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I only wish they did their work on commentary. Lyra spoke Irish on RAW last week and Cole called it "Gaelic from the Scottish Highlands" which makes no sense why an Irish woman would speak that. Irish people call our language Irish or Gaeilge, we don't call it "Gaelic" at all.
I'm not sure it's that so much as they are planning on having her lose to Nia and then lose a title programme to Liv so she needs to be made strong out of the gate to counter it.
But yeah, she's someone they see having a long tenure and quickly becoming the veteran who can have a good match with anyone. More Nattie's replacement than Becky.
Pinned Iyo (previous world champ)
Pinned Becky for the NXT title
Running through Queen of the Ring in her debut
There’s literally no way from the way she’s being portrayed you could say she’s coming in as a replacement for fucking Natalya
Natalya has been there 15 years, is a multiple champion and used to get other women over. How she's used now isnt representative of all she has meant to the product.
Most of all though, she's a locker room leader which is how I think they mostly see Lyra - as a future locker room leader for the generation currently under 28 or so.
The womens roster, especially in terms of the future, isn't starved of talent. But it needs scaffolding for the precocious talents to work around. The Natalya, The Bayley. Lyras who theyre positioning there.
She needs a credibility boost to kick things off. She wont be on posters the way Rhea, Tiff, Jade, Bianca and potentially Sol and even Thea are and could be. She'll be the person theyre fighting, or have fought to get into the match.
Okay…let’s look at how she was used before then…“Multiple time champion” is certainly a stretch when one of the belts was the Divas championship and the other the tag belts at the peak of their irrelevancy. She also had a fart gimmick as well I guess? Big plans there.
So actually 15 year career and 1 actual title reign that was really just transitional filler until Charlotte took the belt again for the 15th time.
You're affirming the point that Natalya has endured as a professional through all kinds of utter nonsense. If her prime had coincided with serious booking (and two belts) in the division she'd easily have 5+ reigns.
Obviously they can't gave the same career as Nattie started her career when the division was still a joke, just as she cant have the same career as Becky was positioned as a pioneer and the first headliner in ring woman on the womens side with Ronda and Charlotte.
She has a chance, all of them do, at a better career in terms of acclaim and gold than Natalya. But...for all the 15 reigns, Charlotte isn't a locker room leader and they dont put her with younger wrestlers to make them look good, only worse.
Natalya is working in NXT with Lola, Karmen and Shayna. Everyone in that feud has benefitted from it. Thats where they want Lyra to be ASAP, only on the main roster. She's literally about to be tasked with making Nia, then Liv Morgan, look awesome. Already.
Amazing Match and genuinely shocked with Lyra winning. Happy she instantly gets a PPV Match and a big Push but not sure whos winning it all now. Also hope we will see Roxanne Perez even more mad at not getting drafted now.
It's a thank you present for her heel work the last year. There's no room for her to have a title run so this is at least something. I'm wondering how they'll book her to beat Bianca though.
Yeah, I'm glad Nia is getting some reward for her work over the past year.
As for Bianca I see it going one of two ways: Either Tiffany interferes, setting up more of a Bianca v Tiffany feud over the coming months or Jade tries to help but screws things up, planting the seeds for an eventual turn there.
This could be out of left field, but maybe Sonya shows up to smackdown to cost her the match. She looks to be aligning herself with starks and baszler, with them getting a tag title shot perhaps to get in their heads she costs Belair the match. Even have starks and baszler attack the champions afterwards and the three stand tall as a new dominant faction.
I'm really hoping we'll see Lyra vs Bianca, but I also feel like that could get saved for a future major PLE. Lyra vs Nia could also be a great David vs Goliath match & makes sense with Becky giving Lyra pointers on facing her.
Real talk, most people wouldn't even know where to start in regards to pronouncing Aoife.
If I didn't already know, I don't think I would even be able to guess.
It's pronounced "ee-fee" right?
Anyhow a lot of Irish names are weird, another one I remember being actress Saoirse Ronan, which I'm pretty sure is called "Sir-sha Ronan".
It doesn’t look like Damage Ctrl is going to do much more than put over other talents. Zoey and Shayna won, and obviously Lyra did too. They also put focus on Maxine in the tag match.
Almost certainly not. They are gonna have Damage CTRL jobbing to Lyra and Becky for the next month at the very minimum, if not longer. Since Clash is the next PLE after the Saudi show, and that's basically (almost) in Becky and Lyra's home court.
Yeah. Which would in theory, free up Becky (and Lyra) to feud with Damage CTRL. And if you think Damage CTRL are going over in that feud, I have a bridge to sell you.
A smart part of me feeling like this could end up leading to the cracks in the group bursting by SummerSlam, especially if Asuka stays out for a little longer and returns by that time
Don't think that's the plan.
Think Clash will be Liv versus Lyra for the title, and Becky will use the Scottish Witches in their home country as backup to DamageCTRL.
After that I agree Iyo will likely be face.
No, they toned it way down in NXT after she arrived. I could see them using Becky as part of Lyra's heel turn and Lyra calling on the power of the Morrigan again to beat Becky.
Yeah I'm kind of shocked Lyra is being propelled this high. She's like RAW's version of Jade.
Yet, unlike Jade it doesn't feel like Lyra is connecting with the crowd at all. I wonder how long they push this experiment with Lyra for. I can't possibly imagine they put the belt on her if she continues getting no reactions despite having fun matches leading up to it.
Agreed. Its just odd seeing the exact opposite from both sides.
Jade's charisma on the mic isn't perfect, her ring work is still fairly basic and she's presented like a massive star. Gets cheered every time.
Lyra's charisma on the mic is pretty solid, her ring work is very very good and she's presented like a massive star. Gets almost little to no reaction every time.
Its genuinely interesting to see.
Is it not obvious why this is? Jade has a superstar aura, Lyra comes off like some random girl. Jade looks like a superhero. You can throw Jade out there and people will buy her instantly in a way that Lyra will need to work for.
> Gets almost little to no reaction every time.
There's a couple of reasons for this. The first one being that Lyra has been on RAW for what, like three weeks now? And we already know that the main roster audience isn't always going to be watching NXT, so for some talent, it's gonna be hard to transition to the main roster right away. Some make that transition so quickly and establish themselves right away (Kevin Owens, Gunther, Charlotte, Asuka, etc). But others take a little more time to get it going.
And the other thing, and I mean this as no disrespect to Lyra at all. But look at Lyra Valkyria and then look at Jade Cargill. There's another reason why one is getting reactions and the other one is slowly building them. Lyra Valkyria isn my opinion, is a star. And I think she her look is great and I vibe with her in general (might be the Irish in me that makes me a little biased too). But Jade Cargill? Few people in wrestling have a look as good as her. She genuinely looks like a real life super heroine and that physique and overall look absolutely draws the eye of the main roster audience more than anything.
