After last week’s Raw, all signs seemed to be pointing towards Eve Torres being the front runner for a title feud with Maryse, but a few inter-brand cameos may have just turned us in another direction. Is this a good direction or a bad one? Let’s watch this week’s action and judge for ourselves:
Kelly Kelly makes her way to the ring, followed by Maryse. Common sense indicates that this will be a squash match, but with how Maryse has been wrestling lately (that is, barely wrestling) it seems tough for them to pull off a real squash.
Before the match can begin, Maryse takes a moment to do her trademark pose, and Kelly climbs the turnbuckle to do one of her own. I have to say that it looked a little silly, but that’s only because Kelly’s never been the “sexpot” type, and even in her Extreme Expose days the girl seemed to lack that kind of overt sexiness. Anywho, Maryse attacks her while she has her back turned, and the match begins.
Kelly takes control rather quickly, going on an offensive streak that eventually degenerates into a catfight. The referee breaks it up and Kelly goes for a kick that Maryse blocks, flipping her backwards and back onto her feet. Kelly hits Maryse with a knee-level dropkick and then goes back to pounding Maryse’s head to the mat. This type of intensity from Kelly makes it seem like these two have had something building, even though they’ve only wrestled together a handful of times. I guess it’s just an easy way to fill up offense before Maryse eventually sneaks out the win, and that’s all there is to it.
Kelly hoists a leg onto the back of Maryse’s neck, hitting a bit of a modified version of the K2. She goes for the pin, and Maryse kicks out at 2. Both Divas get to their feet slowly, but before Kelly can grab a hold of Maryse, she gets pulled face-first into the turnbuckle. Maryse pulls Kelly up, hits the the French Kiss, and it’s all said and done. She pins Kelly for the win.
Maryse decides to beat down on Kelly a bit, but Gail Kim and Eve bust in and give Maryse a beating of her own. Gail hits a neckbreaker on Maryse and she and Eve tend to Kelly. Then, out of nowhere, Michelle McCool and Layla come running in, dressed like two Daisy Duke impersonators, and lay out Gail and Eve. They level everyone in sight and pose a bit for the crowd, heading up the ramp to meet with Vickie Guerrero, the woman who seems to have full control over Diva happenings, whether they take place on SmackDown, Raw, or Mars. Maryse joins them, looking to form a shaky alliance with Laycool and Guerrero.
The match, clocking in at exactly 1 minute, was ridiculously short, but served its purpose. It’s almost like the referee had a stopwatch and the girls were doing drills to see how fast they could go through the motions of a match. I hate to think that wrestling is secondary in importance to storyline development, but at this point it is. Maryse and Kelly likely don’t have it in them to put on a 5-star match together, so it was probably for the best that this match was limited. Still, it seems almost pointless to put on a match at all if it’s not going to break the 1 minute mark. Clearly, it was all used to introduce the Laycool/Maryse alliance, and Kelly was an easy babyface pawn to spare.
Now, this alliance (if it exists) will probably we based solely on heel status, because I’ve never pictured Maryse as someone who values teamwork. She’s always been a self-centered character, and a honest alliance with any other Diva would just seem phony. I’m sure this is all heading towards some big cross-brand match at WrestleMania, which could be quite interesting if played right. If they continue this on both shows, with the babyfaces and heels pairing up despite their brand constraints, it could make such a match feel important and worthy of a WrestleMania spot.
I feel a sense of dread when I think of how much of a clusterfuck it could be, given last year’s shenanigans, but I sincerely hope they keep the numbers relatively small. We don’t need an all-out war, just a battle. Still, I get the feeling that the WWE will shove any and as many Divas as they can into the match in order for them to get their WrestleMania payday, and they’ll take every babyface and heel they’ve got to fill up the ring apron at WrestleMania. If that’s the case, I hope they choose to keep the focus on certain Divas, making the feud at least a little compelling and not just some frantic Diva parade.
Either way, I’m just glad they seem to be taking things in a semi-interesting direction. They’ve been treading water for so long, it seems foreign for them to be planning for the future, storyline-wise. I’m not surprised in the least that the Raw writers feel that they need the SmackDown Divas to make things interesting on Monday nights–their lack of faith in the Divas of their own brand has been apparent for a while now. Let’s just see if the Raw girls get some Friday night exposure and then judge whether or not the SmackDown girls are the major leaguers and Raw are just in the minors.
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48 Comments
Does this mean that there is no Diva Match for Wrestlemania.. or are they gonna announce it on the Friday before Wrestlemania as they always do??
