SmackDown this week was a rough one for the women’s roster. The booking seemed to be very thrown together and a little last minute. What did have continuity was the one match that was given between Bayley and Liv Morgan. Last week, Bayley defeated Morgan’s tag team partner Ruby Riott and this week she sought out to get the three count in back to back weeks.
Bayley defeated Liv Morgan
Morgan tried to get back in the win column for The Riott Squad but thanks to Billie Kay she suffered the same fate as Riott did last week. She came so close to putting away the former SmackDown Women’s Champion after delivering a codebreaker but Bayley kicked out at the last second.
Kay came down to the ring with a bunch of resumes to try and reconcile with Riott. Riott wasn’t having it and the resumes went flying. This was the distraction that Bayley needed as she delivered the Rose Plant after a rake to the eyes behind the official’s back.
In the first of two Network Exclusives to derive from this match, Bayley was seen backstage sweeping in reference to the fact that she has now swept The Riott Squad. She takes the full credit for pinning both women in back to back weeks despite Kay getting the assist. Bayley says that it is very clear Kay is a fan and she appreciates the admiration she has for the Role Model.
The second backstage moment comes from The Riott Squad talking about Morgan’s loss. Morgan does reference that although Kay was at ringside it was Riott who threw the resumes which had some land in the ring to distract the referee. She apologizes because she is just frustrated and her eyes her from the rake to the eyes that Bayley delivered.
Throughout them talking you can see Kay in the background striving for that comedic gold she is so good at by picking up her resumes and trying to gather them together.
Now on to the less polished moment of the night.
There was a segment that saw both Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks in the ring. The Women’s Tag Team Champions, Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler made their way out to confront them. It isn’t a complete surprise that the tag champs are on SmackDown as they can freely go to whichever brand they want as tag champs. What is surprising is this booking meant nothing.
There really was no reason for Baszler and Nia to be on SmackDown in this type of segment. It was only to capitalize on the “hole” remark from Jax on RAW. That moment has become iconic and hilarious, but did we need it again in this most random time? She literally just hurt her hole again.
If they had shown up and started something with The Riott Squad that would have made more sense. However, when there is already a number one contender on their own show (Lana and Naomi) – why are they going to another? It really was just a time filler and a poorly executed one at that.
Banks was seen backstage earlier in the night talking to Kalisto. Reginald approached her to seemingly present a type of peace offering. Banks was skeptical at first but liked that Reginald feels that she could defeat Belair.
Let’s get into the Winners & Losers of the week:
WINNER: Bayley
Bayley continues to stay on top even without having the title around her waist. If you would have told me how successful Bayley would become as a heel originally I would have doubted it. She has really become just a great fully rounded performer.
I am not sure if this is leading to a Bayley and Billie Kay tag team but I am kind of for it. Bayley can certainly help elevate Kay and I could really see them becoming champs together down the road. If we can’t have The IIconics better then I guess this will be the second-best thing.
LOSERS: The Riott Squad
I feel with them being the only fully rounded tag team on SmackDown it hurts them. I am all for them being on the blue brand, they seem like a good fit, it just hurts their growth. This has been said by me time after time but we really need more women on both SmackDown and RAW. There are only so many combinations of matches we can see.
What I will say though is I am glad that Bayley is finally having matches with the girls she has wanted to for a while now. You know, the one’s they wouldn’t let her have when she was champion.
LOSERS: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler
No. I don’t like it. The fact that they went to SmackDown to only further a joke wasn’t needed. Especially with them being champions, what was the point? I can see them being told now – “Okay Nia and Shayna you’re going to be on SmackDown and Nia you’re going to hurt your hole again.” It is just odd to me they are continuing this yet they beep out the word “hole” on their recap.
The lack of build of for the Elimination Chamber has to be my last parting thought.
We have one match for the women scheduled for that event at this time and it is for the RAW Women’s Title. We can assume that they may throw on the Women’s Tag Team Title match as well since we have number one contenders. What about SmackDown? Nothing at all would make sense besides to maybe have a number one contender (winner faces Sasha at Fastlane) Elimination Chamber match but it seems pretty clear we aren’t getting one for the women this year.
What did you think of this week’s SmackDown? Who were your Winners & Losers? Leave your thoughts below. :)
