Fatal Influence was to defend their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship against the team of Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley. October 9 episode of WWE SmackDown. However, Jade Cargill, Meechin and B-Fab had something to say about it and attacked Flair backstage, leading to Alexa Bliss taking her place. Laney Reid and Fallon Hanley must have wanted Cargill and his crew to stay out of the mix, because in the end it was Bliss and Paxley who emerged victorious as the new champions.
Reid and Henley controlled the first half of the match, working over Paxley during the commercial break and preventing him from tagging in Bliss. The tide turned when Bliss got the tag as the momentum shifted back to her team, but the champions continued to find ways to gain the upper hand. The referee even caught Reed and Henley trying to use each other to gain illegal leverage.
Reed went after Bliss, but Bliss grabbed one half of the champions and hit her with the Sister Abigail. Meanwhile, in the ring, Paxley went for the 450 Splash but was reversed when Henley rolled out of the way, but Henley couldn’t avoid being pinned by his challenger, who hit the Graveyard for the win.
The win marks Paxley’s first title win on the WWE main roster, and her first title win in WWE since June of this year, when she held the WWE NXT Women’s North American Championship. As for Bliss, this win begins her fifth reign as one half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions after having two reigns with Nikki Cross, one with Asuka and the other with the aforementioned Charlotte Flair. She also becomes only the third woman in WWE history, after Asuka and Raquel Rodriguez, to hold the titles five times.
