6 Match Star Ratings For WWE Royal Rumble 2021
4. Sasha Banks Vs. Carmella - SmackDown Women's Title Match
Not as good as their cracker at TLC, the answer to so many WWE problems is the same: don't run the same matches back endlessly, for f*ck's sake.
It didn't undo what was a tremendous breakthrough performance, at least. It just existed as something that didn't really need to. Carmella is really good. In an early spot, Sasha took her down to the mat with a Bank Statement attempt. Carmella didn't sell it frantically before the escape; she looked annoyed at being outclassed, which she of course no-sold with some trash talk. She isn't just good at working a convoluted modern match smoothly, but without the telling cooperation. She emotes appropriately and in character to each story beat. She even took a chop with a snarl, not just a wince, in character - which is doubly impressive since the character as scripted is drawn with just one Diva-adjacent dimension.
Smug with her moves and not just her face on the heat, while the match failed to crackle with the same electricity as the original, it if nothing else proved it was no aberration. There is much substance, somehow, to this act, and something approaching a frantic high gear kicked into effect when Carmella almost spiked her head on a deranged suicide dive.
Banks was very good too, and she's the better worker, but this wasn't a carry-job. This was a hard-fought and breezy match worked between two performers who conveyed a real sense of animosity.
Star Rating: ★★★