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WWE crowns three new champions in its new era. Mercedes Mone defeats Mina Shirakawa in a title-for title match at Wrestle Dynasty. Ella Envy chats with WrestleZone, and more!
Tiffany Stratton & Rhea Ripley Claim Gold On WWE’s Main Roster
With a new year, comes three new champions in the WWE women’s division.
WWE kicked off 2025 with the January 3 episode of SmackDown, which emanated from Phoenix, Arizona. On it, Michin defeated Piper Niven in singles competition. Elsewhere, Nia Jax successfully defended her WWE Women’s Championship, thanks to some help from Candice LeRae and Money in the Bank holder Tiffany Stratton.
Unfortunately for Jax, her post-match celebration didn’t last too long, though, as Stratton struck her with her Money in the Bank briefcase and a nearby Bianca Belair laid her out with a KOD. Ever the opportunist, Stratton then tossed Belair out of the ring and called for her official cash-in. Moments later, Stratton stood tall as the new WWE Women’s Champion, courtesy of the Prettiest Moonsault Ever.
Stratton isn’t the only main roster star carrying new gold. Three days later on Raw, WWE kicked off its new era on Netflix with a Women’s World Championship match between Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley. Per usual, Dominik Mysterio and Raquel Rodriguez attempted to interfere at the expense of Ripley. Ripley, however, stayed resilient.
In the closing moments, Morgan looked for an Oblivion against the ropes, which Ripley blocked. After the two briefly stared off, Ripley then laid out the Judgment Day member with a slam, and finally, a pair of Riptides for the victory. With this, Ripley officially began her second reign as WWE Women’s World Champion. Meanwhile, Morgan’s first reign came to an end at 226 days.
Rhea Ripley earns vindication
Following her title win, Ripley spoke with the media at the post-Raw press conference, noting her satisfaction in finally avenging all the damage that Morgan caused her.
“It felt like everything that I’ve been working for over the past year, after getting injured, has finally come back around,” Ripley said. “Liv Morgan tried to take everything from me. I understand the shoulder thing. People think I don’t understand it—one for one, arm for arm. But the thing is, Liv took much more than just my shoulder and much more than three months of my career.
“She made me vacate. She took my family. Dom. She also broke my face and targeted my knee. She’s done many, many things. So, finally pinning her in a championship match and getting my baby back meant absolutely everything to me.”
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Giulia Dethrones Roxanne Perez
Following the likes of Tiffany Stratton and Rhea Ripley, Giulia defeated Roxanne Perez to claim the NXT Women’s Championship on the special New Years Evil edition of WWE NXT.
The former STARDOM star initially challenged Perez for the respective title back in October. Interference from Cora Jade, however, prevented her from capturing it. At NXT Deadline, Giulia cemented a second title shot by winning the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge.
Much like last time, Jade emerged with the intention of helping Perez and sabotaging Giulia. Anticipating this, the referee ejected Jade from ringside, paving the way for Giulia to break out of Perez’s armbar and plant her with a Northern Lights Bomb for the win. With this, Giulia secured her first championship under the banner of WWE.
Elsewhere on NXT New Years Evil, Shotzi pinned NXT Women’s North American Champion Fallon Henley to secure the win over Fatal Influence in six-woman tag team action. As such, she asserted that she was the rightful number one contender to the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Stephanie Vaquer, though, had earned that title by winning a number one contenders fatal-four-way bout earlier in the night. Hearing both of these cases, WWE NXT General Manager Ava confirmed that Shotzi and Vaquer will now face off on next week’s episode of NXT, with the winner moving on to challenge Henley for her title.
RELATED: Giulia Reflects On 2024, Wants To Make 2025 The Year Of Giulia
Mercedes Moné Defeats Mina Shirakawa In Title-For-Title Match
At Wrestle Dynasty, Mina Shirakawa fulfilled her long-time dream of wrestling “The CEO” Mercedes Moné. Unfortunately for her, though, the outcome wasn’t quite what she had hoped for.
The closing moments of this title-for-title match saw Shirakawa plant Moné to the mat, then trap her in a figure-four leg submission. Moné eventually escaped this submission, subsequently laying out Shirakawa with the Moné Maker for the pinfall. As such, Moné now has three titles (four belts total) to her name, namely the TBS Championship, NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship, and RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship.
In obtaining the latter title from Shirakawa, Moné is now looking for opponents to step up to her in RevPro. So far, the likes of Safire Reed, Hyan, Session Moth Martina, Rhio, and Alex Windsor have volunteered to do so.
Shirakawa’s reign as RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Champion spanned 134 days, beginning with a victory over Dani Luna last August. Since her loss, Shirakawa has called for a rematch, which Moné mutually agreed to.
Elsewhere on the Wrestle Dynasty pre-show, STARDOM’s Momo Watanabe bested Athena, Willow Nightingale, and Persephone to claim the International Women’s Cup.
RELATED: Mercedes Moné Explains Her New Year’s Resolution
INTERVIEWS
Four-time NWA Women’s Tag Team Champion Ella Envy spoke with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay about her departure from the National Wrestling Alliance, goals for free agency, love for The Bella Twins and Luna Vachon, the origins of her ring name, her run with Pretty Empowered, Kenzie Paige’s reign as NWA Women’s Champion, learning from Jazz behind-the-scenes, and more.
Former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Natalya chatted with Denise Salcedo about her 18-year career in WWE, the evolution of women’s wrestling, WWE’s new era on Netflix, what she’s looking forward to in the new era, and more.
WWE Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green joined Casual Conversations with The Classic to winning the Women’s US Title, Matt Cardona, her past segment with Brie Bella, her experience on Tough Enough, partnership with Piper Niven, Bluegrass Christmas, her WWE career and more.
Former TBS Champion Kris Statlander appeared on Close Up with Renee Paquette to talk about her rollercoaster of a year in 2024, AEW’s new deal with MAX, potentially bringing back old friendships, the moment she won the TBS Championship, and more.
OPW Women’s Tag Team Champion Kingsley caught up with A Wrestling Gal to talk about The Backslide Girlz’s history-making tag title win at Mickie James’ HER event, receiving the titles from WWE Hall of Famer Bull Nakano, her reign as SLAM Women’s Champion, Delta/Zaria’s run in WWE NXT thus far, ranking on the QWI 200, and more.
