Smackdown Live – April 16th 2019
Before the show went live in the arena, there was a video package to recap the events surrounding the Smackdown Women's Championship on the previous week's episode. It showed Lucy Thorne's debut appearance, interrupting the promo being given by Sonya and Charlotte. It briefly covered the beat down that had been inflicted on Lucy before moving on to the main event of the night, where Valentina Ferreira had made her debut. The last part of the package showed Lucy Thorne's second appearance of the night, where she had hit Thorne in the Side on both Charlotte and Sonya before putting Val on top of Sonya for special referee Ember Moon to count a pinfall that shocked the world. The package ended with Greg Hamilton's ring announcement: "Your winner, and the new Smackdown Women's Champion, Valentina Ferreira!"
A camera shot panned across the arena, with the fans cheering in anticipation of the start of the show.
"Welcome, everyone, to Smackdown Live. I'm Renee Young, alongside Corey Graves at ringside. Corey, we're coming off one of the biggest shocks in Smackdown history. Valentina Ferreira is the Smackdown Women's Champion."
Just as Renee finished speaking, Valentina's music began to play. The fans gave the new champion a warm reception.
"And here she comes," Graves said as Val entered the arena. She was wearing one of her usual duster cardigans, closed at the front. There was no sign of her title belt, but there was a humble smile on her face. "Valentina's the champion, but there's no way Sonya Deville is going to take this lying down. I had the chance to speak to her earlier today, and I can tell you that Sonya blames Valentina, she blames Lita, she blames Ember Moon, and most of all she blames Lucy Thorne. What happened last week was an absolute farce. Everyone who saw it knows that."
"As if Sonya hasn't had Charlotte Flair interfering in her matches whenever it suited her," Renee scoffed.
Valentina stepped through the ropes into the ring and opened her cardigan to reveal the Smackdown Women's Championship around her waist. Another cheer went up, and Renee laughed, enjoying the moment.
Val walked over and fetched a microphone, beaming the whole time. "Dreams do come true!" she pronounced when her music faded out, receiving another cheer. "I knew last Tuesday was going to be the best night of my life when I got a call from Lita on Monday afternoon, telling me to show up for Smackdown because she wanted to sign me. Making it to WWE had been a goal of mine for many years, and now I had achieved it. I was ecstatic. But then it got even better. Lita decided to have Sonya Deville defend her title, and picked me as the opponent. Thanks to Lucy Thorne, I went on to shock the world and become the Smackdown Women's Champion."
"Thanks to Lucy Thorne," Graves emphasised over the top of another cheer of approval.
Valentina said, "As the champion, the stage is now set for me to defend the Smackdown Women's Championship at Backlash, presumably against Sonya Deville."
Lucy Thorne's music hit a moment later, bringing the fans to their feet and causing Valentina to turn and face the stage. Although there was no particular reason why Lucy would attack her, Val still looked unnerved by her impending arrival.
"Now things are going to get interesting. That's not Sonya Deville," Graves said Lucy walked slowly onto the stage, looking as imposing as ever.
"No it isn't," Renee said. "It's Lucy Thorne, the woman who dropped Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville with the Thorne in the Side last week, effectively handing the championship victory to Valentina."
Lucy made her way to the ring. When she entered, she walked past Valentina, glaring at her. Despite the assist from the previous week, it was clear that Thorne wasn't interested in making friends. That fact became even more apparent when she snatched a microphone from the timekeeper and launched into what she had to say, speaking in the forceful manner than fans of NXT were used to hearing from her.
"Val, I was standing there in the back listening very carefully when you just said you're set to defend the Smackdown Women's Championship at Backlash against Sonya Deville. I hear what you're saying, and quite frankly it sounds like the biggest load of crap I've ever heard." Lucy finished that sentence by stepping up to Valentina in a menacing manner. "You seem to be forgetting who it was who basically won that title for you. If anyone's going to get the first chance to face you for that title, it should be me."
"You make a good point," Valentina admitted, taking a diplomatic step backwards so that Lucy wasn't in her personal space. "I'm happy to defend my title against anyone. As far as I'm concerned, Lucy, if you want the first shot, it's yours."
The fans cheered. Of the two matches that had been proposed so far, they favoured that one.
