Hello guys, gals, and enbies! Welcome to 411’s Evolution 2025 preview! I’m Hel, and today WWE is in Atlanta, GA for their third event in two days, Evolution 2025. This is the second ever Evolution PLE, with the first being back all the way back in 2018. Let’s take a trip back in time, to three years prior, when the women’s division in WWE was very different to what we have today. In NXT Triple H, had given the women the chance to show they were just as good, if not better, then the men. Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Bailey, and Sasha Banks built on what Paige, Emma, and Summer Rea had started, putting on banger matches, and main eventing Takeover Events. While on the main roster, even with the introduction of talent like AJ Lee and Paige, women were still an after thought. Sure we had Nattie and, until they retired, Kaitlyn and Beth Phoenix, but matches were still often a few minutes at most, and segments were few and far between. This all came to a head on the February 23rd, 2015, episode of Raw, when a match between the Bella Twins and the team of Paige and Emma lasted all of 30 seconds. This started a Twitter movement and the hashtag #GiveDivasaChance trended worldwide for a day and half. AJ Lee also called out Stephanie McMahon, then head of creative, over the issue. Flash forward to July and Nikki Bella declared there was no competition for her championship. Stephanie McMahon would then announce that Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks were the newest call ups to the main roster and the Women’s Revolution was on. 2018’s Evolution was a celebration of how far the women’s division had come in such a short time. Since then we have two women’s matches main event a Wrestlemania, we now have a women’s Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank, Elimination Chamber, War Games, and mid card titles. Women are no longer just an after thought, and arguably the most over wrestler, regardless of gender, on the roster is Rhea Ripley. Tonight’s event features two World Championship matches, a Tag-Team Championship match, a Women’s Intercontinental Championship match, and a battle royal to decide the number one contender for Clash in Paris. We will see legends, current stars, and the future mix it up, and whether you think that women don’t need their own event and should be given equal footing or not, tonight is still a celebration of all that has been accomplished by the women in the WWE.

As a fan growing up in the 90s/00s we really only had Trish Stratus, Jacqueline, Chyna, Lita, Ivory, Mickie James and Molly Holly to show us that women could be more than just eye candy. Sadly, due to the era, even they were pushed more on sex appeal then in ring abilities. It wasn’t until TNA launched the Knockouts Division, that a lot of us got to really see women wrestlers being treated as wrestlers. Yes we had SHIMMER, but as a teen, with limited income, it wasn’t easy to see indy wrestling. Honestly it was sites like this one and the game EWR, that helped me find out about MsChief, Sara Del Ray, LuFisto, and many others. I’m so grateful for how far we have come in the way women are presented in wrestling, and I hope it continues to grow, I hope that Becky Lynch’s opinion is given a chance, and that women are just given equal footing going forward. Just look at NXT, their women’s division is killing it on every show and is often outshining the men’s division, if that is the future, the future is bright.

With all the women in this match, I’m not going to take the time to break down all of the entrants. Because if I do this column will be longer then most books.

We do have two front runners here though. Stephanie Vaquer and Nikki Bella, Stephanie Vaquer has been on a tear ever since she debuted in NXT and while she has held both the NXT Women’s and North American Championships, she has yet to win a title on the main roster. She was in the Money in the Bank match and lost in the qualifying matches for the Queen of the Ring. She has also been absent, aside from a promo video, from TV the past couple of weeks and could really use the win here. Nikki Bella is the returning veteran and the embodiment of the Divas Era. Her and her sister were signed because Johnny Ace saw them in a swimsuit magazine. They had no prior wrestling or real athletic background, yet they were thrown out there after only a year in FCW. To their credit, they did their best to improve, with Nikki being the one to actually become a decent wrestler. I know a lot of people are assuming she is going to win here, but i am hoping not. What I’d like to see is the final two come down to Bella and Vaquer with Vaquer winning the match. This could lead to a feud between the two, which will give Vaquer something to do before Clash in Paris.

