After a hard-hitting weekend of WarGames and a week of television that dealt with the corresponding fallout, the next chapter of WWE's women's division came into frame on Monday Night RAW, when not one but two matches were held in a mini-tournament to decide on the next contender for Bianca Balair's championship.

The festivities started out predictably enough, with Bayley taking to the ring to talk up herself and Damage CTRL before who but Becky Lynch, back in her “The Man” gimmick, came down to interrupt her in a fun reversal from their segment on the previous show. Both ballyhooed about their own accomplishment and standing in the company before each declared why they deserve to be on top of the division.

Fortunately, both were afforded chances to prove that very claim later in the show, as both were booked into three-way contests to decide on the two finalists for the RAW Woman's Championship #1 contendership, with Bayley facing off against Asuka and Rhea Ripley, and Lynch booked against Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss.

Bayley, to her credit, won her match, but Lynch wasn't so lucky, as the “Damaged Duo” of Dakota Kai and IYO SKY came out from the back and interfered to allow Bliss to secure the pin on her former tag team partner and advance to the second round of the tournament to face Bayley next week.

Curious to see what Bayley had to say on her “double win,” Cathy Kelley took a camera crew to the back and caught up with the former champion to ask her about her victory, but, in a curious twist of fate, she seemed far more interested in talking about Lynch's loss than her own victory.

“I don’t know if you remember but the last time I had a match in my hometown, I was able to walk out successful so I’m feeling really good,” Bayley said. “I don’t know what it’s something in the air here in DC, or if it’s because, you know, my strategy game, or it’s because Becky kind of put her foot in her mouth, didn’t she? I think that she underestimated me and Dakota, and IYO, aka Damage CTRL, right? You would never step up and say bad things about us, would you? No? Well Becky did, that idiot. So I think that Becky can have her little dream match in her dream, because it ain’t gonna be with me any time soon. Sorry sister, see you later, ‘lexa.”

With Bliss on the books next, Bayley is a match away from her third RAW Women's Championship match with Belair since Extreme Rules, when they duked it out in a Ladder Match in the home of extreme, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Then again, Bliss may have other ideas and champion aspirations of her own.

Alexa Bliss is ready to get back to her winning ways in WWE.

As crazy as it may sound, Bliss hasn't held singles gold in WWE – save the 24/7 Championship – since 2018, when she won the RAW Women's Championship for the third time. Since then, she's won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship twice with Cross and again with Asuka – plus her whole Fiend-adjacent angle – but other than that, Bliss has remained a challenger at best and an afterthought at worst.

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Rhea Ripley holding the WWE Woman's World Championship with a text bubble reading "I have to vacate the WWE Woman's World Championship" with the RAW logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Booker T with a text bubble reading "It’s a no-brainer" next to Jade Cargill with the AEW logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Bayley with a text bubble reading "She's once in a lifetime" next to Rhea Ripley with the WrestleMania 40 logo as the background.

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Would Bliss like to bring her RAW title reigns to four? Based on her comments to Kelley, the answer is a resounding yes.

“You know, we’ve had a lot of run-ins with Damage CTRL including Bayley herself, and, you know, I think I’m prepared for Bayley this time,” Bliss said. “You know, last time I wasn’t really finding my footing, btu recently I’ve had this newfound aggression, and I think I’m going to channel that with Bayley, and I’m excited for next week.”

According to Cagematch, Bliss and Bayley have only wrestled in singles action once in the last two years, when the leader of Damage CTRL took down Asuka's tag team partner on September 19th, 2022. Though they do have history, with Bliss taking the RAW Women's Title off of Bayley at Payback 2017, for the most part, the duo have only faced off against each other in tag team action, with Mrs. “Ding Dong, Hello!” largely focusing her attention on Belair and her counterpart aiming for the current WWE Tag Team Championship holders. Could Bliss shock the world, best Bayley, and have to take part in an awkward match between two members of the nameless winning WarGames squad? Or will fans be given Bayley-Belair III in maybe the rubber match of the feud? Fans will find out soon enough.