Last night’s SummerSlam pay per view is in the history books and while Steven will be reviewing the Divas match at length later, I wanted to broach the subject of Lay-Cool vs Melina, which was teased to us at the end of the Divas Championship match. Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but last night’s attack on Melina at the hands of SmackDown’s mean girls opened up a world of opportunity and to me, was the Diva equivalent of the then-NXT season one rookies hitting the ring on Raw back in June, in that now infamous ‘Tiegate’ segment.
“Why was Lay-Cool there?” “Why did they attack Melina?” Those were just some of the questions that people were asking last night. Did it all make sense? No. But then again, did that NXT invasion all make sense that Monday night in June? Answers, I expect, will come tonight and in the coming weeks on Raw and SmackDown.
For what it was, however, last night’s angle was an explosive and exciting way to begin what seems like a new cross-promotional feud between the self-professed co-Women’s Champions and the new Divas Champion. WWE quite literally kicked things off with a bang, with Michelle McCool hitting that devastating running knee into a defenceless Melina, who was propped up against the announcers’ table. Kudos to all involved, because that had me — and I suspect many of you — anticipating what would happen next.
With Melina on Raw and Lay-Cool on SmackDown, many questioned the crossover between the two brands. “Why does Lay-Cool have to get involved with everything?” But in a way, disregarding the brand division, this is pretty perfect. Melina is easily the top babyface on the entire Divas roster right now, while Lay-Cool are easily the top heels. Putting the two together seems like the makings of a feud on par with Mickie vs Lay-Cool or Beth vs Lay-Cool — perhaps even better with the Divas Title involved.
Last year, Michelle and Melina delivered some great matches together on SmackDown, feuding over the Women’s Championship. Layla, too, had some great matches with Melina on Friday nights. But it was Melina vs McCool at last July’s Night of Champions pay per view that everyone still buzzes about to this day. I am certainly not against recapturing that chemistry. And now there’s an even more interesting dynamic with the whole Lay-Cool gimmick. Michelle, at the time of her feud with Melina, was more of a silent type while Layla was a secondary player. Yet while Melina’s been away, in the past 8 months, Layla and Michelle have adopted this new mean girls persona and really made their mark on the women’s division. All three Divas now seem to be on a more even level in terms of character. That could lead to some interesting promos, backstage segments and more.
But where is it all leading? The theories:
* Is Lay-Cool after the Divas Championship so both members have a belt? That could certainly be one idea. Perhaps the attack is to set up Cool against Melina so that Lay-Cool can hold all the gold.
* Title unification? This seems to be the go-to solution. The one that most fans flock to everytime there’s interaction between the Divas and Women’s Champions. Personally, I don’t see this happening but with Night of Champions next month, perhaps we’ll see Layla vs Melina?
* Winner Takes All? If Lay-Cool wants to hold all the gold, what if they put both belts on the line in a ‘Winner Take All’ tag match? Melina would need to find herself a partner and it seems WWE may have just the right girl for her. They are obviously very high on a certain Eve Torres. Working a big storyline with Melina and Lay-Cool could give her the rub she needs. Lay-Cool vs Melina & Eve for all the gold at Night of Champions?
Wherever they go with this, I think it’s exciting to see the heavy hitters from both brands collide. Last night’s angle was really well done. Granted, the last time I was excited coming out of a pay per view was when Alicia Fox won the Divas Title back in June. I was hopeful that Fox’s title reign would be just what Raw needed to bring some excitement back to the Divas division. The very next night, she was in a mixed tag match involving The Great Khali. Talk about a comedown from the optimism from the night before. It’s just as easy to think that after getting off on the right foot last night, WWE will go in a completely underwhelming direction with Melina and Lay-Cool tonight on Raw. But with Lay-Cool and Melina involved, this could be a bigger feud than the usual fare, in which case one would expect more focus and storylining for the Divas. If so, I’d chalk that up as a ‘win’.
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41 Comments
divadirt i see a title unification match lay cool crossing over to attack raw champion is a prelude to one single champ that will be melina
MAYBE, but like i said just MAYBE, even though i doubt it, but MAYBE the WWE is gonna allow anyone on any brand to win the title like they used to do when superstars/divas worked both shows RAW/SmackDown! but i doubt it. just putting it out there thogh (:
i don’t want them to unify the titles :/
it’ll probably just be a mini feud to keep Lay-cool busy wile they promote AJ Lee (seeing as that guy on SD’s debut is supposed to be why she hasn’t debuted yet, they want to promote her)
i luv the 1st and 3rd idea diva dirt.if they were to do the winner take all thing,i think that it’d be a good idea to have melina team up w/beth phoenix to take on laycool.i mean,beth phoenix should be returning to in-ring action soon anyways.plus,im pretty sure when she returns,she’s gonna be womens champion again after all.so if they had melina and beth vs laycool in a winner take all match and had melina and beth win,melina would retain the divas title and beth would win the womens championship.plus,teddy long would be ok with beth as champion since there will be ONE womens champion
how can there be a winner tag all tag match what will michelle and melina’s partner gain tht wont happen could u imagine eve womens champ never!!!!