Winner: Stephanie Vaquer

After meeting Mark Henry, Jade Cargill started training in 2018. Her first school was Face 2 Face, which is ran by Heath Slater, Ron Simmons, and Teddy Long, she then started training at AR Fox’s WWA4 Academy and the Nightmare Factory under Q.T. Marshall and Dustin Rhodes. She made her AEW debut in November 2020 starting a feud with Cody and Brandi Rhodes which led to a tag-team match between Cargill and Shaquille O’Neal vs Rhodes and Red Velvet. In October of 2021, Cargill would enter and win the tournament to crown the inaugural AEW TBS Champion. A title she would hold hold the title until May of 2023, when she would lose it to Kris Statlande, ending her 508 day reign and her 60 match win streak. She would leave AEW and join WWE in September. She would debute in the 2024 Royal Rumble and would be assigned to the Smackdown brand. She would join up with Naomi and Bianca Belair, saving them from Damage CTRL. Cargill and Belair would defeat the Kabuki Warriors for the Women’s Tag-Team Championship at Backlash France. She would compete in the 2024 Queen of the Ring, losing to Nia Jax in the quartfinals. In November, Cargill was attacked backstage allowing Naomi to replace her in the WarGames match and to start teaming with Belair. Cargill would return at the 2025 Elimination Chamber, attacking Naomi, revealing that it was Naomi who attacked her. Cargill would beat Naomi at Wrestlemania and go on to win the 2025 Queen of the Ring.

Naomi has been wrestling since 2009, she started in FCW in August of that year and won her first championship in June of 2010, beating Serena Deeb to become the inaugral FCW Diva’s Champion, she would hold the title until losing it to AJ Lee in January of 2011. During this time, she would also join the all women’s season of NXT (back when it was a competition show.) In 2012 she would make her main roster debut as part of The Funkadactyls along side Cameron, they would act as valets for Brodus Clay. The team would break up in September of 2014 and have a brief feud. In July of 2015 the Women’s Revolution started and Naomi teamed up with Sasha Banks and Tamina to form Team B.A.D., Banks would leave the team in February of 2016 and Naomi was injured. After returning and moving to Smackdown and started her “The Glow” gimmick. She would finally win her first WWE Women’s Championship at Elimination Chamber 2016, but would have to vacate it due to injury, she would go on to regain it at that years Money in the Bank. She would team with Sasha Banks at Wrestlemania 38, were they would beat Carmella and Queen Zelina for the WWE Women’s Tag-Team Championships. They would both walk out of the company in May of 2022. Naomi would join TNA in 2023 and spend a year there before rejoining the company in the 2024 Royal Rumble. She would team up with Cargill and Belair until it was revealed she was the one who took Cargill out.

On the 7/4 Smackdown, Naomi would attack Cargill leading to this match being made. Their match at Wrestlemania was better then most people thought it would be, and I think we will see more of the same here. It’s not going to be a 5* classic by any means, but it should still be decent. Cargill needs the win more, as she is about to face Stratton at Summerslam, and Naomi has the MitB case and that makes her a threat even with a loss. In fact her losing here just adds fuel to the fire for when she cashes in on Cargill post Summmerslam.

Winner: Jade Cargill

One has to assume that this was either going to be Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs The Bella Twins or Liv Morgan vs Nikki Bella, before she got hurt. But with Morgan’s injury, this is the match we are getting instead.

While Liv Morgan was out filming a movie, Finn Balor introduced Perez to the Judgement Day, as an ally, someone who could help out when needed. Rodriguez was immediately distrustful something Morgan agreed with, but with Morgan getting hurt, Perez stepped up and was allowed to fill in for Morgan, as long as they can when this match. Perez has helped Rodriguez beat down Rhea Ripley and tried to help her win against Ripley at Night of Champions. Despite this, and with Perez becoming an official member of Judgement Day, Rodriguez still hasn’t accepted her.

Bliss and Flair decided to team up together on the 7/4 Smackdown and beat The Secret Hervice and B-Fab and Michin to be added to this match. Flair and Bliss are two veterans, they have 26 different title reigns between them. Four of those reigns are with the Women’s Tag-Team Championships (interesting note, Flair’s only reign and one of Bliss’ have been with Asuka as their partner.) Both women also returned at the Royal Rumble this year after both being out for over a year. They are looking to show that they can still compete with the new crop of wrestlers, but the question is, will they be able to work together and win the titles here?

The Kabuki Warriors started teaming in April of 2019, the entered a feud with the, then, WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions, The IIconics. They would be unsuccessful in defeating them, but would eventually beat Bliss and Nikki Cross for the titles at that years Hell in a Cell. They would then be drafted to Raw and go on to have the longest WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions run at 180 days. They would have another run in January of 2024 before losing it to Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill in May of that year. With both Sane and Asuka having returned from injury, and Sane’s on going issues with Judgement Day, Adam Pearce allowed them to be the Raw team for this match.

