Welcome to an extra “foxy” edition of the SmackDown Redux! Big thank you to everyone’s favorite TNA columnist for filling in last week, but I’m back and what a week to return! This week’s SmackDown was jam-packed with Divas this week! AJ and Kaitlyn were shown in a segment with Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry, Aksana got to be a part of her first Divas match on Smackdown (kinda). Hell, we even had Rihanna! So let’s get right into this week’s action!
After picking up not one, but TWO wins over the third generation Sister of Salvation, Natalya, Alicia Fox is looking to keep her winning streak going strong, as she takes on Tamina on this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown. With Rosa Mendes in Tamina’s corner and Natalya plotting on commentary, Alicia could certainly use some backup of her own, right? Everyone’s favorite Lithuanian import, Aksana will be at Alicia’s side during her match. Before we get into the match, let’s see the hilarious segment that led to this odd pairing.
The segment starts off with Aksana’s trademark Skinemax music and Sin Cara mood lighting. Aksana gushes to Teddy about how much she enjoyed competing in the Divas Halloween battle royal on Raw a few weeks back, and how she can’t wait to do it again. Teddy tells her that he wants her first SmackDown match to be “special”, so he wants her to observe a more experienced Diva. Cut music and lights! Enter Alicia Fox, stage left!
At first, Aksana is upset at Teddy, because he didn’t tell her that he’d gotten Rihanna to come to SmackDown, but quickly gets over it. One ‘Umbrella’ reference and a vague sexual reference later, Aksana saunters away, leaving
I must say, I really enjoyed this segment. Aksana has built a good character for herself and I’m always excited to see what cultural faux pas she’ll make or what new Aksanaism she’ll introduce. I was also impressed with Alicia, as well. Alicia can be hit or miss when it comes to her mic work, but the spunky, cutesy face role seems to come a lot more naturally to her than the heel role, she’s been playing for so many years.
My only gripe is that WWE is tardy to the party on their pop culture references, once again. Divas fans have been pointing out the whole Alicia/Rihanna thing for months now. Just sayin’. Nevertheless, I still got a chuckle out of it, so no harm done.
Next up is the match between Alicia and Tamina. Can Alicia and her Fancy Fox Hood overcome the strength of Tamina or will the Polynesian Princess pick up the win and put herself back in the winner’s circle? Check out the match below:
We start off our Divas match with Tamina and Rosa (who looks fantastic tonight) in the ring and Natalya on commentary. Alicia Fox is out next, accompanied by Aksana and Fancy Fox Hood. After some really half-assed editing, Alicia is miraculously in the ring and our match is underway.
The ladies start off with a basic lock-up, but Tamina gets the upperhand and throws Alicia into the corner and lays into her with a few stomps. Alicia tries to mount a come back, but Tamina takes her down with a fierce headbutt. Before Alicia can get her bearing Tamina grabs her by the hair and tosses her across the ring a couple of times, sending her crashing to the mat.
Keeping the pressure on her opponent, Tamina locks in a double underhook submission, looking to make the former Divas Champion tapout, while BFF Rosa poses and yells in broken Spanish at ringside. Alicia somehow fights out of the submission and flips Tamina overhead, putting her in the driver seat. Alicia turns up the heat with a flurry of strikes, but Tamina drills her with a elbow to the face, before grounding her with a scoop slam.
Tamina tries to finish Alicia off with a splash, but Alicia rolls away at the last second, sending Tamina face first into the mat. Alicia takes advantage of the opportunity and follows up with the kick to the face, setting Tamina up perfectly for her new somersault leg drop finisher. The ref counts to three and Foxy picks up her the win.
Although short, I thought this match was enjoyable. It seems Tamina has really come into herself as a wrestler. While she still may be green, she knows what works for her and doesn’t try to go outside of her comfort zone, which is good.
A few weeks back, I said that I thought Alicia needed some time to get used to her new face moveset and I think she is swiftly making the transition. While she has retained most of her old moves, she is slowly incorporating new techniques and moves, such as her new finisher. Hopefully, she can keep progressing and avoid the “5 Moves of Doom” routine so many WWE wrestlers fall into.
Speaking of Alicia’s new finisher, I really liked the ending of the match. Alicia’s new finisher looked much better here than it did when she debuted it last week against Natalya and is lot less hit or miss than the scissors kick. I know that a lot of Foxy fans are missing the old finisher, but this new one has definitely won my heart.
Last but not least, we had a segment featuring four of my favorite people: AJ, Kaitlyn, Daniel Bryan and Precious. Check out the segment below:
Not much to say, as this segment wasn’t dedicated to the Divas, but it was nice to see the Chickbusters get some shine in a segment with two of WWE’s biggest Superstars. Perhaps I’m reading too much into this and getting my hopes too high, but is this the beginning of some sort of geek/nerd friendship and/or stable between AJ, Kaitlyn and Daniel? Probably not, but I love to see a storyline involve two Divas and a Superstar, without there being a fight over who’s gonna sleep with him. (*CoughVeganNotVirginCough*). But this is WWE, so I won’t hold my breath for that.
Well, that does for this week’s SmackDown Redux. I would say, “See you next week”, but with all the Divas we saw this week, we may have reached our “Diva quota” for the month. Until next time!
