Raw Redux (January 28th, 2013): What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas (Phew)
What’s up Diva fans and welcome to this week’s Raw Redux. When asked to cover for Cryssi Monday night, she told me it was because she couldn’t even bring herself to re-watch the segment as it was that bad. In my palatic state after I had a few sociable drinks (a few too many), I agreed to recap the action. They say nothing good happens after 2am, and whoever ‘they’ are, they were right. The match that took place on the Raw Roulette edition of the show in good old Las Vegas saw WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn take on Tamina Snuka in a non-title match.
As the WWE was in Vegas, the theme of Las Vegas Showgirl was added to the match and yes, you know what that means – ridiculous costumes for the Divas. All the lumberjills wore outfits worse than Melina’s Big Bird/Pina Colada outfit (or whatever it was) from Summerslam that one year and luckily for Natalya, she wasn’t a part of the match. Unluckily for her, she was stuck next to Great Khali whilst he sang Shawn Michaels’ theme song on karaoke. On that tragic note, we’ll move swiftly on and jump right into the action!
The segment starts with AJ’s former entrance theme blasting through the speakers as all the lumberjills can be seen wearing their hideous beautiful outfits. Cameron looks completely unimpressed with having to wear what looks like Farmville encapsulated in an outfit and in times like these, I bet she does wish she actually worked for Wells Fargo! The Divas apparently aren’t worthy of entrances this week as Tamina and Kaitlyn are already in the ring, but it was nice to see that Kaitlyn got a bit of a pop from the crowd. However, after this match, I imagine all that momentum will be murdered.
The bell rings and the girls grapple with the champ getting the best of the exchange for a brief moment. Kaitlyn is forced to break the hold as Tamina is in the corner, but then as the Hybrid Diva takes her eyes off her opponent for just a second, Tamina strikes back with a stiff kick to the midsection and a strong right hand to the face. The self-proclaimed Chaotic Exotic then hoists Kaitlyn over her shoulder and proceeds to ram her into the turnbuckle before thrusting her down to the mat with a sick Ron Simmons style spinebuster – DAMN! Speaking of damn, even Tensai in a lingerie top didn’t look as bad as what some of the Divas have on. Ok I take that back. That gruesome sight of him will be burned into my retinas forever.
Anyway… Tamina continues her attack and kicks the Divas Champion in the gut before choking her with her foot. The Samoan Princess then stomps a mud hole in Kaitlyn (well actually it was more like a mud pinprick) before hitting a patented Snuka headbutt. Tamina then awkwardly stands there for a moment before applying a headlock to Kait. Kaitlyn tries to make a comeback but her foe thrashes her back to the mat and then follows that up with a kick – which sends Kaitlyn to the outside.
Aksana and Alicia Fox then attack the champion before Kaitlyn swats them off her and she takes Aksana’s hat off of her for good measure. Timing issues then ensue and there is another awkward moment but Kaitlyn tries to rectify the situation by walloping Tamina with Aksana’s headdress. My god, the pain of being hit by feathers must be so unbearable! The NXT Season 3 winner hits a shoulder tackle next before landing a series of shots to Tamina. The headdress comes into play again as Kaitlyn makes Tamina wear it before then knocking it off with a dropkick.
Then for absolutely no reason whatsoever, all the Divas get into the ring and break up Kaitlyn’s pin attempt and start going wild. Kaitlyn and Tamina manage to avoid all contact and are left staring each other down to end the segment. The end bell still hasn’t rang so as far as I’m concerned, this match could still be taking place right now.
Thoughts: Well Monday night’s segment was very bizarre and very pointless. The booking was pretty poor with having the Divas just rush in the ring for no reason at all and the outfits were also unnecessary. The match was sadly very boring and other than Tamina’s spinebuster, nothing stood out to me. The two competitors didn’t seem to have a lot of chemistry together and the fact the match was so short and still contained a rest hold was so ridiculous to me and it made the match even more dull. Sadly. not a good night for the Divas at all! And with that, stay tuned, Jack will be back!
