WWE are in the midst of their UK tour, and Raw has hit Manchester! Hell is being raised in the UK as tensions boil over between WWE Divas Champion Charlotte, her Asterix/Ginger Spice looking pal Becky Lynch and their former buddy turned bitter rival, Norwich’s own, Paige.
Meanwhile I am plotting my revenge on Kevin Dunn as Tyler Breeze loses in his first main roster appearance. What the actual hell? Poor him and poor Summer. Revenge is on Natalya‘s mind too, as she hopes to defeat Naomi to tick another member of Team B.A.D off her list following their vicious assault on her two weeks ago on SmackDown. Throw in a dash of Renee Young and helpings of Sasha Banks and Tamina Snuka and we’re set for quite the mad melee in Manchester!
First up this week is Renee Young, and the extra-sassy backstage correspondent is joined by England’s finest, Paige. Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney is in the audience tonight, but why would I care about Shrek when Malificent is about to speak and looks so damn good whilst doing it?
Paige thanks Renee for not actually accusing her of attacking anyone this time, but it’s not long before Renee has a fiery comeback to combat Paige’s petty attitude towards her. Renee mentions that Paige’s victory over Bex in the Fatal-4-Way last week may have released the dragon from within Becky. Paige takes exception to referring to Becky as a dragon and says that she is more of a rat. Ouch. Paige says that she will handle the B tonight and take care of the C come Survivor Series.
The clash between Paige and Becky follows, and it was tremendous to hear what a reaction Paige got from the crowd. A shame Lilian didn’t do the whole “England’s ooooowwwwwn” schtick with her announcing but at least she looked nice. Shame that Becky was on the receiving end of absolute crickets as well. Yikes. However, at least she also was looking great this week. I really like that red attire and her choice of shorts of the hideous trousers. Maybe she took everyone’s advice and set those on fire.
The bout begins with a brilliant lock-up sequence, with both girls falling to outside and then getting back in the ring without releasing grip of the grapple. Paige hits consecutive forearms but Becky counters with an arm drag as Paige calls her “a stupid cow” again. Love that insult!
Becky hits a second arm drag but it isn’t long until Paige turns the tide. She slips around the back of Becky and seemingly will go for a throw, but she instead yanks Bex to the mat by her hair, taking both me and Becky presumably by surprise. A headbutt is Paige’s next weapon, one she follows up with a choke on the second rope. Paige puts Becky in the tree of woe after that; pulling back on the Lass Kicker’s arms to crank up the level of pain.
Some douchebag in the crowd shouts “BORING” as our UK divas trade abdominal stretches. My message to that guy: your outburst was boring, you probably live with your mother and the closest you will be getting to any woman is the distance you are away from the Divas tonight.
Abdominal stretches over, Becky manages to create some space and she dazes Paige with clothesline and a calf kick. Paige bites back with a running knee in the corner and a second with Becky sat on the mat. Lynch kicks out and showcases incredible resiliency. She next shows off her excellent suplex skills, launching Paige with a nice T-bone. Paige kicks out…and kicks Becky square in the jaw to keep the back and forth nature of the match going. Becky hits back with a kick of her own and then tries to hit another suplex.
Paige halts Becky’s throw attempt and drops her with a sick RamPaige which would have gotten the win, had Becky not been too close to the ropes. Paige managed to move Becky’s legs away from the ropes but couldn’t stop her from grabbing the bottom one with her right hand. Paige isn’t able to stop Becky from grabbing the ropes a second time either, and it is to break up a PTO attempt this instance.
Becky drapes Paige over the top rope to buy some time to think of her next move, which turns out to be a roll-up attempt following a bounce off of the ropes. Paige counters and grabs Becky’s tights, but Lynch is able to kick out. She then rolls on top of Paige and gives her a taste of her own medicine. Grabbing the tights, Becky gets the win!
After the match, an incensed Paige clouts Becky, sending the fiery Irish lass to the outside. Paige dumps Becky on the announce table, locking in the PTO to send a serious message to Charlotte. Speaking of Miss Flair, her music hits and she runs out to make the save. The fans eat her alive, showcasing their displeasure with boos rather than woos. Charlotte consoles Becky as Paige’s music hits. What a very interesting match and aftermath that was!
