Naomi was backstage for an interview. She said it’s unfortunate that she won’t be defending her title at WWE Battleground, but she will be the first person in the ring to congratulate whoever wins the contender’s match. Carmella eventually cut her off and dismissed Renee Young. She reminded Naomi that everyone the title goes, she’ll be following with her Money in the Bank briefcase.

– Carmella and James Ellsworth make their way to the ring to tons of heat.

Ellsworth introduces the first, second and only Ms. Money in the Bank, who makes fun of the crowd for being upset that she won the briefcase twice in two weeks. She bragged about being able to choose when and where she defeats Naomi to become the next Smackdown Women’s Champion, and out comes the champ who isn’t happy. Naomi basically tells her to bring it because her glow is always on-point. Daniel Bryan comes out says that he’s banning Ellsworth from the arena again. James starts laughing and Bryan laughs along with him, then says he’s suspended for 30 days without pay, fined $10,000 and if he breaks any of these rules he will immediately strip Carmella of the Money in the Bank briefcase. Carmella freaks out and makes him leave, and Ellsworth is escorted out as the crowd eats it up.

Daniel Bryan makes his way to the ring and hypes tonight’s big matches, and says he is proud of the evolution of women’s wrestling on Smackdown Live. He is interrupted by Carmella, who comes down with James Ellsworth and calls herself the victim of the biggest injustice in WWE history. She claims the rules were black and white, and it was supposed to be the first woman to gain possession of the Money in the Bank briefcase who wins the match. Carmella calls herself more intelligent than every chick in the locker room, and that gives Bryan no right to take away what is rightfully hers. Bryan says she makes good points, but asks the crowd if they want him to cancel tonight’s ladder match and they give him a big “NO” chant. Ellsworth grabs the mic and tells the crowd to shut up, and calls them the villains that control the stupid puppet of a General Manager. He calls Bryan a gutless coward who made up his injury because he doesn’t have the balls to compete in the ring anymore. Bryan says he should fire James, but tonight isn’t about him, and instead bans him from the entire arena as security comes down and drags him away.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Charlotte Flair vs. Tamina Snuka vs. Becky Lynch vs. Carmella vs. Natalya

Four of the women brawled to the floor right away leaving Carmella alone in the ring, so she took a ladder and began to climb. They all returned and the Staten Island princess realized she was surrounded, tried to bail but got her ass kicked instead. Becky and Charlotte had a staredown and went at it, but Tamina took them both out as we head to commercial.

After the break Tamina caught Carmella trying to steal the match again, and threw her head first over the commentary table. Her and Charlotte battled over a ladder and Becky tried to climb up it while it was being held vertically, but crashed to the mat instead. Charlotte and Natalya began to climb and battled back and forth atop the ladder, but Carmella came back and knocked them over into the ropes. She celebrated her “dominance” a bit too hard and turned around into a suplex from Becky Lynch. Before Hot Fire could do anything with her advantage, Tamina came out of nowhere and blasted her with a lariat. All five women are down as we go to our final commercial of the night.

All five are somehow still down coming back from the break. Natalya is the first to recover and begins to climb, gets her hands on the briefcase but is cut off by Charlotte. Tamina and Becky join them and there are four women battling on a single ladder, which eventually gives way and sends all of them crashing and burning to the floor. Carmella was bidding her time and realizes she has an opening. She gets to the top of the ladder and almost takes it down, but all four women recover and pick up the ladder while she’s on top of of it, moving her to the side. They all start brawling again and Carmella flies off the ladder to take everyone down. Charlotte set up the ladder and slammed the bottom of it into Tamina’s head, then pinned her underneath it and began to climb. There was a terrible looking spot where Charlotte realized they weren’t properly facing the camera, moved the ladder 90 degrees and began to climb, and Tamina just crawled under it so she was “pinned” again. As Charlotte reached the briefcase Tamina lifted the ladder from underneath and set her flying into Carmella.

Natalya and Becky worked together to put down Snuka with a double powerbomb. Nattie took out Lynch and put Carmella in the Sharpshooter to take out her legs, but Charlotte broke it up with a superkick. She hit Carmella with Natural Selection and then brawled into the crowd with Charlotte for some reason. James Ellsworth came out from the crowd and threw Carmella into the ring, setting up a ladder and began to climb! Becky Lynch recovered and knocked over the ladder, crotching Ellsworth on the top rope. She set up the ladder but was caught by Carmella who sent her down hard on her knee, possibly creating an injury. Becky tried to climb but her knee wouldn’t hold up, and Carmella blasted her with a steel chair over and over again. She climbed the ladder, got to the briefcase, and took it down!

Winner and Ms. Money in the Bank: Carmella