Stark Raving Vicious

WWE is coming off a massively epic Saturday Night's Main Event program that really showed out, with the show seeing the official crowning of the first-ever Women's United States Champion. At the event, Chelsea Green won the Finals of that title's tournament; outlasting 11 other immensely talented superstars to earn that distinguished honor. With that quest finished, the focus now shifts to Raw's Women's Intercontinental Championship, as that tournament has Dakota Kai and Lyra Valkyria in the Semifinals awaiting their opponents.

This week's Raw featured the third Quarterfinal match, pitting Raquel Rodriguez, Zoey Stark, and Kayden Carter against each other. Kayden Carter is known for her longtime partnership with Katana Chance, who competed in the tournament's first match two weeks prior, with the duo holding tag titles on NXT and the main roster. Zoey Stark's had a very amazing run and is currently part of the Pure Fusion Collective with Shayna Baszler (who was also in the tournament's first match two weeks earlier) and Sonya Deville, and then there's Raquel Rodriguez, who has since joined The Judgment Day and served as the evil henchwoman of Women's World Champion Liv Morgan.

Raquel had her hands full as she was with Liv and Dominik Mysterio, as Liv's title run has surpassed 200 days and she was boasting about her win over Iyo Sky on Saturday Night's Main Event. She would be interrupted by longtime foe Rhea Ripley, who reminded Liv that she is now the #1 Contender for that very title, and they will face off at some point. If I had to guess, the premiere of what I call, "Raw Is Netflix," on the first Monday of 2025.

So after Raquel deals with that, she gets down to business. I figured it would be between Raquel and Zoey, and I actually thought Raquel would win this one and advance--mainly to further push her current role. That bad knee was bothering her, and it showed, but she did managed to dominate--until Zoey resurfaced and took over for good. She took Raquel out of the equation, and then delivers her finishing touch to Kayden to win and advance.

Zoey's had an interesting run on the main roster. When she was called up, her first role was a big one: serving as Trish Stratus' heavy in her feud with Becky Lynch. Then, in an even bigger moment, Zoey turns on the Hall of Famer, goes on her own, and forms a partnership with Shayna Baszler, which becomes an alliance with Sonya Deville. I was a bit surprised that Zoey advanced, because I didn't think they'd have her advance over Shayna, but yet here she is, on her way to the Semifinals to face off against Dakota Kai.

However, much later on, we see an attack orchestrated by PFC, and it looks like the victim is none other than Kairi Sane. This is very interesting, as next week, Sane will be part of the fourth and last Quarterfinal match against Alba Fyre and Natalya. That match's placement in the schedule was actually announced last week during an exclusive segment, which saw Alba Fyre interrupt Lyra Valkyria's post-match interview. The winner of the last remaining Quarterfinal will go on to face off against Valkyria in the Semifinals.

So yes, we should see the Semifinals of the tournament on the final Raw of 2024, and again, the Finals should take place on "Raw Is Netflix." That's going to make for an interesting night for WWE's Women's Division, especially if I'm right and we get Liv vs Rhea scheduled for that night as well. I am very excited to see who will have the honor of being crowned the first Women's Intercontinental Champion, and once that honor is bestowed, I see some very interesting developments on the horizon.