For the past few months, the storyline on SmackDown has centered around Mickie James‘ weight with the Diva being taunted and called ‘Piggie James’. WWE even went as far as to create a graphic like the old Looney Tunes cartoons saying, “That’s all, folks” — a line reused by Michelle McCool on this week’s SmackDown. What became evident on this week’s SmackDown is that the joke is wearing thin and to WWE, I say: “The joke’s over, folks.”
Women’s Champion Michelle McCool discusses the huge favour she did for the fans by running Mickie James off SmackDown last week — complete with replays! Michelle then challenges any of the girls to face her right then and there for the Women’s Championship in lieu of her Royal Rumble match with Mickie. James’ music hits but instead of Mickie, out comes Layla in a fat suit wearing a similar outfit to Mickie’s signature ring attire — complete with hat! Cue a ‘hell to the no’ look on the face of the viewer but the anger soon subsides as Layla begins jiggling around on stage and as offensive as I found it, I couldn’t help but giggle at Layla’s delivery which had some humour in it.
Layla as ‘Piggie James’ makes her way down the ramp before getting on the microphone claiming she didn’t get enough food last week. It was mean but funny. Layla then gets into the ring challenging Michelle for the belt, Layla runs at Michelle in the corner who moves out of the way and trips Layla before pinning her for the win.
The underlying Mickie bullying continues and after last week’s humiliation it was hard to top that this week. I think WWE did such an amazing job last week in making Mickie relatable to the audience and then not to even have her on the show this week was ridiculous. They had an opportunity to capitalise on the way they used her last week and blew it. A quick backstage promo saying she would be at the Rumble and she would prove herself there would have done the trick, I mean how hard could a quick segment like that be? Instead what we got was more childish humour that makes you not care about the angle. Instead of making it seem like a true storyline, as it came across last week, with us wanting to root for Mickie — what WWE has done has made fans roll their eyes and want the childish drama to be over. There’s only so many shenanigans that you can pull off before they start to wear thin and this one did wear thin on the audience.
That said however, I can’t lie and say I wasn’t amused by Layla’s performance here. She does comedy so well and as mean as it may be, I think there’s an SNL-like quality to her acting here that I find it hard to be mad at her. She was given a horrible task to carry but being the entertainer that she is, she gave it her all. WWE Superstars are entertainers and as insensitive as some of the subject-matter may be, Layla did her job and she gave 100% to it which is all that can be asked of her. I think you’d be hard pressed not to shoot a little wry smile as hard as you may try not to.
McCool on the other hand with her opening monologue, in my opinion gave one of her weakest performances in some time which is a shame as I think her acting has stepped up in recent weeks. I don’t know if it was an uncomfortability with the subject-matter or the lack of Layla to bounce off of but she was not good. The performance came off as being forced and unconvincing.
What became apparent to me is that interest in this storyline has piqued. They had a great angle last week to engage viewers and begin building Mickie up week-by-week, showing that she’s beginning to gain her confidence and courage back before taking the title from Michelle. Instead of finally building up Mickie after knocking her down repeatedly, they just opted to kick her once more while she’s down. There’s no protection of the Mickie character when they should have done that this week. WWE is now beating a dead horse and as far as I’m concerned, it’s not for the entertainment of the viewers who are seemingly becoming disengaged, but for the entertainment of those backstage.
With the Royal Rumble on Sunday, even if Mickie wins the title — the damage is already done. Not that WWE has ever cared to protect the integrity of a Diva character but when you’ve flogged Mickie as much as you have, I assumed that this would be an exception and we’d eventually see Mickie begin to rise from the ashes. Even if she wins the title, it won’t be enough to restore her character’s integrity because there should have been a gradual rise to that point, where we saw Mickie’s confidence grow and grow to where she would eventually win the title.
I say give the belt to Mickie, gravitate into a three-way storyline between Mickie, Michelle and Beth as has been teased in recent weeks and shift the focus from the ‘Piggie’ angle to Beth and her current tweener-ness. Can Michelle trust her? Can Mickie trust her? Can anyone trust her? There’s no reason why Mickie and Michelle can’t continue feuding but by shifting the focus to Beth and her character, the stench of the ‘Piggie’ storyline which will hopefully be wrapped up at the Rumble, won’t follow into the second part of this feud. Pardon the pun, but it’s time to stick a fork in the ‘Piggie’ storyline — it’s done.
