WWE Clash At The Castle 2024 Results: Bayley Defeats Piper Niven – Selambe

Piper Niven received a hero’s welcome at WWE Clash at the Castle 2024, but it was Bayley who left Glasgow still the WWE Women’s Champion.

Although Niven entered her first pay-per-view title match as the on-screen villain, the Scottish superstar had the crowd in the palm of her hand the moment she entered the OVO Hydro arena. Yet, much like Zelina Vega in 2023, the hometown hero fell just short in her quest to become champion when Bayley hit a crucifix driver to finish off Niven and cap off a great back-and-forth match.

The outcome was, of course, not much of a surprise. Bayley is a far bigger star while Niven likely wouldn’t have been pushed to the world title scene had the circumstances surrounding Clash at the Castle been different.

The reality is that WWE already has a long-term plan in place for Bayley: a SummerSlam match against Nia Jax.

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It was just last month that Jax won the second-ever Queen of the Ring tournament at WWE’s King and Queen of the Ring event in Saudi Arabia. With that victory, Jax secured a SummerSlam world title shot against her respective brand’s champion. Though a clash between two heavy hitters in Jax and Niven could be intriguing, Bayley has a huge supporter in Triple H, who has consistently sung her praises and spent the past year reestablishing her as a top babyface after five years as a heel.

Despite that, Bayley’s WWE Women’s Championship reign hasn’t exactly clicked on all cylinders. One of the most decorated stars in WWE history, Bayley has played second fiddle to stars like Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill on SmackDown, even though she should positioned as the No. 1 cornerstone of the blue brand’s women’s division.

Bayley’s victory over Niven, though expected, was less about continuing her push as a beloved WWE fan favorite and more about building toward Jax’s coronation. Since being rehired in 2023 following her release in 2021, Jax has been portrayed well as a loathed—and unstoppable—heel, even picking up a rare clean victory over Belair in the Queen of the Ring tournament.

With Triple H now at the helm of WWE’s creative process, the QOTR tournament is clearly going to be utilized as a stepping stone to propel rising stars even higher up the card. That’s evidenced by the fact that he ensured that the QOTR tournament would mean something when he announced that the winner would get a SummerSlam world title match.

Triple H’s long-term booking is typically very strong, and Jax’s coronation was only the first major step in a monstrous push for the gargantuan superstar. With Bayley having just a passable reign as SmackDown’s champion, that only will add to the speculation that she’s simply keeping the title warm for Jax.

While Bayley may be celebrating a title victory tonight in Glasgow, SummerSlam should prove to be the make-or-break point for her underwhelming championship reign.