WWE SmackDown 7/12/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved – Wrestling Inc.

With SummerSlam 2024 around the corner, I can’t help but think about SummerSlam 2023, which was notably the show that saw an obvious blow-off match between Trish Stratus and Becky Lynch left off the card. They eventually got to settle things the following month at Payback, but that was the last time a women’s match made a WWE PLE card despite having nothing whatsoever to do with a championship (that was 10 months ago; for context, the last such match with male performers happened much more recently, at Backlash France two months ago).

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The fact of the matter is that it’s relatively rare to see two women do a wrestling feud that doesn’t involve a championship — even matches like the women’s Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, and the Queen of the Ring tournament, have stakes that involve challenging for a title at a future date. That’s the whole reason advocates for women’s wrestling representation are always looking for more women’s titles; more titles give women something to fight over and a reason to get TV time, which they need because they don’t usually get to have feuds based entirely on personal issues or storylines. All of this is to say that when Naomi beat Blair Davenport clean Friday night, I was a little disappointed. Not because I don’t like Naomi, Naomi is great. But I was hoping this would turn into an actual program between the two despite neither holding a title, and the heel winning the first match is typically a sign that’s happening, whereas the babyface winning the first match tends to end a story before it starts, since the heroine has already achieved victory.

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Fortunately, in this case, my fears were unfounded. Later in the show, Davenport approached Naomi and humbly shook her hand, saying “the better woman won.” When Naomi turned her back to Davenport, however, Davenport attacked, indicating the story will, in fact, continue. Will Naomi and Davenport end up settling things in a PLE match? I don’t know, probably not. But it’s just nice to see another one of these storylines for women, with no championship necessary. It’s also nice to see Naomi breaking away somewhat from Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill — much as I enjoy them as a group, Naomi tends to be somewhat overshadowed by the two towering powerhouses by her side, and I’m glad she’s getting the chance to do her own thing.

Written by Miles Schneiderman