#287: Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch, WWE WrestleMania XL, Night 1 (4/6/2024).
This is for Rhea’s WWE Women’s World Championship.
This is a match that had been building slowly for nearly a year, thanks to some tense face offs between the two, but very little physical interaction. Rhea has been Women’s World Champ since WrestleMania 39, when she won the Smackdown Women’s Title from Charlotte Flair in a great match. Becky won the Elimination Chamber Match to earn this shot, and is looking to take her place back atop the Women’s division in WWE, but in order to do so, she must dethrone arguably the biggest female star in the company.
Becky gets a nice entrance, where quotes from her autobiography were read throughout the stadium. By the way, her book is fucking incredible. Go read it! Her ring gear also features pages from her book as well, which is a really nice touch.
Rhea is sung to the ring by Motionless in White, who are the artists behind her absolute bop of a theme song.
Also, how lucky am I to get to see a match where Pat McAfee AND Corey Graves are on commentary? Thank God for Michael Cole, or otherwise I’d listen to this match on fucking mute.
The bell sounds, and the crowd pops immediately. They circle one another, and quickly lock up. Rhea shoves Becky into the turnbuckle, and taunts her. Becky quickly slaps her in the face. Rhea responds with one of her own. She sends Becky into the ring post from the apron. Becky responds with a shotgun dropkick that sends Rhea to the floor. She goes for a baseball slide, and Rhea catches her. Becky is able to dive off the apron with a forearm to the head.
Back in the ring, Becky avoids some strikes from Rhea, but can’t avoid getting flapjacked into the mat. Rhea with a nice suplex gets her a two count. She drives her shoulders into Becky’s midsection in the corner. She lifts Becky up for a suplex, and Becky counters into a small package attempt. Rhea maintains her grip and connects with the suplex for a 2 count. Rhea fires back with a dropkick, and wipes the dirt off her shoulder.
She goes to the top rope, and teases some Eddie Guerrero style frog splashes, but Becky is able to grab her and give her an arm drag to the mat. They engage in fisticuffs for a moment, until Rhea drills Becky in the face with her knee. Becky with a springboard tornado DDT gets her a nearfall. Becky looks for the Exploder Suplex, but Rhea blocks it. Becky gets Rhea on the second rope on the apron, and lands a leg drop to her back. On the floor, Becky hits the Exploder Suplex into the barricade.
Back in the ring, another leg drop connects to the back of the head, and it only gets Becky a nearfall. She goes for the DisArmHer, and Rhea is able to fight it off. She lifts Becky up, and drops her right on her chest, and follows up with a big knee to the jaw. She covers, and Becky is able to kick out. Rhea looks for the Riptide, but Becky counters it into an arm bar! Becky transitions to a triangle choke, and Rhea rolls through it and gives her three powerbombs. She covers, and another nearfall!
Becky tries to stay on the offensive against the arm, and Rhea just kicks her with no regard! Rhea unloads with several battering shots to the body, and some kicks. Back to their feet, they start slapping each other, until Rhea runs her bad shoulder into the ring post. Becky takes advantage and locks in the DisArmHer for a moment in the ropes. Becky hits another leg drop from the top rope, but Rhea locks in the Standing Cloverleaf, which I now know is called the Prism Trap. That would’ve been good to know last week!
Rhea applies the body scissors to Becky in the middle of the ring to prevent her from getting to the ropes. Becky turns it into a roll up for 2. Rhea with a kick to the face, and she tries for Riptide again, but Becky counters into the Man Handle Slam! She makes the cover, and Rhea kicks out. Becky tries for the DisArmHer, but Rhea is able to avoid it, and she finally hits the Riptide. Somehow, Becky is able to kick out anyway!
Rhea goes to the top rope for something, and Becky is here to force her to lose her balance. A couple of shots land, and Becky joins her up on top. She lands a nice suplex, and she smoothly rolls into the DisArmHer! Rhea uses her power to lift Becky up in an electric chair position, and they both go to the floor over the top rope in the same position! Rhea drops her on her back, and brings her back into the ring. Frog splash from the top rope connects, and Becky is able to get her shoulders up!
They fight on the apron for a moment, and now Becky looks for the Man Handle Slam off the top rope! Rhea escapes, and decks her with a right hand. She lands the Riptide into the turnbuckle, and then hits it proper in the middle of the ring! That’s enough for the 3 to retain the Women’s World Championship. Man, I don’t know why the crowd seemed dead for a lot of that one. That ruled! I feel like it got just the right amount of time to tell a good story and not overstay its welcome.
Nice back and forth sequences between both ladies, and it was a nice dichotomy of Becky working on the arm, and Rhea just trying to overwhelm Becky with all her strength. It really picked up as the match went on, and the Riptide into the turnbuckle was a nice way of putting over Becky as a legitimate threat to the championship. This had great aura around it, and it delivered big time. My only negatives are the crowd, and commentary. While Michael Cole sounds genuinely like a sports broadcaster, the other two sound like they’re reading from a list of bullet points. That’s a common issue I have with any modern WWE I see.
Great match, though!