6 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Sept 11)
3. Sonya Shines In Charlotte's Showcase
Though likely intended as a way of building Charlotte Flair's momentum ahead of Hell In A Cell, the singles clash between 'The Queen' and Sonya Deville ended up handing a bigger rub to the SmackDown Women's Champion's young opponent.
Deville looked solid here. In fairness, she usually does, and has long since surpassed Mandy Rose as an in-ring prospect, but the difference between her and Charlotte was noticeable. Flair should be the more polished performer, but she was off last night. Her chops look limp and half-arsed, her Moonsault wasn't as precise as it needed to be, and her transitions were sloppy. Sonya, meanwhile, was on-point, though her late-match Spinebuster almost went awry.
An effective little midcard bout, and the post-match was great too. This was largely down to Becky Lynch. 'The Lass Kicker' disguising herself as a fan did make Charlotte look like a goober, but Lynch comes off as such a badass that this doesn't even matter. She beat her former friend down on the ramp, locked on the Disarmher, then stomped away, full of bile and venom, now firmly established as SD's foremost anti-hero.