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Michin and B-Fab align with Cargill and energize WrestleMania matchup
For weeks, the top women’s match at WrestleMania has coasted on autopilot, offering little in the way of anticipation and excitement. For far longer, two mid-card babyface wrestlers have done much of the same. Both problems were addressed on Smackdown last week as Michin and B-Fab came to the aid of WWE Champion Jade Cargill in her ongoing feud with Rhea Ripley. The move instantly added intrigue to the matchup and rejuvenated the careers of both women.
In regards to Cargill, she has not to this point proven capable of handling her side of a major main event program. Following a a public spat with Ripley on social media that appears increasingly likely to have been legitimate, Cargill shifted gears and stuck to addressing her physique and ambitions in baseline heel terms. Her delivery oftentimes came across as rehearsed and poorly memorized, with bullet points left unaddressed or minor verbal flubs distracting from her supposed issues with her challenger. Ripley, while much more polished, was provided little to work with and as such, the feud plodded forward, desperate for the finish line.
This new alliance provides Cargill with a much needed assist on promos and two capable workers who can handle more of a physical load on the build towards WrestleMania.
As for Michin and B-Fab, the character tweak was a dire necessity. For years, both women have floundered, attempting to find their footing in various roles but failing to resonate with viewers. Michin had been aligned with AJ Styles and the Good Brothers as a part of the poorly-defined faction known as the Club. She always felt just a little short of possessing the cool factor her character attempted to portray. B-Fab on the other hand, never seemed to have a character of any substance. She was brought up from NXT as part of the Hit Row stable in 2021, released shortly thereafter, then brought back in 2022. Since that time, she’s be paired up as something of a valet with various wrestlers but never given a fleshed out role.
A year ago, the two were thrown together in what felt like a “see what sticks” pairing, but still offered little direction. Mostly seen in backstage skits, the two appeared in matches on occasion, but with no consequence. Most recently, they’d been at odds with Jade Cargill, taking turns in enhancement roles used to showcase the champion. Following her loss to Cargill, Michin took exception to Rhea Ripley’s backstage check in, and one week later, the pair appeared aligned with Cargill, attacking Ripley.
Their introductory promo as a unit on this week’s Smackdown showed a depth previously unseen in either character. They both came across as well-spoken and confident in their roles. Their stated motivation is having been overlooked for too long while someone like Ripley gets all the opportunities. Their presence immediately took the weight off of Cargill and showcased their own individual skill sets. B-Fab is an assertive heavy, quick to dismiss negative fan reaction and shoot down insults levied by Ripley. Michin, meanwhile, has taken that misplaced “cool” persona she’s tried on for so long and turned it into classic heel obnoxiousness. There was a moment during their promo where she agreed with B-Fab’s assertion that Ripley is self-centered. It was a quick “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,” that felt genuine to who she is while instantly giving her the vibe of an annoying punk sidekick.
All three performers felt greatly rejuvenated and the main event program, once seemingly on life support, is now filled with intrigue and anticipation. Should they prove to be successful in this role, Michin and B-Fab could find a larger opportunity in the tag division. As for Cargill, what once felt like a championship reign on life support now seems like the sort of run that could extend well-past WrestleMania. With one swift adjustment, the women’s division on Smackdown is that much more exciting.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS
WWE Raw
Becky Lynch and A.J. Lee promo
-Becky worked in the usual faux-Trump spots and the bit about her daughter, but somehow still came across as a more traditional heel tonight.
-I like AJ and think this return has had its moments, particularly her match against Bayley last week. The “favorite wrestler’s favorite wrestler” thing always takes me out of it though. I just get thinking about it beyond the catchphrase and how heelish it comes off. It’s a weird fit.
Bayley and Lyra Valkyria defeat the Kabuki Warriors
-Lyra and Bayley entering to Lyra’s music together? That doesn’t hurt Bayley in the least but makes Lyra feel like more of a star.
-Asuka bullying Kairi is a hindrance. When they enter and begin matches as a unit, they’re so badass. I wish we could just drop the dissension thing.
-Lyra continues to get more opportunities on the mic and is becoming really fun to watch in the ring. I feel like it might not be the time for Nia and Lash to drop the belts, but maybe that means it is almost time for Lyra to fly solo again.
Backstage
-The Rhiyo tandem was so effective that Iyo has felt a little lost since she’s been back on her own. Almost like she’s missing or looking for something.
-Looks like we might be back on track for Iyo-Asuka at Mania, but where does that leave Kairi? That woman belongs in a WrestleMania ring, not fretting on the outside of it.
-There are too many flat back bumps, like the one Liv took tonight, being done on solid ground lately.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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NXT
Kendal Grey & Wren Sinclair defeat Fatal Influence
-Fatal Influence look like stars with that kind of entrance.
-I would definitely identify as a Fallon Henley fan, so it surprises me to think she might be the third best member of this group right now.
-Given all the focus that’s been on every woman in this match other than Kendal Grey lately, it was cool to see her stand out the most.
-Great aerial shot of the double submission finish. My favorite part might have been a dismayed Jacy Jayne frozen in the corner.
