After a quick commercial break we head back inside the ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL. as the second commentary team of Michael Cole and Corey Graves welcome us and get us ready for our third consecutive championship bout of the evening.
WWE SmackDown Women's Championship
Sasha Banks (c) vs. CarmellaOn that note, the two banter back-and-forth about predictions for tonight's Rumble matches as the entrance of Carmella and her assistant Reginald gets started.
The ring announcer does the formal ring introduction for Carmella as she crawls around the ring apron and under the ropes, posing as she gets ready for her championship opportunity tonight against "The Boss."
On that note, Cole and Graves introduce video highlights from recent weeks explaining how tonight's match came to be. From there, we shoot backstage for a quick pre-match interview where Banks laughs off questions about the challenge from Carmella having the odds in her favor due to Reginald. She then talks about waiting to see who will emerge from the Rumble to face her at WrestleMania.
Following the brief backstage pre-match interview, the familiar sounds of Sasha Banks' theme hits as "The Boss" emerges with her SmackDown Women's Championship. She makes her way to the ring and the bell sounds to kick this one off.
As soon as the match starts, Banks charges at Carmella and looks to get her in the Bank Statement right out of the gate. She doesn't but still manages to continue dominating Carmella until finally Reginald hops on the ring apron. Banks trips Reginald off the apron but the distraction allows Carmella to turn the match offense into her favor.
She beats Banks around the ring, slamming her into the commentary table before bringing her back in the ring and continuing to deliver punishment with multiple back-elbows to the face of the champ in the corner of the ring.
Carmella now bending the rules, using illegal offense and utilizing the full four out of five count from the ref while doing so to avoid getting DQ'd. She taunts Banks and the fans and then goes back to work on "The Boss." She slaps a rear chin lock on the champ and shouts about being better than her as the camera pans out to do a long, slow-motion pan-in to the ring as Carmella lets go of the hold in favor of blasting "The Boss" with some right hands.
Banks decks Carmella, but she pops right back up and sets Banks on the top rope, blasting her with punches before looking to headstand off the bottom rope for a head-scissor takedown. Banks reverses into a Meteora as she comes off the ropes. She lands and clutches at her knee as we see some replays to find out what happened as she came down. Carmella now ties Banks' own blue hair to the bottom rope so she can't move. She then stands up and stomps away at a helpless Baniks. She then gets down in her favor and yells about being better, smarter and stronger than her.
"The Boss" ends up fighting her way free from the bottom rope. She leaps over the top-rope after decking Carmella, floating over directly into double knees into Carmella's face. She follows that up with the Three Amigos in honor of Eddie Guerrero. Carmella fights off the third but Banks still ends up hitting her. Carmella then picks Banks up and throws her out of the ring, where Reginald catches her. He holds her and then throws her down. Banks pops up and starts kicking him. Now the ref gets involved as he kicks Reginald out of the ringside area, sending him to the back.
As Banks gloats and smiles, watching Reginald complain as he heads to the back, she turns around right into a crazy awesome dive from Carmella through the ropes. That was pretty bad ass. She quickly gets Banks back into the ring and tries pinning her, but only gets two. We see some replays of that sweet dive from Carmella and then return live to hear her complaining to the ref about sending Reginald to the back.
Once she finishes her rant she turns around right into a roll-up attempt from Banks. She kicks out at two. Banks rolls her up again. Again, she avoids the three count. Sasha pounds away at Carmella and heads to the top-rope. She comes off with a Frog Splash but Carmella gets the knees up. She then locks Banks up in her submission finisher, however Banks eventually escapes.
Banks looks for her semi-finisher but Carmella has it well scouted and avoids it. She then catches Banks coming off the top-rope with a super kick to the jaw. She follows that up with a second super kick and covers her, however Banks manages to kick out before the count of three. Carmella complains and then walks over to pick up Banks, but Banks reverses directly into her Bank Statement submission finisher. Carmella taps out. Banks retains.
Winner and STILL WWE SmackDown Women's Champion: Sasha Banks
- WWE Royal Rumble *SPOILERS* -- BIG Update On SURPRISE ENTRANTS Planned For This Sunday's Matches ...
WWE ROYAL RUMBLE 2021 REACTION & DISCUSSION
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