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The Welcoming Committee swore that they would make a mark. And with the opportunity to do so, did they come through? In last night’s Six Woman Tag match, we saw all six of SmackDown Live’s women give it their all to make their mark. But only half of those could come out on top.
The showing begins with James Ellsworth interesting his “girl” – yes it’s at that point, I guess – Carmella. The Princess of Staten Island comes out, followed by Tamina and then Natalya. Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Naomi then make their entrances, and the match goes underway.
The crowd are very much remain behind Naomi and co., with Charlotte getting the loudest reaction. But it is the Welcoming Committee that remain dominant throughout.
With their dirty tactics the trio keep Lynch, Flair and Naomi floundering around. One highlight includes the Welcoming Committee kicking Charlotte into the corner whilst tagging out to avoid a count-out. On top of that we see Tamina play the distraction role multiple times, as well as a few impressive moves from Natalya.
At one point, Becky has Natalya in the Dis-arm-her, readying her for the closure, but Carmella quickly ends the submission manoeuvre. This then leads to Charlotte tossing the Princess out of the ring, followed by Tamina super-kicking her and knocking out Naomi. The Lass Kicker does manage to fend Tamina off, though, but after being tired out she is placed in the Sharpshooter and forced to submit. Another win for the Welcoming Committee!
Thoughts: As a standalone match, this was a good one to watch. Despite not featuring any special moments, it was still pretty enticing. But it’s not a standalone match, it’s a pay-per-view match that is a part of the first storyline of this new era. It needed to have some kind of importance to it.
But there is a bit of a silver lining.
Charlotte, Becky and Naomi needed to lose so that the ladies of the Welcoming Committee could come across as dominant. They’ve been leading the new division since it started, and a pay-per-view win was what they needed to look even stronger. Having them lose at a hurdle like this would have done nothing but make the already over faces look good, which isn’t something they need. So for that part, SmackDown’s creative made a good decision.
The match itself had them looking as dominant as ever as they lead the entire thing. They lead so much of it that I was made to believe that they’d fall at the final hurdle and tap out, but they didn’t! Hoorah!
However, that’s about as much as it does. It makes me want to watch SmackDown, but it doesn’t make this match very memorable. When I think of Backlash, I think of the incredible show-stealing match from the 2016 edition. That is still, to this day, the greatest pay-per-view match from the SmackDown women. So to go from a show stealing Six-Pack Challenge to a forgetful Six-Woman Tag is very disappointing.
But we shall see what happens from this point onwards. There’s no way that SmackDown will continue the 3 vs 3 feud, so something new is definitely (hopefully) on the horizon. And the Fallout will all begin this Tuesday.
It’s also important to note that Becky, a submission specialist, lost the match via tapout. This is going to leave a huge mark on her. She’s been losing a lot lately, and with the fact that she’s probably taken her most humiliating loss last night, her mind may be thinking in a new direction. Could she be regretting her decision to go against the Welcoming Committee? And if she does, it’ll be an interesting moment if she chooses to stand by them. Or maybe she’ll stand solo, and the badass heel that she’s been before back on NXT can come out… Who knows?
So right now, we have a division in which five of the women are looking strong, with Becky dealing with a string of humiliating losses. This may not have been the most enticing of matches, but story wise, it may be doing its job. We just have to wait to see the fallout.
What did you think of the match? What do you expect to happen on Tuesday? Let us know your views in the comments below!
