This week on SmackDown: On the big premiere on MyNetwork TV, the Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix upstaged SmackDown’s own, Michelle McCool in a battle of the champions. Meanwhile, the rest of the WWE Divas observed from ringside as lumberjacks.
Thoughts & Reactions
As expected, the Glamazon picked up a victory over the Divas Champion. I’m in two minds about this: On one hand, it’s far more believable to have Beth go over Michelle but on the other hand, what good does it do in the long run for Michelle? SmackDown is her brand, after all and not Beth’s. I think SmackDown’s creative team did a good job in solving that problem and thus, I have no issue with Beth going over. As I wrote, it was to be expected and I think it was the right finish. Yes, SmackDown is Michelle’s show and while Beth gets to go back to Raw, Michelle must carry on in front of the MyNet audience having lost on the first night – I think the writing was strong enough in that we had an interference from Michelle’s rival, Maryse to blame for her loss. Nice set up to continue this feud and introduce it to the MyNet audience.
As for the match itself, I wasn’t sold one bit. I was really looking forward to this match, but I just felt the work was awkward and these two didn’t have any real chemistry. I love both Divas, but Michelle in particular let me down on SmackDown. I just felt she was awkward in the ring, wholly unexciting and frankly, I expected more from her. She seemed to veer towards kicks, arm locks… blah blah. None of the exciting, fast paced action we’re used to seeing from the Divas Champion. Honestly, I felt the match was sloppy. The finish was pretty strong however, not exactly making up for the poor match, but it was a good finish. The Glam Slam looked pretty sick and was an effective end to the match.
Let us not forgot the Divas on the outside of the ring! Oh the poor, unexpecting MyNet audience! I don’t know why the WWE Divas insist on looking like hookers, honestly, when they came out it looked like a hooker parade. I just wish these girls would dress decently, because it’s all their own doing honestly. It was almost as though the Divas who are less ‘slutty’ tried to slut it up to hang in there with the ‘models’, Jesus, Natalya looked like she couldn’t even walk in those stupid heels. Did they get the wrong memo? They dressed as if they were hitting up a night club (or a street corner), not dressed to act as lumberjacks for a women’s wrestling match. I think Layla is the only one who looked decent. As for the lumberjack brawl lol, all I really recall is loads of bad weaves flashing across the screen. Oh and I’m pretty certain I saw someone’s shoe come off! And apparently Lena‘s a heel… Who cares?
A lot of people brought up the fact that this match did nothing to put over Candice vs Beth and was more about Maryse vs Michelle. Actually, I’m all for it. This is SmackDown not Raw, I liked that the focus was on SmackDown’s Divas feud and building up that for the coming weeks. Sure, Candice and Beth have a Women’s Championship match at No Mercy, but it’s not their show and if Raw’s shitty creative team cannot fundamentally provide some decent booking for this ‘feud’, why should SmackDown’s writers put it over? I felt the glances from Candice to Beth after the match were sufficient. I’m excited to see where Maryse vs Michelle goes next, Maryse really is proving to be a big ole thorn in Michelle’s side and there’s so many ways they can go with this!
Individual Assessments
In this portion we will look at each of the Divas individually and the role they played, adding more thoughts yadda yadda:
Beth Phoenix: Nice win for Beth.
Michelle McCool: Though Michelle lost, they did multi-task and build up her feud with Maryse.
Lumberjacks: I don’t really see the effectiveness of the lumberjacks in hindsight, except for embarassing themselves by looking awful. I liked Maryse’s role though.
Fashion Focus
The Good: I thought Candice’s dress was flattering on her, Layla looked good, Maria looked decent if ‘safe’.
The Bad: Jillian and Natalya looked equally awful. What was up with Brie’s outfit? I know she was trying to go for the latina look but no. Victoria.
The In-Between: Everyone else.
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26 Comments
Melanie, I agree with you 100%. I was really surprised in the lack of chemistry and how sloppy Michelle was. In this match she like fell back to this time last year. I dont know what that was. She’s usually faster, and that’s whats needed against Beth. It seemed like she was trying to pull a Kelly Kelly like match in moves, but Kelly actually does it better, I think Michelles height doesnt allow for these attempts at interesting moves. The finish totally made up for the match, that move is SICK! I slowmoed it and Michelle took it right on her boobs, which, for someone with implants might not be a good idea; but it was awesome none the less.
I nearly forgot about the match on Sunday, and since Candice didnt get involved in the match I have a feeling Beth might win, at least I hope. hope they let her hold it for Melina. Absolutely no hype for this match proves its gonna be a major borefest Sunday.
I thought Layla was the only one who didnt look like a hooker, and we could barely see her
I’m surprised at how much people are hating on the match, i thought it was a decent TV match that was ruined by having the lumberjacks there. If they wern’t there I think the match would have been better, because there would be no focus on the outside and Beth/Michelle would have been able to put on a better outing.
I think they had plenty chemistry, considering it was their first time ever in the ring together in a one on one affair. In fact, i don’t think they even did anything in the backlash match either. So really its a first, and it was fairly decent.
Did u see the glam slam.
Everyone who falls for that usually puts there hands down last minute that was a full blown nose breaker haha i actually liked the match minus the divas brawl outside maryse got punched and she didnt notice
LMAO great redux guys, nice read.
Loled at the individual assesments. i agree the lumberjills looked like they were on their way to a fancy dress party. Natayla… not so much with the heels sweetheart. :)
The match was kinda boring but it was nice to see two people go at who don’t necessarily wrestle each other often, if ever.
