Serena Deeb secures a shot at the AEW Women’s Championship. Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill are slated to challenge for the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles. Emmy Camacho chats with WrestleZone, and more! Let’s break it down in this week’s edition of Women’s Wrestling Wrap-Up!
Serena Deeb Secures A Shot At The AEW Women’s Championship
On the May 1 episode of AEW Dynamite, Serena Deeb faced Mariah May in what would be her first Dynamite match since October 2022.
With AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm looking on at ringside, May put up a valiant effort against Deeb. In the end, though, it wasn’t enough to evade Deeb’s Serenity Lock. With May unable to reach the bottom rope to break up the submission hold, Storm eventually threw in the towel (literally), causing the referee to end the match, and award the victory to Deeb.
Following Deeb’s win, AEW announced that she would move on to challenge Storm for the AEW Women’s Championship at Double or Nothing on May 26. This will mark Deeb’s first AEW Women’s Championship match since September 2022, when she challenged Storm in her first reign on Dynamite.
As AEW moves close to Double or Nothing, Deeb is now set to speak on next week’s episode of DYnamite, presumably to address her upcoming title match against Storm.
READ MORE: TNT Title Match, Orange Cassidy In Action, Swerve Strickland, More Set For 5/8 AEW Dynamite
NXT Women’s North American Champion Set To Be Crowned At Battleground
Last month, WWE NXT General Manager Ava announced that the NXT brand would be introducing a brand new title for their women’s division — the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Following this week’s episode of NXT, we now know how and when the new champion will be crowned.
Per Ava, the inaugural NXT Women’s North American Champion will be decided in a six-woman ladder match at NXT Battleground on June 9. The six women competing in this ladder match will be determined over the next few weeks, beginning with a combine, where the members of the women’s roster will be tasked with impressing NXT officials. The 12 talents who impress the most will then move on to compete in a round of one-on-one qualifying matchups. The six women who emerge victorious in those qualifying contests will then advance to the six-woman ladder match at NXT Battleground.
After Ava’s official announcement, several female locker room members, including Jaida Parker, Arianna Grace, and Sol Ruca, proclaimed their interest in claiming the new title. Main roster star Michin also vocalized her interest in the NXT Women’s North American Champion in a surprise return to the NXT brand.
Naturally, this news led the majority of the women’s locker room to follow suit, and eventually, spark a fierce brawl in the center of the ring.
Elsewhere, Ava confirmed that newly-crowned NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez will defend her title against Chelsea Green on next week’s episode of NXT. This will mark Green’s first televised NXT Women’s Championship title shot.
READ MORE: NXT Women’s Title Match, Wes Lee In Action, More Set For 5/7 WWE NXT
Bianca Belair And Jade Cargill To Challenge For Women’s Tag Titles At WWE Backlash
Following their win over Chelsea Green and Piper Niven on the April 12 episode of WWE SmackDown, Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair signaled their interest in challenging for tag team gold. Two weeks later, WWE confirmed that their aspirations had become a reality.
During night one of the WWE Draft, Belair emerged as the first overall draft pick, specifically selected for the SmackDown brand. After this, WWE backstage interviewer Kayla Braxton announced that Belair and Cargill are now slated to face Asuka and Kairi Sane (Kabuki Warriors) for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships at WWE Backlash on May 4.
In a WWE digital exclusive, Belair commented on this development, noting that the women’s tag team titles have eluded her. At Backlash, though, Belair has an opportunity to change that.
“Doesn’t that sound nice? Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill in the ring together on the same team,” Belair said. “Who gonna stop us? … Kabuki Warriors? I’ve been fighting for my life for two-plus years with the Kabuki Warriors. I done had a lot of amazing women fight alongside me. But I never had somebody like Jade Cargill. So, she is the best person to help me end it once and for all with Damage CTRL. And I’m gonna do that. We’re gonna do that at Backlash. Those tag team titles are coming with us. I’ve touched a lot of gold, but I’ve never touched those Tag Team Titles. So, we’re gonna make some more history. We’re gonna keep going up.”
RELATED: Jade Cargill On Alliance With Bianca Belair And Naomi: I Don’t Need No Backstabbing, We’ll See
INTERVIEWS
RCW Phoenix Champion Emmy Camacho speaks with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay about holding a number of championships early on in her career, learning from the likes of Athena, Allison Danger, and Dustin Rhodes, wrestling Nyla Rose in Ring of Honor, developing herself as a character, what the younger version of herself would think of her progress, and more.
TNA Knockout Alisha Edwards chatted with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about her run in TNA, The System’s success, her own in-ring career and aspirations for gold, Broken Matt and the Hardy Family possibly getting involved, and more.
Former WWE NXT Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton joined Ring The Belle to discuss her recent popularity, the wild crowd reaction at Elimination Chamber, her call-up to WWE’s main roster, changes in her presentation, her WWE Diva dream match, and more.W
WWE SmackDown star Jade Cargill also appeared on Ring The Belle to discuss her favorite wrestling entrances, including SheHulk and Cheetara-inspired ones, her dazzling fashion sense, her friendship with Bianca Belair and Naomi, her past history in a 3-women group, and more.
Former WWE backstage interviewer McKenzie Mitchell spoke with MuscleManMalcolm about hosting her new show Threads, seeing Samatha Irvin’s impressive WWE journey, joining the cast of The Last Match musical, and more.
Former WWE NXT star Steph De Lander joined Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful to talk about her contract status, her recent resurgence in TNA Wrestling, facing other tall girls in wrestling, finding out about Matt Cardona’s pectoral injury, and more.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Hooligan Championship Wrestling: May 11