-They actually gave them 15 minutes to work with. It had some standard TV tag team moments, but mostly was just a fantastic match. Wow.
-Grey looked so good in that match, that I instantly fell for it when she declared herself Jacy’s S&D opponent. Of course, there was going to be a twist.
Sol Ruca and Zaria promo
-That was a lengthy promo from Sol Ruca. She was very strong in the beginning. When she first choked up, I felt it. The longer it went, however, the more it seemed like she was delivering a monologue. Still, if I’m calling the shots and that was a test to see if she’s ready on the mic for the main roster, I’m happy with what I saw.
-The snarky locals in the audience hijacked the Zaria-Sol segment, but they weren’t necessarily wrong. Ruca was sounding more heelish as her speech went on and Zaria’s retort only helped to emphasize that behavior. It was still a little weird to see the crowd so fully turn on Sol Ruca, but as I mentioned a few weeks back, they know which woman will still be here in two months and are hitching their wagons to the hometown player.
-Zaria is fully justified in her reasoning for turning on Sol Ruca. It’s my favorite type of heel. Now only if the crowd lets her continue on that path…
Kelani Jordan defeats Thea Hail
-What an unexpectedly loaded 40 minutes to open the show. Between the the tag match, the Zaria-Ruca exchange and now Thea Hail vs. Kelani Jordan, I am spoiled.
-It sure feels like we’re headed towards a Thea Hail heel turn, but I’m not sure I love that. First of all, you’ll be swimming upstream, as she’s a natural pure babyface. Second, with her recently addressing verbal abuse online, do we really want to give license to awful randos to lay in even harder since they’ll essentially have permission with Hail as a heel?
Backstage
-Johnny Gargano’s gimmick is silly and over the top and one of the. It’s only working because of You can see where its now heading, but none of it is possible without the effort of Candice LeRae to get it over.
AEW Dynamite
Death Riders defeat Sky Flight
-Did NOT have a Zayda Steele Dynamite debut on this week’s bingo card!
-I love the careful approach AEW takes to airing intergender action. They’re deliberate in never having a heel man strike a woman, which is good. It’s implied frequently and always avoided.
-She handled herself well tonight, really well actually, but I have to assume this was a one-off to give her the experience. Zayda clearly has a bright future, but it’s not like she’s kicking down the door and leaving AEW with no choice but to promote her. She’s super young and there’s plenty of time for her to continue finding her groove in ROH.
Thekla defeats Mina Shirakawa
-Schiavone really went out of his way to explain/justify why Thekla-Shirakawa wasn’t given the main event spot. It didn’t make a ton of sense, but at least they felt the need to defend the decision, I guess.
-Thekla mocking the way Toni Storm was found in the locker room, complete with comical bug-dying sounds was chef’s kiss.
-That Thekla needed brass knuckles to beat Shirakawa says a lot about how the company views Mina. Considering that, I don’t think it reflects poorly on Thekla at all.
-Again with the exaggerated mannerisms. Thekla “hiding” the knuckles by standing at a comical angle was tremendous. For someone so terrifying, Thekla is pretty hilarious.
Backstage
-There is nothing in wrestling like Divine Dominion. I’m so pumped for the next six months of this.
ROH Honor Club 600
-The one negative about putting championship matches from this past Sundays taping on the first of three episodes is that we’re pretty certain we won’t be seeing any title changes. All three champions have major matches this weekend. I suppose the inverse of that is it might also be implying that we’ll see a new champ crowned this weekend and they wanted to air matches where they carried around the title beforehand. The old pre-tape conundrum.
Persephone defeats Lacey Lane
-Lacey Lane showed more personality in that 30-second show opening promo than she was permitted to do as Kayden Carter for nearly two years on the WWE main roster.
-It’s insane that Persephone’s matches outside of CMLL are typically hoarded away on the ROH app. Yes, it makes the show that much better, but if you’re a promoter with access to this woman, why would you choose not to feature her on your flagship program whenever you can?
-The ROH commentary team always goes out of their way to lift up women’s wrestling. Even when they flub, they’re sure to fix it right away. Ian Riccaboni tells us to “call our lady friends” to tell them to watch tonight’s show. A second later, he’s like “Call your guy friends, too!”
-Caprice Coleman was also great pointing out how different each of the women’s matches on this loaded show are, both in terms of style and significance, that it’s not just a glut of women’s matches just because. Love it.
-Lane is definitely picking up some momentum. I expect we’ll see a lot more of her in future tapings.
Sky Flight defeated Isla Dawn & James Drake & James Gibson
-In Riccaboni logic, Zayda Steele is working back-to-back nights this week, having debuted on Dynamite just the night before.
-Both women mixed it up with the men momentarily and came off as pretty bad ass each time.
-Zayda landed an excellent rip chord heel/Pele kick on Isla for the finish.
ROH x MLP: Global Wars
Red Velvet defeated Alice Crowley
-I wish Ian Riccaboni wouldn’t put so much emphasis on pretending the HonorClub pre-tapes are actually live. Almost every diehard who’s paying for the ROH app to watch the episodes is aware that they’re filmed in three-week intervals. It’s cute when he mentions off-hand how Red Velvet just competed last night. But when he starts in mid-match about how having wrestled one night before is taking a physical toll on her, it’s too much.
