What’s the news?
Lana is the newest debutant on SmackDown LIVE. WWE shocked the world when they booked Lana to face Naomi at Money in the Bank for the Smackdown Women’s Championship as she has never competed in singles match on a televised event before.
The reason behind this decision, according to F4WOnline.com’s Dave Meltzer is that WWE wishes to make a very attractive female Superstar, like Lana, the flagbearer of the women’s division and booking her in such manner would help them to achieve that cause.
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In case you didn’t know...
Rusev and Lana were moved to Smackdown LIVE as part of the Superstar Shakeup. However, both of them didn’t debut on the blue brand right away as Rusev took time off to recover from a shoulder injury and Lana was away as she was transitioning from the role of a manager to that of a professional wrestler.
Lana debuted on Smackdown LIVE two weeks ago and challenged Naomi to a match before tripping her on the apron to gain her attention. Naomi accepted the not so gentle request and convinced Shane McMahon to grant the match at Money in the Bank for the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
The heart of the matter
Dave Meltzer claimed that WWE has been trying to get a super attractive female to lead their women’s division for quite some time and their first choice for this role was Eva Marie.
Eva Marie appeared in quite a few segments on Smackdown LIVE after the brand split but her run was cut short due to a suspension for violating the wellness policy. Marie didn’t return to television even after her suspension ended as she bagged acting roles and other projects outside the ring.
Lana is being viewed as the one who could become the face of the division as she has all the right ingredients desired by the company.
What’s next?
Lana will face Naomi tonight for the Smackdown Women’s Championship on the Money in the Bank PPV.
Author’s take
Lana being booked to face Naomi at MITB does not seem to me as a decision which was planned for a long time. Naomi didn’t defend her championship on the previous PPV and her not defending the gold even at Money in the Bank would have definitely taken a toll on her credibility as a champion.
I strongly feel that Naomi was booked to face a challenger at MITB but there was uncertainty backstage about holding the women’s ladder match. Once WWE decided to go ahead with women’s Money in the Bank match, they brought back Lana to face Naomi as other women were put in the aforementioned match.
What Meltzer states could very well be WWE’s long term plan but I have my doubts whether the reason he specified actually influenced WWE’s decision to book Lana’s first match for the title.
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