James was writing SmackDown at the time.
In April of 2018, Charlotte Flair successfully retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 34 and ended Asuka’s undefeated streak with her win. The following Tuesday, Carmella cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase and defeated Flair for the belt.
Brian ‘Road Dogg’ James, who was the head writer of SmackDown at the time, recounted the cash-in on the newest edition of his Oh…You Didn’t Know podcast.
James dove into the thought process behind having Carmella cash-in after Charlotte ended Asuka’s streak. He said the crowd went crazy for it and felt it was good storytelling with The IInspiration (Jessica McKay & Cassie Lee) ambushing Flair beforehand.
Wow, we gave the fans what they want (Road Dogg said about Carmella cashing in on Charlotte Flair after she ended Asuka’s streak)… I get it, I get it. There’s room for that idea in the concert of ideas but, there’s also room in the exact last statement you made. The fans were popping and Carmella, you can argue that she was not ready for prime time, that she was young and all these girls are wrestling great and here she comes just kind of a pretty face and she can wrestle but she is not at the level of Charlotte, you know what I mean? And people know that, but here she is. We debuted this new tag team (Jessica McKay & Cassie Lee), they dropped the girl and then here comes — I don’t know, I don’t know. I think it’s great storytelling, I think it’s great wrestling, I think it’s great moments and I’ll back up and say, I think that’s all wrestling is now. I think it’s almost all life is now. Moments and it’s how do we present those, how do we wrap ‘em up, package ‘em up and present ‘em to you and then how do you receive it, how do you perceive it and so, I don’t know. I thought it was good stuff man. Lot of new eyeballs on the program and things are a-changin, you know what I mean? So I don’t know, call me crazy.
Speaking about The IInspiration, James stated that he loved giving them time on the microphone. He feels Jessica was the glue that held them together.
I gotta be honest, I was a huge fan, still am, of The IIconics and I’ll tell you what, I don’t think it’s any great secret that Billie (Kay) wasn’t the greatest worker in the world. But she was the glue. Man, I’m telling you, she is a young Australian like Carol Burnett or something like that. She’s classically funny in a classic comedy kind of way. Like she was brought up on Golfing with Dorf or something and so, she has really classic comedy timing and delivery and man, she was the glue that held them together in promos and stuff but look, I loved giving them promo time because they just cracked themselves up and it entertained the crap out of me too. I really love those two.
During a previous podcast episode, James dove into the decision concerning Asuka’s streak ending and to read more on that, click here.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Oh…You Didn’t Know with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
