Bianca Belair Defeats Iyo Sky, Retains Raw Women's Title at WWE Backlash 2023

Bianca Belair beat Damage CTRL's Iyo Sky at WWE Backlash on Saturday to retain the Raw Women's Championship.

Sky briefly appeared to have the match in hand after Bayley and Dakota Kai came down to the ring.

Kai got in a kick on Belair when the referee's back was turned after The Role Model entered the ring, leading to Sky attempting to go for a moonsault.

The referee saw Bayley holding The EST of WWE's hair and forced her to let go. The Raw women's champ was able to roll out of the way and avoid the moonsault before hitting the challenger with the KOD for the pin.

Coming out of WrestleMania 39, which saw Belair defeat Asuka to extend her title reign beyond the one-year mark, WWE official Adam Pearce set out to find a new challenger for The EST.

Sky, Kai and Bayley fell to Becky Lynch, Lita and Trish Stratus in a six-woman tag team match at WrestleMania, but they were adamant about factoring into the title mix.

Bayley had a meeting with Pearce and informed Sky and Kai that he had told her she could be part of a Triple Threat match against Piper Niven and Mia Yim to determine Belair's opponent at Backlash.

Sky and Kai were a bit miffed by the situation, though, and made it known to Bayley that they thought one of them should get the opportunity instead.

Bayley fell short in multiple attempts to win the Raw women's title from The EST previously, so she agreed to let one of her stablemates step up instead.

Sky was ultimately chosen as the representative, and she beat both Niven and Yim in the Triple Threat to establish herself as the No. 1 contender.

While Sky is a former NXT women's champion and two-time WWE women's tag team champion with Kai, Backlash represented her first chance to win a singles title on the main roster.

As expected, Belair and Sky had great in-ring chemistry and put on a strong match, but The EST put a bow on the longest Raw women's title reign of all time by retaining.

Belair was moved from Raw to SmackDown as part of the WWE draft, but so were Damage CTRL, which means their rivalry could continue moving forward.

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