7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (10 Feb - Results & Review)

4. Just The Right Amount Of Remorse

Rhea Ripley was in a bit of a jam character-wise Monday night.

Last week, she cost Iyo Sky a spot in the Elimination Chamber by hitting Liv Morgan during Liv’s match with Iyo. That caused a disqualification and sent Morgan to the Chamber. Rhea clearly was upset about it and felt guilty, but her persona is not one where she would be super-apologetic and beg forgiveness.

Monday night, Iyo walked up to Ripley backstage and said she was coming for her – and her title – to which Rhea responded, “Can’t wait.” Later on, the Women’s World Champion approached Sky and informed her that she didn’t owe Iyo anything, but she had arranged for the Genius of the Sky to get a title match on the Raw after Elimination Chamber next month. Iyo’s response: “Can’t wait.”

Ripley perfectly measured the remorse against being a stoic champion who knows the reality is that everyone is gunning for her and her title. She was a perfectly noble babyface by setting up a title match for Iyo as recompense for the mistake last week, but Rhea made sure to point out that she was doing it because she wanted to make amends, rather than giving Sky a handout.

This also changes the trajectory of Iyo/Rhea for WrestleMania 41, as smart money previously would have been on Sky winning a last-chance match for the final Chamber spot. Now, they’re confirming that won’t happen and their next chapter will come after the next PLE. Buckle up.

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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.