Last night’s Survivor Series 2010 marked the third meeting between Co-Divas Champions, Lay-Cool and the third generation Diva, Natalya. Natalya has faced off against both members of Lay-Cool individually and came up short, but last night the odds were stacked even more against. This time she’d have to face both members in a 2-on-1 handicap match. Can the first lady of The Hart Dynasty take out the BFF champions to become the first ever third generation Divas Champion? Check out the match below:
Out first are the Co-Divas Champions and Michelle McCool is looking stunning in a copper variation of her usual ring gear. Layla… not so much. I don’t know what it is about Divas and mixing neon colors and weird prints, but it never looks good and this was no exception. I’m usually a big fan of Layla’s choices in ring gear, but this was a definite miss for her.
Natalya comes out next in a silver version of her gear, which I thought looked fantastic on her. As she make her down the ramp, Matt Striker informs us that Lay-Cool will have to tag in and out of the match, instead of both competing at once as I had originally thought. After some of the usual taunting from the champ, the referee signals for the bell and our championship match is under way.
Michelle starts things off for Lay-Cool and almost immediately drops Nattie with a single leg takedown for a one count. Both ladies jockey for position with McCool getting the upperhand and laying in some stiff shots, before being reprimanded by the referee. Michelle pulls Natalya to her feet and hits her with a hard European uppercut, but before she can capitalize Nattie goes around and takes her down with a double leg takedown, followed by a front chancery, which is quickly reversed by McCool for another near fall.
McCool beats on Nattie for a bit more, before tagging Layla, who takes Natalya down with a flying clothesline for a two count. Layla stays on Nattie, blasting her with a few forearms, followed by a spin kick, leaving Nattie hanging from the bottom rope. Layla sees her opportunity and starts choking her opponent, prompting the official to pry her off. While the referee is distracted, Michelle jumps off of the apron and sends Natalya crashing down to the floor.
Now that the damage has been done, Layla relinquishes the official’s attention and slides out to the floor. As Nattie tries to get back to a vertical base, Layla lays in a kick to her injured lower back, before tossing her back in the ring and tagging in McCool. Looking to use the handicap stipulation to their advantage, Lay-Cool goes for a double suplex. Unfortunately for the tandem, Natalya blocks the attempt and takes Lay-Cool over with an impressive suplex of her own.
Unable to follow up, Natalya rolls to the outside, clutching her back, but is closely followed by Michelle. Not willing to give Nattie time to catch her second wind, Michelle blasts Nattie from behind with a forearm, followed by a few stomps to the lower back. After rolling under the bottom rope to break the ref’s 10 count, Michelle comes charging with a big boot, but Nattie evades causing McCool to run into the barricade crotch first.
Natalya takes a moment to collect herself, before retrieving Michelle from the crowd the hard way. Layla rushes over to help her friend, but Nattie sees her coming and nails her with a kick to the gut, then tosses her over the barricade and into McCool. Natalya finally manages to get Michelle near the ring, but Michelle sends her flying into barricade, targeting the lower back once more.
Michelle throw back into the ring and pulls Natalya up to finish her off, but Natalya reverses and throws her towards the ropes and into Layla, who was trying to enter the ring. Sensing that victory is afoot, Natalya rolls McCool up with a school boy pin, but instead of going for the pin, she goes straight into the Sharpshooter. Almost instantaneously, Michelle taps and we have a brand new Divas Champion: Natalya!
Post match Natalya is visibly moved to tears. Of course Lay-Cool has to ruin her moment by attacking her in the middle of the ring. Fortunately for Natalya, before too much damage was done, some familiar music came blaring out of the speakers.
That music belongs to the one and only Beth Phoenix! Beth comes to the rescue, taking out Michelle and planting Layla with a Glam Slam. After business has been taken care of, Beth strides over to Natalya and pulls her into a big, teary hug. The Glamazon then hoists the new champion onto her shoulder as she holds the belts in the air, in one of the most touching moments in Diva history.
First, let’s talk about the match. In my honest opinion, this was the best match in the Lay-Cool/Natalya saga, or my favorite at least. We saw some solid mat work from Michelle and Natalya and some good aggression from Layla. While the match could have been a bit longer, but it was longer than most of the matches we see from week to week. If I had a major gripe about this match it would be the quick ending. I would have expected Michelle to put up a bit more of a fight to keep her title, but I’m kind of glad she didn’t.
My favorite part of this match had to be the return of Beth Phoenix and her celebration with Natalya. Obviously, these two have a great deal of respect for each other and it’s was really touching to see them celebrate in the ring like that. This will be a Diva moment that fans will remember for a long time to come.
Now that Natalya has the belt, I’m not exactly sure where she goes from here. Does she continues to feud with Lay-Cool with The Glamazon by her side? Will a new challenger step up to the plate? Who knows? In any event, I’m sure we’ll get some kind of direction in this storyline on this week’s edition of Raw… maybe.
Last but not least, congratulations is in order. Wrestling has been Natalya’s life for so long and she’s worked so hard to perfect her craft. She bided her time and waited until it was her turn to hold a title and now she finally has it. It’s so wonderful to see finally get what she deserves.
Match Rating: 4/5
