Released Wrestler Returns On WWE Raw, Joins Major Stable!

Has Ripley met her equalizer in the form of this wrestler?

by Scott Carlson
Mia Yim Rhea Ripley
WWE.com

The OC found their solution to their "Rhea Ripley Problem" on Monday night, and it wasn't Luke Gallows successfully charming the Judgment Day's X-factor.

Mia Yim made a surprise return to WWE on Raw, appearing out of nowhere ringside to take out Ripley with a kendo stick, siding with the OC to even the numbers between the two factions. The expanded OC chased off Judgment Day, with this now presumably setting up a mixed eight-person tag match, perhaps for Survivor Series.

For Yim, her return came almost one year to the day after she was released in 2021, having never resurfaced on television after donning a mask as Reckoning in RETRIBUTION.

That was a huge failing of Yim by WWE, as she did not wrestle from December 2020 until she was released. During the past year, Mia has competed in Impact Wrestling, battling fellow former WWE wrestlers Mickie James, Deonna Purrazzo and Chelsea Green.

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While speculation was brewing that the OC could land on Beth Phoenix as the obvious counterweight to Ripley, putting Yim into this spot means she has a purpose and is inserted into a storyline right away, while Phoenix would have likely only come in for a short period. Plus, WWE can pull the trigger on a Phoenix/Ripley feud at any point down the line and it would work.

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.