Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s edition of the SmackDown Redux! After taking the Divas Champion, AJ Lee out in a non-title match this past Monday on Raw, Kaitlyn has worked her way back into #1 contendership and gets her title shot this week on SmackDown. While Kaitlyn has brought backup in the form of new BFF (and unofficial consoler of crying Divas), Layla, AJ is missing her right hand man, Big E Langston. Will Kaitlyn finally get her revenge or will she end up crying on Layla’s shoulder once again? Check out the match below:
Kaitlyn (along with Layla) is out first to a pop from her howntown crowd and we are treated to a recap of her win from Monday night. AJ skipped her way out next, seemingly unfazed by the absence of Big E or the presence of Layla. The referee signals for the bell and AJ snaps, leaping all over the challenger, forcing the official to physically pull her away. AJ tries to continue her assault, but Kaitlyn catches her, rams her in the corner with a couple of shoulder blocks, before leveling her with a vicious clothesline.
Kaitlyn does her best to stay on top of the champion, but AJ sends her shoulder first into the bottom rope, a tactic she employed in their match on Monday. Before Kaitlyn can recover, the champion locks in a rear naked choke, sending her former Chickbuster partner down to the mat.
After some encouragement from the Houston crowd and her personal British cheerleader, Kaitlyn fights out of the submission, but gets brained by a BRUTAL spin kick from AJ. AJ skips around the ring, pleased with her work, which gives Kaitlyn a spare moment to get her second wind. Kaitlyn goes on the offensive, taking AJ down with a dropkick and a gutbuster, which sends the champion out to the floor.
Kaitlyn pursues her opponent, looking to finish her off with a spear, but she obviously didn’t plan on what happened next. Just as Kaitlyn goes for the spear, Layla jumps in the way, stopping Kaitlyn in her tracks. As Kaitlyn is distracted by her friend’s actions, AJ takes advantage and attacks Kaitlyn, throws her into the ring and lock in the Black Widow to pick up the win.
Post-match, AJ and Layla skip off into the sunset hand in hand, while Kaitlyn looks on confused.
Thoughts: Didn’t I say this was coming? Well, to be fair, it was pretty obvious. In any case, this heel turn couldn’t have some sooner for Layla. Her character was in need of a major overhaul and we all know she does her best work as a heel. I’m sure working with AJ (#LayJ) will do wonders for her. We could be looking at the next LayCool. That said, I really feel like this should have been done during AJ vs Kaitlyn Part 2 at Money in the Bank. It just felt like a throwaway to have it happen on SmackDown, you know?
So now that AJ has joined forces with Layla, I’m guessing Kaitlyn needs a new bestie to help her take down the new tandem. I expect Kaitlyn to come crawling back to Natalya for forgiveness, and to form a team to take out LayJ. It would be a perfect way for Nattie to work herself into title contention.
Well, that’s it for this week redux! Hopefully, we find out what the team of AJ and Layla have up their sleeves next week. Until then, so long!
