During the Night of Draft, Rhea Ripley was picked to be the number of draft pick from the WWE Raw brand. Given her talent and all the potential, this was a no-surprising move. But then again the dominant stature might turn out to be difficult for the creative team to find a worthy opponent for her.
As on this week’s WWE Raw, the reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defeated Dana Brooke in a non-title matchup. After a gutbuster, Rhea followed it up with a Riptide and locked in the Prism Trap for the submission win.
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After the match, Ripley hit a second Riptide on Dana and then again applied the Prism Trap. This time, Natalya’s music hit and out she came to confront the champion. Ripley eventually relinquished the hold on Dana as Natalya headed down to the ring. The two women then stared one another down before Dominik assured that Rhea keeps herself out of any physical confrontation on WWE Raw.
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With this build, the WWE Universe is expecting a potential Rhea Ripley vs. Natalya feud, and the match is expected to go down at Night of Champions 2023. As seen on Twitter, a major portion of the fans isn’t happy with the aspect of this feud and that Natalya is getting a title match opportunity against The Eradicator of the Judgment Day after getting drafted to WWE Raw.
Later on the night, Dominik Mysterio found himself interacting with Akira Tozawa and Xavier Woods which resulted in a match against Woods, Rhea Ripley played a key factor in that match as she first accepted the challenge on his behalf and then ensured Dom’s victory by shoving Woods down from the top turnbuckle. This allowed Dominik Mysterio to get a roll-up win.
WWE Backlash 2023 took place at Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Rhea Ripley defeated Zelina Vega on that night to retain her Smackdown Women’s Title. On that same night, Bianca Belair retained her WWE Raw Women’s Title against IYO SKY. Now, these two champions are expected to swap their belts as they’re drafted to opposite brands.
