After facing a loss to Bayley on the October 24 episode of “Raw”, Bianca Belair will return to the ring with the former “Raw” and “SmackDown” Women’s Champion at the upcoming Crown Jewel premium live event. The “Raw” Women’s Championship match was announced on October 28 edition of “SmackDown” accompanied by a “Last woman standing” clause.
Although she fell short against Bayley on “Raw”, Belair got the better of her in their ladder match at the Extreme Rules PLE on October 8. The match will continue the rivalry between Bayley and Belair that has been going on since the former back to SummerSlam in August. Bayley would go on to win her match at Extreme Rules by pinning Belair in a six-woman tag team match at Showdown at the Castle alongside its Damage CTRL partners: IYO SKY and Dakota Kai.
However, the rivalry between Belair and Bayley goes back further than last August. The feud dates back to before Money in the Bank 2021, where Bayley was expected to face Belair in an “I Quit” match. At the time, Belair was hosting the “SmackDown” Women’s Championship. Unfortunately, Bayley suffered a torn ACL before the game can take place.
The “Last Woman Standing” stipulation has only been featured four other times on WWE programming. Twice in “NXT” in a match between Asuka and Nikki Crossand a match between Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodríguez. Both matches were for the “NXT” Women’s Championship. Another took place on an episode of “Raw” in 2019 between Natalia and Lacey Evans. Most notably, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair faced off in a “Last Woman Standing” match for the “SmackDown” Women’s Championship at the Evolution event in 2018.