: What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas (Phew)){kind=link}
wwestarlee
January 30, 2013 at 2:09 pm
This feud between kaitlyn/tamina is going to be soooo boring
Lanoom
January 30, 2013 at 2:27 pm
Which is sad, because Tamina and Kaitlyn (especially now that she’s come into her own, wrestling-wise) are the two most physically imposing and potentially hard-hitting women on the roster now that Beth is gone and Natalya is busy being Khali’s prop. They probably could put on a headline Divas match if given the chance.
It’s not even hard to book. Kaitlyn is the rookie upstart who won a semi-ridiculous challenge show, but proved herself by working hard in-ring, improving her abilities, and repeatedly coming at the former champion, herself a top vet, in order to win her title.
Tamina is the foul-tempered legacy child with wrestling in her veins and a massive chip on her shoulder. She wants the title to prove to everyone, including herself, that she is worthy of the family’s name in the business. She will not allow herself to be shown up by an outsider to the industry, and will ascend to take her rightful place at the top of the heap of unconscious bodies left in her wake.
Neither of these contrasting attitudes and histories will be put over by commentary (well, maybe JBL will do it, he’s a god), who will instead bicker amongst themselves, push John Cena and the Rock, and only turn their attention to the women in-ring when they’ve hit a lull spot or the women are in something ridiculous like a Vegas Showgirl Lumberjill match.
Aria--
January 30, 2013 at 2:41 pm
I just feel Tamina is uninteresting and not very charismatic, to put it kindly. The crowd has never reacted to her in whatever she has done — they didn’t even care when she attacked AJ or when she went over Natalya week after week and feuded with Beth. Kaitlyn would be far better off feuding with a heel Layla or Alicia Fox.
Aria--
January 30, 2013 at 2:45 pm
Granted it could just be the way WWE has used her, but I honestly can’t bring myself to care for Tamina.
wwestarlee
January 30, 2013 at 6:06 pm
What pisses me off is 1. Theres four shows which means that all divas could be used 2. There is no creative direction why hasnt tamina talked? Whats kaitlyns story .. I know she has improved but she definitely do need some more time in the ring @wwe honestly needs to figure out what they wanna do with the divas. I miss the trish and gail days everyone had something to do i feel
fahkyooh
January 31, 2013 at 12:45 am
Some people on this website are so delusional and blind that it’s actually funny to me. Just because someone has had a few matches in FCW or received a bit of training prior to getting on the main roster does not mean that they know what they are doing.
Lanoom how on earth is Tamina one of the hardest hitting women on the roster since Beth’s exit? Are you kidding me? She is so awkward, stiff, sloppy and slow in the ring. Even her presence and her stance is awkward. She has 3 moves and never has any idea on what the hell she is doing in the ring. Alicia Fox and Layla are way better, way more technical, know how to lock-up, sell, execute moves, etc. Tamina is absolutely nothing. She is one of the biggest upsets ever.
Kaitlyn has evolved a great deal, and unlike Tamina’s half-assed matches in FCW, Kaitlyn consistently delivered. She has come leaps and bounds has the requirements to pull off a great feud.
K2Evefan
January 30, 2013 at 6:50 pm
Tamina may be physically imposing but her wrestling is sub par at best. Kaitlyn is improving but she is still really green in the ring aswell so she doesnt have the experience or ability to carry a match. There is honestly nothing wwe can do to make them have a decent fued at this time because neither of them are good enough in the ring right now. Maybe once kaitlyn gets some more experience and can carry tamina then they can possiblt habr a good fued just not right now. I hope their fued doesnt last long otherwise all the steps forward with the divas division in the last few months will have been for nothing because everyone is going to lose interest in kaitlyn as champ.
Raekon
January 30, 2013 at 9:04 pm
@K2EVEFAN
This is the biggest bullshit I ever read to be honest.
