This week on Raw: In six Diva action, Kelly Kelly led her team of Candice and Mickie James to victory over Jillian, Katie Lea and Layla.
Thoughts & Reactions
A decent match and a fun segment were on the bill from our Monday night crew. Not what I expected or wanted to see this week, but I have to say, it wasn’t overall a bad night for the Divas. I thought WWE may finally create a storyline this week with Cyber Sunday over, perhaps Kelly vs Beth for the title – it felt like the perfect time to start a new programme but nope. However, the six Diva tag team match was a good watch and Beth’s reaction to Charlie Haas was hilarious.
Starting with Beth, Haas looked exactly like the Glamazon lol. It’s almost eerie to be honest. I was hoping for a showdown between the real and fake Beths, would’ve been far more entertaining than anything involving Santino. Well not much more to add here…
Boy, did my heart stop when I found out Layla would actually be in a match! Holy frig! I ain’t gonna lie, it’s one of the few things that have excited me about Raw’s women’s division in the past few months. Says a lot about the division, if you ask me. When Kelly, Candice and Mickie came out, I actually began thinking about how strong the faces are on Raw at the moment. You have three popular Divas who can go in the ring each and every week, that’s a great thing. Meanwhile on the heel side, we only have one strong Diva in Beth Phoenix while we cannot take the likes of Jillian and Katie Lea seriously because we know they are but jobbers. If WWE actually built up Jillian or Katie a little bit more, I think the division could be very strong. You have three believable faces but only one believable heel. Hell, I think the less experienced Layla (who I heart and adore) is a more effective and believable heel than Jillian and Katie. I can believe that Layla is a bad ass Diva who’ll eff you up, but Jillian and Katie at this point are jokes. I hope WWE builds up Layla a little stronger than they have done with those two, because we need some strong heels on Raw. The only Diva that didn’t get perpetually buried like Jillian and Katie was Melina when she was a heel. She was always the number two heel behind Beth and when you had a tag team match say Mickie & Candice vs Beth & Melina, it seemed like an even match-up. We all knew the three faces would win this match, if WWE bothered in the slighest, the fans may just have felt this was an even match-up. Like I say, Layla is a greet heel in the making and I hope she’s not buried like her partners from last night.
The match saw some great work from all three faces, it was great to see Mickie back on Raw and back in the fold. However, I wonder if that was not just a technicality. I think WWE only booked her for Raw because she won the Costume Contest at Cyber Sunday, had she not I think she’d still be in limbo. Nice work from all three of the Divas this week, they all gelled well together which makes it easier to believe they are a team. I know I say it every week, but I think last night was a significant statement that Kelly is being pushed as the new top face on Raw. Even though WWE loves Candice and the fans love Mickie, Kelly was the one again, who came in off the hot tag and finished the match up. Say what you want about Kelly, but I think she’s worked really hard and she deserves this confidence that WWE is showing in her at the moment. Plus I’d personally rather see Kelly get a push than my darling *cough* Candice and let’s face it, as much as we all love Mickie, she needs to take a back seat for a while. Kelly is a new fresh face and I think this is an example that if you apply yourself, learn your craft, you will be rewarded. But who’s to say that Kelly won’t just be the flavour of the year, which I think was the case with Candice in 2007. Her stock has dropped in favour of Kelly, this year. As for the heels, I would have loved to see more of Layla in the ring, I really want to see her in a one on one match. I was a little wary of how Layla would fare in the ring, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen her in a match. It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago she was having show stopping matches with Michelle McCool on SmackDown, that seems a lifetime ago. I hope Layla’s still got it, she’s a great wrestler for someone who’s only been around for two years. And also wouldn’t it be cool to see Layla vs Kelly here and now on Raw? I mean after their disaster of a match on ECW in January, nearly a year later, it would be so cool to see them go at it.
Some other random tidbits: How effing funny was it when WWE cut Candice’s disrobing with Mickie’s entrance? Usually that’s the money shot for WWE, they just love showing us the disrobe. A welcome change and also possibly a subtle hint of Candice’s de-push. And how funny was it when the heels came out, Jillian was front and centre? The Diva in front and centre is usually considered the top heel in the match and it was Jillian the Joke (ooh I like that, new nickname!). I’d have put Layla front and centre myself, she’s the only one that hasn’t been completely devalued and the only one we can actually take seriously as a heel because she hasn’t jobbed every single match of her WWE career.
