Welcome one and all to the RAW RECAP presented by THE REVELLEUTION! The second night of the WWE Draft is upon us, to see what state the rosters will be in after things were shaken up by the first night this past Smackdown. Including Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair being drafted to the blue brand, alongside the likes of her rivals in Damage CTRL. While Raw will receive Becky Lynch and others, including current NXT Women’s Champion Indy Hartwell. What surprises will come tonight with Superstars like Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez eligible to the drafted? Let’s get into it, and find out…
In Round One of the Draft, Smackdown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley was drafted to Raw as the overall first pick. Charlotte Flair was selected as Smackdown’s second pick.
Non-Title Tag Team Match
DAMAGE CTRL (BAYLEY & DAKOTA KAI) defeated WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions LIV MORGAN & RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ
Iyo Sky was not out ringside for Damage CTRL. Kai and Morgan started off with both women getting a count of one off of Roll-ups then ducking high kicks. Morgan getting a two count with a Samson Clutch then hitting a Low Dropkick. Kai tossed Morgan into the middle rope to get a break, tagging in Bayley who hit a Body Slam but missed an Elbow Drop.
Rodriguez got the tag as Baykey escaped a Slam but unwisely slapped Rodriguez. Getting charged to the corner for a couple of Shoulder Thrusts. Before Morgan was tagged as the champs showed off their teamwork with the toss for Morgan’s Jumping Back Elbow before Morgan used a Headscissors to send Rodriguez in for a Shoulder Thrust. Rodriguez held her shoulder in to leave Bayley open for Morgan’s corner High Knee, getting a near fall from it. Sneakily, Bayley couldn’t tag so stuck her leg out for Kai to slap, but the referee didn’t allow the tag to count. Kai knew it, and distracted the ref so Bayley could rake the eyes, then tossing Morgan out of the ring before properly tagging to Kai. A Pump Kick by Kai taking down Morgan on the floor as the show went to commercial.
Back to live action Morgan and Kai were legal, as Kai hit the Facewash to get a two count. Kai tried to prevent a tag but eventually, Morgan used a Roll-up to toss Kai over and give the space to tag out. Rodriguez used her House on Fire Clotheslines and the rewind one before hitting the Fallaway Slam. Bayley took a bullet, shoving Kai from the corner and taking the corner Splash from Rodriguez. It may have helped Kai a bit, but Rodriguez hit another Fallaway Slam then the Twisting Vader Bomb Senton to get a near fall.
Morgan was tagged as the champs went for their double team Senton off of Rodriguez’s shoulders spot. But Bayley reached in, grabbing Rodriguez’s leg to throw her off balance for a moment. Allowing Kai to get her knees up to counter Morgan’s Senton while Rodriguez got pulled out. Kai hit her Backstabber Destroyer on Morgan but Rodriguez broke the pin attempt up. Bayley managing to hold Rodriguez at the ropes so Kai could nail a kick to send her out. Morgan hit the Side Codebreaker on Kai but didn’t see Bayley making a blind tag. Morgan hit ObLIVion on Kai, only to be taken over with a Sunset Flip into a stack pin as Bayley stole the win over the tag champs!
WWE Hall of Famer SHARMELL along with Booker T hosted the Second Round of the WWE Draft. Zelina Vega, as part of The LWO, was drafted to Smackdown.
MAXXINE DUPRI once again accompanied her modelling target Otis as he and Chad Gable lost to Richochet and Brawn Strowman.
In the Third Round of the Draft, the Women’s Tag Team Champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were selected by Raw. Smackdown picked Asuka.
In the Fourth Round of the Draft, Raw selected WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus (her rival Becky Lynch is also a part of Raw). Scarlett was drafted to Smackdown thanks to her man Karrion Kross being picked. Both Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler were drafted to Raw.
WWE Hall of Famer MOLLY HOLLY co-hosted the Fifth Round of the Draft with Road Dogg. Shotzi was drafted to Smackdown.
RHEA RIPLEY and The Judgement Day went to the ring for a promo. Ripley bragged about being the number one draft pick and about The Judgement Day being together on Raw. Vowing to make Zelina Vega into a pretzel at Backlash. Eventually, their opponents in ZELINA VEGA and The LWO interrupted.
Six-Person Mixed Tag Team Match
The Judgement Day (Smackdown Women’s Champion RHEA RIPLEY, Damien Priest & Dominick Mysterio) defeated The LWO (ZELINA VEGA, Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar)
Dominick faked starting off against his father, only for Ripley to tag herself in. Leading to Rey sending Vega in for an assisted Headscissors on her title opponent. Vega got decked with a Side Kick, and tried to counter the Riptide with the same DDT she used on Smackdown but this time Ripley held her up to block. Vega managed to escape from Suplex attempt to hit a messy (perhaps an issue of their height difference?) Jawbreaker.
The women tagged out to let the men fight. Later in the match, Ripley would break up a pin attempt and deck Vega with a Forearm. Ripley tried for a Military Press on Rey Mysterio, but Vega hit what seemed to be a version of a 619 on Ripley to stop it. A Low Bridge trick by Vega sending Ripley out. Moments later Ripley decked Santos on the floor with a Dropkick, only to take a Meteora from off the apron from Vega. Priest would pin Rey Mysterio to win it for The Judgment Day.
CATHY KELLEY handled interview duties.
Raw Women’s Champion BIANCA BELAIR was interviewed about moving to Smackdown. Of course being interrupted by Damage CTRL as Bayley bragged about the earlier win and said Iyo Sky would be leaving Belair ‘feeling blue’ by taking the title from her. Belair gave back-handed compliments and claimed Sky was being held back by the rest of Damage CTRL. Sky spoke up in her native tongue, and Belair claimed she didn’t need a translation because they understood one another perfectly.
In the Sixth Round of the Draft, the former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter were drafted to Raw.
On Raw Talk, extra draft picks were announced:
Raw – Dana Brook, Emma, Nikki Cross, Piper Niven, Tegan Nox, Xia Li.
Smackdown – Tamina
FINAL THOUGHTS:
It’s been a long while since Zelina Vega has competed regularly in matches aside from her match against Sonya Deville this past Smackdown. Here she seemed a little off at some points in the match. Hopefully, this was just an off night and she’ll deliver at Backlash. Meanwhile the build for Belair and Sky has been rather woeful and this week have barely any attempt to continue the break-up of Damage CTRL. But after scoring the win over the current tag champs this week, in what was a fine match, will the WWE even continue that story if they’re now in line for a tag title shot?
The draft saw both Women’s Champions swap brands, so we can probably expect a title swap ceremony like was held a couple years ago to switch the belts. Raw’s line-up of talent has a lot of underused Superstars and some new faces, but with Becky Lynch at the top of the pile outside of Rhea Ripley as title holder, will people get lost and just kept back down again as had been the case prior to the draft? Especially now that Ronda Rousey, even as part-time as she seems to be, is now on Raw which will mean less chances for new stars to shine.
That’s your lot for this week! Be sure to stop by in seven days’ time for the post-Backlash edition of the RAW RECAP! See you then!