Welcome, Diva fans, to this week’s (slightly belated) Superstars Redux! I’ll be your temporary hostess this week. On this week’s show, we have our second Paige/Alicia Fox match of the week.
Can Paige get revenge for her Main Event loss (*cough* in a match taped prior to it *cough*)? Let’s see:
They start with a tie-up, Alicia backing Paige up against the ropes. Paige uses her strength to push back, backing Alicia against adjacent set of ropes and planting a knee into her stomach. Paige sends Alicia into the corner, but gets only turnbuckle when she charges at her. Alicia slips behind her, leaping over her to avoid another attack before laying her out with a dropkick.
Paige halts any momentum Alicia might be building up with another knee to the midsection. She again sends Alicia into the corner, and again Alicia avoids her, lifting herself over Paige and taking her down with a sunset flip into a pin. Paige kicks out at two.
Alicia sweeps Paige’s legs out from under her and goes for another pin, but this one’s not successful either. Paige retreats into a corner and when Alicia follows her, she kicks her in the midsection, performing a schoolboy on her that smacks the back of her head against the bottom turnbuckle. Ouch!
Paige reminds Alicia that this is her house (in case anyone forgot..) and proceeds to stomp a mudhole in her. She then moves her over to the ropes and jams a knee into the back of the knee, choking her for as long as the referee’s count will allow. She soon relents and drags Alicia to her feet, laying her out again with a vicious headbutt.
She brings Alicia to another set of ropes and drapes her over them for her lashes a barrage of knees to the chest. Paige follows Alicia back into the ring and goes for a pin, earning a two-count. Paige then stands on Alicia’s hair and pulls her up by her hands, yanking at her roots. She catches Alicia in a submission hold, her hands and arms squeezing her head in a vice grip.
Alicia starts to power out, breaking Paige’s hands apart, but Paige finds herself in the perfect position for another submission, keeping Alicia’s arms spread and planting a knee into her back. Alicia eventually uses her strength to power out, tossing Paige off her and over her head. She hits a series of offensive moves, knocking Paige down with a clothesline, dropkick and tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. It’s not enough to pin Paige, though, as she kicks out from a pin attempt that follows.
Alicia’s getting frustrated, as she grabs Paige by the hand and screams “THIS IS MY HOUSE!”. I’m waiting for the arena’s owner(s) to show up and say, “Actually….”
Paige reverses an Irish whip into the corner, and when Alicia tries to hit another sunset flip counter, she drives an elbow to her face, halting her on the top turnbuckle. This puts her in the perfect position to be plucked off the turnbuckle and into the Rampaige. Paige hits the finisher and pins her for the three-count!
Thoughts: This was almost the same exact length as their Main Event match, but I think I preferred that one to this. It was just a bit more energetic than this one. It’s kind of cool that Paige was getting revenge in a match taped before the one she lost. I wonder if that was in the plan when they taped Superstars on Monday night?
I can’t complain about getting two matches from these two in the same week, even if they were slight variations of the same match. I did say on Diva Dirt Weekly that I wanted these two to continue their feud on Superstars and Main Event if there wasn’t room on Raw, and that’s what I got. I just hope there’s more to come, since they seem to be pretty evenly matched at this point.
I’m not crazy about Alicia turning into a quasi-face (no pun intended) in this feud. I was hoping they were going to push this as more of a heel vs. heel thing. She’s not a total babyface, but she’s definitely playing the good guy against Paige, and she’s with the babyface team at Survivor Series. I’d like it if they pushed that match as “Team Alicia” vs. “Team Paige”, so Alicia’s alignment with the babyfaces didn’t seem so random. Who knows? Maybe she’ll wig out on them during the match and prove me wrong!
I have to give the the announcers credit working to sell Alicia’s craziness on Main Event and Superstars. At least we know that’s not going away. She did do a tiny bit of the crazy ad-libbing we love in this match, so maybe there’s hope for evil Alicia to return soon.
Even though Survivor Series isn’t being billed as Alicia and Paige’s rubber match, maybe that’s what it will be. I wouldn’t object to seeing it all come down to those two. Maybe they’ll finally settle the debate on whose house we’re in!
