The path to the WWE Women’s World Championship triple threat match between Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, and IYO SKY has been, at best, convoluted. With last-minute marquee match changes, special guest referee appearances, and more backstage brawls than other matches on the WrestleMania 41 card, there is no shortage of bad blood between the two challengers and the current world champion.
How did champion IYO SKY find herself the third woman out in her own title defense? How did Ripley go from being a dominant WWE Women’s World Champion to forcing Adam Pearce to give her a WrestleMania moment? How did Belair go from the hysterical witness of Naomi and Jade Cargill’s feud to a bitter challenger, caught in between the tide of SKY and Ripley’s animosities? As WrestleMania 41 Night 2 looms over the horizon, Belair, Ripley, and SKY prepare to go to war for the championship — this is the story so far.
While Ripley, Belair, and SKY all have history, with the latter two clashing during SKY’s Damage CTRL days, the story begins with Belair’s record-breaking second Elimination Chamber win. After Belair bested Liv Morgan, Roxanne Perez, Bayley, and Alexa Bliss, Belair came face to face with then-WWE Women’s World Champion Ripley. As they stared down in Toronto, SKY emerged in the middle of them, her gaze defiant.
The following episode of “WWE Raw” saw Ripley and SKY lock up for the WWE Women’s World Championship, the match having been made official just before Elimination Chamber. By all accounts, SKY should have been Ripley’s last obstacle before WrestleMania season, and as the champion beat down the challenger, it seemed that Ripley was going to walk into Las Vegas as the champion. However, Belair’s ringside presence distracted Ripley, and a wily SKY took advantage to win the world title in a huge upset. Ripley’s shock turned into rage, and “The Eradiactor” began to terrorize Monday nights with her ire.
The subsequent weeks were filled with Ripley’s attempts to regain her WrestleMania spot. Shortly after losing her title, Ripley and Belair intruded on an interview between SKY and Michael Cole, which ended in the champion laying out both women. A week later, Ripley crashed a contract signing between SKY and Belair, and infamously added her own signature to Pearce’s official match documents. Pearce, irate at Ripley’s misbehavior, granted “The Eradicator” her world title rematch, under one condition: Belair was to be the special guest referee. Several accidental blows onto “The -EST” caused her to throw her hands up, disqualifying both opponents whilst allowing SKY to keep her title. Ripley, enraged, laid out both competitors to end the March 31 episode of “Raw.”
Behavior from all three women finally broke Pearce, who took to the opener of “Raw’s” April 7 episode to make SKY’s WWE Women’s World Championship defense officially a triple threat. With all three competitors’ signatures on the document, a match between “The -EST,” “The Eradicator,” and “The Genius of the Sky” is officially set for Vegas.
