Welcome one and all to the RAW RECAP presented by THE REVELLEUTION! Wrestlepalooza is in the history books and it saw Stephanie Vaquer continue her rapid rise in the WWE as she claimed the vacant Women’s World Championship in a fantastic match over Iyo Sky. With that title win, Vaquer is now in line to potentially become the Women’s Crown Jewel Champion when she does battle against the WWE Women’s Champion at the Crown Jewel event in a few weeks. But how will Iyo Sky’s ‘friends’ Asuka and Kairi Sane handle the news of the title loss? And what will happen when Bayley makes her return to action against Roxanne Perez of The Judgement Day? Let’s get into it, and find out…
This week’s ‘Arrived Earlier Today’ videos featured Women’s Intercontinental Champion BECKY LYNCH with The Vision, new Women’s World Champion STEPHANIE VAQUER, and BAYLEY (who was at least all smiles at this point).
In The Judgement Day’s clubhouse, with ROXANNE PEREZ and RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ present, there was more tension between Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio. Perez sweet-talked JD McDonagh to agree to help Mysterio with his issues with Rusev, but she and Rodriguez quickly left when Mysterio said he’d already gotten McDonagh a match against Rusev on the show before he’d agreed to it.
Backstage, LYRA VALKYRIA was approached by the hyper-friendly version of Bayley. Valkyria tried to apologise for last week’s locker room incident but was left baffled when Bayley acted like nothing had happened and praised her for the win last week. Bayley asked for Valkyria to be in her corner tonight and acted like she didn’t remember anything about the shouting from before or that they’re supposed to be keeping their distance. Valkyria reluctantly agreed, much to Bayley’s delight. She left as Valkyria was still confused by this all, and the show rolled on when Stephanie Vaquer walked past, advertised as up next.
Heat-stealer General Manager Adam Pearce hosted an in-ring promo for the new Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer. Vaquer called winning the title the dream of her life, and described her opponent Iyo Sky as one of the best in the world. She spoke in her native tongue and thanked the fans for all the support. Adam Pearce recapped that Vaquer at Crown Jewel would face the winner of the Triple Threat Match for the WWE Women’s Championship this Smackdown. Vaquer vowed to be there, and then got a pyro celebration for her title win.
Backstage, NIKKI BELLA began to praise Stephanie Vaquer but RHEA RIPLEY interrupted and reminded Vaquer she still had eyes on the title. ASUKA and KAIRI SANE then showed up as Asuka tried to provoke Vaquer by saying she didn’t deserve to be Champion. She didn’t bite and told Asuka she’d be ready for her any time before she walked off. Ripley then got into Asuka’s face and said she was sick and tired of her and the feeling was mutual. It led to Ripley challenging Asuka to settle things tonight and the challenge was accepted, and the segment ended, of course, with Asuka yelling for Sane to follow her.
Singles Match
BAYLEY w/h LYRA VALKYRIA defeated ROXANNE PEREZ w/h RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ
Bayley started off with the advantage with a drag out of a lock-up, then a Headlock Takeover soon after. Perez used a hairpull to back Bayley into a corner and then roughed her up a bit, but paid for mocking with a round of shoves and ate a Forearm Strike. Perez countered a Bayley-to-Belly with a Roll-up toss, then ran the ropes for momentum for an attempt at her Tilt-a-whirl into the Russian Legsweep but Bayley blocked. Bayley tripped up Perez by not being fully flat on the mat for the usual run-over spot, followed up by the Spinning Back Elbow to the back then the Sliding Clothesline for a near fall.
The match went to the floor, and Bayley tried for her Hugger-style Baseball Slide at the corner spot but Perez avoided it and tackled Bayley into the crowd barricade. Back inside, Bayley quickly came back with a Back Suplex. That set up a charging Shoulder Thrust, a roll back then the arm wave taunt but she ran into a counter boot before she hit the usual Back Elbow. The two fought for position in the corner and a distraction by Rodriguez allowed Perez to kick Bayley’s leg away, leaving her legs hung up on the rope to take stomps from Perez. The leg got stood on as Perez held the ropes then hit a Stomp off the ropes.
After a commercial break, Bayley hit a Gordbuster that set up an Elbow Drop off the middle rope across Perez’s back for a near fall. Bayley tried going up top, but Perez caught her and hit a version of a Frankenscreamer. Followed by the Satomura Special for a two count. Perez hit a Bang Kick and ran the ropes, looking for PopRox but Bayley not so much avoided it but rather her knee gave out before the move was hit. An exchange of roll-ups led to a two count for Perez. Bayley got whipped to a corner and jumped to the middle rope, but Perez leapt up after her and hit a Super Side Russian Legsweep.
Perez went for a Dive but Bayley cut her off at the ropes with a Forearm Strike. Perez hit a Bang Kick and finally, for once, hit PopRox but this time on the floor! Bayley beat the count at nine, but when Perez distracted the ref, Rodriguez pulled Bayley back out and decked her with a Big Boot. Valkyria went after Rodriguez, and managed to counter being on the shoulder to shove Rodriguez into the ring post. Perez then decked Valkyria with a Suicide Dive before she pummeled her on the floor.
Seeing that attack seemed to trigger Bayley who rubbed her temples and snapped into Role Model evil mode. Hauling Perez in by the hair and tossing her. A combo of big moves followed with the Bayley-to-Belly, a Running Knee Strike, then the Rose Plant for the victory.
After the match, Bayley stayed in Role Model mode and aggressively shoved down Valkyria when she tried to celebrate with a hug. Yelling about being touched by her and her ‘stupid-ass outfit’. Bayley seemed to be fighting herself with another rub of the temples but yelled at Valkyria to stay out of her way before she left the ring, leaving Valkyria baffled once again.
