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I’m not here to relitigate the Sasha Banks and Bayley program from WWE’s Monday night flagship. I’ll tell you I popped for the backstabber into Bayley-to-belly suplex combo finisher, and second what my colleague and personal glam consultant Stella Cheeks said on the Cageside Twitter account about the reunion of The Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection as a tag team:
You know, I don't know what's going on with Sasha and Bayley, but I like seeing them wrestle together so *shrug*. Maybe we'll get Sasha vs Bayley someday or maybe the Hug Boss Connection is the future. Either way, I've accepted it. #RAW
— Cageside Seats (@cagesideseats) July 31, 2018
We’ll see what happens with those two.
I’m much more interested in what happens to Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch over on SmackDown however.
While I and many others were focused on when/if/how we’d see Banks and Bayley recreate their TakeOver magic and throw down at WrestleMania, or SummerSlam, or... the blue brand’s been serving us competitive friendship realness. Aug. 19 at Barclays won’t be the first time Becky and Charlotte have fought for the same prize, but because their characters seem to be aware they’re athletes sports entertainers, it’s not a shocking betrayal when one tries to defeat the other in the squared circle.
It certainly doesn’t lead to one or the other snapping and attacking her friend backstage after every third instance of ruthless aggression. And it definitely never caused their General Manager to send them to counseling. Not even lost titles and dang tasty quinoa can come between the Tea Timers.
Until now.
The frustration we saw from Lynch last night (July 31) on SmackDown was different than Sasha and Bayley’s occassional outbursts of violence or professions of love over on Raw. When Flair got a spot in the SummerSlam title match The Lasskicker’s been scratching and clawing to get, her vexation was logical. More importantly, it was earned - by the writing and the performances.
As the long arc of the The Boss and The Hugster’s main roster story has shown us repeatedly, one strong episode doesn’t guarantee future quality. But because I can clearly understand the roots of the conflict between Lynch and Flair (and Carmella, a very interesting third element to this program), and because I know what Becky’s goal is and am invested in her journey (and it doesn’t even require me to dislike Charlotte!), I’m much more confident that we’ll get a satisfying story from Team Blue.
Then all four can reunite to face Ronda Rousey and company at Survivor Series.