CARMELLA (C) VS. CHARLOTTE FLAIR VS. BECKY LYNCH

Back at Money in the Bank Carmella beat Asuka for the Smackdown Women's Championship and won the rematch at Extreme Rules the next month. She was defeated in non-title matches by both Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, earning each woman a title shot. They were consolidated into this triple threat match at Summerslam.

Charlotte Flair makes her way out first and she got this chance thanks to Carmella insulting the Smackdown General Manager, Paige. followed by her best friend Becky Lynch, who has a sea of support from the fans. Commentary for this match should be Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves but for some reason my WWE Network gets stuck on German audio. If Charlotte wins this match she will match Trish Stratus' record 7 Women's Championship reigns in WWE. Carmella makes her way out for her first defense without James Ellsworth, following him being fired in the run-up to this show. We get special in-ring introductions

CARMELLA © VS. CHARLOTTE FLAIR VS. BECKY LYNCH

(SMACKDOWN WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP)

WWE Summerslam 2018 (19^th August 2018)

Carmella runs her mouth about being a 2-time Smackdown Women's champion and hit Lynch with a right hand, Charlotte Flair attacks the champ with her back turned and chops. Carmella is sent to the corner but gets her boot up. Becky Lynch back on the attack sending Carmella to the mat and hitting a running leg drop and elbow drop but misses the seated senton. Carmella gets a dropkick and covers quickly but Flair breaks it up. Carmella slaps Becky in the back of the head and blames Charlotte because the Women's division = High School and Carmella backs away, leaving the best friends to argue. She rolls up Charlotte but Becky breaks it up and they go back to the arguing. Carmella has a shit-eating grin on her face and tries to attack, but Lynch catches her with a hip toss so she bails to the floor. They exchange some pinfalls and Charlotte follows Becky to the ropes but runs into a pair of arm drags. Charlotte rolls Becky up for 1 and is sent into the corner but flips over to the apron and shoulder blocks Becky through the ropes. Carmella brings Charlotte to the floor and sends her into the ring post, Becky is sent the other way into the steps. That's clever from Carmella, separating the challengers.

Carmella struts, mocking Charlotte before sending Becky into the ring for a nearfall. Carmella with the ground and pound, then she keeps Becky on the mat with a chinlock. Becky gets to her feet and forces Carmella into the corner to break the hold but runs into a back elbow. I hear a word I remember from taking German in school and I think the commentators are saying Carmella needs to end a triple threat quickly. Becky is clotheslined down and she takes a break on the floor so Charlotte can come in, Carmella slips out the back on a scoop slam attempt and brings Charlotte down by her hair. That's what Charlotte gets for wanting to wrestle like an athlete, not a Diva. Carmella covers for a nearfall. Carmella uses elbows and a chinlock, but it can't be that tight because Charlotte's breathing deeply. She ragdolls Charlotte around and woo's in her ear. Charlotte gets to her feet but is dumped outside.

Becky Lynch is back in, she rolls Carmella up for a 1 count and eats a dropkick. Carmella rubs Becky's face in the mat and reminds her who the champion is. Becky tries to fight to her feet but is quickly cut off. They trade O'Connor rolls and Charlotte gets back in the ring, booting Lynch's head into the third row. Carmella looks pleased that the alliance ended then reality hits that she's in the ring with Charlotte Flair. Charlotte catches a boot and hits a series of chops, followed by T-Bone suplexes. A back suplex follows and Charlotte kips up. Carmella kicks Charlotte away from the Figure Four attempt and Becky hits a knee lift on the apron to Charlotte. Becky climbs the ropes and hits a front dropkick on both opponents. Charlotte is hit with a pair of clotheslines and a leg lariat and the crowd wakes up since this is who they want to see. Charlotte bails so Carmella becomes the focus of the attack, a jumping forearm is followed by a spin kick and right hand. Bexploder suplex is the exclamation point on that one.

Becky Lynch goes back to the top but Carmella trips her, but the camera makes it look like she just slipped. Carmella hits the handstand headscissors holding the second rope and covers for a nearfall. Lynch catches a superkick attempt and Carmella fights out of another Bexploder, Charlotte Flair is back in hitting a spear that should have been a flatliner for Carmella but it didn't look right. Charlotte Flair gets a nearfall on each of them

Carmella sends Charlotte into the turnbuckle and struggles to lift her onto the top rope, the handstand headscissors is countered and Charlotte with a boston crab locked in, walking Carmella away from the ropes. Carmella rolls through but gets stuck in Figure 4 until Becky breaks it up with a top rope leg drop to Charlotte, Becky covers but Carmella breaks it up. Becky hits Carmella with a forearm, takes one back and begins a flurry of them, followed by a headbutt. Lynch is sent to the floor and Carmella follows with a dive through the bottom and middle rope into a crossbody. Charlotte gets a corkscrew moonsault from the top rope to the floor and almost landed in-between them. She sends Becky into the ring but Natural Selection is countered into a Dis-Arm her. Carmella breaks it up before Charlotte can tap, which gets her sent out of the ring. Becky hits a Rock Bottom on Charlotte and covers but Carmella breaks it up.

We get a replay of the dives as Carmella satellites around Becky, fights off a Dis-Arm her and sends her into the turnbuckle. She rolls Becky up and uses the ropes for leverage but still gets 2. Carmella hits a superkick and covers but Charlotte Fair breaks it up. Carmella kicks Charlotte out of the ring, fights off another Dis-Arm her, and hits another superkick, but Becky finally gets the Dis-Arm her locked in! Carmella reaches the ropes so Becky hits another Bexploder and locks it back in, right in the center of the ring. Charlotte Flair sneaks in with a Natural Selection and covers Becky to win the championship!

WINNER: CHARLOTTE FLAIR (NEW SMACKDOWN WOMEN'S CHAMPION)

This was a pretty good match, I thought Carmella would look inferior to her opponents every step of the way but she held her own. She was a cocky champion doing everything to keep her title and it worked. The challengers didn't use the alliance as much in the match as I would have thought, which is usually a gripe in triple threat matches but in this case, would have made sense, Carmella's dive through the ropes canceled the stupidity of the “you hit me!” “no I didn't” reason for dissention for me personally. The finish came out of nowhere in a good way and leaves it open to argument if Becky would be champion if Charlotte was down a few seconds longer. [**¾] 5/10.

After the match, Carmella walks up the ramp close to tears as Becky looks distraught. The music cuts and “Becky” chants begin. She hugs the new champion, infringing on Bayley's gimmick at the time. Becky slaps Charlotte and beats her down, then shoves her out of the ring. Charlotte is sent into the security wall and then over the announce table as the German commentator says “good for Becky Lynch” the fans also didn't seem to mind the beat down. Becky Lynch leaves defiantly as the fans chant “you deserve it” just what you want to hear after getting beaten up. This would all lead to their Last Woman Standing match at Evolution (here).