For the last few months, the story has been the same, even if WWE was somewhat subtle about it: Rhea Ripley's “Latino Heat,” Dominik Mysterio, comes out to the ring with the babyface challenger, attempts to help them with a chair while distracting the referee, and then… Liv Morgan uses the external object to her advantage on the way to an ObLIVian for the 1-2-3.
Now granted, up to this point, Mysterio has seemingly been trying to prevent Morgan from winning said matches, not setting her up – keyword seemingly – for an easy victory, but when Ripley went for the steel chair in her SummerSlam-opening match at Cleveland Browns Arena, fans had to know something was afoot, even if it wasn't too clear what Paul “Triple H” Levesque and company had up their sleeve.
Selling a dislocated shoulder early in the contest, with Morgan targeting it early and often before Mami forcefully relocated it with the announce table, the current Women's World Champion introduced the chair early on and tried to use it against her long-time rival, but it was removed from the ring, even if the Pandora's box had officially been opened. From there, the duo duked it out before Ripley went for the chair, looking to add some revenge to her victory via a few sharp chair shots before the pin, even if that would have technically ended the match as a DQ.
Lifting the chair over her head, Mysterio snatched it out from his Mami's hands, reminding her that she couldn't win the match with an outside object and that she would instead have to secure a clean pin for the win.
On paper, a sound strategy, but when Mysterio then appeared on the opposite side of the ring and distracted the ref as he slid Morgan the chair, he looked on with a smile on his face as the current champion retained on Ripley with an ObLIVian for the 1-2-3.
Clearly in shock, Ripley then watched as Mysterio kissed Morgan for the first time in this storyline and frolicked to the back to celebrate, even if Damian Priest really didn't like it one bit, demanding that the faction find its “Dirtyest” member despite having a huge match against Gunther to worry about.
Where does the Judgment Day go from here? Only time will tell, but considering how things have shaken out so far, it's safe to say WWE Creative made the correct call, as fans online are absolutely loving what they've seen so far and are incredibly excited to see what will come next.
Rhea Ripley genuinely believes Dominik Mysterio was over Liv Morgan
Sitting down with Jackie Redmond during the SummerSlam Kickoff show for a tell-all interview, Ripley was asked about how it felt to see Mysterio become closer and closer with Morgan during her absence, all the while losing contact with his Mami.
While Morgan ultimately forgave Mysterio, she did feel hurt by his actions, as they had some of her favorite memories together in The Judgment Day.
“A little bit disappointing. These were the best couple years of my life. I grew to love him. I did, and I think he grew to love me,” Rhea Ripley explained via Fightful. “We’ve been there for each other, and then when I got injured, the communication sort of, it didn’t stop completely, but it definitely slowed down. So I’m a little bit disappointed that we let it get to that point, but I always tried my best to make time for my ‘Dirty Dom.'”
Asked how it felt to see Mysterio boldly declare that he hates Morgan definitively on RAW, Ripley gushed about the moment, believing it to be genuine at the time.
“Extremely excited and aroused and happy. It made my heart skip a couple beats,” Ripley declared. “You saw me afterwards, I gave a nice kiss on the check. Then watching Morgan cry and walk away brought a little bit of joy to my heart.”
Gosh, how must it have felt for Ripley to not only lose her match but also lose her Latino Heat and maybe her faction, too, as it's hard to imagine The Judgment Day will continue on in the same way after Mysterio's betrayal? For better or worse, the faction that long declared that they ran Monday Night RAW is going to look a little different moving forward, even if this maneuvering ultimately serves as the change it needed to remain relevant well into the future, especially if they split off into two separate groups led by the past and present Women's World Champions.
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