On this day in history:
February 22nd, 2010 | After an untimely injury forced Divas Champion Melina to vacate the title, a tournament was held to crown the new champion. In the finals of this tourny, it came down to Gail Kim and Maryse. After planting Gail with a DDT, Maryse won the match and became the first 2-time Divas Champion. She wasn’t destined to match her previous stint as champ, though, which set the record for the title’s longest reign at 216 days long.
What are your memories of this moment? Tell us in the comments!
33 Comments
at
It was a good match, but I think Gail Kim deserved The Divas Title too! I think it’s sad that she didn’t get the Divas Championship!
Jcott3 Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at
I thought for sure Gail was going to get the title in this match. Nothing against Maryse, but Gail really deserved it more.
at
I remember the finish and How Maryse pinned Gail Kim and then on Pro Wrestling Rewind, Host Andy Knowles losing his mind over the finish and Maryse grabbing hold of the hair in the Pin and the Ref not catching it. Opens the show with “I am Livid, the dogs and cats are living together, the moon has turned red, the Armageddon is upon us…”
at
This was the one time when I thought maybe wwe is actually going to put that title on gail…
haha no.
at
Gail: one of the best technical female wrestlers of all time
Maryse: one of the most charismatic divas of all time
Pretty great match.
at
i was ready for gail to get the title i really thought that was the time but didnt happen
at
Pretty good for a maryse match, not a fan of her wrestling but do love the woman!
And man Gail Kim loosin to Velvet Sky is NOT as bad as Gail jobbing to Maryse lol
Gail-Trish-Brooke Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at
I think it’s 100x worse. Maryse had been wrestling for maybe 3 years here? Velvet has been working for like 10 and still can’t put on a decent match.
at
Gail’s one actual push of sorts. Too bad they didn’t just give it to her. That title run was just horrendous (ie. typical), it wouldn’t have been any skin off their asses.
at
I remember this
I love both ladies & I would’ve been happy with either of them winning. They could’ve given Gail the title though & it would’ve made sense. She could’ve been one of the only women wrestlers along side Mickey to hold the women’s belt, divas belt, & knockouts belt. But for some reason they wanted to hold her back. I’m happy she’s back in tna . I wonder if they’ll have someone finally beat Maryse’s title reign .
puppies Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at
They eventually will, they were heading that way with Eve about to beat her in combined days (I believe, had things gone as planned, Eve would’ve had a couple weeks over Maryse).
at
poor gail i always felt that wwe just never knew what to do with her & losing to maryse on top of that is bad..
AJFan95 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at
Not really. Maryse was champion, so why have Gail go over in a title match? lol. Also, I was thought Gail thought she was much better than she actually was, she’s a great wrestler, but that’s it. She viewed herself as a greater aspect than she actually was.
charovnica Reply:
February 24th, 2013 at
Sometimes the character beats the wrestling. Gail is amazing athlete,but imo she misses some fire and she can’t really translate her character as well on TV.Maryse wasn’t as great as Gail in the ring,but had a different and successful character.This is entertainment,character is just as important as in ring ability.And Maryse isn’t all that bad,she can go at it when she has a reliable opponent like Gail.
at
Lol!
Gail carrying the whole match so Maryse can use her two moves and win. :p
At least the few counters worked quite well but Gail had deserved the title run more in my opinion.
at
I remember back when this was happening, everyone was saying how this was the most predictable tournament ever lol.
at
i love gail and maryse. i just can’t say anything terrible about this match.
at
I remember feeling like WWE stretched this tournament out. It seemed obvious to everyone that Maryse was going to get it fromt he word go (since she was the one feuding with Melina when she went down with injury). One of Maryse’s decent post knee injury matches.
at
This was probably the most predictable tournament ever lol I already knew who was going to beat who and who was going to be on the finals, but I was not shore who would win!
at
Lol I remember this, during this time they kept saying that gail was a “two time” womens champ. As if we were that stupid to forget that gail only won the title once.
