5 Ups & 5 Downs For WWE Raw (4 Aug - Results & Review)

3. A Pure Babyface Rivalry?

If you put a metaphorical gun to fans’ collective heads and told them to choose Iyo Sky or Rhea Ripley to be a heel in their ongoing rivalry, they might short-circuit and melt down on the spot.

Sky and Ripley are both immensely popular right now, and asking fans to choose between the two is akin to asking a parent to choose between their two children. Thankfully, WWE doesn’t seem intent on forcing audiences to boo one of the two former world champions.

Monday night, the two had a backstage conversation where Rhea revealed that Iyo had gotten herself a one-on-one Women’s World Championship match against Naomi next week, to which Sky noted that she wasn’t the one who got pinned at SummerSlam.

Rather than getting pissed, Ripley reiterated that she respected Iyo and urged her to beat the champ so the two of them could wrestle again for the title. This prompted Sky to once again gently chide Rhea that she never had and never will beat her – a psychological advantage that she’s wise to continue pushing since they’re so evenly matched.

Hopefully, WWE won’t try to trick fans and have one of them suddenly skew into villain territory, because a pure babyface rivalry is both refreshing and fits both characters.

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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.