Bianca Belair is still the Raw Women’s Champion as she defeated Bayley in a Last Woman Standing Match at Crown Jewel.
The match had it all. The common weapons of kendo sticks, ladders, tables, and chairs. Both women found out earlier on in the match that they will have to end up trapping their opponent to prevent them from getting up before the count of 10.
Bayley tried to capture Belair both in the ring steps as well as in a road case at the top of the stage to try and keep her down. A golf cart entered the mix before Bayley went through a table. The brawl goes back in the ring with steel chairs and a ladder. Belair hits a KOD to Bayley’s knee first on a steel chair. She places Bayley inside a ladder and pushes her into the corner under the turnbuckle so that she is unable to escape. The referee counts to 10 and Belair is still the Raw Women’s Champion.
Earlier in the night, Damage CTRL regained the Women’s Tag Team Championships. You can read more on that here.
Rhea Ripley and Scarlett were two women who also were on the show. Scarlett attempted to help Karrion Kross in his steel cage match against Drew McIntyre. Even though she pulled out the mace to spray in McIntyre’s eyes, it would be McIntyre who won the match.
Ripley helped out The Judgment Day as per usual to defeat The O.C. Commentary continues to say who can fight off Ripley with Michael Cole even saying someone needs to kick her ass. Ripley wore a Beth Phoenix-inspired hairdo saying that it was to honor the late great Beth Phoenix.
A series from WWE is coming to Hulu that will feature the current Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair and her husband and fellow WWE Superstar Montez Ford. The couple announced their engagement in 2017 and have been married since the following year in 2018.
The announcement for this series was confirmed by WWE Co-CEO Nick Khan on the 2022 third quarter earnings call. A premiere date and further details on the show were not provided at the time of the announcement.
Khan also added that WWE and Hulu reached an extension for the WWE Raw re-air rights.
Nick Khan reveals a WWE series focused on Bianca Belair and Montez Ford is coming to Hulu.
They also extended their Raw re-air rights deal with Hulu.
Both the NXT Women’s and the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships will be on the line within the next two weeks.
First, the two women who won the tag team titles for just a few seconds Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark will get a rematch next week on Nov. 8. Prior to confirming this upcoming bout, Stark & Lyons ran into Indi Hartwell in the lockerroom. Stark, whose frustrations have grown, told Hartwell that she wouldn’t deserve a championship match because she hasn’t earned it. This booked Stark and Hartwell for tonight.
The match witness Stark at a breaking point and she wanted to put Hartwell through the commentary desk mid-match, but it would be Lyons that convinced her to focus on the match. This distraction and second-guessing on the part of Stark allowed Hartwell to pick up an impressive victory.
After Stark’s loss, Stark and Lyons would run into the tag team champions backstage. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter teased her for losing against Hartwell and told her she would have to do better than that next week to take the gold from them. Stark argued that they already beat them once and technically became champions. Lyons continued to calm down Stark as the champions walked off.
Mandy Rose alongside her Toxic Attraction stablemates Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne celebrated the one-year anniversary of Rose becoming the NXT Women’s Champion. A full 365-days and now sitting at 371, Rose has dominated NXT over the course of a year and has made Toxic Attraction – THEE Attraction.
During the celebration set up in the ring, Dolin and Jayne put together a video package of Rose’s reign. Rose would then continue to give a speech until a familiar rival would come crashing in.
After Fyre interrupted the anniversary celebration. After chasing Rose and Jayne out of the ring, she would put Dolin through a table. She warned Rose and Jayne that they would be next. Fyre says she already took out Dolin, next week she will take out Jayne, and in two weeks she will challenge Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship and take it from her. The championship match will take place on Nov. 15.
Two other women’s matches took place this week. One had Kiana James defeat Thea Hail and the other had Cora Jade go over on Valentina Feroz.
Hail had faced James before but lost in mere seconds thanks to Mr. Stone. Andre Chase was able to get the Chase U student a rematch. This time, the match was competitive but in the end, James would pick up the victory
As for Jade vs. Feroz, Jade would pick up the victory off of a DDT against Feroz who has been down on her luck. Her tag team partner Yulisa Leon is out due to injury and now she no longer has the help of Sanga. After Jade picked up the win, she would target Feroz but Wendy Choo came to make the save.
Ava Raine spoke along with Schism and why she joined the group. She explains that shortly after signing with WWE and reporting to the Performance Center she had an injury that required surgery. No one checked up on her but Joe Gacy. She says the members of the Schism group were there for her when no one else was.
Lastly, Elektra Lopez made her return to NXT last week. She was seen backstage this week approaching Tony D’Angelo and Stacks. D’Angelo commented that she appears to now be going at it alone referring to her no longer being with Legado del Fantasma. Lopez appears to be focused as a singles competitor now.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for more news and results from the women of NXT.
It has been five years to almost the day since Emma was released from WWE. Her last match was on Raw against Asuka just days before her release on Oct. 29 in 2017. Now, she returned to SmackDown and answered the open challenge from Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
During the match, commentary would remind everyone of Emma’s time with the company previously including her being in the finals of the inaugural NXT Women’s Championship tournament. She is the first-ever Australian female to ever be signed to WWE during her first run. Emma put up a fight against Rousey and despite her veteran status, it would still be considered an upset if she would have achieved victory.
Despite coming close to getting that upset with a very close near fall on Rousey, it would be Rousey that would retain. After fighting away from tapping out to the ankle lock, Emma would succumb to the armbar submission after being hit with the Piper’s Pit. This was only after Rousey raked Emma eyes.