Vickie Michelle Layla and Maryse vs Beth Kelly Kelly Gail and Eve at Wrestlemania?
I thought these ladies did a good job with their match, i didnt like how maryse couldnt sell the orginal k2, she like turned when she was almost on the floor, it was bad. I think kelly should have won, cause maryse is annoying me with her wins, kelly hits her with a finisher, it doesnt work (when it normally does) then maryse gets up and hits the french kiss, why not have kelly kick out then maryse can do the tko, or whatever that kick is called :D
@AzureSkye
They never announced the wrestlemania match for divas the friday before. It was always announced weeks before.
i dont no why but i have a feeling that michelle and layla may be traded to raw at the draft because last year that little fued with melina and maryse ended up with them both switching brands with the title…………i hope not though :S
Also this will be two years in a row that maryse has entered wrestlemania with the divas title
Putting Maryse with Laycool is rather stupid, especially when said Maryse mocked Laycools childness and Smackdown a few weeks ago. Maybe they’ll end up beating Maryse as well, but for now there isn’t a lot of sense. I would have prefered a match where the next number one contender (Eve or whoever) prepared themselves and a sneak attack by Maryse. Them Laycool could appear and Maryse could side by them or whatever.
or maryse and michelle vs beth and???? and who ever wins gets titles like winner takes all
Sucky wrestling, but interesting storyline development. I agree with Erin; Maryse doesn’t seem like a ‘teamwork’ type of girl.
I hope we don’t end up getting some ridiculous 20 diva tag match. I’m still holding out for Beth vs Michelle, however I doubt that’s going to happen. I don’t know what’s going to happen at Wrestlemania for the divas :S
Another piss break match for the Divas at WM. Instead of giving us one good match between Beth and McCool we get some cross promotional tag nonsense. Vince never fails to disappoint.
(Reading vonVile’s comment…knodding head up and down in total agreement….)
well,the match(?!?!?!?!?!?!?) sucked big time and judging for what happened we will have an heels vs faces Divas match at WM(where as usually only three or four divas will really wrestle),instead of a match for both titles.
since Laycool was outhere,Beth could have make an appearance…
Well at least the divas were given 2 minutes more than the Knockouts got haha
cant wait for smackdown they always deliever
the way they keep involving the smackdown roster (well, mainly just mccool) in the raw stories, just goes to show even the raw writers could care less about the raw girls. why bother establishing eve or alicia or even the bellas when we can have girls on another brand show up?
i can’t believe people find this segment a success, it was completely random and i bet it’ll lead to a random pissbreak 6-diva tag match at wrestlemania. Michelle Layla maryse vs. Eve Gail Kelly(I have a feeling the titles won’t be on the line)
Gail Kim- OK there’s this woman who wins the WWE (WWF then) title her first night in the company and then never again; even though she is a goddamn pioneer of women’s wrestling- how weird! Can you believe her second stint in the WWE is already a year old? I am hoping someone can convince me otherwise, but I believe Vince will never put either woman’s title on her (again)-because one day she’ll be back in TNA. Remember her crying when she finally got a women’s division and won the title in TNA? It seems so long ago when she was calling out the WWE for pillow fights and now, she is wearing her jammies for Vince. I don’t begrudge her making $$$ and I’m sure she was underpaid in Orlando, it just sucks. She is so much better than everyone else in that WWE ring last night; only Michelle is in her league. I miss the old Gail TNA matches.
I’m glad she’ll at least be part of the WM cluster fuck. A little Kim is better than none. (sigh)
Gail was never in the company while it was the WWF. @steve jabroni
I won’t be surprised if they did a 6 woman tag match on WrestleMania with the remaining divas as lumberjills…
steve jabroni- Wrong, when Gail won the womens title it was WWE not WWF. WWF changed it’s name in 2002
i think Gail will be champion again(hopifully this year) because she’s already had 3 title shots since her return(interestingly all for the divas title) so thats a good sign. Also each time, she’s come so close and then barely gets beat. I think WWE is grooming Gail to be a future diva champion, maybe they want to test her loyality first, to see if she decides to run back to TNA at the first sign of things not going her way
vince wouldn’t have signed Gail if he wasn’t going to use her properly and so far, she’s been used okay. I mean she was put in the finals of the divas title tournment proving she is the best wrestler of the babyface divas left
I Really Dont Think That The SD Divas Are The Major Leaguers Because Raw Divas Are Always Better And Is Rare See A SD Diva Get Improve Without Being On Raw. Examples:
1.Beth Phoenix: She Starts On Raw And There Were The Place When She Become The Awesome Diva That She Is Now On SD.
