Following a great in-ring promo on Raw this past Monday, the woman of the moment, Eve Torres, continues to be a hot button topic in the WWE Universe. Making her second appearance of the week on SmackDown, the now heel Eve’s new attitude seemed to be doing just the trick as she faced off against Natalya, who has seemingly turned back to being a babyface.
Watch below:
Our woman in green is spotted backstage checking herself out in a mirror (you know, as all heel Divas have to do — because they’re all so narcissistic) when Natalya appears with a newly-developed conscience. Gone is the pin-up strong, box of tissues-carrying Natalya. It seems as well as developing Irritable Bowel Syndrome, she’s also back to being a babyface. Natalya slams Eve over her treatment of Zack Ryder but Eve cuts her off.
Great witty line from Eve: “Thank you, Natalya, for being the TMZ breaking news story of the week.”
Eve says that Zack “really stinks”… which is obviously our cue for a fart sound effect. Instead of running away in an embarrassed hurry like in previous weeks, however, Natalya owns her ‘problem’ and uses it to her advantage. “No Eve, that stinks,” she exclaims leaving Eve to fester in the smell as the crowd pops. Who knew such a silly gimmick could actually work in a babyface way?
Next, we head out to the ring for the pair’s match-up. Given their feud on SmackDown in 2009, it’ll be interesting to see how they fare now.
As the bell rings, the pair lock up as Eve applies an armbar submission but Natalya manages to maneuver out of it and applies a side-headlock on Eve. Eve, however, quickly counters out of the move. Natalya goes for a roll-up but no three count.
Natalya applies a waistlock from behind but Eve counters and applies a submission of her own. Natalya again gets the upperhand but Eve sweeps her leg and slams her to the mat. Natalya then takes Eve down too. The pair then kip up at the same time in an impressive show of athleticism.
Natalya tries to shake hands but Eve slaps her hand away before slapping her in the face. This just angers Natalya who leaps atop her with fierce shots as the referee tries to pull her away. Eve uses the referee’s interruption to her advantage to kick Natalya’s leg out from under her. Eve applies a nice choke submission.
It looks like they’ve cut some of the match as the next thing we see is Natalya attempting a roll-up but Eve counters into a roll-up of her own and steals the win.
Thoughts: Not a bad match but would certainly have benefited from more time than it got. It’s pretty interesting to see Natalya back to being a babyface. Again, who’d have thought they’d try to angle this gimmick in a babyface way? Instead of being mocked (well, she’s still being mocked), her getting one over on Eve, as it were, was an interesting new direction. However, I have to wonder, if they’re going to continue doing this, how long until it gets old? And can she really be taken seriously as a Divas Title candidate in future with this gimmick? I hope Natalya doesn’t become just another babyface comedic punchline like Santino or Hornswoggle. She’s far too talented to not be taken seriously. As for Eve, I think her heel promos have been good and she’s proven to be a good talker, but now she needs to develop her heel mannerisms in the ring, in her entrance, in backstage segments etc. That will really help her come in to her own as a heel like Maryse and LayCool before her.
