We’re two days into Women’s History month and the “SmackDown” locker room is in shambles online, and Liv Morgan is cutting racist promos. Add in Rhea Ripley being brought out while clearly upset about what’s been transpiring online, RHIYO breaking up, and a weird segment with brand new Women’s IC Champion, AJ Lee, and it was not a great night for the women’s roster.
In a pre-taped promo (which was smart because the crowd would’ve not reacted well), Morgan agreed that she’s privileged before saying she was sorry Stephanie Vaquer “grew up in a mud hut and trained in flea-infested rings for 10 years.” What are we doing here? This promo was followed by a match featuring two fake luchadors with two more fake luchadors ringside, by the way.
If you’ve been on social media the last 48 hours, you’ve likely seen the exchanges between Ripley and Jade Cargill. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven got involved. In a now-deleted post, Ripley stated “not having fun. Not friends. Learn to work and never lie to defame someone’s real human character by breaking the fourth wall.” WWE trotted Ripley out, along with IYO SKY. When asked about the last 48 hours, Ripley clearly looked upset. Then, RHIYO split as SKY told Ripley she’d be fine by herself on “Raw” and to go win the Women’s Championship.
Roman Reigns, of all people, seemed to reference the online drama in his promo with CM Punk. He asked Punk if his tweet hurt his feelings and told him he was too thin-skinned for a champion. Reigns and Punk were saying similar things that Cargill got in trouble for online. It was unnecessary, especially with Ripley backstage. (The whole promo sucked, but I digress.)
What should have been a positive with a promo from Lee turned out to be an awkward segment. It started off okay with the champion admitting she didn’t know if she still had it, but the fans’ belief reminded her that she did. She is now focused on WrestleMania and issued an open challenge. Instead of anyone coming out, she left, and OG El Grand Americano made his way to the ring. We briefly saw former IC Champion, Lyra Valkyria, hype up Bayley to answer the challenge (why isn’t she challenging for the title she held?). They went to Pearce’s office, only to find SKY leaving.
On a very weird episode of “Raw”, they managed to be extra weird with the women. Unfortunately, having Morgan say and do questionable things isn’t new, and neither is having wrestlers say petty things in relation to other Superstars (especially when those Superstars are women). Everything I talked about here is completely on brand for WWE. I mean, they’re bringing back Brock Lesnar on a weekly basis through WrestleMania (and he’s named 44 times in a former employee’s lawsuit) after said employee spoke publicly about what’s happened to her since filing said lawsuit. But hey, at least Corporate Officer #3 – I mean, a woman – is getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year.
Written by Samantha Schipman