Blake Monroe had an opportunity to make a young wrestling fan’s evening.
The child reached out for a high five as Monroe made her way towards the ring on the October 23 episode of WWE SmackDown. Monroe appeared happy to oblige, extending her hand before pulling it away at the last moment.
Lovely woman.
It was a wonderfully cheap piece of villainy from someone who has quickly become one of the more entertaining personalities on Friday nights.
Giulia waited for her, perched on the top turnbuckle in striking blue attire, her silver-blue hair matching. She looked magnificent. She also looked like someone with no intention of waiting patiently for the bell.
Giulia charged out of the ring to meet Monroe, and the Street Fight began.
Eleven minutes later, Monroe had won.
Blake Monroe defeated Giulia by pinfall after hitting the Neutraliser in their Street Fight on WWE SmackDown on October 23, 2026.
It was a tremendously entertaining match, full of violence and creativity, with two wrestlers who understood exactly what their characters should be doing.
It also left me wondering why WWE seems so determined to have Giulia lose.
Giulia vs Blake Monroe Deserved Its Place on SmackDown
The Street Fight followed the Women’s Championship match between Chelsea Green and Roxanne Perez.
An interesting bit of scheduling.
Traditionally, world championship matches are supposed to occupy the most important positions on a wrestling card. Apparently, nobody told WWE.
Still, I wasn’t complaining.
I’ve become genuinely invested in the rivalry between Giulia and Blake Monroe. It’s been one of the more enjoyable programmes on SmackDown, built around two wonderfully contrasting personalities and a history that extends well beyond WWE.
Before becoming Blake Monroe, Mariah May had wrestled in Stardom alongside Giulia, who was already establishing herself as one of Japanese wrestling’s biggest stars.
The familiarity shows.
They know how to hurt each other convincingly, sell the consequences, and, perhaps most importantly, make their differences entertaining.
Monroe is vain, theatrical and utterly insufferable.
Giulia looks increasingly interested in finding out how many pieces of furniture she can throw Monroe through.
A perfectly reasonable disagreement.
Giulia Had Been Busy Rearranging the Furniture
Michael Cole told viewers that Giulia spent the commercial break building a pyramid of steel chairs near the barricade.
A productive use of her time.
Monroe narrowly avoided being thrown into the structure early on, stopping herself before introducing a kendo stick and repeatedly striking Giulia.
Then came a particularly unpleasant-looking dropkick that sent Giulia into the barricade.
Giulia responded by dragging Monroe off the barricade, crotch-first onto the barrier.
Some wrestling manoeuvres need no elaborate explanation.
That was one of them.
Eventually, Giulia sent Monroe hurtling into her carefully arranged chairs.
The collision looked tremendous.
Even better was Giulia’s reaction.
She celebrated with an enormous star jump, momentarily transforming from a terrifying Japanese wrestling superstar into somebody who had just won a particularly competitive school sports day.
It was delightful.
It was another reminder of how much personality Giulia has beyond the intimidating presentation.
Somewhere Backstage, Crash Holly Is Smiling
The match eventually spilt up the entrance ramp and into the backstage area.
The referee repeatedly reminded both women that the pinfall had to take place inside the ring.
An interesting rule for something called a Street Fight.
Presumably, most actual street fights don’t end with everyone politely returning to a wrestling ring so someone can count to three.
Monroe seemed equally unimpressed and kept dragging Giulia backstage.
Suddenly, SmackDown felt like it had travelled back to the Attitude Era.
I half expected Crash Holly to appear carrying the Hardcore Championship, pursued by Al Snow and several wrestlers hoping to take advantage of the 24/7 rule.
Instead, we got something even better.
Blake Monroe found a mirror.
Unfortunately for her, Giulia was nearby.
Blake Monroe’s Vanity Finally Came Back to Hurt Her
Monroe had already sprayed hairspray into Giulia’s eyes.
A perfectly appropriate weapon for someone whose entire personality revolves around glamour.
Then, rather than immediately capitalising on her advantage, Monroe noticed her reflection.
She stopped. She posed. She admired herself.
Naturally, Giulia responded by sending her face-first through the mirror.
The broadcast cut away from the precise moment of impact, but the aftermath made the intended effect abundantly clear.
It was probably my favourite sequence of the match.
Not because broken glass is inherently entertaining, but because the spot made perfect sense for both characters.
Monroe’s vanity created the opportunity.
Giulia’s aggression supplied the punishment.
The whole thing also brought their rivalry full circle.
This feud had escalated after Giulia damaged Monroe’s teeth and jaw with an Arrivederci knee. Monroe subsequently presented Nick Aldis with a bag containing her extracted teeth.
Wrestling has produced some wonderfully ridiculous reasons for two people to dislike each other.
A woman carrying her own teeth into her manager’s office is comfortably among them.
And here was Giulia, once again threatening the face Monroe considers the most important object in WWE.
Excellent storytelling.
Giulia Looked Brilliant, Which Makes the Result More Frustrating
Back in the arena, Giulia kept impressing.