None of them need to carry the other and they both have proved it in matches in which they had less restrictions in NXT and in houseshows.
Underrating them only because the WWE doesn’t invest in them once again is really not the way to go.
fahkyooh
January 31, 2013 at 12:49 am
Raekon, what on earth has Tamina proved in houseshows? You can LITERALLY see that the girl CANNOT wrestle just by her stance and ring movement. The way she executes and delivers moves. She CAN’T even do a proper lock up and she makes herself look weak when she’s a head taller than all the Diva’s. Tamina was never impressive and the match sucked because of her.
Throw Kaitlyn in the ring with AJ, Layla or Natalya and she delivers. Fact.
No one can put on a good match with Tamina. All her matches are boring and it takes her 1 minute to go and hit her splash.
art
January 31, 2013 at 5:35 am
Tamina at the houseshows does moves shes never done on the main rosters before her injury she was slamming beth & doing alot of other moves…..
also tamina has gotten a reaction when she was face the crowd got behind her & cheered may not have been at her entrance but she can get the crowd behind her…
Ryan
January 30, 2013 at 2:23 pm
OMG Michael Cole is so fucking gay lol only he would be noticing the feathers lol.. jBL owns this dumbass again.. Like old times :)
Nice match Kate was kicking ass but Tams was.. Not lol she kind of sucked here
And how Layla Aksana and Naomi looked really hot!! Haven’t seen a cat fight in a while lol
Good stuff B-)
Vegas strippers and somewhat good wrestling oh yeah
puppies
January 30, 2013 at 10:23 pm
A bit rich using “gay” as an insult when you’re on a blog for women’s wrestling, no? One called Diva-Dirt nonetheless.
Addy
January 30, 2013 at 11:11 pm
Post after post you make me rub my forehead in shame.
k2evecrew
January 30, 2013 at 2:31 pm
They need to let kaitlyn feud with Layla or Alicia her & Tamina just don’t have good matches with each other . I just wanna forget this night & move on to Smackdown
Raekon
January 30, 2013 at 2:43 pm
Are you sure?
- NXT November 2nd 2011: Kaitlyn Vs Tamina
- WWE NXT 5/30/12 Kaitlyn Vs Tamina Snuka
Both on youtube!
DIVASKO
January 30, 2013 at 3:30 pm
That match in 2012 is so booooring.
Raekon
January 30, 2013 at 9:05 pm
Tell that to the management that booked them that way. :p
It’s also a matter of taste.
DIVASKO
January 30, 2013 at 10:23 pm
Yes,the booked if that match is awfull the other match that they have is decent.
fahkyooh
January 31, 2013 at 12:52 am
They need to push Tamina to the side. Build Alicia Fox up as a heel, and have Tamina be her “bodyguard” and hit a super kick or a splash from time to time to save Alicia, since she’s only good for her finishers anyway.
It’s time to bring real women’s wrestling back. Kaitlyn and Alicia Fox could pull off some great matches.
eyecon
January 30, 2013 at 2:45 pm
If I’m not mistaken it was A.Fox and Aksana who attacked Kaitlyn not Rosa. Layla looked HOT!!!!!!!!!! in her outfit so that was a high light for me. but if there going to continue with this feud the writers needs to stop getting high and put these girls in a real situation
Raekon
January 30, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Correction Jack:
- Alicia Fox and Aksana attacked Kaitlyn and kept attacking till Kaitlyn fought Aksana back and got her headgear off. ;)
Rosa was involved only very slightly before she went back.
All in all the booking was a huge joke and the whole roulette thing shouldn’t have all this horrible stuff on it like the lingerie, “make me laugh” and other crap they added just to buy time and make people make fools of themselves for no good reason at all.
The good thing was that Tamina and Kaitlyn appeared in their gear and that they fought normaly for a bit.
