It’s August 8 as I write this…this review of a match that happened on July 6th.
Yes, I know exactly what happens three weeks after this match.
I know there’s a rematch. I know where both Sol Ruca and Raquel Rodriguez’s stories go next. Wrestling doesn’t wait for anyone, and neither does the calendar.
But I’ve been catching up on a backlog of shows recently, and sometimes that’s actually an advantage.
Watching something weeks later removes all the noise. You’re no longer reacting to headlines, social media discourse or surprise finishes. You can simply watch the wrestling.
So although this happened on the July 6 edition of WWE Raw, I’m judging it on what I saw rather than how people reacted in the moment.
And honestly?
I came away thinking something I’d half believed for years.
Raquel Rodriguez has been better than WWE has often allowed her to be.
The Clothesline That Changed My Mind
There was one sequence that made me sit upright.
Rodriguez threw a huge clothesline.
Sol Ruca ducked underneath it beautifully.
Most wrestlers would have stumbled through the miss, reset, and tried again.
Rodriguez didn’t.
She simply kept turning, swung the opposite arm around and absolutely flattened Ruca with a second clothesline that looked completely instinctive.
It lasted barely a second.
Those are the little moments I love.
They’re difficult to fake because they don’t feel rehearsed. Whether it was planned or simply brilliant ring awareness doesn’t really matter. It looked organic, and wrestling always benefits when it looks like two people are solving problems in real time rather than performing choreography.
That one exchange probably told me more about Rodriguez than ten backstage promos ever could.
Sol Ruca Keeps Finding New Ways to Impress
I’ve become a big fan of Sol Ruca.
Not because every move lands perfectly, but because every match feels like she’s trying something that only she can do.
The corkscrew dive to the outside was outrageous.
The springboard crossbody later in the match looked effortless.
She wrestles like somebody who still thinks every impossible movement is worth attempting.
That’s becoming increasingly rare.
Her entire title reign has quickly developed an identity. If you can catch her, you’ve probably got a chance.
Actually catching her is the difficult bit.
I’ve Always Had a Soft Spot for Raquel
Commentary spent plenty of time mentioning that Raquel hadn’t held a singles championship since NXT.
That surprised me less than it probably should have.
I’ve always liked her.
I still remember when she and Liv Morgan were babyfaces together on SmackDown. They had this wonderfully daft double-team where Raquel would literally throw Liv Morgan at their opponents. Wrestling is ridiculous when it’s at its best.
I also couldn’t help thinking back to her SmackDown Women’s Championship match against Ronda Rousey at the end of 2022.
It’s one of those matches that history has almost forgotten.
Rodriguez fought through the storyline arm injury, threw Rousey around the ring with one good arm and genuinely looked like she belonged in that position.
She lost.
Then Charlotte Flair returned minutes later, challenged Rousey on the spot and won the championship in about forty seconds.
That’s what everyone remembers.
I actually think the better wrestling match happened beforehand.
Judgment Day Did What Judgment Day Does
Eventually this one descended into complete Judgment Day chaos.
Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez started tilting the numbers game.
IYO SKY arrived to even them back up.
Michael Cole’s line, “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer group of people,” after Judgment Day got wiped out genuinely made me laugh.
The interference could easily have overwhelmed the match.
Instead, it became the backdrop for the finish.
Once the dust settled, Sol Ruca connected with the Sol Snatcher and retained the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.
The Result Isn’t Really What Stayed With Me
The winner almost wasn’t the point.
This felt like another reminder that Sol Ruca is becoming one of the most exciting young stars in women’s wrestling.
It also reminded me why I’ve continued to believe in Raquel Rodriguez despite some inconsistent booking over the past few years.
Sometimes you don’t need to win the championship to leave looking more valuable than when you walked in.
Watching this back a month later, without the live reaction or the weekly television narrative, that’s exactly how it felt.
And yes…
I know exactly what happens when these two meet again three weeks later.
If anything, rewatching July 6 only makes that rematch even more interesting.
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