Natalya Beats Naomi to Retain WWE SmackDown Women's Championship

In a rematch of their bout at SummerSlam, Natalya defeated Naomi on Tuesday night's edition of SmackDown Live to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship. A Sharp Shooter from Natalya would end up forcing Naomi to tap out.

With Carmella and James Ellsworth helping the announcers call the match, WWE Universe provided one of the highlights:

As Bleacher Report's Dave Schilling noted, there was something missing at the beginning of the match: 

After going seven years without holding a title in WWE, Nattie climbed back to the top of the mountain at SummerSlam by making the most of her opportunity and beating Naomi.

The graduate of The Hart Dungeon earned the chance to vie for the SmackDown Women's Championship by winning a Fatal 5-Way elimination match at Battleground in which she last pinned Charlotte Flair to become No. 1 contender.

Natalya's roll continued at SummerSlam, and she made it clear that she intended to bring more prestige to the SmackDown women's title.

During the build toward SummerSlam, Nattie was critical of the fact that Naomi had adorned the championship with lights to mesh with her glow gimmick, and she even accused Naomi of turning the title into a toy.

Upon becoming SmackDown women's champion for the first time, Natalya quickly restored the title to its original state and vowed to ensure it stayed that way.

In order to do that, however, Nattie was tasked with defending the belt against Naomi on SmackDown, which was no small task considering the success Naomi has enjoyed over the past several months.

After years of not getting many opportunities and rarely being given her due credit, Naomi made the most of the chances afforded to her on the blue brand.

Naomi beat Alexa Bliss to win the SmackDown Women's Championship at Elimination Chamber, and although she had to relinquish it shortly thereafter due to an injury, she recaptured it at WrestleMania in her hometown of Orlando, Florida.

She continued to hold the title leading up to SummerSlam, but Natalya put a stop to Naomi's lengthy reign and threw a major obstacle into her path.

Nattie had plenty to worry about in her own right, though, as she had to be cognizant of Ms. Money in the Bank Carmella in addition to focusing on her defense against Naomi.

Despite all the pitfalls facing Natalya, she was successful in defending her title, and she is now in line to move toward a new rivalry with Hell in a Cell approaching.

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