She delivered another Arrivederci knee, a tremendous missile dropkick, and a surfboard stretch submission, showing how comfortably she can move between brutal striking and technical wrestling.
She was working the crowd, too.
That was particularly welcome because, for much of the match, Ontario’s audience had seemed strangely quiet.
These women were throwing themselves into chairs, fighting backstage and smashing mirrors.
A little enthusiasm would not have gone amiss.
Eventually, the crowd found its voice with a “This is awesome” chant.
Correct. Better late than never.
Meanwhile, Monroe kept finding increasingly creative ways to escape Giulia’s offence.
At one point, she discharged a fire extinguisher directly into Giulia’s face.
Then came the enormous superplex onto the steel chairs.
Giulia absorbed a horrible-looking landing and sold the aftermath beautifully, her expression dazed and glazed as though she was struggling to remember which building she had entered.
Monroe took plenty of punishment herself.
Both women worked exceptionally hard. Both made the other look dangerous.
And then Monroe hit the Neutraliser.
One. Two. Three.
That was that.
Why Did Blake Monroe Beat Giulia Again?
I like Blake Monroe. Quite a lot, actually.
She’s charismatic, physically convincing and capable of making an obnoxious character genuinely entertaining rather than merely irritating.
Her arrival has been a welcome addition to SmackDown.
But I cannot understand why WWE felt the need to make her so dominant over Giulia.
Monroe already defeated Giulia on October 2.
Now she has beaten her in a Street Fight, too.
Blake Monroe is 2-0 against Giulia on WWE’s main roster.
And the build-up suggested this was supposed to be the rivalry’s conclusion.
Why? There was no obvious necessity to finish everything here.
The programme had enough momentum to continue to another major show, where Giulia could finally have enjoyed some revenge.
Instead, WWE appears to have decided that Monroe needed both victories.
That certainly establishes Monroe.
But at what cost?
WWE Has a Giulia Problem
Giulia has now lost five consecutive televised matches on WWE’s main roster.
Five.
She arrived with a formidable international reputation, an extraordinary visual identity, and a wrestling style that immediately sets her apart from almost everyone else on the roster.
Yet WWE seems determined to position her as the woman who makes everybody else’s victories feel important.
She lost to Lash Legend.
She lost to Michin.
She lost to Blake Monroe.
Then she lost to Blake Monroe again.
At some point, repeatedly looking impressive in defeat stops being a meaningful consolation.
We are approaching it.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that Giulia hardly needs protecting from the audience discovering she isn’t very good.
She is very good.
We can see that every time she wrestles.
The problem is that WWE keeps asking us to appreciate how dangerous she looks while simultaneously showing us that she cannot win.
Eventually, something has to give.
Was Giulia vs Blake Monroe the Best Match on SmackDown?
For me, it was certainly one of the evening’s highlights.
The Street Fight delivered almost everything I wanted.
It had character work, convincing violence, inventive weapon use, and an entertaining backstage sequence that felt wonderfully removed from WWE’s usual polished television presentation.
The mirror spot was excellent. The chair collisions looked nasty.
The fire extinguisher was ridiculous in exactly the right way.
Even the crowd eventually recognised what it was watching.
My only substantial disappointment was the result.
Not because Monroe didn’t deserve to win. She performed brilliantly.
But because Giulia deserved something from this rivalry, too.
Professional wrestling is supposed to build stars through conflict. It doesn’t necessarily require one participant to win absolutely everything while the other collects increasingly impressive defeats.
Sometimes the most satisfying outcome is allowing both wrestlers to emerge stronger.
I am not convinced WWE achieved that here.
Should Giulia and Blake Monroe Have Another Match?
Yes. Absolutely.
And preferably somewhere important.
These women have enough chemistry to justify another encounter, especially if WWE gives Giulia a chance to reverse the result.
A third match would not undermine Monroe’s achievements.
She would still have beaten Giulia twice.
Instead, it could establish that Giulia is equally capable of overcoming somebody who has repeatedly frustrated her.
Imagine Giulia finally securing that victory after weeks of increasingly personal confrontations.
That would feel earned.
It would also make Monroe’s eventual reaction considerably more interesting.
The Glamour losing to the woman who has already damaged her teeth, her face and her pride?
Giulia vs Blake Monroe Street Fight: Frequently Asked Questions
Who won Giulia vs Blake Monroe Street Fight?
Blake Monroe defeated Giulia by pinfall on WWE SmackDown on October 23, 2026.
How did Blake Monroe defeat Giulia?
Monroe hit Giulia with the Neutraliser after a violent Street Fight featuring steel chairs, a kendo stick, hairspray, a mirror and a fire extinguisher.
Did Giulia put Blake Monroe through a mirror?
Yes. During a backstage sequence, Giulia sent Monroe face-first through a vanity mirror after Monroe had blinded her with hairspray and stopped to admire her reflection.
What is Blake Monroe’s record against Giulia?
Blake Monroe has won both of their main-roster WWE matches, defeating Giulia on October 2 and October 23, 2026.
