6 Ups And 4 Downs From WWE Night Of Champions 2023

UPS…

6. Adding Zoey Into The Mix

The build for Trish Stratus/Becky Lynch was far less than ideal, but there always was the hope that the two of them would exceed the lackluster build when the bell rang.

And credit to both of them, their grudge match was actually pretty decent, considering there was a low bar since it was Trish’s first singles match in four years. They traded attempted finishers, with Becky getting both the Disarm-Her and Manhandle Slam, and Trish missing the Stratusfaction but nailing the Chick Kick for a 2 count.

But then came the surprise, Stratus’ wild card: Zoey Stark. The new Raw superstar revealed herself from under the ring, battered (and bloodied?) Lynch with a Z-360, and sent her back in for Trish to pick the bones with a Stratusfaction for the win.

This was smart for a couple reasons: It showed the wily veteran and Hall-of-Famer had outsmarted an irate Becky and she had to rely on help to do it, and it also got Zoey into the mix and into a much more significant position than frittering around with Nikki Cross and Candice LeRae.

A decent match that gives a newcomer a bigger platform automatically gets positive marks.