-We got a basic (which is to say good) 8-minute Red Velvet match here. The women worked hard to successfully win over the crowd and it was cool to get a look at Alice Crowley, who has natural nasty heel charisma. These cross-promotional shows are great relationship builders and I wouldn’t be surprised to find “Big Al” on an episode of ROH or even AEW later this year.
Deonna Purrazzo beat Gisele Shaw via submission
-Purrazzo is so proud and confident in her on-screen interviews, you’d have no idea she airs out so much unhappiness with how she’s used on social media.
-While Velvet-Crowley was a bit clunky at times, hearing Mauro Ranallo state that Purrazzo and Shaw have wrestled 16 times previously, with four singles matches between them has me pretty pumped.
-Damnit. Riccaboni is at it again, questioning if Purrazzo is 100% following her match on HonorClub “last night.” It’s so unnecessary.
-Misplaced kayfabe aside, I know from following closely that Purrazzo is constantly wrestling. You can see it in her work. She’s so polished and fluid in her motions.
-I’ve known of Gisele Shaw for a long time but have seen little of her wrestling. This match is doing a great job of selling me on MLP. I’d love to watch Shaw as the centerpiece of a division.
-Intense finish as Purrazzo locks in the Venus De Milo and Shaw hangs on until she can’t. Very good 10+ minute match.
Athena defeated Taylor Rising
-The story heading into Athena vs. Rising is that of the invincible and confident forever champion facing the hard working, resilient underdog in her first shot at ROH gold. The pre-match package was effective.
-I like this relatively “bigger stage” for Athena in a showcased PPV match. She’s really on her game with the antics and mannerisms.
-Shotgun dropkick followed by an immediate kip up. When she’s in a groove, Athena moves like a video game character.
-This crowd should be rooting for the local Taylor Rising, and her offense has looked crisp and effective, but the chants have been for Athena.
-Rising has said her name is an homage to the early ring moniker of Triple H (Terra Ryzing), so it’s great to see her also busting out the pedigree.
-The commentary has really played up Athena’s lengthy title reign. Under normal circumstances, that would suggest an incoming title change, but here it seems to have the opposite effect. It instead gets me thinking how huge that change will be when it finally arrives.
TNA Sacrifice
Kickoff Show: Tessa Blanchard pins Jody Threat after interference by Mila Moore
-TNA has put themselves in such a weird spot with Blanchard. They wanted to bring her back, in spite of her past reputation, but they acknowledge the fact that fans are rejecting her by downplaying her role on the roster. It feels like they really want to use her but know that they probably shouldn’t? Does that make the well-liked Jody Threat her probationary opponent?
-These two work well together. There was one awkward clothesline that didn’t appear to go as planned, but it involved Threat shoving Blanchard to the ground, seemingly against Blanchard’s will, which made the crowd happy.
-Nothing makes a match feel less significant than having a running countdown clock for the start of the actual show tick away in the corner while two wrestlers beat the hell out of each other.
Rosemary Saga Continues
-Mila Moore was walking backstage with the rest of the Diamond Collective when she was distracted by the presence of the White Rabbit. She wandered off towards it, finding herself alone, when Havok suddenly appeared behind her. Screams were then heard as we were thrown back to the commentary team who were forced to play it straight.
Later, Mara Sade was prompted to follow the white rabbit by, I suppose, the ghost of Allie. Sade was led to Rosemary, whom she didn’t seem to recall meeting before, even though she’d wrestled a slightly different version of her in a triple threat match last November. Rosemary did her quirky talking bit that sometimes has shades of Danhausen to it and assured Sade she wasn’t going to stab her in the neck. For her part, Mara seemed amicable towards brokering a future deal with Rosemary.
I get that this won’t be for everyone, but the fans seem to be into it, and the booking of the story comes off as far more inspired than anything else happening with the women on the TNA roster at the moment, so I’m all for it.
Arianna Grace defeats Dani Luna and Lei Ying Lee to retain the Knockouts Championship
-As someone who is still fired up over Dani Luna’s recent Attack World Championship victory over Kanji last weekend, I would love to see her go over decisively tonight, but I don’t get the impression that’s the point of this match.
-Grace’s reign as champion aligns perfectly with TNA’s current sports entertainment-heavy presentation, particularly with the women. The entire thing is centered around her “undeserved” position, with little focus on title prestige. They compensate by surrounding Grace with excellent workers like Lee and Luna, but the whole thing is just so frustrating. No offense to Grace, but Jacy Jayne does this act so much better.
-Luna and Lee face off mid-match, one-on-one as Luna screams to the crowd “This is what you want, isn’t it?” So we’re all in agreement then.
Mara Sade pinned Elayna Black
-I really liked how Black repositioned herself on the mat to take Sade’s finisher off the top rope. Rather than just moving to the right spot as we see all the time, she made it appear that she was struggling from her predicament and just happened to end up in that location. Well done.
Thanks so much for reading and, of course, for supporting women’s wrestling. Feel free to leave a comment or drop a line via email at jeffp.rush@gmail.com or on Twitter/X @nottherightjeff.
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