After two title matches in the past week, WWE decided to slow things down on this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw and treat us to a tag team match. Watch below as the newly crowned Divas Champion, Eve and the former champ, Natalya face off against Lay-Cool:
Out first is the team of Eve and Natalya. Maybe I’m nitpicking, but there’s something not right about seeing Natalya acting so happy-go-lucky the night after losing her title, especially since she’s teaming with the person who took it from her. You would think she had a chip on her shoulder after the surprise result, but that’s WWE for ya! Babyfaces can have no real emotions except happy and smiley. Out next is Lay-Cool, looking quite upset about not winning the belt at the Royal Rumble. We cut to a backstage segment to see Layla and Michelle blaming each other for their loss, before agreeing to place the blame on the referee. Lay-Cool kiss and make up as we cut back to the ring for the match. Looks like they may be teasing another Lay-Cool split. That said, I’ll believe when I see it.
Anyhoo, the official signals for the bell and our match is underway. Michelle and Natalya start things off with a lock up and Nattie quickly takes McCool over for a quick one count. Michelle charges and is taken down once again by a single leg takedown for another quick pin attempt. Staying on top of her opponent, Natalya takes Michelle over with a headlock, but Michelle counters with a legscissors. Nattie kips up to escape the hold and blasts Michelle in the face with a forearm, before whipping her off the ropes and hitting a big body drop. Before Natalya can dole out any more punishment, Michelle scrambles to her corner and tags in her partner, Layla.
Layla comes into the match, but when face to face with the physically imposing, Layla drops to the mat and curls up in fear. I guess she saw what Nattie just did to Michelle, huh? Not willing to wait idly, Nattie lifts Layla off the mat, but Layla manages to squirm out of Natalya’s grasp. Layla shoves the former champion, but flees once again when she sees the look on Natalya’s face. Layla takes off to her side of the ring and wraps herself around Michelle, which apparently does NOT constitute a legal tag.
As soon as Lay-Cool untangle themselves, Natalya kicks Layla in the gut and hits a beautiful butterfly suplex for a near fall. Natalya tags in Eve and they pull off a Irish Whip/Dropkick combo, followed by a flurry of strikes from Eve and a standing moonsault. Eve goes for the pin again, but it’s not enough to put away Layla. Eve tries to whip Layla off of the ropes, but Layla reverse and hits a nice spin kick to the midsection. Layla tries to follow-up, but Eve gets her second wind and rushes Layla, placing her onto the top turnbuckle.
Eve climbs up the rope for what I assume is a superplex attempt, when Nattie jumps in the ring, for reasons unknown, distracting the referee. While the official’s back is turned, Michelle lands a nasty boot on Eve, allowing Layla to hit ‘The Facelift’ and pick up the win win for her team.
In terms of the match, it was pretty solid. I thought all the girls’ work was good, although there seemed to be some miscommunication at the end, as it looked like Nattie distracted the referee on purpose. A little heavy on the comedy, but I wasn’t too fussed about that. My main gripe would have to be the storyline here. Like I mentioned earlier; shouldn’t Nattie be just a little pissed that she lost her title. Not suggesting a heel turn for Nattie or anything, but I would love to see her and Eve work a face vs face feud. I think it could really help both girls, who are becoming known for lackluster title reigns.
Also, I thought there’d be much more emphasis placed on the screwy ending of the Royal Rumble match. Clearly, Michelle has a claim to the title as well? As much as I don’t want to see Lay-Cool feud with Eve, I don’t think you can sweep an ending like that under the rug so easily.
In other news, The Bella Twins and Gail Kim had another catfight! Daniel Bryan (with Gail Kim) faced off against Tyson Kidd and what happened afterward was straight out of Jerry Springer (when it was still entertaining, that is):
As expected, Bryan picks up the win over Kidd and Gail joins him in the ring to celebrate. The Bella Twins interrupt their party and one of them even shoves Gail. Of course she retaliates by shoving said Bella half way across the ring. Yikes! At this point, all hell breaks loose. I honestly thinks that this fight falls under the category “Ghetto Brawl”. I don’t know if The Bellas and Gail have any real animosity towards each other but these fights are sure making me believe they do. While the concept of a bunch of women fighting over a man is a little iffy for me, I have to say I’m enjoying these brawls. Hopefully, we can finally see them face off against each other in the squared circle. However, for that to happen, Gail would need the a partner to help her fend off the twins. Hmmmmmm…
While it wasn’t a horrible edition of Raw this week, it was not exactly my favorite. While it excelled in some aspects, it really disappointed in others. I’m hoping we can get some development on Eve’s title win and establish a challenger for her title next week, but knowing WWE…. probably not.
