SK Exclusive: Bayley to hold Raw Women's Championship until SummerSlam
What’s the story?
After a very intriguing “Superstar Shake-up”, We spoke to one of our sources about the plans for the Raw Women’s Championship, which is currently held by Bayley. Apparently, she is set to keep the title until SummerSlam.
In case you didn’t know...
Bayley won the Raw Women's Championship for the first time on the February 13 edition of Raw, defeating Charlotte Flair with an assist from Sasha Banks. Many felt the win should have been saved for a major PPV. At Fastlane, thanks to another distraction from Sasha Banks, Bayley retained the title against Charlotte; and in turn, controversially handed Charlotte her first pay-per-view loss.
At WrestleMania 33, Bayley successfully defended her title against Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Nia Jax in a fatal four-way elimination match. This bout marked Bayley’s WrestleMania debut.
The heart of the matter
Our sources have indicated to us that the Bayley was originally set to win the title at WrestleMania 33 and end Charlotte’s streak on the show. However, Vince McMahon decided to switch the title earlier because he felt that the moment would have been lost in the shuffle.
We outlined in a previous article that the WWE higher-ups wanted to keep the title changes down to only FIVE changes, which is precisely what happened. This may also explain doing the switch before ‘Mania.
Also read: SK Exclusive: Update on the plans for Sasha Banks
Bayley is set to feud with Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax before moving onto a summer feud with Sasha Banks, who is set to turn heel on her best friend. Bayley will successfully retain the title until SummerSlam, where she is currently pencilled in to drop the title to Banks.
What’s next?
Bayley is likely to begin a program with Alexa Bliss first before moving on to Nia Jax, who is likely to feud with Mickie James. However, WWE officials are said to be somewhat unhappy with Jaxx after her match with Charlotte on Raw, so the WWE could opt to push Emma into title contention.
Author’s take
The women’s division has lost serious momentum in the past six months. The constant title flipping between Banks and Charlotte, coupled with Bayley’s underwhelming title reign have damaged the division significantly. It is essential that the WWE get back on track with the long awaited Bayley vs. Sasha program, which needs to deliver in and out of the ring. Otherwise, the WWE women could, unfortunately, find themselves back in the toilet break spot.
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