Charlotte Flair defeats Asuka

Nia Jax runs down but Asuka meets her on the apron with strikes to stun her. Asuka sends Jax to the floor with a Hip Attack. Flair takes advantage and take out Asuka with a huge boot for the pin to get the win. After the match, Jax looks on as we go to replays. Flair poses in the corner as her music plays. Jax enters the ring and hits Asuka with a Samoan Drop while Flair watches. Jax’s music hits and she backs up the ramp as the announcers promote Jax vs. Asuka for the title at Backlash on Sunday. RAW goes off the air with Jax staring back at the ring.

Nia Jax vs. Kairi Sane

We go back to the ring and out comes Nia Jax as the “fans” in the crowd boo her. Jax takes the mic and says she did not start this feud with RAW Women’s Champion Asuka and Kairi Sane. Jax says she has been attacked by them both repeatedly, a classic 2-on-1 attack. She warns everyone not to fall for their acts, it’s all smoke and mirrors. Asuka didn’t win the title, she was given it because of hormones. Because Becky Lynch got all pregnant and felt guilty because she couldn’t wrestle. She goes on and promises to expose Asuka. Jax’s music hits. Back to commercial.

We go back to the ring and out comes Sane as Jax waits. We see Asuka backstage watching as Sane enters the ring. Jax takes control and starts dominating early on. Sane jumps on her back with a Sleeper hold. Jax goes down to her knees as Sane tightens the hold. Sane comes out of the hold and unloads with strikes. Sane with kicks to the head but Jax is still on her knees. Sane with more strikes for a pop.

Sane goes to the top but Jax meets her with a big headbutt. Jax brings Sane off the top for a powerslam but Sane turns it into a DDT but Sane can’t put her away. Sane stomps around and gets the crowd hyped up. Sane with the sliding knee in the corner. Sane goes back to the top but Jax rolls to the floor for a breather as the crowd boos her. Sane runs the ropes for a baseball slide but Jax moves. Jax slams Sane face-first into the apron. Jax pulls Sane out and launches her face-first into the steel ring steps. The referee checks on Sane. Jax grabs Sane and brings her back in as the crowd boos. Jax drops the big leg over Sane and covers for the pin to win.

After the bell, Jax stands tall as her music hits. Asuka hits the ring and stares Jax down. Jax backs away and exits the ring as the crowd cheer Asuka on. Jax makes her exit as her music hits.

Asuka vs Charlotte

More back and forth now. Asuka kicks the Figure Four attempt away. Flair knocks Asuka off the apron with a big boot. Asuka lands outside of the ring. Asuka’s music hits and out comes Nia Jax mocking Asuka, wearing one of her masks. Asuka walks up the ramp and gets counted out.

Asuka turns back to look at the referee, then turns right back around to a big clothesline on the ramp from Jax. The trainees boo Jax. Jax stands over Asuka and drops the mask over her. Jax, with Asuka’s face paint under her eyes, stares down as her music plays.

Owens plugs tonight’s Triple Threat between NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax and Natalya, with the winner facing RAW Women’s Champion Asuka at Backlash. Owens brings out his guest next and here comes Asuka.

Asuka hits the ring still chanting for Becky Lynch. Owens agrees that she does deserve it. He plugs her “The Mom” t-shirt on WWE Shop. Owens shows us a replay of last week’s championship celebration with Asuka and Kairi Sane, and how Jax interrupted but was quickly sent packing. We also see how Jax later attacked Sane backstage, and how Asuka later attacked Jax. Asuka speaks some but the music interrupts and out comes Flair.

Flair enters the ring and tells Asuka that the red brand title should’ve been handed to her. Flair reminds Asuka what happens when they step in the ring. Flair says Asuka has never beaten her. She goes on but the music interrupts and out comes Natalya. Natalya tells Owens she’s not here to cause trouble. She’s here to formally apologize to Owens and his crew for the tantrum she threw last week. She’s just been so frustrated as of late. Flair mocks her for sucking up to Owens and laughs at her, saying even this won’t help her win the match tonight. Flair goes on until Jax interrupts and comes out to boos. Jax says we all know she will be the next champion. She warns that Flair and Natalya better just get ready for what she will do to them later. Owens sees where this is going and he exits the ring. Jax says that’s a good idea.

Jax steps to Asuka and says she will bulldoze her at Backlash. Asuka ends up dropping Jax with a shot to the face. Flair and Natalya end up on the floor going at it. Asuka taunts Jax, who looks on from the floor. Asuka’s music hits as she stands tall while the others regroup.

