5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (22 Aug - Results & Review)
2. Charlotte Flair Struggles Without Alexa Bliss
That subheading sounds slightly negative. It isn't meant to.
One of the best aspects this unlikely Charlotte Flair babyface success story can boast has been her willingness to show vulnerability. She took the ‘L’ here due to the numbers game getting the best of her, and Flair didn’t have Alexa Bliss to help keep things steady. That's a watertight tale, and it's certainly more intriguing than Charlotte simply blasting through the competition because she's 'The Queen' around these parts.
Big shout out to Piper Niven for making the most of this featured spot against a top star too. Hopefully, Triple H rewards Piper and Alba with a Women’s Tag-Team Title run someday, because they’d really deserve it. Also, as always, Chelsea Green made the most of her role at ringside. No wonder (as seen on WWE Unreal) the creative types adore her.
This was all really solid and helped ready the heels for a title challenge whilst delivering a good match. That’s win-win, and yours truly personally can’t believe how much he’s enjoying Charlotte’s baby run. This one is actually working, and few could've predicted that at the turn of the year.
As an added bonus, the fact that Alexa was posted missing and pretty much left Flair to work against 3 people could play into an eventual heel turn for either woman longer term. Bliss may reason that she does what she wants, whilst Charlotte would wonder why everyone always expects her to be trusting when she's screwed over by friends repeatedly anyway.
Go watch this match. You won't be disappointed.