Kali Armstrong tore up the protective flooring around the WWE Performance Centre, exposing the concrete underneath.
This was supposed to be bad news for La Catalina.
About ten minutes later, Kali was lying on it herself.
Wrestling occasionally rewards patience with something beautifully simple.
La Catalina defeated Kali Armstrong on WWE NXT on October 13, retaining the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship after Armstrong missed the Kali Konnection, flew through the ropes and crashed onto the concrete she had rather helpfully uncovered earlier in the match. Catalina dragged the challenger back towards reality with a Shining Wizard and got the three-count.
It was neat. Almost suspiciously neat.
More importantly, it capped a match that made Kali Armstrong look considerably more dangerous in defeat than she did going in.
La Catalina vs Kali Armstrong: WWE NXT October 13 Result
La Catalina defeated Kali Armstrong by pinfall in 10:32 to retain the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.
Something still feels slightly off about AAA’s champion showing up on NXT and being told she’s defending her championship tonight.
Robert Stone arranged the match with AAA General Manager Rey Mysterio after Armstrong eliminated Catalina from the previous week’s 20-woman battle royal. Armstrong was then eliminated by Wren Sinclair, who infiltrated the proceedings disguised as Lady Shani, because apparently wrestling administration now occasionally requires knowledge of international espionage.
How Catalina is supposed to accommodate WWE television, AAA dates, and presumably the normal human need to sleep occasionally is another matter.
Logistics don’t matter.
Wrestling has never allowed geography to interfere with a perfectly good booking decision.
Kali Armstrong Looks Like She Was Built in a Laboratory
I’m in awe of Kali Armstrong.
The first thing you notice is her back.
Then the shoulders.
Then you start wondering whether someone accidentally set the strength slider to 99 while creating her.
She grooves and glides towards the ring with enormous confidence, but underneath the swagger is an athlete who increasingly looks capable of becoming a serious problem in the NXT women’s division.
The former USC track and field athlete calls herself “Power Personified”, a wrestling nickname that would normally warrant mild scepticism.
In this case, fair enough.
Armstrong looked enormous next to Catalina, and WWE wisely let the match acknowledge that rather than pretending everyone has roughly equivalent physical attributes.
Catalina had movement.
Kali had violence.
It was essentially lucha libre trying to manoeuvre around Mechagodzilla after somebody had installed a sprinting function.
La Catalina Looked Like the Champion
Then out came La Catalina.
The pink gear had apparently undergone some renovations, becoming pink, black and red, and she looked every inch the AAA Reina de Reinas Champion.
The championship graphic itself?
Less convincing.
It looked strangely grainy and three-dimensional, somewhere between a prestigious international wrestling championship and an artefact recovered from an abandoned episode of Rex the Runt.
Plasticine prestige.
Fortunately, Catalina herself didn’t need the graphic.
She immediately provided the contrast the match needed. Kali wanted to overpower her. Catalina wanted to move, counter and occasionally remind the challenger that wrestling involves considerably more than having shoulders capable of blocking sunlight.
They exchanged control early before Catalina nearly stole things with a possum pin.
Kali responded appropriately by trying to fold her in half.
A spear into the corner was followed by another violent trip across the ring, only for Catalina to counter and crack Armstrong with a head-scissors kick.
Nice stuff.
Then things moved outside.
Kali Armstrong Decided the Floor Was Too Safe
Catalina launched herself towards Armstrong with a crossbody.
Kali caught her.
Not slowed her down. Not awkwardly absorbed the move.
Caught her.
Then threw her down with the sort of force that makes you remember Armstrong spent years competing in track and field before arriving in WWE. Her offence works because it rarely looks particularly complicated. Much of it is based on the idea that she is stronger than the person opposite her and wants everyone to acknowledge it.
Then she started dismantling the building.
Armstrong pulled away the protective ringside padding, exposing the concrete underneath.
Booker T immediately called it stupid.
He was right, though perhaps not for the reason he imagined.
There was something reminiscent of Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi about it. The normal wrestling environment apparently wasn’t enough. Kali needed infrastructure.
Catalina escaped the attempted slam onto the concrete, sent Armstrong over the steel steps and launched herself after her.
Then came the adverts.
Of course.
La Catalina Started Taking the Machine Apart
When NXT returned, Armstrong was still trying to turn the match into a strength contest.
Catalina gradually stopped allowing her.
A missile dropkick put both women down before the champion attacked Armstrong’s left shoulder, an obvious piece of wrestling logic I appreciated. If someone’s main advantage is being extremely good at picking you up and throwing you around, making one arm less useful makes sense.
Catalina gathered momentum.
Then came the Perro Attack.
Then the double chickenwing facebuster.
One.
Two.
Shoulder up.
Kali wasn’t disappearing.