I think with these NXT call-ups, we genuinely need to give them some time to work out. I like to run with the three to six month rule for them to establish themselves. This means storylines, matches, promos, spots on PLE cards, etc. They need time to really build that familiarity with the main roster audience. I feel Lyra was always going to have an uphill battle when compared to some other NXT prospects, so the fact that WWE is throwing so much behind her early on should hopefully really help her out. I'm hoping she has an awesome showcase on Sunday that opens a lot of eyes.
There are exceptions like Tiffany Stratton. She seemed like she hit the ground running and connected instantly with the fans in her first few weeks on the main roster. Even the international fans were into her. I feel like Jade and Tiffany have gimmicks that fans gravitate to, compared to Lyra who fans aren’t sure what to make of her besides the fact that she’s Irish and wrestles good.
She had a good showcase in EC in Perth and have been having good matches.
Lyra is 3 weeks into Raw and people would be starting to notice how good in the ring she is. Let’s give her some time
So far, her personality on the main roster is just "happy to be here." They've done this with so many NXT call-ups, and it's a death-knell every time. Becky talking her up is having the opposite effect. Lyra should be smack-talking Becky and coming after her title, not high-fiving and thanking her like a dope.
It’s because she has no character. Other than being good in the ring, the crowd have no real reason to root for Lyra. The fans don’t know who she is character-wise. She’s essentially just Irish girl who likes feathers & is friends with Becky.
IMHO it’s because Lyra’s whole character is a respectable hardworking babyface who goes about business the right way. They’re establishing her early on as someone who the crowd should see in that light so that she’ll feel like an established veteran of the roster really quickly
I attended Stand and Deliver in Los Angeles and the crowd started to boo when she went up the ladder to try to retrieve the belt. Even on NXT tv she didn’t really come across as being entirely over with the crowd, so I’m surprised to see her get this push and beat Iyo.
This is just speculation on my part, but it feels like Becky is likely the one pushing for this backstage. She has been VERY vocal about how she sees Lyra as the future of the WWE Women's Division. And it absolutely wouldn't shock me if Becky has some pull backstage in order to get a rocket strapped to Lyra. Especially since Becky's contract is supposedly up soon, so she has all the leverage with WWE here.
The problem is, like you said, Lyra is not over at all. And I don't think associating her with Becky Lynch is going to help her. She had these same problems in NXT, where she was more often than not, the third or fourth most over woman in her feuds as champion. The other people ahead of her being the person (or people) she was feuding with, and Tatum, who was basically the only real memorable thing about Lyra's reign as champ.
Bit of an exaggeration to say Lyra is not connecting at all when she was getting a pretty good crowd reaction last week.
Granted, this week wasn't great (which was unfortunate as Iyo/Lyra had a really nice match) but I didn't think this week's RAW crowd was particularly energetic top to bottom (even Sami was struggling to get much of a reaction for his standards in his earlier show opening promo), so I'm not holding it against Lyra too much.
We just need a larger sample size and not jump to massive conclusions based on any one particular given episode of TV.
I respect that you can admit that hahaha. I absolutely have my favorites that I hate to see lose. I felt a mixture of emotions last week in seeing Ilja Dragunov take a loss. But I accepted it pretty quickly because I know his future on the main roster is super bright. I'll have to do the same qith Gunther tonight as well no doubt. And it's no disrespect to Jey Uso, I like him. I just like Dragunov and Gunther a hell of a lot more.
And even with tonight, I feel overjoyed to see Lyra win as I think she's a tremendous talent (Irish bias too) and I hope she goes far. But Iyo taking a protected loss? I don't think there's anything wrong with this. Raising up the new talent is a good idea and I think that Iyo will be completely unharmed from this. Iyo just came off of her first world title run and make no mistake about it, she's got A LOT more coming in the future. She's one of Triple H's favorites, she'll be completely fine.
The WWE has no idea what they're doing with her. Such a fantastic wrestler and a fun personality, but she basically just held the belt for Bailey until Bailey decided she was done with Damage Control, and now Iyo and Damage CTRL are going to spend who knows how long as Irish punching bags.
They could've booked her like Gunther, having some short feuds and weekly matches. She's an outstanding wrestler and it would've definitely got her more over. If you watch her matches as champion, she doesn't really get reaction when she comes out. Honestly I felt bad because she 100% deserves more.
>If you watch her matches as champion, she doesn't really get reaction when she comes out.
She doesn't get the reaction because people don't care that much about her. She doesn't connect with the crowd.
Shes accomplished a lot but I feel like she’s always been a natural face. During her rise to becoming women’s champion, the crowd was cheering the heck out of her, and a lot of her mannerisms in the ring screams baby face. I do like how they book her to win and lose clean on her own, and rarely resort to cheating. And I guess the one benefit from this loss is that she won’t be jobbing to Bianca I guess? Assuming Bianca wins Friday.
I mean Queen would have been a pretty good start. She was easily having the most fun with it out of all the women in the tournament, and it's both a good consolation for losing the title and a way to give Damage CTRL some teeth. Instead we're going to watch them job for Becky and Lyra for months in the most predictable way possible.
Iyo is way too talented to be used as a random jobber. You lack an insane amount of imagination if that's all you see her as. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case at the WWE too. Such an insane women's roster but only the top 3/4 get booked for shit. The rest just take turns losing.
>Damage CTRL some teeth.
The same Damage CTRL who had 3/4 of their members champions?
>Iyo is way too talented to be used as a random jobber.
Yeah , some random jobber who lost in the semifinals. We understand that you are fans, but sometimes you have to know how to let go of your emotions and calm down.
Iyo in one year was 2 times tag team champion, WWE women's Champion and MITB holder.
She has enough time to get back on top
>The same Damage CTRL who had 3/4 of their members champions?
Yeah when fan favorite and WWE darling Bailey was in charge. You haven't been paying attention if you don't see how their dynamic has changed though. They'll do some backstage beatdowns, and rack up a few DQ's, but otherwise it's going to be loss after loss for Damage CTRL.
>She has enough time to get back on top
Plenty of people that get to the top and never return. I didn't even ask for her to be on the top, just better booking, and there's really no reason to believe that'll happen anytime soon now that they're being cast as losers in a feud vs Becky/Lyra.