After the match, Rousey was seen backstage where Shayna Baszler approached her. She congratulated her on retaining the belt against the “new girl.” Natalya appeared and stated that Rousey was lucky because if it was her that answered the open challenge it would have been a different story. Baszler would then attack Natalya with a Kirifuda Clutch as Rousey watched with approval.
We also got some continuation between Sonya Deville and Liv Morgan. Morgan defeated Deville last week and then went extreme when she landed a superplex on chairs in the middle of the ring. This week, Deville was asked backstage if she would be answering the open challenge against Rousey. She said she knows who won’t be answering and that was Morgan adding that the former champion should never have had the title, to begin with. Morgan would jump Deville and the two would brawl as they were pulled apart by officials.
B-Fab, Zelina Vega, and Maxxine Dupri were all on this week’s show with their respective stables. Hit Row and Shinsuke Nakamura took on Legado Del Fantasma and came out victorious. Maximum Male Models took another loss to The New Day.
Lastly, another video of the presumed return of Sarah Logan aired.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for more news and results from the women of SmackDown!
Who stood tall heading into NXT’s Halloween Havoc on the Oct. 18 episode of NXT?
The NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose returned to NXT after a few weeks to help build towards her match at this weekend’s premium live event as she hopes to retain so she can make it to 365-days as champion.
Before we get to Rose and the championship, the show started off with the first of two Pick Your Poison matches. Ahead of their Weapon’s Wild Match at Halloween Havoc, both Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade picked each other’s opponents. Perez took on Raw’s Rhea Ripley. Jade took on SmackDown’s Raquel Rodriguez later in the show.
First, Perez put on a lengthy hard-hitting match with Ripley. Ripley arrives with all of her Judgment Day faction which ended up being the downfall of Perez. Despite putting up a good fight and narrowly almost defeating Ripley, a distraction by Dominik Mysterio was what it took for a Riptide to take out Perez. Ripley gets the pin.
Later in the night, Jade took on Rodriguez and the match ended in a disqualification giving the win to Jade. After Rodriguez took down her opponent with a lariat, Jade grabbed a bat and brought it into the ring. The bat would get into the hands of Rodriguez who used it to cause the DQ. Directly after the match, Perez rushed to ringside to start brawling with her former best friend.
Once back in the ring, Jade found herself between Perez and Rodriguez as Perez delivered a super kick. Jade ran off after Perez went for a swing of the bat.
The third women’s match of the night had the challenger for the NXT Women’s Championship Alba Fyre taking on Sonya Deville. Deville shocked the NXT crowd last week when she showed up to help Toxic Attraction during Mandy Rose’s absence. In a short match that was revving up to be so much more, Fyre would pin Deville with a roll up.
Deville and Toxic Attraction would immediately attack Fyre and hold her back with her own back as the NXT Women’s Champion made her way out to the ring. Rose says that at Halloween Havoc she will be fighting Fyre with Fire. Fyre fights off Toxic Attraction and Deville before Rose enters the ring. Rose attempts to go after Fyre with the championship belt but Fyre catches her with the bat beforehand. Rose retreats.
Rose won the NXT Women’s Championship at last year’s Halloween Havoc by defeating Raquel Rodriguez. If she defeats Fyre and retains, Oct. 26 will mark 365-days as champion.
Shotzi returned to NXT and will be the host of Halloween Havoc alongside Quincy Elliott. More on that here.
Kayden Carter and Katana Chance will defend their NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships against Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons on the Oct. 25 episode of NXT. More on that here.
Thea Hail was on this week’s episode during a Chase U segment where she requested another match with Kiana James.
Check back in with Diva Dirt this Saturday for the Halloween Havoc Discussion Post.
Just one week prior to their championship match at Extreme Rules the SmackDown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan and her challenger Ronda Rousey are unleashed.
On the Sept. 30 episode of SmackDown, Rousey went one-on-one with Natalya. The two women put on a match that witnessed both of them trying to utilize their submission holds to gain a victory. As the match reached its conclusion, Natalya went for the Sharpshooter but Rousey countered it into the ankle lock. Natalya leaned back to pin Rousey’s shoulders to the mat for a count of two to break the hold. Following it up with a discus clothesline, Natalya gets another near fall and a count of two after going for the pin. Rousey would get Natalya in the ankle lock once again and this time Natalya has no choice but to tap out.
After the bout, Liv Morgan’s music hit and the champion headed down the ramp with a baseball bat in hand. Rousey stood at the bottom of the ramp waiting for her. The two would collide starting a brawl that took them around ringside. After the swing of the bat missed Rousey and connected with the ring post, Rousey delivered Piper’s Pit to Morgan at ringside.
The two would get into a tug of war over the bat until Rousey would be sent into the barricade. Rousey sends Morgan into the timekeeper’s area just before security shows up to try and calm Rousey down who had the bat in hand. Rousey would drop the bat and walk off but Morgan was back on her feet and went back after her Extreme Rules opponent. They continue to brawl as security continued to try and separate them to end the segment as the crowd chanted “let them fight.”
A second women’s match took place on this week’s SmackDown and it was the advertised match between Shotzi and Bayley. Shotzi is fully back to her baby face persona (minus her last name) as her tank has finally returned. Both women had a promo backstage prior to their bout. It would be Bayley that continues her momentum toward Extreme Rules as she took out Shotzi with the Rose Plant.
Post-match, Bayley delivered a second Rose Plant to Shotzi before pulling a ladder out from under the ring. In an attempt to send a message to the Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair ahead of their ladder match at Extreme Rules, Bayley placed Shotzi between the ladder. Prior to doing any further damage to Shotzi, Belair’s music hit and the Raw Women’s Champion was on SmackDown to make the save.
