What up, ladies and gents? Long time, no write! This week’s show brought us the exciting prospect of the new bad girls on the block, Naomi and Tamina taking on Alicia Fox and Natalya. I’m a big fan of all the ladies on this match up so fingers crossed it delivers what we’re expecting!
Natalya leads the way, with Alicia in hot pursuit. A WILD JOJO APPEARS! Remember her? Bless. Naomi and Tamina follow their opponents out to the ring, looking to make splash on their way to Payback where they will take on the Bella Twins. Naomi is such a badass – I can’t even deal. Taming and Naomi are hailed as the female APA from JBL himself. High praise, indeed!
Naomi and Natalya kick things off. Naomi looks to take control early, with some brutal hits landing. But Natalya fires back and nails a running drop kick off the ropes that I think leaves Naomi seeing stars. Natalya now with an early pin attempt, but Naomi kicks out. Alicia tags herself in and she and Nattie set about the double team, with ends by them giving an, ahem… eyeful of Naomi’s flexibility. Alicia now with the pin attempt, but Naomi still has fuel in the tank. A beautiful bridge by Alicia here, but Naomi comes back yet again. Natalya now with the tag.
Alicia and Nattie land a double suplex, but Naomi is still kicking. Natalya attempts a pin off the ropes, but Naomi acts fast and tags in the muscle, Tamina, behind Natalya’s back. Natalya misses a clothesline on Naomi, before getting steamrolled by Tamina, who looks mighty pleased with herself as she taunts Alicia.
Tamina works Natalya back into hers and Naomi’s corner. Tamina beats down Natalya, before Naomi makes the tag. Some dastardly two-on-one work takes place behind the referee’s back, before Tamina slides back into the ring to take control once again. Poor Alicia has barely had a look in this match!
Tamina continues to work over Natalya, keeping her grounded and stuck in a hold. Alicia does her best to get the crowd behind her partner and she succeeds! Sadly, Tamina sends Natalya back to the mat, telling the crowd to keep quiet. Naomi tags in and she and Tamina trap Natalya in their corner. But Natalya isn’t quite ready to quit! She holds her own against both ladies, knocking Tamina twice in the side of the head. Natalya tries to pull a fast one then, crawling between Naomi’s legs and racing back to Alicia. Their fingertips barely brush before Naomi has dragged Natalya back to the centre of the ring. NOT FOR LONG!
Natalya finally manages to break free of her opponents and tags in her partner. Alicia bursts into the ring, taking Naomi by surprise and kicking her moody little ass. JBL tells us we’re witnessing the two most gifted women in the locker room go at it, and you’d be hard pressed to disagree. While Alicia may not be the most honed of wrestlers, her athleticism is off the charts. Naomi’s work speaks for itself. Amazing.
A big backbreaker from Alicia earns her a two count on Naomi, before Tamina comes in to break the pin. Natalya tries to intervene, but is quickly tossed to the outside. Alicia catches Tamina by surprise, drop kicking her clean out of the ring! But the distraction costs her, as Naomi comes up from behind and knocks Alicia down hard. Naomi chokes her on the ropes; she is taking no prisoners here. We’re on the road to Payback, after all, and Naomi has a message to send.
Naomi continues her attack and the referee reprimands her. But while his back is turned, Tamina delivers a swift and devastating super kick right to Alicia’s face. Naomi covers for the one, two, three and it’s over.
Thoughts: Not a bad match at all. It sucked that Alicia didn’t have more to do – i would have thought she’d be more the babyface in peril, what with Natalya’s natural dominance in the ring. It would have been nice to see Tamina and Natalya properly square off, too. Not just a couple of moves here and there, but a good, solid and powerful encounter. This set up Naomi and Tamina nicely for Payback; they look strong going against the Bellas, and we know now that they’re not to be trifled with. As was the case in this match, if you take your eye off one of them for too long, you will regret it. That said, we know the Bellas can hold their own in the sneaky department.
Payback looks to be a great match, and I can’t wait. Until next time! x
