Baggage Handlers
I stand corrected. Tiffany Stratton and Kiana James created a solid championship match that set off NXT. Kiana gave Tiffany her best match since winning the title. They moved fluidly, got a little physical, while both women wrestled just a tad differently than what they usually give us. They didn’t wrestle a long match but it told a beginning, middle, and end, complete with Tiffany going for Kiana’s bag and opting for the DQ. Of course, that didn’t work, but she still found a way to cheat her way to a W when the ref missed her raking Kiana’s eyes.
I initially disagreed with Tiffany kicking out of the 401(K)…but then Becky Lynch showed up on the screen after Tiffany got her W and it made sense. If she’s putting her championship on the line against Becky next week, then making her look as strong as humanly possible is paramount. They did that in this short time and now she gets Becky.
On the real? Let Becky win. NXT’s women division feels rudderless at the moment. Let Becky run it for a while, create great matches, and make someone on her way out. Essentially, let her do what Dolph Ziggler did a couple years ago. Plus, there’s nothing on Raw for Becky right now. Trish Stratus is out of the picture and they’re separating her from Rhea Ripley. Let her work in Orlando for the time being.
The Day You’re MineI wanted to talk about Ilja Dragunov vs. Oro Mensah because I dug it. Oro rarely gets the chance to get serious in the ring anymore but he showed he still has that gear. And he got some character growth in as well, mocking Ilja at a point. He paid for it, yeah, but that’s one of the perks that comes with a faction.
Ilja won, yes, but they booked a competitive match that made Oro look a lot better after the fact than he did beforehand.
But the real story here is what happened after the match. Wes Lee hit the ring and told Ilja his time is now. He even promised Ilja the first shot at his championship after he defeats Carmelo Hayes. They bickered a bit but then Melo came out and set the record straight.
All that stuff I wrote last week about Melo letting pressure get to him and hearing voices? Yeah, that’s over with. Remember when he barged into Shawn Michaels’ office last week? Shawn not only booked a number one contender match between Wes and Ilja, but he convinced Melo that there is no asterisk on his W against Ilja. And the same goes for his match with Wes; they both took risks and Melo took advantage.
That’s wrestling and that’s the game. The person who makes the fewest mistakes normally wins. I do wish we got more out of that from Melo but I appreciate him going to his wrestling daddy for advice. Melo is a chip off the old heartbreak kid block. But there’s a bit more here too and it involves Trick Williams.
Ilja confronted Trick because he believes Trick lied to his best friend. Ilja says Trick knows Melo can’t beat Ilja, and then gave him a very weird ultimatum. Trick has two weeks to either stop lying to Melo or stop lying to himself. Ilja said it with all types of threat in his voice but I’m not sure what he’s demanding or asking Trick to do. Someone catch me up if they caught it.
Next week though? Wes vs. Ilja and the winner gets Melo at No Mercy. Fantastic. I can’t wait.
Oh! And Ilja’s old theme