Hello SmackDown Redux readers! I gotta tell ya: in this era of Paige-less SmackDowns, I have a feeling it’s going to be crapshoot determining whether or not the Divas Title storyline is going to see any progress on Thursday nights. This week, we have Team Bella taking on Naomi again, but this time it’s Brie Bella doing the wrestling, Alicia Fox doing the managing while Nikki Bella‘s off on the WWE’s international tour.
That doesn’t bode well for story progress, so I guess the bigger question is whether or not Brie will be a heel in this match. You know, since the WWE loves to switch back and forth with those labels for those who bear the name Bella. Which will it be? The suspense is killing me!
We join Brie and Alicia mid-entrance. Uh oh. Are we on a deadline here? Naomi’s already in the ring, sans Tamina Snuka, who is apparently also on the international tour. I guess the rumors of Naomi getting axed from that Divas Title match were true. Boo. Brie is saluting the crowd babyface-style, but her music is drowning out any potential piped-in cheers, so I guess we’ll have to gauge her alignment during the match itself.
The bell rings, and Brie takes control out of the tie-up with an arm bar. Naomi grabs a handful of hair and stops this, but Brie soon has hold of her arm again. Naomi flips out of Brie’s grasp and trips her up, kicking her in the face for good measure. Naomi goes for the pin, but Brie kicks out.
Naomi takes a page out of Brie’s book and grabs her arm, wrenching it. Brie decides to mimic Naomi as well, using the ropes to flip backwards and free herself, slapping her for a punctuation mark. Brie laughs at Naomi’s reaction, looking cocky. Heel! She’s a heel here. Okay, cool.
Brie exits the ring and makes a run for it, Naomi giving chase. Alicia lies in wait, but her sneak attack is ducked. Naomi doesn’t get far, though, as Brie turns around and takes her out, slamming the back of her head onto the floor. Ouch. Naomi’s husband Jimmy Uso, who will be providing color commentary for the summer, feels her pain.
Brie tosses Naomi back into the ring and stomps on her a bit. When she tries to drive her face-first into the turnbuckle, though, Naomi reserves, sending Brie into it instead. Brie fights off Naomi’s ensuing attack and takes to the second rope, drilling her with a missile dropkick. Brie covers Naomi for the pin, but Naomi kicks out at two.
Naomi is propped up, Brie locking in a modified chinlock with her right arm hyperextended. It’s not long, though, before Naomi’s on her feet, and she fights free, knocking Brie away with an explosive dropkick. She comes charging at Brie, but a drop toe hold sends her throat-first into the second rope. Brie hits a running knee strike and covers Naomi for the pin, earning another two count.
Brie sends Naomi into the corner and nails her midsection with a series of knees before taking her down with a running bulldog. Another pin attempt, another kickout by Naomi. Brie locks in headlock, but Naomi is soon on her feet, freeing herself and hitting Brie with a barrage of blows. Brie stumbles around and Naomi grabs hold of both her arms, dropping to the mat and sending two boots into her chest.
Brie backs into the corner and telegraphs Naomi’s charging attack, launching her over the top rope onto the apron. Naomi slaps Brie away, but when she reenters the ring, Brie holds her up, drawing the referee’s attention and allowing Alicia to trip her. Naomi, having lost her momentum, stumbles right into a Bella Buster. Brie gets the pin and the win.
Alicia and Brie giddily celebrate, relishing the power that comes from being on Team Bella.
Later on, Summer Rae and Rusev took to the ring to “go public” with an alliance of their own after all the hubbub that went down on Raw:
Summer says she wants to be the “bigger person” and apologize for her actions on Raw. She admits that she should have never stooped to Lana‘s level, no matter how good it felt to slap her. Rusev, she says, is a kind man, and Lana’s loss is her gain. In return, Rusev kisses her hand.
Rusev says Summer is a real woman, one who is not afraid to speak up and knows her place. Summer seems a little unsettled by that last descriptor. He says he never needed that “witch” Lana. He has a better Lana – er, a better woman now. He tells Dolph Lana is poisoning his brain and he will no longer let he and Lana make fun of him.
Rusev promises to crush Dolph’s skull, eat his heart and hang his intestines in his back yard. He promises that Dolph will soon find out what it’s like to lose everything.
Lana reacted to all of this on SmackDown Fallout:
She admits that for a long time, Rusev was her “everything”, but she eventually realized that she would need to make a change to her life if she truly wanted to make a positive impact on people. She doesn’t know what drew Rusev and Summer together, but says she hopes Summer soon realizes that Rusev doesn’t treat anyone with respect.
Lastly, we have Rosa Mendes, who, in addition to her requisite strange interview, actually appeared on SmackDown itself. She accompanied Adam Rose to the ring to witness his loss against R-Truth:
They didn’t seem to be too bummed about the loss on SmackDown Fallout, sharing some Hershey kisses and indulging in more JoJo abuse:
Thoughts: The Lana/Dolph vs. Summer/Rusev story is definitely an improvement over the “Dolph and Lana taunt pathetic Rusev” thread that was running over the past few weeks. Even if this still isn’t as epic as people would hope Lana’s breakout storyline would be, the addition of Summer is definitely a plus. At the very least, it gets us that much closer to a Lana that wrestles.
I’m intrigued by how little animosity Lana seems to have for Summer, sounding more like she pities her in that interview. That’s a different spin on the usual Diva feud, and adds depth to Lana’s character: as a babyface, she truly wants to affect positive change, and playing into the “all women hate each other” narrative in no way achieves that. It’s more realistic, in my mind, that she wants Summer to be free from Rusev’s toxic influence, but still won’t back down when physically confronted, as we saw on Raw. I’m really interested in seeing where this goes: a tag match at SummerSlam, perhaps?
While I’m obviously annoyed at how lackluster this “Bellas hold back the division” storyline has been not progressing, I enjoyed this match. For one, Brie was actually playing a heel here. It helped that Alicia was being obviously heelish and the two cheated to pick up the win, but Brie made sure to keep her mannerisms heelish during the match as well, and I appreciated that. At least there’s some semblance of continuity here.
Brie and Naomi proved that, despite the bookers’ obvious trepidations, a Diva heel vs. heel match can. No one’s character was damaged: Brie and Alicia provided further proof that the Bellas have an unfair advantage and Naomi proved that everyone is a victim of that – not just the babyfaces. It all just makes me long for this storyline to take a wider scope: show how all the Divas are affected beyond the typical heel/face lines. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Naomi is the key to that. Honestly, at this point, she feels like the protagonist in this feud, much more so than Paige. Now that would be novel – a heel protagonist. If only the WWE were so gutsy…
