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CHICAGO — Alexa Bliss has made a career out of shocking those who would look to write her off. This might be the biggest one yet: Little Miss Bliss went from Five to Fifteen Feet of Fury as she ascended a ladder to claim victory in the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, earning herself a Raw Women’s Title Match opportunity any time over the next year.
It speaks to the quality of the field that Bliss — a two-time Raw and SmackDown Women’s Champion — was something of an afterthought heading into the match. Between ascendant dark horses (Lana and Ember Moon), a headstrong veteran with a long-term game plan (Natalya, who wanted to win in the hopes of potentially challenging Ronda Rousey), and a foursome of hungry former champions looking to get back to the top (Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Naomi), Bliss seemed to have been written off before the bell even rang.
She also appeared to be a non-factor in the beginning of the match, though that proved to be a cunning strategy: The Goddess largely kept out of the more frenzied exchanges, only resurfacing each time someone was close to grabbing the contract for themselves. Naomi and Ember Moon, meanwhile, threw caution to the wind, using the shifting landscape of the bout as literal jumping-off points for their own unique offensive styles.
Banks’ me-against-the-world mentality and Natalya’s tendency to focus on one opponent at a time served them less favorably than it did in the last few weeks of Raw: Both Superstars found themselves overwhelmed and caught off-guard down the stretch. Lana mostly tried to win the match the same way she got in it — by taking advantage of whatever situation she could — but she couldn’t quite close the gap with the more experienced Superstars in the match.
Charlotte and Becky, meanwhile, largely ended up canceling each other out. If they weren’t working together, they were fighting each other, and that rivalry opened the door for Bliss. After Lynch got the better of Flair in their final scrap of the bout, The Irish Lass Kicker scaled the ladder, and Bliss made her move, tipping the ladder over so Becky landed face-first on another ladder that had been propped up on the turnbuckle. Alexa then scrambled up to the top rung to claim the contract. Now, the ladder is her Mount Olympus, the contract is hers, and Alexa gets to play to her sneak-attack strengths at any time she so chooses. How’s that for a moment of bliss?