What’s up Diva fans and welcome to this week’s WWE Main Event Redux. I’m grinning like the Cheshire Cat right now as having seen what we got on last night’s show, I am over the moon that I get to recap what we saw. I feel like I’m in Wonderland! Following on from Monday’s RAW, WWE Divas Champion Paige is to scrap with Cameron’s Funkadactyl counterpart Naomi! Naomi has been annoyed with Cameron’s brash and obnoxious behaviour as of late so can she prove that a fair fight can help her pick up a win or will the Divas Champ make sure that she’s only lost one match so far and it is going to stay that way?!
TO THE VIDEO!
Our first Divas sighting of the night comes from Wonderland’s resident Queen of Hearts, Lana and she is looking STUNNING. The ‘Ravishing Russian’ accompanies her man Rusev for his match against Santino Marella. Hmm, I wonder who won that one? Quicker than a hiccup, Lana told Rusev to crush and he maims the Milan Miracle in convincing fashion. I’m afraid there was no video available for this moment yet there wasn’t much to see any way. Ok, Lana looked incredible yet when does she not?
Backstage beauty Renee Young was also featured on last night’s episode, where she interviewed Sheamus and The Usos. The guys did most of the talking yet at least Renee looked good just holding the mic. Sadly, I couldn’t find a video for this particular moment either, but well, she just asked a generic question anyway. However, should you want to check her out, at least you know she was there!
Its match time now as Paige is going to be locking up with Naomi. The Funkadactyls are out first and I am praying that they split up soon just so they can get rid of their dinosaur nickname and that song. I love the theme yet it’s time to go. The Funkadactyls need to be extinct and Cameron’s attitude problem and Naomi’s unwillingness to put up with it will hopefully be the ice age to wipe the team out. Paige enters the arena next to a nice reaction as we see a recap of Cameron tapping out on RAW. Poor Cameron, I feel so bad for her. *sarcasm*
The match starts with the girls mirroring each other move for move before Paige locks in a side headlock on Naomi. Naomi fights out yet gets knocked down with a shoulder block. After some ducking and diving, the girls exchange monkey flips and armdrags before simultaneously cancelling each other out with dropkicks and kip ups. Fantastic action!
The girls lock up and after jockeying for control, Paige levels Naomi with a clothesline. After a cover and a head butt, Paige gets another near fall. Paige tries to make Naomi tap now, forcing the wind out of her and stretching her limbs with a lengthy abdominal stretch. Naomi eventually breaks free by hop tossing Paige, which she follows up with a unique pin attempt. Although unsuccessful, Naomi waste no time, transitioning the pin into a gorgeous surfboard-style submission. Paige shouts in pain for a while yet after she refuses to tap, Naomi tries to catch her off-guard with a quick bridging pin, yet it’s not enough. Paige begins to fight back but the girls clash heads, sending them both to the mat.
Love how because the match has been so back and forth, anyone could get initiate the ‘momentum-shifting comeback’ at this stage – it’s too close to call!
Paige gets the best of the tussle once both girls are to their feet as she delivers hard and rapid knee strikes into Naomi’s chest yet Naomi fights back, dazing Paige with a kick to the face from the apron. Naomi leaps off the top rope with a crossbody, yet Paige uses Naomi’s velocity to her disadvantage, reversing the pin. Paige begins to look frustrated though as Naomi manages to get her shoulder up. Paige goes for the Paige Turner, yet Naomi reverses, leapfrogs Paige and hits a Reverse DDT for the win.
Shut the front door; Naomi just pinned the Divas Champion!
Cameron is screaming with joy, jumping all over the shop, hugging Naomi and even posing on the middle rope like she won the match. Ambre is flying left, right and centre! Paige asks Naomi for a handshake yet Cameron pushes Paige! Paige then beats the crap out of Cameron, hammering and slamming her before dumping her to the outside whilst Naomi… does absolutely nothing. Paige extends her hand again and Naomi shakes it before having to face Cameron on the outside who is as mad as a hatter!
Thoughts: Let’s just start by congratulating Paige and Naomi. This match was a fantastic example of how to book a face vs face match. It was even the entire way through with a great story told throughout. I liked how unlike usual, Paige started to show some frustration at the end which could have ultimately cost her the match. I loved the mirror image nature of the opening and the submission exchange in the middle of the match showed that both girls can be versatile and whip out new moves in their movesets. It makes them less predictable and proves they can pull a new move or two from up their proverbial sleeves.
I am also going to make shocking admission to prove to you all that I am not completely biased towards Paige. Whilst I don’t think the match was sloppy, Naomi was definitely crisper in her movements and for me, was the MVP of the match. Hard for me to admit but there you have it, I can be impartial!
Next on the agenda, the Funkadactyls may finally be splitting up! I absolutely love this. Naomi’s facial expressions were on-point and told the whole story without the need for dialogue. She was like “Girl, you made your hospital bed, now lie in it!” My gut feeling is that Naomi will challenge Paige now at Money in the Bank yet Cameron will cost her the match out of jealousy. However, even though I am a Paige fan, I think it would be even more refreshing for Naomi to turn heel with Cameron and allow Cameron to interfere so she wins the Divas Championship at MITB. Faces are always better when chasing the belt and I for one would love to see Paige gunning to get the belt back, even though I am enjoying her with the championship.
When the Funks do split or turn heel, they must have individual themes and come out to ‘Dance All Night’ and ‘Bye, Bye’ though. Please and thanks, WWE.
All-in-all, it was a great night for both girls in the match. They tore the house down and although Paige lost, she got herself a new competitor and she loves some good competition to get her teeth into. Naomi managed to upset the champ and upset her tag team partner in a different way, the latter of which I’m sure she’s not really bothered about!
And with that, stay tuned, Jack will be back!
