Rhea Ripley Breaks Silence After IYO SKY’s WWE Backlash Victory

IYO SKY’s former tag team partner, Rhea Ripley, has just commented on her best friend’s Backlash bout against former mentor Asuka.

IYO SKY and Asuka have been feuding for months now. SKY, who formed a successful tag team with Rhea Ripley last year, named RHIYO, went up against the Kabuki Warriors, Asuka and Kairi Sane, regularly in the final third of 2025 and the beginning of 2026. RHIYO even managed to win the Tag Team Titles from their rivals on the Netflix anniversary special episode of Raw in January this year.

Asuka has constantly berated SKY for leaving her and Kairi, who were originally like family. The Japanese stars had intense heat between them, with SKY even trying to convince Sane to leave her abusive mentor, Asuka.

However, this storyline had to be cut off abruptly when Sane was released by WWE recently as part of the post-WrestleMania 42 talent cuts. This led the company to continue the feud between Asuka and SKY, in which things reached a boiling point on last week’s Raw when the two exchanged barbs in a video package that ended with SKY being sprayed by Asuka’s mist.

The feud eventually culminated on May 9th at Backlash. After an intense duel with submission maneuvers that were traded back and forth, SKY hit her rival with the Bullet Train Attack, followed by the Over The Moonsault on her to secure the win and “slayed her demon” as Michael Cole noted in commentary.

Rhea Ripley Shares Her Thoughts On IYO SKY Vs. Asuka At Backlash

WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley was all praises for her best friend, IYO SKY, and was elated with SKY’s win.

The RHIYO tag team had to be split up after Ripley won the Elimination Chamber match and became #1 contender for Jade Cargill’s WWE Women’s Title, which she defeated Cargill at WrestleMania 42 for. Ripley and SKY officially parted ways on the Raw after WrestleMania 42. However, Ripley continues to extend her support to her former tag team partner and best friend.

Rhea Ripley took to X to post her thoughts about the IYO SKY vs. Asuka match and said that it was phenomenal.

She even noted that SKY finally defeated her mentor and that she was proud of her.

Iyo Sky vs Asuka Phenomenal! Best of the best! You did it @Iyo_SkyWWE
Proud of you!

Iyo Sky vs Asuka 👏🏽
Phenomenal!
Best of the best!

You did it @Iyo_SkyWWE 🥹🖤✨
Proud of you!

— RheaRipley_WWE (@RheaRipley_WWE) May 10, 2026

With this match now done, it seems that this long-standing feud between the two Japanese stars has come to a close. However, one would be remiss to not see these two performers face each other again in a different context in the future.

Also read: 4-Time World Champion “Semi-Retires” After WWE Backlash; Bids Goodbye Backstage