As stated last week, the Ravishing Revolution is beginning! Will Tamina be able to find her way to the top? And how is the title picture looking now that Natalya is holding the crown? Let’s find out!
The first sighting of the night is a dark match between Carmella and Naomi. The Glowtastic Naomi ends up walking out victorious – Atta’ girl!
We then later see James Ellsworth introduce his “homegirl” and our Miss Money In The Bank Carmella. The Princess of Staten Island struts next to him to be interviewed – by him! Although he asks her “what’s next” for her, she refuses as last week he spoiled her cash in plans. So if it wasn’t for him, she’d probably be champ right now. Yikes. He is apologetic, though! Ellsworth managed to (attempt to) make it up to her by sending flowers… that he stole from a funeral.
Before the couple can continue, the Women’s champion Natalya pops up. She tells ‘Mella to be “grateful” that Ellsworth soiled her plans because if she ever tries to cash in on Natalya, she’ll make her “the Baron Corbin of the women’s division.” Ouch! Though, I’m not sure anyone in the room right now is the most offended by that comment…
The Queen of Black Harts then tells Carmella to be ready however, as the two will go one-on-one next week. But Miss Money In The Bank doesn’t seem to be too scared. In fact, she tells the champ to keep the title shiny for her. Oh, it’s gonna be a good one!
Naomi is the next to pop up, and aims to get into her head. She wonders why the champ is so “on edge”, but soon says that she needs a good “cat nap” – nice one, Naomi – as she has a difficult two weeks ahead of her. Yes, two weeks. Because after Carmella is done with Neidhart, Naomi announces that her Women’s title rematch will take place the following week. It’ll definitely be a tough one for the champ. And who knows if she’ll even be involved in the title match with Naomi? Anything could happen with that briefcase around…
We soon end up having a match. Before it happens however, Lana introduces it as the beginning of the “Ravishing Revolution”, AKA the beginning of Tamina’s journey to the title! Snuka is facing a local competitor named Hayley Shadows.
The match is decent, and ends very quickly. The most important thing to note is that Lana shouts “Tamina crush” (with the help of a microphone) much like she did with Rusev as a signal of Snuka ending the match. Tamina is then obviously victorious. The two quickly pose for some cameras and go to the back.
Backstage, Lana states that because the Women’s Evolution is full of women bringing each other down, she is starting her own with Tamina. She wants to build each other up and Tamina will become champion – #ChampionshipCampaign. How creative, Lana.
Tamina says that what happened to Hayley is what is going to happen to anyone standing in her way. So in simple words – as Lana puts it – they’re going to be crushed!
We also see Charlotte Flair give an update on her father Ric Flair. She states how it’s one of the “hardest two weeks [she’s] ever had” and thanks fans, friends and family for the messages. He has a “long road” to recovery, but the “prayers and positive vibes” help.
Hopefully we’ll see the star return to the women’s division soon!
Thoughts: So tonight was pretty lacklustre, wasn’t it? From a backstage segment that sounded like the writers had just compiled all three women’s tweets and put them into the script, to a local competitor job match, this isn’t really an episode to care about. But it is somewhat necessary.
The start to the Ravishing Revolution needed to be with a local competitor because the other women do not need to lose so soon. This is a great way to build Tamina, and even though it’s typical, it seems to work for almost anyone that goes through it. We just need the creative team to pull out something unique soon because these local competitor contests get stale very quickly.
As for the title picture, it looks like it’ll be a really great one to watch. What I appreciate the most is that Natalya isn’t coming across as a threat one bit. Miss Money In The Bank and the former champion are more confident that they’ll be the champ than Natalya is right now – and she just won it! Neidhart’s gimmick of being taken seriously whilst not being taken seriously has surprisingly worked. It makes you want to root for her because you know she deserves it, but due to her lack of confidence and easy-to-pick-on personality, you also kind of want to see her lose it. And Natalya herself is the perfect candidate for this. I just hope that she doesn’t lose the title before she can really make a huge run with the whole cat thing too. It’s golden.
It’s also nice to see that Carmella is the real threat here. As the first Miss Money In The Bank, she sets the tone for everyone. And boy is she carrying herself like a pro! She looks like a million bucks and I can’t wait until she trades her briefcase in for that title because she truly deserves it. And of course, Ellsworth deserves his credit too.
Ellsworth has been able to keep fans laughing and angry at the duo’s antics. He’s managed to allow the story to be attractive to non women’s wrestling fans also. Unfortunately not everyone is interested in women’s wrestling purely because of the gender specified, so having a man around does allow those fans to show some interest. And on top of that, Carmella is proving ever week why she is the one to watch. She holds herself like a pro and comes across as the woman of SmackDown Live. Her time is coming, and it’ll be a truly glorious reign when it does.
To end things off, despite this week being pretty bad for the women, at least we have one match – at the very least – confirmed for the next two weeks. Hoorah!
What are your thoughts on tonight’s episode? Who will win next week’s match? What’s the future looking like for the Ravishing Revolution? Let us know your views in the comments below!
