4 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (24 Mar - Results & Review)

2. Women’s IC Pushes Through

WWE Raw Lyra Valkyria Raquel Rodriguez
WWE

The Raw women’s midcard scene isn’t exactly a house afire right now, but WWE has done the right thing recently by just having Lyra Valkyria defend her Intercontinental Championship more regularly, even if the matches don’t all hit.

Monday’s title defense against Raquel Rodriguez didn’t send fans into a frenzy, but both women worked hard to deliver a solid, short match that contrasted Big Mami Cool’s power and Lyra’s aerial offense nicely. Valkyria couldn’t hoist Rodriguez up for Nightwing or any power moves, so she resorted to taking chances off the turnbuckles and countering Raquel’s power. When she went for a diving dropkick to the floor and Raquel caught her for a powerbomb, Lyra countered into a headscissors. When Raquel caught a crossbody attempt and went for a suplex, Valkyria reversed to a DDT.

Even the finish saw Lyra turning a Tejana Bomb attempt into a rollup for the win, surviving the match and holding onto her title. Valkyria retaining her IC Championship by outwitting and outwrestling her opponents – even the bigger and stronger ones – is a good story. Eventually, it should help elevate Lyra and the title as well, even if some bouts are just average.

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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.