2. Candice Michelle: The Former WWE Diva & Women’s Champion She Starts On SD And When She Was Moved To Raw She Got Experience And Becomes Champion.
3.Kelly Kelly: She Starts On ECW And She Didn’t Wrestle, She Only Do The Extreme Expose And Dance-Off But That Isn’t Bad Because She Work As Hard As The Others, She Improve And Practice Her Wrestling Moves As Hard As The Other. Thats Why I Say That She isnt More Or Less Than The Others For Been On EXtreme Expose, And She Is As Beth,Michelle,Mickie,Melina,Maryse And Others Wrestling Becuase She Have Defeeated Some Of Them In Single Or Tag Matches Or Winning By Her Team.
What Is Making RAW More Boring Than SD Because Of THE Creative Team Of RAW They’re Guilty For Making Worst Shows On RAW, Not The Divas And Even That RAW Had Good Matches But This 2 Or 3 Weeks The Ideas Wasn’t Good.
I’m done with the www divas Now…I can’t take the crappy booking the horrible matches …and the bland characters…just retire that damn division because it pretty clear wrestling skills isn’t as important as how hott you look…maybe my mind will change when the top faces (Mickie and Melina) return but I doubt it
Rkoyou the only reason Gail was in the finals was because they needed someone to carry maryse and make her look good…. but I hope your right And Gail does win the divas title
I wish the match could of at least been a bit longer, But at least the segment was good. Hopefully they will have a good follow up on this weeks SmackDown Taping.
I think it’s funny that they say Smackdown is the B show, when they have all the actual wrestling.
I liked this match, chaos and all, but it seems…odd that LayCool would go in to save the girl who badmouthed them on Raw just a few weeks ago. I want a Maryse/McCool alliance. They work well together.
I loved Maryse’s dance at the end at 6:00. I think Michelle’s beat got to her.
And I Hope That Kelly,Eve & Gail Take Revenge This Friday Night For What Michelle & Layla Did To They.
Is More Clearly That Wrestlemania Would Be
Beth Phoenix-Kelly Kelly-Gail Kim-Tiffany-Eve Torres
Vs
Michelle Mccool-Maryse-Layla And 2 More Divas.
Because Tiffany Debuted The Last Friday And Now Is Friend Of Beth And Both Have Rivalry With Team Lay-Cool And Yesterday Maryse Vs Kelly Include Eve Torres & Gail Kim The Three Of Them(Kelly,Gail & Eve) Were Attack By Michelle And Layla More Rivalry And Maryse Got Include After Getting Involved Attacking Kelly, The Most Possible Divas To Get That 2 Left Spots Are Alica Becuase She Is Michelle Friend And She Had Some Rivalries With Gail & Kelly. And The Other Diva
Probably Would Be Natalya Or Jillian Both Are Heels I Hope Natalya, Jillian Is A Good Wrestler But I Think Natalya Have So Much To Give To The Diva Roster But WWE Dont Appreciate Her Potential Like With Other Divas Like Jillian,Kelly,etc
Gail Kim will give the Diva’s some class if she’s at Wrestlemania.
The less Diva’s in the match the better.
I REALLY hope it’s Gail Kim and Beth Phoenix vs McCool and Maryse.
MY GOD, That would be a match!
Hopefully tonight at the tapings Gail turns up, because she was getting abused last night, McCool was directing her anger at Gail more than anyone.
Plus, Gail ONCE AGAIN used the ‘happy ending’ neckbreaker on Maryse, still BAD FEELINGS?
COME ON GAIL KIM!!!!
to me, the writing strategy seems a bit obvious. creative is desperate to keep interest in the divas’ brand going into WM XXVI, but it’s hard to set up anything for SD when they only have ONE babyface- tiffany. letting maria go and putting all their hopes on mickie [until the annual post- WM draft] was a stupid risk to take. and now mickie’s injured. and both brands have to cover the slack…
TorrieFan12
LOL your calling Kelly better than Beth and etc.? that makes me lol so loud.
wwe is scripted thats why she beaten others.
