A title match at this past Saturday’s WWE live event had an awkward finish. The Sacramento, California show saw new SmackDown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan successfully defend her championship against Ronda Rousey and Natalya. The bout concluded with Morgan nailing Natalya with her finisher, a rope hung flatliner, and subsequently covering her for the 1-2-3. Natalya sat up immediately following the pin, said something to Morgan while pointing at her, and rolled out of the ring. The Queen of Harts responded to a clip of the match, writing, “I’m breaking character right now, but I actually said THANKYOU. If you must know.” That tweet has since been deleted, but the video of the bout’s ending is still viewable:
Despite Natalya’s actions from this past weekend, the former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion has been a fan of Morgan’s work for quite some time.
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“I’m impressed with how she brings them to the ring but not a lot of people know that,” Natalya said of Morgan’s in-ring work last year (h/t talkSPORT). “I told Liv, ‘Don’t forget, you’re actually a leader.’ She helps people and you don’t event realize she’s doing it. If we need to make somebody look really strong for example, Liv takes herself out of the match and says, ‘Okay, I don’t want to look weak but I need to make sure I tell the story of David vs. Goliath.’ She really puts herself in a leadership role.”
Natalya’s actions has fans thinking back to 2018, when a similar situation went down at Impact Wrestling’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view. In that event’s main event, Johnny Impact (John Morrison) defeated Austin Aires for the Impact World Championship after putting him away with Starship Pain. After taking the split-legged corkscrew moonsault and laying down for the pin, Aires immediately rose to his feet, shouted at then Executive Vice President Don Callis, flipped off the crowd, and returned to the locker room. Bound for Glory 2018 would be Aires’ last appearance in Impact Wrestling.
Following her loss to Rousey at WWE Money in the Bankย earlier this month, Natalya’s WWE SummerSlam plans remain up in the air. Morgan is officially scheduled to defend her SmackDown Women’s Title against Rousey in a singles match at that show. There is no word on whether that bout could expand to a triple threat to also involve Natalya.
WWE SummerSlam goes down on July 30.