Bayley first went to deliver Rose Plant on the ladder to Belair but the champion would counter it into a KOD attempt. Bayley would get out of the KOD before it could be executed. It was confirmed that Bayley and Belair will have a contract signing on this Monday’s Raw just days before they have the first-ever one-on-one women’s Ladder Match in WWE’s main roster’s history.
Other women on the show included Maxxine Dupri who led the Maximum Male Models in an effort to beat the record of the longest pose in Canada’s history. They attempted to do this throughout the show before Max Dupri would turn on them just as they were seconds away from beating the record.
Scarlett was featured in a promo for Karrion Kross who was talking about his upcoming match against Drew McIntyre and how once he beats McIntyre at Extreme Rules he is heading for the title.
On this week’s NXT: Level Up, Thea Hail picks up a victory over Valentina Feroz.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for more news and results from the women of SmackDown.
The NXT talent has had several matches on NXT: Level Up and live events but hasn’t appeared on NXT 2.0 just yet. In a vignette on the Sept. 6 episode, it shows that she is coming soon.
For those unfamiliar with Ruca, her real name is Calyx Hampton. She was part of the March 2022 class along with names such as Roxanne Perez, Thea Hail, Kiana James, Arianna Grace, and more.
Calyx Hampton is a 22-year-old former athlete from the University of Oregon. She competed on the school’s Acrobatics & Tumbling team, earning NCATA Individual Event National Championship honors.
So far, Ruca has had matches against Tiffany Stratton, Kiana James, Elektra Lopez, Fallon Henley, and most recently Valentina Feroz. A date for her NXT 2.0 has not been announced at the time of this writing.
Total Divas brought in a whole new fanbase into the world of women’s wrestling. The show ran from 2013 to 2019 and the series had nine seasons before quietly being canceled. The show started with and carried on with The Bella Twins through most of the seasons. The twins would only appear as guests in the last season of the show as they were focused on their own show, Total Bellas.
The show had a wide range of talent and introduced some new women into the mix as well. Some stars such as Natalya, Naomi, Cameron, Paige, Alicia Fox, Lana, Maryse, Summer Rae, Rosa Mendes, Eva Marie, and more were featured in several seasons. In later seasons the likes of Carmella, Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, Sonya Deville, and Ronda Rousey joined the case.
While speaking with Scott Fishman of TV Insider, The Bellas would discuss Total Divas and what it meant to them. They would love to see it return at some point as they feel there is so much more to be seen.
“It doesn’t get enough credit,” said Nikki. “I believe it was also a reason why we had more girls showing up. Here were these reality fans that believed in us and our stories inside and outside the ring. They wanted to come to watch it live and grew into fans. It changed the game so much for us. It made people believe in women’s wrestling. I do hope it does come back down the line, being an executive producer. I’ve always had such strong opinions about it.
I do hope it comes back because we have so many interesting and amazing women….I think we can make more magic happen with Total Divas, but it has to be the right people behind it. We started to go in a direction where it became more to do with bad girls’ club drama. It’s why we walked away. I was like, ‘That’s not what these women are about. That’s not why people want to watch. They want to watch because after they wanted that hour of TV they felt something. They felt belief, empowerment, strength, inspiration.’ I think we can get back to that.”
Brie added,“It would be awesome to see a Becky Lynch on there. Does she cry after a match? Does she kiss her daughter before she comes out? I think if viewers saw the same moments you saw on Total Divas, you would connect to them in a different way and in a bigger light. I think it would make stars, too.”
In addition to Total Divas lasting nine seasons, Total Bellas went for six ending in 2021.
Would you like to see Total Divas return in some capacity in the future? What are your memories from the show? Join the discussion below!
It has been nine years today, July 17, since Charlotte had her first match on NXT programming. Her signing took place in 2012, however, she would win her debut match in 2013 against Bayley.
Charlotte would go on to win the NXT Women’s Championship and would eventually be called up to the main roster in 2015 along with Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch. She would quickly become Divas Champion after defeating Nikki Bella to end her longest reign. Flair would be the last Divas Champion before the WWE Women’s Championship (eventual and current Raw Women’s Championship) would be introduced and the Divas would be referred to as simply Superstars moving forward.
This week’s Flashback Match Friday is a match between Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair that would be the start of a series of unforgettable matches for the Women’s Championship (eventually renamed Raw Women’s Championship).
Flair became the first Women’s Champion as the Divas Championship was retired at WrestleMania 32 after a tremendous Triple Threat battle against both Banks and Becky Lynch. Banks wasn’t finished with her vision to win her first gold on the main roster and she does it in this very match.
On Raw nearly six years ago to the day on July 25, Flair defended her title in the first of six matches the two would have for the Raw Women’s Championship. At the time, the back and forth of the title exchange seemed unnecessary, but looking back it can be credited to how important the championship is and what it represents.
In this particular match, Banks would win her first gold on the main roster. She was previously an NXT Women’s Champion much like Charlotte. However, Charlotte had won the Divas Title and now held the Women’s Championship before The Boss.
The final moments of the match saw a series of Bank Statements. After locking it in, Flair was able to roll away from it to get closer to the ropes but Banks locked it in again. Flair would get her foot on the ropes to break the hold. Seething, Flair told Banks that she will never beat her. This just before Banks executed the backstabber into another Bank Statement. Flair would tap and we had a new Women’s Champion.
As mentioned earlier, the two women would go on to have five more championship matches throughout 2016.
