WWE SmackDown took place in New York City tonight, and amidst all The Bloodline drama and in-ring debuts, there was an attempt to cash in a Money in the Bank contract. Unfortunately, attempt is the apt description, as it was broken up and crushed by The EST Bianca Belair. WWE Women’s Champion Asuka came out to the ring but didn’t get very far in her promo before Bianca Belair started attacking her. That beatdown was then interrupted too, but the chaos was only just beginning, and would soon involve two more people and the Money in the Bank briefcase.
After Belair pinned down Asuka with a flurry of punches, Charlotte Flair ran down to the ring and attacked Belair. Flair slammed Belair into the ring apron, which gave Asuka time to get to her feet and hit both with a sliding dropkick. The battle continued until Asuka went to the top rope, but then things took another turn.
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IYO SKY ran into the ring and hit Asuka with the briefcase, knocking her down to the mat. Then SKY hit Asuka with the briefcase again before being joined by her DAMAGE CTRL teammate Bayley. SKY told Bayley to keep Asuka locked down and set the briefcase in front of her before heading to the corner. Bayley then slammed Asuka’s head into the briefcase while SKY went up top.
Bayley put the briefcase underneath Asuka and then SKY hit the moonsault, slamming Asuka’s back on top of the case. SKY and Bayley went to cash in the contract and give it to the referee, but Belair then ran up and pulled Bayley out of the ring and started attacking her. At this point, everyone would start fighting all over the ring, but Michael Cole would state that Bayley never got the case to the referee and thus never initiated the cash-in, and it was all thanks to Belair.
This is likely to play out over the course of the next few weeks, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see this lead to a Triple Threat of some sort at SummerSlam. Belair is justified in her frustration, as Flair’s surprise return on SmackDown a few weeks back resulted in her jumping the line, pushing Belair’s already agreed-upon rematch with Asuka back. Adam Pearce said he would fix it, but Belair took the situation into her own hands.
After Pearce asked for her not to be at ringside for the Title match between Asuka and Flair, and so she bought a ticket and was watching from the crowd. She ended up getting hit by Flair after things spilled to the barricade, and that’s when Belair hit the ring and interrupted the match, costing Flair a chance at the Title. That’s now led to tonight, and everyone has beef with each other.
Once you throw SKY and Bayley into the mix, you’ve got a whole lot of intrigue circling this group. Belair is supposed to get her rematch with Asuka next week, but you can easily see Flair returning the favor and interrupting the match to shoot down Belair’s chance at winning the Title. If that happens, we could be looking at a Triple Threat for SummerSlam, and that could be the perfect place for SKY and Bayley to strike with the Money in the Bank contract.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!