6 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (30 Jan - Review)

2. A Logical Swerve

Rhea Ripley
WWE.com

Ever since Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair share glances backstage a few months ago, the wrestling world pretty much assumed that the two former NXT standouts would clash at WrestleMania for the Raw Women’s Championship. After all, a meeting of the two stars would establish a nice coda for Bianca’s yearlong arc as Raw Women’s Champion.

So when Ripley came out to announce who she was choosing and started tracing her and Charlotte Flar’s history, it felt like she was just about to turn the corner and her attention to Belair. Instead, Rhea declared that she was there to disrupt the normal formula, which include Charlotte as an eternal champion.

Considering their history involving the Royal Rumble title shot, it makes a lot of sense for Ripley to repay Flair and try to dethrone the woman who took her NXT Women’s Championship back in 2020. It also could represent Ripley’s arrival as a top tier champion in title as well as appearance.

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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.