3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Okay, hear me out.

Storyline disqualification finishes usually err on the “miss” side of hit or miss. Normally, they are a cheap way to extend a feud past its shelf life, and the best thing that these finishes will do is introduce new talent into a feud’s equation, sometimes. Disqualification finishes are usually underwhelming, and leave us hung to dry without any hope of cathartic release. There is no one, two, three; there is no tap out. The bell rings, and what should be the signal of the end of a great match fades into the background as chaos unfolds, and we are left to wonder what could have been.

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However, when used sparingly and conscientiously, a storyline disqualification finish can do wonders in protecting the talent involved while laying seeds for a third party to get included in a feud. Such was the case for tonight’s finish in the women-made main event, which saw Bayley defending her WWE Women’s Championship for the first time against Naomi.

Things were gridlocked in that ring. For everything Bayley threw at Naomi, she had an answer for, and vice versa. The minutes of the show were speeding by, and by the time Naomi and Bayley’s fight spilled to the outside, the match genuinely looked like it could have been anybody’s game. In a flash, a set of pink gear and a head of blonde hair darted into the frame to strike Bayley, and the final few minutes of “WWE SmackDown” were on Tiffy Time.

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This storyline disqualification finish works for a few reasons. Naomi is currently experiencing a revival — between a win at WrestleMania 40 to a victory against fan favorite Tiffany Stratton, she is on an upward trajectory. Bayley is also white-hot right now: she is just coming off a monumental singles win where she came out victorious in one of the best feuds of this past WrestleMania season, period. Both women are incredibly talented, and it genuinely felt wrong to imagine one of them with their hand definitively raised. Both of them are established babyfaces who have expressed great respect for each other, so a dirty win was unlikely and would have been uncharacteristic, given that there has been no build for a heel turn. So, as the minutes ticked by, the options for a finish that would not waste Bayley and Naomi’s momentum while also offering an official end to the match became more and more rare.

Enter Tiffy Time. Stratton is similarly white-hot — she is bound to get reactions regardless of what she does, but especially when interfering in the main event of “SmackDown” — and she is a viable challenger for Bayley’s WWE Women’s Championship, regardless of how young she is. Getting her involved in the mix not only establishes her as a legitimate contender and threat in the “SmackDown” women’s locker room but also helps WWE actually wrap up the match without costing Bayley or Naomi their credibility. Sure, the lack of a decisive ending was unsatisfying. The storyline disqualification finish, however, not only allowed for Bayley and Naomi to continue their upward mobility but gave a new star a tangible stake in the world title scene.

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Obviously, we shouldn’t be gratuitously booking these less-than-satisfying disqualification finishes, especially in longer feuds when the stakes are far too high to prolong a satisfying ending. However, in this case, all parties were protected in the finish, and the seeds were planted for a more decisive match-up later down the line.

Written by Angeline Phu