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Night of Champions 2023 quickly became a night filled with surprises, and in terms of the women's division, each of the three matches had some surprise or the other. Zoey Stark aligned with Trish Stratus, Asuka ended the nearly 14-month-long reign of Bianca Belair, and Rhea Ripley squashed Natalya.
Rhea Ripley beating Natalya at Night of Champions 2023 was a foregone conclusion, especially since WWE has been going all out in pushing Ripley as the most important member of The Judgment Day. But the way it happened left many surprised.
Rhea Ripley squashed Natalya in a whopping 69 seconds. That's right, it took exactly one minute and nine seconds for Ripley to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship.
The 41-year-old Natalya was never expected to win the match, but how it happened and played out was bizarre. Dominik Mysterio did his best to distract Ripley's opponent as always, but in this case, his distraction seemed to be merely existing.
The manner in which it happened allowed Ripley to hit Natalya with an attack from behind, after which she took her out of the ring and attacked her more. She got her back inside the ring, hit the riptide, and that was all there was to it.
This was an interesting way to go about it. But one could argue that there was no need for this match at all at Night of Champions 2023.
