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IYO SKY is scheduled to defend her Women's World Title against Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley at WWE WrestleMania 41. While it seemed like the champion has not been getting disrespected by the challengers, The Eradicator recently explained her and The EST's actions towards the Damage CTRL member.
After Bianca Belair won the Women's Elimination Chamber to earn a shot at the Women's World Championship, SKY dethroned Ripley on RAW as the latter was distracted by The EST, who sat at ringside. Despite her loss, The Eradicator continued to insert herself in the title picture in the following weeks, leading General Manager Adam Pearce to give her a title rematch against the Genius of the Sky with Bianca as Special Guest Referee. As the square-off ended in The EST calling a double disqualification, Pearce announced that the WrestleMania match would now be a Triple Threat contest.
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In the storyline, SKY appeared to be ignored by the two challengers. They even piefaced her multiple times. Last Monday, the champion retaliated by taking them out with a springboard dropkick. In a recent interview with The Takedown on SI, Ripley denied that she and Bianca are overlooking the Japanese star. However, she explained that she and Belair wanted it to be a one-on-one match at WrestleMania:
"I don't want to say we're overlooking IYO, because we're not. We know that she's a threat. We know what she's capable of. Hell, I've never beat her in a one-on-one competition. I know exactly what IYO brings to the table," Ripley said. "I feel like when it comes to me and Bianca, what we've been saying over the last two, three, four years is we've wanted to face each other at WrestleMania... We've wanted it to be a one-on-one thing," she said. [H/T: SI]
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Ex-WWE star thinks Rhea Ripley will recapture the title at WrestleMania 41
On the Gigantic Pop podcast, wrestling veteran Matt Morgan discussed the storyline between Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, and Bianca Belair. He claimed that WWE should not have taken the title off The Eradicator and should have booked a one-on-one match between her and The EST.
Meanwhile, the former WWE Superstar predicted that the former Judgment Day member would leave Las Vegas with the Women's World Championship:
"It has to Rhea Ripley if they're going by fan reactions and stuff like that. I don't think that they should have taken the belt off her to begin with. It made no sense to me at all. They could have went with Ripley vs. Bianca as a singles match and it would've been perfectly fine," he said.
Ahead of their fight at The Show of Shows, Ripley opened up about her real-life relationship with her opponents, acknowledging that they have grown together and made history in WWE.
