Asuka away.
Elsewhere on SmackDown this week, the tag titles were on the line as the champs Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez defended them. Their opponents were Bayley and Dakota Kai of Damage CTRL. IYO SKY was at ringside.
The match was solid between the two teams. The final moments had Bayley instructing SKY to grab a title belt for her to use while Kai was laid out on the outside. Rodriguez caught it and played tug of war with the belt as SKY was on the ring apron. Bayley inadvertently knocked SKY off the ring apron as Rodriguez gave a boot to Kai by the timekeepers area.
Back inside Morgan took advantage as she stacked up Bayley to get the three count and retain the titles.
Throughout this match, the newest SmackDown Superstars and the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre looked on backstage.
On NXT Level Up, Kelani Jordan made her TV debut as she faced Wendy Choo in a losing effort. But an impressive debut nonetheless.
The May 8 episode of Raw had a new challenger step up to the SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley. At first it was Dana Brooke.
In a non-title match, Ripley made short work of Brooke only after a few minutes. Brooke had some offense early on in the match but it would take a Riptide and then locking her in the Prism to make her tap out. Post-match, Ripley wasn’t done with Brooke as she landed another Riptide and locked in the Prism submission again.
Natalya’s music would hit as she made her way to the ring. She stepped up to Ripley face to face but the champion would make her way out of the ring before things got physical.
The second women’s match of the night had the Raw debut match for Zoey Stark. She had a confrontation backstage with Nikki Cross which led to the match. Stark picked up a win in her debut after delivering the Z360.
Trish Stratus had a promo after handing out “Where is Becky Lynch?” flyers back stage. The promo continued to mock Lynch with Stratus saying we are never going to see her again. Lynch’s music hits but it was just a plan by Stratus to fake out the crowd as she laughed at how gullible everybody is.
Moments later, Lynch’s music hits again much to Stratus’ confusion as that wasn’t the plan. This time Becky was back and she was behind Trish in the ring. Lynch delivered a ManHandle slam which made Stratus roll out the ring and retreat up the ramp.
Lastly, we had Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville going around backstage collecting signatures. The signatures are to have them get a tag title shot even tho that’s not what they were telling some people. Xia Li first signed it as they them approached Candice LeRae, Johnny Gargano, and Indi Hartwell.
Hartwell asked Dexter Lumis if they should sign it as he gave the thumbs down.
Later in the night, they ran into the tag team champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Morgan stated if they wanted to have a rematch all they had to do is ask. Regardless the champs signed the petition and said they would face them after they retain against Damage CTRL on Friday. Green and Deville laughed because they had the intent on facing Damage CTRL and not the current champions.
In case you missed this week’s Raw, on the second and final night of the WWE Draft, Damage CTRL picks up a big victory against the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. In a non-title bout, Bayley and Dakota Kai became victorious against Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan.
The match was pretty evenly throughout. At one point Kai tagged the foot of Bayley which the referee wouldn’t take as a legal tag but allowed Bayley to rake the eyes of Morgan. Morgan would eventually get the hot tag for Rodriguez. The final moments had Bayley tagging herself in as Morgan hit ObLIVion on Kai. Bayley stacks up Morgan for the victory.
The second match of the night was between the LWO including Zelina Vega, Rey Mysterio, and Santos Escobar facing Judgment Day’s Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio, and Damian Priest. Eyes were on Vega and Ripley during this match by women’s wrestling fans as they will battle for the SmackDown Women’s Title this Saturday at Backlash.
A few moments of the match included both Vega and Ripley mixing it up with the men. The match would eventually be won by the Judgment Day after Priest pinned Rey.
There was a backstage promo that gave further push for the Raw Women’s Title match at Backlash which will be the champion Bianca Belair taking on IYO SKY. As Belair was being interviewed, all of Damage CTRL entered. Belair commented that back at SummerSlam she was excited to see SKY come to the main roster as she knows was she is capable of and what she can do. But for Belair, she hasn’t seen it on the main roster. She continues to drive a wedge in Damage CTRL and trying to get SKY to believe that Bayley and Kai are holding her back.
Bayley states that with her and Kai’s win over the tag champs and with SKY facing Belair this weekend that Damage CTRL will have all of the gold.
We also got to see two Hall of Famers as Queen Sharmell and Molly Holly both helped reveal draft picks.
Kayden Carter and Katana Chance are called up from NXT to the Raw brand.
