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WWE Evolution 2025: 7 big takeaways, including the landscape of the women’s division turning upside down

WWE Evolution 2025 took over the State Farm Arena on Sunday evening in Atlanta for the promotion’s second-ever all-women card.

Naomi stole the show with an unlikely Money in the Bank cash-in, Trish Stratus showed she still has what it takes to compete at the highest level, and Stephanie Vaquer’s stock is at an all-time high with a championship match right around the corner. As we round out WWE’s weekend residence in the deep south, here’s seven big takeaways from a monumental evening in Atlanta.

1. Naomi trades in her briefcase for championship gold

Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley put on an absolute war in a match that lived up to the expectations established when it was first announced. Sky and Ripley are two women who have incredible chemistry any time they’re in the ring together, and Sunday night was no exception. A well-timed referee bump led to the action spilling onto the floor before Naomi’s stunning cash-in.

Naomi’s cash-in was legitimately shocking and it totally transforms the landscape of the women’s roster. Naomi seemed firmly planted in her rivalry with Jade Cargill and I assumed that was the direction for her eventual cash-in. Instead, she opens the door atop the mountain to the Women’s World Championship picture, with the likes of Sky and Ripley suddenly looking up. How WWE moves from here will be fascinating.

2. Jade Cargill seems destined for the title

Jade Cargill is now 2-0 against Naomi in singles matches, winning for the second time after previously defeating her at WrestleMania in April. Their No Holds Barred match was brutal and involved some great spots, with much of the action being spent with Naomi on the receiving end of a beatdown. Cargill looked like an absolute monster and continues to seemingly be groomed to be a future world champion and world-beater.

It felt like the direction this was going meant Naomi would get her comeuppance sooner rather than later, and quite possibly at SummerSlam when Cargill fights for the WWE Women’s Championship at SummerSlam. Before the main event, I predicted that Naomi’s days holding the Money in the Bank briefcase would be numbered — I just didn’t anticipate she’d cash in on the very same night, which seems to separate Cargill and Naomi for the foreseeable future.

The move could allow their rivalry to cool down, Cargill to inch closer to holding championship gold, and for WWE to eventually circle back to Naomi in the future.

3. Stephanie Vaquer is riding huge momentum

When Stephanie Vaquer signed with WWE and immediately landed in NXT, it wasn’t clear what her path to the main roster and superstardom would look like. She’s taken the WWE by storm though, quickly rising up the ranks in NXT and capturing both the NXT Women’s Championship and the NXT Women’s North American title less than six months into her tenure.

With her move to the main roster, her rise has followed a similar trajectory. More than a month after she dropped the NXT Women’s Championship to Jacy Jayne, Vaquer has competed in the Money in the Bank match, the Queen of the Ring tournament, and now she’s earned a world championship match at Clash in Paris. If there were betting odds for this one, they would favor Vaquer holding one of WWE's women’s world championships by the end of next year’s WrestleMania 42 weekend.

4. Becky Lynch retains, but Lyra Valkyria belongs

When it became clear which match was going to close Sunday's show, there was almost no question this one should open it. Between three absolute workhorses, Becky Lynch, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria were almost guaranteed to put on a show-stealer. Yet somehow they over-delivered in a match that set the tone for the evening.

Valkyria has been one of the more consistent performers in WWE since her arrival, and she’s only upped her game since jumping into this program after WrestleMania 41. What was projected to be a sink-or-swim moment for her has been exactly that — she swam. She’s stepped up in a big way with this feud, both in the ring and on the mic, to match the levels with Lynch and Bayley. Sunday night was no different as Valkyria looked the part of a main-eventer alongside two of the most consistent women in WWE.

5. Trish Stratus passes the baton to Tiffany Stratton

Trish Stratus and Tiffany Stratton was everything we imagined Stratton and Charlotte Flair would be when they first locked up. The match very much felt like a passing of the guard from the former face of the women’s division to the current.

Stratus played all the hits and at times appeared on the verge of becoming the new WWE Women’s Champion. My assumption was Stratus would walk out champion to set up a passing of the guard moment against Jade Cargill at SummerSlam. Instead, Stratton is the one receiving the push in the right direction, keeping the course as she continues to build momentum on what is a pretty decent title run.

Other thoughts:

6. No surprises with The Judgment Day retaining their Women’s Tag Team titles. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss gel really well as a tag team and it’s fresh to move Flair from on her own to the support of a tag team. She received a huge response in Atlanta and this unlikely team feels like the perfect opposition to the Judgement Day. I can understand why Sunday's match wasn’t a 2 vs. 2, but that should ideally be where we’re headed.

7. Blake Monroe’s alignment with Jordynne Grace was deservedly short-lived, as she was flying a bit too close to becoming a character she just spent more than a year building and subsequently tearing down in AEW. A right-out-of-the-gate rivalry with Grace is going to be hard-hitting though, and offers what could be a signature program incredibly early into her WWE tenure.

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