WWE Money in the Bank 2018: Could Natalya Be Replaced By Bayley?
Natalya is seen as one of the favorites to win the Women’s WWE Money in the Bank 2018 Ladder Match, because she could potentially cash in during the match between Ronda Rousey and Nia Jax. However, there’s also a chance she isn’t even in the match at all.
Last night on Raw, Natalya faced Nia Jax for the first time in her career, and the match went about as you would expect it to. Natalya used her veteran experience to try and pick apart Nia, but the Raw Women’s Champion’s strength was just too much for Natalya to deal with. In the end, Natalya tweaked her knee, and Nia took advantage, hitting “The Queen of Hearts” with a Samoan Drop to win the match.
Afterwards, Natalya was lying on the ground in pain, and Ronda Rousey emerged from commentary to help Nattie leave the ring. As she was helping her friend, Rousey got into a staredown with Nia, who was either legitimately concerned with Natalya’s injury or was simply feigning concern in an effort to get in Rousey’s head.
Rousey and Natalya were talking backstage as Nattie iced her knee, and they were interrupted by Nia, whose concern did seem genuine. This is interesting, because it looked like Jax turned heel last week when she “bullied” a local competitor” to try and show some superiority over Rousey, who will her opponent in the Raw Women’s Championship match at WWE Money in the Bank 2018.
Unfortunately for Jax, Rousey either saw right through Nia or didn’t believe that she was actually worried about Natalya’s health. Jax openly wondered if Nattie would be able to compete in the Money in the Bank ladder match, which takes place in just two weeks.
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Natalya needed crutches backstage, and it seems like WWE is portraying this as a serious injury. Even though Natalya is a babyface and could fight through the pain, WWE might use this as an opening to just omit Natalya from the match, replacing her with Bayley.
Although Bayley is in the doghouse after entering a six-woman tag team match without authorization, she only did this because Alexa Bliss, who will be competing in the Money in the Bank ladder match, feigned an injury to avoid competing. Bayley merely evened the odds, and she ended up winning the match for the babyfaces with a Bayley-to-Belly.
She has a legitimate case to competing in the Money in the Bank ladder match, especially since she had a serious disadvantage as the first entrant in the Gauntlet Match two weeks ago on Raw. With Sasha Banks in the ladder match and Bayley currently on the sidelines, I wouldn’t be surprised if Natalya’s injury forced her out and Bayley replaced her.
Natalya was a standout in last year’s Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Matches on SmackDown Live, which is no surprise since she’s one of the best wrestlers in the company. So if Natalya were to be replaced due to a serious knee injury in storyline, then it would make sense for WWE to swap her for another babyface who can capably wrestle a ladder match. That babyface would, of course, be Bayley.
It’s unclear how Natalya’s knee injury impacts the finish of Nia vs. Rousey, but if she isn’t competing in the ladder match, then the idea of her cashing in to prevent a conclusive finish goes out the window. It thus makes it more likely for Rousey to defeat Nia for the Raw Women’s Championship, though critics will point out that it may be too soon for Rousey to win her first title on the main roster.
Either way, this is a situation to monitor, and I’d like to briefly give some props to Natalya for the way she sold the injury and the way she seemed conflicted when her two friends, Rousey and Nia, were vehemently arguing with each other while Natalya was icing her knee in between them.