To say that tonight’s Divas Championship match is highly anticipated would be doing it an injustice. This match is more than just a match. For someone, it could very well end up being a career making moment. AJ Lee is the champion, and she’s the won who started this. A few weeks ago on Raw, she tore into the cast of the popular reality show on E!, Total Divas, and placed herself above them. She talked them down, attacked them verbally, and got together a gang of equally pressed Divas to help beat them down physically. Natalya, Brie Bella and Naomi responded with scathing Twitter remarks and a three-on-one beat down of the champ. This match has turned friends into enemies. It has made everyone pick a side. It has given much needed life to the Diva’s division. And most of all, it has promoted the show, the cast, and the champion. For once, the WWE has done a great job of typing everything together in a neat little package and that’s the main reason everyone is excited to see who leaves the historic Joe Louis Arena tonight with the butterfly belt in their hands.
For AJ, retaining her championship could be the very victory that solidifies her as the best Diva on the roster right now. Defeating three other women would not only be historic, but it would back up her claim that she is better than all the rest, and doesn’t need a reality show to get herself over. For Naomi, this could be her breakout moment. No one is really looking at her to win tonight, and it could be just the boost she needs to secure herself as a force to be reckoned with. For Brie, it’s all about redemption and getting a chance at a second title reign. Nikki Bella and Eva Marie will no doubt be there with her, and the Mean Girls having the Diva’s Championship could mean bad, bad things for the rest of the girls in the WWE. Then there’s Natalya, the sentimental favorite of the match and the one person who could walk away with a victory and have very few people complain. We’ve watched her on Total Divas vent her constant frustration at her lack of match time, and winning tonight could validate the third-generation Diva’s reputation of being one of the best to ever step foot inside the ring.
AJ. Naomi. Brie. Natalya.
One title. One Champion. There can only be one. It’s going to be one hell of a night and one hell of a topsy, turvy roller coaster ride of emotion for whoever wins, and bitter, bitter tears of defeat for the three that end up on the losing end.
A backstage segment is the first taste we get of what’s to come. AJ walks up to Layla, Alicia Fox and Aksana.
Ohhhh girl! They just walked off and left AJ to her own devices. I loved the fact AJ had the gall to say that they would all be nothing without her. How cute. Obviously, I have a different opinion but that’s not for right now. AJ is definitely the best actress in the division, and her facial expressions are amazing. She’s going to be carrying a lot of annoyance into the match.
The Divas make their entrances separately, and surprisingly, none of them have back-up. There’s no sign of Nikki, Eva Marie JoJo and Cameron. Going by the earlier segment, we already knew that Alicia, Aksana, and Layla wouldn’t be around. The crowd seems mixed when it comes to this match. No one really got an ovation that stood out and that’s unfortunate.
Nattie out first. She’s by herself. Naomi is out second and she doesn’t have her back up. But her ring gear fucking slays. Brie is out third with no back up either. Queen Brie looking flawless. And here comes AJ, and her reaction isn’t what I thought it would be. The crowd seems mixed on this match. All four stare at one another to start the match off and AJ is the first to bail. Natalya and Brie gang up on the champ, and then Naomi jumps in all. All three Total Divas take a turn tossing AJ into the barricade before they roll her back into the ring. Brie whips around and nails Naomi and Nattie with a vicious clothesline. Brie goes after both of her cast mates, but ends up dumping Natalya off first. That leaves her alone with Naomi, who is quick to try and block whatever Brie is throwing at her. She ends up getting the first chance at a cover, but Brie’s not going down that easy.
Nattie and AJ both get back in the ring and AJ goes for a quickie roll-up on Nattie. The Canadian blond is able to kick out. Naomi gets back in the match by doing her little booty bump to both of them and tries for a cover on Nattie. That doesn’t work for her either. Things get worse for Naomi as she works her way to the top rope for a high risk move. She misses a huge crossbody on Natalya and absolutely eats a face full of mat. That looked SO painful, that I can not even.
