Welcome one and all to the RAW RECAP presented by THE REVELLEUTION! The year is almost over but before that and the move to Netflix for Raw there’s still some action left with a taped edition of Raw. The Women’s Intercontinental Championship Tournament continues with the last First-Round Match but will Kairi Sane be able to compete after being attacked by Pure Fusion Collective last week? And what’s next as the never-ending feud between Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley drags on until the Netflix debut of Raw? Let’s get into it, and find out…
Backstage, PFC of SHAYNA BASZLER, SONYA DEVILLE and ZOEY STARK tried to get Deville into the IC tournament when they confronted Adam Pearce. He bluntly rejected the idea and refused to reward them for the attack on Kairi Sane, and said that Iyo Sky had taken Sane’s spot in the tournament much to PFC’s fury.
Triple Threat Match – Women’s Intercontinental Championship Tournament First-Round Match
IYO SKY defeated ALBA FYRE w/h ISLA DAWN & NATALYA
Dawn only accompanied Fyre to the entranceway (despite, you know, it being a No DQ match with Triple Threat rules so she could have helped her tag partner). Alba started off with strikes to both opponents but got tossed out of the ring by Natalya. Who in turn got a Roll-up from Sky for a near fall. Natalya did the rope-bounce Atomic Drop toss then the step-over run but coming off the ropes Alba tripped her up and hauled her out to the floor. Natalya was tossed into the ring steps but Alba got wiped out with a wild Suicide Dive from Sky that nearly planted herself into the ground.
After a commercial break, Sky took out both opponents in the ring with a Crossbody off the top rope. Her attack focused on Fyre with Shoteis then a Dropkick. Sky defied gravity to delay the Springboard and stay balanced on the top rope before she hit the Missile Dropkick to Fyre and then flipped to her feet! The match was edited as now Natalya was flat on her back in the ring while Fyre hit a Tornado DDT on Sky before she tossed Sky onto Natalya with a Gordbuster. Fyre hit the Swanton Bomb onto both opponents but only got a nearfall on either woman, but she turned the kickout from Natalya into a Koji Clutch-style submission. Natalya would counter first into a pin hold, and then into going for The Sharpshooter. When Sky tried to block it, she got tripped up and planted onto Fyre so Natalya could lock on a double Sharpshooter on both opponents at once! The got to the ropes and dragged themselves out under the cables to break free.
Sky caught Natalya with a Hot Shot but Natalya sort of no sold it, running the ropes just to tumble through them when Sky avoided the charge and moments later, Sky hit a Springboard Moonsault to the floor onto both opponents. Sky tossed Natalya in and went for Over the Moonsault but Fyre blocked it and tried for a German Suplex off the ropes. Only to take one from Natalya when she came up from behind. A mistake as the move left Natalya flat on her back so Sky hit Over the Moonsault anyway onto her intended target to win and advance. Sky will face Lyra Valkyria in the Semi-Finals round.
Backstage in the clubhouse of The Judgement Day, Finn Balor and LIV MORGAN were bickering as they wouldn’t talk to one another and Morgan told RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ words that she meant for Balor, despite him being right next to her.
IVY NILE and The Creed Brothers accompanied Chad Gable as he defeated former Alpha Academy student Akira Tozawa who had MAXXINE DUPRI and Otis in his corner.
JACKIE REDMOND handled interview duties.
SCARLETT and NIKKI CROSS would briefly brawl as their respective groups of The Final Testament (and The Miz) and the Wyatt Sicks fought. A segment that ended with Cross being tossed with a Release Powerbomb by Rowan to wipe out Final Testament.
It was announced that next week’s edition of Raw will see both Semi-Final Matches of the Women’s IC title tournament. Dakota Kai versus Zoey Stark and Sky versus Valkyria.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The WWE made the odd choice to not have any direct follow up to last week’s segment between Morgan and Rhea Ripley directly on the show, but instead just show highlights between the two from a public press conference about the Netflix debut. It’s almost as if the WWE has given up on the feud as well. Meanwhile, Sky gets slotted into the Triple Threat Match and advances despite having just lost her shot at the Women’s World title not that long ago. It’s odd booking whether or not it’s covering for any legit Sane injury or not. I know a lot of people were hoping that Natalya won but as often in this business people don’t always ‘get’ what they ‘deserve’. The final four are all very deserving of a chance like this and would be great first champs, but I’d rather hope that the WWE doesn’t default to giving Sky the title and goes for a fresher face instead who has never been main roster champ yet.
That’s your lot for this week! Be sure to stop by in seven days’ time for the next edition of the RAW RECAP! On behalf of everyone here at The RevELLEution we wish you a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and a Happy Holidays!