1 Contender’s Triple Threat: Nia Jax vs. Natalya vs. Charlotte Flair

We go back to the ring and out comes RAW Women’s Champion Asuka to join the announcers at ringside. The winner of the next Triple Threat will challenge Asuka at Backlash. Back to commercial.

We go to the ring and Asuka is on commentary as NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair makes her way to the ring. Natalya is out next, followed by Nia Jax.

The bell rings and Flair drops Natalya first to start. Jax takes Flair to the corner and they tangle. Natalya gets dropped again. Jax slams Flair and then slams Natalya on top of her in the middle of the ring. Flair comes back to send Jax to the floor. Flair takes control of Natalya in the ring now. They trade holds and lock up again. Flair takes Natalya down but she slides out and shows Flair up. They go at it again and Flair ends up on the outside. Jax levels Flair on the floor and starts taking the announce table apart. Natalya tries to baseball slide Jax but Jax rocks her into the apron. She pulls Natalya to the floor but turns around to Flair jabbing the announce table top into her.

Flair and Jax struggle for the table hood now. Jax gets the upperhand. Jax and Flair meet on the apron now, unloading with strikes. Flair with big chops on the apron. Jax catches a big boot. Jax goes for a Samoan Drop on the apron but Natalya cuts her off, trying to take her leg out. Flair and Natalya team up for a double powerbomb, putting Jax trough the announce table from the apron. Asuka is shocked. We go to commercial.

Back from the break and Natalya goes at it with Jax. Jax tries to fight out of an armbar and does. Jax powers up and nails a sitdown powerbomb but Flair runs in to break the pin attempt up. Flair covers Natalya for a close 2 count. Flair tosses Natalya to the floor. Flair goes back to work on Jax while she’s down. Flair goes to the top and hits the moonsault on Jax for another close 2 count. Flair with more shots to the leg. Natalya comes off the top with a crossbody on Flair for another close pin attempt.

Jax gets up and levels Natalya, then Flair. Jax is angry now as she works on both opponents in the corner at the same time. Jax tries to lift them both at the same time but can’t. Natalya goes down and rolls to the floor. Flair side-steps Jax and rocks her in the corner. Flair with a big knee drop to the knee of Jax. Flair presses Jax into the Figure Eight but Natalya breaks it up. Natalya with the Sharpshooter to Flair in the middle of the ring now. Jax ends up making the save. More back and forth now. Flair sends Natalya back to the floor. Flair keeps Natalya from entering as she goes up. Flair climbs up but Jax beats on her from behind. Jax climbs up for a superplex but Natalya comes over and brings them both to the mat. Jax kicks out at 2. Natalya crawls over to Flair but she also kicks out. More back and forth between the three as Flair applies the Figure Four on Natalya again. Jax breaks it with a leg drop. Jax goes on and hits the Samoan Drop on Natalya for the pin to win and earn the title shot.

After the match, Jax stands tall as her music hits. We go to replays. Asuka raises the title at ringside as Jax stares her down.

We go to the ring and Kairi Sane is out with a mic. There are balloons everywhere. Sane introduces her partner and out comes new RAW Women’s Champion Asuka. Tom welcomes us to the era of Asuka on RAW.

Asuka takes the mic and thanks Sane as Sane presents her with a bouquet of flowers. Asuka mentions Becky Lynch becoming a mother and says she’s so happy. Sane shows us how Asuka has been the NXT Women’s Champion, SmackDown Women’s Champion, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion, and now the RAW Women’s Champion. Sane calls her a Grand Slam Champion and Asuka starts dancing around. Sane plays a flute now until the music interrupts and out comes Nia Jax to crash the championship celebration.

Jax says there’s nothing to celebrate because Asuka was handed the title by Becky. Jax says Asuka lucked her way into the greatest temp job ever because Becky is on maternity leave, and soon she will be replaced by someone more worthy – Jax. Jax steps to her and says look at me, and look at you. Jax threatens Asuka again and Sane steps to her. Jax tells Sane to chill. Asuka immediately attacks and backs Jax against the ropes. Asuka with a Hip Attack to knock Jax to the floor. Asuka yells at Jax from the ring as Jax stares her down. Asuka’s music hits as Jax backs up the ramp.

Backstage segment

Asuka and Kairi Sane are backstage celebrating still. We see Nia Jax staring them down as they go their separate ways. It looks like Jax is stalking Sane. Back to commercial.

Backstage segment

Backstage, Kairi Sane is practicing her flute. She stands up while continuing playing. Nia Jax comes from behind and throws her into a road case before walking off.

