7 months ago
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This past Monday on "WWE Raw," Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley were involved in an impassioned promo segment ahead of their upcoming bout at WWE WrestleMania 40. The two performers stood out in a packed episode, and the segment is now receiving praise from around the industry. Speaking on a recent "83 Weeks," former WWE executive Eric Bischoff offered his thoughts on the build.
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"I liked the Becky Lynch-Rhea [segment] a lot," Bischoff said. "It was a perfect study in the art of keeping people away. ... What we see so often is some kind of physicality. No, there was physicality, but the physicality was in the form of [those] two trying to get to each other. ... They were able to make [the] audience just want to see that match without giving them too much."
Bischoff said one extremely common mistake in wrestling is when performers and producers give away too much of the action ahead of a big match. Monday's segment was able to avoid that trap, and Bischoff feels that will lead to a better resolution to the story at WrestleMania.
The bout between Lynch and Ripley was set up when Lynch won the Women's Elimination Chamber match last month. With 2024 Women's Royal Rumble winner Bayley going after her former Damage CTRL partner IYO SKY and the WWE Women's Championship, that left Lynch to pursue Ripley and the Women's World Championship.
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Lynch and Ripley have shared the ring in a singles match once before — a draw on an episode of "WWE NXT" in 2019, shortly after the show first went live on the USA Network. Fast forward five years and Ripley has joined Lynch as one of the top competitors in the company. As of now, it has yet to be announced on which night their WrestleMania title match will take place.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "83 Weeks" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