Kelly as good as Beth and etc.*
Juan- I know everyone thinks that but we don’t have any proof thats true. Who knows, maybe they chose Gail because they know she’s good and could use the rub, it’s not the first time she’s been pushed since her return
The reason Beth didn’t run in – because it was meant to be a sneak attack, a secret alliance between the heels of WWE. I’m confident that Beth will be getting involved with this at the taping tonight. I’m hoping for Maryse and Michelle vs Beth and Gail in a winners take all match with the other divas as lumberjills but I doubt that’ll happen. It’ll probably be Michelle, Maryse, Layla, Natalya, Jillian, Katie Lea and Alicia vs Beth, Tiffany, Brie, Nikki, Eve, Gail and Kelly.
The crowd was so dead in this segment, RAW is absolutely crap and the creative team really need to look at Smackdown properly and start making some changes otherwise TNA Knockouts are going to win the fans over.
thanks for the wwf/wwe correction and thanks for the gail can win the belt-hope
i though gail was in the wwf because her only wwe title felt like it was a million years ago
you know vince is pissed he put the belt on jeff hardy twice last year (albiet very briefly) and then sees him on tna, but come on wwe ,gail has been a good girl, I’ll even take Jillian-esque transition mini-reign
She did your stupid pillow fight, she’s put over 1/2 the divas- hell maryse has been on top of her so much i though they were dating
VINCE REWARD GAIL !
(or does he even care- do underlings just bring him stprylines and he thumbs up thumbs down them?)
I’m kinda excited to see where this will go because Maryse was just talkin crap about Laycool and then they come to save her. I’ve wanted to see Michelle and Maryse doin something together again because they have good chemistry with each other and Maryse was at her best when they were feuding. I agree Maryse wouldn’t team with them for the teamwork, she’d just do it for the popularity or the fact that she sees Michelle as a threat.
I’m glad to see at least they’re thinking of doing something good with Maryse instead of just continuing to have pointless matches and a pointless storyline until Melina comes back. And maybe, just maybe, since SD divas are involved it will actually be watchable. I see Laycool and Maryse vs Beth, Kelly, and Gail or Laycool, Maryse, and Vickie vs Beth, Kelly, Eve, and Gail…who knows though? We all figured out how they like to make us think one thing and do something totally the opposite…
They Might Not Announce A Match For Wm 26 But They Might Make A 6 Diva Tag Team Match BONUS like they always do.
and i rather have a 6 diva tag team match elimination then the last 2 on each team could be eve and maryse and build up the feud i rather see tht then michelle vs beth because thts not much of a wrestlemania match its mostly a smackdown match.
Ugh.
Adding Maryse as a temporary member of the faux Beautiful People makes sense, I guess, in a WWE Diva sucky kind of way. Clearly it’s a tag match at Wreslemania, and I assume Vickie and the girls attack Beth on Smackdown, with Kelly, Eve and Gail running in.
I’ve been a critic of McCool’s charisma, but respect her in-ring work, so I was surprisingly disappointed to see her clearly miss two moves in the attack. Her knee in the corner clearly missed Gail, and she had to stop and restart the kick to Eve. Off night for her.
I was hoping beth would make a apperance last night but i guess not…..
The Raw divas most likely wont make and appearanvr on SD 2nite! If they do its just gonna be a tag team match. Maybe Kelly , Eve and Gail vs Laycool and Mayrse! Lay-Cool wins. They beat them down Beth comes in clears the ring again ….
Really WWE this match did crap for me watching Kelly Kelly shake her butt on the turn buckle did look sillly. She is very Pretty don’t get me wrong but for some reason she does lack that dirty sexyness like Maryse she is like Innocent sexy so seeing her dance on the turnbuckle like that was kind of awkward. Anyway fast forwarding to the end of the match was real happy to see Gail get a huge pop from the crowd girl got some star power also really wasn’t exspectiong Laycool to come out just kind of ruind everything. Anyway thinking we will see a Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim, Eve Torress vs Mayse and Laycool. With Laycool getting the Victory @ Wrestlemania w/ the help of Vickie then as they continue there attack on the three faces we will see Beth phonix and Mickie James come out to save the day that sounds like an awsome idea….lol doubt it will happen but ya never no there is always time for wishful thinkinging!
Gail Kim and Christian both leaving WWE going to TNA coming Back To WWE both basically being back the same amount of time of 2009- 2010 and both being treated like Crap. These two are by far my favorite wrestlers but honestly Chrisitian wasn’t even seen on Raw last nite and for the past year held the ECW title which in my opinion is one above from the bottem of the Divas title. Even though WWE signs these Superstars to contracts them even being associated with TNA probably makes wwe execs head spin so they don’t get there respective push or deserved titles. It will be a long time before we see Gail Kim get pushed and get a title just being because her involvment with TNA, now it will prob be much worse since there old bosses TNA is going head to head with wwe inwhich they are Failing LOL.
