WWE SummerSlam 2018 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

Triple Threat Match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship

Carmella (c) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair

What we learned: What we’re going to learn here is how Becky Lynch handles being a heel, but we’ll talk more in that in a moment. As for the match itself, they got much more time than I expected and I really enjoyed the pace and the story these three women were telling in the ring, but it was hard not to notice all the botches and missed spots in this one. It really hurt the overall quality of the match, and while it seems that Carmella would be the culprit in something like that, it really wasn’t her fault. Actually, this one of her better performances and to me, it actually seemed like Charlotte Flair was the one most off of her game.

Things started nicely with Carmella talking trash and trying to trick Becky and Charlotte into beating on each other instead of her (the slap and then falling to the ground was pretty great), but things just got progressively worse until the finish, which came off quite nicely as Becky seemed to finally be getting ready to win back the SmackDown Women’s Championship, but Charlotte snuck in to hit Natural Selection for the 1-2-3. Carmella snuck out, paving the way for Lynch and Flair to do the babyface embrace, which they actually did twice before The Irish Lasskicker finally got fed up and turned heel, much to the delight of the Brooklyn crowd, who were really pulling for her all night. This was very good storytelling, especially after the match. The botched spots hindered this match a lot in terms of wrestling but the turn will be most remembered here.

What’s next: It’s going to be very interesting to see how all of this plays out. Carmella is obviously owed a rematch, but does Becky really get involved in that match to help her win just to get back at Charlotte? Is Charlotte actually the heel in this situation? The first promo from a heel Becky Lynch should let us know how this is going to go. Carmella isn’t going to win that rematch and will likely be knocked back down the card a bit. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair at Hell in a Cell or Evolution or both should be good.