Food for thought: Is it time to end all the ‘Piggie’ jokes?
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97 Comments
I found the segment to be amazing. I wasn’t excited during the spoilers, but I feel it’s the best job it could’ve been without Mickie on the show, and overall I’m again pleased with SD. I don’t get the hate with the storyline, I mean Mickie isn’t fat, she’s admitted she knows she isn’t fat, and obviously she will overcome the mean girls down the line, so I doubt her fans will ever question themselves being fat. I respect other’s opinions, but idk I’ve never seen what’s so brutal about the storyline, probably because I’m just so used to crap from WWE that this is unstoppable in my eyes xD Anyways, I loved Michelle and especially Layla. They were hilarious and I really hope WWE doesn’t give Mickie the belt at Rumble. SAVE IT FOR WRESTLEMANIA
i was both appalled by this and slightly amused by Layla, i felt really bad for Mickie, but at the same time i just find Layla very funny “look the Jenni Craig is workin i lost five pounds this week” XD
i forgot to say they should have done a backstage segment with Michelle and Mickie and have Mickie slap Michelle, WWE haven’t done a bitch slap segment in a wile
I couldn’t stop from laughing when Layla came out and did her dance. Even Michelle had to break character and laugh.
I think Crazy Mickie will be coming to the Rumble. . .Goodluck Michelle McCool, I think you’ll need it.
Whoever wrote this redux is crazy. Michelle’s performance wasn’t weak at ALL. She was amazing on the mic and there wasn’t one ounce of her monotone self left out there! She actually seemed like a real person up there. Especially with her very first words and when she was laughing at 6:59.
This sounded totally lame on paper when I read the spoilers, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this. They probably would’ve been better off doing a more serious promo this weak to prepare for royal rumble, but I still enjoyed this.
I think the aftermath of the “match” was the funniest thing, especially when Layla grabbed the donut as she was rolling out of the ring. It was funny when she fell on top of Michelle too.
I probably shouldn’t but i found the whole funny. I thought Michelle was good on the mic and I fell out of my chair laughing when Layla came out with the fat suit on. Her dancing and walking down the ramp eating was just funny. I also loved when she asked the kid in the crowd if he had a hot dog. The whole thing was just great in my opinion. Laycool was a win for me this week. Having said that I do wonder how Mickie feels when she sees this going on. I know she put a statement out but I wonder how Mickie James the woman feels.
And on a side note I think WWE needs to call more women up to Smackdown or move someone there. If Maria isn’t going to be on the show for awhile that would leave only Mickie as the face and that’s not good. I say send Eve back.
I liked the segment. Yeah it would be been better to have Mickie, and maybe Beth on the show, but this segment carried on the storyline it was meant to do.
I am kinda over the storyline, but have loved the way it’s gotten Michelle over as a true heel. Though I don’t see why everyone cries over it when it’s not anything near as bad as the way Lita, Molly, or Vickie have been treated over their careers. This is child’s play compared to Lita’s treatment.
theregoeskitty – i know right TRISH always got her face lit up lol.
Team LAY-COOL is a hot mess in a good way. ” look the jenny craigs working i lost 5 pounds this week ” LMAO!
When I first read the spoilers I was not excited at all. But thankfully I was presently surprised!! Layla was funny as always and Michelle I thought did great!! I loved her kind of evil laugh after they showed the replay.
ChrissyL – The author’s name is at the top, you know. The least you could do is insult her by name.
At the risk of sounding mean, McCool should really stick to being monotonous if *that’s* what she sounds like otherwise. Ouch.
Layla’s comedy is a lot better when it involves a match than a promo or interview, I’ve noticed. Still, she couldn’t save the segment, not after what had preceded her.
Mickie for champ, please. And Melina, please come back to SmackDown and save us. :(
*than when
I knew this would happened with the spoiler peeps.
“OMG, this is boring, bring on TNA”
Then when you see it, you actually enjoy it. Sure it could’ve been better if Mickie was there but they did the best they could, I was actually ROFL during the whole segment, Layla is an amazing comedienne and she has great charisma.
