Money in the Bank Qualifying Matches Announced for ‘SmackDown Live’

With Monday Night Raw beginning to fill out its half of the two Money in the Bank Ladder Matches, WWE announced a stacked lineup for Tuesday night’s SmackDown Live.

WWE announced during a commercial break that Daniel Bryan vs. Rusev, Jeff Hardy vs. The Miz and Charlotte Flair vs. Peyton Royce will all compete in qualifying matches.

Many of the Superstars announced for the matches had eventful Sunday evenings at the Backlash pay-per-view.

In his first singles match on pay-per-view since his return from retirement, Daniel Bryan successfully forced Big Cass to tap out to the Yes! Lock. Cass managed to get the last laugh though, attacking Bryan after the match and knocking him out with a big boot.

Jeff Hardy and The Miz both found themselves in midcard championship matches at the pay-per-view, though the two had very different outcomes. Hardy managed to retain his United States Championship by cleanly pinning Randy Orton, while Miz was unable to regain the Intercontinental Championship from Seth Rollins in what was easily the match of the night.

Miz announced he would be in a qualifying match on the Backlash post-show on the WWE Network.

“Money in the Bank, if you remember, in 2010 I won that match. And I went on in November 2010 and I defeated Randy Orton and became the WWE Champion,” Miz said. “Understand that tonight I went for the most coveted title in all the WWE because I made it that. But I make titles relevant. I make titles prestigious. Titles don’t make the man, the man makes the title. And whatever title I hold over my shoulder is the title to get.”

“When I win next month I will go on to become the WWE Champion, making it the most coveted, most prestigious in all of WWE.”

Finally Charlotte Flair failed to win back her SmackDown Women’s Championship by losing to Carmella via a quick roll-up pin. Flair was able to snap Asuka’s undefeated streak back at WrestleMania 34, but lost the title two night later after Peyton Royce and Billie Kay (now known as The IIconics) made their debut and attacked Flair on SmackDown Live. That allowed Carmella to run out and cash in the Money in the Bank contract she’d been holding onto for nearly a year.

SmackDown Live airs at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday night on the USA Network.