WWE: Naomi Has Quietly Become a Star in 2017

Even though Naomi lost her SmackDown Women’s Championship to Natalya at WWE SummerSlam 2017, her reign at the top was a successful one. Here’s why the WWE universe needs to “Feel The Glow” in 2017 and beyond.

When Naomi won the SmackDown Women’s Championship for the first time at the Elimination Chamber Pay Per View against Alexa Bliss, it was one of the biggest feel-good moments on the road to WrestleMania 33. Naomi had always been a hard-working and talented individual, but this was the first time it seemed like she was getting a chance to become a true star.

Sadly, that feel-good moment quickly turned into a devastating one, as Naomi was forced to relinquish her title after it was discovered that she suffered an injury. The injury caused her time as champion to end right as it was beginning, and it seemingly prevented her from grabbing hold of the momentum she carved for herself.

However, the WWE gave her a second chance to be a champion, as she won at WrestleMania 33 through the usage of an innovative submission hold. By capturing the SmackDown Women’s Championship, she joined Alexa Bliss as the only two-time women’s champion on the blue brand.

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At first, I found it difficult to buy into Naomi as a champion, and her booking didn’t exactly help in that regard. Naomi lost non-title matches and was pinned in the haphazardly thrown tag team matches that have consistently plagued SmackDown Live throughout the brand split. On the surface, those pervasive tag team matches were completely ineffective in allowing Naomi to flesh out a character, much less show her dominance over the other women in the division. You know, the women competing for her championship. All I could say about Naomi was, “Well, she’s a great hot tag,” but that’s a step below the praise I would want to have for a two-time champion.

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But as the months built, Naomi managed to remain a serious champion despite eating pins, and that isn’t easy for a babyface at all. I mean, just look at Bayley, who failed to maintain any sort of credibility after a weakly-booked run with the title, prior to being buried by Alexa Bliss at Extreme Rules. SmackDown Live did a much better job of protecting Naomi from, say, Charlotte Flair (mostly by turning the latter face), but Naomi deserves praise for making her reign seem important.

A four-month long reign in the women’s division, which sadly seems to be more prone to poor booking decisions and snap judgments from the upper brass, is nothing to scoff at. And say what you want about Naomi’s promos (she sure likes calling people “fleas”), but she carried herself like a champion. Naomi was always willing to fight all comers, and she didn’t hold back when a heel decided to bring the heat. This made her feel like a bad-ass babyface, and, honestly, that’s the only way a babyface can look.

In the ring, Naomi has also made steady improvements, which isn’t necessarily easy for somebody who has been in the business for years. But if you compare her somewhat clunky match with Charlotte to her excellent work against Natalya at SummerSlam, you can see the difference. Naomi’s unique athletic ability, with her cheerleading background to thank for that, is still on display, but her strikes are far more crisp and convincing. Her spats with Carmella have also made her better at connecting with the audience on the mic and in the ring, and her sliding slap is one of the most creative moves in WWE right now. I mean, I’d take that over the “Five Knuckle Shuffle” or Randy Orton’s stomps any day.

Naomi is no longer the SmackDown Women’s Champion, but her match at SummerSlam reminded me of how underrated she is. When she was on Talking Smack, hoisting her glow-in-the-dark title, or dancing down the ramp, you could tell that she was being unequivocally herself. And to me, that’s how a babyface needs to be – tough and true to themselves. Naomi’s reign could have been better if she were given an actual feud of substance, but her title felt like a bigger deal than the Raw Women’s Championship this summer. For that, I give her all the kind words I can, because the work she has put in is clearly showing.

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I’m not sure what’s next for Naomi, and but I am sure that they took the title off of her far too soon.After initially being a skeptic, Naomi has made me a believer, because she’s so much more than a few cool moves after making a tag; she’s legitimately one of the best wrestlers in the women’s division today as an authentic babyface people can root for. Naomi is one of 2017’s only examples of a babyface getting themselves over by consistently winning over an audience and fine-tuning their move-set, and I hope she gets a chance to regain a championship soon.