Lainey Reid smashed Brie Bella’s head into the outside of the ring, stood over her looking considerably more jacked than anyone really needs to be on a Friday evening, and for a moment I wondered why WWE had decided we needed to see this again.
Not literally again.
But close enough.
Brie Bella vs Lainey Reid on the 24 July edition of SmackDown came only days after Fatal Influence defeated Brie and Paige at Saturday Night’s Main Event to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. Reid had already spent plenty of that match throwing Brie around. Brie had already spent plenty of it trying to overcome Fatal Influence.
Now here they were again.
Wrestling has always had an interesting relationship with repetition. A rivalry becomes important, so naturally everyone involved must wrestle each other until the concept has been squeezed completely dry.
After all, it was only one week ago that we saw this exact match. Only this time, Lainey was champion.
Fallon Henley could have faced Brie.
Lainey Reid could have faced Paige.
Jacy Jayne could have wrestled somebody.
Instead, Reid and Brie were paired together, which felt slightly unimaginative.
Then they started wrestling.
And, annoyingly, it worked.
Brie Bella vs Lainey Reid Was Better Than I Expected
Brie looked much better than she has since returning.
The wrestling industry she returned to is different too.
Women’s wrestling in WWE has changed enormously, the pace has increased and the NXT system keeps producing wrestlers who arrive on television already capable of working the intensely choreographed modern WWE style.
Lainey Reid is one of them.
Explosive. Clinical. Dangerous when your concentration slips for even a second.
She also carries genuine muscularity. Not bodybuilder size. Functional strength. Everything she throws looks like it hurts.
That matters when working against somebody returning after such a long absence because Reid does not need Brie to manufacture the illusion that she is dangerous.
She just looks dangerous.
Reid began aggressively on the outside and smashed Brie’s head into the ring post before eventually producing the move of the match, a leaping cutter that looked excellent.
There is something satisfying about watching a move that requires no explanation.
Jump.
Grab head.
Gravity handles the paperwork.
Reid’s cutter has that quality.
She then turned her attention towards Paige at ringside and began taunting her.
Naturally, SmackDown went to an advert.
Professional wrestling television possesses a supernatural ability to locate the precise moment something interesting begins and show you an advert for something else instead.
Brie Mode Still Works
When coverage resumed, Brie started fighting back.
And Oakland was into it.
The Yes Kicks received the participation they were designed for. Brie followed with the Brie Mode running knee directly into Reid’s face and then a bulldog.
There was suddenly rhythm to the match.
More importantly, Brie looked comfortable.
That had not always been the case at Saturday Night’s Main Event and prior, where there were understandable moments of ring rust.
This time she looked sharper.
So despite spending the opening couple of minutes wondering why WWE had booked essentially another version of something we had just watched, I stopped caring.
Fair enough.
Sometimes repetition works because the second version is better.
The frustrating thing is that WWE barely gave them enough time to demonstrate it.
Brie later revealed that she had wanted a singles match for some time and was disappointed when she discovered how little television time they had been allocated.
The match ran 5:41 bell-to-bell.
Only 3:18 actually aired.
This is particularly irritating because Brie vs Reid II was exactly the sort of match that could have benefited from another five minutes. Brie needed time to demonstrate that she could still work a proper singles match. Reid needed enough offence to continue looking dangerous even if she was eventually losing.
Instead they had to construct everything at speed.
To be fair, they managed it.
Fatal Influence Did What Fatal Influence Do
Eventually everyone else became involved because this is Fatal Influence and leaving three women at ringside without interference would apparently constitute a breach of contract.
Fallon Henley tried first.
Nothing.
Then Jacy Jayne climbed onto the apron.
Paige immediately pulled her down.
This is the part of Fatal Influence matches I enjoy because their interference rarely feels like an elaborate masterplan. It feels more like three friends collectively deciding that rules are administrative suggestions.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes a referee notices.
Reid attempted to pin Brie and grabbed the ropes for leverage.
One.
Two…
The referee spotted it.
No.
It was such a small detail, but small details are often what make wrestling finishes work.
Reid did not suddenly become incompetent because the script required her to lose. She tried to cheat. She nearly succeeded. The referee happened to catch her.
Brie immediately turned the position around into a sunset-flip style counter.
One.
Two.
Three.
