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This week it’s all about proving yourself in the women’s division. We see the debut of a NXT rookie battling against The Predator that aims to make her mark, as well as The Boss gunning to takeover WWE by proving to her former “BFF” that she isn’t playing around. SmackDown definitely is a treat for us women’s wrestling fans this week so let’s take a quick look back at the show before dissecting it apart.
Dana Brooke heads out to the ring to begin her match against NXT rookie Billie Kay. Before the match can begin we take a look back at last week where Sasha Banks comes to the aid of Becky Lynch. The match begins and immediately Dana takes control. She implants some choke holds in the corner and insists that “this is [her] ring” in between moves. Kay fights back with an impressive hurricanrana but falls victim to Brooke’s Samoan Driver.
After the match, Renee Young confronts Sasha and is reminded that Sasha made Dana tap this past Monday night. Before Banks can complete her statement dedicated to Dana and the Women’s Champion, Summer Rae shows up and interrupts her. Summer claims that Sasha is “all flash, and no funk,” and that, for the sake of Banks, it’d be better if the two of them were on different brands when the upcoming draft takes place. Sasha quickly feels disrespected by her former partner so aims to make Summer learn her lesson by challenging her to a match.
Later on in the show we see the match take place and it is just as great as expected. Some familiar moments from their Main Event and Superstars matches are noticeable, but the performance is as strong as ever. The action is very much back and forth. Some of the best highlights are Summer’s DDT and her kick on the outside apron, as well as Sasha’s double knees turning into the Bank Statement at the end. Summer is then seen tapping to Sasha’s signature move to award the Boss the win. After slowly getting to her feet to celebrate her victory, Banks looks straight at the camera. The Boss motions to the audience to make a statement that she’s coming for Charlotte’s Women’s Championship.
Thoughts: After a while of being on the main roster, it’s fair to say that Dana isn’t quite ready to be there. Though she had a great start to her time here, the past month or so has been fairly tragic. Contrary to this, Dana manages to keep her cocky character intact this week and doesn’t come across like a newbie at all (something we haven’t seen very often in her main roster work). She executes each move wonderfully and delivers her dialogue believably. Brooke may not be the most polished in the ring, but she proves that The Predator truly does have potential.
Billie also is a superb talent. Though, like Dana, some work definitely needs to be done, this SmackDown debut is brilliant on her behalf. Each move by Dana is sold perfectly and her offense is better than expected. Despite Kay hardly making a mark over at NXT, she still manages to showcase a lot of promise. This short match isn’t exactly going to be a career highlight, but it surely indicates a decent future for her.
Moving on to Sasha and Summer Rae, this is probably the best highlight of the entire show. These two never manage to disappoint whenever they have a match against one another. Despite the endgame of their bouts always being obvious, the chemistry they share still makes it worthwhile to watch. We witness Sasha selling Summer’s moves flawlessly whilst denoting a struggle when it comes to defeating the blonde. Both women know each other’s moves very well, and the relationship they share in the ring is remarkable. It’s really refreshing to see repetitive bouts in the WWE that don’t feel repetitive, despite constantly taking place. And unlike most competitors in this situation, this is definitely one of those. The result may be the same, as is the story, but watching Summer and Sasha face off has yet to feel old.
Sasha states earlier in the show that her feud with Charlotte will appear in a “Rivals” documentary on the Network one day. Though this may be true, these matches with Summer really make me wish we could see this feud instead. But alas, we’re still seeing Sasha and Summer perform and neither of them are disappointing us.
The work on this week’s edition of SmackDown is brilliant. The NXT rookie Billie Kay proves that she may have a bright future ahead of her, whilst Sasha and Summer – yet again – highlight how phenomenal they are as in-ring performers. All four women do a great job at selling their stories and all in all, it is a pretty great episode of SmackDown for the women (which is a rare thing to say these days).
How do you think the women did this week? Let us know your views in the comments below!
