Naomi will continue her run as SmackDown Women’s Champion. After a decent match, Naomi submitted Lana to retain. But the biggest moment of the match belonged to Carmella.
After hitting her surprisingly good finisher, Lana scurried for her championship pinfall. Instead of victory, Carmella’s music hit. She and James Ellsworth skipped the ring, briefcase in hand.
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As we all gawked, Carmella went to cash in her contract. And then she didn’t.
Instead, she snatched the briefcase back from the WWE official and was content to watch the match as a sassy spectator. Minutes later Naomi was submitting Lana.
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Lana vs. Naomi was a match that seemed to spring out of nowhere. Lana’s transition from simply not being on TV to competing for the SmackDown Women’s Championship was abrupt, to say the least. This match happened due to Lana cordially asking Shane McMahon for the opportunity. Lana’s insertion into the SmackDown women’s roster feels eerily familiar to WWE’s tactics with Eva Marie
There’s plenty of avenues for this division at the moment. Naomi as Champion has been OK, but there’s just some bigger fish in WWE’s pond. How they’ll go forward is still anyone’s guess. The only thing that seems guaranteed is that Carmella almost cashing will be a running gimmick.
