WWE Backlash 2018 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections
By Luke Norris
SmackDown Women’s Championship Match
Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
What we learned: If the SmackDown Women’s Championship match taught us anything, it’s that Carmella likes to yell … A LOT. Or maybe that if a heel can’t take advantage of a leg injury to win early in the night, another one will do so later on. In a night filled with average to bad matches, this was by far the worst. What’s worse is that I actually predicted that this would happen, even if I’m one of millions that think Carmella should not be carrying this title.
Carmella is a good heel. I’ll give her that. She’s arrogant and obnoxious and annoying and does her job well, unless that job is giving a good in-ring performance. I will say that it’s better than it was, but if you can’t even put on a good-looking match with someone the caliber of Charlotte Flair, something is missing. I almost felt bad for Charlotte for having to go through with this. I understand that she doesn’t need the title to remain relevant, but I certainly didn’t expect her to lose the way she did. Yes, it puts Carmella in a good spot to get a clean win and it is something new, but is this really what anyone wants to see?
What’s next: By losing her automatic rematch, it stands to reason that Charlotte Flair is now out of the SmackDown Women’s Championship picture. She’ll likely be one of the participants in the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match next month and will now have to work her way back up. Or not. So many challengers seem to be losing and still getting more title shots, so maybe I’m wrong there. Logic says that a new challenger is on the horizon for Carmella, and there’s a number of options on the blue brand. There’s Asuka or Becky Lynch, both of whom are obviously better choices as champion. Or maybe we’ll get that Carmella vs. Lana matchup that we’ve all been dreaming of for so long, a match that would obviously rival the likes of Trish vs. Lita. Sorry, there’s no sarcasm font for me to use.