Backstage, IYO SKY confronted the Kabuki Warriors, telling Asuka she didn’t need to do this. Asuka dismissed this and said she would teach Ripley a lesson and that she didn’t want advice from someone who lost. When Asuka left, Sky tried to get Sane to talk with Asuka but Sane telling said that Asuka was the reason why they were both here and that they must listen to her. Before, as always, Asuka yelled for Sane.
JACKIE REDMOND handled interview duties.
Backstage, Becky Lynch ranted at her husband about current events and even the fans. She vowed to ‘make an example’ tonight before she stormed off.
Also backstage, Iyo Sky approached Ripley as she was stretching and Sky tried to get the match called off. Ripley suggested they beat the respect into one another and told Sky to be careful around Asuka and told her not to trust Asuka. Sky claimed she could trust Asuka because she was family and questioned if she could trust Ripley, which left Ripley frustrated.
It was announced that next week, Bayley would face Raquel Rodriguez one-on-one.
MAXXINE DUPRI spoke with Adam Pearce in his office, asking for an opportunity. Pearce said he’d wait and find her the right opponent in the future.
Singles Match
RHEA RIPLEY defeated ASUKA w/h KAIRI SANE
Asuka went for the Asuka Lock early but Ripley blocked with a Back Elbow then a Snapmare. Asuka fired off kicks to the leg then went for an Empress Impact in the corner but Ripley blocked with her power, carrying Asuka out only for her to counter with a Samson Clutch for a near fall. Ripley hit a big Release German Suplex, but a Big Boot just ended up hitting the ropes before Asuka hit an Empress Impact at the cables to knock Ripley off the apron.
After a commercial break, Asuka would get the better of an exchange in and out of the ring to hit a Dragon Screw on the ropes. Asuka spent too long toying with her opponent and Ripley made a comeback with Short-Arm Clotheslines, a Ripcord Bang Kick then Kingdom Falls. It set up for the Basement Dropkick, then a Northern Lights Suplex for a near fall. Asuka escaped a Razor’s Edge and hit a Dropkick to Ripley’s knee to set up a Sliding Kick for a two count. Later, the two exchanged waistlocks before Ripley got a break and decked Asuka with a thrust-like Big Boot. Ripley then hit a Cannonball off the apron to flatten Asuka.
After another commercial break, Asuka had an Ankle Lock applied but Ripley escaped with a strike then muscled up Asuka in a corner to hit a Top Rope Superplex. The two traded blows until Asuka tried to steal the win with a Backslide. They ducked kicks and Ripley hit a wild swing of a Back Elbow before a Superkick followed, then the Razor’s Edge to set up a Sliding Kick for a near fall. Ripley tried for Riptide but Asuka fought out with Back Elbows and then used a Flying Armbar to take Ripley down. Ripley escaped with the counter pin but ran into the ringpost when Asuka dodged a charge.
A Head Kick got Asuka a near fall. A flurry of strikes and kicks by Asuka sent Ripley to the floor and she tried to get Sane to attack Ripley on the floor when she distracted the ref, but a conflicted Sane didn’t pull the trigger. Asuka yelled at her for it and went after Ripley herself. Back inside the women traded shots at the ropes before Asuka took Ripley down with a Heel Hook into another Ankle Lock that led to the classic leg-trap German Suplex. Asuka’s flying nothing from the ropes was cut off with a Dropkick.
Asuka yelled at Sane to ‘go go go!’ and she went around the ring, still conflicted when she got to the apron but all the hesitation meant when she went for a Cutlass, Ripley blocked and grabbed the arm. Asuka went for an Empress Impact at the ropes but Ripley moved so the shot wiped out Sane from the apron, and Ripley scooped up Asuka with a Small Package for the victory.
Right after the win, Asuka spat the green mist into Ripley’s face to blind her. She then commanded Sane to attack and she finally did with clubbing shots. Iyo Sky would run out and tried to talk sense into her ‘friends’. After a hug with Sky, Asuka decked Sky with a cheapshot Backfist and again, Sane hesistated before she pounded away at Sky. Holding her up for an Asuka Headkick before Asuka hit the still blinded Ripley with an Empress Impact. The Kabuki Warriors hit their Double-Team finish of the Reverse DDT-InSane Elbow combo, again with conflict shown by Sane but she hit the move anyway. The show ended with Asuka gloating, holding Sane as she clutched her head and showed the turmoil of this all.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
A fantastic main event match between Asuka and Ripley with the long-awaited payoff of the full Heel turn and betrayal of Iyo Sky. One will assume the tag match happens at Crown Jewel to give Ripley a big home country match but you never know when it comes to the WWE. It should be a great match regardless of when it happens. Bayley and Perez put on a great match too and the split personality character from Bayley continues to be fun, even if there’s no clue about how this story will end if it will even get to that point or just be quietly forgotten about.
Vaquer’s in-ring promo was a mild miss but at least it got her on TV after the big win. I’m not a huge fan of the champ versus champ Crown Jewel matches (we had enough of that with years of Raw versus Smackdown Survivor Series matches) so hopefully things for Vaquer will pick up after Crown Jewel. Lastly, there was basically no follow up to AJ Lee (absent from the show as was CM Punk) beating Becky Lynch at Wrestlepalooza. Lynch said she would make an example of someone, and Maxxine Durpi said she wanted an opportunity. Can we read between the lines here and think that we’ll see Lynch against Dupri soon, despite the fact we had that match already not that long ago and it did neither woman any favours?
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!