The October 13, 2025 episode of RAW, featured Rhea Ripley dominating Kairi Sane en route to a victory. Ripley unleashed her power moves, culminating in a headbutt and her signature “Riptide” for the pinfall at the 14:52 mark, and then Ripley raised her arms in triumph. But soon after the match, critics critiqued WWE’s booking under Triple H, who was reportedly accused of prioritizing athletic spectacles over logical storytelling. Such criticism of the fixtures reportedly caused the victory celebration to sour moments later, with Vince Russo also joining it.
A report by Sportskeeda claims that the former WWE head writer Vince Russo reportedly unleashed a tirade on the latest episode of Legion of RAW, blasting the company's creative direction. “Once again, we're beating a dead horse,” Russo reportedly fumed. Further in his statement, Russo didn't mince words, “Kairi Sane is half Rhea Ripley's size. How are we having a fifteen-minute match with a woman half her size? I don't know how that helps Rhea Ripley, man. I don't know how,” he reportedly vented. He further added, “If Kairi Sane picks a fight with Rhea Ripley in a bar, it's over in sixty seconds. It's over. So when it's to the point of unbelievable. And they seem to never understand when it gets to this point.”
Tensions have been boiling since October 11, 2025 tag-team bout of Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY against Asuka and Kairi Sane
64-year-old Vince Russo, who helmed WWE's Attitude Era golden years with edgier, character-driven narratives, reportedly sees the Ripley-Sane matchup as emblematic of a “dead horse” being flogged to exhaustion. This feud, rooted in the dissolution of the reported Damage CTRL stable earlier this year, has seen Rhea Ripley and her unlikely ally IYO SKY clash repeatedly with Asuka and Kairi Sane's Kabuki Warriors. The tension boiled over at WWE Crown Jewel in Perth, Australia, on October 11, 2025 where Ripley and SKY triumphed in a high-stakes tag team bout before a raucous hometown crowd for the Aussie star. Yet, even that victory, marked by SKY's emphatic chants and Asuka's reluctant aggression reportedly drew Russo's side-eye in prior episodes, where he labeled Ripley and SKY “bad actresses” for a promo segment he deemed wooden and incoherent.
Ripley's 2025 can be said as a rollercoaster of dominance and drama. After vacating the Women's World Championship reportedly due to a shoulder injury in April 2024, she roared back this spring, qualifying for Money in the Bank and reclaiming her spot as a top heel-turned-antihero. Her alliance with SKY, forged from mutual respect amid championship pursuits, has added layers to her “Mami” persona—once the gothic enforcer of Judgment Day.
