In a long-awaited and long-overdue return to WWE, Naomi came out of the gate swinging. She went up against Alba Fyre for the opportunity to book a flight to Perth, Australia in order to compete in the Elimination Chamber, coming out to an uproarious Salt Lake City crowd with a brand new theme and a gorgeous new one-piece that exposed her stomach.

Following up an iconic theme like “Amazing (Remix)” is hard, but her new entrance song was effective in making one thing clear: she did not return to WWE just to play around. She fought well against Fyre, and while there were parts of the match that were a bit slow and felt sluggish to watch, the overall contest did a great job in reintroducing the WWE Universe to the former “SmackDown” Women’s Champion and WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion. Naomi won — something I’m hoping to say a lot more often going forward — after locking in her signature Rings of Saturn submission on Fyre, and just like that, she was booked for the Elimination Chamber match.

Friday night, Naomi reminded the whole WWE Universe that her athleticism and ability to entertain — which was already second-to-none — is still improving. Naomi came out with a presentation that felt familiar, but was distinctly new. Her entrance, her gear, and the new parts of her moveset felt like an evolution of who she was in May 2021; she is still Naomi, but she is an evolved Naomi. She is still glowing, but she is somewhat grittier now. Her iconic black-light entrance is familiar, but the 619-adjacent bulldog move she pulled in the middle of the match is a manifestation of her metamorphosis.

While Friday’s contest, in vacuum, was nothing to write home about, I’m so incredibly excited to see where Naomi will go after this. Sure, maybe she doesn’t win Elimination Chamber — Becky Lynch basically has that honor already — but I am confident that she will show up and show out inside that sadistic structure. Naomi has fought in the Elimination Chamber once before, but did not score any eliminations. Hopefully, that is the next thing to change. This is a new Naomi, people, and if this performance and her new presentation are anything to go off of, she is not to be messed with.

Also, she does a better leg-drop-into-splits than Logan Paul. Argue with the wall.

Written by Angeline Phu