Carmella recently spoke with Ryan Satin on his Out of Character podcast and as the first (and second) winner of the women’s Money in the Bank it is the perfect time of the year to speak to the most beautiful woman in all of WWE.
In 2017, the women of WWE did something for the first time. They competed in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Carmella joined Becky Lynch, Natalya, Tamina, and Charlotte Flair for this history-making match which resulted in Carmella technically winning with controversy.
At the time, the Princess of Staten Island had James Ellsworth by her side who climbed the ladder and dropped the briefcase to her. The match garnered a lot of backlash as a result of a man grabbing the contract in the first-ever match for the women.
“I was super excited. At that point in my career, I had never won a title and thought it was something that would solidify me as making history. Even though I wasn’t the one grabbing the briefcase and I knew that would be very controversial, but I thought it’s even better that it’s controversial because people would be talking about it. It was trending on Twitter for a few days because people were so upset. To me, I loved the drama and controversy.” [h/t – Fightful]
A re-do of the match took place on a following SmackDown which involved the same participants and was given twice the amount of time. Carmella would win the briefcase again, this time grabbing the contract herself. While speaking to Satin, she confirmed that she isn’t sure she was scheduled to be the winner the second time.
Carmella sheds light on the second and official briefcase win
“With that, we ended up having it again a week later and I was able to grab it myself that time. I remember thinking, ‘this is big. I’m doing something big and I had been waiting for that opportunity and I wanted to prove myself and prove myself on the mic. I don’t know if I was necessarily going to win the second match. I knew the first one was going to be controversial, but I don’t think I was originally supposed to win it again. The SmackDown after winning, I cut a promo and I remember thinking, ‘this is my opportunity to kill it.’ I came back through the curtain and Vince was so complimentary to me about my promo and was like, ‘some of my top guys can’t cut a promo like that.’ I was so excited and it ended up winning it again. It really propelled my career,” she stated.
Carmella is the only woman to have held the briefcase for an extended period of time. She held it for 287-days before cashing it in on Charlotte Flair after the attack by the debut of The IIconics which led her to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
In the years that follow, Alexa Bliss and Bayley have won and cashed in during the same night they won their respective MITB matches. They both successfully won titles. Asuka won the briefcase last year and then was handed the RAW Women’s Championship the following night on RAW after Becky Lynch revealed she was pregnant. Lynch explained that the win of the briefcase in this instance was the title itself inside instead of a contract.
As for this year’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, it will be taking place on July 18. It has been confirmed there will be eight women in this year’s match and it will already include Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, Naomi, and Asuka. Women from the SmackDown brand haven’t had a chance to qualify for the match yet so Carmella may still be added.
Who do you think will win this year’s Money in the Bank match and will they go on to become a women’s champion? Leave your thoughts below!
