Major WWE Women's Division Shakeup At SummerSlam 2023

What just happened in WWE's women's division?!

by Scott Carlson
IYO SKY
WWE

Iyo Sky is your new WWE Women's Champion, cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase at SummerSlam Saturday night, just five weeks after winning it.

Sky defeated an injured Bianca Belair, who had just emerged from the triple threat match with the title after pinning Asuka.

The craziness of the moment sucked in a lot of fans, with Belair being escorted off with an injured knee during the match with champion Asuka and Charlotte Flair, only for the EST to return and hit a stunning 450 splash on Flair while she had Asuka locked in the Figure-8. Moments later, Charlotte had Bianca in the Figure-8 when Asuka misted Flair and went to kick Belair, who dodged, rolled up the Empress and captured the title.

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But before Bianca could really celebrate, Iyo Sky and Bayley sprinted to the ring, with the Role Model using the briefcase to take out Charlotte and Asuka. Sky cashed in, nailed her Over the Moonsault and 3 seconds later, she won her first singles title on the main roster.

In addition to Bayley, fellow Damage CTRL stablemate Dakota Kai made a surprise appearance to celebrate Sky's win one year after the group made their WWE debut at last year's SummerSlam.

Having Belair win the title only to have it ripped away from her immediately gives the EST another chip on her shoulder after having to struggle to get her rematch in the first place. It also preserves a future feud between Asuka and Iyo, which should be fantastic.

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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.