5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (14 Feb)
4. That SmackDown Women's Title Match
Bayley shines when Sasha Banks isn't there to steal her spotlight. If that sounds harsh, then think back to recent times on SmackDown when the actual champion seemed to be Sasha's sidekick, not the other way around. Running about with Banks was doing nothing for Bayley's aura.
Without someone there to nab some of her spotlight, she's starting to come into her own on the mic and have some cracking matches to boot. For a bout that seemed so uninteresting before it started, Bayley vs. Carmella was one hell of a title corker that every self-respective wrestling fan should go out of their way to see.
Some spots, like 'Mella's top-rope Hurricanrana, her kick out from that 'Bayley-To-Belly', the champ countering 'Code Of Silence' by chopping Carmella's arm away and Bayley resorting to cheap tactics to "survive" (as Cole put it), were awesome. This was a much better match than anyone probably believed it would be.
It should've opened the show cold without that unnecessary talk show tag-along.