What’s the story?
Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks absolutely tore the house down last night at the Great Balls of Fire PPV in a RAW Women’s Title match for the ages. The match ended after Bliss got herself counted out on purpose, leaving “The Boss” the winner of the match but not the RAW Women’s Champion, but also leaving the door wide open for a rematch between these two.
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However, according to IWNerd.com, the finish to the match last night may have been changed at the last minute by Vince McMahon.
In case you didn’t know...
With rumours spreading over the past few weeks that Sasha and Alexa do not like each other, many expected this match to be a hard-hitting affair. The two women didn’t fail to disappoint in what was one of the better women’s matches of 2017.
Bliss was able to retain her title after losing via countout and thought that she had gotten the best of the three-time RAW Women’s champ. However, after the match ended, Banks, almost seething from being cheated out of the match, chased down the RAW Women’s champ and the two bRAWled on the stage and at the announce table after the match.
The heart of the matter
While it seemed that the plan for Summerslam was for Bliss to take on Nia Jax one-on-one for the RAW Women’s Title, the way the match ended last night clearly left the door open for this feud to continue.
In fact, IWNerd.com is reporting that the finish to last night’s Women’s Title match was changed at the last second, and that “Little Miss Bliss” was supposed to defeat “The Boss” by pinfall.
Also, the site reports that the betting odds for the match showed a major spike just before the PPV started in favour of Banks, indicating that Vince changed his mind on the outcome just prior to the event and has chosen to keep this feud going.
What’s next?
According to Dave Meltzer and his appearance on “The Live Audio Wrestling” radio show, the company can go one of two ways with this feud.
One, add Sasha to their plan for Summerslam and replace Nia, leaving Jax on the outside looking in again. The second scenario for the division is to have Bliss and Sasha continue their feud for a few weeks on RAW and end weeks before Summerslam, leaving plenty of time for Nia and Alexa to start their feud heading into the company’s 2nd biggest PPV of the year.
Of course, they could also make the match at Summerslam a triple threat match involving all three women, but that would take some major work on the creative side of things to get us to that point.
Author’s Take
While I do believe it is time for Nia Jax to take the next step in her career, there is no doubt that Bliss and Banks have earned the right to continue this feud after last night’s epic matchup. I also think it was the right call to have Bliss lose but retain her title last night in the fashion that she did. “The Goddess” of the RAW Women’s division has been a fantastic heel since coming over from Smackdown, and has earned the right to carry the belt into Summerslam next month.
Personally, I’d like to see another match between Bliss and Banks at Summerslam. However, this time, the match should be a Falls Count Anywhere match or something to that extent, so the champ can’t get herself counted out on purpose. If they try to rush through the end of the feud on the RAWs leading up to Summerslam and then move on to Nia-Bliss, it could kill the momentum of the feuds, both of which could be the biggest of RAW’s Women’s division since Sasha-Charlotte.
Quite honestly, any of these three women could leave Summerslam as RAW Women’s Champion and it would make sense. Sasha has been the cream of the crop since getting her call up from NXT a couple years ago, while Bliss has developed into one of the best heels in the company (man or woman), and Jax has shown flashes that she can absolutely dominate the entire division.
It will be interesting to see what Vince and Co. decide moving forward, but the fact remains that the division is in good hands with these three women sitting at the top.
