Welcome one and all to the RAW RECAP presented by THE REVELLEUTION! The King and Queen of the Ring event is in the books, and it saw Smackdown’s Nia Jax win the Queen’s tournament over Lyra Valkyria to earn a future WWE Women’s Championship Match. Meanwhile, Liv Morgan properly began her Revenge Tour with a shocking victory over Becky Lynch to become the new Women’s World Champion. Thanks to some ‘inadvertent’ help from Dominik Mysterio when a chair that he seemed to send into the ring for Lynch to use was instead used by Morgan.
There’s no rest however, as a ‘rematch clause’ in Lynch’s contract has led to a sudden, no-build Steel Cage Match between Morgan and Lynch for the Women’s title. So who will leave Raw with the gold? Let’s get into it, and find out…
Both the new Women’s World Champion LIV MORGAN and BECKY LYNCH got ‘earlier today’ arrival videos. Much later in the show, Morgan was seen talking to JD McDonagh of The Judgement Day during a different backstage segment.
CATHY KELLEY interviewed Liv Morgan, who claimed that she didn’t know Dominik Mysterio would try to interfere in her match. She also said that it was therefore technically true that Morgan has still to beat Lynch one-on-one and she’d be able to do that in a Steel Cage Match. Morgan didn’t strictly come off face or heel in the promo.
During an earlier today skit, it seemed that Sonya Deville was talking with someone else, possibly Maxxine Dupri but the two were far in the background so it was hard to make out who it was.
SCARLETT accompanied The Final Testament as AOP defeated The Creed Brothers accompanied by IVY NILE.
Backstage LYRA VALKYRIA was selling being squashed (not in the usual Match-kind variety) with taped-up ribs. A sober Becky Lynch appeared and remarked that it wasn’t always about winning but getting better every time. A short pep talk before she joked that Valkyria needed to consider getting knee pads.
Singles Match
LYRA VALKYRIA defeated KAIRI SANE w/h DAKOTA KAI
Sane had a new singles theme song and for all the hate that Def Rebel get, it completely suited her and sounded great. Valkyria blocked a kick and then took Sane down with a waistlock. Not long after, Valkyria peppered Sane with kicks and strikes, finished with an Enzigiri. A Northern Lights Suplex got Valkyria a two count. Valkyria tried to go up top but Sane launched herself into the ropes to throw Valkyria off balance and send her into the top rope to hurt the bad ribs.
Sane got the better of a strike exchange, and decked Valkyria with a Cutlace Spinning Backfist. That set up Valkyria seated against the ropes for the Sliding Forearm. Leaving Valkyria on the apron to take a Double Stomp from Sane. Moments later, Valkyria lost a battle up top on the corner, ending up hung up Tree of Woe style. That left her open for a Double Stomp by Sane off the top when she bridged up, but Valkyria kicked out at two.
Sane went for the InSane Elbow but Valkyria brought both feet up. A quick Cradle into a Crucifix got Valkyria the flash pin victory. Fleeing the ring when Kai stormed the ring.
Later on, backstage IYO SKY flew into a sudden rage, yelling in her native tongue and trashing Damage CTRL’s backstage green room to stomp tables and smash lamps. Storming off to leave Kai and Sane stunned in shock.
ZELINA VEGA and Dragon Lee accompanied Rey Mysterio as he faced rival Carlito. While Mysterio got the win, Vega could do nothing as The Judgement Day put a beatdown onto the LWO members.
Backstage Chad Gable degraded MAXXINE DUPRI and The Alpha Academy and told Dupri that she wasn’t allowed ringside. Later on, after Otis failed to win against Bronson Reed he summoned the Academy to the ring for more verbal abuse. When Gable attempted to whip Otis for publish punishment, she grabbed his arm to block it and for that Gable ordered her out of the ring.