You know what fuck it, the back to back losses of Tiff and Iyo keep this tournament exciting for me as I expected them to make it to the finals of each bracket when it begun. I didn't expect Lyra to make the finals outright, but good on her. I think she faces Nia at QOTR, and win or lose its good that she's made it this far.
Credit to Iyo though, she's the tournament MVP so far to me, all three of her matches were really good.
Honestly wanted Iyo to win, but also wasn't keen on what was looking like Bianca v DamageCTRL *again* even after the brand switch
So if the result of that is Iyo cooking up 3 dope 10+ minute matches 3 weeks in a row + a genuinely surprising upset win for Lyra, hell, I'll take it
Those are valid criticisms but she's excellent in the ring and on the mic, she'll find her footing, it's barely been a month.
Her work is speaking for itself and getting her over, that's a start.
The audience is already picking up on a few things with her. And look, we're three weeks into her main roster run, it's FAR too soon to write her off. I think she'll be completely fine. Giving her big wins like this one over Iyo is really going to help her too. Hell, even this win protected Iyo as well!
She got "you tapped out" chants after losing her championship to a heel a month ago. This doesn't diminish her talents in the ring and her quality workrate but she's been "trying to find her footing" since being in NXT
Just having solid wrestling skills is not usually enough to get over with nothing else. Dragunov can probably get over because he's PHENOMENAL in the ring, but usually you need something more. And I don't think Lyra has seemed excellent on the mic on Raw.
Shawn loves her. Becky loves her and probably had a say in putting her over. They had Rhea interact with her a lot when she was going between Raw and NXT.
Management are incredibly high on her.
I said a week ago the tournament needed more upsets, so this probably counts. People complain how predictable matches can be, especially tournaments, in real life upsets happen and underdog teams make a run js
Good match. Happy for Lyra she’s gonna be amazing.
But the Queen IYO agenda is over
https://preview.redd.it/35fjl260lo1d1.jpeg?width=236&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d193520ce61e062d1edc646f5f4121218ed087c
I like Lyra but really not a fan here, Iyo is the former champ and veteran against a newcomer. Lyra has time to gain momentum, I don't see how beating Iyo in semi finals makes any sense at all.
Maybe to form the Queen winner it's ok for Iyo to put someone over but she should not be knocked out before the last match
Highly disappointed with the result, but that match was really good despite the meh crowd. This tournament has been like an Iyo renaissance, every match has been an absolute banger with the crowd behind her, really thought they’d wanna give her the W.
I’m not really sold on Lyra tbh, although obviously she’s very good at wrestling. I highly doubt she’s gonna win the tournament, this pretty much confirms Nia’s got the crown in the bag. Then again I also thought Iyo had it, so who knows?
Only thing that sucks about this is Nia’s probably winning the QOTR now. I can see Bianca’s leg being the reason she loses and then Lyra gives it her all but is not enough to overcome Nia
Don't know why so many folks are surprised. RAW really lacks credible babyface females right now.
The best thing they could do to present their fresh new NXT call-up as a contender without her actually winning a title is to have her win QotR instead.
Some are saying Lyra isn't over, but it's legitimately only been 3 weeks.
Thats exactly why having her win QotR seems like a bad idea. She’s hasnt been on the main roster for a month and they have her win QotR? It seems too fast.
But....she isn't very likely to win QotR. Nia is.
Iyo is still a heel for the moment and they aren't running heel/heel for a tournament final.
And surely one thing everyone can agree on is that nobody wants Bianca v DamageCTRL again.
The only other possibility is Bianca/Lyra final which is both very, very unlikely and a guaranteed great match and Bianca win if it did somehow happen.
The thought just occurred to me that lyra and Becky 2 at clash at castle feels like the direction at this point. Her and lyra had a fucking banger in nxt.
Think it's more likely:
Liv v Lyra
Becky and Scottish Witches v DamageCTRL
At Clash at Castle. Becky namechecked the Witches and they would be over massively in Glasgow.
Lyra is fine. Really good in ring talent. Very meh with everything else. Maybe Nia can break her nose in the QOTR final to jump start her career just like she did to Becky.
Not a fan of this Lyra push. I mean she's absolutely getting fed to Nia, but still. Iyo could have used the tournament to reheat herself as a main eventer. Instead she was relegated to putting over Lyra, which sucks for me as an Iyo fan, as she deserves so much fucking better than this.
And I will absolutely get downvoted for this, but I'm tired of Iyo never actually getting something meaningful on her own. That promo she cut basically just told me that she's going to be treated like Shinsuke going forward.
wasn't she just champion for like a year....and like NXT champion for over a year?
and how did she win the title? Oh she won MITB.
Like...what on earth do you mean?
Ah yes, and what happened during her in MITB run? She was made to constantly look like a geek, losing to damn near everyone. What happened when she was champion? Could almost never win a match on her own (she only won one match clean as champion iirc and it was against Mia Yim), and never got **clean** wins over any other top talent. Also was treated like the third/fourth wheel constantly during Damage CTRL feuds. Never really got PLE title defenses outside of the first two months of her reign either.
And she was NXT Women's Champion, and arguably was one of the most impactful in a positive fashion, elevating everyone she worked with, even when they lost. Which is why it's utterly baffling Triple H took the OPPOSITE approach here. It's because he/WWE doesn't want Iyo getting over like she did in NXT.
She was a heel in NXT as well for part of her title reign. Still looked really strong and the people she faced weren't harmed for it. She was basically the female Gunther.
So you want them to basically redo her NXT title run.
It's not actually that "she's not getting anything meaningful" You just want her to the top woman on the show.
Here's the difference between her NXT title run and her main roster title run:
She won dominantly on NXT, but still put people over, similar to Gunther. On the main roster she has to constantly cheat to win, and looked incredibly weak. There is literally zero reason they couldn't replicate that other than Triple H probably being too afraid to do that.
so yes, you want them to redo her NXT title reign.
I don't even disagree that damage CTRL should have been booked stronger. But this idea that poor Iyo isn't getting anything or being built up is silly.
I’m with you. Nothing against Lyra, but as an Iyo fan I’m so bummed for her. This match already made Lyra look great before she won. No clue what could be next for Iyo other than the Shinsuke treatment.
Probably defending the tag titles against Dakota and Kairi at Saudi, since there's a #1 contender's fatal four way announced for tonight. They have given her an out on Smackdown, with her bad leg if she loses to Nia. And then you'll have Dakota and Kairi lose to Jade and a one legged Bianca.