if it is a winner take all match then they need 2 inclue melina partner quick
i dont think it will a unification match because layla is the champ yet it seems spotlight on michelle i think there gonna have the womens belt b defend on both brands so then lay-cool can have both belts with some1 from raw competing for the womens that would be better….
but i red somewhere that they gave melina the belt so she can fued with maryse and ted in mixed tag matchs with john
i hope not then michelle will have a title & i hate that layla has to share being the champion with michelle & its not giving layla the chance to be taken seriously as champ..
i dunno what there gonna do but its gonna have michelle beating everyone & layla jobbing & melina being cheated & with ring rust..
they’ll give mccool the divas title i think even thou no one cares bout her lol..id love it if she got traded to raw since its live lol,leave lay on smackdown & ur set….
It’s obvious that this will be some sort of title unification match b’cos the next PPV is night of champions/
hhmm i never thought about it like that but i would love to see a Lay-Cool vs Melina & a partner for all the gold that would give someone like Alicia or Eve a lot of exposure i just really dont wanna see the title being unified :/
the Divas Championship is only 2 years old.
& i’m gonna throw a contrevestial comment out there but i feel that the only reason that michelle has been in the spotlight is b’cos of her connections. *undertaker*cough.
Beth coming back to team with Melina?? I don’t think she’ll truly be ready anytime soon. (I tore my ACL so I know a bit) Anywho I’m looking forward to what they may have plan. There in a bit of a precarious situation and I’m giving them kudos for trying to create some sense of a story.
I’m going to repeat what I said in the other thread. This feud could be very, very good for the division. Last year, Melina and McCool had great matches, and like you said, that was without the Lay-Cool element. Give that feud a real storyline and it could be magic. Unlike Mickie, Melina has the potential to be *just* as bitchy and catty as McCool and Layla. I say incorporate some of that old bitchiness into her face character, and let them role. Melina’s not going to sit back and watch as Lay-Cool make fun of her and insult her; she’s going to bite back big-time.
And better yet, adding these elements to Melina’s character opens up the door to an eventual heel turn in the future, a turn that won’t come out of nowhere. Hopefully WWE will have found a good contender for a new top face by then, so that they won’t be so reliant on face Melina. Face Beth vs. Heel Melina, anyone?
Knowing WWE they have just got us all talking about ‘Unifications’ and nothing will come of it.
Knowing WWE Melina might not even get her own back.
REMEMBER when LayCool attacked Gail Kim and Eve? and Gail Kim and Eve had 0 payback? Well knowing WWE it’s just a ‘random attack’ a ‘welcome back’ present.
I probably wrong now, but that’s what usually happens.
Oh, and if they do aim for title unification, then let’s hope with all our hearts that the Diva’s Championship gets the act, as opposed to the Women’s title. I’m worried that the WWE will retire the wrong belt.
Night of Champions is approaching, so perhaps a “Were better than you” storyline is coming up =/.
I’m pushing for LayCool having both belts. I just think it’d be more interesting. They’re great as title holders with everyone else chasing them so why not make them the penultimate? Lol, that would make for some ‘Flawless’ TV and it would actually show that the WWE have serious faith in these two women.
It could have been a random attack as noted ealier, but I’m down for this rivalry to be reignited! I love the chemistry between Melina and LayCool, so I’m all for it. I agreeit could do some good things for the division. If they do well the ladies could be rewarded with more storylines and good build ups. I’m not for a unification bout though, I like them having two Womens Titles!! ;)
i hope this is a new feud cuz it can totally help the smackdown division to have a cross brand feud plus this could open up the way for another feud on raw if the title is tied up in the cross promotional feud
when it first happened, i thought survivor series was approaching.. then i remembered they cancelled it this year lol :(
i do get the feeling that there might be a trade coming soon, though. perhaps they’ll finally move michelle to raw and restructure the smackdown division?
smackdown, this time last year, was a gold mine for the divas. now it’s just really disappointing.
Yeah Im digging this so far. I can smell a champ vs champ unificiation match or a tag team match winner take all but Melina will need a partner maybe it will be AJ Lee if it happens and she may get the womens title from LayCool and Feud with them until Beth comes back but any feud involving Michelle vs Melina is guaranteed to be awesome and it is waay better than Eve ve Maryse or Eve vs Alicia for sure
@Kaledrina – I think I read that the Survivor Series was back on for atleast this year. They had removed it but now its back, well that’s the last I heard. I love the Survivor Series. I don’t see why they need to change it, I mean its not like they have it every month. Just my thoughts on it but whatever..