Im Not Telling That Kelly Is better Or The Best Diva In The WWE But She Is As God As The Others Because Some People Judge Her In The Wrong Way Because She Made Part Of The Extreme Expose Becasue She Is Pretty And Gorgeous And Thats What Im Trying To Say Because Every Diva In The WWE Is Trying To Prove that They Aren’t Just Pretty Faces And Hot Bodies, They ‘re Trying to Prove That They Are Fighters And Warriors That Can Be Hot, That Can Be Intelligent, That can Be Sexy And powerfull.
Damn why did Melina and Mickie have to get injured around the same time if they weren’t injured then maybe we would have gotten a singles match from each brand
Juan, I’m not convinced that we would’ve.
Well at least we won’t have to have a Maryse vs Eve fued, so some (I’ll put it that way;) can quit whining and pretending the world’s gonna end, well then again, they did say ’2012, so meh, lmao
I’m so dissapointed in how this has developed, we’ve been getting excellent storyline and character progression over on the Smackdown! Brand these last few months with Lay-Cool, Vickie, Beth and Mickie James.. To completely ignore all that in favour of a cluster-fuck multi-diva tag team match at Wrestlemania which nobody is going to care about is an absolute joke. We have the opportunity to get a great, storyline driven match that the ‘WWE Universe’ is actually into but no, we’re going to get some sort of tag match or battle royal that’s going to generate zero reaction (nobody cares about these all-in Diva brawls and run-ins, the fans appreciate story and character development so they can actually CARE about the women involved.)
They could do so much with Beth & Michelle at Wrestlemania.. One instance is having Mickie James return in Beth’s corner to combat Vickie and Layla in Michelles corner.. Leading to an eventual Three-way dance between Mickie, Beth & Michelle later on down the road. Judging by the reaction the Smackdown segments involving the women have been garnering, i’d wager THIS is what people want to see. When are the WWE writers and bookers going to learn that simply nobody cares about x-Diva Tag Team matches with zero kind of storyline development?
I was a huge fan of the WWF/WWE Womens Divison from 1998 – 2006, and stopped watching for about 2-3 years, it was when I heard about the ‘Piggie-James’ angle that was getting so much attention I decided to tune back in.. And now with the involvement of Beth Phoenix, why throw away all of that history in favour of a Tag Team match that is quite frankly going to be a joke?
Honestly, this made me go “ugh, here we go”. The only reason they’re doing multi diva tag matches is so the women get the WM payoff and it makes me sad.
Take a look at WM21 (Correct me if I’m wrong there btw). Trish vs Mickie. It had a solid storyline behind it, it had a good build up and people were INTO IT.
Vince, PLEASE tell your creative team to stop worrying about the women’s bank balances and start worrying about what your fans want. We don’t want to see as many pairs of tits as possible, we want to see some form of CREDIBLE women’s storyline in that ring. Pro wrestling is as much about STORYTELLING as it is the wrestling moves.
I’m an efedder, I write a female character and christ even we can pull better shit out than what WWE is with RAW atm.
All together I think this would cleanly set up the following for Wrestlemania;
I Would Love to See; Gail Kim & Beth Phoenix vs. Michelle McCool & Maryse at Wrestlemania with The Womens and Divas Titles on the Line. A Winner Takes All Match, That Would be an Awesome sight, especially with Vickie Guerrero getting involved at Elimination Chamber PPV and Making it a Brand vs. Brand Match. So you could continue the Storyline with Vickie still unhappy with how the Raw Brand Divas have been talking about the Smackdown Divas and, maybe you could insert Vickie as Referee with a FACE Turn Mid Match, It Could spark a new era for the Womens Division post Wrestlemania. PLUS all the other Face/Heel Divas could be Lumbajills and surround the ring!!
But At The End of the Day with Beth Phoenix turning Face WWE Should go all out to aquire the services of Kia Stevens/Awesome Kong she would be Amazing in WWE and be their new Monster HEEL!! Glam Here up a bit or leave her as she is. It Truely would be Awesome!!!
guys….we r heading to WM!!
i think it’s funny how the raw divas are sooo bad that they need the sd divas to come and make things interesting! xD
noone wants to see maryse vs kelly kelly!
i hope it’s lay-cool/ maryse vs beth, tiffany and gail kim at mania
i hope micky james get her title back from michelle