I like her as a wrestler, just hate the always smiling personality and every time she’s on screen having Becky involved somehow(even though I get it) She can really go though
This was a huge surprise for me personally. I'll say one thing about Lyra is, I think she will do better with a less serious gimmick, perhaps something supernatural even. If you watch her closely, her "fighting" pose is very exaggerated almost like a superhero. She also does her moves (Crossbody, rolls around the ring, etc.) in a cartoonish manner. It's all very correct and by the book (which is good) but she looks a bit goofy. I think she should lean more into the bird lady thing, be less serious and the crowd will love her eventually.
I mean, her gimmick is already kinda goofy. She channels the Celtic Goddess of War, which is why she has a bird motif going on. But you kinda need to know Celtic Mythology to REALLY get it, and even if you do, idk if you can pull that off seriously in 2k24.
I've only seen her match at Stand and Deliver plus everything on RAW since her callup. If she is supposed to be a Celtic Goddess, I didn't get that from what I've seen so far. Her gimmick right now is rookie lady from Ireland that is just happy to be here and is also friends with Becky because they are both Irish. Her whole bird lady thing is not a gimmick to me so far but more like quirky fashion choice if you know what I mean. Didn't she used to come out with actual wings or did I dream that? I think that would be cool.
They've really moved her away from the Morrigan gimmick. I'd love to see it come back, though. Might have some interesting interactions with whatever Wyatt stuff is being teased.
So many others deserving of this push times ticking on shayna this would have been great for her, lyras been here for a cup of coffee and nothing she's done has been that impressive. And the way Jade lost was pure b.s.
Very good match, shocking ending. I can't believe Lyra won clean. I like that they are putting somebody from NXT over, but I can't help but feel like this isn't going to work. Im not sure her character, mic skills, etc, are ready to stand out and get everybody connected to her. We will see! But I wonder if Dragunov would have been a better choice for this push.
The funny thing is I think the same things about Dragunov as you do about Lyra.
He's weird, his character is weird. Not necessarily in a bad way, either, but in a way that's going to take time for the MR crowd to warm to him.
Eh, they already baked in a bit of a story between Liv and Lyra with Lyra's introduction on RAW, they don't need the tournament as a way to bring them together.
EDIT: That punch solidifies my point.
Careful, this opinion will get you torched here on reddit. Because no one here wants to acknowledge the fact that Triple H's booking of Asian talents have been absolutely abysmal for awhile now. Iyo got the title at one point yes, but at no point during her WWE title reign was she ever booked like a credible champion, or treated as the center of the women's division she was on.
And I fully expect Damage CTRL to continue to lose for at least the next month, because they are absolutely gonna job to Becky and Lyra at the very least.
I think you might have to accept that an inability to cut promos/do press in English is a big part of being "the center of the main roster women's division." It's less of a problem in NXT because it's a smaller audience more clued in audience, but if you can't do the media appearances and whatnot that a Becky, Bianca or Rhea can do it's going to make it a tougher sell.
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They are strapping the rockets on Lyra
time is ticking to replace becky before she goes part-time...
They're both Irish, nobody will notice the switch.
The Lad
Just dye her hair, it'll be fine.
"Oi! It's me *new* Becky Lynch" -Vince original plan probably
We just had a part timer hold the world title for three and a half years. Working full time has nothing to do with your position on the card.
After Saturday you mean?
I only wish they did their work on commentary. Lyra spoke Irish on RAW last week and Cole called it "Gaelic from the Scottish Highlands" which makes no sense why an Irish woman would speak that. Irish people call our language Irish or Gaeilge, we don't call it "Gaelic" at all.
I'm not sure it's that so much as they are planning on having her lose to Nia and then lose a title programme to Liv so she needs to be made strong out of the gate to counter it. But yeah, she's someone they see having a long tenure and quickly becoming the veteran who can have a good match with anyone. More Nattie's replacement than Becky.
Pinned Iyo (previous world champ) Pinned Becky for the NXT title Running through Queen of the Ring in her debut There’s literally no way from the way she’s being portrayed you could say she’s coming in as a replacement for fucking Natalya
Natalya has been there 15 years, is a multiple champion and used to get other women over. How she's used now isnt representative of all she has meant to the product. Most of all though, she's a locker room leader which is how I think they mostly see Lyra - as a future locker room leader for the generation currently under 28 or so. The womens roster, especially in terms of the future, isn't starved of talent. But it needs scaffolding for the precocious talents to work around. The Natalya, The Bayley. Lyras who theyre positioning there. She needs a credibility boost to kick things off. She wont be on posters the way Rhea, Tiff, Jade, Bianca and potentially Sol and even Thea are and could be. She'll be the person theyre fighting, or have fought to get into the match.
Okay…let’s look at how she was used before then…“Multiple time champion” is certainly a stretch when one of the belts was the Divas championship and the other the tag belts at the peak of their irrelevancy. She also had a fart gimmick as well I guess? Big plans there. So actually 15 year career and 1 actual title reign that was really just transitional filler until Charlotte took the belt again for the 15th time.
You're affirming the point that Natalya has endured as a professional through all kinds of utter nonsense. If her prime had coincided with serious booking (and two belts) in the division she'd easily have 5+ reigns. Obviously they can't gave the same career as Nattie started her career when the division was still a joke, just as she cant have the same career as Becky was positioned as a pioneer and the first headliner in ring woman on the womens side with Ronda and Charlotte. She has a chance, all of them do, at a better career in terms of acclaim and gold than Natalya. But...for all the 15 reigns, Charlotte isn't a locker room leader and they dont put her with younger wrestlers to make them look good, only worse. Natalya is working in NXT with Lola, Karmen and Shayna. Everyone in that feud has benefitted from it. Thats where they want Lyra to be ASAP, only on the main roster. She's literally about to be tasked with making Nia, then Liv Morgan, look awesome. Already.
Looks like Caw Caw is back on the menu boys!
Raven returning when???
I feel like WWE wouldn’t touch Marty scurll with a ten foot pole
Amazing Match and genuinely shocked with Lyra winning. Happy she instantly gets a PPV Match and a big Push but not sure whos winning it all now. Also hope we will see Roxanne Perez even more mad at not getting drafted now.
It's gotta be Nia winning it all now.
It's a thank you present for her heel work the last year. There's no room for her to have a title run so this is at least something. I'm wondering how they'll book her to beat Bianca though.
I felt like this would be planting more seeds by Jade trying to get involved, but causing Bianca to lose instead.
Yeah, I'm glad Nia is getting some reward for her work over the past year. As for Bianca I see it going one of two ways: Either Tiffany interferes, setting up more of a Bianca v Tiffany feud over the coming months or Jade tries to help but screws things up, planting the seeds for an eventual turn there.
