What's the story?
On an edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the reason behind WWE SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and number-1 contender Ember Moon losing to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, was revealed.
SmackDown Live Superstars Bayley and Moon lost the inter-brand matchup to RAW Superstars Bliss and Cross, seemingly owing to a couple of other RAW vs. SmackDown matchups ending in favor of the Blue Brand on the same episode of SmackDown Live.
In case you didn't know...
Despite utilizing most of its Superstars on both the RAW as well as SmackDown brands, inter-brand competition in the WWE does indeed exist with Superstars from the Red Brand and Blue Brand competing for the pride and honor of their respective show.
That said, this week's episode of SmackDown Live featured 3 prominent inter-brand RAW vs. SmackDown matchups. Drew McIntyre of RAW faced Kevin Owens of SmackDown, United States Champion AJ Styles (RAW) took on WWE Champion Kofi Kingston (SmackDown) and Bliss and Cross (RAW) faced Bayley and Ember Moon (SmackDown).
The heart of the matter
The RAW vs. SmackDown match saw Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (RAW) defeat Bayley and Ember Moon (SmackDown).
Bliss picked up the victory for her team, by successfully pinning Moon after a thunderous "Twisted Bliss" off the top rope.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has now insinuated that while Owens beat McIntyre, and Kingston defeated Styles, the RAW brand had to pick up a victory in at least 1 of the 3 matchups on the episode of SmackDown Live.
Resultantly, Bliss and Cross were booked to defeat Moon and Bayley, which in turn explains why Bliss pinned Moon clean, despite the latter being set to challenge Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Title at SummerSlam.
What's next?
Reigning SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley will defend her title against Ember Moon at WWE's SummerSlam event, which takes place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on August 11th.
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What are your thoughts on Ember Moon shockingly being pinned clean by Alexa Bliss, days before her high-profile title match at SummerSlam? Sound off!