WWE News: Huge Match Announced For Next Week’s ‘Friday Night SmackDown’
WWE has announced that Lacey Evans will face Sasha Banks on next week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown.
The match was set after the latest edition of the blue brand’s weekly show, which saw Evans team up with Dana Brooke to defeat the teams of Banks and Bayley, and Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
The match has been in the works for a couple of weeks, though. Banks has been taking shots at Evans’ daughter during her recent promos, which has rubbed “The Sassy Southern Belle” the wrong way. The storyline is an example of WWE mining a performer’s real life to boost a feud, as Evans is known to talk about her family.
The ongoing rivalry between Evans and Banks is also part of WWE’s plans to push the former as a babyface. Evans has spent the majority of her WWE career as a heel, but in recent weeks, she’s been positioned as a fan favorite. A victory against one of the blue brand’s most notable heels will undoubtedly go a long way in establishing her as a top star.
However, the feud with Banks could be a placeholder storyline for Evans, forcing her to overcome a challenging roadblock before she goes for Bayley’s SmackDown Women’s Championship. As Ringside News recently documented, the company reportedly intends on booking that title match for this month’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
The championship implications of next week’s match have yet to be confirmed, but all the signs point towards Evans facing Bayley at the flagship show.
While the storyline is heating up, Evans has taken issue with WWE over the company’s handling of Banks’ behavior. Following a recent segment where Banks confronted Evans’ daughter and husband on live television, the “Sassy Southern Belle” took to Twitter to criticize the company for failing to take action against her rival.
“Was it wrong as a company for y’all to allow her to continue to do it? After I told her to keep my kid out of it?”
Evans and Banks are doing a great job of making their beef seem genuinely personal, which always makes storylines more exciting. Heels crossing those lines makes them look more dastardly in the eyes of fans, while babyfaces tend to receive a sympathetic boost.
If Evans beats Banks, it will be one of the biggest wins of her career. “The Boss” is one of the major women stars on the roster, and performers don’t tend to beat her unless WWE has big plans for them.
