Hell in a Cell is now less than 48 hours away, so you'd hope the card is now set. Especially now that Friday's SmackDown has been and gone as that means there are no more WWE shows between now and the premium live event. That also means Ronda Rousey will not be defending the SmackDown Women's Title on the show, even though a number one contender has been decided.
Natalya Is The Number One Contender
On SmackDown this week, six women competed for the chance to be Rousey's next challenger. Natalya, Shayna Baszler, Shotzi, Raquel Rodriguez, Aliyah, and Xia Li. Nice to see Li back, and also great to see her and Shotzi in the title picture, even if it was unlikely they were ever going to win this one.
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Natalya picked up the victory in this match, sort of getting one up on her tag team partner Baszler to do so. Rodriguez looked to have the match won, hitting her finisher on Shotzi. At that point, Baszler jumped on her back and applied the Kirifuda Clutch. Before Baszler could choke out Rodriguez, or make her tap, Nattie pounced on the still-prone Shotzi and covered her to claim the win herself.
Not At Hell In A Cell
Rousey was watching the match from ringside and climbed on up into the ring afterwards to stand toe-to-toe with her new challenger. Before SmackDown went off the air, Michael Cole clarified that Rousey and Natalya will clash for the title at a later date, but that date won't be tomorrow night at Hell in a Cell.
A little frustrating, but it makes sense since the match would have had no build outside of one win and a quick staredown. Rumor has it had Sasha Banks and Naomi not walked out on their own six-pack challenge a few weeks ago, The Boss would have been Rousey's next challenger, potentially giving her something to do at Hell in a Cell. Nattie will get that shot instead, and since she and Rousey are close friends and have trained together, it'll probably be a pretty great match.
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