Superstar Sleeze Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella vs Paige (WWE Main Event 01/06/15) I just knew these two had a great match in them. I was so pumped for their Fast Lane match based off Nikki's recent performances where she has just been stiffing the fuck out of everybody and playing the cocky mean heel to a tee. Bad News Barrett and Cesaro take notes. Paige vs Emma was an awesome fight and I knew Paige could hang with her. What we got at Fast Lane was a good bomb throwing sprint, but due to one egregious botch and very anti-climatic finish led me to wanting more. On the PWO-PTBN Reaction Show, Pete mentioned they got some time on Main Event. My Lord, they did not disappoint with best WWE women's match I have ever seen. It was a hard-fought, non-title match with Nikki proving that she was every bit of a great heel as any of the man and that Paige has legs as a chippy underdog face. The early lock ups told you this was going to get nasty and I loved Nikki dropping to her back to monkey flip Paige over. Paige just has the nastiest kicks to the midsection. They look like something out of Naoki Sano's playbook. Paige was just attacking her with headbutts and knee strikes and really bringing it to the champion. She was always keeping the crowd involved screaming "This is my house", which got a nice pop. Nikki repeatedly headed for the hills to try buy herself time. After a wild slap, she took a powder in that moment when Paige tried to give chance she wrenched her arm and Paige took a wicked bump onto the floor. Then from there Nikki just tortured Paige's arm twisting in every direction and stomping it at every turn. It was not all about the arm work, Nikki was constantly showboating with nonchalant covers and being a general hot dog. Paige did a really good job selling the pain and timing her hope spots. Usually I am not a fan of the Thesz Press, but Paige's punches out of it looked great better than most men. Nikki should stick to elbows because she can really rock those, her lariats are a bit suspect. Paige really started mounting a comeback and off the distraction we get Nikki yanking Paige off the top turnbuckle by her bad arm. Awesome! Nattie decks Brie and Nikki floors Nattie, but this allows Paige to roll her up. Nikki bucks her off. Nikki on top and Paige kicks out. Nice elbow by Nikki and Paige monster kick to the head. This gets really weird as Paige hesitates but is not really selling. She hits the RamPaige for the non-title victory over the champions. A few hiccups along the way (Nikki's lariats, the rollup sequence and Paige's weird selling), but overall a great match. Nikki combined stiff offense, great limb work and cocky persona to hook you into the match. Paige is a great fiery babyface with some great asskicking offense that can go toe to toe with Nikki. This an easy Free TV Match of the Year Contender and an awesome match. **** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 This is pretty great. Nikki has gotten so good, and Paige can work just as stiff and takes a couple of nasty bumps. The arm work is shockingly good, although it doesn't really lead anywhere. A little bit of an awkward finish, but this is a strong TV match and it's a bummer we don't get this stuff on Raw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTLL Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 Really solid stuff. Paige could have used a stronger comeback, and she's not quite fiery enough persona-wise to sync with Nikki's outstanding heeling here IMO. Some of that is the crowd's fault, as I was expecting a bigger pop for the comeback--they certainly earned it. But minor quibbles. Her offense does a good job making up for it, although I'm not very fond of her finisher, which is of the "are you giving or taking this move?" persuasion. I actually liked the semi botched rollups--they felt desperate and real. Nikki and Brie's combo heeling is really sharp: Nikki: I think one more! Brie: I do too! Brie: Great job Nikki! Get her! (wild applause) Nikki: THANK YOU, Brie, thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superstar Sleeze Posted March 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Really solid stuff. Paige could have used a stronger comeback, and she's not quite fiery enough persona-wise to sync with Nikki's outstanding heeling here IMO. Some of that is the crowd's fault, as I was expecting a bigger pop for the comeback--they certainly earned it. But minor quibbles. Her offense does a good job making up for it, although I'm not very fond of her finisher, which is of the "are you giving or taking this move?" persuasion. I actually liked the semi botched rollups--they felt desperate and real. Nikki and Brie's combo heeling is really sharp: Nikki: I think one more! Brie: I do too! Brie: Great job Nikki! Get her! (wild applause) Nikki: THANK YOU, Brie, thank you! I think Paige has the fire, but is not channeling it properly. Those short-arm clotheslines just don't look very good. I love her kicks to the midsection and she has the best working punch I have seen from a WWE diva. I would like to see a little more of that. Maybe one or two bigger bumps from Nikki would have helped the comeback. The crowd and commentary absolutely sucked for this match. I seriously don't know if Michael Cole knows what great wrestling is. Tony Schiavone would take time out of talking about Hogan and NWO when a really great match was on and it sucked him in. Michael Cole just can't be bothered to give a damn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donsem43 Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 This is the best out of the dozen or so matches that these two have had this year. I'm not quite on the Nikki bandwagon cause while she does a lot of stuff really well, she struggles to consistently put it together but she does manage to do that here though. Paige looks really great her too as this match is laid out in a similar fashion to her NXT matches which plays to her strengths. I thought Nikki's arm work built really well to the crossarmbreaker, It was just hurt buy the fact that the move isn't over as a general finish in WWE but probably would have worked as a near finish in a lot of other places. To their credit, they actually work to and out of the hold with matwork which is rare in WWE. Agree that the finish came off as awkward, either it was suppose to be done smoother or they were going to do more but it was nothing that took away from the match overall. ***3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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