As mentioned in my Great American Bash Preview, Ruca and Zaria started teaming up after they both entered and lost the Iron Survivor match in December. I went into Ruca’s history in that preview, so let’s focus on Zaria. Zaria started wrestling in 2020, she was trained and debuted in RCW, She would go on to hold multiple titles in RCW and become the first woman to hold the MCW Intercommonwealth Championship and the RCW Championship. She would challenge, and lose to, Jordynne Grace for the TNA Knockouts Championship at an Oceania Pro Wrestling event. She debuted in NXT at Halloween Havoc 2024, attacking Fatal Influence. She would then go on to form the team with Ruca in December.

The big story going into this will be if Perez and Rodriguez can get a long, if they can get on the same page they are still going to be the least experienced team in the match. Bliss and Flair haven’t teamed up, but they both are long time veterans and should not be taken lightly. Kabuki Warriors have been teaming up for awhile and Asuka knows both Flair and Bliss well, both as opponents and tag-team partners. Ruca and Zaria hold a win over Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, and are the wild card here. I feel like this could, easily, go a few different directions, keeping the titles on Judgement Day allows for Rodriguez to warm up to Perez, which can cause tension when Morgan returns. Kabuki Warriors winning allows for Judgement Day to have more tension now, with Perez on the side of Finn Balor and JD McDonagh and Rodriguez and Dominik Mysterio on the other. Bliss and Charlotte winning allows them to go on a run that shows that they are still some of the best. I am going to roll d20 and go with Kabuki Warriors on this one.

Winners and new WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions : The Kabuki Warriors

Jordynne Grace has been wrestling for 13 years now, having made her debut in 2012. She has spent the bulk of her career in TNA, having started there in 2018 and winning her first Knockout’s Championship in February of 2020, a title she would go on to win a total of three times. She is also a former Knockout’s Tag-Team Champion and Digital Media Champion, which makes her the first Knockout Triple Crown Champion. She started making appearances for the WWE in 2024 as a surprise entrant for the Women’s Royal Rumble, she also challenged Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship, won a six-women tag match at NXT 2300, and was in the 2025 Royal Rumble. She made her official debut in February, showing up at Vengeance Day. Since then she has been a constant challenger for the NXT Women’s Championship, but has yet to win it. Having won the number one contender’s tournament, she is getting another shot here

Jacy Jayne started wrestling in 2018, and signed with NXT in 2021. She quickly joined Fatal Attraction with Mandy Rose and Gigi Dolin, after Rose was released Jayne and Dolin would continue as a team before eventually turning on each other and feuding with Dolin ultimately coming out on top. From there Jayne would turn face and join up with Chase U where she would also gain a protege in Jazmyn Nyx. Jayne and Nyx would end up turning on Chase U and Jayn would feud with Thea Hail, another feud she would end up losing. In July of 2024, Jayne and Nyx would team up with Fallen Henry to form Fatal Influence, Jayne and Nyx helped Henry win the NXT Women’s North American Championship, a title she held until losing it to Stephanie Vaquer. Since then there has been some signs of tension within the group, though Nyx and Henry would be there to help Jayne beat Vaquer for the NXT Women’s Championship in May.

A lot of people are probably betting on a win for Grace here, but two things tell me different. One, it’s rumored that Grace is going to get called up soon, and I don’t see her winning and only having a short reign before getting called up. The title went from Guilia, to Vaquer, to Jayne in just four months, we don’t need it to go to Grace only for her to drop it in another month or so. Secondly the story has been that Jayne is the beatable champion, she needs to get a win here to help establish herself. She also has the numbers advantage on her side. I am calling this for Jayne

Winner and still NXT Women’s Champion: Jacy Jayne

Lyra Valkyria has been wrestling for 10 years now, and has been with the WWE for half of that time. She started with NXT UK in 2020 and, when NXT UK was shut down in 2022, moved over to NXT. During her time in NXT she was a constant challenger for the NXT Women’s Championship, finally beating Becky Lynch at Halloween Havoc 2023. She would hold the title for 165 days, losing it to Roxanne Perez at NXT Stand & Deliver 2024, shortly after she would be moved to Raw in the 2024 draft. In 2024 she would lose to Nia Jax in the finals of the Queen of the Ring tournament and would compete in the Money in the Bank match that year. In December she entered the tournament to crown the inaugural Women’s Intercontinental Champion.

