Reviewing the Conclusion of the Women's Intercontinental Championship Tournament

Nearly one month to the day after WWE crowned their first-ever Women's United States Champion, we saw history made on Raw regarding the Women's Intercontinental Championship. Similar to SmackDown's new title, the road to this historic moment saw a dozen women vying to be the one who made history. The Quarterfinals were all Triple Threat Matches that took place for four straight Raws in December. The Semifinals took place on the final Raw in 2024, setting up a Final between two immensely over and popular women: Dakota Kai and Lyra Valkyria.

A lot of fans, myself included, expected the Final to take place a week earlier--the heavily hyped and anticipated Raw debut on Netflix. I was disappointed that it didn't happen, as I felt that it would have been a great way to promote the new title, similar to how the Women's U.S. Championship Final took place at Saturday Night's Main Event. However, I was hit with a dose of reality regarding this development: too many things would have overshadowed Dakota, Lyra, and that title, and that's a very harsh truth.

Instead, we received the Final a week later on January 13, 2025, and the bout took place in the second half of an episode that was two and a half hours long. Prior to the opening bell, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce was in the ring holding the title, and ring announcer Alicia Taylor made the intros before the bout began. This was back and forth, with Lyra in control for the most part, though Dakota fought back, delivered her finisher, but Lyra rolled out of the ring. Lyra did get back in it, finished off Dakota, and we had history in San Jose, California!

So there we have it: Lyra Valkyria is WWE's first-ever Women's Intercontinental Champion. I originally was pulling for Zelina Vega to be the first, but I am happy with Lyra getting that nod, and I would have been happy with Dakota as well. This is an amazing feather in Lyra's cap, and no, that is not a pun because she wears feathers as part of her gear. It's not surprising that Lyra got this nod, we fans still remember the amazing rub she received from her fellow countrywoman, Becky Lynch, who Lyra actually defeated to capture the NXT Women's Championship.

What made this stand out so much was that while the Women's U.S. Championship Final was a good vs evil affair between Michin and Chelsea Green, this match had two popular babyfaces going at it. We saw Dakota give the show of respect to Lyra afterwards, but one has to believe that she'll be in the picture again soon enough.

So after all of this, we now have a Women's World Champion, a WWE Women's Champion, a Women's United States Champion, a Women's Intercontinental Champion, and Women's Tag Team Champions. We also have an NXT Women's Champion and an NXT Women's North American Champion as well. So that's seven championships for WWE's women, and five of them on the main roster. I am always ambitious when it comes to women's wrestling, and this is definitely giving me ideas. For now, I'm saving this for another story, because it's definitely warranted.

The addition of the midcard titles in WWE's Women's Division are, so far, doing what they were designed to do: build up the women who would not be in the main title picture. Chelsea Green and Lyra Valkyria are the first champions. Time will tell how each of their reigns progress, but for now, let's drink in this epic bit of women's wrestling history, shall we?