Bliss, meet Flair.
Alexa Bliss’ month of preparation for SmackDown Women’s Champion Natalya went out the window after Charlotte Flair dethroned The Queen of Harts as Team Blue’s titleholder, setting up a Champion vs. Champion Match at Survivor Series between the only two Superstars to hold the Women’s Titles of both brands.
Alexa’s story as Raw Women’s Champion is well known by this point: After starting the year as SmackDown Women’s Champion, she moved to the red side in the Superstar Shake-up and held down the fort for the most of 2017, denying challengers such as Bayley, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax and Mickie James.
Charlotte, on the other hand, has been in the unfamiliar position of chasing a title for most of this year: After losing the Raw Women’s Title to Bayley in January, she came to SmackDown LIVE in the Superstar Shake-up and found Team Blue’s top prize to be just beyond her grasp. She had even been set to compete on the Women’s Survivor Series team after defeating Natalya by disqualification — but not winning the title — at WWE Hell in a Cell.
However, a last-minute ruling by SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon gave The Nature Girl one more opportunity at the title, and Charlotte did not disappoint, defeating Natalya to win her first SmackDown Women’s Championship. The emotional victory prompted a celebration with her father, Ric Flair, who made a surprise appearance — his first after a major health scare — to congratulate his daughter.
With her classically flippant attitude toward her challengers, Alexa is likely unimpressed by this comeback, which, in fairness, is the same song she’s been singing for a while now: After WWE TLC, the Raw Talk panel floated the idea about what would happen if Alexa were to face Charlotte, and “The Goddess of WWE” was dismissive at best. That attitude certainly reflects her skills as champion, but now, it’s a response she can no longer afford.
Tune in to Survivor Series to see which woman will claim victory in the head-to-head competition for brand supremacy, streaming live on the award-winning WWE Network this Sunday at a special start time of 7 ET/4 PT.