Who Answered Bianca Belair's WWE Raw Women's Championship Open Challenge?
Was it a former champion, an NXT standout, or some underrated superstar?
Bianca Belair threw out an open challenge Monday night for the Raw Women's Championship, and it was answered by someone who is not in the Raw locker room.
SmackDown's Sonya Deville answered the call, recalling her past troubles with Belair and alleging that it was their feud that ultimately cost her her title as a pseudo-GM. Deville used that as fuel in her match with Bianca, as the two peppered each other with some strikes.
However, Belair grew visibly frustrated during the match, at one point physically forcing Sonya into position for a suplex after there was a bunch of hand-fighting for control for a different move. She would stumble through a Bret Hart-style escape from a rear naked choke before nailing the KOD for the win.
Can @SonyaDevilleWWE become the NEW #WWERaw Women's Champion? pic.twitter.com/3Jf2auviMs
— WWE (@WWE) September 13, 2022
The win was a one-week detour from her feud with Bayley, though the Role Model didn't let it go that long. She and the rest of Damage CTRL encircled the champ afterwards and beat her down until Asuka and Alexa Bliss made the save.
The announcers also speculated that the open challenge was a way for Belair to regain confidence after being pinned for the first time in 300+ days at Clash at the Castle, when Bayley pinned her in a six-woman tag. However, that was probably a heelish Corey Graves just talking, because Bayley then echoed it.