Tatum Paxley made a big impact with her WWE SmackDown debut, helping Charlotte Flair defeat Jade Cargill in the main event. Her surprise appearance also came alongside Alexa Bliss’ return, setting up an interesting new alliance on the blue brand.
Paxley has built a reputation in NXT for being unpredictable. Whether she was following former NXT Women’s Champion Lyra Valkyria around or suddenly helping her, Paxley always kept fans guessing about what she would do next. And she brought that same unpredictability on the August 7 episode of SmackDown.
Paxley had not appeared on WWE TV since facing Kelani Jordan on the June 30 episode of NXT. Her time away finally came to an end.
Alexa Bliss returns as Tatum Paxley debuts on SmackDown
The match had a lot of build-up since the past few months.
Charlotte Flair and Jade Cargill traded strikes and counters around the ring. Cargill appeared to take control after hitting Flair with a facebuster through the announce desk, but The Queen kept fighting.
Flair sent Cargill face-first into the ring post before hitting a German suplex. The two continued going back and forth. Cargill survived a diving crossbody and later hit Flair with a spin-out Argentine backbreaker rack powerbomb. Somehow, Flair kicked out.
Cargill then tried an avalanche Liger Bomb, but Flair refused to stay down. The Queen eventually fought her way back and locked Cargill in the Figure Eight Leglock.
That was when Michin and B-Fab got involved. Michin broke up the Figure Eight while B-Fab distracted the referee.
But Flair suddenly got some help of her own. Alexa Bliss made her long-awaited WWE return and walked toward the ring with Lilly. She helped create a distraction.
Then the lights went out.
When they came back on, Paxley was sitting on the ringpost. The former NXT Women’s Champion then hit a diving crossbody, taking out both Michin and B-Fab. Paxley had evened the odds and given Flair another chance to win.
Back in the ring, Flair caught Cargill and hit her with Sister Abigail. The Queen then climbed to the top rope and delivered an avalanche Natural Selection. The move was enough to keep Cargill down for the three-count.
Later, Bliss, Flair and Paxley stood together in the ring and raised each other’s hands.
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