Sonya's music began to play, immediately turning the cheers into loud boos. Looking seriously pissed off, the former champion walked quickly across the stage and started down the entrance ramp, with Charlotte by her side.
"I don't know what the two of you are trying to do out here," Sonya raged, stopping at the bottom of the ramp. "But between you, you stole my championship from me last Tuesday night, and I want it back!" She had screamed the final five words, the Deville inside close to being unleashed.
As the only one who could calm Sonya, Charlotte put a hand on her shoulder and took the microphone. "Valentina, you owe Sonya a rematch," she said, making it sound like an order, not a request. "And you owe it to her tonight. It's either that or we come in that ring and take both of you apart."
"Charlotte, this doesn't concern you," Lucy fired back. "You've got your own little championship belt right there, so I suggest you get out of here before I come out there, take it from you, and beat your head in with it."
Before things could escalate further, Lita's music played. The popular General Manager's arrival was cheered, but Lita didn't have time to acknowledge reaction. "No one's going to be beating anyone's heads in unless I decide it can happen in a match," she said from the stage. "All four are you are out here arguing about who's going to face Valentina at Backlash. Will it be Lucy Thorne? Will it be Sonya Deville? Or will it be Ember Moon, who I also feel merits another opportunity? Honestly, I've had the situation with the Smackdown Women's Championship on my mind a lot since last week. I have decided that what we're going to do is have ourselves a fatal four way match."
Sonya was beside herself at that news. She took the microphone back from Charlotte and raged at Lita. "No! I was screwed out of my title and I am owed a rematch! You'd better give it to me, Lita, or I'll..."
"I am giving it to you," Lita cut in, unimpressed with the threatening tone that Sonya had used. "As everyone knows by now, there are no longer mandatory rematch clauses. You are owed nothing, Sonya. But, after the way the match ended last week, I do believe you should be granted an opportunity to regain the Smackdown Women's Championship. Therefore, at Backlash we will see Valentina Ferreira take on Lucy Thorne, Ember Moon and Sonya Deville."
The match wasn't good enough for Sonya. Enraged, she kicked the barricade that kept the fans separated from the action as hard as she could.
"Since you're obviously so keen to fight, though," Lita went on. "We're going to have a tag team match tonight. Sonya, Charlotte, it will be the two of you teaming up to take on Valentina Ferreira and Lucy Thorne."
Sonya and Charlotte turned to face the ring, ready to send some threats in the direction of their newly-announced opponents. They had not expected what was coming their way.
Before the show, upon finding out what was going to happen in the segment, Valentina had floated an idea that had been kicked up the chain to Vince McMahon himself, who had reportedly loved it, according to the agent who had come back to the girls with a decision.
Upon hearing Lita's announcement of the tag team match, Lucy had grabbed hold of Val with both hands, taking the champion completely by surprise. Lucy picked Val up off her feet, ran towards the ropes and launched her over the top rope, sailing through the air all the way to the bottom of the entrance ramp where she landed on Sonya and Charlotte, taking them both out.
On commentary, Corey Graves was laughing uncontrollably while the fans laughed and cheered at the incredible moment they had just witnessed. "That's the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life," he managed to say.
"I'm not sure if that means Lucy approves of her new partner or not?" Renee said, giggling.
A slow motion replay appeared on the screen, showing Lucy grabbing Val, one hand on her shoulder and the other holding the waistband of her shorts, and lifting her into the air. As Lucy began running towards the ropes, a look of wide-eyed surprise appeared on Val's face.
"Look how far Lucy threw Valentina," Graves said, still laughing.
The replay ended, with Lucy's music now playing. She left the ring, walking past the pile of three bodies lying at the bottom of the ramp. Looking down at them, she shook her head as if finding the sight pitiful.
The lights in the arena went out, signalling the end of the segment. Lucy continued up the ramp and walked through the curtain to Gorilla. She was surprised to find several people laughing, Vince McMahon among them. She had never seen Vince laugh before.
"That was brilliant. I loved it," Vince said to Lucy. "The dynamic we could give you and Valentina is amazing. We're going to have to make you a team sooner rather than later."
A/N: Thank you to those who left a review on the previous chapter.
What do you think of Lucy and Valentina becoming a team in the future?
Needless to say, it would have to happen after the fatal four way match that was made for Backlash. Who do you think will win that one?
Next time, we return to some Flairville exclusive content. ;)