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: The King delivered a proverbial low blow when he said Haas had more boobage than Beth, lol.
Candice: She’s not getting a push but she’s still a TV regular.
Jillian: Jillian the Joke.
Katie Lea: I guess WWE decided to give Jillian a break and have Kelly pin Katie this week.
Kelly Kelly: Kelly’s road to the top continues.
Layla: I hope this is the start of Layla wrestling on the regular now.
Mickie James: I complained a lot about Mickie this past summer saying she’s gotten stale, and it’s true she has, but it was great to have her in a match on Raw.
Fashion Focus
The Good: Layla looked incredible from head to toe, loved it!
The Bad: Kelly Kelly, mixing and matching is bad.
The In-Between: Everyone else.
Digital Photos (Courtesy of WWE.com)
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25 Comments
What was Layla wearing? that was not wrestling attire. I don’t think she is very interesting in the ring. Not just with this match, but with her past matches as well. Maybe it is just best if she stays a manager.
Layla’s two matches with Michelle were great, and I wish the WWE would recognize that. They had an opportunity to do something when Melina got taken out and Layla got drafted, but they won’t bother. You can see the effects of that on RAW. Beth is pretty much the only real heel with the exception of Layla being pushed in a heel storyline. SD is much better in terms of building the heels because those ones jobbing aren’t really jokes like Jillian is. I agree that Mickie has gotten stale and she could really benefit from a program switch to SD. She needs some new meat to compete against, and I hope her and Layla get into something because it will be great for them both: Layla to learn from a real vet, and the most popular; and Mickie wrestle some fresh meat for herself.
Kelly deserves her push, but she isn’t really being pushed for anything except to take Mickie’s place in popularity. Her and Beth haven’t had any interaction in nearly a month. I get a weird feeling that more than Cena will be coming back next month, and the Beth is on hold until the return of the great Melina, and that will be to RAW’s benefit. Right before her injury she was the only other Diva on RAW to be able to compete with Mickie in pops from the crowd, and she’s needed. More importantly, the title needs her. Kelly just isn’t ready. A few more months or maybe a year, she’ll be perfect, and I feel like the WWE is slowly building her for it, and that’s the best thing.
Cameron, most of what the Divas wear isn’t actual ring attire. I loved her ring wear, it kinda reminded me of the pants Trish used to wear.
Christi, I agree with you, SmackDown definitely has a more balanced heel side while Raw has the more balanced face side. If only we could squish them together! I love things being perfectly balanced lol. Kelly, Candice and Mickie as faces with Maryse, Natalya and Victoria as heels. That said, I think SmackDown is doing a good job of balancing up it’s faces, up until recently it was just Michelle but with Brie joining SmackDown and Maria actually getting pushed as a wrestler, things are evening up. SmackDown has a great balance in it’s women’s division.
I would love to see Kelly Kelly in one match NOT doing the flying headscissors thing. Seriously, it would make my Monday night. Oh yeah, and she has to not scream through it too.
I thought Beth would wrestle Charlie too! I knew Kelly’s team was gonna win. It would have been fresh if the heel divas would have won the match. Then we would have more to look forward to on Raw. But overall I thought it was a good show this week.
i think that kelly is good but the headscissors looks too unrealistic. i mean what is kelly doing that can make someone keep spinning around like that? a regular headscissors would be nice and i think she should have a moonsault or something off the top rope as a finisher, something that shows her athleticism you know.As for the heels they need a major push i love jillian and she hasnt had the push she deserves but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.
At this point, noone is getting a push. Beth isn’t in the women’s division right now and Kelly is getting wins over Jillian and Katie. If this was a title push they were pushing for Kelly, she’d be interacting with Beth.
It just seems like a way to give Kelly wins, IMO.
We’ll see in the end how this turns out because didn’t Stacy or someone get all those wins back in 02/03 on RAW, but ended up losing in the end? That’s what I see here.
I think you guys look into things too much. They cut off Candice due to shortage of time. It has nothing to do with de-push. Candice hasn’t lost a match since No Mercy and I think Candice winning every week would piss fans off as that’s what it usually does.
Plus I’d like to see Kelly mix it up a little. She has like the five moves of doom, something coined by Cena-haters.
good match,im happy Candice is better in the ring than wat she was wen she came back,kelly and mickie good as always ;)
I agree with you Mike. The headscissors is already old. And she’s incredibly sloppy.
