WWE: Andrade and Zelina Vega shined against Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins
Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins fought in something of a “tune-up” match for their Extreme Rules main event “Winner Take All” showdown against Lacey Evans and Baron Corbin, and they were pushed to the limit by one of WWE’s best tandems in Zelina Vega and Andrade.
Since pairing up together at the end of 2017 in NXT, Andrade and Zelina Vega have been one of the most important duos in WWE. Vega helped unlock the drive in Andrade that led El Idolo to capturing the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: WarGames before he appeared at the Royal Rumble in 2018 as champion. Andrade would then debut on the main roster as a post-WrestleMania call up to SmackDown Live, impressing main roster fans almost immediately.
On WWE Raw, Andrade and Zelina had another opportunity to impress against the brand’s two champions this week, as they took on Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins in an elimination tag match. The match was meant to preview Rollins and Lynch teaming up together against Lacey Evans and Baron Corbin in an Extreme Rules main event that will decide the fate of the Raw Women’s Championship and the less prestigious Universal Championship (yes, that was a Brock Lesnar shot).
As you’d expect from a match involving these four competitors, the Raw crowd was treated to an exceptional mixed tag bout. To date, the YouTube video of the match has reached over 1.1 million viewers, highlighting the popularity of the wrestlers in the ring.
The early heel work from Andrade was as brilliant as ever, and his counter of the Falcon Arrow into a Double Stomp off the rope was especially impressive. These two work well together and could be great rivals in a future title feud. Meanwhile, Zelina had her own moments to shine, planting Seth face-first on the outside to start a brawl with Becky. And everyone loves to watch Becky fire up on a heel with rapid strikes to the head.
More from WWE
- Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
- WWE and AEW will put on a full court press for Kazuchika Okada in 2024
- The Judgment Day is the top faction story in WWE
- Liv Morgan vs Rhea Ripley is perfect for WWE Royal Rumble 2024
There were several cool moments in this match. Seth Rollins’s double suicide dives is one of the best crowd pump-up moves in WWE, but it was made even more awesome by his swift tag-in to Becky before the second dive. This allowed Becky to enter and hit Zelina Vega with the Bex-Plex to later set up the Dis-Arm-Her. And of course the submission bagged an early elimination on Vega, as the Dis-Arm-Her is the finisher in WWE right now.
Since Lacey Evans predictably decided to show up at ringside to throw Becky off her game, Zelina saw her opportunity to interfere. Yes, she went for the deadly hurricanrana to the outside on Rollins, but Seth did his homework and scouted the move. This allowed Becky to kick Zelina, and Seth regrouped before stomping Andrade’s lights out for the win.
But the larger takeaway beyond the momentum-building win for Becky and Seth or the post-match beatdown from Corbin and Evans is the fact that Andrade and Zelina once again shined in a big spot against two of WWE’s biggest stars. After teaming up against John Cena and Becky Lynch months ago on SmackDown, Andrade and Zelina worked well again on Raw to help Seth and Becky before Extreme Rules.
'Fight Like A Girl' may be an uphill battle. dark. Next
Maybe one day Andrade and Zelina will be the ones holding championships together, but, until then, they continue to operate as a standout tag team. Yes, they should pretty much be considered a tag team equivalent to, say, The Revival or Heavy Machinery.
They work together as one unit, and they continue to be the villains who are a good foil for top-notch babyface mixed tag tandems in WWE. The psychology in their tag matches is excellent, and if they were to have a rematch with Becky and Seth at some point this summer, that would be more than fine by me.