Who has the upper hand when you pit Beth Phoenix versus Vickie Guerrero? Looks like we’re about to find out. The latest WWE Diva power struggle pits the unlikely ‘Diva’ Guerrero up against the Glamazon and despite their obvious mismatch in terms of wrestling ability, in all other aspects they’re pretty much tit-for-tat. In kayfabe, Guerrero is the authoratative consultant GM for the SmackDown brand — giving her the right to book matches, make decisions and even fire people. Meanwhile the Glamazon is a talent that colours outside of the lines and doesn’t necessarily care about authority. Is she really intimidated by Vickie?
Watch this week’s SmackDown segment below:
New Women’s Champ, Michelle McCool and Layla are backstage thanking Vickie for her help in winning her the belt last week against Mickie James. The duo present Vickie with a ‘Team Flawless’ top and make her a member of the group. However, up sneaks Beth Phoenix who tells Vickie she wants a shot at the title but Vickie says she’ll get a shot when Vickie says so. Power struggle ensues. Beth says Vickie shouldn’t cross her, Vickie says she’s not intimidated by Beth and that Beth shouldn’t cross her either.
Interesting development here. It seems as though Beth is slotting into that antagonistic role to Vickie that Mickie held until she went away to have her knee surgery. Honestly, I’d hope this will all result in Beth getting a title shot at WrestleMania in a few weeks but I’m not holding my breath. I think the set-up here is exciting as Beth, unlike Mickie, doesn’t come across as a goody-two-shoes type. Beth comes across as a character that marches to the beat of her own drum and doesn’t care about what the GM thinks and that contrasted with Vickie Guerrero should be great to see develop.
Honestly given that it was such a short segment, there’s not much more to analyse. Like I said, I’d like to see this lead to a match at ‘Mania though.
Also this week, Tiffany made her SmackDown debut:
So from ECW GM to backstage babysitter. Oh how the mighty fall! With Maria gone and Mickie sidelined, this effectively makes Tiffany the only babyface Diva on SmackDown right now. She wouldn’t have been my first choice to move over to the brand, I’d much rather see Savannah in this spot, but it looks like Tiff may be transitioning from an on-screen personality to a wrestler. I’ve not seen too much of her work so I’d have to see how she fares but I’m not too excited to see her in the ring and think she lacks the personality or spark of a Maria to single-handedly carry the babyface side of the division until Mickie returns and Beth makes her babyface turn.
It boggles me that much more then, that Maria was released when you know Mickie is about to go and have surgery. She’s a recognisable face and an extremely popular Diva, she could have had a couple of singles matches over the next few weeks to keep the Divas division going until Beth turned or Mickie came back.
I just don’t see Tiffany as a ‘Diva’ so it’s going to be interesting yet odd at the same time to see her teaming up with the likes of Beth or Mickie down the line.
This week’s show was pretty missable in my opinion. It just seems the division is in limbo and I could see them just relying on backstage segments for the next couple of weeks. They need an inciting incident to trigger Beth snapping and turning babyface fully, so I’d like to see that next week. Perhaps have Beth once again face off with Vickie backstage about a title shot and then Vickie puts her in some sort of gauntlet match to earn the opportunity. You could give her three opponents: Layla, Tiffany and finally Natalya with the idea that it’s all too much for one woman to face three opponents but somehow Beth overcomes the odds and Vickie must give her the title shot.
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35 Comments
While I would love to see the “gauntlet” theory in practice, I have to ask if you would REALLY consider either Layla pr Tiffany to be good enough to suffice as more than a warm up for Beth before facing Natalya? There just are not enough available Divas on SD for this idea to work…
Melanie Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Perhaps not to you, but anything is possible in a script and WWE has never been known for their logic.
This is exactly what Beth needs to breath some life into her character. She’s been going through the motions for so long, so its nice to finally see an encounter where she can’t just rely on bullying baby faces in the ring.
As for Tiffany, I wish my babysitter looked like that when I was a kid.
Rey’s daughter is so adorable. Mickie James’ current injury could be the perfect oppurtunity for Tiffany to prove herself, as she is the only completely face Diva on the roster right now. I’ve always liked her so I hope she does well.
