There were two Divas matches on WWE TLC last night. Sasha Banks faced off against Becky Lynch in the kickoff show and of course, the Divas Championship match took place between Charlotte and Paige. Both matches resulted in the heels cheating to win.
Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch, TLC Kickoff Show
Length: 11:43
Diva Talk Rating: **1/4
Team BAD came out and Sasha Banks, of course, got a big hometown pop. The last time WWE was in Boston, I don’t remember the pop being that big for Sasha at all but it was really big this time so it’s nice that as far as reach with fans go, she’s better off now than she was a few months ago despite being underutilized.
Team BAD cut a promo in the ring, then sung “Twelve Days of Christmas”, except they changed the lyrics to WWE-themed lyrics. Naomi is actually a decent singer and I heard Sasha Banks was as well so they were obviously singing badly on purpose. This did not get over at all and the fans turned on it midway through the song. Becky Lynch came out and interrupted and the match went underway from there.
I would imagine this match took place for the sole purpose of making sure that the Boston crowd got their fill of Sasha Banks prior to the pay-per-view starting so that they would not chant her name during the Divas Championship match. I don’t remember hearing any “We want Sasha” chants during the Charlotte and Paige match so I suppose the match served it’s purpose.
The promo segment prior to this really brought the crowd down so they weren’t as into the match as they should have been. However, I thought both women worked well together doing their usual TV match stuff. The match certainly wasn’t anything other than your average WWE pay-per-view kickoff show match. We know both of these women are capable of more, but they weren’t positioned to steal the show like we obviously know that they could if given the opportunity. Lynch locked in the Disarmher but Team BAD caused a distraction, allowing Banks to lock in the Bank Statement, forcing Lynch to tap out. I do not understand the logic of having Becky Lynch lose here if she is going to be in the title picture next. I suppose in the eyes of the bookers, Lynch being on the verge of winning and Banks having to cheat to win protects her.
Charlotte vs. Paige, WWE Divas Championship
Length: 10:39
Diva Talk Rating: **1/2
Charlotte retained the WWE Divas Championship against Paige after Ric Flair, who was at ringside, put Charlotte’s foot on the rope to break what would have been the pinfall to the match. The idea here was to solidify Charlotte’s heel turn. I believe that it did a fair job in protecting Paige as well although I don’t know what the plans are for her next. We all love Becky Lynch but Charlotte feuding with her is going to come off as a downgrade to the casual fan following Paige since Lynch, on the main roster, has been so chronically underutilized and has been booked all this time like Paige and Charlotte’s sidekick. WWE would do well to involve Paige in the angle and try to get Lynch the rub. Like it or not, Paige is the most relevant Diva on the main roster right now to the casual fans especially considering that Nikki Bella is absent and there’s no telling really when she’ll be back. With that being said I believe that Paige’s star power is needed to get these new girls over.
As for the match itself, Charlotte worked as a total heel and did a lot of her father’s moves. The narrative seems to be that Charlotte is trying to make it off of her family name rather than her own merits. So to me at least, it would make sense for her to be doing her father’s moves all the time. The crowd again, however, wasn’t really into this match but they seemed a little more into this one than the last pay-per-view match they had. This was especially the case when Paige locked in Charlotte and her father’s own Figure Four leglock, which is certainly something babyfaces did often in Ric’s matches when he was working heel. Charlotte was able to reverse the hold and Paige correctly sold the reversal unlike what Nikki Bella infamously failed to do in her last match with Charlotte. Another complaint about the match from many fans was Ric’s heavy involvement. I think they were wanting to book something different from the last two matches Charlotte and Paige had. Paige and Charlotte could have easily gone in there and had a technical, athletic match, but that was not going to move the story along in Charlotte trying to live off of her father’s name rather than blazing her own path. This match certainly wasn’t a mat classic but it wasn’t laid out to be, so I don’t fault either woman here. What I believe the match did, however, was push the story along that Charlotte is becoming the daddy’s girl whose father is attempting to relive his glory days through. In that regard, I think this match definitely served the purpose it was meant to serve.
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