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A major championship bout will be taking place at some point following this week's episode of WWE RAW. The bout is an unexpected one, with not many predicting that the match would happen.
Bianca Belair will be defending her coveted RAW Women's Championship at an unannounced event in the future. To determine her challenger, WWE booked a Triple Threat Match between three of the most underrated female superstars in the company.
IYO SKY battled Piper Niven and Mia Yim, with all three hoping to earn a major title opportunity. The bout was a good one, with each woman looking strong, but in the end, it was the Damage CTRL member who walked away with the victory.
The Genius Of The Sky winning the bout surprised many fans. Some were curious about the decision-making. This article will dive into a handful of possible reasons why the extremely talented IYO won and will go on to challenge Belair in the near future.
Below are five reasons why IYO SKY became the number one contender for the WWE RAW Women's Championship.
#5. WWE RAW dealt with serious travel issues
WWE RAW was a great show that most fans seemingly loved. The positive reception to the red brand was in stark contrast to last week, where the show was widely panned.
While last week's show was allegedly chaotic thanks to Vince McMahon appearing, this week's show had behind-the-scenes chaos as well. The show apparently had major rewrites due to travel woes preventing much of the roster from appearing.
While Sami Zayn & Matt Riddle still appeared on WWE RAW in the final few minutes of the show, many stars did not. There's a chance that somebody else was slotted to win the number one contenders match, but since they couldn't make the show, IYO was given the victory instead.
#4. This could be a test for IYO SKY on the main roster
IYO SKY joined WWE's main roster at SummerSlam last year. There had been speculation that The Genius Of The Sky was returning home to Japan in the months prior to her debut, potentially unsatisfied in NXT.
Thankfully, IYO ended up joining RAW and has since become a multi-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion. While she's had a few standout matches on her own, the bulk of her main roster run has been limited to tag team and six-woman tag team matches.
SKY defeating Piper Niven and Mia Yim could have been a test by management to see how the talented star can do on her own on the main roster. If it was a test, she likely passed with flying colors.
#3. The upcoming bout could be taking place just to give Bianca Belair a win
Bianca Belair is the WWE RAW Women's Champion. She first won the title over a year ago at WrestleMania 38 when she defeated Becky Lynch for the belt. Belair is yet to lose the title in the year since.
Over the past 12 or so months, she has put away numerous top stars, including Lynch, Asuka, Sonya Deville, Bayley, Alexa Bliss and Carmlla in championship bouts. With such a long reign, Belair may eventually run out of opponents to defeat.
IYO SKY may have won the Triple Threat Match on WWE RAW and earned a title opportunity just for the sake of giving Bianca another person to beat. IYO and Bianca will likely have a great match, but SKY is unlikely to win the title.
#2. IYO vs. Bianca could be the start of SKY's push
The odds are certainly against IYO SKY defeating Bianca Belair. There's a chance, however, that WWE could surprise the audience. What fans expect to be a relatively obvious win for Bianca could go in a different direction.
There's a chance that The Genius Of The Sky won the RAW bout and will challenge Belair to kickstart a major push. In fact, IYO could even win the RAW Women's Championship and end The EST's impressive reign.
IYO SKY was a top star on NXT while Triple H ran the brand. He oversaw her becoming the NXT Women's Champion. There's reason to believe that she could receive a similar push under his watchful eye on the main roster.
#1. The bout could be made to set up the end of Damage CTRL
Could Damage CTRL be coming to an end? Fans and insiders alike have been speculating for weeks, if not months, that the extremely talented stable could be set to break up sooner rather than later. While there was little to no indication of such a thing happening despite speculation in the past, it may actually happen now.
Bayley, IYO SKY, & Dakota Kai had an interesting interaction backstage on WWE RAW. Bayley was initially set to be in the Women's Triple Threat Match for a title opportunity, but Kai & SKY pointed out that The Role Model had opportunities and failed. They believed one of them deserved the chance.
The Role Model reluctantly agreed, which led to IYO getting the spot in the bout. With some tension teased within the group, SKY could have won the bout just to add to the story of Damage CTRL and what appears to be their impending breakup.
