Credit: WWE.com
Female SmackDown champions Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair started the broadcast with a backstage discussion that ended with the adamant The EST that she wouldn’t come to Boss’s aid tonight. From there, Banks made his way to the ring for a title defense against half of the women’s doubles champions, Nia Jax.
Jax’s partner, Shayna Baszler, accompanied her to the square circle for the match.
The super aggressive Banks attacked in front of the opening bell, eliminating Baszler and pushing Jax into the corner. A double attack on the knee, followed by a bulldog, followed before The Boss tried a bank statement. Jax reacted and gave a gorilla press blow to two.
Jax added a second stroke and an elbow drop to another near fall. She performed a perfect Samoan Drop, but again, she only managed to keep the champion for two. Belair’s music played and the 2021 Royal Rumble winner made her way to the ring, checking to see if Banks was going to break, despite her backstage warning moments earlier.
Back from the commercial, Jax took aim at his opponent’s left leg, applying an elastic silencer before swinging Banks in the corner. She reapplied the submission, but Banks escaped and delivered a reverse Meteora.
When the action was halted, Baszler stepped into the ring and inadvertently hit his own tag team partner, allowing Banks to mark the jackpot accumulation for victory.
Result
Banks defeated Jax
Grade
B
Analyze
This preview of Sunday’s women’s title fight, in which Jax and Baszler will defend against Banks and Belair, was a welcome change to the tired formula. There was not a long and bloated promotion inside the ring used to prepare for the main event of the night. Instead, we had a brief backstage backstage that made the direct transition to a high profile title fight.
This fight was solid that forced Banks to fight from below and a Belair alert, knowing full well that she has a better chance of leaving WrestleMania 37 with the female title if she faces The Boss instead of The Irresistible Force, seeming to support her.
Corey Graves calling Baszler for possibly intentionally kicking Jax was an interesting development.
Jax fought for her title and if she had won, she would almost certainly have regained her focus, leaving her title tag reign with Baszler to suffer. Did the Queen of Swords purposely cost Jax to benefit? This is certainly an interpretation.
What is certain is on Sunday night, the two teams fighting for the tag titles have their own tension to overcome if they want to leave the event with the gold. As a result, a game that would otherwise be pedestrian presents considerable drama for the creative team and the artists.