Raw: Paige vs Tamina

Raw: Paige vs Tamina

This week on Raw we saw Tamina and Paige face off for the first time since Tamina's recovery, and to no surprise this match was disappointing. The match lacked speed, technical wrestling and chemistry. Tamina and Paige really don't work well together and this match really showed it. Both women had faults in this match, but to no surprise most fans were quick to pile the blame on Tamina, however it wasn't completely down to her. Despite the two having an impressive match at Extreme Rules in 2014, the two women have only worked a few on screen matches together due to Tamina's absence, therefore the lack of chemistry wasn't surprising. Along with the lack of chemistry, Tamina and Paige have completely different wrestling styles. Tamina has a slower, more powerful move set, contrasting to Paige's quick and technical maneuvers. Throughout the match I noticed Tamina struggling to keep up with Paige's fast pace moves, and struggling to pull herself from the mat for each clothesline, which was awkward to watch. The only noticeable mistake in the match was Paige initially getting into the position of the rack attack instead of the Samoan drop, however it wasn't too bad. The only memorable part of this match, was the sort of forward role jump, Paige did to Tamina off the apron. Even though this match disappointed me, I was happy and surprised to see Tamina pick up the win, and I was glad to see her using the Samoan Drop as a finisher again.

In terms of storyline development, this match didn't do much other than solidify my belief that Tamina will turn on Naomi very soon. Possibly even on Sunday. The fact that she is using her own theme again, instead of Naomi's, suggests to me that they are preparing for her to go solo. This match made it look like Naomi was going into the PPV looking dominant, but depending on what happens on Smackdown that might not be the case. I will be making my final predictions for Elimination Chamber after Smackdown, however I currently think Nikki will be retaining after an interference from Tamina. During the match, having Nikki and Brie on commentary didn't really help the storyline development in my opinion, however I'm glad they made an appearance.

For a Raw match Tamina vs Paige got a decent amount of time, but overall I will give this match a disappointing 4/10.

Thank you for reading.

-- @DivaFreakk