Heading into tonight’s SmackDown with it being just over one week away from the Elimination Chamber event on Feb. 19, Naomi had a huge opportunity to become a three-time SmackDown Women’s Champion. WWE officials Sonya Deville and Adam Pearce granted Naomi this title match against Charlotte Flair instead of Naomi getting her hands on Sonya once again in the squared circle.
Deville would kick off this week’s SmackDown and address anyone who had the idea to attack her while she was fulfilling her managerial duties. As a result of Ronda Rousey’s attack on her last week, Deville was giving Rousey a $100,000 fine and planned on suspending her indefinitely.
Pearce interrupted Deville to give her a message straight from Vince McMahon. McMahon feels that Deville has been abusing her powers which he “can’t stand.” Therefore he declines Deville’s punishments for Rousey and adds that if Deville lays a hand on Naomi during the show and especially during the championship main event then her job will be in serious jepoardy.
Naomi would quickly make her way to the ring. She mocked Deville by getting in trouble with Mr. McMahon and says that the boss never said that Naomi can’t lay a hand on Deville. Naomi slaps Deville before leaving the ring with a smile and up the ramp.
As for the main event, Naomi and Charlotte Flair put on an iconic showing in a match lasting at least 20-minutes that had fans on their feet. Naomi had nearly won the match on many many different occassions as the near falls really had everyone on the edge of their seats. Naomi tried it all including the Rear View and split-legged moonsault but nothing was keeping The Queen down for a three count. Eventually Flair would hit Natural Selection to get the pin and retain the title.
Excellent match.
After the match, Sonya showed up in the ring and got in the face of Naomi. Naomi fought Sonya off until Flair came back in the ring to take her down. Sonya stomped on Naomi until Ronda Rousey’s music hit. Rousey made the save and entered the ring and had a physical confrontation with Sonya sending the WWE official scrambling to the ramp with Flair by her side.
As a result of the ending of this week’s SmackDown, a third women’s match has been added to the upcoming Elimination Chamber event for Feb. 19 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This will be the first time that three women’s matches have been on an event hosted in Saudi Arabia. There will be 12-women in total on the show which is the most ever after WWE’s last visit which had a total of five.
It will be Naomi teaming with Rousey to take on the team of the SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville. The other two matches slated for the show are Becky Lynch defending her Raw Women’s Title against Lita and an Elimination Chamber match for the Raw women’s roster. Six women will participate in the chamber with five announced and one TBD. The five names confirmed are Rhea Ripley, Nikki A.S.H., Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair, and Doudrop.
In prepartion for the Raw Women’s Championship match, for the first time ever, two women from WWE are on a billboard in Saudi Arabia featuring Lita and Becky Lynch.
Elsewhere on the blue brand this week, Aliyah and Natalya fought in a “Dungeon-style match” which basically means there is no disqualification. After showing a good fight from Aliyah, Natalya would finally get a win against her rival after locking in the Sharp Shooter. Aliyah would make her way to the rope but with no disqualification there was no rope break and she had to tap out.
Post-match, Natalya continuing to attack Aliyah until Xia Li made her way down to the ring to save her friend.
On 205 Live, Lash Legend took on Erica Yan with Legend picking up the victory.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for further news and results from the women of SmackDown.
