What’s up Diva fans and welcome to the WWE Main Event Redux! Main Event is my first of two reduxes today so I’m not going to beat around the bush, so let’s get cracking! This week on Main Event, it was heel vs heel(?) as Tamina Snuka faced off against Aksana? On paper, this sounds absolutely horrible. Did it actually pan out that way? Let’s find out. TO THE VIDEO!
Out first this week is Aksana, who is wearing a weird two-coloured singlet that sort of makes her look like a shiny holofoil Pokémon card. If Aksana was a Pokémon card, she would most likely be a ‘Common’, like a Weedle or something. Her losing streak definitely reflects that! After Aksana seductively taunts the crowd, the porn music sultry saxophone music ends as the islander theme of Tamina rings throughout the arena. Is it just me or should Tamina have a new theme now? The whole Pacific Island drum beats aren’t really working for me now. “TA-ME-NAH”. NO PUH-LEASE!
The match starts with Aksana taking off her t-shirt in an attempt to show off to the audience. Since when did she start pandering to the fans? So out of character. Tamina noticed this clearly and proceeded to give Aksana a beating to try and make her remember what she normally acts like. These two teamed up quite a lot in the past and Tamina is not letting Aksana start flirting with the fans, especially in a match with her! Tamina grabs Aksana’s ankles before Aksana kicks her off and goes for a clotheslines. Tamina ducks and delivers a couple of chops before forcing Aksana into the corner and kicking her in the gut. AJ Lee‘s muscle then looks to shoulder tackle her foe, yet Aksana averts the danger and hits a wristlock takedown, which she follows up with a series of boots to the arm.
Aksana continues to work over the arm before pushing Tamina to the mat and elbow dropping her left upper limb. Alex Riley then says that Aksana has a “little bit of Catwoman” in her. Is this a compliment? To be quite honest, Aksana’s career has been more of a Halle Berry Catwoman than a Anne Hathaway one so it wasn’t exactly the best comparison for Alex to make. Aksana then applies a submission on Tamina’s arm and this is where the only hilarious part of the match happened. Tamina is clearly not in pain as instead of trying to get out of the submission, she is more bothered about getting the estranged bobble out of her that is clearly not keeping that weave in place. LOL! Aksana, you are looking so strong right now! (I’m being sarcastic)
Tamina eventually tries to get out the far from dangerous predicament yet Aksana knocks her to the mat by the hair before taunting to the crowd and hitting a sidewalk slam. Aksana then starts to do my mortal enemy a.k.a the sexy slug crawl, yet thank god, she doesn’t get to complete it as Tamina changes the momentum with a stiff kick to the shoulder. Tamina then continues to use her feet as weapons (more on that later) as she stomps Aksana into oblivion. Tamina then fails to hit a snapmare correctly before hitting a knee drop. The bodyguard Diva gets a one count before wrapping a chin lock onto Aksana. The crowd then start to rally behind Aksana (I guess WWE spiked the drinks of everyone) before Aksana unleashes some Jenna Morasca esque slaps that I’ll say nothing more about. Aksana then hits a sloppy neckbreaker before trying and failing to hit a dropkick. A gutbuster and big boot later, Tamina covers Aksana and gets the win out of nowhere.
Thoughts: Ok, let’s start with the positives.
Onto the negatives now and it’s sad to say that there were so many. Firstly, let’s talk about the booking behind this. How on earth does this make sense? Tamina is a heel that has been placed in a new character as a dominating bodyguard and Aksana is a heel that hasn’t won since she beat Maxine on WWE Superstars in 2010 or early 2011. If she’s won since then, it wasn’t in anyway memorable or she didn’t score the pin. Putting these two thoughts together, who decided that this match and the way the moves went together should have taken place? Aksana was on the offence way too much considering Tamina is meant to look strong and the audience haven’t been given any reason to care for both girls, especially when they are made to root for one when they are the victim of a submission. These girls haven’t been given the mic time to create interesting characters so how on earth are the crowd meant to care about either of them and choose one to get behind? Aksana sort of had the crowd behind her yet her character hasn’t had one endearing quality recently so I don’t know why the crowd faintly helped her out of the submission predicament. From the booking side of things, this match was a mess.
On a character note, I can’t help but feel in two minds about Tamina’s lack of using the Superfly Splash. Whilst I understand that since she has a new character and the Superfly Splash doesn’t necessarily reflect that, I feel that her finisher and heritage was what made her stand out on in the division. Although using her Dad’s gimmick was not original, it was different within the division. Although there are no other Diva bodyguards right now, I feel like her older character was more intriguing than a burly brawler wearing all black and not saying anything. On top of this, a Big Boot as a finisher? Really? How original.
In terms of the match itself, nothing stood out to me. The rest holds were generic, Tamina managed to not execute a snapmare correctly and the finish was just flat to me. And the fact Tamina was taking her bobble out during a submission. Wow. It was just as though she wasn’t bothered about delivering a polished performance.
In closing, I feel like I have ranted a lot and not said anything positive yet I am just over these two girls. Tamina’s new character hasn’t done anything yet and I just don’t believe her and AJ’s relationship. After the way this match was booked, why should I believe Tamina’s role anymore than I did before? She was on the mat for most of the match. This should have been a totally one-sided squash. Aksana was great as a face in FCW and unless she goes back to that, I’m not here for her. I feel like she could be a great comedic face yet at the moment, she is locked within a stale character that needs a new lease of life. Let’s hope today’s second Redux is more positive!
And with that, stay tuned, Jack will be back! (Sooner rather than later!)