I’m glad Candice is better now. You can see that the House Shows are paying off something that Ms Kelly doesn’t even do. Oh yeah i forgot, she’s “training”. lol
It’s always nice to see Mickie but i would to see more Layla vs Mickie. It would be cool.
It will be nice if the WWE don’t forget about the OTHER WWE DIVAS!
and it was REALLY BAD when they cut Candice’s entrance.
Jillian could get a push TOO!
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and I agree with “Mary” too.
and I don’t really like Layla turning heel
Kelly should turn heel
mikes excuses neva fail to amaze me. hes got an answer 4 everythin wen it comes 2 candice.
Mike you shouldn’t be talking about Kelly’s five moves she does all the time
because Candice Michelle does the same: clotheline,dropkick,wheel kick,sit-out mat slam,and her finisher.
Something Mike said did remind me of the whole Stacy Keibler thing back in 2004. Do you guys remember for weeks on RAW we had Nidia, Victoria, and Stacy Keibler vs Molly, Jazz, and Trish/Gail? Kelly’s push does remind me of Stacy’s..a little bit (around the same month to lol) but I think Kelly is a good worker. Ofcourse she is no Natalya but I feel Kelly is better than some other females who have been in wrestling for years now like Velvet Sky(imo). Moving on from Kelly to the rest of the divas lol. I think all the ladies did great last night (Layla looked super hot). I hope Layla does get some more in-ring time by the end of this year. She has pretty damn good mic skills, I belive she could be the new Melina-type figure on RAW.
I don’t get why you people are complaining about the “moves of doom” since most of the faces in WWE has them, not just Kelly, Candice, etc. I don’t see people complaining when Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels were doing them. Mickie James also has her moves of doom with her : clotheslines, neckbreaker, corner Hurricanrana, Thesz Press and Mickie-DT. So it’s really unfair to single out any of the divas because of repetitive moves, when most of them do. This is a diva tag match, which usually lasts 3-4 minutes, they aren’t going to be able to do anything more than a couple chain-wrestling spots to start the match, then from there it’s just a matter of hitting their signature moves before going to the finish. If this was a 6-8 minute match, then you might have some room to complain about them only doing their “moves of doom”. But in a match, tag or otherwise, which gets only 3-4 minutes tops, the most you can do are these signature moves before going to the finish. The matches are pretty formulaic, a couple chain-wrestling spots, the heel diva gets the advantage, face diva makes her comeback with her signature moves then straight to the finish. It’s more of a problem of WWE’s booking style as opposed to the divas in question.
With that being said I’m starting to get a little bit frustrated and impatient with Kelly Kelly. I think most people’s problems with Kelly is that she does the same moves over and over again from one match to the other, which makes her matches kinda stale and boring. Whereas the other divas have changed things up a bit in their matches and actually use different moves from time to time to keep their matches somewhat fresh. She still does rely too much on these lucha spots and would like it if she were to balance out her moveset by working on her technical wrestling, her ground style as it were, which would make her more well-rounded as a wrestler. People want to see how much she improved, see how she’s developing during this training, but when they see her doing the same lucha spots over and over again with no diversity whatsoever, they can’t help but feel unsure about Kelly’s development.
In my opinion, Layla was a bit sloppy last night… her and Mickie didn’t mesh well until Mickie gave her that kick to the mouth.
As for Kelly, she was pretty good. She even got the fans pumped when she got the hot tag, something that dear Candice can’t seem to accomplish. I liked the head scissors from Kelly…and I think Katie Lea was the reason it looked sloppy. She sells it in the same vein as Melina and Lita do (did).
And about people saying Smackdown has well-balanced heels…are you kidding? Victoria hasn’t won a match since August 8th…granted, they do a smidge better than Raw when it comes to heels, it’s still no surprise to me when Natalya or Victoria lose.
Brent I think the SD heels are well balanced in the sense of being more defined, Victoria is comedic and physical, Nattie is the 3rd generation brute force, and Maryse is the super sexy one….and they have actually won singles and tag matches against the faces WAY more than the RAW heels have..The heels on RAW are Beth-physical champ, Jillian-singing jobber, Katie and Layla-British jobbers…no story or real character
I also think that Jillian should get a push. Hey, at least SOMEONE should! Right now it feels as if no one is getting pushed, just as someone has already said. I am actually quite confused with the RAW Women’s Division. It does seem as if Melina’s return may be on the horizon, considering how nothing has happened. Everything has just sort of frozen, it seems. I woulod love it if Melina came back and was in the title picture again sometime soon. I am just SO TIRED of these mediocre girls getting pushed over ones with talent, a couple of those with talent including Katie Lea and Jillian.
