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Friday Night SmackDown emanated this week from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. We are six days removed from Clash at the Castle, but WWE’s international invasion continues with the next premium live event, Money in the Bank, taking place on Saturday, July 6th, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Speaking of Money in the Bank, the focus of every woman on the blue brand has shifted to climbing that ladder and grabbing that briefcase to cash in on a future championship opportunity. Monday Night Raw Superstar IYO SKY has already punched her ticket, but who will be joining her to represent Team Blue?
Our first sight of the women comes in the form of Bianca Belair, who’s doing some final preparations for a Money in the Bank qualifying match against Michin and Chelsea Green. Her tag team partner Jade Cargill enters the shot and tells her that she wants to talk to general manager Nick Aldis about getting a tag team championship rematch since they weren’t pinned at Clash at the Castle. Bianca agrees but acknowledges that she has to focus on her qualifying match; she reveals that Jade is involved in a qualifying match next week.
By the time the show had returned from commercial, it was off to the races with all three competitors! WWE Women’s Champion Bayley was seen watching from backstage. A notable moment happened before another ad break: Belair was ready to throw a punch to Chelsea, but she ended up ducking and the fist hit the face of Michin, who punched back, resulting in a brief scuffle between them, interrupted only by a suicide dive from Green. The match kept going after the break, with the three continuing to pummel each other in order to solidify their entry into the match.
The end of the bout would come when Bianca would hit a KOD on Michin, but she was quickly thrown out of the ring by Chelsea before she could even make the cover, with Green pinning Michin for the victory and becoming the first female on SmackDown to participate in this year’s women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
Bayley, still watching from the back, was confronted by Blair Davenport, who told her to let her “little friend” Naomi know that she was looking forward to facing her in a Money in the Bank qualifying match next week, and that when she will become Ms. Money in the Bank, she’ll really be looking forward to cashing in on the Women’s Championship.
Finishing things off was Michin, who was in the locker room recuperating when Tiffany Stratton walked in on her. Stratton mocks her and says that she couldn’t handle the pressure, but Michin retorts, saying that at least she didn’t have to crawl to Nia Jax for protection. An offended Stratton tries to hit Michin, who does the job for her and leaves a special handprint on her face for good measure. She immediately gets pushed into a box by Nia Jax, who looks at a gleeful Tiffany, and the two leave the locker room after each other, with Michin now lying hurt on the floor.
Here’s what’s set up for next week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown:
Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Candice LeRae vs Jade Cargill vs Tiffany Stratton Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Naomi vs Blair Davenport vs Indi Hartwell
