This week on Monday Night Raw, Eve teams up with the Divas Champion, Kelly Kelly to face off against Brie and Nikki Bella. After the beatdown Kelly suffered at the hands of the Bellas after her submission match against Nikki last week, one has to assume she’s out for blood. Especially with her rematch against Brie coming up at the Money in the Bank PPV. Will Eve and Kelly’s teamwork be enough to overcome The Bellas’ ‘Twin Magic’? Check out the match below:
The Bellas make their way out first, looking surly as usual, followed by the team of Kelly and Eve. Without much preamble, the official calls for the bell and our tag match is underway.
Nikki and Eve kick the match off, starting with a collar and elbow lock-up, which results in Eve getting the upperhand and tossing Nikki across the ring. Eve blocks a clothesline from Nikki, but gets caught by a kick to the gut. Nikki goes for an Irish whip, but Eve reverses and hits a clothesline, followed by a booty poppin’ moonsault……. Moving on… Eve goes for a pin, but Brie distracts the referee, prompting Eve to go after her. With Eve distracted by Brie, Nikki seizes the moment and takes her down with a double axehandle from behind.
Nikki pulls Eve to her feet and tosses her out of the ring to the floor. Eve tries to make her way into the ring, Nikki grabs her by the arm and slams it down across the middle rope. Nikki goes for another pin, but Eve manages to kick out at two.
Nikki goes right back to work on Eve’s arm, using the top rope to help her apply pressure, before tagging in Brie, who goes after the arm as well. Brie continues her attack on Eve’s arm, but wastes a bit too much time taunting and gets rolls up by Eve, but kicks out at one. Brie locks in an armbar submission, but Eve fights her way to her feet and levels Brie with a complete shot, sending both ladies to the mat.
Eve crawls to her corner and makes the hot tag to Kelly, who comes in and takes Brie down with a Thesz press, followed by a buttslap/headscissors combo. Before Brie can get her wits about her, Kelly slams her face into the turnbuckle and follows it up with a stinkface and a running bulldog. Kelly goes for the pin, but Nikki makes the save for her team, which causes to insert herself. Eve attacks Nikki and throws her out of the ring, effectively neutralizing her. In the meantime, Kelly Kelly hits the K2 on Brie and picks up the win for her team.
All in all, not a bad match. Much better than last week’s submission match, that’s for sure. I thought that all the Divas involved did a good job in the match. Eve played a great babyface in peril, Kelly played a good hot tag and The Bellas worked together well as a solid team. That said, the match didn’t have the same ‘UMPH!’ that live matches usually have. Perhaps the crowd wasn’t as lively for their second taping in a row.
One complaint I have is the time restrictions. (Surprise!). Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by the lengthy matches we’ve been getting on Superstars recently, but these super short matches just aren’t doing it for me anymore. I really feel like the Divas in the title picture should be able to show what they can do, just like the Divas relegated to Superstars do. But hey, what do I know, right? Here’s to hoping that the Raw Divas can impress everyone at Money in the Bank, because it doesn’t like it’s going to happen on the main show anytime soon…