Ok, sorry about that. The match was okay, although it feels like we see the same match every week…
is it me or does it look like Mickie has put on some weight around her midriff and thighs?
Did anyone else notice Layla had Regal’s new golden logo thing on her knee pads? :D
Ok match, although it wasn’t really that enjoyable because the ending was just obvious as hell and the fact I knew the faces (especially Kelly) would win made me less interested completely.
santino is sooo funny…i like the way wwe uses beth…they didnt have such a woman since chyna left…
n kelly always remind me with torrie in her start…some of her attires r like torrie’s tht bacl thingy with pink bra under it..torrie used in her last match against dawn maie..it was torrie’s attire in 2006 wwe game
the match was really good i loved it alot
It was an ok match, im sick of heels constantly losing on Raw tho..jillian needs a win.
Match was decent, but I think Layla proved she isn’t ready for any big wrestling push here soon. She was by far the worse in this match. Her timing was horrible, and like someone said above, the only right thing she did was sell that kick to the chin by Mickie. Don’t get me wrong, I’d prefer to see Layla pushed over Candice or Katie, but to call Jillian a “Joke”, then claim Layla needs this ultra push is a bit pre-mature. Jillian has been in the business WAYY longer then Layla, & can actually open some eyes if they let her. So yeah, I’d be kinda pissed if they pushed Layla to some major storyline over JIllian anytime soon… And my opinion on why Jillian’s music was played, and she was front & center is simple.. The writers know she is the most developed of the three heels & most seen weekly heel, discounting WWE’s Awesome Kong. Plus, she worked about the entire match for the heels, so it was only right they let her be the center piece heel.
On to the faces lol.. Kelly Kelly is starting to get as old as Michelle is on SmackDown. I like both divas, but they both are being groomed to be brand’s next Trish Stratus; which both are failing horribly at accomplishing atm. Candice did actually perform much better then past weeks, or well since her return.. Mickie, I agree she is getting stale, but good lord she keeps her team mates from drowning every time she tags. I don’t want any title push anytime soon for her, but a good storyline, maybe managing or something, to keep her on tv weekly.
I think RAW really needs Melina right now, cause Beth is just stalling that championship. If they want to make her Chyna V2.0 then that is fine, but it was Chyna that hurt the women’s division back in the day; much like having Kong the champion on TNA is killing their division.. Face Melina was killed off too quickly, so I’m hoping we see a big return of this fresh face diva.. But like has anyone even heard any word on the chick returning? xD
Jordan, I agree with what you mostly said, but I don’t believe Kelly is stale yet…the difference between Kelly and Michelle I think is that Kelly Kelly is pretty genuine, and you can see that in the ring. She’s not fake, she doesn’t take shortcuts and she cares about her fans. On the other hand…we have McCool, who we’ve heard horror stories about backstage and which I’m sure a lot of her push has to do with the Undertaker. Kelly is I think the better face, and I’m glad she is getting pushed over the likes of Candice.
I agree on the Melina front, if they wanted to do something with Candice Michelle, they would have done it by now. At this rate, they could honestly have a feud between Beth and Kelly before Melina gets back by the end of January. This way Kelly gets a nice push, Beth remains champion, and Melina returns to bring interest back into the division.
And as for Mickie James, what a gal. Yeh, I agree she is somewhat stale, but I’d rather see her as a stale face than a fresh heel. Mickie happens to be one of the few face divas who can wrestle (aside from Melina and McCool) and I think fans will continue to support her BECAUSE of the fact that she is one of the few face divas who can wrestle.
And for Christi: I think that comparing Victoria to Jillian would be a safe comparison, so when people say that Smackdown’s heels are more developed than Raw’s, I don’t buy it. Jillian and Victoria spend equal amounts of time humiliating themselves, putting over the faces and taking the 1-2-3′s. The same comparison can be made to Katie Lea and Natalya, who were pushed initially upon their arrivals, however fell down by the wayside over the months and now job almost as often as Victoria and Jillian. The only credible heel Smackdown has is Maryse and the only credible heel Raw has right now is Beth (and Layla to a non-wrestling role extent). So therefore, I don’t think either brand has a well-built heel diva roster.