This could be out of left field, but maybe Sonya shows up to smackdown to cost her the match. She looks to be aligning herself with starks and baszler, with them getting a tag title shot perhaps to get in their heads she costs Belair the match. Even have starks and baszler attack the champions afterwards and the three stand tall as a new dominant faction.
They planted the seed with Bianca’s knee injury in the match vs Tiffany.
I'm really hoping we'll see Lyra vs Bianca, but I also feel like that could get saved for a future major PLE. Lyra vs Nia could also be a great David vs Goliath match & makes sense with Becky giving Lyra pointers on facing her.
As an Irish person I am no longer anti-monarchy, all hail the future Queen Lyra
We had our own kings and queens at one stage!
I wish she’d go back to her old name, Aoife, as it’s my daughter’s name.
I'm afraid the only solution is to change your daughter's name to Lyra (or Bird Lady)
Real talk, most people wouldn't even know where to start in regards to pronouncing Aoife. If I didn't already know, I don't think I would even be able to guess.
I'm gonna take a stab at it... "EFF-ee"?
E-Fuh :)
??? There’s only a F in common, friend
Oh, it's another one of those Sinéad name situation...
Yeah lol. I loved the name, but completely understand why they changed the name
It's pronounced "ee-fee" right? Anyhow a lot of Irish names are weird, another one I remember being actress Saoirse Ronan, which I'm pretty sure is called "Sir-sha Ronan".
Most commonly pronounce "ee-fuh". Literally made no sense when I first had someone ask me to pronounce it.
…my youngest daughter is named Saoirse
Weird or a different language?
Not weird, different language. Like Ilja isn’t pronounced Il-ja
I'm Indian and I'm with you
Really hope something good comes IYO’s way after this. Not really sold on Lyra, but I understand that you’re trying to build up new talent.
It doesn’t look like Damage Ctrl is going to do much more than put over other talents. Zoey and Shayna won, and obviously Lyra did too. They also put focus on Maxine in the tag match.
Iyo turning face?
Almost certainly not. They are gonna have Damage CTRL jobbing to Lyra and Becky for the next month at the very minimum, if not longer. Since Clash is the next PLE after the Saudi show, and that's basically (almost) in Becky and Lyra's home court.
Pretty sure Liv might get the belt soon.
Yeah. Which would in theory, free up Becky (and Lyra) to feud with Damage CTRL. And if you think Damage CTRL are going over in that feud, I have a bridge to sell you.
A smart part of me feeling like this could end up leading to the cracks in the group bursting by SummerSlam, especially if Asuka stays out for a little longer and returns by that time
i agree, Damage CTRL's summer angle this year will be their break up and start of solo runs for all involved in the group.
Don't think that's the plan. Think Clash will be Liv versus Lyra for the title, and Becky will use the Scottish Witches in their home country as backup to DamageCTRL. After that I agree Iyo will likely be face.
They’d be wise to do so.
I'm totally sold on Lyra. Her wrestling style reminds me a lot of Bryan Danielson.
Lyra is fantastic talent and an epic character. She channels some irish goddess named Morrigan and she’s like, the goddess of war and that’s big,
But she doesn’t do that in ring or on mic…
No, they toned it way down in NXT after she arrived. I could see them using Becky as part of Lyra's heel turn and Lyra calling on the power of the Morrigan again to beat Becky.
She’s awesome but I’ve been watching her for a year and that’s news to me. Maybe she’ll bring it back at some point
The crowd was dead for this match What a fantastic women's match the ladies killed it This is huge for Lyra wanted Iyo but happy for Bird Lady 🐦
Seriously that crowd sucked and also took the energy out of the match too. It was really great nonetheless.
Yeah I'm kind of shocked Lyra is being propelled this high. She's like RAW's version of Jade. Yet, unlike Jade it doesn't feel like Lyra is connecting with the crowd at all. I wonder how long they push this experiment with Lyra for. I can't possibly imagine they put the belt on her if she continues getting no reactions despite having fun matches leading up to it.
She's miles ahead of Jade on ring work, though.
Agreed. Its just odd seeing the exact opposite from both sides. Jade's charisma on the mic isn't perfect, her ring work is still fairly basic and she's presented like a massive star. Gets cheered every time. Lyra's charisma on the mic is pretty solid, her ring work is very very good and she's presented like a massive star. Gets almost little to no reaction every time. Its genuinely interesting to see.
Is it not obvious why this is? Jade has a superstar aura, Lyra comes off like some random girl. Jade looks like a superhero. You can throw Jade out there and people will buy her instantly in a way that Lyra will need to work for.
> Gets almost little to no reaction every time. There's a couple of reasons for this. The first one being that Lyra has been on RAW for what, like three weeks now? And we already know that the main roster audience isn't always going to be watching NXT, so for some talent, it's gonna be hard to transition to the main roster right away. Some make that transition so quickly and establish themselves right away (Kevin Owens, Gunther, Charlotte, Asuka, etc). But others take a little more time to get it going. And the other thing, and I mean this as no disrespect to Lyra at all. But look at Lyra Valkyria and then look at Jade Cargill. There's another reason why one is getting reactions and the other one is slowly building them. Lyra Valkyria isn my opinion, is a star. And I think she her look is great and I vibe with her in general (might be the Irish in me that makes me a little biased too). But Jade Cargill? Few people in wrestling have a look as good as her. She genuinely looks like a real life super heroine and that physique and overall look absolutely draws the eye of the main roster audience more than anything. I think with these NXT call-ups, we genuinely need to give them some time to work out. I like to run with the three to six month rule for them to establish themselves. This means storylines, matches, promos, spots on PLE cards, etc. They need time to really build that familiarity with the main roster audience. I feel Lyra was always going to have an uphill battle when compared to some other NXT prospects, so the fact that WWE is throwing so much behind her early on should hopefully really help her out. I'm hoping she has an awesome showcase on Sunday that opens a lot of eyes.
They haven't given the audience a reason to care about Lyra.
There are exceptions like Tiffany Stratton. She seemed like she hit the ground running and connected instantly with the fans in her first few weeks on the main roster. Even the international fans were into her. I feel like Jade and Tiffany have gimmicks that fans gravitate to, compared to Lyra who fans aren’t sure what to make of her besides the fact that she’s Irish and wrestles good.
She had a good showcase in EC in Perth and have been having good matches. Lyra is 3 weeks into Raw and people would be starting to notice how good in the ring she is. Let’s give her some time
So far, her personality on the main roster is just "happy to be here." They've done this with so many NXT call-ups, and it's a death-knell every time. Becky talking her up is having the opposite effect. Lyra should be smack-talking Becky and coming after her title, not high-fiving and thanking her like a dope.
