“The Biggest Party of the Summer” is fast approaching and despite weeks of tussling between the women on RAW, two women have managed to get to the front of the line. Both Sasha Banks and Bayley have managed to one-up the RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss over the past few weeks. However, only one woman is going to get that final invite to the Summerslam bash. Let’s see what happens when this best-friend duo are forced to against each other!
Ahead of tonight’s RAW, WWE.com posted videos of both potential #1 contenders. Bayley recalls her fond memories of her main roster debut at this exact date and exact arena at Battleground 2016.
Her opponent Sasha Banks is a lot more confident, she mentions how she’s managed to prove that she’s tougher – referring to her battles with Charlotte, compared to Bayley falling short to a kendo stick. She’s ready to prove everything once again, but she assures us that they will still remain friends following the match.
We’re also treated to a side treat, with Emma interrupting RAW General Manager Kurt Angle to voice why she’s being left out… something she’s done since 2014, but hey it’s being done again! She insinuates that maybe she needs to date Kurt’s son Jason Jordan to start getting some attention. Her intentions are noted by Kurt, but probably not in the best way as her sets her up in a match… with Nia Jax.
The match between Nia and Emma is pretty much a squash. It’s sad to see the woman who helped elevate the entire credibility of the NXT women’s division get treated as a joke. You can’t help but think that this was some form of punishment for her tweet the other week, but I’ll comment more about this in the thoughts section. The take home from this match is seeing Nia do a running front flip senton!
Before the #1 contender showdown, Renee Young catches up with RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss. The ‘Goddess’ of WWE seems quite relaxed knowing that she’s got 2 strong competitors ready to come for her – she seems more into the fact that this friendship that has been a thorn in her side over the last couple of weeks. Maybe this can be the break up she’s finally looking for!
Bayley and Sasha also bump into each other backstage ahead of their match. It’s clear to see the particularly ‘friendly rivalry’ between them both. Although, it is Sasha that seems to be in stating that ‘the best will win’ as she confidently heads to the ring.
The match is a solid bout, with both the faces evening each other throughout and the crowd being torn between them both. The closing scenes of the match see both women trading blows – elbow, forearms, slaps, even running shining wizards. The end comes with Sasha knocking Bayley from the apron, which gives her an opportunity to move to the top rope. She hits Frog Splash as a tribute to her idol Eddie Guerrero and tries to go for the final cover, but gets rolled over onto her back! 1.. 2… 3! Bayley has countered and is going to Summerslam!
While Bayley celebrates, Sasha looks shocked while Alexa makes her way to the ring. She faces off with her future Summerslam opponent and raises the RAW Women’s Championship above her head. The path of Summerslam has begun!
WWE.com caught up with Bayley after her impressive win over Sasha Banks calling it “bittersweet.”
Thoughts: Booking wise, I was quite looking forward to this match actually. We know that Bayley/Banks is an amazing combination that the WWE have held off on for a long time, so it’s definitely not a bad thing to see their names billed against one another on the card. My biggest fear going into it though, was that the crowd would turn on Bayley. These are two extremely popular draws, but Bayley’s crappy booking over the last couple of months have really taken a hit to her popularity. However, I was pretty pleased with how the crowd gave both of them an equal shot!
I was slightly anticipating a triple threat scenario, but I guess that would probably be a better decision because SmackDown has been doing a lot of multi-women action lately. This also makes the picture a bit more tense, while there are 2 main opponents, Sasha and Nia still haven’t been written out the situation and I’m sure they’ll be factors heading towards Summerslam. I think I’m still a bit pressed that Sasha still hasn’t gone heel and the tinges bring me back to her top days of 2015, but at least we know that Bayley VS Sasha is still a button that the WWE have in their back pocket. It was a good fun match and we know that they have amazing chemistry, which I felt was a very feel good match to see.
However, let me not start about how they did Emma… like has she pissed someone off backstage? The way they’ve treated her over the last few years has been dreadful. From the awful Emmalina push to not winning a singles match since her most recent return, it’s almost like they’re punishing her for something. What rubs it in, is how literally everyone else is getting a shot around her – now that’s no discredit to any of the other women being pushed, but if they can… they why does Emma get treated to a 2 minute squash match?
Overall, the two-tier division gap continues to be the biggest problem and it was portrayed this week! Once again, Emma draws the short straw, while all the other women move forward. Next week Mickie? Dana the week after? How many times can we see the same combination of these 4 women. Also, where the hell has Alicia Fox gone?!
Are you happy that Bayley is going to Summerslam? What do you think about Emma getting squashed? Hit me up in that comment section!