All four of them hook up again and Naomi is the first to go this time. The match really picks up at this point, with Brie able to get a cover on Natalya. Of course, Natalya is able to kick out and at this point, Naomi is back in the match. Nattie ends up bodyslamming Brie on top of Naomi. Brie literally has Naomi covered FOREVER with no one counting her… seriously! That was your match right there. Finally, Natalya goes for a double sharpshooter on Brie and Naomi, and it’s a thing of beauty. Neither girl taps out because AJ breaks it up. She locks Nattie in the Black Widow submission and eventually Natalya is forced to tap out.
AJ retains her championship!
Oh wow, where should I even start?
It’s kind of obvious to me that they had no clue how to book a four person match, so that’s why we got a lot of one-on-one action. I don’t mind that because for the most part, what we got was super solid. Brie really stood out to me for several reasons, including her ring gear which absolutely slayed everyone and everything, and will go down in history as the best ring gear of all time. She worked most of the match, and looked really good on offense and defense. Her spots were executed prettily, and she worked well with the other three. Naomi ate the mat in a big way when she missed that cross body, but Nattie rolled out of the way and made it look like it was part of the match. The thud was terrifying and kudos to Naomi for getting up and continuing on. I thought she looked beautiful tonight and we all know it’s only a matter of time before she gets to have that moment.
With Natalya tapping to AJ, it’s kind of clear that they want to go with AJ versus Natalya, which is the match most of us thought we were going to get anyway. That being said, I think Brie has a good case as to why she should be next in line. She had Naomi covered forever, and the referee just standing there was truly, truly awful. I guess you could make a case that Brie’s shoulders were down as well, but it was an awkward moment. The ending itself was bad. I’m not to pressed that AJ retained, because now she could have singles matches with all three (more on that later), but after the double sharpshooter spot, both Naomi and Brie were just kind of left there. For the length of time AJ had Nattie in the Black Widow, Brie or Naomi could have gotten up and broke up the hold. The ending was a total cop out. It would have looked a lot better of AJ to have thrown Brie and Naomi out of the ring, then set her sites on Natalya.
On the positive, the WWE has two pay-per-views coming up very close to one another. I would love to see AJ take on either Naomi or Brie tomorrow night on Raw, then face Brie/Naomi at Battleground. That would free up Hell In A Cell for Natalya versus AJ, and should they decide to continue they could do a traditional Survivor Series match at well, Survivor Series. I would love to see AJ recruit a team of NXT Divas to join her in taking on Team Total Divas, but I am getting way ahead of myself.
I guess, in conclusion I was disappointed with the match but alright with AJ retaining. It does open up a lot of possibilities, and hopefully they keep this thing alive.
In addition to that, there’s Summer Rae! And yes, she totally slayed.
Summer looked absolutely flaw free tonight. I love how the Divas pull out all stops when it comes to Pay-Per-Views. Summer is proof that no matter how terrible the gimmick may seem, if you work hard enough you can get over. Like Fandango, she is living and breathing her gimmick and she has gotten so good. She’s perfect at ringside and I can’t say enough good things about her. I loved her interference tonight on the apron. The shriek was hilarious and Fandango was able to capitalize and get the better of The Miz for awhile afterwards. I hope these two start winning more matches before the fans completely tune out to them. They deserve much better and need a few wins under their sequined belts!
That being said, did you guys notice that Summer Rae chant during the match?! Haha, when will your fave get that…
Yes, I just did a sassy finger snap after typing that!
Night of Champions was far from perfect, but I’m going to believe that it was just used as a stepping stone for something bigger and better. I refuse to believe they are going to let Total Divas and AJ just fizzle out for no reason. Overall, I would have to give the action two out of five stars, simply because of how the awkward spot with Brie and Naomi, and the ending. It wasn’t bad, but those two things did ruin it for me. I will say that we now have a lot of delicious possibilities, so not all is lost!
