Tonight was the first time we saw the ladies of Team Blue since WrestleMania XL. Now that the big show has come and gone, we are now on the starting path to France: the home of the Eiffel Tower, the land of baguettes, and the site of next month’s Premium Live Event, Backlash.
We had our first sightings of women early in the show as we saw Bayley and Zelina Vega (alongside the LWO) arriving to the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan, where this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown took place.
B-Fab accompanied Bobby Lashley to a Number 1 Contender’s Triple Threat match against LA Knight and Santos Escobar. Elektra Lopez attempted to distract Lashley’s Pride stablemate Angelo Dawkins, but ended up getting a big boot from B-Fab for her troubles. It was the man without a valet in LA Knight who ended up winning the triple threat match and punching his ticket to potentially facing Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
Kicking off the second hour of the show, Bayley made her way out with her newly acquired WWE Women’s Championship on her waist. The crowd chants for her, and she expresses how proud she is of being the WWE Women’s Champion. While she’s had her fair share of gold, this current reign of hers is special and different to her, not because she defeated IYO SKY nor because of the new era the company is in but because this represents the most talented locker room she’s ever been a part of, as well as the fans who were always by her side over the years.
Bayley wants to give an opportunity to someone but before she can name the woman, Tiffany Stratton comes out, clad with a Cher Horowitz-inspired attire. She thinks it was rude for her to not be given an opportunity to be on the WrestleMania card and accepts what she believed was an open challenge from the champ. Awkwardly introducing herself to Tiffany, Bayley clarifies and says that she was not offering an open challenge, but wanted to give an opportunity to none other than Naomi; the “Buff Barbie” doesn’t take well to the mention of her name.
It’s now Naomi’s turn to enter the fray and Tiffany is quick to point out that she has already beaten her in singles competition. The Girl with the Glow bites back and reminds Ms. Stratton that she has earned all of her accomplishments in her WWE career. Before she can accept Bayley’s offer, she decides to go through Daddy’s Little Rich Girl first in a match where the winner would face Bayley for the Women’s Championship.
The resulting match started during the commercial break but as the show returned, we could see Bayley watching the match and supporting Naomi. The match was fairly back and forth, with both competitors trying to get one up over on the other. Naomi would win in the end via jackknife pin.
Shhhh… it’s Chelsea… AND PIPER! The woman formerly known as Doudrop (on second thought, let’s not remember that name) made her return to WWE TV after being out since February with a broken hand.
In a backstage vignette, Chelsea and Piper were in the office speaking with SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis, trying to convince Aldis into drafting them to the blue brand in this year’s upcoming Draft. Mickie’s hubby promises to find them two tag team opponents for tonight. Those opponents? Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair. While Piper put in a competitive effort, Chelsea Green wasn’t able to do so as just like Monday on Raw, quick work was made of her by Jade.
Next week on SmackDown, which will be airing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from the PPG Paints Arena:
- Bayley (c) vs Naomi for the WWE Women’s Championship
