WWE’s Money in the Bank delivered two new briefcases into the mix, though one of them didn’t make it out of the event. Drew McIntyre ended up cashing his in on Damian Priest only to have CM Punk mess it up for him. That leaves only one briefcase still active, and Tiffany Stratton is the superstar in control of it. Stratton had the briefcase with her on tonight’s SmackDown, and while it wasn’t blinged out yet, she did almost put it to use with a cash-in. Stratton’s ally Nia Jax attacked WWE Women’s Champion Bayley and left her in the ring, and that’s when Stratton started to try and cash in the case, only for Jax to come in and interrupt it while Stratton played it off.
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A New Alliance
Stratton and Jax have been helping each other out for a few weeks now, and it all started after Jax became Queen of the Ring and won a Title shot at Bayley’s Championship. Stratton started to help Jax out a bit and soon the two became full-time allies, helping each other quite a bit in recent weeks. It’s proven to be a fruitful partnership, but tonight the first cracks started to show now that the briefcase is in the mix.
By winning the Queen of the Ring tournament, Jax also won a shot at the Women’s Champion Bayley, and the match is set to take place at SummerSlam. Jax has been reminding Bayley of their impending battle every chance she gets, even as Bayley has had to defend her Championship against other opponents. So far Bayley has been able to fend them off, but now Stratton has the upper hand in any given situation by holding the briefcase.
Issues With the Team
While Stratton holding the briefcase only makes this duo even more of a threat, it’s also causing issues between the team, fully on display during tonight’s episode. After Jax took out Bayley, the Champ wasn’t remotely recovered as Jax left the ring. Stratton could be seen looking back at Bayley as she neared the ropes to exit, and after a few times looking back, Stratton finally started to walk back and towards the referee.
Stratton then pulled the case and handed it to the referee, who was trying to figure out if she wanted to move forward with the cash-in or not. Things were just about to take off until Jax saw what was happening and came back into the ring and interrupted, looking confused as to what Stratton was doing. When Jax came up Stratton put the briefcase behind her back and played it off, but Jax was still puzzled and shocked as they left the ring.
Stratton didn’t end up cashing in, but now the stage is set for a possible cash-in at any time, and Jax will assuredly be on the lookout for that as we head towards SummerSlam. Granted, Stratton could also wait until Jax is the Champion and then cash it in on her, but for the moment, Jax is more concerned with getting Bayley to SummerSlam as Champ so her match doesn’t fall through.
What did you think of Stratton’s attempted cash-in? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!