It’s different to hear Michelle and Layla make nasty comments about Beth. I hope Beth finally turns officially face soon, she hasn’t been face in a very long time and it would freshen up the SmackDown ‘division’ (it’s not really a division, it’s always someone vs McCool, and probably always will be unitl McCool retires)
Uhm, this week’s SmackDown for the Divas was boring, yet interesting. Though Mickie may be out for a week or two, there are only three weeks/shows for SD before WrestleMania. Beth is still known as a heel to the fans and I don’t think three weeks is enough time to have her over with the crowd as a babyface. You know, I wouldn’t mind seeing Mickie & Beth vs. Michelle, Layla, & Vicki at WM at this point. Or as I said several times before, I’m really hope that WWE gives us that thriple threat between Mickie, Beth, & Michelle. Though I wouldn’t count on it. I would not be suprised if we got a Divas Raw vs. SD tag team match
i thought Tiffany was meant to have a match against someone, or was that just news from a house show?
i wonder where the ‘simply flawless’ angle is heading now, and i wonder if Beth will actually make the jump to the baby face roll now
I don’t know how to feel about this week’s segment. The whole Laycool thing is getting down right stupid and boring, but I love how they throw Beth into it. It’s seems like they are turning her face for real this time. I’m really hoping for Mickie to come back in time for WM26 so see can see Beth and Mickie vs Layla and Michelle.
Don’t be sad about Tiffany. Maryse started out on SD by saying hello in french and Mccool did Yoga or whatever it was sketches and both are champions today.
Besides, ECW was the minor league of the WWE, so the fact that Tiffany was GM there, kinda doesn’t matter. However I’m sure she’ll have good moments besides baby sitting Rey’s daughter, which is stupid as hell.
Well, now that I read my comment, it looks like I’m insulting Rey’s daughter. Sorry for that xD.
I meant to say that putting Tiff as a babysitter is stupid.
rey rey’s daughter is cute she kinda looks like a kid version of eve. we might be looking at a future wwe diva
I wonder if Tiff will come to Mysterios aid and eventually have a rivalry with the straight edge society
@ shokko22
That could be cool. Especially since we know she isn’t opposed to making a run in.
Serena vs. Tiffany maybe…..
I think the Divas will be heavily focused on Beth vs Vickie/Michelle and Layla on Smackdown so I don’t see Tiffany becoming a wrestler just yet. I find it more likely that she will be competing with Rey Mysterio in his feud with the straight edge society.. which would see the WWE wrestling debut of both Tiffany and Serena.
Mickie, in her contract still has a return match and WWE has not announced her injury.
everybody needs to bak off TIFFANY she a good a wrestler and she very HOT!!!
well at least, savannah already teamed up with mickie james at a house show and they defeated beth at layla. :)
What ever happened to the weekly Serena watch?
Anywho, I liked this week and not only because Beth was gorgeous. This week begs the all important question: can you push around the Glamazon?
I would love a Beth-Michelle title match at Mania (obviously), but the Beth/Mickie tag vs. Simply Flawless would be OK too….just please God no cross-brand tag team match or battle royal that means nothing in the end. Sure seems like we’re headed for a Vickie Glam Slam.
Well either we are going to get Beth/Mickie vs. Michelle/Layla Lumberjill Match or a Mickie vs. Michelle vs. Mickie Lumberjill Match. Either way we know it will end up with all the Divas Involved.
as mel said…maybe we wont see actual matches for a while but i really love this type of build they r doing…we didnt see that happen for awhile
beth vickie thigny sounds interesting…now vickie have to deal with an alternate personality diva so lets see wht we will get…
it´s more than obvious now that putting Beth against Vickie is the real sign for Beth´s face turn to rise up FINALLY!if done correctly it can be huge for Beth being sucessful in her new role because Vickie gets always enormous heat and Beth GS her would be epic.
i can see Vickie making Beth´s life very hard but Beth not backing up,not letting be intimidated.the gauntlet idea is possible.altough there isn´t enough credible Divas at this point on SD to face Beth,but with WWE everything is possible.
I am so over “Team LayCool” or “Simply Flawess” or whatever they’re called now. It has definitely run it’s course. Don’t get me wrong, Michelle is still my favorite diva but I think they’re using her character all wrong. She needs to go back to being that pyscho anti-heel of early 2009. There’s just something not quite right about two women in their thirties acting like a couple of mean high school girls. I know WWE caters to kids & all but to make your Women’s Champion act like a kid herself is plain stupidity. I believe both Beth & Michelle could do with a career rejuvenation and WM 26 would be just the place to do it. It would make their characters relevant again. Their matches a few weeks back in the brief Latin America tour arguably stole the show. If they got that kind of in-ring chemistry, they can put up possibly even better matches Michelle & Melina gave us last Summer. Well, that’s my 2 cents. :)
I love how divadirt says all these nice things about Maria now that she’s gone. WWE really was stupid to let someone go who had so much character & never even needed to try to win over the fans. Especially now that there’s no face divas left. (other than tiffany, who really doesn’t count)
BRING ANGELA FONG OUT, FOR GOD’S SAKE!!! First ever Queen of FCW!!! Been waiting forever!!!
I think we need to fast-forward to the trade to maybe even things out between the brands. (And put Michelle/Maryse back together, cuz they’re the best when they’re together.)
And YES! I totally agree with Chris! Michelle & Layla were funny at times, but seriously, just stop. I LOVED the scary heel Michelle that emerged just as she lost her divas title. She played it so well & it actually utilized her in-ring ability. Now she’s just another scared heel diva that runs from a fight.
Bring old Michelle back!!
It’s sad how they didn’t even acknowledge Maria’s release. The fans loved her and now they have to wonder why Maria is no longer on their screens. It’s just like releasing Batista and just not saying anything, Maria wasn’t a useless jobber, she had a large fanbase, as shouldn’t be ‘removed’ from our screens without some acknowledgement or recognition for what she’s done.
I liked the segment. Beth going after the women’s title should be a good thing. Still smackdown needs to bring some more women on cause right now there are no face divas.
I liked Maria, but c’mon now, Tiffany can’t be any worse. The girl needs a character anyway because right now she is just a less hot Kelly Kelly, so hopefully she gets utilized on Smackdown. I’m still holding out for the triple threat at Mania, I don’t see how they couldn’t do it with all this “buildup”, the Piggie James storyline, team Laycool is still together, Mickie’s rematch clause, and now Beth is back in the mix. I mean, they can’t just ignore all that and have some huge Divafest can they? There has to be somone in power in the WWE who still believes in the women!
ohh jesus Beth looks damn good on SmackDown! (:
i really hope she is next up for the title, then maybe
she and Natalya will finally have that epic feud!
unless the annual draft messes that up O_o
i love michelle, but dont want to see her or Mickie as
champion for at least the rest of the year. Beth > Natalya > Layla
i want them as champion, in that order!
(:
I agree with the above.
I think that Tiffany could maybe surprise us…I didn’t like her at first,buth then she did a good job as ECW GM so…She’s better than Maria in the ring,of course she’s not popular as her,but this could be a good start for Tiff…I hope they’re gonna put some effort in building hers and Savannah’s characters because this is what they need:personality!
*coninues….To overcome the current Divas…And for They I mean all the “new entries” in this buisness…
i actually started smiling during the vickie-beth segment, with excitement LOL. The perfect scenerio now is; having Michelle & Layla antogonize Beth, thinking they can’t be touched because of Vickie’s status, then have Mickie have an epic return laying out Vickie, Michelle, & Layla in a few weeks. Which would lead to the Triple Threat Match @ WM26 that everyone’s been hoping for since October-November really. Even though the booking has been wishy washy, the storyline has been somewhat consistant, they really need a big pay off for these 3. (If it does happen, I REALLY want Beth to win.)
Amen Mark, amen.
ugh smackdown is becoming raw when it comes to divas seriously they have alot of talent in the smackdown roster as far as the divas come. Beth vs Mickie we all know are good, Michelle vs Mickie are good and can be better, Nattie vs Michelle are good and we know serena is good so the talent is there. in my eyes i wanna see Beth vs Michelle at Mania…and as far as Vickie god i dont like her one bit..