SHAYNA BASZLER and ZOEY STARK were interviewed backstage and played down the threat of Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill, claiming they would invite the Champions to Raw to see what they were up against. SONYA DEVILLE interrupted and claimed that the two wouldn’t be able to win without her help. Something that Stark and Baszler dismissed and they walked away from her. Just to run into ALBA FYRE and ISLA DAWN (their first appearance on Raw since the draft) who objected to Stark and Baszler’s statement about having beaten everyone. Saying that if the teams met, that fact wouldn’t change and it left Baszler and Stark frustrated when Deville used that taunt to point out the locker room didn’t respect them.
Women’s World Championship – Steel Cage Match
Women’s World Champion LIV MORGAN defeated BECKY LYNCH to retain
The match was pin, submission or escape over the top or through the door rules. Bizarrely, the match had in-ring introductions and entrances but had started off during a commercial break. So back from it, Morgan was in control to grind Lynch’s head against a wall of the cage and then sent her into another wall before grinding her again. Morgan tried to climb out to escape but Lynch cut her off, only for Morgan to take advantage and slam Becky’s head into the cage wall repeatedly and then toss her back to the mat.
Morgan would moments later again use the cage to her advantage, hanging up Lynch in a Tree of Woe but outside the ropes to the apron, so she could use a boot to drive and grind Lynch’s head into the cage wall. A shove over the corner sent Lynch down to set up a Dropkick through the ropes to send Lynch into the wall again. Morgan hit a round of Shoulder Thrusts through the ropes to Lynch, but when she went for a Spear Lynch moved and Morgan crashed into the cage wall. A furious assault followed with Lynch using kicks to Morgan through the ropes mixed with sending Morgan’s head into the cage, and then a round of just head shots to the wall.
A Missile Dropkick by Lynch got a near fall. Lynch used a couple of Baseball Slides to send Morgan into the cage wall, then she set up Morgan through the ropes for the Legdrop spot but Morgan moved and grabbed Lynch to drive her up into the cage wall. After another commercial break, Morgan tried to climb and escape but Lynch cut her off, leading to a Superplex by Lynch for a near fall. Lynch tried for Dis-Arm-Her but Morgan shoved Lynch away to send her head-first into the cage wall. Morgan’s Springboard Codebreaker got her a two count.
Morgan tried to escape again, and this time it led to both Superstars being on the top of the cage to exchange blows. Although Morgan was pushed down back into the ring, she was able to pull Lynch back in and ended up able to hit a Kneeling Powerbomb from out of the corner for a near fall. Morgan tried for ObLIVion but Lynch countered and was able to apply a form of the Dis-Arm-Her on the ropes, only for Morgan to shove her into the wall to break it. Morgan tried to climb but Lynch caught her on the ropes at the corner and hit a Side Russian Legsweep from the middle rope for a two count.
Things became quickly overbooked when Dominik Mysterio rushed down and opened the cage door, motioning for Lynch to come out. That just distracted a furious Lynch who ate an Enzigiri from Morgan, while Finn Balor and JD McDonagh came down to reprimand Mysterio. Morgan tried to crawl out of the cage but in the meantime, Braun Strowman came out to chase after The Judgement Day and as he ran around ringside, he crashed into Mysterio who collided with the cage door and that in turn slammed into Lynch’s head.
With Lynch knocked out, Morgan easily crawled to the door, pushed it open and escaped the cage to retain. The show went off the air seconds later but footage posted on the WWE’s social pages showed that following the win, Morgan grabbed Mysterio in the aisle and planted a major kiss onto him. Morgan seemed gleeful about it but Mysterio still had a furious expression on so it wasn’t clear if they were truly aligned or not.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
A nice steel cage match but it suffered from the overbooked end with the men’s storyline being involved. Morgan gets a cheap win and Lynch remained protected just like at King and Queen of the Ring. There’s been rumours about Lynch’s contract status but certainly after two back-to-back loses Lynch has to be out of the title picture now unless they go for yet another stipulation match for a round three. Elsewhere, Valkyria gets another victory that keeps her momentum going but there’s a perhaps a storyline within Damage CTRL brewing with Iyo Sky’s rage. Baszler and Stark against Unholy Union could be a fun match but we’ll see if it just ends up being a squash win for the number one contenders or not.
That’s your lot for this week! Be sure to stop by in seven days’ time for the next edition of the RAW RECAP! See you then!