Nia Jax has been a dominant star in WWE since returning last year. (Credit: WWE/Getty Images)
WWE crowned a new champion at SummerSlam when Nia Jax defeated Bayley to win the WWE Women’s Championship.
In front of a massivecrowd in Cleveland Browns Stadium, Jax hit Bayley with a massive Annihilator—after a teased cash-in attempt by Money in the Bank holder Tiffany Stratton—to win just her second-ever singles title in WWE and end Bayley’s underdog reign.
For Bayley, the loss marked the end of a rather underwhelming championship run that began with a heartwarming title win at WrestleMania 40 but quickly fizzled out due to a lack of engaging feuds. For Jax, however, her massive win was the climax of a redemption story that has been a long time coming.
Long having a reputation for being unsafe in the ring—a label even WWE has addressed in previous storylines—Jax has been a surprising success story since WWE rehired the former Raw Women’s Champion in 2023 nearly two years after she was released in 2021.
During her previous main roster stint, Jax spent much of her career fighting an uphill battle in her quest to be appreciated by fans. In additional to being considered to be reckless with her opponents, Jax was also labeled “boring” by fans for her mediocre work in the ring, on the microphone and as an all-around character.
But since Jax returned in September 2023, she’s done plenty to wash away the stench of her first widely-panned WWE run. Of course, Jax isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but she’s developed into a heat magnet who’s significantly better in the ring, with memorable performances against Becky Lynch, Lyra Valkyria and now Bayley.
WWE—in particular, head booker Triple H—has done an excellent job of highlighting Jax’s strengths and minimizing her weaknesses, allowing her to develop into a truly unstoppable star throughout 2024. When she won the Queen of the Ring tournament back in May, an eventual world title win over Bayley felt, well, inevitable.
That’s partly because, as anticipated as Bayley’s WrestleMania title win was, her actual championship reign left a lot to be desired. Yet, it’s also because Jax has been built up well as a villain who’s easy to hate and hard to overcome, making her a menace on SmackDown at a time when top stars like Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill are busy elsewhere.
Even though Bayley is one of the all-time greats, transitioning the WWE Women’s Championship to Jax was a necessary booking move that could set up a few marquee matches down the road. Perhaps Jax vs. Belair or Jax vs. Cargill is the long-term direction to help revitalize a SmackDown women’s division that has struggled with subpar booking in 2024.
When it comes to Jax, WWE fans shouldn’t expect classic matches week in and week out, but they will have an antagonist that’s loathed by most and makes any babyface she opposes more beloved as a result.
If match quality is what you’re looking for when it comes to Jax’s reign, you may be disappointed. But she’s good enough in the ring and so detestable that her championship run comes at the right time on the right brand after a strong showing against Bayley at SummerSlam.