Bayley has been with the WWE for 13 years and wrestling for 17, during her early years in NXT, she helped to push for women to get chances to actually wrestle and became part of the foundation for the Women’s Revolution. Since being called up to the main roster, she has become one of the most decorated women ever. She is a two time Women’s Champion, two time Women’s World Champion, two time (and inaugural) Women’s Tag-Team Champion, one time NXT Women’s Champion the 2019 Money in the Bank winner, the 2024 Royal Rumble winner, and both the first women’s triple crown and grand slam champion. She has had incredible runs as both a heel and face, and is a future Hall of Famer and seems like she will stick around, as a trainer or producer, once she retires.

Becky Lynch started training in 2002, under Finn Balor, she would start to gain traction in 2005 getting booked in various indie promotions in Canada and the US. In 2006 she suffered a severe concussion and would end up taking six years off before returning in 2013 and quickly signed with NXT. During her time there she would also be part of the foundation of what would become the Women’s Revolution. When they were first called up, she was overshadowed by Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks, she did become the first SmackDown Women’s Champion in September 2016, losing it to Alexa Bliss at the TLC PPV in December. She would stay in the mix but it wasn’t until SummerSlam in 2018 that became the megastar she is today. After a post match beat down of Flair, a move designed to turn Lynch heel, the fans started to get behind Lynch. She started calling herself The Man. It was this fan support that pushed Lynch to wrestle in, and win, the first ever Women’s Main Event at a Wrestlemania. She would hold the Women’s Champions for a record 373 days before vacating it due to being pregnant. Like Bayley, Lynch is highly decorated and a sure fire future Hall of Famer.

Valkyria would team with Bayley and win a chance to face Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez at Wrestlemania for the Women’s Tag-Team Championships. Bayley would be attacked prior to the match and be replaced by a returning Becky Lynch, and together they would win the titles. They would lose them on the next Raw, and Lynch would turn on Valkyria. Valkyria would go on to beat Lynch at Backlash, only to lose to her at Money in the Bank. Bayley would return and attack Lynch leading to her getting a title shot on Raw. During the match Valkyria would attack Lynch leading to a DQ. Bayley and Valkyria would then have a number one contender match on the 6/30 Raw, that ended in a double pin, leading to this match.

I could make cases for all three of these women to win, Valkyria getting her belt back would be great, Lynch continuing to find ways to steal wins, or Bayley adding to her list of accomplishments. I think Valkyria getting her win back in a 1 on 1 means more, and Lynch can use Valkyria and Bayley against each other. They are already pissed at each other, so Lynch can let them fight and then steal the win.

Winner and still WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion: Becky Lynch

Stratton has only been in the WWE for four years, she debuted in 2021 and quickly started getting over. A head injury in August of 2022 would put her out of action until early 2023, by May she would win the NXT Women’s Championship. She would hold the title until September, when she would lose it to Becky Lynch. She would then debut on the main roster in the 2024 Royal Rumble, while she didn’t win, she did win the 2024 Women’s Money in the Bank while also aligning herself with Nia Jax. Stratton finally cashed in on Jax on January of this year and has now been champion for seven months, her reign has seen her mainly feuding with Nia Jax as well as beating Charlotte Flair at Wresltemania.

Trish Stratus has been involved with the WWE for 25 years now, making her debut in 2000, as the manager for the team of Test and Albert (T & A), after a run with the McMahon family, which including Vince making her bark like a dog (we really have come a long way), Stratus turned face and started wrestling. She was trained by Fit Finlay and, like I mentioned earlier, she was one of the few women we saw who were allowed to wrestle. She would go on to have a long standing rivalry/friendship with Lita and winning the Women’s Championship seven times. She would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2013, and has made various appearances since her retirement.

One of which would lead to this match, back in February Stratus would team up with Stratton at Elimination Chamber, held in Stratus’ hometown of Toronto, in a winning effort against Jax and Candice Lerae. Stratton would go one to express a desire to face Stratus someday. On the 7/4 Smackdown, Stratton called out Stratus and challenged her to face her at Evolution. And here we are, Stratus is one of the few women, from her era, that has been able to still put on a good match and Stratton is extremely talented for someone with only four years experience. I am looking forward to this one, Stratus has shown she can still go in the ring, and Stratton has more than shown she is a good wrestler. The outcome may not be in doubt but the match will be a good one.