The Good: Layla’s comedy eg. eating donuts off the ring mat.
The Bad: Match at RR doesn’t seem as serious with the funny antics and no Mickie to further develop the feud to a blow-off perhaps.
The Ugly: Nothing.
I LOVED the heat Michelle got tonight (goes to show the wonders this storyline is doing for her). And as for her ‘poor performance’… are you sh**ting me?
I LOVED this segment! For a change I completely disagree with Melanie and I think Michelle and Layla did a great job. I laughed soooo hard throughout the segment and thoroughly enjoyed it. It played out much better than the spoilers insinuated.
I for one thought it was a great idea to keep Mickie off the show. Have them make it out as if Mickie didnt dare show up again and then at the Royal Rumble let her come out like a complete PSYCHO and get DQ’d against McCool. Would be a great way to inject more character into Mickie and continue the feud.
Another great showing on SD!
The thing is, the ‘heat’ (which wasn’t even that significant) isn’t on account of Michelle’s talent, it’s on account of a bunch of fat jokes and the fact that Michelle’s voice sounded so damn painful on the ears (I’m assuming it was even worse loud. Every time she raised her voice it cracked. And the cracking was NOT sexy. :S
*even worse loud
it’s late.
*live, not loud
:S
Being that SmackDown! isn’t live, they should really hire a voice over actress to dub Michelle’s promos. I can’t deal.
This has taken months and although its not in the way the storyline intended, I’m rooting for Mickie James to win the title and hopefully move on to bigger, better and more interesting opponents.
I will admit that I did laugh, only cause of Layla. Her dancing around in a fat suit was very funny, but I got pretty stupid after that. I find it funny how Layla always upstages Michelle in all their segments they do. McCool really disappointed me tonight, she was doing good on the mic, this was a huge step back for her. She was so boring, and what amazes me is that Michelle keeps degrading Mickie, but she cannot for the life of her get heat without the help of Layla.
This Sunday I’m really hoping for Mickie to win the title. It would be a great ending for this storyline, cause its getting really old. I mean how many more fat jokes and puns can you do before it gets very old??
all three divisions (raw, smackdown and impact) are coming across as terribly bipolar of late. good week, bad week. they need consistency. at least when smackdown was consistently bad, it wasn’t too bad. last week being so good actually made this week feel worse than it actually was. =/
this segment was mediocre..all hope isnt lost
the bad: michelles acting was weaker than usual, it was getting boring, and it seems that mickie pretty much has to be involved in the segments to keep it exciting
the good: they gave the divas another nearly 9 minutes of time. although it wasnt used in the best way, at least its a positive. also, layla made the most out of her character which was nice to see…
does anyone think that mickie is going to go psycho at the rumble?? a psycho face?
I don’t think Mickie will show up as a psycho at the Rumble. The most sensible thing to do if they were going that route would have been Mickie snapping tonight. That way the fans would know Michelle would be in for hell come Sunday, but now I wouldn’t count on it. It wouldn’t make much sense for her to just randomly show up crazy.
There’s always the potential for Mickie to pull a Lita (Survivor Series…2005?) and go crazy on Michelle with a chair, but I dunno if they’d want to drag it out like that, and I dunno if they’d let the divas use a proper weapon.