Charlotte Flair defeated Sasha Banks (c) – SummerSlam
Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte Flair (c) – Oct. 3 Raw
Charlotte Flair defeated Sasha Banks (c) – Hell in a Cell – First Women’s HIAC match
Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte Flair (c) – Nov. 28 Raw
Charlotte Flair defeated Sasha Banks (c) – Roadblock: End of the Line
These matches would go on to be referenced for years to come as Banks was ridiculed for not being able to hold onto a championship for more than 30-days. She would eventually do so with the SmackDown Women’s Championship and the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
What are your favorite memories from this moment in Women’s wrestling history? Join the discussion below!
It has been eight years today, June 26, since Becky Lynch first graced a WWE ring. In NXT, Lynch made her debut against Summer Rae and came out with a victory. Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks were at ringside. Rae went for a kick to possibly end the match when Lynch caught her. Lynch delivered a suplex to get the pin and her first win.
Lynch writes on Twitter about her anniversary with the company –
“8 years ago I had possibly the most shameful debut in NXT/WWE history.
Today I have accomplished nearly everything I could have ever dreamed of.
And tonight I will main event like I always do at #WWEHidalgo.
Where you’ve been doesn’t have to indicate where you’ll go.”
8 years ago I had possibly the most shameful debut in NXT/ WWE history.
Today I have accomplished nearly everything I could have ever dreamed of.
And tonight I will main event like I always do at #wwehidalgo .
Former three-time WWE Divas Champion AJ Mendez (Lee) recently sat down with Renee Paquette in an interview for Paquette’s podcast “The Sessions.”
In this interview, Mendez first talks about her returning to the wrestling industry as a producer for the upcoming relaunch of Women of Wrestling (WOW). She talks about being an author, mental health advocate, and much more.
The two talk about an upcoming movie that Mendez co-wrote the screenplay for which is titled Blade of the 47 Ronin (a sequel to the 2013 film 47 Ronin). After discussing the premise of the film, Paquette asked Mendez how much her wrestling career helped her now in her writing career.
“So much, there’s so many transferable skills. I remember I was very fortunate that I was given a lot of trust with my promos and I think that started from the angle I had with Kaitlyn, and Tom Casiello was the writer. He was very much collaborative. We would put promos together as this group.
I remember this really big promo where I was revealed as her (Kaitlyn) secret admirer. I wrote a first draft of it and sent it to Tom and then Tom gave it to Stephanie McMahon and then she did edits on it and we sat down and practiced it and I added these edits in. It was so cool to see that she had a lot of writing experience. So it was this mentorship for the whole arc with me and Tom and then the one particular promo with me and Stephanie. I was given so much freedom. This is every insane thing I want to say, can we do this? They just let me do my whole promo. That feeling of, ‘I wrote this,’ and you let me put it on TV. And perform it.”
She continues, “We were terrified because this was a time when women didn’t get to talk, ever. So I remember we were shitting our pants because we were like they are just going to do the Austin ‘What’ chant the whole time. We had a game plan on what to do and Stephanie was just like talk over it. We all thought it was going to happen and it didn’t. They were listening to us talk. That’s when I was like, oh, I know how to get people’s attention. From there they trusted me to write my own promos.”
Mendez goes on to talk about her infamous pipebomb promo as one of her favorites.
For the full interview, you can check it out below.
On the May 30 episode of Raw, a six-person mixed tag team bout was added for this Sunday’s Hell in a Cell premium live event.
Ever since Rhea Ripley turned her back on Liv Morgan and subsequently joined The Judgment Day, the two women have been at each other’s throats with Ripley constantly coming out on top. At Hell in a Cell, Ripley will join her Judgment Day partners Damian Priest and Edge to face Morgan, AJ Styles, and Finn Balor.
On this week’s go-home episode of Raw, Morgan faced Ripley in singles action. Once again, Morgan found herself going up against the strength of Ripley that cannot be matched. Halfway through the match, Priest would make his way out to ringside for Ripley while Styles joined Morgan to even the numbers.
The final moments of the match were almost dejavu from what happened a few weeks ago. Much as Edge did to help Ripley get a win over Morgan on May 9, Priest caught Morgan in the ropes during ObLIVion. Ripley attempted to stack Morgan up for the win, but this time she kicked out.
As Styles was dealing with Priest on the outside for interfering, Morgan escaped a Riptide and stacked up Ripley to get the victory. This was a much-needed win for Morgan and her team heading into Hell in a Cell.
Post-match, Priest took out Styles on the outside and then turned his focus to Morgan who was yelling at him in the ring. As Priest targeted Morgan, Balor would emerge making the save. Morgan and company would finish the segment strong as they continued to beat down both Ripley and Priest. Edge did not appear.
A segment has been confirmed between the number one contender for the Raw Women’s Championship Asuka and the woman she beat for that spot, Becky Lynch. Last week, the two battled it out in the main event with the winner going on to face the champion Bianca Belair at Hell in a Cell.
Lynch will respond to what happened to her last week on the upcoming May 23 Raw. The official WWE.com preview reads as follows:
Becky Lynch’s inspirational rise back to the Raw Women’s Championship took a major detour last week when Asuka surprised Big Time Becks by spraying green mist in her face and rolling her up for the pin to earn a title opportunity against Bianca Belair at Hell in a Cell.
How will Lynch respond after having her title hopes go up in mist at the hands of The Empress of Tomorrow?
Check back in with Diva Dirt every Monday for a Raw Discussion Post to discuss the women of the red brand.
Former Divas Champion Kaitlyn, real name Celeste Bonin, sat down with Renee Paquette on her podcast and spoke candidly about leaving both WWE and wrestling as a whole.
Bonin would enter WWE in 2010 as part of NXT Season Three which she ended up winning by defeating Naomi in the finals. She would leave WWE and subsequently retire from wrestling as a whole in 2014 to focus on other ventures.
