Backstage Update On Original Plans For WWE Raw Women's MITB Qualifier

Things went awry during the three way Money in the Bank qualifier match between Rhea Ripley, Kairi Sane, and Zoey Stark last night on "Raw," after a springboard dropkick attempt led to Stark landing hard on her right knee. The spot led to Stark being removed from the match by doctors, forcing Ripley and Sane to finish the match on their own, with Ripley ultimately picking up the win.

As one would expect, Stark's removal from the match did change things up a bit. But according to Bryan Alvarez on this morning's "Wrestling Observer Radio," the injury to Stark led to the entire second half of the match being completely changed, right down to the finish.

"The other two had to work an impromptu match since Zoey was going to be doing a bunch of spots, and taking the fall," Alvarez said. "But she was not there. And so they basically just stalled out a long one-on-one match until Rhea pinned her [Sane] with the...Riptide. So Rhea's going to Money in the Bank."

Both Alvarez and co-host Dave Meltzer seemed to insinuate Ripley winning the match was always the plan, with the only change being that Stark would've been pinned instead of Sane. Though this was a bit awkward given that Sane was wrestling her first match back since returning from injury, Meltzer remarked that WWE had no choice but to go with that finish once Stark went down.

At this time, it remains unclear how severe Stark's injury is, though it's believed by many that she will have to miss an extended amount of time. Stark has since received plenty of support throughout the wrestling industry, including from WWE co-workers and even former AEW Women's World Champion Thunder Rosa.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription