With a new Women’s Champion crowned at the Royal Rumble in Mickie James, it seemed like a new era for the SmackDown Divas division. Not quite. Despite a new champion, we still have the same three-way problem though slightly altered: Beth Phoenix wants the title, Michelle McCool wants the title and Mickie James wants to keep the title. A three-way match between these two had been teased in the early weeks of January but somewhere along the way, the focus shifted back to Mickie and Michelle leading to the Rumble. But now it looks like we’re once again on course for a triple threat scenario. New champion Mickie found out on SmackDown this week that being champ ain’t easy:
Mickie has been Women’s Champion five times now but how many times has she gotten to give a post-win promo? Not many. Already, her fifth run is off to a great start as Mickie gets to do the whole “We did it!” pow-wow that we see from the men. As can be expected from such a paint-by-numbers speech, just as she talks about anyone challenging her to go ahead — she’s interrupted. The Glamazon, Beth Phoenix, fresh from using her feminine wiles~ to eliminate Khali in the Rumble match, is out to boast about doing so. Really, Beth? You’re going to brag how you acted slutty like it’s a good thing? I kid. Kinda. Tangent: I didn’t really comment on the whole Beth-Rumble thing so I’ll do it here. I think it’s great that she was in the Rumble and got a big moment but of course it had to be played out with the most cliched tactic in the world. Somewhere a woman is burning her bra in anger.
Anyhoo, Glamazon says she can take Mickie’s title whenever she wants and as things are about to pop off, out comes Vickie Guerrero. Hey Striker, where are the fat jokes for Vickie? Anyway, Vickie says it’ll be the two of them versus the ‘true number one contender’ Michelle McCool and Layla.
Out come Lay-Cool in cute matching hoodies and for a second there I thought they were gonna emulate the Beautiful People entrance but thankfully, they didn’t bend over and touch their toes. Michelle McCool surprisingly graces the SmackDown ring with her presence this week, her first full-length match on the show it seems in quite some time. And if the prospect of Beth vs Michelle isn’t tantilising, I don’t know what is. Beth shoves Michelle to the mat with great force before picking her up effortlessly and tossing her to the canvas. Beth throws Michelle into the corner and hits her with a butt bump and shoulder blocks. Michelle counters with a low dropkick to Beth’s knee, taking her off her feet and giving McCool some momentum.
McCool is now in control, dropping a few elbows in the knee joint of Phoenix before going for a quick cover. The former Women’s Champ then applies the awfully named ‘Make a Diva Tap’ or ‘MAD T’. For a former school teacher… that’s the best you could do? Beth flicks Michelle off and the two then stumble to their feet at which point Phoenix runs at Layla in the corner, knocking her off the apron.
Back in the ring, an angered Michelle goes for a strike but Beth blocks it and grabs McCool running into her team’s corner and crashing her into the turnbuckles. Mickie tags in and applies an armbar on Michelle but out of no where, her tag team partner Beth clocks her and she falls to the canvas. Beth then follows through and wipes McCool’s clock clean too.
Beth walks off, leaving her partner at Lay-Cool’s mercy. Layla tags in and goes for a pin but Mickie counters into a small package and sneaks a victory at the last second.
After the match, cue questionable facial expressions and lingering death stares between the Divas.
Fresh off her star turn at the Rumble, it seems the focus is once again firmly on Beth Phoenix with her factoring into this feud more than ever. I said last week that I wanted Mickie to win the title, the ‘Piggie’ jokes to be over and for the emphasis to be put on Beth — and that’s exactly what we got. The focus has thankfully shifted from making fun of Mickie to adding the Beth dynamic. She’s not quite Team Mickie, she’s not quite Team Michelle — she’s out for herself and can’t be trusted by either party. This should make for an interesting three-way feud.
The promos from Mickie and Beth were pretty by the numbers and nothing special, though adequate. I would have really loved to see some more Lay-Cool here, especially after what happened to them at the Rumble. A backstage segment with a Superstar making fun of them, maybe Mickie giving them a taste of their own medicine with blown-up pictures of their ‘caking’ — something backstage with those two would have been great.
There’s honestly not too much to take away from this week’s show, we’ll have to see how it develops over the coming weeks. I wouldn’t say this was a standout week for SmackDown as has been the case recently. I think this week was average/adaquete for now.
Food for thought: How long do you think Mickie’s Divas Championship reign will last?
RSS
Email
Twitter
Tumblr
Facebook
YouTube
41 Comments
what was with everyone coming out to early in this promo, first Beth then Vickie, so much for a Beth face turn
I think this was a nice hit on the refresh button for the angle but I’m kinda hoping it isn’t the predictable three way where Beth comes out on top and Mickie gets a ridiculously short/average reign as /Women’s/ Champ. :)
I’m hoping for a Mickie/Natalya feud heading into Rumble so we can see some new blood hold the Championship cause the way things are going there won’t be any new champions in the Divas division any time soon with Maryse nearly undoubtably winning the Divas Championship and Michelle and Beth as the only challengers to Mickie.
Wow,I loved this week’s Smackdown.My favorite Diva until Melina comes back,Beth,really was the standout,and she owned her spot like noone else could.I loved the way she and Michelle stared eachother down before Beth knocked Layla off the apron,who always seems to sell being thrown out or off the ring very well.I also enjoyed her smile before clocking Michelle.This is what I love to see in wrestling,using your character to drive the wrestling forward,and this is what we got this week.
Overall,great Smackdown.
OH sweet jesus Layla looked HOT here! yeah I also thought there was gonna be some sort of Beautiful People style entrance here… haha they both looked at each other in a way that hints at the fact they knew it would look that way hahaha was good to see Michelle actually get involved again and yeah I feel the whole “Piggy James” storyline could’ve done with a little more closure or something??? but we shall wait and see what happens there and like I always say I’d love for Layla to get involved in the running for the championship… and ideally win it and do a Stephanie McMahon Helmsley with it (refuse to defend it) that’d be hilarious XD
I really don’t think I can stomach Beth vs Mickie #7734, heres hoping Laycool stay involved or even give Natalya a shot cause the Beth/Mickie scenario has been done to death.
The match was too short to be anything decent. It was clear that there was limited crowd reaction due to 2 heels being in the ring (i suppose u can call Beth a heel still). The problem I see with smackdown is that it tends to focus more on storyline development than actual matches lately, why cant we have the best of both worlds?
Beth is the star in the making, that’s for sure. She’s going to win the title by Wrestlemania at the latest. Wouldn’t be surprised if she somehow “retires” Mickie, if all the rumors are true. I would suggest they don’t have her talk to much in the future though. She has a great look, but when she starts talking she sounds like any other diva. It kills her mystique. Chyna had the same problem. The strong, silent type is the way to go.
I guess Vince watches TNA because Lay-Cool is a clear TBP rip-off.
Funniest part of the segment: The fans are booing the hell out of Vickie and are continuing to do so as she announces Laycool. Then Michelle’s music starts, and all of those boos just stop. Awesome.
Too bad Layla is made into such a chump as she’s a lot of fun to watch.
never been excited about a divas storyline since…dont rememebr but long ago
this week’s match was made to keep the feud goin nothing more and i think it served its purpose very well
“I guess Vince watches TNA because Lay-Cool is a clear TBP rip-off.”
You are aware that TBP didnt invent it? They themselves are a “rip-off” of similair acts, not to mention several tv series like Mean Girls.
The heat Vickie gets is truly amazing.
Mickie’s reign ?
Her single comes out the 16th, a tv taping day.
Think Vince would whack her, just like her last night on Raw vs Jillian ?
Wouldnt that be so Vince ?
I liked this weeks smackdown i wonder what there gonna do next week.
and it seemed kinda weird that MICHELLE came out kinda happy. i was expecting
for her to come out with that classic B$!%*H YOU BEAT ME ON SUNDAY AND THOUGHT THAT YOU WHERE GONNA GET AWAY WITH IT I DONT THINK SO look on her face.
VICKIE and her “excuse me…I SAID EXCUSE ME!!!” is hilarious :)
Loved the segment b/c it was more serious and there was little mention of the Piggy James stuff…time for these girls to give us great work in the ring ’cause they have set up the story very well.
Vickie is awesome.
LayCool’s hoodies are awesome. Too bad they didn’t coordinate their ring outfit colors.
I know Mickie’s trying to promote her country album and all, but I’m getting pretty sick of her competing in the same jeans and top every week. I was sick of her same baggy Aladdin outfit too, but at least it was for wrestling. Hope Beth beats her for the title.
Lastly, Maria looked hot.
i think vickies boos may have been edited because she was getting mad cheers as well at the event! i cheered my laycool hahaha and i was so happy when layla acknowledged our sign too bad it didnt make tv! but yea this was pretty awesome but it feels so different seeing it live and then on tv.
Does anyone else find it really weird that Vickie would help Michelle like this? After all the Piggie James stuff, it’s obvious how Michelle feels about “big girls”, so how exactly does that not apply to Vickie all of a sudden?
Melanie Reply:
February 6th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Ed – You make such a valid point, you’d think Vickie [even though she's a heel like Michelle] would take exception and want to humiliate Michelle. That’d be a fun angle in itself. I’d really love to see Vickie more involved with the Divas, it just feels so authentic that as consultant GM, she’d care about the Divas division.
I love Mickie so much so I’m happy for her to be in the limelight with the championship. Michelle gets zero heat without Layla no one would be interested in her. The only thing about Michelle that is good is that she is decent in the ring but that’s all. I can’t wait to see how this feud goes but I still want to see Mickie vs. Natalya.
“I guess Vince watches TNA because Lay-Cool is a clear TBP rip-off”
RBP reminds me alot with Vince’s Devils so they didnt invent it exactly like Mikas said
first,and regarding the comments about Beth´s participation in the rumble by Melanie….Beth didn´t act slutty,she follow the “sexy,smart and powerful” way the Divas are currently named,and let´s be honest,we couldn´t expect her to pick Khali up and theow him over the ropes,even if we´re talking about the most physical Diva in the WWE….and to remember that Beth throw some offense on Punk and put him on his shoulders…and i wouldn´t call it slutty…i hope that i don´t get bashed because of this….
about this week´s SD….reasonable match,Michelle put on some good offense on Beth but this option of the creative team in keep Beth in this acting face/back to heel,this back and forth…is becoming very boring and could hurt Beth herself in the future if they don´t make up their minds about what to do with her.
a Triple feud seems to be cooked,let´s see how things will happen in the next weeks.
Im feeling pretty good so far about Mickie’s 5th Regin! I woudnt gett mad if she lost it soon. But I would like to see her and Natalya go at it…for a couple of months…Natalya could take the belt then when Beth offically turns face then she can fued with Natalya for the title
i dont know i thought this weeks smackdown lacked something. it didnt have the same passion and energy as before. i think i preferred michelle as champ with mickie chasing.
@redsoul im going to take a wild guess that you have a penis? i think a woman would react differently to what beth did at rr so i see where melanie is coming from. its typical and like she said cliche to have a girl act ‘slutty’, kissing the guy and stuff to get her way. i can see why melanie would be annoyed.
rosarocks,i said that because it looked to me(and if i´m wrong i apologyze) an attempt to down the value of Beth´s participation in the Rumble,of course we cannot have equal opinions and i understand Melanie´s point of view,i just wanna to state mine.
and yes,i´m a man.
LayCool’s hoodies are awesome. Too bad they didn’t coordinate their ring outfit colors.
Now Michelle McCool is stealing AJ Styles’s attire.
I agree with everything on the redux, especially the part that they should have mention more the Lay-cool humiliation. Vickie like it was said, would be great for that part, especially since she was also a victim of the fat and pig jokes. (a thing that I believe Eddie wouldn’t like at all, but is not like they respect Eddie’s death, in fact they used it quite a lot in promotional tactics, which kinda angers me, because I strongly believe that when someone dies they should leave is soul alone to rest in peace.) Even Natalya, an heel, would be cool for it. Making fun of them because they lowered themselves to the point of acting like children.
I was pleasantly surprised at there being no Michelle McCool on the mic this week for the first time in a while, nice to be able to watch the video without muting the volume for a change.