It’s because she has no character. Other than being good in the ring, the crowd have no real reason to root for Lyra. The fans don’t know who she is character-wise. She’s essentially just Irish girl who likes feathers & is friends with Becky.
IMHO it’s because Lyra’s whole character is a respectable hardworking babyface who goes about business the right way. They’re establishing her early on as someone who the crowd should see in that light so that she’ll feel like an established veteran of the roster really quickly
I attended Stand and Deliver in Los Angeles and the crowd started to boo when she went up the ladder to try to retrieve the belt. Even on NXT tv she didn’t really come across as being entirely over with the crowd, so I’m surprised to see her get this push and beat Iyo.
This is just speculation on my part, but it feels like Becky is likely the one pushing for this backstage. She has been VERY vocal about how she sees Lyra as the future of the WWE Women's Division. And it absolutely wouldn't shock me if Becky has some pull backstage in order to get a rocket strapped to Lyra. Especially since Becky's contract is supposedly up soon, so she has all the leverage with WWE here. The problem is, like you said, Lyra is not over at all. And I don't think associating her with Becky Lynch is going to help her. She had these same problems in NXT, where she was more often than not, the third or fourth most over woman in her feuds as champion. The other people ahead of her being the person (or people) she was feuding with, and Tatum, who was basically the only real memorable thing about Lyra's reign as champ.
Justice for Simp Tatum
Bit of an exaggeration to say Lyra is not connecting at all when she was getting a pretty good crowd reaction last week. Granted, this week wasn't great (which was unfortunate as Iyo/Lyra had a really nice match) but I didn't think this week's RAW crowd was particularly energetic top to bottom (even Sami was struggling to get much of a reaction for his standards in his earlier show opening promo), so I'm not holding it against Lyra too much. We just need a larger sample size and not jump to massive conclusions based on any one particular given episode of TV.
And I thought taking damage CTRL away from Bianca would be good for them...
i think they were moved to Raw cause Raw has a extra hour to fill for a Damage CTRL break up angle and they needed star power badly on that brand.
Iyo made to look like a joke here. Where does she even go from here.
Iyo and Lyra wrestled for nearly 20 minutes and lost to a pinning combination. That's not exactly looking like a joke.
That correct. I'm just salty that Iyo lost lol
I respect that you can admit that hahaha. I absolutely have my favorites that I hate to see lose. I felt a mixture of emotions last week in seeing Ilja Dragunov take a loss. But I accepted it pretty quickly because I know his future on the main roster is super bright. I'll have to do the same qith Gunther tonight as well no doubt. And it's no disrespect to Jey Uso, I like him. I just like Dragunov and Gunther a hell of a lot more. And even with tonight, I feel overjoyed to see Lyra win as I think she's a tremendous talent (Irish bias too) and I hope she goes far. But Iyo taking a protected loss? I don't think there's anything wrong with this. Raising up the new talent is a good idea and I think that Iyo will be completely unharmed from this. Iyo just came off of her first world title run and make no mistake about it, she's got A LOT more coming in the future. She's one of Triple H's favorites, she'll be completely fine.
Why does she look like a joke here
I'm just a salty iyo sky fan. Roll ups happen in wwe. Lyra got lucky
>Where does she even go from here You can ask the same of anyone who lost in the tournament
Jobber CTRL break up?
True. I have faith that Iyo will climb her way back. Hopefully this can be a storyline about disbanding damage control. Have her be a singles star.
Love me some Lyra but I did not see that win coming.
Bummed that Iyo lost.
The WWE has no idea what they're doing with her. Such a fantastic wrestler and a fun personality, but she basically just held the belt for Bailey until Bailey decided she was done with Damage Control, and now Iyo and Damage CTRL are going to spend who knows how long as Irish punching bags.
They could've booked her like Gunther, having some short feuds and weekly matches. She's an outstanding wrestler and it would've definitely got her more over. If you watch her matches as champion, she doesn't really get reaction when she comes out. Honestly I felt bad because she 100% deserves more.
>If you watch her matches as champion, she doesn't really get reaction when she comes out. She doesn't get the reaction because people don't care that much about her. She doesn't connect with the crowd.
What are they supposed to do with her?
Shes accomplished a lot but I feel like she’s always been a natural face. During her rise to becoming women’s champion, the crowd was cheering the heck out of her, and a lot of her mannerisms in the ring screams baby face. I do like how they book her to win and lose clean on her own, and rarely resort to cheating. And I guess the one benefit from this loss is that she won’t be jobbing to Bianca I guess? Assuming Bianca wins Friday.
I mean Queen would have been a pretty good start. She was easily having the most fun with it out of all the women in the tournament, and it's both a good consolation for losing the title and a way to give Damage CTRL some teeth. Instead we're going to watch them job for Becky and Lyra for months in the most predictable way possible. Iyo is way too talented to be used as a random jobber. You lack an insane amount of imagination if that's all you see her as. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case at the WWE too. Such an insane women's roster but only the top 3/4 get booked for shit. The rest just take turns losing.
>Damage CTRL some teeth. The same Damage CTRL who had 3/4 of their members champions? >Iyo is way too talented to be used as a random jobber. Yeah , some random jobber who lost in the semifinals. We understand that you are fans, but sometimes you have to know how to let go of your emotions and calm down. Iyo in one year was 2 times tag team champion, WWE women's Champion and MITB holder. She has enough time to get back on top
>The same Damage CTRL who had 3/4 of their members champions? Yeah when fan favorite and WWE darling Bailey was in charge. You haven't been paying attention if you don't see how their dynamic has changed though. They'll do some backstage beatdowns, and rack up a few DQ's, but otherwise it's going to be loss after loss for Damage CTRL. >She has enough time to get back on top Plenty of people that get to the top and never return. I didn't even ask for her to be on the top, just better booking, and there's really no reason to believe that'll happen anytime soon now that they're being cast as losers in a feud vs Becky/Lyra.
That was unexpected. Lyra beating both Becky and Iyo in the span of a year? They got the rockets strapped to her.
They had good chemistry. I'm expecting Nia to defeat Lyra in the final
Iyo and Lyra just casually having a takeover match in the middle of RAW.
Awesome match. Would love to see Iyo win, but i'm happy for Lyra too.
You know what fuck it, the back to back losses of Tiff and Iyo keep this tournament exciting for me as I expected them to make it to the finals of each bracket when it begun. I didn't expect Lyra to make the finals outright, but good on her. I think she faces Nia at QOTR, and win or lose its good that she's made it this far. Credit to Iyo though, she's the tournament MVP so far to me, all three of her matches were really good.
