4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (9 February - Results & Review)

2. A Spotty, Overambitious Triple Threat

Rhea Ripley Lyra Valkyria Ivy Nile
WWE

One can appreciate that when the agents were drawing up the triple threat between Rhea Ripley, Ivy Nile and Lyra Valkyria, they felt they had three talented women with unique skills that could all be highlighted during the match.

In execution, however, things did not go as planned.

The Elimination Chamber qualifying match gave Ivy several standout moments to show off her strength, a rarity these days for the American Made member. But all three women had several whiffs throughout, missing spots, sloppily executing offense, and botching sequences. The action fast-paced action both lent itself to these miscues as well as covered them up in some cases because they moved onto the next spot quickly.

The audience provided the clearest sign that this didn’t work, only coming up for a few key spots and the finish itself, which saw Ripley hit a running knee on Lyra after she had put Nile down with a Nightwing, and then Rhea picked up the win with a Riptide on Valkyria.

Call the match overly ambitious or poorly executed, but it was sloppy with too many mistakes to forgive them all. It’s a shame, because it was Ivy’s best night on Raw in ages.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.