Nikki Cross defeated Bayley this week on RAW in a ‘beat the clock’ challenge. With the win, she got to pick a stipulation for the Smackdown Women’s Championship match at Extreme Rules between Bayley and Alexa Bliss. Nikki added herself to the mix, turning it into a 2-on-1 handicap match.
On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio (subscribe here), Dave Meltzer explained why Nikki was added to this match.
Here is what he said (h/t to Ringside News for the quotes below)
“The handicap match was a late change and everything that happened this Tuesday without Alexa Bliss was because of her sinus infection and they re-wrote that whole storyline so they may have done an Alexa Bliss/Bayley beat the clock challenge, but the reason that made no sense was because the end result was because of Alexa Bliss’ condition they are going to do a handicap match to protect Alexa. So in doing that they had to come up with a reason and they had this beat the clock thing. So you know Nikki Cross had to win. Then even though Nikki Cross is a babyface she had to ask for the handicap match.”
My Take: I feel like Alexa Bliss has the worst luck with injuries and sickness. I am hopeful that she is good to go for Extreme Rules. With the added dynamic of Cross involved, it should be fun to see how this match ends on Sunday night. I am still holding out hope for a Sasha Banks return to help out Bayley.
We will let you know if we hear anything more.
On a related note, check out my speculation on a swerve that I think could be coming during this match at Extreme Rules.