It seems that the managements dream were to mainly see a catfight between showgirls (or divas in such gear for that matter) and placed Kaitlyn and Tamina in there only so they can excuse the whole thing as a match that turned bad.
I just hope they will finally start doing some build up there starting this friday or Kaitlyns reign will become the same as Laylas which was filled with random matches and appearances here and there from time to time till she lost the title.
Jack
January 30, 2013 at 4:15 pm
Thanks for noticing that, I changed the line!
redsandman99
January 30, 2013 at 5:40 pm
If they actually tried and still wanted to do Kaitlyn vs Tamina for Elimination Chamber (and since it don’t seem like there’s anything Friday unless they add in a segment), I say push it hard come Monday. They have two Raws and two Smackdowns between now and the ppv.
wl75
January 30, 2013 at 3:10 pm
The less said about the match the better- they could have just had a showgirl costume contest and it would have had the same result (which I think was supposed to be the original plan since Kaitlyn and Tamina were supposed to have a match during the PPV Sunday, but it got cut for time- so they shoehorned the two of them into this). Though the WTF looks on Kaitlyn and Tamina’s faces as the match broke down were funny…
If they want to mix things up, do something between Aksana and Layla- they’ve been getting into it on Tout the last few weeks since they’ve been doing house shows together (which has been funny- fights in the snow, water throwing, putting makeup on sleeping people, etc.)
Wolverine
January 30, 2013 at 3:14 pm
Hmmmm so I guess with the Rock and others pulling in ratings, they felt they didnt have time for the divas. Shame…. Maybe the divas segments drew more ratings than the Rock/Punk/Cena/Shield/Vince/Paul/Lesnar segments
shameronstar
January 30, 2013 at 3:25 pm
This episode surprisingly drew high ratings considering the 2nd block was disturbingly bad!
Crazy_J
January 30, 2013 at 9:49 pm
The ratings were probably due to Lesnar returning, which I don’t get at all.. who actually likes him? Heel or face, I can’t stand him. Make it go away. lol
redsandman99
January 31, 2013 at 3:47 pm
Lesnar wasn’t advertised and didn’t even show up until the last few minutes so I highly doubt they were just because of him. Rock being champ probably attracted the more “casual” viewers.
shameronstar
January 30, 2013 at 3:21 pm
The title for this redux is perfect because this segment really was a nightmare. I mean Tamina and Kaitlyn seemed lost and disappointed at the same time, Alicia went bi-polar again and crazy, Rosa was being Rosa, and overall it didn’t help or entertain anyone. Something drastic needs to occur very soon because the division never looked worse than it did this night:(
KaitlynLover<3
January 30, 2013 at 3:33 pm
The cat fight was so AWKWARD, it was a really WTF moment, like wtf was happening, everyone seemed lost, Kaitlyn and Tamina seemed like WTF when that happened, while the other girls and the refs were going on in the ring, seriously, I hope I don´t have to watch something like this never EVER again!!
DIVASKO
January 30, 2013 at 3:35 pm
Michael Cole must be a sexist jerk, only gets serious when his friend John,Rock,Orton,,etc, is in the ring.The other acts like a jerk sometimes reluctantly.#WewantJR.
Melissa
January 30, 2013 at 4:14 pm
I was beyond embarrassed watching this. When that nasty bubble gum “diva song” started to play as they were brawling… sorry… catfighting in the ring, I had no choice but to turn off my TV and jump into volcano.
hellaciousheart
January 30, 2013 at 4:25 pm
*yawn* hala at me when kaitlyns reign is over.
Hilden
January 30, 2013 at 4:31 pm
Off topic, but has someone seen aksanas and laylas Tout videos?
They are hilarious!
art
January 31, 2013 at 5:39 am
YES,they have been hilarious fighting in the snow…
charovnica
January 30, 2013 at 4:34 pm
Poor booking..this is the main problem.Unfortunately if this continues Kaitlyn’s reign will be just as boring as Layla’s and the divas will be again completely forgotten. Because of this Raw I kinda don’t want any of the NXT divas to debut…I’m afradi they’ll be put into the same damn horrible little matches that has no purpose.
