Friday Night SmackDown has spent another week developing two main storylines. One being the horrendous act from SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley to her former best friend Sasha Banks two weeks ago. Before we get to that, the other major storyline involves the ever-evolving Alexa Bliss as she becomes more and more like The Fiend.
Ever since The Fiend attacked Bliss with the Mandible Claw at the end of July she has been unlike herself week after week week after week. It started with small nuances such as watching The Fiend from a monitor backstage or how she has braided her hair.
Last week is when things started to turn as Bliss was part of a number one contender match. During that Fatal Four-way, Bliss hit her best friend Nikki Cross with a Sister Abigail – The Fiend/Bray Wyatt’s most famous finisher maneuver. Afterward, Bliss exited the match in a trance as she walked up the ramp to the backstage area.
Cross would go on to win the match and is set to face Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Title at Clash of Champions on Sept. 27. She ended up being the guest on A Moment of Bliss this week to ask Bliss why she did what she did. Cross understands that it was a match with every woman for herself, but why did Bliss hit her with that move? And why did she up and leave the match the way she did?
Bliss responded with this concern saying she doesn’t know. She can’t explain it because she doesn’t fully understand what is happening herself. Lacey Evans‘ music would then hit as she made her way out on stage to interrupt the segment. She says that the only reason why Cross won the number one contender match last week was that Bliss leaving the match threw her off her game. Evans says Cross should be thanking Bliss because of that.
She would continue to go on and say how Cross is too nice and she will not beat Bayley. Bayley has a mean streak that Cross simply doesn’t have. Evans says that Cross is too nice, too weak, too short, and doesn’t have a backbone. This led to a match between the two with Bliss on commentary.
Cross would end up picking up the win on Evans after a neck breaker. Bliss cheered her on throughout. After the match, Evans was at ringside draped over the announce table. She is yelling at Bliss asking her what she is looking at and mentiones The Fiend. Bliss continues to yell at commentary and asks where her purse is (which is a mood).
Bliss then becomes in a hypnotic state much like last week and delivers a Sister Abigail to Evans.
Next up we have Sasha Banks’ first words since Bayley attacked her two weeks ago and after Bayley delivered her reasons why last week. In a neck brace, Banks was at the WWE Performance Center and she was questioned on how she feels about Bayley’s reasoning for the attack. Bayley had pretty much blamed Banks for the attack, saying that her best friend was using her all along. This is why she did what she did.
Banks became emotional discussing how the two of them came up together in the Performance Center. How they walked the halls together and a place they essentially built. She further goes on to say that Bayley is an idiot and naive. That Bayley is nothing without her.
Banks declares that she will one day take what Bayley does love, and that is the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Bayley then attacks her from behind with a steel chair. The champ rips off the neck brace and puts Banks’ head in the steel chair (much like she did when she took her out two weeks ago). As she presses down on the chair, personnel comes to stop Bayley and hold her back from doing any further harm to Banks.
Shout out! The woman that was part of stopping Bayley from attacking more was none other than indie star Elaine Simon also known as Layne “Derby Doll” Rosario! She had a previous tryout as a referee for WWE. I hope this means we see more of her in the future.
Lastly, we have the newest vignette for the Mystery Woman on SmackDown. We get closer and closer every week to her revealing herself. This week after she was getting dress behind a partition, she nearly showed her face as she was staring into a mirror.
Based off of screenshots from last week, there have been confirmations that this should be Carmella. Mainly due to the tattoo on her arm that can be seen in last weeks vignette.
If it is Mella, then it will be good to see her back and refreshed in what appears to be a repackaging of her character.
Let’s get into the Winners & Losers of the week:
WINNER: Sasha Banks
Her acting skills are top notch. I love her promos and they tend to have me holding on to every word she says. I am very excited to see the dynamic between her and Bayley feuding finally happening. Not to sure how this is all going to pan out and how long, but they made us wait long enough for it so I am ready.
WINNER: Alexa Bliss
Much like Sasha, I always thoroughly enjoy Alexa’s acting. This is definitely a slow build they are doing for her, however, if she goes full blown Sister Abigail then I am all for it. It seems it is going to obviously be eventually Alexa vs. Nikki coming up soon.
LOSER:
I am not really sure if there is a “loser” this week. All the women did a great job and nothing really made anyone seem out of place. My one big gripe about SmackDown recently is that they have only been having one match. That seems a bit ridiculous. So I guess as far as that, we the fans are losing out on more matches.
The whole Bayley vs. Nikki at Clash of Champions is throwing me for a few reasons.
One: We have seen this time and time again. So unless they are finally going to allow Nikki to win and then feud with Alexa for the title (which I would be okay with) then what is the point?
Two: I think they are trying to hold off having Sasha winning the SmackDown Women’s Title until a live crowd comes back. If that is the case then her and Bayley can certainly feud without the title being involved. I don’t think they are going to do that though after hearing Sasha this week saying she wants to take the title from Bayley.
Three: If Carmella is indeed the Mystery Woman then who is she going to feud with? Are they really gonna push her? Maybe have her interfere in the title match at Clash of Champions? It does seem a little muddled.
What were your thoughts on SmackDown this week? Who were your Winners & Losers? Let us know in the comment section below!