aldo Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at
I never understood why WWE never gave the women’s title to Gail in her second run with the company. Ok, you don’t want to make her one of the women to hold both titles, but at least give her the women’s title again! She would have had great feuds around the women’s title with Michelle Mccool, Mickie, Beth, Melina or Natalya
TibarnEl Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at
Back in Smackdown of ’09, it looked like Melina would feud with McCool until she lost the title, and then Gail would be next in line, but Gail got moved to Raw for god knows why and the feud with Melina continued months longer than it probably should have.
at
I love them both. Maryse gets too much hate. She’s not the best, but she still managed to do alot of interesting moves that you didn’t see from the “model” type Divas.
Gail should of gone over here though. I still dream of what could of been with a feud between her and Beth Phoenix. Beth and Gail could of done the “underdog” storyline SO much better than Kelly did.
I still say the only reason they brought Gail back to WWE in the first place was to try and screw over the Knockouts division.
aldo Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at
“I still say the only reason they brought Gail back to WWE in the first place was to try and screw over the Knockouts division.” – Yeah, like: “Hey people, here is the first ever knockouts champion, she doesn’t look that impresive right? Just imagine the rest of their division.”
Gail-Trish-Brooke Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at
Are you stupid? How does that have anything to do with what I said?
Ace Of Base Reply:
February 25th, 2013 at
It could be a reason, I mean we’re talking about Vince and the business of pro wrestling where they do shit like that out of spite. I don’t agree that it is the only reason, but it could’ve been a contributing factor. We know Vince has a huge ego.
at
I thought there was more to this than everybody thought. All Maryse had done prior to this match since her return was hit a lucky counter and then the French Kiss, and she tried doing that three times here.
And after that, Maryse lost to Eve, who lost to Alicia, two very plain title runs. I truly think they should have kept it on Maryse instead and she could have feuded longer with Gail and Eve until Melina returned and revealed Maryse as the girl who injured her and their feud restarted, I don’t know. Maryse was a brilliant heel, but she never improved beyond her knee injury, which is a shame.
at
Just wondering, am I the only one that knew from the getgo that WWE was never going to push Gail Kim?
at
As a Gail Kim fan, this was a hard match to see. I already knew Maryse would win, considering she attacked Melina as the Gobblety Gooker but then Melina got injured. So it was obvious who was gooing to get the title. Gail deserved so much more. She was so underrated in WWE and never truely given her due even as the Women’s champion
GailKim95 Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at
Also just so everyone knows, I don’t hate his match or Maryse. I think Maryse was a great character but I prefered her in her Smackdown! days. The match was actually good and the ending counter into the French Kiss was great!
VarsityBaseDude Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at
I agree, it was tough to see her lose.
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I avoid this match even though I am a fan of both. Maryse for her charisma and hair flip entrance and Gail for being Gail.
This was my last hope for Gail as a Divas champ and thought it was going to happen.
WWE screwed over Gail so many ways with this tournament and here are the reasons why:
1. Gail Vs. Maryse was suppose to be a 1 VS. 1 match at a PPV… Gail’s first ever if they went through with it. Nope!!!
2. The PPV matched turned into a Laycool Vs. Gail and Maryse with Gail being totally destroyed as if she has not lost enough to McCool.
3. Maryse plants her with a French Kiss after the match giving me some hope that Gail will win when they finally have their match cause it was uncalled for.
4. Maryse calls Gail stinky or whatever, and Gail never got a chance to have any say or comeback… at least not one that would help Gail.
5. Maryse beats Gail cleanly with the French Kiss… couldn’t they have just let Maryse cheat? Gail would have saved some face, but dang…
WWE screwed up with the tournament in my opinion. They could have Gail hold it for a month or whatever and let her go with it. If they really want to give the title to Maryse, she could have won it later and not from the tournament itself. Shame.
One last note, Gail never held a title again in WWE since her debut. What the heck is that all about?
at
Love the Maryse character…I wish she stayed with the WWE