Greetings from Wales, Divas fans! The weather here is very strange at the moment. Yesterday (I think?) was officially the first day of Autumn over here in the UK (or Fall, for you non-Brits). It’s blazing hot at the minute, but we had fog and rain this morning that had a cold winter chill. Global warming, huh?
I’ve no idea why I started this redux that way but, alas, here we are. And onward we go!
Last night, former Divas champion Paige went toe to toe with the Dynamo Diva herself, Naomi. I just made that up. This is actually the first time I’m ever writing about Paige’s wrestling, I think. I can’t remember having done it before…
How awesome was the triple threat at Night of Champions though, guys? I LOVED IT. Nikki looked phenomenal.
Out first is the new Divas champ, AJ Lee, who will be providing commentary for the forthcoming match. When we come back from commercial, Naomi is already in the ring. I have to be honest – I hate pretty much all of Naomi’s attires since her split from Cameron. This week’s isn’t as bad as the rest, mercifully. I don’t want to see the racing themed one again. The black and white one I mean. Noooope.
Paige heads out to the ring as we’re shown a recap of what went down this past Sunday. AJ mentions that Paige has countered the Black Widow twice in recent months to win the title, but she just couldn’t do it on Sunday; it was quite a physical match.
AJ says there’s no one who’s made her doubt herself as much as Paige has. Interesting.
The bell rings and Paige and Naomi lock up. Paige takes early control but Naomi’s not down for that. She takes the former champ down with… umm… something, and immediately goes for a pin. Whatever it was, it was pretty effective. Naomi focused on parting Paige’s feet, which knocked her off balance, and she was able to get some quick knocks in to ground her opponent. Naomi gets a count of one.
Naomi is displaying tremendous athleticism, whipping herself up and over the top rope, connecting with a boot to Paige’s face on the ring apron and finishing with a hurricanrana off the ropes. Very impressive. Naomi with another cover now, and a count of two.
Naomi is flying around the ring. She hits a modified Thesz press but keep Paige down. Michael Cole mentions that Paige appears to be off her game, and I have to agree. Clearly her loss at NOC is still fresh in her mind and with AJ at ringside, flaunting the belt Paige lost, it seems only natural that the Englishwoman is distracted. Paige rolls out of the ring and onto the apron, then catches Naomi on the middle rope and follows up with a big boot to the face.
Paige screams at AJ from across the ring and then goes for the pin, perhaps leaving it a little too long as Naomi kicks out quickly. Paige drags her to the ropes and carries on with some knees to the ribcage, before dropping Naomi in the corner and piling her with kicks. Distracted for a moment, Paige yells once again at AJ. It allowed Naomi to roll her up, but Paige scrambles out of it and gets back on the offensive. Naomi lands a kick to the skull while she’s down on the mat.
Naomi gains some momentum now, keeping Paige at bay with many a drop kick and a second hurricanrana. Seriously, this girl can GO. She uses a modified headlock take down (the scientific term, ahem) and lands Paige square on the mat, but it still only gets her a two count. Clearly frustrated, Naomi doles out kicks in the corner, before tossing Paige across the ring.
Paige has had enough. As Naomi looks for a count of ten knocks, Paige drops her on the turnbuckle and rolls her up, using the ropes as leverage. Paige gets the three count, but someone’s not too happy about it. Quick as a cat, AJ rushes the ring and blind sides Paige with the championship belt! Certaintly, from the way she fell, it looks like Paige may have tweaked her left shoulder/arm. Alas, she screams that she hates AJ, who has skipped right on out of there.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this match. Naomi is firing all her cannons and just looks untouchable when it comes to her athleticism. She’s very gifted and isn’t afraid to hold back, which I love. Paige looked good too, though more in the psychological sense. She’s clearly reeling from NOC and it’s affecting her wrestling. The blinde side at the end from AJ was a great touch, because it really divides people on who they should be rooting for? That was a veeeery heely tactic by AJ, but I thought she was the face in all this? Either way, this feud is far from over.
Naomi seems to be in some kind of limbo at the moment. Since her split with Cam-Cam both girls have sort of fizzled out of the limelight, which isn’t great. Naomi proved tonight that she can take any ball and roll with it; she’s an all around performer, and I feel about her the same as I do with Cameron. They both need mic time. Cameron needs it because, like Naomi tells us on Total Divas, she talks the talk. But Naomi walks the walk, and I feel like if she was given the chance, mic time and opportunity, she’d make a fantastic Divas Champion in the very near future.
AJ has the line of the night: ‘Paige is next in line for the throne, but I’m not done being queen.’
Until next time, ciao! x