Brie Bella had won.
Meh.
It was fine.
And I mean that considerably less dismissively than it probably sounds.
Brie Bella Beating Lainey Reid Doesn’t Really Hurt Fatal Influence
I do not feel particularly strongly about Brie Bella beating Lainey Reid.
Fatal Influence had just won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.
That matters considerably more.
Reid also wasn’t beaten decisively after being dominated. She was caught trying to steal a victory and Brie exploited the moment.
There is a difference.
The victory keeps Brie and Paige relevant without changing the fundamental hierarchy of the feud.
Fatal Influence are still champions.
Brie and Paige are still chasing them.
Everybody continues moving.
Which is one way of looking at it.
The alternative would have been another Fatal Influence victory immediately after Saturday Night’s Main Event, at which point there would be very little reason for the rivalry to continue.
Instead, Brie gets something back.
Wrestling feuds require this sort of artificial balancing. One person wins, then somebody else needs a win, then someone attacks somebody backstage, then everyone becomes furious again.
Then Fatal Influence Smashed Everyone Up Anyway
The bell did not particularly concern Fatal Influence.
Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid attacked after the match, overwhelming Brie and Paige and restoring the numbers advantage that had disappeared during the finish.
This was more important than Reid losing.
Fatal Influence still looked like the dominant unit.
They had the championships.
They had the numbers.
And they were beating down two established WWE names.
Then Nikki Bella returned.
Oakland exploded.
Nikki had been out since March with a badly broken ankle, so the reaction was understandable. This was not merely somebody walking back onto television after disappearing for a storyline. She had actually spent months rehabilitating a serious injury.
Seeing her back was a moment.
The booking afterwards was slightly stranger.
Nikki ran into the ring and effectively cleared out all three members of Fatal Influence.
I am not entirely convinced by that.
There is a particular kind of wrestling return traditionally reserved for enormous human beings.
Kane returns.
Chokeslam.
Batista returns.
Spinebuster.
Big Show returns.
Everyone suddenly remembers that an angry seven-foot man has entered the building and sensibly evacuates.
Nikki Bella is not that wrestler.
Having her immediately dispatch three younger wrestlers, including the current WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, felt slightly too much like WWE trying to underline her importance with a fluorescent marker.
The crowd loved it.
I understand why they did it.
I just did not need quite so much of it.
Nikki Bella’s Return Changes the Fatal Influence Story
What Nikki’s return did achieve was considerably more important.
It expanded the feud.
After clearing the ring, Nikki reunited with Brie and Paige before setting up the obvious destination: Fatal Influence against Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Paige at SummerSlam.
Now that feels worthwhile.
Because this is no longer merely about the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
It is generational.
Fatal Influence have effectively wandered into a museum, stolen the exhibits and then complained when the exhibits started fighting back.
Nikki’s subsequent rhetoric leaned directly into that idea, dismissing Fatal Influence as women who had come up from the “minor leagues” and telling them that her generation was responsible for their opportunities.
Naturally, this irritated people.
Wrestling fans can tolerate simulated assault, attempted murder, home invasions and people being thrown from enormous structures, but disparaging someone’s preferred developmental wrestling programme is where civilisation apparently draws the line.
The backlash produced support for Fatal Influence online.
Good.
That is exactly what this rivalry needs.
Who Is Part of Fatal Influence in WWE?
For anyone arriving at this story midway through, the current Fatal Influence line-up in WWE consists of Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid.
Jacy Jayne remains the personality at the centre of the group, Fallon Henley provides the increasingly dependable connective tissue, while Lainey Reid has brought another level of physical explosiveness since joining.
Together, Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid have developed Fatal Influence from an NXT faction into something increasingly significant on WWE’s main roster.
Reid in particular looks completely comfortable on SmackDown.
There is nothing developmental about her physical presentation.
Who Left Fatal Influence?
Jasmyn Nyx left Fatal Influence.
Nyx had previously been part of the faction during its NXT history before departing, leaving the group to evolve into its current incarnation.
That history is important because Fatal Influence did not suddenly appear fully formed on SmackDown.
Their time in NXT established the faction’s basic identity: numbers, attitude, interference and the slightly irritating confidence of people who know their friends will arrive whenever something goes wrong.
The personnel changed.
The philosophy didn’t.
doragon sports 