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2023: A rollercoaster of emotions
Despite the strong start of her new journey on RAW, 2023 would not immediately pick up for Iyo, due to the fact that Damage CTRL lost the tag team titles on February. Regardless of this beginning, Sky would keep her foot on the gas, an effort that would earn her an opportunity at the former ‘WWE RAW Women’s Championship’.
This victory materialized against Bianca Belair on a championship bout at Backlash. Despite a great 18-minute effort, Sky left Backlash with empty hands, but the story would not end there for her. Iyo’s remarkable resiliency led her to qualify for the women’s Money In The Bank match on the upcoming month.
The ladder match specialist managed to return home with the briefcase among her possessions, after she was able to defeat 5 other women, one of those being the very same leader of Damage CTRL in Bayley. Sky would not wait long to strike, because one month later, she cashed in successfully at Summerslam on Bianca Belair, thus crowning herself as the new WWE Women’s champion. She would finish the year with 5 defenses and thus heading into 2024 as the champion.
2023 was a great year for Sky, a fact that didn't apply to Hayashishita, because the new leader of Queen’s Quest endured a very difficult situation, due to a rift that opened inside her unit. Despite being long-time friends and tag partners, tension began to boil between AphroditE all throughout 2023.
This tension endangered the entire group, a situation that Oedo Tai was very eager to exploit, thus starting a rivarly that escalated towards a 12-woman steel cage match, where the losing member would be expelled from their faction. That faction war would end up being one of the most emotional bouts that the promotion had ever seen, ending on a cathartic Queen’s Quest victory.