A return to the ring would occur in 2018 when she had an indie match with Rachael Ellering. Bonin returned to WWE for the second Mae Young Classic Tournament the same year. She would make it past the first round but lose to Mia Yim in the second.
While speaking to Paquette on The Sessions, she discussed the struggles she faced in WWE and it would ultimately be her battle with her self-image that led to her departure.
“My time in WWE, it would be easy to say it fucked me up and I thought that for a long time and that’s why I didn’t do anything in wrestling for a really long time, until the [2018 Mae Young Classic]. That was such a big deal to me because I literally didn’t know how to process it. Any time that I’d do an appearance or a signing or something or talk about wrestling, I’d have these feelings that I didn’t know how to process and I didn’t know how to not have them, essentially,” she explained. [h/t – Fightful]
“Everything I looked at in wrestling, the painful shit and the things I went through and was struggling with during my time there. Also, the really profoundly beautiful things, all the opportunities, the travel, the connections, the love available to me from fans and my peers, and the deep connections that I made all of it showed me and reflected to me things that already existed in me, pain that already existed in me.”
Credit: WWE
She continues by adding that she felt she was going to get fired as another reason why she chose to ask for her release feeling that she became less and less relevant.
“I left wrestling because I thought I was just gonna get fired,” she said. “I felt less and less relevant. I had so much shame I had gained all this weight, and like my body was just giving me every signal that I was not okay, emotionally, mentally, I had so much hatred for myself, I had so much resentment for myself and like that projected outwards towards others. I was in self-destruct mode, so I just asked for my release on a day that was a really shitty day.
“I was so disassociated from so much of that day,” she continued. “Because it was so painful because I didn’t understand why I was doing these things. I just was like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ For a long time, I hated the way I left because like I ripped myself out of like really the only love and support I had really in my life. But I didn’t know how to receive any of it. Like I was isolating myself. So I’m like, ‘Okay, well, maybe this is time for me to leave.’ I had gotten engaged really fast. I felt like I just needed to go on a hiatus and just figure my shit out. I left and I got a couple of months’ severance and I didn’t really have a plan on what I was going to do. I literally felt like I don’t have anything to give to share. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know what my career is — I felt so lost.”
Loved catching up with my girl @CelesteBonin she’s a freaking gem. We talk her time in WWE, and her insane story of being signed and being on the main roster so quickly. But we also talk about how her life has been after. We get deep! Listen to us: pic.twitter.com/lsJqTZAfyI
Bonin comments more on struggling with body dysmorphia which was wrestling replaced from her time prior with her fitness competitions. This has helped her connect with fans because she understands the struggles that others may be facing.
“I can see this now to me it [the business] was just replacing wrestling, and wrestling was replacing fitness and competing. So like my only relevance, I felt growing up like in my teen years, especially, I started to find my identity in being really muscular and strong. So I started working out a lot and I competed as soon as I got out of high school and that became my identity. I was like, this is the way that I’m going to get love and respect and be something in the world through this. This is the vessel and so when I started doing that, I had some success. Then immediately after the first couple of shows I did I started having like really fucked up body dysmorphia and didn’t I didn’t understand nutrition, I didn’t understand how to take care of myself.
“I think it’s why I love connecting to fans so much,” she said. “Now when I do like signings and stuff, because I’m like, ‘whatever you’re going through right now,’ because like, a lot of times people come up and they’re so nervous, and they’re just like, like a wreck. I’m like, just so you know, ‘Whatever you’re feeling it’s okay, when I was on TV, I felt like this every day.’ So, we’re all the same. It’s so cool. Because like that really gives people this ability to be like, ‘oh,’ so, wrestling became my new vessel.”
Bonin’s biggest rivalry in WWE is arguably her matches and moments with Aj Lee.
After defeating Queen Zelina in a one-on-one non-title match, the Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair found out who her next challenger would be. And that individual is WWE authority figure, Sonya Deville.
Ahead of Belair’s match against Zelina, Deville had a contract in hand and explained to her fellow authority figure Adam Pearce that she knows exactly who will step up to Belair. She made her way to the ring to deliver the news after Belair defeated Zelina.
Deville first congratulated Belair for winning the Raw Women’s Title against Becky Lynch at WrestleMania. She convinced the champ to sign the contract as an open challenge before confirming who the opponent would be. After the contract was signed, Deville shifted Belair’s attention to the stage and continued to hype up her opponent. With the champ’s back turned, Deville attacked Belair by taking her out at the knee. Deville confirms that she will be Belair’s next challenger as she signed the contract.
Adam Pearce confronted Deville backstage afterward and shared his displeasure with her abuse of power.
A date for their match has not been confirmed, however, WrestleMania Backlash does take place on May 8.
Belair speaks about Deville being no match for her in a Digital Exclusive. Where Deville has been wearing jackets and making matches for a year, The EST has been wearing championships and making history.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for further news on the women of the Raw brand.
It has been confirmed that a double wedding will take place next Monday, April 18 on Raw.
On this week’s show, both the 24/7 Champion Dana Brooke and her frenemy Tamina held a joint bachelorette party as the two will be getting married. Both women were recently proposed to on-screen by Reggie and Akira Tozawa respectively. The men had their bachelor party as well and they rushed over to the bachelorette party realizing that Dana was going to be vulnerable at a party where her 24/7 Title could be in danger.
By the time the men got to the bachelorette party, Nikki A.S.H. was attempting to become the 24/7 Champion but wasn’t able to get the three count. A brawl broke out amongst the party-goers until R-Truth became the voice of reason and showed everyone that he is ordained and will officiate the double wedding that will be taking place next week.
