Hopefully, WWE will add a stip to the Charlotte/Rhea Ripley rematch
If you felt that the finish to Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley’s Raw Women’s Championship match at Hell in a Cell 2021 fell short of pay-per-view standards, fear not because WWE has come up with a definitely-not-repetitive way to quell your discontent.
The company addressed the disqualification ending to Flair vs. Ripley on this past Monday’s episode of Raw, where company officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville chastised Ripley for using the DQ loophole to remain Raw Women’s Champion before coming up with a solution to the situation.
That solution was…….scheduling a Flair vs. Ripley rematch for Money in the Bank in July. Of course, this is what most fans figured would happen the second the referee called for the bell after Ripley hit Flair with the hood of the announcer’s desk at Hell in a Cell. That said, something is missing…
If WWE feels a Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley rematch is necessary, they need to add a stipulation.
Booking Flair vs. Ripley again with no way to safeguard against another non-finish — at least, not yet — makes no sense. Without one, what’s stopping Ripley from getting herself DQed again, aside from the specter of another scolding from Pearce and Deville? And if Pearce and Deville were so appalled by the DQ finish, why didn’t either of them think of a stip when they announced the rematch?
If WWE held off on announcing a gimmick to keep it from overshadowing everything else on the show, then they could’ve waited a week to announce the match altogether (assuming WWE had a stipulation in mind, to begin with; if so, they’d have more of an incentive to postpone everything). If they planned to forego one because of the Money in the Bank ladder matches, then they should’ve considered that before booking this bout for the PPV.
Vince McMahon and his creative team wouldn’t even need to get too creative to add a new wrinkle to Flair and Ripley’s next chapter. Something as simple as including No DQ rules or a condition where Ripley would lose the championship if she got disqualified again or counted out. Either of those would serve as an effective means of showing that Ripley’s actions have consequences — beyond being forced to face Flair again — while messaging to the fans that the next match will have a definitive winner (maybe). Both are far more preferrable than another regular wrestling match.
Next. Franky Monet on WWE NXT: “I feel like this is where I knew I always wanted to be”. dark
WWE has made a lot of mistakes with this Flair/Ripley feud. If they don’t want to add another one to the list, they’ll make sure to not leave this match unchanged.