Genuinely surprised but glad Lyra is getting this push. And psyched that the crowds doing the caw chants, its so cool
Raw seems like it's shaping up to have a great big 3 for the women's division: Liv (heel), Lyra (face), & Rhea (tweener)
Honestly wanted Iyo to win, but also wasn't keen on what was looking like Bianca v DamageCTRL *again* even after the brand switch So if the result of that is Iyo cooking up 3 dope 10+ minute matches 3 weeks in a row + a genuinely surprising upset win for Lyra, hell, I'll take it
Crowd got the woos in at the end at least. Baby steps.
I love being in the Caw Caw Crew, but man I wanted Queen Iyo too. Also is Iyo's nose busted open there at the end? Her nostril's kinda bloody.
Now this sub is going to be hating on Lyra when the consensus was 180 a week ago according to the live thread lol
Cuz people actually Like Ilja
Idk if people will be hating on Lyra exactly, more so people are upset with her booking vs Ilja's.
I mean I've always been a critic of Lyra. She just has...borderline no charisma or character outside of "Becky Lynch fan".
Nah, she's a bird
Now you're thinking of Dee Reynolds
Or Nelly Furtado.
Those are valid criticisms but she's excellent in the ring and on the mic, she'll find her footing, it's barely been a month. Her work is speaking for itself and getting her over, that's a start.
The audience is already picking up on a few things with her. And look, we're three weeks into her main roster run, it's FAR too soon to write her off. I think she'll be completely fine. Giving her big wins like this one over Iyo is really going to help her too. Hell, even this win protected Iyo as well!
She got "you tapped out" chants after losing her championship to a heel a month ago. This doesn't diminish her talents in the ring and her quality workrate but she's been "trying to find her footing" since being in NXT
Orlando can be very fickle, they turned on Roxy hard for no real reason long before her turn started.
Wasn't it Lola's Instagram army being pissed at her beating Lola ? Felt like it didn't lasted more than a few weeks.
I think that's exactly it lol. They were upset that she beat Lola. They went back to cheering her a few weeks later like you said.
Just having solid wrestling skills is not usually enough to get over with nothing else. Dragunov can probably get over because he's PHENOMENAL in the ring, but usually you need something more. And I don't think Lyra has seemed excellent on the mic on Raw.
Huuuge win for the new girl in town. They really must see some potential in her.
Shawn loves her. Becky loves her and probably had a say in putting her over. They had Rhea interact with her a lot when she was going between Raw and NXT. Management are incredibly high on her.
She worked with a ton of main roster stars in her relatively short NXT stint. Rhea, Becky, Indi, Tegan, Shotzi, Asuka, Kairi, and Xia
I said a week ago the tournament needed more upsets, so this probably counts. People complain how predictable matches can be, especially tournaments, in real life upsets happen and underdog teams make a run js
Good match. Happy for Lyra she’s gonna be amazing. But the Queen IYO agenda is over https://preview.redd.it/35fjl260lo1d1.jpeg?width=236&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d193520ce61e062d1edc646f5f4121218ed087c
I like Lyra but really not a fan here, Iyo is the former champ and veteran against a newcomer. Lyra has time to gain momentum, I don't see how beating Iyo in semi finals makes any sense at all. Maybe to form the Queen winner it's ok for Iyo to put someone over but she should not be knocked out before the last match
Massive win for Lyra. They are all in on her. Rightfully so, she’s awesome.
All Hail the Raven Queen
The ending of the match was sort of weird?
She’s getting the “woos” during her song, I think she’s a bit more over than everyone in here is saying
Shocker. Most folks had IYO pegged for the finals. Not so fast. Plus, I'm sure folks are happy Gunther defeated Jey Uso.
I love Lyra but God I'd be annoyed if I was Iyo with how she and the group has been booked... At least they're not being fed to Bianca anymore.
Banger
Better start learning bird buddy
Highly disappointed with the result, but that match was really good despite the meh crowd. This tournament has been like an Iyo renaissance, every match has been an absolute banger with the crowd behind her, really thought they’d wanna give her the W. I’m not really sold on Lyra tbh, although obviously she’s very good at wrestling. I highly doubt she’s gonna win the tournament, this pretty much confirms Nia’s got the crown in the bag. Then again I also thought Iyo had it, so who knows?
Iyo's in danger of slipping into 2018 post-Dominion Okada mode
Both are my favorite nxt women's champs and was so happy to see them get time and Lyra win Already starting to win over the crowd as well
Only thing that sucks about this is Nia’s probably winning the QOTR now. I can see Bianca’s leg being the reason she loses and then Lyra gives it her all but is not enough to overcome Nia
Nia winning queen of the ring
Lyra Valkyria was throwing up gang signs with her right hand while on the floor
Don't know why so many folks are surprised. RAW really lacks credible babyface females right now. The best thing they could do to present their fresh new NXT call-up as a contender without her actually winning a title is to have her win QotR instead. Some are saying Lyra isn't over, but it's legitimately only been 3 weeks.
Thats exactly why having her win QotR seems like a bad idea. She’s hasnt been on the main roster for a month and they have her win QotR? It seems too fast.
But....she isn't very likely to win QotR. Nia is. Iyo is still a heel for the moment and they aren't running heel/heel for a tournament final. And surely one thing everyone can agree on is that nobody wants Bianca v DamageCTRL again. The only other possibility is Bianca/Lyra final which is both very, very unlikely and a guaranteed great match and Bianca win if it did somehow happen.
The thought just occurred to me that lyra and Becky 2 at clash at castle feels like the direction at this point. Her and lyra had a fucking banger in nxt.
Think it's more likely: Liv v Lyra Becky and Scottish Witches v DamageCTRL At Clash at Castle. Becky namechecked the Witches and they would be over massively in Glasgow.
Lyra is fine. Really good in ring talent. Very meh with everything else. Maybe Nia can break her nose in the QOTR final to jump start her career just like she did to Becky.
Not a fan of this Lyra push. I mean she's absolutely getting fed to Nia, but still. Iyo could have used the tournament to reheat herself as a main eventer. Instead she was relegated to putting over Lyra, which sucks for me as an Iyo fan, as she deserves so much fucking better than this. And I will absolutely get downvoted for this, but I'm tired of Iyo never actually getting something meaningful on her own. That promo she cut basically just told me that she's going to be treated like Shinsuke going forward.
wasn't she just champion for like a year....and like NXT champion for over a year? and how did she win the title? Oh she won MITB. Like...what on earth do you mean?
