La Arquitecta

Chapter 39

Due to the fact that Money in the Bank was a cross-brand event, featuring two men's Money in the Bank ladder matches and an inter-brand women's ladder match, space on the card was somewhat limited for other matches. For that reason, neither brand's tag team titles were being defended.

As far as The Vega Cartel were concerned, that had given both Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe the chance to qualify for the Smackdown ladder match. Joe had succeeded, but Roode had come up short, leaving the cartel with a one in six chance of controlling the invaluable briefcase which Zelina had insisted must be theirs.

The other cartel members were also in action. Bayley was to defend her Smackdown Women's Championship against Carmella one more time, while Seth Rollins would lock up with AJ Styles once again in the show's main event.

Zelina had of course known that a lion's den match with Ronda Rousey would be a huge deal, particularly with Stephanie McMahon's job on the line, but she had still been humbled when she had arrived for the show and looked over the formats. Only the two brand's main championship matches were ahead of them on the card.

A further surprise had been how down-to-earth she had found Ronda to be. When they had had the usual pre-match discussion with their road agent, Ronda had been open to listening to Zelina's ideas for the match. She was also changing in the women's locker room with the rest of them. Apparently the 'I want no special privileges' stuff wasn't just a tag line for her character. Zelina respected that, knowing that a lot of people in Ronda's position wouldn't have acted that way.

Nevertheless, as she looked across the room at her opponent, who was busy talking to the three members of the Riott Squad, Zelina felt nerves in the pit of her stomach. Wrestling Renee Young in a tune-up match was one thing, this was quite another. This was one of the most anticipated matches on the card at one of WWE's bigger pay-per-views, and it was basically going to be a fight, against someone who worked seriously stiff. It was going to be a great experience and hopefully a good match, but it was almost certainly going to hurt.

"You look nervous," Bayley said quietly, sitting beside her.

"I am, a bit," Zelina admitted. "It's my first big match, and, well, it's against Ronda. You've seen the few matches she's had as well as I have. She works stiff as a board, as she's so much bigger than me. I'm going to get wrecked out there."

"The fans will love it, if that's any consolation," Sonya put in from the other side of Zelina.

"I guess so," she said with a grimace. "If I put on a good match, it makes it more likely they'll keep using me in the ring."

"I don't think that's in doubt at this point," Bayley said. "The way they're booking you, I don't think they'll have you wrestle often, but they will use you."

Zelina saw the logic in that. Her character wasn't supposed to be in the ring every week, she was supposed to be the leader of the cartel. That would automatically make any matches she did have a bigger deal, and that could only be a good thing.

Sonya had picked up her copy of the formats, giving them another look over. "There's a lot going on tonight, that's for sure," she said thoughtfully.

"You ain't kidding," Zelina said.

WWE Money in the Bank – June 17th 2018

For some time, there had been serious issues between The Riott Squad and Natalya. On the final episode of Smackdown before the pay-per-view, Ruby Riott's team had committed a savage attack on the Canadian in an attempt to take her out of the ladder match.

After the first five competitors, including Ruby, had entered the ring, Stephanie McMahon's music played.

"I don't think this is Natalya," Renee said on commentary. "Here comes Smackdown's commissioner, Stephanie McMahon."