I’d love to see face Mickie with a psychotic edge though, in the hope that one day I’ll be able to get my bitchy heel Melina vs. crazy face Mickie WrestleMania title match. :D
The only reason i was thinking mickie should go psycho is because there would be a reason for it..michelle and layla being bitchy and driving her crazy with their cruelty. im really hoping that at the rumble mickie just goes ape shit on michelle haha..it would bring a lot to mickies character and help this feud..but its probably wishful thinking :)
Yet another EPIC WIN for team Laycool… SIMPLY FLAWLESS! I am a HUGE Layla fan ever since she became heel she has been my favourite I’d love 2 see her eventually get a sneaky title win and do a Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and refuse 2 defend it haha she’d be A-MA-ZING!!! Go team Laycool
This week’s segment was funny for all the wrong reasons.I actually thought this was Michelle’s best performance,even better than last week’s!For once I disagree with Melanie,and I was all for Team Mel on D3 about the Glee thing.lol
Anyone…. FAT MONICA from Friends???????????? Thats what It reminded me of! lovelovelove haha
As stupid as I thought this was gonna be, it wasn’t. I mean, yeah it was mean, yeah Michelle needs to work on doing stuff without Layla, and yeah they should have let Mickie get back at them somehow but I can’t lie and say I didn’t find it amusing either. Layla did a really good job with the comedy no matter how mean it was intended to be. I just wish they did something different but I think Layla did a good job and seemed to do the best she could
Wow. When I read the spoilers I was expecting something awful, but this was really good. I loved it. I disagree with what Melanie about Michelle’s preformance. Michelle’s promo was really good. In my opinion she is getting better and better each time she’s on the mic. Layla, that girl is pure gold. This storyline would be nothing without her. She is so full of personality and is just amazing. During the whole thing I could barley stop laughing. Layla was the star of the show, she always out does everyone. I would love if somehow WWE added Layla into a title match (making it a fatal four way with Mickie, Beth & Michelle) and have her turn on Michelle and steal the win. She may not be the best worker but she’s improved by leaps and bounds and is in my opinion the best in the charisma department diva-wise.
“I LOVED the heat Michelle got tonight (goes to show the wonders this storyline is doing for her). And as for her ‘poor performance’… are you sh**ting me?”
The crowd reaction was played with in editing as the crowd at the live taping, according to spoilers, turned on the segment and chanted “This is boring”. Somehow, I doubt that was the reaction WWE wanted.
Seasons-of-love:Really?My dream is badass/bitchy face Melina vs psycho heel Mcikei at Wrestlemania.
With Melina finally getting a proper Wrestlemania win,of course. :P
This angle should have stopped a long time ago. It’s tasteless.
I thought LayCool Was freakin awesome. Especially Layla as soon as she started I dancing around I started cracking up. OMG That was funny. I agree with whoever it was that said they need to bring up more smackdown divas especially sense maria will be gone for a while
I’m pretty sure Michelle will lose the title at this point. She’s held it for quite sometime, but I don’t think there will be any satisfaction for Mickie unless they let her ‘humiliate’ Michelle somehow.
I certainly hope she does become psycho, her character is so damn stale! I would love Mickie if she turned psycho again, maybe that’s why they kept her off SD! and maybe that’s why she got beat down after standing up for herself, so she could really explode.
i hope they make psycho mickie come back
and the roles heel/face will be reversed
You shouldn’t go ahead and bash Erin because you disagree with her opinion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, there not all the same and there not all necessarily wrong.
Poor Mickie. This crap is getting really mean spirited now. These writers are pushing tastelessness to a new level.
“I LOVED the heat Michelle got tonight (goes to show the wonders this storyline is doing for her).”
I don’t know what show you were watching, but “BORING” chants don’t count as heat.
Matt Stryker’s fake laugh annoys me soo much..
but anyway lol @ the girl who got exited
that was great, thumbs up. lots of heat for michelle & layla did amazing.
“I don’t know what show you were watching, but “BORING” chants don’t count as heat.”
It’s “bad” heat, basically, where the crowd boos and chants “boring” because they think what they are seeing is stupid and a waste of time. It may be the only reaction worse than silence.
StraightEdge Society vs Hart Dinasty
Serena vs Natalya
anyone? :)
Haha I actually thought it was really funny mostly on Layla part Michelle seemed very blee bt ne ways Mickie nt being shown kinda of sucks bt she will def win Sunday no doubt about it! I laughed so hard when layla came out dancing shake tht big pig booty lol bt ne ways were is Maria I want to see her b4 Tht lame celebrity show starts cuz she can’t be shown om to diff shows at once boo! bt ya Mickie will win when Beth comes out and causes Michelle to lose some how woo Team Mickie
Layla was the only entertaining thing about the segment. After Mickie wins at the Rumble Layla deserves a title shot. She’s done all the hard work during the Mickie/McStool feud.
BAHAHAHAHA!!!
this was an epic segment!
4get last weeks this was hilarious!
(:
Michelle will retain the gold i think.
Layla and that dancing was HIGH-larious! She’s definitely the funniest Diva.
LMAO how hot. Totally owned.