Vince Russo Rips Triple H Over Controversial Booking of WWE Champion’s Loss

A reigning champion just suffered a major loss on Raw, and Vince Russo isn’t holding back on Triple H’s booking decisions. The former WWE head writer took aim at the WWE Chief Content Officer after Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria lost to Bayley in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match—before ever defending her title.

With Charlotte Flair set to challenge WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton at WrestleMania 41, the winner of the Women’s Elimination Chamber match will earn a shot at Rhea Ripley’s Women’s World Title. Five spots are already locked in, and Bayley secured hers by defeating Valkyria last Monday. But for Russo, the decision to have Valkyria take a loss before even defending her championship was completely baffling.

“Imagine this happening on Vince’s time, okay,” Russo said on The Coach & Bro Show. “Lyra Valkyria wins the Intercontinental Title, okay? Before she ever has a successful title defense, before there’s a title defense, she has a match with Bayley to be in the Elimination Chamber and she loses. They didn’t even give her one successful title [defense] and this guy’s gonna tell me Triple H’s a good [writer]? Are you out of your freaking bird?”

Valkyria won the newly introduced Women’s Intercontinental Championship in January but hadn’t wrestled a singles match since capturing the gold. That made her sudden loss even more controversial, as many believed she should have been protected instead of being used to advance Bayley’s road to WrestleMania.

While some argue that Valkyria’s star power won’t take much of a hit from one loss, Russo sees it differently. Having a champion lose in non-title action without ever proving herself in a title defense isn’t exactly a confidence booster.