5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (3 July - Results & Review)
3. Fatal Influence = Tag Champs To Be?
WWE will surely cease this 50/50 style with Fatal Influence shortly. Last week, the group looked like chumps because they didn't use a clear numbers advantage during Jacy Jayne's match with Paige. This time, Influence cleaned up that oversight by having Jayne and Fallon Henley help Lainey Reid beat Brie Bella in a short but punchy match that got the job done.
There's nothing wrong with a 3-minute match/5-minute segment that fulfils its purpose on the broadcast and pushes a story forwards. Nothing wrong at all. Reid vs. Bella did precisely that, and Michael Cole even found time to note that this was Brie's first singles match on SmackDown in 10 years. Who knows if that's true or if Cole was fed some wrong information, but it sounds like it could be legit.
Now, following Lainey's win, it's time to get the Women's Tag-Team straps off Brie and Page. Winning gold when they did was a nice WrestleMania moment for the latter, but the bloom’s off the rose for their title reign and it's time to move on. Fatal Influence as champs would be an improvement, and maybe even a vast one. The veteran babyfaces are already spinning their wheels and offering a grand sum of sod all to the division as a whole.
Lainey and Fallon as tag champs should work nicely, especially if Jayne is interspersed into the equation as part of some kind of 'Freebird Rule' booking. New Day used that to great effect a decade and change ago, and there's no reason why Influence can't follow in their footsteps.