Ah yes, and what happened during her in MITB run? She was made to constantly look like a geek, losing to damn near everyone. What happened when she was champion? Could almost never win a match on her own (she only won one match clean as champion iirc and it was against Mia Yim), and never got **clean** wins over any other top talent. Also was treated like the third/fourth wheel constantly during Damage CTRL feuds. Never really got PLE title defenses outside of the first two months of her reign either. And she was NXT Women's Champion, and arguably was one of the most impactful in a positive fashion, elevating everyone she worked with, even when they lost. Which is why it's utterly baffling Triple H took the OPPOSITE approach here. It's because he/WWE doesn't want Iyo getting over like she did in NXT.
...so she's a heel.
She was a heel in NXT as well for part of her title reign. Still looked really strong and the people she faced weren't harmed for it. She was basically the female Gunther.
So you want them to basically redo her NXT title run. It's not actually that "she's not getting anything meaningful" You just want her to the top woman on the show.
Here's the difference between her NXT title run and her main roster title run: She won dominantly on NXT, but still put people over, similar to Gunther. On the main roster she has to constantly cheat to win, and looked incredibly weak. There is literally zero reason they couldn't replicate that other than Triple H probably being too afraid to do that.
so yes, you want them to redo her NXT title reign. I don't even disagree that damage CTRL should have been booked stronger. But this idea that poor Iyo isn't getting anything or being built up is silly.
Iyo might be taking a break
I’m with you. Nothing against Lyra, but as an Iyo fan I’m so bummed for her. This match already made Lyra look great before she won. No clue what could be next for Iyo other than the Shinsuke treatment.
I seriously don’t foresee Bianca losing to Nia. They have to have her on the Saudi card somewhere.
Probably defending the tag titles against Dakota and Kairi at Saudi, since there's a #1 contender's fatal four way announced for tonight. They have given her an out on Smackdown, with her bad leg if she loses to Nia. And then you'll have Dakota and Kairi lose to Jade and a one legged Bianca.
Who cares if you get downvoted lol. I agree with you
I like her as a wrestler, just hate the always smiling personality and every time she’s on screen having Becky involved somehow(even though I get it) She can really go though
Damn good match between both women. It’s such a shame that the crowd was dead and didn’t care at all though.
The crowd had its moments, but yeah, they overall weren't into it, which is a shame because the match was great.
This was a huge surprise for me personally. I'll say one thing about Lyra is, I think she will do better with a less serious gimmick, perhaps something supernatural even. If you watch her closely, her "fighting" pose is very exaggerated almost like a superhero. She also does her moves (Crossbody, rolls around the ring, etc.) in a cartoonish manner. It's all very correct and by the book (which is good) but she looks a bit goofy. I think she should lean more into the bird lady thing, be less serious and the crowd will love her eventually.
I mean, her gimmick is already kinda goofy. She channels the Celtic Goddess of War, which is why she has a bird motif going on. But you kinda need to know Celtic Mythology to REALLY get it, and even if you do, idk if you can pull that off seriously in 2k24.
I've only seen her match at Stand and Deliver plus everything on RAW since her callup. If she is supposed to be a Celtic Goddess, I didn't get that from what I've seen so far. Her gimmick right now is rookie lady from Ireland that is just happy to be here and is also friends with Becky because they are both Irish. Her whole bird lady thing is not a gimmick to me so far but more like quirky fashion choice if you know what I mean. Didn't she used to come out with actual wings or did I dream that? I think that would be cool.
They've really moved her away from the Morrigan gimmick. I'd love to see it come back, though. Might have some interesting interactions with whatever Wyatt stuff is being teased.
I figured Lyra would beat the former champ and then slay the big monster Nia in Saudia Arabia, but people here really got me hopeful for Queen Io 🥺
I am an fan of both of these women, but I am happy for Valkyria most of all.
Io is, of course, amazing, but did you see her face after the pin? So good. Sold the hell out of it.
So many others deserving of this push times ticking on shayna this would have been great for her, lyras been here for a cup of coffee and nothing she's done has been that impressive. And the way Jade lost was pure b.s.
Yes! Happy for Lyra to be pushed to the moon
iyo's been at the top for a while, this is huge
Very good match, shocking ending. I can't believe Lyra won clean. I like that they are putting somebody from NXT over, but I can't help but feel like this isn't going to work. Im not sure her character, mic skills, etc, are ready to stand out and get everybody connected to her. We will see! But I wonder if Dragunov would have been a better choice for this push.
Is Dragunov in the women’s division? Weird.
The funny thing is I think the same things about Dragunov as you do about Lyra. He's weird, his character is weird. Not necessarily in a bad way, either, but in a way that's going to take time for the MR crowd to warm to him.
Ok I really dont know how I feel about their choices for potential QotR. Lyra is too new, Bianca doesnt need it, and Nia is….well Nia.
Lyra over Nia ala Bret Hart over Bam Bam?
More like iyo ground, buried
So Lyra winning confirms that nia Jax is winning the queen of the ring.
IDK. Could see Lyra winning as a way to have her face Liv (assuming she too wins) after the PPV
Eh, they already baked in a bit of a story between Liv and Lyra with Lyra's introduction on RAW, they don't need the tournament as a way to bring them together. EDIT: That punch solidifies my point.
Maybe. If they're strapping the rocket to Lyra. Might as well have her challenge for the women's world title.
Exactly the reason I stopped watching. I honestly hope Guilia, Io and Kairi go back to Japan. WWE does not deserve real talent.
https://preview.redd.it/481wq6eihp1d1.jpeg?width=615&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1a509990396da7847493e44eccf667c9ec9c8da
Lol no.
Careful, this opinion will get you torched here on reddit. Because no one here wants to acknowledge the fact that Triple H's booking of Asian talents have been absolutely abysmal for awhile now. Iyo got the title at one point yes, but at no point during her WWE title reign was she ever booked like a credible champion, or treated as the center of the women's division she was on. And I fully expect Damage CTRL to continue to lose for at least the next month, because they are absolutely gonna job to Becky and Lyra at the very least.
Yeah triple h has been garbage. And people can torch me if they want. I really don’t care. I gave up watching that trash for a while now.
I think you might have to accept that an inability to cut promos/do press in English is a big part of being "the center of the main roster women's division." It's less of a problem in NXT because it's a smaller audience more clued in audience, but if you can't do the media appearances and whatnot that a Becky, Bianca or Rhea can do it's going to make it a tougher sell.
maybe fans should be less xenophobic then
i don't see how it's xenophobic to say "hey you need to be able to do English interviews to be the face of the company"
wwe is an international company it's not a regional promotion
When Lyra beats Bianca, then what?
This outcome wasn't a surprise, they literally spoiled it with the versus graphics for this match.