Charlotte Flair Wins the SmackDown Women’s Title at SummerSlam

Despite SummerSlam taking place in Brooklyn, not far from her hometown, Carmella received a reaction that would make any heel proud on Sunday night at the Barclays Center.

The reigning SmackDown women’s champion was seemingly playing second fiddle to the heat between Becky Lynch and Charlotte heading into the match, but she let her charisma shine through, egging the crowd on, and was never not a focal point of a match featuring two of the most popular women’s wrestlers on the WWE roster.

There was no love lost between Charlotte and Becky Lynch, as they quickly went after each other early on after Carmella was taken out of the match. The match followed the typical formula of triple threats, with one competitor taken out and rolling to the outside while the other two had a singles contests in the ring.

Late in the match, Charlotte locked on the Figure Four on Carmella. This brought Lynch into the ring, who nailed a leg drop from the top on Charlotte for a near fall. Becky and Carmella went toe to toe afterwards exchanging shots in mid ring until Lynch was sent to the outside. Carmella then hit the ropes and hit a suicide dive to the outside on Lynch.

Charlotte followed that up with a corkscrew off the top rope to the outside taking off both opponents.

Charlotte and Lynch got into the ring and Becky locked in the Dis Arm her before Carmella broke up the pin. Becky then hit a Uranage on Charlotte for a near fall. Carmella came back in the ring and hit some offense on Lynch, including a superkick for a near fall that Charlotte broke up.

Soon after, Becky locked the Dis Arm Her on Carmella, who reached the ropes to break it up. Lynch then hit the Becksploder and went for a submission again but Charlotte broke it up. Charlotte then hit a suplex and pinned Becky for the championship victory.

Becky glared at Charlotte after the match as the crowd boo’ed Charlotte and chanted “Becky.” The pair hugged anyway (and the crowd boo’ed that, too). They exchanged some words as they embraced. Becky then took out Charlotte with a big punch and the crowd went absolutely wild. This was interesting in that the company may have wanted Becky to come off as the heel here, but the crowd was totally on Becky’s side (and it would make a lot more sense for Charlotte to be the heel).

After Becky destroyed Charlotte at ringside and the announce position, she walked out and glared all the way up the entrance way as the announcers sold her actions in a heel sense. Even so, the crowd continued to cheer Lynch, and really, she is justified in her actions from a storyline perspective. It will be interesting if they try to force Lynch into being a heel or react to the way the crowd really feels about the story and make Charlotte the heel, which is the far more logical route.