“Good For a Divas Match…”
I hate that phrase, and all four parts of the show-stealing NXT Women’s Championship match did their best to burying it deep in the ground forever. Charlotte, Banks, Lynch and Bayley weren’t just “good…for Divas”, they were excellent by any standard of professional wrestling, male or female.
“The Boss” got her big win in an emotional final scene, punishing Charlotte with a devastating crossface. The decision to abort the submission in favor of a surprise roll-up was genius. Those final moments were so fluid, and had me glued to the edge of my seat awaiting a tap-out I was positive was coming, before throwing a last-minute curve ball. It was incredibly smart, and set up Sasha Banks as so much more than your stereotypical villain.
The two former “Best Friends” hugged it out after the match, with a bit of playful shoving. You could tell how proud Charlotte was to drop the title to somebody she cared for and respected, despite the storyline breakdown of their friendship over the past year. These moments in wrestling are what we come back for.
Depth. Layers. Good wrestling. WHO KNEW?
Speaking of depth, you can’t forget about the other ladies involved in this instant classic. Becky Lynch was the unsung challenger who by all counts “didn’t belong” in this match, but fought her way into legitimacy over the past few weeks. Nobody is going to forget her name now.
Bae-ley
Bayley had me convinced she was walking away with the title on more than one occasion. The new-found intensity she’s shown recently is yet another piece in her puzzle, proving she’s much more than a lovable, huggable underdog.
I may be incredibly biased, but to me Bayley is the best thing going about the current Divas roster. She has this unmistakable quality. If AJ Lee is the classic “girl next door”, Bayley is the “childhood best friend you just realized you have feelings for”. I like that her sexuality isn’t overly exploited – her ring gear is way more modest than 98% of women in wrestling. It adds to the idea that she’s a friend you desperately want to see succeed, not some faceless model WWE hired to look sexy while pretending to wrestle. It also helps that she’s quite possibly the cutest girl I’ve ever seen.
Anyways. That’s enough about Bayley. For now.
Charlotte dropping the title here did evoke the same assumptions as Adrian Neville losing, in that you have to wonder what she has left to do in NXT. It would be nice to see her on Raw and Smackdown every week, but selfishly I’d like to see the bar maintained in NXT, where the creative minds have proven they can book women successfully. Look no further than Natalya for proof of what could go wrong; one of the best in-ring women’s wrestlers on the planet, whose most notable contribution over the last few years was an NXT match with – you guessed it – Charlotte. None of these outstanding talents deserve to be ruined by Total Divas.
