Who Is The New WWE Raw Women's Championship #1 Contender?

Plans changed, but a new top contender for Hell in a Cell still was crowned.

by Scott Carlson
Asuka Becky Lynch
WWE.com

Asuka is your new #1 contender for the Raw Women's Championship, though that decision seems to have been a last-minute change.

Asuka defeated Becky Lynch in an action-packed main event Monday night, using her green mist to blind Big Time Becks and then nail the knockout with a buzzsaw kick. This sets up Asuka to face Bianca Belair for the women's title at the Hell in a Cell PLE next month.

While this match could be a show-stealer, it very likely wasn't the plan going into Raw and even when the show went on the air. Original plans called for a six-pack challenge pitting Askua, Lynch, Sasha Banks, Naomi, Doudrop and Nikki ASH against each other.

But Sasha and Naomi walked out of Raw, forcing WWE to rebook the main event. According to Fightful Select, Naomi was originally booked to win the six-pack challenge and become #1 contender, which means that the walkout forced a complete rewrite of future plans for HIAC as well as the Raw main event.

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Unfortunately, Asuka and Belair had an abbreviated match last week on Raw -- which Lynch interfered in, causing a DQ -- so this won't be a first-time-ever meeting between the two.

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 fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.