Dana Brooke has held the 24/7 Championship now for two reigns. Since she was able to make it out of Raw still as champion, she will be surpassing Reggie as the second-longest combined reigns. She will be hitting 134 combined days.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for more news on the women of the Raw brand.
Last week we saw a shift in the NXT UK Women’s Division when Isla Dawn challenged Meiko Satomura for the championship. Meiko went on to retain the title but it was Isla Dawn who took the title home in a shocking twist.
NXT UK’s Wicked Witch admits that the bond between title and champion is too strong for her to break and so she proposes a deal of sorts. Isla has something Meiko wants and Meiko has something Isla needs. The dark promo ends with Isla delivering a proposition to the champion: she must do whatever Isla says.
A rematch is most certainly on the cards but how many games will Isla Dawn play before this happens?
Another consequence from last week was felt as Amale agreed to give Xia Brookside her requested rematch. The French Hope has been on an impressive series of wins, commentary even suggested she might be looking to face Meiko once again.
Brookside was caught by cameras last week talking to her father telling him it was time for their plan. It appears that Brookside may have just found some new hope against The French Hope!
The spoiled brat of NXT UK comes out, disturbed by the chants of the crowd as she attempts to crush Amale. As the battle falls to the outside, Xia is rolled back in the ring while Amale turns to hype the crowd and is suddenly struck by a blonde woman on the other side of the barricade. With the ref distracted by Xia, Amale is left to the mercy of the attack and is defenceless to Xia as she capitalises with Broken Wings and defeats her foe.
After @XiaBrooksideWWE is questioned on how she earned her win, Eliza Alexander steps in to answer for her apparent new ally. #NXTUKpic.twitter.com/L31HfKtQZP
Commentary are unclear who this woman is as she joins Xia Brookside in the ring but a Digital Exclusive does confirm that this is Eliza Alexander, formerly known as Lizzy Evo, who has been brought in by Xia’s father to help his daughter. Eliza quickly shuts down the questioning from the interviewer and leaves with Xia.
What do you make of this new pairing in NXT UK? What do you think Isla might have in store for Meiko next? Let us know in the comments!
Kay Lee Ray & Io Shirai are the winners of the 2022 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament. In the main event of this week’s NXT 2.0, Shirai & KLR defeated Dakota Kai & Wendy Choo in the finals to have their names etched on the trophy and received a tag team title opportunity.
The final moments of the match involved KLR hitting Choo with a headbutt before delivering the KLR Bomb. Shirai followed up with a moonsault to get the pinfall on Choo as KLR kept Kai outside the ring from breaking up the pin.
After the match, KLR and Shirai were celebrating in the ring as all three members of Toxic Attraction came into the ring from watching ringside in the Toxic Lounge. Despite the winners of the Dusty Cup not being who they wanted, the NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose was confident that Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne can defeat KLR and Shirai at Stand & Deliver.
KLR and Shirai threw a curveball and had another plan in mind. Their goal is to take down Toxic Attraction and what better way to do it than going after the head of the group – Mandy Rose. The winners of the Dusty Cup would like to cash in their title opportunity but not for the tag team titles, they want to be added to the NXT Women’s Title Match. This would make it a Fatal 4-Way. Rose is already scheduled to face Cora Jade at Stand & Deliver.
Jade would make her way out to the ring to even the numbers as Toxic Attraction retreated. The Fatal 4-Way was not confirmed as the show went off the air. WWE confirms the Fatal 4-Way on social media.
Other moments from the women on this week’s NXT 2.0 included Fallon Henley taking on Elektra Lopez. The two competitors have been building a feud over the past couple of weeks. This would be the first time they took it to the ring.
Lopez picked up the win after a near fall from Henley. Henley had Lopez in the corner before delivering a bulldog to get a two-count. It looked like Henley was trying for a second bulldog but Lopez caught her up in the ropes before hitting a slam to get the victory.
Despite Persia Pirotta getting a loss against her friend and tag team partner Indi Hartwell last week, the two seem to still be on speaking terms. The two try to one-up each other and brag about their relationships and what transpired last week with their “kiss-off.”
They accompanied both of their men to the ring throughout the night as Dexter Lumis took on Tony D’Angelo while Duke Hudson battled Gunther. During Lumis’ match, a crowbar was introduced by Pirotta but she blamed D’Angelo for using it which led to his victory. Gunther also defeated Hudson causing both of the men in the women’s lives to take losses this week.
Newcomer Sofia Cromwell was also on this week’s NXT. Despite not being formally introduced by name from commentary, for the second week in a row she was seen with Robert Stone. She approached Stone saying they weren’t able to finish their conversation from last week and wanted to continue it. Stone obliged and the two walked off-screen. Cromwell was seen a few weeks ago in-crowd watching Von Wagner’s match who is the client of Stone.
Tonight’s NXT 2.0 will have the finals for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The two teams that made it through to the last match are Io Shirai & Kay Lee Ray vs. Dakota Kai & Wendy Choo.
As a recap of how this final match came to fruition, the two teams that Shirai & KLR defeated to advance were Lash Legend/Amari Miller and Kacy Catanzaro/Kayden Carter. Kai & Choo defeated the teams of Indi Hartwell/Persia Pirotta and Raquel Gonzalez/Cora Jade.
If Shirai & KLR win the gold it will be Shirai’s second reign as champion (w/ Zoey Stark) and the first for KLR. Kai won the Dusty Tag Team Classic last year (with Raquel Gonzalez) and became the inaugural NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. They were awarded the gold by William Regal after they faced Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles and were cheated out of a win. This would be Choo’s first gold in WWE if she were to win.
