WWE Superstars Redux (July 8th, 2010): Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

On WWE Superstars, we were treated to Divas starting the show and ending the show. First match we saw Gail Kim teaming with Yoshi Tatsu to take on Jillian and Primo. But what of the feud between Jillian and the Bella Twins?

As Superstars begins, we hear “You can look but you can’t touch” blare over the loudspeakers. Out come Nikki and Brie Bella – in matching referee outfits! The announcer tells us that the Twins are our special guest referees for the following match. You can guess hijinks are about to ensue. Out first is Primo and Jillian, and our Songstress does not look happy to see who the referees are. Jillian’s sporting a nice sky blue outfit tonight. Out next is Yoshi and Gail Kim, who’s looking good in yellow tonight. We hear Michael Cole explain that one Bella will be inside the ring and one will be on the outside. But neither him nor Lawler can tell who’s inside the ring at the moment… and neither can I.

Gail and Jillian start things off. They lock up and Gail has Jillian by the arm but not for long – Jillian simply SHOVES Gail down with a hand to Gail’s face. Jillybean’s temper is flaring already! Picking her up via the hair, Jillian takes the moment to jaw at Bella Ref #1, before throwing Gail back down using her hair. She goes for the cover but only gets one. Disgust is all over the blonde’s face – she clearly should’ve gotten the win right there!

Picking her up once again using the hair (Bella Ref #1 repeatedly warning Jillian about abuse of hair), Jillian snaps Gail down to the mat and follows up with a stiff kick to the back. Whipping Gail off the ropes, Jillian is met with a kick to the head, followed up with a clothesline that sends both women to the mat. Jillian crawls over to Primo and tags out. According to mixed tag rules, Yoshi comes in automatically but not before Primo eyes Gail with a rather unpleasant grin. She rolls to the side as Yoshi comes in.

We see action between the two guys (which is actually pretty good, but thats not what this redux is focused on), before the next Diva involvement which comes as Jillian grabs Yoshi’s leg to trip him up. On the side of the screen however, we see Gail climbing the turnbuckle. Primo turns around in time to be met with a flying hurricarana – very nice! The women return to their respective corners and I hear Lawler comment about liking a “lenient referee – and a lenient Bella.” Gross. I immediately tune Tweedledee and Tweedlesexualhurassment out again. At some point, Primo covers for a two count and we hear Jillian exclaim, “Thats the slowest count I’ve ever seen!” She has a point…

My attention perks up when Primo tags in Jillian, who tries to keep Yoshi from making a tag but to no avail. Gail climbs the turnbuckle and hits Jillian with a crossbody. She rolls away and gets to her feet to hit the blonde Siren with a clothesline, followed up with a nice dropkick. Gail Kim is on fire! Jillian struggles over to a corner where she’s hit by a bodyblock. Kim slips through the ropes, trying to stir the crowd as Jillian tries to regain her breath. Gail’s up on the turnbuckle but Jillian nails her with a forearm. Hall climbs up, angling for a superplex but Kim hits her with a few forearms of her own. They jockey for position, Gail finally flipping over and trying for either a powerbomb or a schoolgirl. Jilly holds onto the ropes and starts hitting Gail in the head with her fists. The blonde jumps off the ropes after being admonished by Bella Ref #1 – only to be met with a hard clothesline by Kim which takes them both down!

For some reason, Yoshi and Primo enter the ring, Primo being hit by a flying kick that sends him out of the ring. As Yoshi looks on, Jillian creeps up behind and tries to lock in a sleeper hold! Bella Ref #1 actually grabs Jillian by the waist and pulls her off! Some aggressive refereeing going on here. The two have words before Jillian’s had enough – she nails Bella Ref #1 with a fist, sending her to the mat. This brings in Bella Ref #2 who’s clobbered with a forearm. The Pop Princess has had quite enough of these two! But while she’s focused on the Twin referees, Gail has recovered enough to roll up Jillian – and Bella Ref #1 counts 3 in the quickest fashion I’ve ever seen! Jillian is utterly horrified that for the third week in a row, the Twins have gotten the best of her! Poor Jillybean…

Our women’s action isn’t over yet, however. In the main event, we get another tag team match. This time it’s Kelly Kelly & Tiffany taking on LayCool. Will the Number One Contender and her BFF overcome the solid duo of Michelle McCool and Layla? Lets find out..

