What's the story?
Carmella, the first woman to pick up the Money in the Bank contract, spoke to Talksport about her whirlwind last 12 months in the WWE.
In the interview, she also spoke about her plans of cashing in the contract, "At the moment my plan is to hold onto the contract as long as I can. I’m messing with Naomi right now because she has the title, but who knows how long she’ll have that and maybe I’ll cash it in soon or maybe I won't. I like to catch whoever it will be off-guard, so I’m not going to reveal my plans just yet."
In case you didn't know...
Despite starting as the manager for Enzo and Big Cass during her NXT days, Carmella has successfully made the switch to being one of the leading women on the WWE main roster.
She beat the likes of Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks to become the first woman to pick up the Money in the Bank contract, which is quite the achievement.
"You can compare me to those as much as you want but I’m here to make history," she said, and continued, "Are any of those girls Miss Money In The Bank? No, but I am."
The heart of the matter
Since pairing up with James Ellsworth, Carmella has been quite the success in Smackdown Live. Their unusual chemistry and the whole surprise factor of a male manager role has made the WWE Universe sit up and take notice of their gimmick.
"I don’t think anyone saw me being with James Ellsworth coming, but it got people talking and its different, you really see women with a male manager. I really enjoyed the controversy around the Money In The Bank Ladder Match because everyone was so upset about, and I loved it. It’s been a lot of fun and I think we make a great team," she said about her pairing with Ellsworth.
What's next?
Despite her comments, we might see Carmella cash in her Money in the Bank contract at Summerslam 2017.
The championship match between Natalya and Naomi hasn't had the best of back stories; "The Princess of Staten Island" could take advantage of the situation at Summerslam and cash in her contract.
Author's take
Carmella has been a bright spot with her in-ring work, and her work on the mic in her time at Smackdown. Her MITB win might have been a big surprise, but she has repaid the faith since then and seems (quite harshly) to be one of the bigger draws for the Smackdown Women's title match despite not being a part of it.