Winner and still WWE Women’s Champion: Tiffany Stratton

Iyo Sky, is in her 18th year as a wrestler. She debuted in March of 2007, at the age of 16, teaming with her older sister Mio Shirai. The sisters would debut in AJPW in October of 2008 and would also wrestle for Zero1. They would win their first titles in April of 2009, defeating Moeka Haruhi and Tomoka Nakagawa to become the inaugural TLW World Young Women’s Tag-Team Champions. In June of 2010, the sisters would form the Triple Tails stable with Kana (aka Asuka), the trio were freelances and would bounce around various Japanese indie promotions, Iyo would also debut in Mexico during this time. In July of 2011 Iyo would leave the group to focus on a singles career. Iyo would join Stardom in 2011. In April of 2012 Iyo would defeat Alpha Female, to win her first World of Stardom Championship. She would become a double champion in May of 2014, defeating Natsuki*Taiyo for the High Speed Championship. She would go on to hold the title for 468 and a record setting nine defenses of the World of Stardom Championship, before losing it to Yoshiko in August of 2014. She would go to be the first women to hold all five of Stardom’s Championships and the first two-time World of Stardom Champion. She would make her NXT debut in the 2018 Mae Young Classic, where she would beat Rhea Ripley in the semi-finals and lose to Toni Storm in the finals. She would win the NXT Women’s Championship in June of 2020, defeating Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat, she would hold it for 304 days, before losing it to Raquel Gonzalez at the 2021 Stand & Deliver. She would win the Women’s Tag-Team Championships with Zoey Stark at the 2021 Great American Bash, defeating The Way for the titles. They would lose them to Toxic Attraction in October. She would make her main roster debut, in July of 2022, as part of Damage CTRL, she would win the Women’s Tag-Team Championships again with Dakota Kai, holding them for 48 days. At the 2023 Summerslam, Iyo would cash in her Money in the Bank contract on Bianca Belair to win her first Women’s Championship. A title she would hold until Wrestlemania XL, where she lost it to former stablemate Bayley. In March of this year she would beat Ripley for the Women’s World Championship, she successfully retained the title at Wrestlemania against Ripley and Belair.

Rhea Ripley has been wrestling since 2013, making her debut in RCW, where she spent the first four years of her career, becoming a two-time RCW Women’s Champion. She would mae her debut in the 2017 Mae Young Classic, losing to Dakota Kai in the second round, she would then compete in the 2018 Mae Young Classic, losing to Iyo in the semi-finals. She would then move to the NXT UK brand and become the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion, which also made her the first Australian women to win a title in the WWE. She would hold the title until January of 2019, where she would lose the title to Toni Storm. She would compete in the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble, and then spend most of the year feuding with and then teaming with Piper Niven. She would move back to NXT in August. She would feud with Shayna Baszler over the NXT Women’s Championship, during which she also competed in the 2019 Survivor Series, and led her team to victory in the first Women’s WarGames match. She would defeat Baszler in December, winning the NXT Women’s Championship. She would lose the title to Charlotte, the 2020 Women’s Royal Rumble winner at Wrestlemania 36. She would debut on Raw in February of 2021, where she would beat Asuka for the Women’s Championship at Wrestlemania 37, she would lose the title to Flair at that years Money in the Bank. She would team with Nikki Cross to win the Tag-Team Championships in October, before losing them in November. She would compete in the 2022 Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber. At Wrestlemania Backlash, Ripley cost AJ Styles his match with Edge, and joined the Judgement Day. She would win the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble, becoming the fourth wrestler to enter at one and win the match. She would successfully defeat Flair at Wrestlemania 39, in one of the best matches of the night, to win her second Women’s Championship. She would go on to hold the title for 380 days, before having to vacate it in 2024 due to an injury. Upon returning from injury she would enter a feud with Liv Morgan, which would lead to her being kicked out of the Judgement Day. She would regain the title from Morgan on the Raw premiere on Netflix in January 2025, she would the lose it to Iyo in March, fail to regain it at Wrestlemania, She would compete in and lose in the Money in the Bank match and fail to qualify for Queen of the Ring.

Iyo challenged Ripley for this match, claiming she wanted to face the best and also reminding Ripley that she has never beet Iyo. I’ve seen a lot of people complain that Ripley is getting another shot, but I point to the reaction she gets every night. She is in the top three most over wrestlers in the company, a spotlight she shares with CM Punk and Jey Uso. Has she dominated the scene? Yes. But it isn’t a Roman Reigns pre-tribal chief run. The fans want her, and they are getting her. And she also hasn’t been winning a lot lately, since losing the title to Iyo, she has lost more then she has won. Now it would suck if Iyo loses here, she hasn’t done much of anything since Wrestlemania, and deseres a big win here. Ripley is permaover and Asuka vs Iyo at Summerslam would have so much history behind it. I am going with my heart here and saying Iyo retains (probably due to some Rodriguez and Perez interference.)

Winner and still WWE Women’s World Champion: Iyo Sky