I’ve heard of Turkish Delight but tonight, British Delight unfolds before our very eyes as we are treated to not one, but two Divas matches! Our second match spotlights the on-going rivalry between Natalya and Team B.A.D as Nattie continues to ruffle feathers by trying to cause dissension within the ranks of the Beautiful and Dangerous divas. Tonight, Tal will take on Naomi. By the way, nice ‘Naomi 4 Champ’ sign in the audience! ;)
Naomi kicks things off (that should may have been slaps things off) with a almightly smack to Natalya’s face. The Dungeon Diva turns the tide by tripping Naomi on the apron, resulting in Naomi’s ama-may-ay-ay-ay-zing face landing face first onto steel. Natalya meets some steel too shortly after, as a distracted referee looks elsewhere. Sasha shoves Nat into the ringpost and Natalya appears to legitimately bang up her shin.
Naomi works over Natalya’s head but it isn’t long before Nattie is back on.. her one leg. She yells “WE WANT SASHA” to continue to tick off Team B.A.D, but it nearly costs Natalya when Sasha gets on the apron. Naomi hits a schoolgirl, but Nattie kicks out and tries to a lock in a Sharpshooter! Naomi shrugs that move off, but then she mistimes a Rear View, meaning Natalya can grab her and throw her into Tamina, who it felt like was stood on the apron waiting for that spot for about 45 minutes. LOL!
Natalya applies a roll-up of her own and she bags another win over a Team B.A.D member. After the match, Sasha tries to hit the Bank Statement, but Nattie holds onto the ropes and locks in the Sharpshooter she was looking for a few moments prior. The submission stops dramatically as Tamina bursts onto the scene, decking Natalya with a vicious superkick. Sasha then locks in the Bank Statement and Team B.A.D get the last laugh again as Natalya lays lifeless with Sasha’s glasses on.
Finally, we see Renee talk with Tyler Breeze and the sensational Summer Rae backstage. Tyler is shady as hell, asking Renee to step back and branding her an example of living in an ugly world. LOL. Renee asks how he feels about debuting in such a unique scenario? Unfortunately, losing in your debut match isn’t that unique in WWE, and Tyler does just that. Summer says Dean Ambrose (Tyler’s scheduled opponent) and his “homeless” ensemble are a disgrace but I think the booking of Tyler was much worse!
Thoughts: I am quite perplexed with the result of Paige and Becky’s match and I really am in two minds about it. I have been championing Becky in recent weeks and I have desperately been wanting her to pick up wins and stay relevant. She is the least utilised of the three NXT graduates and I do not want to see her swept aside and used as job fodder for everyone else. Channelling that thought process, I’m pleased.
On the other hand, Paige just started getting her mojo back with two wins under her belt. For her to then go and lose in-front of her home country crowd is a big blow for me. I understand she was slightly protected by the fact Becky pulled the tights to win, and she absolutely annihilated Lynch after the match in such a cool spot, but I don’t get Paige losing when she is meant to be billed as a major threat to Charlotte’s title.
The only reason I can justify Becky winning is if she is inserted into the Survivor Series match and is perceived as a major challenger in her own right instead of just Charlotte’s lackey. Her and Paige have absolutely tons of history WWE are doing nothing with right now, and Becky and Charlotte weren’t exactly best buds on NXT. Their new friendship felt forced originally, so why not have Paige make light of the fact they were at each other’s throats in NXT?
With Team B.A.D taking on Nattie before assumingly going head-to-head with each other, they’re busy. With Nikki Bella off the road, Team Bella are slipping into irrelevance. Now would be a good time to have a long, dynamic story between Paige, Charlotte and Becky, that could branch out to singles stories with the third always in the background ready to strike.
As for Paige and Becky’s match itself, I really, really enjoyed it. The two obviously have fantastic chemistry and that was clear to see. I loved the aggressive start with both refusing to let go of their collar-and-elbow tie-up. The back and forth action made for an edge of your seat match that was a pleasure to watch. Becky’s suplexes are just gorgeous, and I’m glad the crowd clapped her following that wicked T-bone.
The aftermath was just as impressive. Whilst applying the PTO on the table doesn’t add any extra pain for Becky, it definitely looked cooler to see the girls get rough around the announce table instead of just being in the ring. And the boos! I am a fan of Charlotte but I was living for those.
Natalya and Naomi’s match was never going to top the first bout given the time they had, but I was entertained definitely. That ringpost bump Nattie took looked brutal – hope she’s oK! A story is being told nicely here, and Tamina was hilarious as unintentional comedy value. God love her.
Finally before I go, because she was super fun (and she told me that “you bloody better”), I’ve got to give a huge shout-out to Paige, who I met late last week at a Meet & Greet in Leeds. After acknowledging me in the crowd earlier this year, I guess this was our first time actually meeting and having a proper conversation, and of course, Miss Bevis was as horizontal as I expected. Super cool and a great hugger. We made for a bloody good set of #FreaksAndGeeks. Let’s grab a Gin or two next time though, ok?! :)