The winning team of the tournament will go on to Stand & Deliver on April 2 and face Toxic Attraction for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. This event is the same day as Day One of WrestleMania 38 and will happen at 1:00 PM EST.
Stand & Deliver
Toxic Attraction (c) vs. TBD (Io Shirai & Kay Lee Ray OR Dakota Kai & Wendy Choo) – NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles
Mandy Rose (c) vs. Cora Jade – NXT Women’s Title
Check back in with Diva Dirt tonight for an NXT Discussion Post as we head towards Stand & Deliver!
On this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Kris Statlander hinted at a change to her appearance. While looking in a mirror she removed her contact lenses and her war paint from her face. She didn’t take long to unveil her new look as she came out to help Red Velvet on Friday’s Rampage.
Red Velvet has been stuck in the middle between Statlander and Leyla Hirsch who all three were close friends and teammates. Over the past few months, tensions started to rise and Statlander and Hirsch grew animosity for one another with Velvet ending up on the side of Statlander. On Rampage, there was a grudge match between Hirsch and Red Velvet after Hirsch was successful in her victory over Statlander on the Buy-In of Revolution.
Prior to the bell even ringing the two competitors battled on the ramp. Statlander interjected at the end of the match. Hirsch brought a turnbuckle connector out from under the ring and planned on using it before Statlander pulled it away from her. Red Velvet took advantage of Statlander’s help and landed a corkscrew kick to get a pin and victory over Hirsch.
Statlander was noticeably no longer in her alien gimmick and commentary remarked how she looks completely different.
Isla Dawn is ready to face the Final Boss next week as she will be challenging Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK Women’s Championship. This version of Isla Dawn is not the same one Satomura faced one year ago when she stepped into WWE. In fact, Dawn was her first competitor and Satomura recognizes the difference.
In the most recent promo below Dawn says the Isla that Meiko faced one year ago is gone and that she will be the one to cause the fall of the champion. Will Isla be the one to dethrone the Final Boss? If not, who?
Dawn has strung together a few victories over the past number of months. Most importantly defeating Emilia McKenzie, who is Satomura’s protege. Satomura has been champion since June when she dethroned the longest reigning champion, Kay Lee Ray.
She has gone on to defend successfully against Amale, Stevie Turner, Jinny, Xia Brookside, and most recently Blair Davenport. Davenport was likely poised to be the one to take the gold but a recent injury during their last title match has stalled that possibility.
On this week’s NXT UK, there were two women’s matches with the following results –
On this week’s AEW Dynamite St. Patrick’s Day Slam, Thunder Rosa became the new AEW Women’s World Champion by defeating Dr. Britt Baker in the main event. The title was decided in a steel cage match and in the hometown of Rosa. This ended Baker’s reign at 290-days while Rosa becomes the fifth woman to become champion.
It didn’t take long before the steel cage match became chaotic as Rosa came out on fire. After Rosa sent Baker face-first into the steel cage, the champion was able to break away and obtain several steel chairs to bring into the match.
Rosa hits a clothesline and takes advantage of the chairs to the back of Baker. After Rosa connects with a stunner she hits a double stomp with help from the ropes and gets a near fall. The referee gets taken out next after Rosa ducks from a punch by Baker who nails the official.
With the referee down, Rosa goes for two pins. First a roll-up and then the Thunder Rolling Driver. As she has Baker in the pin, the crowd counts past three but there is no official to give her the win. Once she was back up, Baker on offense gets Rosa to the point where she can pin her but there still is no ref. Aubrey Edwards rushes to the ring after Baker screams for an official but Edwards is one that Baker claims has it out for her. Baker gets a near fall.
With both women having blood pouring from their heads, Baker sets up a pyramid of chairs in the corner as Rosa takes a rest on the turnbuckle. Baker goes up top and the two women slug it out on the top rope before it is the champion that comes crashing down onto the chairs. Rosa attempts to capitalize but gets another near fall.
Baker back up rather quickly and gets the thumbtacks to reminisce their battle one year ago in the Unsanctioned Lights Out match. After a battle on the tacks, Baker goes for LockJaw but Rosa bites her hand. In the end, Rosa hits the Fire Thunder Driver into the tacks to get the pin and the victory.
Rosa becomes the NEW AEW Women’s World Champion as her hometown erupts in congratulations.
Other moments for the women on this week’s show included a potential gimmick change for Kris Statlander. She was shown looking in a mirror with a montage of her prior matches up until her recent loss to Legit Leyla Hirsch. Statlander takes out her contact lenses and wipes her face paint off as the promo ends.
Red Velvet will be facing Leyla Hirsch this Friday on Rampage. Velvet has been on the side of Statlander during her feud with Hirsch and now she wants to put a stop to her.
The TBS Champion Jade Cargill is on the hunt for her next opponent. She is currently sitting undefeated at 29-0 and she is demanding to know who she will defeat at number 30.
Who in the #AEW Women's Locker Room will be next to step in the ring attempting to break @Jade_Cargill's (29-0) winning streak?!
Lastly, things seem to be far from over between Serena Deeb and Hikaru Shida. Shida returned a couple of weeks ago and blindsided Deeb. Now Deeb wants to end her career.
On this week’s episode of SmackDown, Aliyah set a new record for WWE in her debut singles match. She now holds the title of the fastest victory in WWE history in just 3.17 seconds as she pinned Natalya. The previous fastest time was 3.8 seconds.
Prior to their match, both women met backstage.
Aliyah was being interviewed about her nerves and she concluded she just wants to go out and deliver. Natalya interrupted with the 2022 Guinness Book of World Records in her hand to outline the three records that she currently holds. She claimed that she will break a fourth record by defeating Aliyah in the fastest time.
