Backlash is over and the road to the next PPV is Money. Money in the Bank is coming up on June 17th and the fans of women’s wrestling can continue to enjoy this event. Last year was the first (and second) time that women were given the opportunity to participate in this male dominated type of match.
On Monday Night, we saw Ember Moon qualify in her triple threat match against Sasha Banks and Ruby Riott. Last night on Smackdown, we saw Charlotte Flair face off against Peyton Royce in the first qualifying match for the blue brand.
The IIConics took to Twitter to show that if one of them wins the briefcase, then they both win. Also we learn that Billie Kay is not afraid of ladders.
#MITB ????????? #TheIIconics pic.twitter.com/0GyD0O1gXo
— Billie Kay (@BillieKayWWE) May 9, 2018
As the IIconics come down the ramp they continued their bullying tactics on Flair. They make fun of the fact that she lost to Carmella at Backlash. Kay makes fun of Flair’s pain and agony. She exclaims that she wants to bottle it as a fragrance and name it, “Disappointment by Charlotte”. Royce then continues to mock Flair but doing the “face” of how she looked like when she lost to Carmella. They announce, as always that the future is iconic.
The beginning of the match showed Flair in control. After the commercial break, we see Flair laying on the outside with Kay yelling at her as Royce gets her opponent back in the ring. Royce has Flair in a headlock momentarily until she breaks free from Royce. Royce gains the upperhand again and drops Flair face first into the turnbuckle. Royce drags Flair towards the center of the ring and goes for the pin. After Flair kicks out, Royce’s frustration sets in. She uses the turnbuckle and the ropes to help give her an advantage before she gets Flair back into a headlock. Eventually, Flair breaks free from Royce and starts her offensive strike with multiple chops. After some back and forth action, Kay pulls Rotce out of the ring. Flair then hops over the top rope and lays out Kay. Royce gets Flair back in the ring and attempts another pin to which she was unsuccesful.
Royce gets tied up with the referee, which allows Kay to take advantage of the situation. She hangs Flair up on the top rope. Royce then hits flair with a boot to the face. She goes for a pin, thinking she has it this time, and the Queen still kicks out! Flair continues to use all her signature moves to take out Royce. She does a moonsault and a spear, to which Royce still stays alive. Royce finally does submit, however, once Flair is able to lock in the Figure Eight.
Charlotte Flair qualifies and joins Ember Moon as the second out of eight women who will participate in this anticipated match.
The second women’s match was a match that the SmackDown General Manager Paige announced last week. Last week, she declared Absolution “dead” and that Mandy Rose would face Becky Lynch. Rose and her Absolution partner Sonya Deville were backstage waiting to head out to the ring. They agreed that there is no reason why they both can’t be in the ladder match at the money in the bank PPV. Paige came and stopped them before they headed out to the ring, wanting to make sure they understood that they are single competitors now. She wanted to make sure that Deville wasn’t going to be going out to ringside. Rose and Deville let their former mentor know that they were not going to abandon each other and that she is not their “mom”. Paige retaliated with barring Deville from ringside.
Deville took to social media to announce her displease of Paige’s decision:
With Rose going at it alone, she came out to her own new music. The best way to describe it in my opinion is a mix between the artist formerly known as Emmalina, a dash of Lana, and unique special effects like Goldust.
The match itself was not very long, but it was a solid showing for Rose. There was a lot of hard hitting back and forth. Lynch attemptded to get her opponent in the dis-arm-her, but Rose was able to avoid it. She did however hit the Bexploder in her. While in the corner, Lynch became hung up in the ropes which allowed Rose to pick up a roll up victory in her first match on the Smackdown brand. WWE posted on their Instagram about Rose’s victory.
There were a few other female superstars who popped up on the show in prerecorded segments. Carmella gloated further about beating Charlotte Flair and declaring that she will have a Royal ‘Mellabration next week, as Smackdown will be in yhe United Kingdom.
Naomi and Asuka declare that they wanted to be a part of the Money in the Bank Ladder match as well. Naomi swears that she will become champion again and Asuka stated that she wants to cash in on Carmella.
Zelina Vega will make her Smackdown Live! debut next week as her client Andrade Cien Almas will be making his debut. She states “Why London? Because when we do things, we do it BIG.”
Thoughts: It was a decent SmackDown for the women. Nothing over the top, but a solid showing. Money in the Bank is one of my favorite PPV’s and now that the women are partaking in this match type, it makes me more excited. I was hoping they would do two matches though. One with 5 or 6 women on the RAW roster and 5 or 6 women for the Smackdown roster. One match with 8 people men or women can sometimes get sloppy. Either way, I am looking forward to it.
Money in the Bank matches to me are like Royal Rumble matches. I always hope that the newer or up and coming talent have a chance to show off what they can do and get that opportunity. With that being said, I wish Peyton would have won that qualifying match. The IIconics are a big deal and meant for greatest. Nothing against Flair, but her taking a step back from any big match or title match would be nice.
Now with the news of Flair needing surgery, she may not be able to compete in the match anyway. Maybe Peyton will end up in the match after all. The match itself was decent. I felt that the back half of the match, especially when Billie started getting involved made it better.
I may be on my own with this, but I enjoyed Mandy’s entrance and music. It suits her. The match was good as well. I actually wished it would of been longer to be honest. It was a lot more fast paced then I expected. I am not crazy about Becky losing (again), but hey, if it gets Mandy over, I am okay with it.
With Ember and for the sake of argument, Flair in the Money in the Bank match, that leaves six spots still open.
As of now, this is who i would like to see in it:
- Billie (or Peyton, if she gets another shot)
- Sonya or Mandy (one is better than none)
- Dana Brooke (long shot, i know)
- Asuka
- Sasha
- Naomi or Becky
I am sure Bayley will be in it, even though I will hold onto the smallest shred of hope that Dana will be. I am very interested in how they will use Mandy and Sonya.
What were your thoughts on the show? Who do you want to see in the money in the bank match? What did you think of Mandy Rose’s Smackdown debut match/entrance? Am I crazy to want Dana Brooke in the match? Sound off in the comments!!!
