After weeks of back-and-forth verbal sparring, with Trish Status talking a whole lot of trash before being “dog walked” in a scathing promo on the go-home edition of RAW, Becky Lynch decided to let her first do the talking in the opening moments of her Night of Champions match, punching the WWE Hall of Famer square in the face to open up their surprisingly hard-hitting contest.

Call it a byproduct of working exactly zero singles matches since losing to Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2019, but this match felt more like a New Japan Pro Wrestling strong style contest than what either woman is typically involved in, with big kicks, closed-hand punches, and the sort of suplexes, power bombs, and spine busters that you'd expect to see in a mid-card match at the Tokyo Dome.

Was the match perfect? No, any time Stratus attempted to do something on the ropes, it usually looked awkward, and Kevin Dunn had to work overtime on the camera changes to cover up for it. Still, after locking Stratus in one of the weirdest Boston Crabs in wrestling history, Lynch found her strength, kicking out of a Chick Kick before hitting her foe with a Manhandle Slam before… taking a Z360 on the outside from none other than Zoey Stark to set up an easy pin by the Hall of Famer.

Triple H, you dog.

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Becky Lynch with a text bubble reading "He has a vision" next to Triple H with the WWE logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Rhea Ripley next to Becky Lynch with the WrestleMania 40 log as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Bayley with a text bubble reading "She's once in a lifetime" next to Rhea Ripley with the WrestleMania 40 logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Does it make sense that Stratus and Stark would be friends? Eh, not really, but goodness, talk about a way to establish an NXT call-up as an instant top heel and get her into a program with future Hall of Famer at the behest of a current one. In terms of women's matches at Night of Champions, this was a very good one.