French.One
January 30, 2013 at 4:39 pm
You know the diva division is so bad when they look ridiculous and you don’t even care about them.
I felt sad about Tensai and I don’t even like him, I just didn’t care about this stupid match.
perceval
January 30, 2013 at 10:00 pm
Well, there could be some silver lining, there, with the speculation than Tensai & Brodius will be a tag team. That could help them both, at this point.
That’d be a good omen for Naomi, too, considering that other Diva that valeted for a tag team with Tensai ended up doing pretty well.
thekluse
January 30, 2013 at 4:42 pm
Bad on all levels, but can the commentators do their bloody job for once and at least try to put over the action in the ring?
ZPZA
January 30, 2013 at 8:38 pm
These commentators sucks. The three of them together make my ears bleed.
fahkyooh
January 31, 2013 at 4:20 am
They need a SERIOUS talking to backstage. ESPECIALLY Michael Cole. He needs to be fired. You never EVER heard JR EVER say anything disrespectful during a Diva’s match, he even tried to put the botches over. These lesser losers are so unprofessional and need to checked by management.
Wolverine
January 30, 2013 at 4:45 pm
Everything was hard to watch
redsandman99
January 30, 2013 at 5:36 pm
Kaitlyn and Tamina have both done better. I don’t know why in the hell Tamina would grab a rest hold in such a short match. That needs to stop on all fronts if the match is short. The booking of the lumberjills was really poor and ended the match before it could maybe get into gear. At least the Khali segment after was worse than this…but I still say let’s forget it happened and hope for something halfway decent next week.
Andre
January 30, 2013 at 6:01 pm
I personally didn’t have a problem with the match or the Vegas showgirl gimmick, they were in Vegas after all. The only problem for me with the matchwas the ending and it’s awkward attempt to avert a potential wardrobe malfunction in the ring. It’s as if everyone panicked and told the divas to just do something to distract the audience. One thing that is apparent with the lack of depth on the roster you can expect diva matches and feuds like this where the wrestlers in the ring don’t quite gel yet and maybe won’t ever, because there aren’t many veteran divas who can carry, call matches and coach the less experienced ones towards having a real outstanding contest. They’re making it up as they go along, trying to figure things out. Chris Jericho has spoken of this many times recently as to the Superstars and the same can be said of the divas, When there isn’t a veteran presence to ask for advice, bounce ideas off of or pick their brain for insight as wrestling knowledge the product suffers.
shameronstar
January 30, 2013 at 6:08 pm
If that’s the case Natalya should get used in the title picture, Sara Del Rey should be used in the title picture, and maybe wwe might what to consider either bringing back Melina or signing Angelina Love!
Andre
January 30, 2013 at 7:31 pm
I don’t disagree with you at all, but we all know that Vince “knows” better than us fans what we want see. He was a visionary in his day for sure but now he’s just woefully out of touch with today’s audience. As long as he’s in control of WWE nothing will change.
Raekon
January 30, 2013 at 9:15 pm
What they need are not the so called veterans, what they need is less restrictions and better booking like in this match:
- NXT November 2nd 2011: Kaitlyn Vs Tamina
Check in on youtube and you’ll see what I mean.
They put up great matches in houseshows recently aswell but unfortunately it’s not used on tv at all.
Instead they are coming up with such ridicoulos things and put the divas back to the backburner after the division just started picking up through the feud between eve, layla and kaitlyn.
They already had an indication of layla wanting the title back through a segment, they announced tamina as the number one contender.
Did they do anything out of these things? Nope. :/
Andre
January 30, 2013 at 11:04 pm
I watched the match again that you suggested Raekon, and we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that aspect. It was decent enough but still nothing special in my opinion. You make very valid points about better, consistent booking, i feel that along with a stronger, more veteran locker room presence is the key. I don’t care how much talent one possesses without established leadership to show the ropes what good is it? In any sport or form of entertainment the business model is successful because there’s a balanced mix of hungry young talent eager to learn and seasoned veterans willing to teach so that a common goal is realized.
