After almost squandering an attempt to cash-in her Money In The Bank contract against Charlotte this past Tuesday on SmackDown Live, Carmella may want to review her situation and work out her next steps.
In response to the attempted cash-in on Charlotte, Carmella released the video below, explaining how it was all part of her plan:
#SDLive pic.twitter.com/RRVDXL4jMp
— MS Money in the BANK (@CarmellaWWE) January 31, 2018
Miss Money In The Bank will no doubt be hoping that she doesn’t join the likes of Baron Corbin in failing to win the championship title when she does actually cash in. The Lone Wolf has lost all momentum in recent months, with a bleak mid-card future in his sights instead of what could have been a WWE Championship reign.
Since Carmella won her Money In The Bank contract, Naomi, Natalya, and Charlotte have been the SmackDown Live Women’s Champion. While Naomi and Natalya are by no means weak champions, Charlotte represents the strongest and biggest challenge on the SmackDown Live roster for any other member of the locker room.
Charlotte has had 7 different championship reigns:
- NXT Women’s Championship (1)
- WWE Diva’s Chamionship (1)
- WWE RAW Women’s Championship (4 times)
- WWE SmackDown Live Women’s Championship (1)
In total, so far, Charlotte’s reigns amount to 776 days as a champion. Which, when compared to Carmella, is quite a daunting prospect. Therefore it makes perfect sense for WWE to use the Money In The Bank strategy to elevate Carmella into a Champion’s position.
In the last year, Carmella is one of the superstars who has been able to carve their own unique path in WWE. With the help of James Ellsworth, The Princess of Staten Island has developed her persona and position on SmackDown Live into one of great potential.
Unfortunately the current SmackDown Live Women’s Champion has been presented as a dominant competitor, so any cash-ins against Charlotte could result in Carmella losing the title at the next given opportunity.
If you also take into consideration the fact that Carmella was later defeated by Becky Lynch via submission, it seems as though her win:loss ratio isn’t where it should be for that of a potential champion.
To view Carmella’s position from a different perspective and context, we can look at the WWE 2k18 ratings:
- Asuka 87
- Charlotte 85
- Alexa Bliss 85
- Nikki Bella 85
- Naomi 85
- Sasha Banks 85
- Nia Jax 83
- Natalya 83
- Becky Lynch 83
- Bayley 83
- Mickie James 80
- Carmella 79
- Dana Brooke 75
- Alicia Fox 74
- Maryse 73
It’s only a video game, but it’s supposed to be based on reality. Even if they are dated, the figures do not look good for Carmella who is positioned 12 out how the whole of the Women’s division (not taking into account those who have joined more recently from NXT).
The addition of Ronda Rousey, makes Carmella’s chances of making a significant impact on the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship even more slim. Therefore it is now even more imperative that Carmella evaluates her position and time carefully to ensure that her title reign is not short-lived.
Before Charlotte became SmackDown Live Women’s Champion, Natalya had the title, but her heel persona never gave Carmella the window needed to take advantage. While Carmella would make her presence known, Natalya often won matches with other opponents via submission, or was defeated by disqualification. This meant that there were very few times that Natalya was situated in the traditional “ready-to-pin” position in the ring.
One key aspect that potentially held Carmella back was having to share the spot light with James Ellsworth. Before joining up with Carmella, Ellsworth had successful feuds with AJ Styles and became a household name in a very short space of time. The Princess of Staten Island was then able to work with Ellsworth and increase her popularity and interest among fans before parting ways, turning on him in front of the rest of the locker room. It could be argued that without Ellsworth, Carmella wouldn’t be where she is; however Carmella might have been SmackDown Live Women’s Champion by now if she had left James Ellsworth sooner.
The other main aspect that hasn’t gone Carmella’s way is the sheer lack of genuine opportunities.
In terms of matches at PPVs that Carmella could have targeted, there haven’t been that many. In fact the only real opportunity would have been at Survivor Series, where many speculated that she would betray her team. There were even theories about Carmella cashing-in on Alexa Bliss and switching brands. However nothing came from it. Perhaps the heavy speculation from the WWE Universe put the creatives off a cash-in at Survivor Series.
Carmella’s best opportunity to cash-in her contract on SmackDown Live came on August 22nd where Naomi & Becky Lynch took on Natalya (c) & Carmella. Although the prospect was teased by James Ellsworth, the tease became more of a reveal when he couldn’t control his mouth, resulting in a detailed explanation of the whole plan in a promo before the match (notice the focus on James Ellsworth, not Carmella).
When it comes to future events, Carmella has 3 PPV events before her Money In The Bank contract expires, as well as 1 key SmackDown Live episode:
- Fastlane (March 11th)
- WrestleMania (April 8th)
- SmackDown Live After WrestleMania (April 10th)
- Payback (May 27th)
It seems unlikely that Charlotte will drop the title before WrestleMania, as WWE would want to build and develop her to make a match in April against Ronda Rousey as big as possible; much like Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar.
So where does this leave The Princess of Staten Island?
In a very difficult situation to be honest. Carmella needs to focus on what she will become after her time of being Miss Money In The Bank is over. Whether she’s champion or not, losing the title, that she uses as her Twitter name, will be a blow to her in-ring persona because she’s owned the role and built herself up around it. Carmella needs to make sure that when she no longer has the briefcase, there’s something else to hold on to and keep her relevant; it would be too easy, and a great shame, for her to get lost in a growing and developing division.
