Breaking Down The Belts: Sol Ruca's WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship

This past weekend at Clash In Italy, Sol Ruca dethroned Becky Lynch for the Women's Intercontinental Championship to become just the fifth woman in WWE history to win the title. Since being called up after WrestleMania, it's not been an easy transition for Ruca to the main roster, with the 26-year-old facing online backlash for botching moves in the ring on multiple occasions, such as her finisher, the Sol Snatcher. In addition, the company's creative team was heavily criticized for booking Ruca to lose her first two matches on "WWE Raw." That said, after her win over Lynch, Ruca will hopefully settle into her new role on the main roster, but it remains to be seen if WWE will actually give her a lengthy title reign.

After her rocky start on the red brand, Ruca should absolutely not lose the title in the near future, as she can redeem herself by being a dominant champion out of the gate. However, with WWE taking a liking to short title reigns when it comes to the Women's Intercontinental Championship as of late, we have named who will, and who should defeat Ruca for the gold in this edition of Breaking Down The Belts.

Do you really think WWE wouldn't put the title back on Becky Lynch for the fourth time? For the past year, WWE has created a formula for the Women's Intercontinental Championship that seems to be designed to elevate talent, with Lynch being the titleholder for younger stars to defeat. Whether it's Lyra Valkyria, Maxxine Dupri, or Ruca, it's obvious that Lynch is comfortable with putting over other stars at this stage of her career, and though she definitely doesn't need another run with the IC title, I could see the gold being around her waist again later this year.

At the moment, there aren't many heels in the women's division on "WWE Raw" that are in a position to defeat Ruca for the title, making Lynch the lead option to successfully challenge for the championship. From Liv Morgan being the current Women's World Champion, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez being focused on the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles, and stars like Ivy Nile or Nattie rarely being featured on TV, there aren't many realistic choices to defeat Ruca. Therefore, a fourth Women's Intercontinental Championship reign for Lynch seems to be one of the most probable options, and though it's likely not an outcome many fans want to see at this point, she will undoubtedly put over another star in the process.

I would be ecstatic to see the Women's Intercontinental Championship on the shoulder of Valkyria again, on the condition that she turns heel.

This past Monday on "WWE Raw," Valkyria confronted Ruca backstage and stated that she has been itching to challenge for the Women's Intercontinental Championship after losing the ability to compete for the title when she was defeated by Lynch at SummerSlam. Ruca claimed that she is willing to put the gold on the line, and though the champion will likely retain in her first title defense, a loss for Valkyria could be the start of a heel turn that's already been teased on TV.

In the same backstage segment where Valkyria challenged Ruca, she also took a selfish approach to her relationship with Bayley, blowing off her friend during an interview with Cathy Kelley to call out the champion. Additionally, when Bayley confronted Valkyria afterwards, the Irish star was too excited about her upcoming title opportunity to care about the interview she was supposed to continue with "The Role Model."

Since she feuded with Lynch over the Women's Intercontinental Championship last year, Valkyria has struggled to be featured in a prominent role on "Raw" outside of a few WWE Women's Tag Team Title opportunities with Bayley. Although I wouldn't be interested in watching the current version of Valkyria with the title again, having her defeat Ruca later this year after potentially turning on Bayley would instantly create new intrigue for her character and hopefully keep her relevant on the main roster.