Today’s Smackdown Live will be built around history repeating itself for the women of the Blue Brand. Presumably, other events will happen, but the focus will be on the ladies.
Here’s what we’re looking forward to on tonight‘s show:
The Ladies Climb the Ladder….Again
After the controversial ending to the first ever Women’s Money in the Bank match, General Manager Daniel Bryan announced that the ladies would have a re-match in the form of ANOTHER ladder match for the chance to catch the briefcase. A few fans and former WCW head Eric Bischoff think it is a poor idea to do it so soon on tv for free. This is not without its merit, however, it has been the most talked about issue in wrestling the last two weeks. Controversy breeds conversation. Bryan didn’t announce that villain James Ellsworth would be banned from the event. It seems the match will still be NO-DQ. Expect the rest of the ladies to find a way to get rid of Ellsworth. Though, if Ellsworth were to again get the briefcase for Carmella, the heat would be nuclear, and WWE might finally get the mega-heel that they’ve been hungry for.
*Correction: Daniel Bryan did indeed ban James Ellsworth from ringside and then later from the entire arena**
The first match exceeded expectations. Not even for women. It was one of the cleaner ladder matches I’ve seen. It wasn’t super spot-heavy, and it told a story of women working to achieve their goal. Having proved themselves capable, I expect this match to be a good one as well.
Prediction: While there are a lot of people hoping that a surprise entrant (Asuka) swoops in to steal it, I think we’re in for a different surprise. Tamina hasn’t had a title shot in a long time and was completely left out of the “Revolution” it would be a nice nod to her to have a menacing relative unknown wielding the briefcase, especially against such a fiery babyface as Naomi.
Another Women’s Rematch
Lost in the noise of last week’s controversy, Naomi granted Lana another match for the SDLive Women’s Title. Lana held her own in a mostly forgettable match at MITB. Expectations would normally be low, but there is a good chance WWE uses this match as a way for the new MITB winner to immediately cash in.
And all the rest!
- Baron Corbin beats up on Sami Zayn
- The Hype Bros wrestle to earn a tag title shot.
- The Kanellis’ cut a promo that makes it to TV this time
- Randy Orton puts another Singh brother through a table