The outfits the girls wore were kinda ugly. Layla was looking cute, Maryse was ok minus those ugly gold boots, Lena’s hair was on point but the outfit ruined everything, Candice funny enough looked the best and its almost like she cut her usual look down in half and we got decent lol . Brie looked the worst, it was just too much the whole 90′s cha cha girl thing killed me. oh and did anyone notice Maria got her hair dud lol its alot more “lita” red now.
I thought the match was boring, too. Candice looked great, I think that dress really flattered her. Did anyone else see at the end when all the face divas were checking on Michelle, Mickie was just standing on the outside with her hands on her hips. xD
I actually thought they focused more on Candice/Beth than SD. They kept referring to Candice when they showed Beth.
I definitely see Candice getting the title tomorrow. Beth has alot of momentum and Candice’s looks after the match had her give off the fear of “could that be my fate”? Some nice emotions for them.
Maryse vs. Michelle didn’t have much build up IMO. Sure Maryse cost her the match but it came off weak in the end.
But yeah, I definitely see a new champ tomorrow. Sounds like a bad choice right nw, but she proved to be a good champ last year, or at least a decent one. Plus we can see new challengers come from the title pool and actually see them win and not lose all the time until Beth comes around to drop the title to someone like they did with Candice.
of course mike u wld c it like dat. take off da candice tinted glasses.
Jay, actually no, just no. I actually didn’t want Candice to win it yet. She and her feud needed more build up. I’d much rather see someone hold it and actually defend it rather than just standing around with it like what Beth is doing with Santino.
Speaking of taking off the tinted glasses, everyone needs to do it because we’re all marks and we all show favoritism and :haterinism” towards others.
Now go back to doing your 4th grade match homework. It’s quite obvious you haven’t done your English and Grammar homework yet since you cannot type to save your life. lol
Lena has been a heel since her WWE heel, she just hasn’t been showcased much, It was great seeing her to get into some physical activity, she needs to be used better and more.
I am surprised at how many people are saying it was a sloppy match. I didn’t really see that at all. When I first heard of all I was thinking of was “squash match”. As for the comments about her move set, what else was she supposed to do? She isn’t strong enough to match power moves with Beth. But something no one seems to be considering may be a case of jet lag and fatigue on Michelle’s part. Both Raw and Smackdown just ended Europe trips. However Raw’s ended first so they could get back for their Monday live show. I don’t think Smackdown’s ended until Saturday or Sunday. This episode was shot last Tuesday. As for the rest, I hated the other diva’s. Apart from Maryse, they added and contributed nothing.
winning befire the ppv makes me think she will lose her title…to candice :(
michelle got knocked out cold by the glam slam. and is it true michelle broke her nose on that part
Yeah, the lumberjacks did look like hookers. And none of them besides Maryse contributed anything. They could have been much better.
And I was also surprised at Michelle’s sloppy work. She is usually better then that. And, before I was one of those who were complaining about how the Beth and Candice fued wasn’t really shown well, but after reading what you said I agree. That was Smackdown, and their writers contributed to their fued.
oh sorry i spelled feud wrong both times in my commment. :P
Yeah the match was pretty dissapointing and no chemistry, plus little involvement from the lumberjacks and even the brawl was sloppy. The outfits were awful.
Is there a time when mike doesnt butt-kiss candice?
no, cristy.
Lol @ Mike. We may all have our favourite divas, but hardly any of us get all bitchy if someone doesn’t like said favourite diva (like you ALWAYS do with Candice).
I was pretty disappointed with this match as it was a champion vs champion match and yet this came of worse then the Benjamin/Marella match. In my opinion this made Beth look weak as she needed help to beat Michelle thanks to Maryse. Also even though it isn’t her show it would have been better if Candice also got involved. I also agree with the fact that all the divas wore those over the top clothes. I mean this was a lumberjack match and yet it looked more like a fashion show. You could tell that Maryse was going to interfere because she was dressed in her ring gear.
All in all both divas had a terrible match which is bad for Beth due to her having a Championship Match in a few weeks.
To me, it would’ve been better if there were no divas at ringside.
Pssst I am The Daniel and that wasn’t me ^^^ =P
I think I shall use The Daniel from now on to differentiate! =P
EHHH…match was okay;; but that glam slam killed michelle:D
the lumberjills were…ugh…NOOO!!!!
wtf with lena;; she did look lost!! She started hitting Michelle when she slid out but then everyone pushed her outta the way and she stayed outta cammera view
Candice vs beth seems to be a boring match tonight…but whatever im more interested in Michelle vs Maryse!!!
Yeah, the match wasn’t all what it was cracked up to be. I thought they would’ve killed each other considering Michelle slapped the taste out of Beth’s mouth in the beginning of the year. We all know Beth doesn’t forgive or forget.
As for the match, it sucked big time!!! I would’ve rather saw a diva tag match with Maryse & Beth vs Candice & Michelle.
Also, did anyone notice that all the divas went to check on Michelle while Mickie was still on the outside. Hmmmm, am I sensing a heel turn? It’d be great for her to go back heel and challenge Candice.
I’ve been waiting for this one for awhile since McCool slapped Beth a few months back. The match itself was decent considering it was their first time against each other. I did find it funny that Mickie barely fought off the heels and stood in the background while the other divas checked on McCool.