Liv Morgan Defeats Shayna Baszler, Retains Women’s Title at WWE Clash at the Castle

Liv Morgan defeated Shayna Baszler at Clash at the Castle in Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

The bout represented Morgan’s second title defense at a premium live event with the first coming at the end of July against Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam.

Morgan originally earned the SmackDown Women’s Championship in early July at Money in the Bank when she won the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match and then successfully cashed in on Rousey, who was nursing an injured leg following her match against Natalya.

Rousey was initially gracious in defeat, offering Morgan a hug, but things changed at SummerSlam.

Morgan tapped while Rousey had her in an armbar, but the referee didn’t see it and counted Rousey’s shoulders to the mat instead. An incensed Rousey attacked both Morgan and the official after the match, which led to her getting fined and suspended indefinitely. She wasn’t reinstated until Friday night on SmackDown.

While Rousey was out, WWE had to find a new No. 1 contender, and one was determined via a gauntlet match held on an episode of SmackDown last month.

Baszler won the seven-woman gauntlet by last pinning Raquel Rodriguez. The match also featured Sonya Deville, Shotzi, Aliyah, Xia Li and Natalya.

That marked one of Baszler’s biggest wins of the past few years and put her back in the thick of the championship hunt, which hadn’t really been the case since she lost a Raw Women’s Championship match against Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 36.

It wasn’t particularly surprising that Baszler won the gauntlet since she was always a favorite of Triple H’s in NXT and figured to experience a renaissance with Triple H taking over as head of WWE creative.

Also, Baszler has long been close friends with Rousey, meaning that having Baszler face Morgan for the SmackDown women’s title opened the door for WWE to potentially move forward with a storyline involving both Baszler and Rousey.

Morgan once again managed to keep her title reign intact at Clash at the Castle, but with an angry Rousey lurking, that may not be the case for long.

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