Raekon
January 31, 2013 at 6:59 am
For a divas match it was quite hard hitting and well placed.
It showed that these girls can work well and deliver a good match if they let them.
The houseshows they are currently working together shows that aswell since they are putting up 10 – 12 minutes matches that are hard hitting and good.
AJ, Kaitlyn, Naomi, Aksana, Rosa all put up good matches down in FCW that people loved, yet we barely see anything on the main roster.
Why? Because the booking immediately changes, the movesets are getting watered down more and the in ring time decreases and degrates aswell.
You don’t need one leader diva to tell everyone what to do, you need divas that can work together and all the girls that are currently on the main roster have proven that they can do that when they let them.
Nattie is experienced enough to give anyone a tip when its needed, Sara is currently their trainer and also experienced enough to help with anything.
So that’s not the point where the divas lack, it’s all the applied restrictions that put them down and the fact that according to many previous divas, none of them would speak up against an agent or management guy out of “respect” (rather fear for their job), so all they do is suck it up, go in the ring, do what was asked and leave again.
The most recent interview was Michelles when she talked about her and melina getting heat from the agents because they were too good when they werent allowed to be and how happy she was that jericho stood up for them cause they couldn’t say anything to the agent out of “respect”.
hellaciousheart
January 30, 2013 at 6:14 pm
i am with you on angelina love and melina.
Robert J.
January 30, 2013 at 6:24 pm
I agree with what most people say. The show-girl costumes were a bit too much. I felt they could have did a “Las Vegas Show-Girl Diva Battle Royal” to crown the number one contender. That obviously would’ve been Tamina. A battle royal would have been far more interesting than that train wreck. I mean, Tamnia wins the battle royal and the feud between her and Kaitlyn builds up to Elimination chamber where Kaitlyn would retain. It is so easy writing. When it comes to Divas winning the championship, they have a start-up feud nobody really cares about before entering a even bigger storyline. Seriously…WWE needs to start hiring fans to write!
Crazy_J
January 30, 2013 at 9:53 pm
We would probably end up fired because I know if I heard someone say “they can’t be better than the guys”, I would not stand for that shit. Vince would hate me as I went on tv shows to bash him.
Rhawk
January 30, 2013 at 6:32 pm
Didnt watch any of Monday Night Raw, and after seeing this, I wish I watched none of it. I wish I had my 4 minutes back, at least I could have done something more productive in that time.
theprincedann
January 30, 2013 at 6:39 pm
One good thing I noticed.
When all the Divas were doing their pointless bit in the ring, and Kaitlyn and Tamina were hiding behind the ringposts, when the camera does the shot of Tamina, I never realised until today, how attractive she really is. She has a gorgeous bone structure, and is really very pretty.
She has gone from what I considered personally as a really ugly woman, to one of the more beautiful girls on the roster.
shameronstar
January 30, 2013 at 6:48 pm
Tamina isn’t ugly, she just needs a fashion consultant!
KaitlynLover<3
January 30, 2013 at 6:51 pm
For a moment, when Tamina and Kaitlyn were staring each other, I thought they would attack every Diva in the ring, but that would be to good :S
lucky1now
January 30, 2013 at 7:00 pm
I was hoping that when all the girls got into the ring it was going to be a battle and the girl left standing in the ring will be kaitlyns challenger
Start forming something cause tamina was just thrown in there
I did think something was going to go down with layla ever since they had that segment where she held the belt dazed looking
Raekon
January 30, 2013 at 9:17 pm
So many opportunities through the segments we had and the backstories but they just don’t take advantage of any of them.
It’s just saddening and frustrating.
lucky1now
January 31, 2013 at 3:20 am
Its sad but true