Prior to the bell ringing, Natalya attacked Aliyah to the point that the referee told the brand new ring announcer, Samantha Irvin, that she could no longer compete. Aliyah made it back to her feet and told the referee that she could and to let the match start. The referee reversed his decision and once the bell rang, Aliyah immediately rolled up Natalya up for the win in 3.17 seconds.
A rematch Championship Contenders match is set for next week’s SmackDown as Naomi is geared up to face the SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair. If Naomi wins, she will get a future title opportunity. The two battled last week but thanks to WWE Official Sonya Deville changing the rules of the match on more than one occasion, Naomi was dealt a loss.
Naomi confronted Deville in her office, which has been the case for many months now, demanding to know what Deville’s issue is with her. Understandably upset that a title opportunity was ripped from her fingers, Naomi wanted to get physical. Deville reminded her that when she wears her coat that she can’t be touched as she is a WWE official.
Throughout the show, Deville’s office didn’t have quite the right temperature. It was fluctuating between too cold and then too hot. Deville ended up taking off her coat which prompted Naomi to reappear and take advantage of the situation. Before Naomi could lay a hand on Deville, Adam Pearce stopped the advance and agreed to give Naomi a rematch against Charlotte next week.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for all of your future news and results from the women of SmackDown.
On the most recent episode of the ROH Strong podcast, Maria Kanellis Bennett and Bobby Cruise spoke on the women’s division in ROH. ROH has gone on hiatus and thus has released its talent from their contracts. The promotion has plans to return in April with Supercard of Honor but at this time future plans are unknown.
During the podcast, Kanellis Bennett confirms that there will be an upcoming documentary to air on the behind-the-scenes of the women’s tournament that took place over the summer. This tournament crowned Rok-C a new champion for the revamped division. It will air over the weekend of Jan. 15 and will be on ROH TV and YouTube.
Maria Kanellis-Bennett and Bobby Cruise talk about the revamped women’s division, their working relationship, the end of this era of ROH, what the future holds for them and much more. pic.twitter.com/KuJ2ZJsdnn
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) January 3, 2022
“There’s definitely some big announcements coming up in the next few weeks. Some things, I can talk about, and that’s the women’s documentary about the entire tournament. it’s coming out in January and will be on Ring of Honor television and on the YouTube channel.”
She continues, I’m incredibly proud of it and so excited. It gives you an inside look at how these women are preparing for a tournament such as we had last summer. Not only that, but what led to professional wrestling and made them the performer they are today. People like Trish [Adora], Rok-C, Miranda [Alize], talking about their stories in a real intimate way. The behind the scenes relationship between me and someone like Chelsea. We’ve known each other for a long time. I was there when she became the Hot Mess. To see the transition of our relationship and their relationships with each other. The documentary is fantastic.” [h/t – Fightful]
With her time with ROH currently finished, Maria was asked what was next for her. She has one more big announcement but she can’t disclose it at this time.
“I have one other big announcement that I can’t reveal right now, but look for it in January. There is going to be a third announcement that Bobby [Cruise] and I will have together at some point. That’s about all the information I’m willing to give.”
Elsewhere during the podcast, Bobby Cruise (who helped with the revamp of the women’s division) detailed that the first half of 2022 was going to focus on the women’s title. The first four or five months were already discussed and mapped out.
Kanellis Bennett spoke on a few names she wanted to see as a focus in the division including Mandy Leon, Trish Adora, and Chelsea Green.
“In our minds, as far as the title chase and title picture, we had the first four or five months written in our minds already to where we were going,” he said. “Maria touched on two big points that we had discussed; certainly Mandy and then Trish. She has such a great story and it gets told somewhat in the Quest for Gold pre-tapes that aired and it gets told a little bit more in the women’s division documentary, but there is so much more there. She is so good and such a good person. Her story being told thoroughly and her focusing in and chasing the Ring of Honor Women’s World Title was really something we were going to focus on for the first half of next year [2022].”
Maria adds, “The most glaring thing to me, there are two, one is the fact that Mandy (Leon)…she has been in this company for a very long time. I would have liked to have seen one more singles run for her, another title shot at some point. She deserved it and has been one of the pillars for Ring of Honor, not just the women’s side, but the entire company. She deserved that. I would have liked to have some time to give credit due to more people from the past, especially Sumie (Sakai). We ran out of time. Seeing the third match between Miranda (Alize) and Trish (Adora) would have been awesome. Trish has been on a tear and I feel like there is so much more we can do with her. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to do that. There were so many things. I know Chelsea was gunning for the championship too. She is everywhere. She’s proved that she’s progressed so much with her wrestling over the past year. There is so much and unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Who knows. These stories, these seeds that were planted, they have legs and could go somewhere.“ [h/t – Fightful]
What do you think of what was outlined in this podcast?
Check back in with Diva Dirt for any future news on what is next for Maria and the women who revamped the women’s division in ROH.
At the most recent 205 Live tapings, it has been confirmed that Lash Legend will be making her in-ring debut on this week’s 205 Live. Her opponent is Amari Miller.
Legend made her official on-screen debut in September in a segment with Franky Monet and the Robert Stone Brand. She announced her ‘Lashing out with Lash Legend’ talk show which has had several episodes since.
Legend, whose real name is Anriel Howard, was part of the December 2020 recruits. She was the only woman in her class. Her background was listed as follows:
“Georgia native Anriel Howard played college basketball at Mississippi State and Texas A&M. She was selected in the 2019 WNBA Draft, and played professionally for the Seattle Storm.”
