8 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (June 5)

4. Deville Shines Despite Defeat

Absolution vs. Asuka could have been a disaster for Rose and Deville, but it worked.

Handicap matches can be devastating for the numerically superior side, because there are very few scenarios in which they don't look like complete goobers after taking the loss. This was one of them. Asuka should beat Rose and Deville, because she's one of the most dominant women in WWE history, while her opponents are still cutting their teeth. Thus, the outcome makes sense in context, and neither came off poorly in defeat.

Deville was the unexpected highlight. There are still many rough edges to her work, but her interactions with Asuka were strong. In one particularly great spot, Sonya and 'The Empress' almost booted each other's heads off with simultaneous high kicks, and they worked an exciting closing stretch, with Deville knocking her opponent down with a particularly nasty Spear, before the Japanese star countered her way into the Asuka Lock for the victory.

A solid "overcome the odds" bout for Asuka, and +1 to Carmella, too, whose announce table moonwalking provided the distraction for Deville's control period.