Welcome one and all to the RAW RECAP presented by THE REVELLEUTION!
Night of Champions is in the history books and it saw Jade Cargill emerge victorious over Asuka to become the Queen of the Ring. While Rhea Ripley won the Street Fight over Raquel Rodriguez. Now attention turns to the highly anticipated all-women’s Evolution event. Will we get some main roster matches announced to go with the NXT Women’s Championship match on the show? And what will the fate of the Women’s Tag Team Championships be? Let’s get into it, and find out…
RHEA RIPLEY kicked off Raw with an in-ring promo. Ripley bragged about her win at Night of Champions and said she hoped The Judgement Day were behind her now for good. As she mused about what was next for her and Evolution around the corner, Women’s World Champion IYO SKY interrupted. Sky objected to Ripley saying she was in on top but didn’t have the title, and claimed that Adam Pearce allowed her to pick her opponent at Evolution. Sky wanted to face the best and picked Ripley, who responded that she’d stop at nothing to get the title back and accepted the challenge. The two faced off and Sky held her title up with a smile to end the segment.
Backstage JACKIE REDMOND interviewed BAYLEY about recent events, and Bayley complained rightly about Valkyria’s actions last week. LYRA VALKYRIA interrupted and complained about Bayley not texting her back, and played the victim to try and put the blame on Bayley for all of this. Bayley didn’t buy it and the two got into a shouting match before heat-stealer Adam Pearce interrupted to shout them down. Announcing a match between the two and whoever won would be number one contender for the Women’s IC title.
MAXXINE DUPRI and NATALYA were once again briefly seen to praise Sheamus ahead of his match later in the show.
A backstage segment with IVY NILE and American Made had Chad Gable led a pep-talk to his crew as he had to leave the group for a while due to injury. A follow-up segment was cut off when a taller El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) appreared.
In a different segment backstage, the GMs of Raw and Smackdown announced that Roxanne Perez would take over as half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions along with Raquel Rodriguez. With a Fatal Four Way Tag Team Match also announced for Evolution for the tag titles against a team each from Raw, Smackdown and NXT.
The GMs of both brands announced a special Battle Royale for Evolution with the winner getting a Championship opportunity at Clash in Paris event in August.
SCARLETT was with Karrion Kross as he sneak attacked Sami Zayn backstage.
STEPHANIE VAQUER was interviewed and described the battle royale as an incredible opportunity and didn’t come to be second place. Vaquer vowed that when she won she’d face either Iyo Sky or Rhea Ripley, but mistakenly said she wouldn’t stop until she was WWE Women’s Champion rather than the Women’s World Champion of Raw.
In the Judgment Day clubhouse, ROXANNE PEREZ was all smiles as she held her new Women’s Tag Team Championship. RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ wasn’t completely happy about Liv Morgan being replaced but Finn Balor twisted the truth, claiming Morgan would be gone for a long time and that this was all about making sure Rodriguez didn’t lose a title. The other members voted Perez in as an official member of The Judgement Day but Mysterio and Rodriguez did so reluctantly. Before Perez vowed to get payback over Kairi Sane for being in the match that saw Morgan injured.
KAIRI SANE got a hype video.
Singles Match
BAYLEY Vs LYRA VALKYRIA ended in a double pinfall draw.
After a lock up, Bayley was pushed away from a Headlock but neither woman went down with the shoulder check the first time but Valkyria went down the second time. Just to come back with a Hiptoss when Bayley ran the ropes. She tried for another but when Bayley blocked, she used an Arm Drag to take Bayley down, controlling the arm into a La Magistral for a two count. Valkyria tried for a Headlock Takeover but Bayley escaped, only for Valkyria to counter the Boston Crab attempt to flip Bayley over. A wheelbarrow led to an Arm Drag by Valkyria but she then ran into a Back Elbow counter at a corner. Bayley hit an Arm Drag off the ropes that set up a Sliding Clothesline for barely a two count.
Valkyria held the ropes after a whip and used a float-over to apply a Backslide for a near fall. An awkward spot in the corner seemed to be a miscue as Bayley expected to do the toss over the ropes spot but Valkyria just more collided into her. The two fought to get a Backslide applied before Valkyria used the ropes to run up and flip over to escape. Valkyria would counter a Monkey Flip with a cartwheel out of it, but soon got taken down as a Catapault sent her in to a corner. The Boston Crab was locked in and forced Valkyria to counter into a pin hold for a near fall, before both women collided with Crossbodies at the same time.
Valkyria got some stomps in a corner before she used a Crucifix pin hold to get a near fall. A front choke resthold eventually led to a legtrip by Bayley then an Elbow Drop for a near fall. Bayley took a hard whip to an opposite corner and hit a round of kicks and strikes, but Bayley ducked the Enzigiri finish to them. Bayley hit the Stunner through the ropes. Later, Bayley hit a Superplex but Valkyria hooked her legs back after the move for a Small Package for a near fall. Bayley went House on Fire with Clotheslines then a Back Suplex and when Valkyria went to the floor, Bayley followed her out to hit an Elbow Drop from the steel steps across Valkyria’s back. It got a near fall back in the ring.
Valkyria would counter being on the shoulders with an Arm Drag, and then used flip evasion to hit a Twist of Fate-style Neckbreaker for a near fall. A Tornado DDT attempt by Valkyria was tossed away before Bayley hit a Sunset Flip Bomb into a corner to get a near fall. Shoulder thrusts into another corner followed but Valkyria muscled one out into a Sit-out Doctor Bomb for a two count. The two knocked heads then exchanged blows before each escaped from one another’s finishers. An O’Connor Roll by Bayley got a near fall before Valkyria tried for a pin of her own. The two then used the Goto-Sabre Jr double pin finish as Valkyria leaned back with a clutch pin but Bayley’s grip meant both women’s shoulders were down as the ref counted three. The official ruled that it was a draw since both shoulders were down.
The women fought after the match, brawling around ringside and then through the crowd before agents and referees broke it up.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Rather late than never, especially with such a short time before Evolution, but now we’re getting a rush of matches for the show. The tag title situation got the expected, and obvious, solution with Roxanne in the place of the injured Liv. While the match between Sky and Ripley has been seen before on Raw a couple of times before Mania, it’s got a different edge with the PLE setting. It will be up in the air to see who leaves with the gold for that match. Finally, some people might roll their eyes about a Battle Royale and have bad memories of the Divas-era from it, but it will be an easy way to get Superstars from across the brands on the show and include perhaps some surprises and Legends too for a painless match. I’ve got no complaints about it.
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!