Can’t wait for Beth to return too. What better way to kick off Smackdown on Syfy than with a Glamazon?! I can’t think off any, unless its two Glamazons! =)
yeah survivor series is back this year
ok..if we take away the reason mccool is getting pushed to appear at everything…i think we will find it interesting
we really cant know what will happen next and we are waiting, which is a good thing
and we all know that wwe will come up with something we never thought about and it might be not as good as we want but still innovative and that is what we really need to see…SD! vs Raw was and will always be one of the best ideas for any storyline and like melanie said all three girls are capable of delivering a really interesting,watchable feud
i just watched last nite summerslam and i must say i think lay-cool are looking at having both belts because layla picked up the divas belt n looked at it then threw it in the ring so i think both belts can be defended on both brands
can this mean Natalya as Melinas partner??? hahaha im funny i know we all know the wwe doesnt care about their best girls but we can dream right hope yall right Beth comes back and gets the title then finally LayCool wont have all the titles and they wont be interrupting where they arent even invited and by that i mean ruin Melinas Celebration!!!
I’m done with this stupid diva’s divison.
Michelle is going to make more “history”
and Melina is still going to be in the
spotlight. Layla is just there to be there.
Thats why I wasn’t fan of the diva’s divison back in
2006-2008. I only really start watching them when Alicia came.
I doubt anything going to happen because Melina
would get hurt, again, right in the middle of the feud.
Also you don’t want to hear McCool’s voice
live. That whole segment were bad.
@TRISH@ i totally agree that’s what will happen it always does Michelle getting more belts and making history looks like bein married with the undertaker does help a lot
Well The Undertaker made his return and now McCool is more fierce than ever. Coincidene or Conspiracy? Ha, I think the former. McCool works hard. She’s not horrible, not even close. She’s become the girl to hate, which is a shame because she’s a talented worker. She’s bland but she’s not that bland. She can turn it up when she needs to. In all honesty, its not Michelle’s fault, its creative. And isn’t Stephanie McMahon a major influence over on Smackdown? I could be wrong but anyway, its not the performers faults.
I see them also having a promotional feud to promote SD’s move to SyFy. I’d like to see either the first or second idea happen.
I agree with everything that was said in the article. I think either they’ll be unified or a winner take all match. I think people were overreacting last night but I was thinking about all the possibilities that could come because of this. I agree Melina is overrated but she is great in the ring and so is Michelle and they have awesome chemistry so I can see why WWE would do this instead of lackluster title reigns from Eve or Alicia(i’m sorry, I don’t think it was that great) and do something else with them to help make them more over with the crowd. This has great potential and it beats another match with Laycool and Kelly.
@seasons-of-love
I’m going to repeat what I said in the other thread. This feud could be very, very good for the division. Last year, Melina and McCool had great matches, and like you said, that was without the Lay-Cool element.
You mean that series where Melina got buried by McCool to become the first Diva to be both Womens and Divas champion?
Like I stated in another thread the rumored match at NOC is currently Melina vs Layla in a title unification match. This most likely won’t happen, because Layla would get clobbered. It’ll be Melina vs McCool.
The plan I see happening is between now and NOC Teddy will force Layla and McCool to have a title match to see who is the sole owner of the belt, which McCool will win. McCool will then show her true colors to Layla by being the Gollum of Divas saying the title is “MINE! MINE! MINE!”
The only silver lining I see out of this is Lay-Cool breaking up at NOC with Layla turning face by causing McCool to lose. If this happens I’ll be happy as hell! :)
All ideas sound good to me.
Unless they merge the shows back together, I don’t want it unified.
I hate that that tag titles are unified because there’s soo many tag teams (well, there used to be before they broke all of them up) Now it’s just…..there.
i think their going 2 do a title unification match there goes the division and i hope lay-cool dont make history AGAIN they should have a handicap match and thet results in a lay vs cool feud
Considering Tiffanys Suspension and Rosa’s whatever, I believe the title unifaction.
People are actually excited for this shit? Enjoy it. I won’t. Same damn storyline involving the same damn people.
Of course some people love it though because it involves two of the most overrated divas in history behind Trish.
i think it’ll end up being
melina & kelly vs laycool for the tittles. >.>
Were ever WWE are going with this its going to end up being really bad. Couldnt they have waited until after NOC to start the feud and end up being a match at SS like beth & melina team vs layla & michelle team but no they have to start it 2 months earlier, they could of had an eve, alicia and melina feud with a match at NOC.
@mikechrish alicia fox isnt as good as u think she is she inly has like 5 moves and shes not that good at all lok at melina she hastons of moves
I rather go with winner takes all.
Gail & Melina vs Michelle & Layla with gail&melina winning and gail getting drafted to smackdown to take mickie james’s place please WWE do it and a unification would be horrible no diva deserves it except for beth. Also it’s to early for the divas championship cant they wait 3-4 more years.
@melina prez
Alicia has been wrestling since 06 and melina since 03-04 you have to give alicia time and alicia was way better than melina was in the beginning of her career and actually im guessing but you’ve never seen her OVW & FCW days she was the star of the show go look up her matches on youtube, way better than melina was in her trainging facilities, for everyone they seem alicia as a bad wrestler that is what RAW does to you same goes with eve, gail and bellas. Even kellykelly is improving on smackdown and alicia doesnt do basic moves if you want basic moves call kellykelly.
@mikechrish
I agree with everything you say as i am a big true alicia fox fan she is #1.