Out first are the self professed co-Women’s Champions, Michelle and Layla. Layla is sporting her pink ensemble while Michelle has gone for her ocean blue outfit. Both ladies look dazzling (as always). We cut to a commercial, and when we return, LayCool are bouncing in the ring, looking as if they hadn’t had a care in the world. We should all be so carefree as these two! Out come Kelly Kelly and Tiffany with a semi-synchronized entrance of their own. Tiffany is in her usual skirt & shirt outfit, light blue. K2 has a darker blue, almost violet, shorts & top on…and the top looks like its about to overflow, if you know what I mean. Maybe I’ve missed it before, but I notice she’s finally invested in some good wrestling boots. Excellent – wrestling is sneakers is really not a good idea.

LayCool is mocking them relentlessly as the blonde duo enter the ring. Starting out will be Michelle vs Tiffany, McCool mocking the skirt Tiffany’s sporting. Tiff just smiles as the two lock up. McCool backs Tiffany into the corner but Tiff reverses, holding her in until the referee starts counting. Tiffany releases the hold and gets a slap for her trouble. Michelle prances around for a moment but Tiffany’s on the attack again, getting her in a waist lock that turns into a headlock, which turns into an armbar. Nice! Michelle has to yank on Tiffany’s hair to release the hold and she immediately grabs the former ECW GM’s arm. McCool turns to whip her into the ropes but instead she’s pulled into a hard elbow that sends her to her knees. The co-Women’s Champion gets up only to turn into a drop toe hold. As she gets to her feet, Tiffany plants her with an atomic drop. Tiffany’s on quite the aggressive streak and I love it!

Tiffany follows up with two forearms before whipping Michelle into a corner. She charges, climbing onto McCool and getting a monkey flip. (I really hate that move.) Tiffany’s up and nails Michelle with a hard clothesline. Going for a cover but she only gets a one count. They’re up and Tiffany forces McCool into her corner where she tags in Kelly. A quick look at Layla shows her disbelief that her partner’s being so manhandled! Kelly climbs up onto the turnbuckle and flips over Michelle, rolling her up into a cover but only gets a two count.

Both women are up and Michelle hits K2 with a kick to the mid-section. As Kelly doubles over, McCool nails her back with a forarm, sending Kelly to the mat. Gathering her up by the neck, Michelle simply hoists Kelly up by the waist, carrying her over to her corner. She tags in Layla, who hops on the bottom rope to shove Kelly in the face, sending her tumbling out of McCool’s arms. Layla climbs in and gets a kick to K2′s head. We hear her taunting “Smelly Kelly” but suddenly Kelly breaks Layla’s hold and tries to go for a kick. Layla grabs her foot but Kelly backflips out of Layla’s clutches and charges to hit a Lou Thez Press (shades of Mickie James here!). Showing some fire, she slams Layla’s head into the mat a few times before heeding the referee’s call to break it up. Layla gets up, screaming as she tries to tag in Michelle. Kelly’s having none of it, grabbing the brunette by her hair and simply dragging her backwards to her corner, where she slams Layla’s head into the turnbuckle. She tags in Tiffany, getting one last kick to Layla before exiting. I may be hard on Kelly but she showed quite a bit of fire in this exchange.

Tiffany grabs Layla by the hair and tosses her face first down to the mat. As Layla struggles to her feet, she’s met with a nice, hard dropkick that sends her back down. Trying to create some distance and catch her breath, Layla rolls to the outside. Tiffany’s right there though, getting in another mid-section kick and rolling her back into the ring. Tiffany climbs onto the ropes, presumably trying to get up on the turnbuckle but quick as a whip, Layla kicks out one of Tiffany’s legs. Tiff ends up flipping over the ropes, landing hard on her back in the ring. She’s holding her head and the referees asking if she’s okay. Layla roars, “Get away from her!” and goes on the attack, viciously slamming Tiffany’s head into the mat. Lay gets her up by the neck to her knees only to throw her face-first back down. Grabbing her again by the neck, Layla drags her over to her corner, tagging in Michelle.

Layla holds her as McCool gets a hard kick to Tiffany’s chest, sending her down to the mat once more. The crowd rallies behind Tiffany, trying to energize her but it’s to no avail as McCool gets in a forearm and a kick that sends Tiffany to the edge of the ring on her back. McCool lays in with hard and fast knee strikes to the stomach, waiting until the very last moment to break away. Michelle’s vicious streak is one of the reasons I love watching her matches. She gathers Tiffany up, taunting her by dragging her so close to Kelly, as if she was going to allow a tag. But quick as a flash, McCool nails Kelly with a forarm, sending her to the outside.

