WWE Money In The Bank 2018 – Week Three SmackDown Qualifiers
We started off this week’s SmackDown Live qualifiers by learning that Big Cass could no longer compete in his Money In The Bank qualifying match against Samoa Joe, after “re-injuring” his knee on the European tour. As a result, the evening’s main event would see Daniel Bryan face off against Jeff Hardy, the winner going on to face Samoa Joe in the final MITB qualifier match next week.
The night started off with a Miz Tv segment where the Miz, who was with his guests, the New Day, claimed he would get to the bottom of who (who? who? who?) will be the member of the Pancake loving trio to enter the men’s MITB ladder match. Sadly we never got an answer and we are still none the wiser to which member of the New Day will join the other seven competitors.
The first of the night’s qualifying matches saw Lana vs. Billie Kay. With the absence of Rusev, Aiden English accompanied the ‘Ravishing Russian’ to the ring, while Peyton Royce joined Bille. However, before the match even began, the IIconics took a mic and proceeded to mock English. After some terrible singing, Billie finally got in the ring, only to be distracted by English who called for everyone’s attention as he raised a large “Lana Day” sign.
Unimpressed by his actions, Peyton slapped English across the face with Lana coming to his aid, sending Peyton into the barricade. Billie ambushed Lana before throwing her back in the ring for the match to officially start. However, the match itself didn’t last very long. Planting a kick to Billie’s head and hitting her with a FaceBuster, Lana picked up her first singles win and has advanced to the Women’s Money In The Bank ladder match.
The second qualifying match of the night saw Naomi vs. Sonya Deville. Deville accompanied by Mandy Rose looked to be the strongest competitor in this matchup with a quick pinfall attempt early on. However, Deville “felt the glow” as Naomi came back fighting, countering a clothesline from Deville into an unusual pin attempt and getting the victory.
After hearing from both Jeff Hardy and Daniel Bryan earlier in the evening, the main event saw the pair face off against one another for the first time in wrestling history. With the added bonus of Samoa Joe on commentary, we were given a true spectacle. The two competitors had a stellar match with both men getting some fairly equal offense in. However, it would be Bryan who walked away as the victor after strapping Hardy into a heel hook submission and making the WWE United States Champion tap out. After the match, Bryan was confronted by Joe telling him there would be no reason to celebrate tonight because next week they would face off.
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