I’m still hoping that with Bret Hart around, they’re going to capitalise and do something, hell anything, with Natalya on SD, because this Mickie-Beth-Michelle stuff is boring me to tears at this point.
vonVile wrote:
“LayCool’s hoodies are awesome. Too bad they didn’t coordinate their ring outfit colors.
Now Michelle McCool is stealing AJ Styles’s attire.”
Or Michelle McCool is doing a tribute to TAZ or Kenta Kobashi…you know…the 2 guys that obviously “inspired” AJ Styles to wear that hood. Dont accuse people of stealing ideas unless you have extensive knowledge about wrestling’s history. (note: Taz’s hood was actually a towel, but he wore it like a hood when he made his entrance).
Man vickie has the most heel heat out of everyone in the WWE, Randy orton, jericho, and CM punk must be very jealous. I found it funny that the second michelle’s music hit, everyone who was booing became quiet lol
I’m not looking forward to Beth vs. Mickie 910299, this fued has nothing left, I say give Natayla a shot
to mikas: i totally agree with you just bc michelle and layla wear a hoodie does not mean she in stealing his ring attire. a lot of people have worn hoodies/jackets to the ring
‘Twas pretty cool seeing Michelle and Beth go at it. That’s just power vs power!
When it comes to the womens division, i always hope for a BRAND NEW CHAMPION because WWE always picks the same girls to be champion.
Babyfaces: Melina and Mickie are the ONLY faces that get to wear gold and i think thats not fair. I’m hoping they give Gail a shot already because she’s the NEW top babyface on Raw as seen because she’s advanced to the finals of the divas tournment
Heels: It’s either Michelle, Maryse, or Beth and lets be honest, no one wants to see any of these girls as champion. I would love for WWE to give Alicia or Natayla a shot
overall, I REALLY WANT A NEW CHAMPION to freshen things up
Regarding the Royal Rumble and Beth eliminating The Great Khali.It’s not how Beth did it ,It’s that Beth used her Brains and got the job done.That’s what counts .What ever get’s the job done that counts.And Beth on SmackDown Feb.5th she did an awesome job.Of mic work and tag-teaming with Mickie.Picking up the win no less and still letting Mickie know that Beth is after her title and can take it whenever she wants.I watched the Diva match on SD and liked it very much.I do agree redsoul that by Wrestlemania that Beth will have the title.Michelle just got done with a 6 month run and that is a very long time .And Beth left them all laid out not just mickie but michele and layla out-side the ring.As soon as Layla was in the ring she was being pined for the count of 3.That gave Beth and Mickie the win.And Beth is just letting them all know just what she’s after.She did a very good job of being a face last night.Can you just imagine how The Great Khali feels .The locker room must be really laughing at him he got elimianted by a Diva none the less in the Royal Rumble none the less.
“I found it funny that the second michelle’s music hit, everyone who was booing became quiet lol”
Which makes sense. Ask yourself WHY people are booing for Vickie. Because she made it clear that she doesnt like it, so whenever she yells “Excuse Me” the crowd automaticly starts booing. But why would they do the same to Michelle? She never indicated that she hates it. Add to that, that booing while the music plays and nobody will hear you is kinda a waste of time.
Mikas- Every heel wants heel heat and the reason the crowd boos at vickie because they don’t like her and they think she’s annoying. BUT SERIOUSLY, the heel heat vickie gets is beyond AMAZING, i don’t think ANY HEEL in the history of WWE has gotten this much heat
this whole piggy james storyline was to give michelle heel heat but it didn’t work because the crowd doesnt care about her
RKOyou.ir´s not need a new different person to fresh things up,changing a Divas´s character can be enough for that.and Beth is been need that change for quite a while and IMO she has what is needed to become a very good babyface.now if you don´t simply like Beth,that´s another question…..
i agree about Gail having a title reign,she has been deserving it and Vickie,no doubt,i can say she´s the person in all WWE that gets more heat,it´s really incredible.