The two traded shots in the middle before Armstrong delivered another enormous slam for a near fall.
There was perhaps a tiny execution issue here. From the angle shown, it looked as though Kali released the pin fractionally before Catalina actually kicked out.
I’m not particularly bothered.
This had been a good match.
Sometimes wrestling discourse could benefit from resisting the urge to conduct a forensic investigation into every slightly mistimed shoulder movement. Armstrong is still developing. The interesting thing was that she looked entirely comfortable wrestling AAA’s champion.
That matters considerably more.
The Kali Konnection Went Somewhere Else
Catalina tried another attack with Armstrong hanging around the ropes.
Kali caught her.
Again.
Another slam followed.
Now Armstrong could see the finish.
She started hyping herself up while Catalina remained on the canvas, hit the ropes, and generated the ridiculous momentum required for the Kali Konnection.
There was just one small administrative problem.
Catalina moved.
Armstrong couldn’t stop.
Through the ropes she went.
And there was the concrete.
Kali Armstrong had personally exposed the concrete earlier, because apparently wrestling occasionally has the narrative sophistication of Greek tragedy written by people who enjoy body slams.
Ouch.
Afterwards, critics noted the sequence looked slightly awkward, particularly the long run-up to the Kali Konnection and Armstrong’s landing on the concrete. Those execution issues contributed to a fairly middling overall critical reception.
Fair.
But the idea worked.
Kali had spent the match escalating the violence because her physical superiority encouraged her to believe she could. She created a dangerous environment and eventually discovered that dangerous environments are inconveniently impartial.
It was a minor bit of wrestling stupidity.
Which is exactly why it worked.
Who Won Kali Armstrong vs La Catalina?
La Catalina did.
Armstrong somehow hauled herself back into the ring after meeting the Performance Center floor rather more intimately than planned.
Catalina didn’t give her time to reconsider her life choices.
Shining Wizard.
One.
Two.
Three.
La Catalina retained the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship.
The champion had survived the stronger opponent by doing what experienced champions are generally supposed to do: remaining calm while the challenger gradually created her own downfall.
It felt inevitable afterwards, which usually means it wasn’t.
Kali Armstrong Lost, but That Wasn’t Really the Point
I liked this match.
More importantly, I came away considerably more interested in Kali Armstrong.
That is sometimes the real purpose of these matches.
Wrestling has a peculiar obsession with treating defeat as evidence that someone has been diminished, despite decades of evidence showing that losing the right match can do far more for a wrestler than beating someone nobody cares about.
Armstrong went 10 minutes and 32 seconds with the AAA Reina de Reinas Champion and repeatedly looked capable of beating her.
She caught Catalina in mid-air.
She battered her around ringside.
She hit the spear.
She survived Catalina’s facebuster.
And ultimately she wasn’t beaten because Catalina suddenly became stronger than her. Kali lost because her aggression created the exact circumstances that Catalina was experienced enough to exploit.
That’s useful.
Armstrong remains relatively inexperienced at this level, and you could see it in moments. The Kali Konnection setup could be tighter. Some transitions will become smoother. Repetition will make the occasional tiny timing issue disappear.
But the hard part isn’t teaching somebody how to make their back look enormous or move with explosive speed.
Kali already has that.
La Catalina Showed Why She’s Got the Strap
Catalina’s contribution shouldn’t disappear beneath the excitement surrounding Armstrong either.
She made the match work.
There is a particular skill in wrestling somebody substantially more powerful without making either competitor look ridiculous. Catalina never suddenly started overpowering Kali. She changed angles, attacked the shoulder, used aerial offence and eventually turned Armstrong’s momentum against her.
That is ring awareness.
The match was effectively built around it.
Power can dominate wrestling matches.
Experience knows where the ropes are.
And where somebody has inconveniently removed the floor.
For WWE and AAA, the championship appearing on NXT also adds another useful layer to their ongoing relationship. Catalina isn’t simply appearing as an exotic guest from another promotion. She’s defending AAA’s premier women’s championship against WWE talent, while Armstrong gets meaningful experience against someone developed outside WWE’s own system.
Everybody gets something.
Even the concrete got a memorable spot.
What’s Next for Kali Armstrong and La Catalina?
La Catalina leaves NXT with the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship still around her waist and another successful defence attached to her reign.
Kali Armstrong leaves without the championship.
I’m not convinced she’s much worse off.
If anything, this felt like one of those useful developmental defeats where the result says less than the ten minutes that came before. Armstrong looked powerful enough to bully an international champion and inexperienced enough to outsmart herself eventually.
That’s a much more interesting wrestler than one who simply steamrolls everyone.
Catalina, meanwhile, looked exactly as she should.
She survived.
She adapted.
She won.
Even if the championship graphic still looked like Plasticine.
Kali built the trap. Catalina merely remembered where it was.