Kelly’s furious and as she climbs up onto the ropes, she has to be physically restrained by the referee from entering the ring. As he’s distracted, McCool sends Tiffany into her corner, to be held by Layla as she gets in a couple of fast kicks. Tag is made and Layla comes into the match. She chokes Tiffany for a moment before pulling her away from the corner a bit. Tiffany’s on her knees but as Layla goes for a forarm strike to the back, Tiffany scuttles between Layla’s legs, heading for Kelly. But Layla turns and makes a diving save, landing hard on Tiffany’s back. The two struggle, and as Layla gets Tiffany into a headlock, she kicks Kelly’s outstretched hand away. Kelly is MAD as hell but as she tries to get into the ring again, the referee is distracted enough for LayCool to take advantage. Michelle enters the ring and quickly throws Tiffany into their corner, then exits without the referee being the wiser.

Layla gets another kick in before tagging in Michelle. Nice tag work between these two. Michelle hits a European uppercut, then a hard elbow to the top of Tiffany’s head. Kelly’s trying to rally the crowd once more. McCool gets Tiffany up and holds her against the ropes to the five count. As she breaks off, Tiffany manages to stumble and crawl towards her corner in a desperate attempt to tag out. Michelle nails her in the mid-back as she’s within inches of tagging in Kelly. McCool drags her back closer to her own corner before hitting an elbow in Tiffany’s back. A tag brings in Layla and as McCool snapmares Tiffany down, Tiff lands on her side, and Layla nails her with a beautiful low dropkick to the back. Tiffany’s taking quite a beating but she’s not giving up! A cover gets only one.

Dragging her back to her corner, Layla hits a stiff clothesline, sending Tiffany again to her back and drawing a response from the crowd. LayCool’s getting quite a bit of heat for their offense on the poor blonde. Layla circles Tiffany, taunting her, before going for a legdrop. But no one’s there! Tiffany rolls away and crawls to her corner and makes a diving tag, bringing in a fresh Kelly! She hits two clotheslines on Layla before darting over and nailing Michelle with a forarm! She goes to whip Layla into the ropes but Layla reverses, sending Kelly off the ropes. K2 jumps, hitting a nice sunset flip into a cover but it’s good for two. A kick to Layla’s stomach sets her up for the X-Factor, but the resulting pin is only good for two again. Kelly shows her fustration and the crowd can’t believe it either.

A nice spin kick by Layla sends Kelly down. Gathering her up once more, Layla whips her into the corner, but she’s met by Kelly’s foot in her throat. She follows up with a fist to Layla’s jaw, sending her to the mat. Kelly circles warily, then tries to get momentum by running into the ropes. Unforunately her foot’s caught by McCool on the outside, but she kicks Michelle away back to the ground. Layla almost takes advantage but K2 dodges, getting a rollup on Layla. The referee’s counting two and McCool’s sliding into the ring but out of the corner of his eye, the ref sees Tiffany charging into the ring and stands up to hold her back. He (somehow) doesn’t see Michelle take advantage of this and nail Kelly with a stiff kick to the face. Tiffany reluctantly exits the ring, protesting furiously, but it doesn’t matter – Layla covers Kelly for the three count. A chorus of boos rains down on LayCool as their hands are raised in victory.

Definitely a good night for the Divas. A mixed tag match that furthered the feud between the Bellas and Jillian. A solid 6 – 7 minute tag match that gives LayCool a victory over Kelly Kelly. Gail and Jillian delivered as they usually do and having the Twins as special guest referees serves as a nice tweek in their feud. It leaves me wondering what measures Jillian’s going to have to take to get a win.

I was very impressed with Kelly/Tiffany vs LayCool, however. Layla and Michelle continue to show their dominance and viciousness as well as their solidarity as a team. I found out this week that Tiffany is a former powerlifter – impressive and very useful in the ring. She shows a lot of drive, stamina and power in her matches. If she keeps this up, I think her future is very promising. I know I’m usually hard on Kelly but this match was one of her best to date. She showed a fire and an aggression that I’ve not seen before. I believed she was fustrated when she wasn’t able to tag in; I believed she was legitimately furious with Layla and Michelle. Her emotion shined in this match. I give her major props for this. Hopefully the WWE allows her to express this emotion in promos and give us more of a feel for who she is. Tonight, Superstars belonged to the Divas – and they knocked it out of the park.

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Tags Brie Bella Gail Kim Jillian Kelly Kelly Layla Michelle McCool Nikki Bella Taryn Terrell