WWE Payback 2023: 10 Things That Must Happen

6. Rhea Ripley Gets An Actual Challenge

WWE Payback 2023 Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

WWE has had a real tough time finding viable challengers for Rhea since she won the Women’s World Title at 'Mania and they rebranded it. To date, Ripley has hammered Zelina Vega, Dana Brooke, Natalya, Indi Hartwell, Candice LeRae and also defended vs. NXT's Lyra Valkyria.

Meanwhile, Raquel Rodriguez has blown hot and cold on the main roster, but she matches up well physically to Rhea. Hopefully, both women are allowed to beat the crap out of one another and their Payback tussle ends up being a sleeper classic.

Ripley is winning, of course, but that doesn’t mean they won't have some fun along the way.

The writers obviously won't take that belt away from Rhea for a loooooong time. Everyone knows that. Can they make Rodriguez look good and give her a career-boosting performance that leads to a standing ovation from the Pittsburgh masses? Absolutely. That should actually be one of WWE's main goals for Saturday.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.