Backstage segment

Back from commercial, we see Nia Jax walking backstage. Asuka rushes up to her and screams at her in Japanese but she just walks off. Asuka’s not having it so she grabs her and kicks her in the head!

We go to the ring for an episode of The VIP Lounge with MVP as we see the Money In the Bank briefcases hanging high above the ring. MVP admits things went sideways last week with his special episode on the men’s Money In the Bank match. He says things didn’t go as planned but they’ve moved on from that and this week will return to style, class and sophistication with the competitors from the women’s MITB match. MVP actually isn’t sure how this will turn out because of what happened the last time these three were in the ring together. He shows us what happened with Nia Jax, Asuka and Shayna Baszler last week. MVP introduces his first guest and out comes Asuka.

Asuka hits the ring and MVP says a few words in Japanese. He translates for her and says she’s in a good mood. Asuka takes a seat on one of the couches. MVP introduces Baszler and out she comes next, followed by Nia Jax. Nia shoves over MVP’s red rope at ringside entrance as Asuka and Baszler stare her down from their seats in the ring. We see Asuka nodding her head to Nia’s music. Nia chooses to sit on the small table in between the two couches instead with the others. MVP asks her if she thinks she has the skillset to win MITB. Jax asks MVP if he even watches RAW, and has seen her dominate. Jax says she’s relentless and that’s the only skill she needs. MVP asks Asuka if she wants to respond but Asuka goes off in Japanese, mentioning Kairi Sane. MVP asks Baszler how her specific set of skills will help her win.

Baszler says “opera non verba” and goes on about how she does her talking in the ring. Asuka goes into another rant. She and Baszler stand up, staring each other down. Nia goes to stand up but Baszler and Asuka both turn to kick her down, sending her out to the floor. Asuka and Baszler have words but MVP gets in between them, telling them to save it for Sunday. Nia recovers at ringside as Asuka’s music hits. We go to repays. Asuka taunts Baszler while MVP stays in between them.

Nia Jax vs Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler

We go to the ring and out first comes Asuka as the MITB briefcases hang above the ring. Asuka takes the mic and rants after a replay of Nia Jax’s recent win over Kairi Sane. Asuka goes on about making Jax tap out in the past. The music interrupts and out comes Jax. Out next comes Shayna Baszler.

Baszler pulls Asuka out of the ring before the bell, working her over on the outside. Jax watches from the ring. Baszler launches Asuka into a bunch of ladders. Jax comes right out and drops Baszler. Jax grabs Asuka and manhandles her some but gets superkicked. Baszler then nails Jax with one of her kicks. Baszler is the only one standing now as she brings a ladder over and lays it against the steel ring steps. Jax ends up sending Baszler into the barrier. Asuka looks to capitalize but she turns around to Jax running her over at ringside.

Jax rolls Asuka into the ring with Baszler. Jax tosses a ladder in the ring and comes in. Jax picks the ladder up and charges, dropping Asuka and Baszler with it at the same time. They end up out on the floor. Jax presses the ladder high, looking down at Asuka and Baszler on the floor. She drops the ladder and smiles as her music starts up. The match never started. We go to replays with Jax standing tall alone in the ring.

Backstage segment

Charly is backstage with Nia Jax. Charly ask Jax’s thoughts on people talking about her actions during her match. Nia gets irritated over being asked about her actions and says that Asuka, Shayna Baszler or anyone else can’t do nothing about it before screaming NOTHING in Charly’s face then walks off.

Nia Jax vs Kairi Sane

We go to the ring and out first comes Kairi Sane. Nia Jax is out next for a rematch from last week’s MITB qualifier.

The bell rings and Sane ducks a clothesline, then taunts Jax. Sane ducks again and jumps on Jax’s back with a Sleeper. Jax tosses her to the mat. Jax with a swing go around, tossing Sane across the ring. Jax manhandles Sane some more and nails a big clothesline.

Jax tells the referee to check on Sane but she’s still in it. Sane counters and tries to bring Jax down but can’t. Jax powers out and launches Sane back into the bottom turnbuckle. Sane goes for the knees and softens Jax up. Sane focuses on the knee some more and brings Jax down. We see Asuka watching backstage. Sane unloads with strikes and drops Jax with a spinning back-fist.

Sane charges in the corner with a sliding knee to Jax. Sane goes to the top but rolls through as Jax moves. Jax counters and hits The aNIAlator for the win.

After the match, Jax stands tall as her music hits. Jax slaps Sane a few times and taunts her as we go to replays. Jax makes her exit as Sane recovers on the mat.