NXT Invasion of Smackdown: Three Women Debut

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Another influx of women’s talent invaded Smackdown Live tonight, as the trio of Ruby Riot, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan debuted by first attacking Naomi and Becky Lynch, and following it up with a Nexus/Shield style interruption of the Smackdown Women’s title rematch between new champion Charlotte Flair and Natalya, taking out both women in a sort of NXT invasion. To indie fans, Ruby Riot and Sarah Logan are better known as Heidi Lovelace and Crazy Mary Dobson, while NXT Live Event regulars are familiar with Liv Morgan. But for some WWE casuals, these three faces may be the first time you’ve ever seen them. This article is for you (if you do know who they were, just skip to the end of the article to see how the wrestling world is reacting to their debut).

We reported earlier today of the possibility of Ruby Riot and Liv Morgan debuting tonight, when both were photographed with fans at last night’s Raw in Houston – there’s some further background on those two there. The third member, Sarah Logan, was not rumoured to move up, although a third woman was noted as being backstage with the other two.

Photo: WWE

Sarah Logan has been with the WWE for just over a year and many have been lamenting the talented 24-year olds lack of television time since arriving at the Performance Center. Best known for her five year stint in the indie circuits as Crazy Mary Dobson, Logan was stripped of her indie name and competed as enhancement first as Sarah Bridges, before getting her “NXT name” a few months ago. She appeared in this summer’s Mae Young Classic, but was eliminated in the first round by Mia Yim. But much like Liv Morgan and Raw call up Mandy Rose, for the most part, Logan has skipped NXT TV and gone straight to the main roster.

It’s interesting to note that both debuts had nearly the same angle. On Raw after Paige had her two colleagues in Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville beat down Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Mickie James (Alicia Fox wisely retreated), before attacking the Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss later in the show. Could Paige be leading a cross brand NXT invasion of the both side’s women’s division from NXT?

Photo: WWE

Earlier today, Ryan Satin and Pro Wrestling Sheet broke news that WWE was in talks to produce a Facebook centric program to air immediately after Smackdown Live (moving 205 Live) and that it could be linked to their recent trademark of the show title “Mixed Match Challenge” – could this be the start of a women’s spinoff show, similar to how 205 Live spun off from Raw’s Cruiserweight Division? Could Lita’s mention a few months back about WWE talking about adding Women’s Tag Team titles be a reality now? After all, both divisions just added three women each to their roster, bringing them to about 10 women each. They barely have time for the 6 or 7 they have now. Adding a tag division would be a start in getting some more TV time for more women.

Regardless, the wrestling world was abuzz with the debut of the three NXT women tonight, including Logan’s fiance, War Machine‘s Raymond Rowe.


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