Rhea Ripley Wins Rare Intergender Match On WWE Raw
Rare singles bout between Ripley and a male superstar sees the Eradicator get the win.
Rhea Ripley defeated Akira Tozawa in an ultra-rare intergender singles match on WWE Raw Monday night.
The match sprung from a tag match between the Street Profits and the Judgment Day. Tozawa accompanied the Profits and got involved by throwing water at Dominik Mysterio, distracting Finn Balor long enough to get rolled up. An incensed Ripley ran up to Tozawa afterward, punched him and challenged him to a match.
During the contest, Tozawa kept avoiding confrontation with Rhea, while she slugged and kicked away. The two battled over a suplex, which Ripley won, but Tozawa countered a powerbomb attempt with a hurricanrana. Things broke down a bit, but Akira missed a senton, allowing Rhea to hit Riptide for the win.
Who would have expected @RheaRipley_WWE one-on-one with @TozawaAkira in 2022?!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/AjQrtSEs1G
— WWE (@WWE) December 20, 2022
Intergender matches are basically a no-no in today's WWE, with mixed tag matches carrying the stipulation that only the men can wrestle the men, and women have to wrestle the women. This doesn't mean that we haven't seen female superstars mix it up with their male counterparts, but it's been carefully scripted within the confines of a tag match or some non-match confrontation.
Ripley probably was involved in one of the most impressive intergender moments in recent history, slamming Luke Gallows outside the ring during a Judgment Day/OC melee.
There's always a chance we could see more of these matches involving Ripley, who has been positioned as the muscle of the Judgment Day, but it's a fine line that WWE has to walk here.