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The women’s match on this week’s episode of WWE Smackdown between Rhea Ripley and Naomi was reportedly locked into place just hours before the show began.
Fightful is reporting that the original match slated for the show was Ripley against Sasha Banks, but that changed at the last second. There is no indication as to the exact reason why the change was made.
Sasha Banks & Naomi are scheduled to put their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against Ripley & Liv Morgan on Monday Night Raw. That match was supposed to happen on this week’s show, but was called off due to Ripley entering into health protocols.
Banks and Naomi won the Women’s Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, Texas. The duo defeated Morgan & Ripley, Shayna Baszler & Natalya, and Zelina Vega & Carmella in a fatal four-way match.
Other matches on this week’s Monday Night Raw are Austin Theory vs. Finn Balor for the WWE United States Championship. In addition, WWE is likely to provide follow-up material on the story they started last week between Bianca Belair and Sonya Deville. After teasing that she knew who Belair’s next championship opponent was, Deville revealed herself as the opponent and that she’d take the WWE Raw Women’s Championship.
This week’s Smackdown featured Madcap Moss defeating Humberto, Drew McIntyre defeating Sami Zayn via disqualification, Ricochet defeating Jinder Mahal for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, and Riddle defeating Jimmy Uso in the main event.
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There is no reason Sasha Banks should be wasting her time pal’ing around with Naomi at this stage of her career. That’s like putting her with Natalya. Veterans who are never going anywhere.