Before Smackdown began, it was announced that Charlotte Flair was not going to be in her Mixed Match Challenge match with Bobby Roode after the Smackdown show due to injury. With this in mind, it was apparent that there is barely going to be any build up for the Smackdown Women’s Championship match in less than two weeks at Wrestlemania.
With Flair out, temporarily, there was a fan vote to see who would be Roode’s partner. The votes were in, and Flair’s best friend, Becky Lynch, was announced as her replacement. Before the Mixed Match Challenge match went underway, Lynch had to have her match on Smackdown first. Lynch had a one on one match against Ruby Riott.
Whenever anyone faces off against Riott, she always has her squad, Sarah Logan, and Liv Morgan right by her side to protect her. This match was no different. Riott attempted every trick in the book to seal a victory against Lynch. The Riott Squad showed off their pack like mentality by attempting to distract Lynch.
The distraction first starts with a lot of trash talking from Morgan and Logan to Lynch as the action spilled to the outside of the ring early on. Once both competitors are back in the ring, punches were traded, but Lynch gets the upper hand. Riott flips Lynch around into a backslide, and a count of 2 from the pinning combination. Lynch is then able to get on the top rope, bur Logan distracts her by jumping up on the ring apron. Riott was able to capitalize and attempted to pin Lynch by putting her feet up on the second rope for leverage. The referee saw this and broke up the count.
The match culminated into Riott attempting the Riott kick, with Lynch catching her and trying to lock in the disarm her. Morgan then got on the ropes to distract Lynch but was promptly knocked to the floor outside the ring. After a couple roll ups, Lynch was finally able to pin Riott and get the victory.
After the match, Logan and Morgan attempted to attack Lynch, but Lynch was able to fight them off and stand tall in her victory. Lynch will see the Riott Squad, amongst others, in the Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal a week from this Sunday.
Thoughts:
To me, Smackdown has been very lackluster with their Wrestlemania buildup. Last week they had a Carmella cash in attempt and Natalya and Naomi were in matches. This week? Carmella, Natalya, and Naomi were not even on Smackdown. How are we a little over a week from Wrestlemania and half the women from Smackdown are not even being promoted?
The battle royal seems to be a launching pad for the Sasha Banks and Bayley feud, when they could have simply had a one on one match instead. Flair missing from Smackdown was not an issue, however, because keeping her and Asuka away from either other will make the match at Wrestlemania better.
Not much from this episode made an impact on anything.
What did you think of last nights Smackdown? Do you think Charlotte will be back next week? Do you think the Riott Squad will dominate in the Wrestlemania Battle Royal? Were you happy with Becky getting the win? Let us know in the comments.
