Three months after her bitter retirement, former Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley is back in WWE – where does the love triangle with Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan go from here?
“Mommy” is back – and bringing a new dynamic to one of WWE’s biggest storylines.
Three months after her bitter shoulder injury ended her year-long reign as Women’s Champion shortly after WrestleMania, Rhea Ripley has made her comeback on the Monday Night RAW TV show.
Just ahead of the summer highlight SummerSlam, the narrative surrounding the flirtation between Ripley’s scripted boyfriend Dominik Mysterio and Ripley’s rival Liv Morgan comes to a head – as does the impending break-up of the Judgment Day group.
Rhea Ripley back – what about Dominik and Liv?
Ripley showed up after the main event of the show, where Dominik teamed with Morgan’s father to defeat Rey Mysterio and Zelina Vega – and gave Dominik the stink eye while Liv left.
Morgan, who won the World Women’s Title in Ripley’s absence, which the Australian had to relinquish, has seductively ensnared “Dirty Dom” in recent months – presumably with the intention of driving a wedge between Ripley and Judgment Day and thus weakening her.
It remains unclear whether Dominik is just a pawn in this affair or is in cahoots with her himself. So far, he has acted as if Morgan’s flirting attempts are not right for him – although he has always sought to get close to her. On RAW, it went so far that Morgan pulled Dominik to the floor at the end of their match and tried to kiss him deeply – just before it could have become clear whether Dominik would give in to his advances, Ripley’s music played.
A title match between Morgan and Ripley (newly married in real life to fellow wrestler Buddy Matthews) at SummerSlam on August 3 at Cleveland’s NFL Stadium now seems obvious. Meanwhile, Ripley and Mysterio’s Judgment Day teammate Damian Priest defends his World Title against Seth Rollins
CM Punk wants duel with “suspended” McIntyre
Another SummerSlam clash that WWE seems to be heading towards is a match between the presumably fit-again CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, who Punk screwed up his cash-in at Money in the Bank over the weekend.
In an aftermath filmed for social media, an enraged McIntyre attacked RAW GM Adam Pearce and was suspended indefinitely. At the start of RAW, Punk called on Pearce to lift the suspension to get his hands on McIntyre – now a “talk” between Pearce and McIntyre is scheduled for next week.
For the time after the feud with McIntyre, Punk’s next feud with Seth Rollins, who also cost Punk his World Title opportunity against Priest on Saturday – a verbal exchange between the two followed on RAW.