New #1 Contender For WWE Raw Women's Championship Revealed

By Robert Gunier

After tonight's WWE "Raw", we know the next woman coming after Bianca Belair's Raw Women's Title.

Doudrop, Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, and Alexa Bliss went at it in a fatal-4-way match this evening with the winner earning the #1 contender's spot for the Raw Women's Championship. They gave it their all in the main event spot, with the closing moments seeing Rhea Ripley hit her Riptide finisher on Doudrop for the 3-count.

Belair and Ripley have a long history together dating back to 2017 in WWE NXT. They would rise through the rankings on the black and gold brand before making equally impressive main roster debuts in WWE. In their respective first years, they faced top stars like Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and several others.

They were also the final two women remaining in the 2021 Royal Rumble before Bianca Belair lastly eliminated Ripley for the win. The two women would still go on to that year's "WrestleMania 37" and win the main titles of their respective rosters, Belair doing it in the main event of Night 1.

Bianca Belair has held the WWE Raw Women's Championship since winning the title from Becky Lynch at "WrestleMania 38" this past April. The two were locked in a long-term feud that started at "SummerSlam" 2021 when Lynch made a surprise return to the company and beat Belair for the SmackDown Women's Championships in 26-seconds.

Belair has now defeated Lynch on multiple occasions, including this past Sunday when she defeated both Lynch and Asuka in a triple threat match for the Raw Women's Title. After tonight, it looks as though Becky and Asuka are heading into their own separate feud while Belair focuses on her new challenger, Rhea Ripley.

Ripley will face Belair at WWE's next Premium Live Event, "Money in the Bank", scheduled for July 2, 2022. It will be interesting to see what direction the story is taken in now that Edge is out of The Judgment Day stable and Finn Balor has joined their ranks.

Rhea Ripley is a former Raw Women's Champion, a former WWE Women's Tag Team Champion, former NXT Women's Champion, the first-ever NXT UK Women's Champion, and was ranked number 7 on Sports Illustrated's list of the top 10 wrestlers of 2019.

You can see full results from tonight's "Raw" at this link.

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