WWE Money in the Bank 2018 Profile: Alexa Bliss
Alexa Bliss is one of eight women challenging for a briefcase at WWE Money in the Bank 2018, but can the four-time women’s champion weasel her way into another signature victory?
In February, Alexa Bliss successfully defended the Raw Women’s Championship at the Elimination Chamber Pay Per View, outlasting Sasha Banks and Bayley, who created their own drama during the match, to pick up one of the most memorable victories of her career. Bliss would drop the title at WrestleMania 34 to Nia Jax, whom she had been bullying for months, and would lose to Nia again at Backlash.
Bliss has always been in the title picture since winning her first championship in 2016 at TLC when she put Becky Lynch through a table. Some fans have worried that Bliss may be in trouble if she isn’t kept in the title scene, whereas other fans have grown tired of seeing the cowardly heel afforded so many opportunities at the expense of others.
On the May 14 episode of Raw, Bliss qualified for WWE Money in the Bank 2018 by defeating Bayley and her “pal” Mickie James in a Triple Threat match. As usual, Bliss’s win was anticlimatic with a straightforward finish, and her DDT remains one of the most deflating finishes in WWE, which is, of course, by design.
A throwback heel, Bliss has done a great job of becoming the person most people love to hate, using her in-ring work to accentuate the fact that her character is supposed to be more conniving than skillful in the ring.
More from Daily DDT
- It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
- Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
- Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
- Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
Last year, we saw Carmella win the Money in the Bank briefcase in the first ever women’s MITB ladder match, and it almost feels like Bliss is the favorite to win this year.
I bring up Carmella, because she and Bliss have some similarities, beyond the fact that they are blonde. While Carmella is more boisterous and Bliss is more, well, evil, they are both arrogant heels who are at their best when they are talking, and they are also portrayed as being inferior wrestlers to their opponents. They just win by any means necessary.
It almost feels like the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match this year is set up for Bliss to win. Lana and Bliss are the only heels in the match, and we only received confirmation of Lana’s status as a heel last week when she attacked Naomi when Naomi had her back turned.
Sasha Banks, Ember Moon, Natalya, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Naomi are all in the ladder match, and they are all babyfaces.
At the Elimination Chamber, Bliss had the odds stacked against her by Kurt Angle after failing to defend her title for months (though, as she pointed out, that was mostly Angle’s fault) and faked a face turn after her win. I wonder if Bliss will simply swoop in and win the briefcase because of this type of story. Plus, it would keep Bliss in the title picture, and Bliss is a known quantity who can easily make things interesting on Raw with the briefcase in her hands.
That said, Bliss has won an awful lot of big matches. Wrestling isn’t about who “deserves” things, but it’s fair to wonder if WWE would be better off giving the briefcase to someone who could use another accolade (like Becky Lynch) or could use it as a stepping stone (Ember Moon).
Last year’s winner, Carmella, held the briefcase for months, used it to become one of the best promos in the company, and cashed in on Charlotte Flair to become a first-time women’s champion (and a very good one, at that).
Already a four-time women’s champion, Bliss has held a title more often than not during her early run in WWE. That speaks to just how brilliant she’s been at becoming a magnet for attention on WWE television, but it also means that she doesn’t necessarily need a briefcase to get opportunities or to feel important.
Bliss is one of the favorites to win the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match this year, but she’s far from a guaranteed choice. Moon, Lynch, Banks, and Natalya all have legit cases, with Natalya being a potential get-out-of-jail card for WWE with their potentially hastily-booked Raw Women’s Championship match at MITB between Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey.
Maybe more importantly, the Money in the Bank ladder match is a big opportunity for Bliss to try and silence her critics. The cream tends to rise in ladder matches in terms of in-ring performance, and Bliss has drawn heavy criticism, especially lately, for her tentative selling. Although Bliss performed a tremendous “Twisted Bliss” off the top of the pod in the Elimination Chamber match, wrestling fans continue to question her willingness to take big bumps. I guess we’ll see what Bliss has in store for us on June 17, but this is one non-kayfabe storyline to monitor.