Bianca Belair Beats Bayley, Retains SmackDown Women’s Title at Hell in a Cell

Bianca Belair beat Bayley in a Hell in a Cell match at the same-titled pay-per-view on Sunday night to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

Belair delivered a K.O.D. to the challenger onto a ladder to put her away for the win after a hard-fought contest.

The issues between the two women date back to late 2020 and early 2021 when they were embroiled in a feud leading up to the Royal Rumble PPV.

They traded victories in bouts on SmackDown, and The EST of WWE eliminated Bayley in the women’s Rumble match en route to winning it and becoming the No. 1 contender for one of the titles on the main roster.

Given that Belair was a SmackDown Superstar, she challenged Sasha Banks for the blue brand’s title at WrestleMania 37, and they went on to clash in the main event of Night 1.

The EST prevailed in a classic and historic match, giving her the first title win of any kind during her relatively young WWE career.

Bayley immediately set her sights on Belair after The Show of Shows by taunting her and essentially laughing in her face. That led to a title match between the two at WrestleMania Backlash last month.

While The Role Model tried to cheat on multiple occasions during the bout, it was Belair who came out on top when she used her braid to her advantage during a pinfall attempt.

Bayley claimed Belair was the cheater, and the longest-reigning SmackDown women’s champion of all time demanded a rematch.

Despite the fact that The EST beat The Role Model fairly decisively on multiple occasions, she agreed to the rematch in hopes of shutting up her villainous rival once and for all.

It wasn’t until the go-home episode of SmackDown before Sunday’s PPV that The EST called for the Hell in a Cell stipulation to be added, which Bayley agreed to before attacking her rival.

Belair managed to retain the SmackDown women’s title against Bayley once again, meaning the door may be open for her to renew her rivalry with Banks either at Money in the Bank on July 18 or SummerSlam five weeks later.

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