I loved the women’s segment this week. Even though we’ve seen Mickie/Beth before I wouldn’t mind seeing them battle again. I thought the match was decent for the time givin and I enjoyed the action. I love how people keep trying to say Michelle is stealing AJ Styles style. I don’t think AJ invented the Styles Clash and i’m pretty sure he wasn’t the first to walk out with a hoodie. Wrestlers use moves others use all the time so i don’t know why people harp on michelle so much. And speaking of the hoodie I know i’m a guy but I want one of those hoodies lol.
Mikas wrote:
Which makes sense. Ask yourself WHY people are booing for Vickie. Because she made it clear that she doesnt like it, so whenever she yells “Excuse Me” the crowd automaticly starts booing. But why would they do the same to Michelle? She never indicated that she hates it. Add to that, that booing while the music plays and nobody will hear you is kinda a waste of time.
Quit making excuses for McCool. Getting any fan reaction means you’re doing a great job with your character. No fan reaction, like what McCool gets, means fans don’t give a **** to the point of not responding in any way whatsoever. There’s not even giving her X-Pac Heat. Any male wrestler getting McCool’s zero reaction would have been future endeavored a long time ago. The only reason she hasn’t is who she’s banging.
As for McCool and AJ Styles, when you take more than one aspect from a wrestler’s persona it equals gimmick infringement. The next thing you know she’ll be billed as “MC Styles”.
“Quit making excuses for McCool. Getting any fan reaction means you’re doing a great job with your character. No fan reaction, like what McCool gets, means fans don’t give a **** to the point of not responding in any way whatsoever. There’s not even giving her X-Pac Heat. Any male wrestler getting McCool’s zero reaction would have been future endeavored a long time ago. The only reason she hasn’t is who she’s banging.”
Not to mention they spent the last year trying to get Michelle over as a heel more than just about anyone in the company. In theory they SHOULD be booing her. But nope. Nada. Michelle kills the crowd as almost literally as you can legally get here in America. lol
Eh. Didn’t they did this thing last month? You know the “Beth strong, Mickie dumb, Layla gets pinned” formula?
And you what, this is just the Bella, Layla, Maryse, and Maria fan in me speaking, but every time I think one of my favorites had a good match, there is criticism about “how people have lowered their standards for the matches.” Well, why isn’t there criticism for the SD Divas’ recent promos/storylines? Just because they are FINALLY doing promos doesn’t make them any good. Just because there is FINALLY a reason for the same matches every week for a month doesn’t mean it is worth a damn.
I rather take Maryse’s ring psychology of “gettting her butt kicked because she her bark is bigger than her bark” or the Bellas gimmick of “using the fact that most people can’t tell them apart to help them win matches” over some HORRIBLE promos that people are just happy to have.[/rant]
This was somewhat okay compared to recent action.
@Mace, I agree with you that they have more segments than real, decent matches. They should at least give us some good matches along with the great storylines.
The segment was good, both divas gave off the sassy sarcasticness showing that they have no doubts about defeating each other. I feel that Vickie came out about a second early, just a bit. Laycool’s entrance reminded me of TBP on TNA, but I guess they were just sporting their jackets (Whateva !) The match was halfway descent, I feel we could’ve seen more wrestling from all four divas. The portion where Beth KO’d both McCool and James really showed that she was the dominant diva in WWE and would do anything for the limelight. Overall, it was good but I felt we could’ve gotten more !
As much as I love Mickie James I would not have been against Layla pinning her in this match. I think it would have helped Layla’s character, who hasn’t gotten a win on Smackdown in…well I’m not sure how long. Lol.
And yes I know this wasn’t really tallked about but I felt I needed to say it. I’d like to see Layla get a title shot against Mickie. I think it would be great! Maybe had a Number One Contenders match with Michelle, Beth, Natalya and Layal and Layla sneak out the win, kinda like what they did last Summer with Maryse and Kelly Kelly. Throw a curveball. Have Layla be built up by going over Maria and maybe even a ‘local jobber’ before facing off against Mickie James, like a month before Mania. Mickie wins, cleanly. Then have Michelle and Beth both request a shot a Mickie. Both get it, both lose then have an official number one contenders match between the two. Mickie interrupts and lays both of them out, setting the stage for a three way match on ‘The Grandest Stage of them All’. :) Thats how I’d book this three way feud anyway.