Reasons Why a Veteran Superstar Should Be the Next WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion
At the Money in the Bank premium live event back in June, Becky Lynch defeated the inaugural WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria to become the new champ. Since then, Lynch defeated Bayley by disqualification on Raw, won against both Bayley and Valkyria in a triple threat match at Evolution, and shut down Valkyria from challenging for the title again in a no disqualification match at SummerSlam. The next challenger for Lynch and her Women’s Intercontinental Championship looks to be Nikki Bella. The former longest-reigning Divas Champion made a surprise return at the 2025 Royal Rumble and then appeared on the June 9th episode of Monday Night Raw. Since returning, Bella looked to have a matchup against Liv Morgan at Evolution, but that got squashed after Morgan injured her shoulder. She placed fourth during the Women’s Battle Royale at Evolution and faced Chelsea Green in her first singles match since 2018. While Nikki is one of the biggest names in the WWE at the moment, I believe it’s very unlikely she’ll become the new Women’s Intercontinental Champion.
On the upcoming August 11th episode of Monday Night Raw, Lynch is set to face Alpha Academy’s own Maxxine Dupri in a singles match. Dupri has not had a match on the main roster since April 11th, when Natalya and she were part of the WWE Women’s Tag Team number one contender gauntlet for WrestleMania 41, which ended up being won by Bayley and Lyra Valkyria. It’s most likely that the Women’s Intercontinental Champion will defeat Dupri and focus what’s next on Nikki Bella. However, another opponent for Lynch could be in the mix, especially after her match with Dupri. That possible next opponent could very well be Natalya. Since arriving in WWE in 2008, Natalya won the Divas Championship at Survivor Series 2010 against Michelle McCool, then won the SmackDown Women’s Championship at SummerSlam 2017 against Naomi, and then became a Women’s Tag Team Champion with Tamina after defeating Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler on SmackDown in 2021. It’s time for Nattie to become champion once again. This time, against Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.
Natalya has done so much at this stage of her career for herself and for women’s wrestling. She has been through it all and deserves one more title reign to show how special of a talent she is. While Becky Lynch facing Nikki Bella will bring a lot of eyeballs to the screen, especially with the promo the two of them had on the August 4th episode of Raw, Lynch against Natalya will be a technical masterpiece and will showcase how and why these two women are future WWE Hall of Famers. Natalya deserves her shine and her credit, and that title will give her a new spotlight that she may not have received in the past. Bringing home the Women’s Intercontinental Championship to Alpha Academy, which has virtually done anything significant story-wise all year, will bring Maxxine Dupri, Akira Tozawa, and eventually Otis, once he returns from injury, back into the fold and hopefully relevant once again. Giving Natalya the Women’s Intercontinental Championship would also allow new superstars to challenge for the title and give the younger superstars more knowledge and awareness from one of the best women’s wrestlers of our time. Lyra, being the inaugural champion, was well-deserving and well-needed. Becky winning the title has brought prestige and eyeballs to the screen. Natalya holding the title would symbolize what the Men’s Intercontinental Championship has been since its creation: the working women’s title, the hard work, and dedication in the squared circle.
There are not a ton of premium live events left in 2025. While it would be a cool moment to see Natalya win on Raw, something about Survivor Series would only feel right. If they can build a feud between Lynch and Natalya that could sustain till Survivor Series, that would be something to behold. With Natalya winning her first Divas Championship in 2010, it would only be right to have her as the new Women’s Intercontinental Championship 15 years later. Nattie deserved one more title run, and this would be the perfect time to give her that opportunity.
