With the Divas Champion coming to visit, AJ confronting Michael Cole, and the latest in the Natalya flatulence saga, there was plenty of Diva involvement on this week’s SmackDown. Other than the Natalya segment, it was pretty much the best night of Divas action in quite a while, so let’s review!

First up, it’s match time as the Glamazon Beth Phoenix makes a rare jaunt to SmackDown to face Alicia Fox, hoping to avenge her loss last year on Raw. Beth is out first, giving the SmackDown audience the opportunity to bask in her glory as she holds the Divas Championship proudly and highly. Out next is the Foxy One in her fanciest of hoods. As Foxy finishes shaking her hips and enters the ring, the bell rings — but instead of taking the fight to her opponent, the Divas Champion has other ideas.

The Glamazon holds the middle rope down allowing Alicia the opportunity to get out of her ring. When Alicia doesn’t bite, Beth squares up to Foxy and gets in her face. Beth tries to overpower Alicia and send her into the corner, but the red haired Diva manages to counter and into the turnbuckles goes the champ. Alicia hits Beth with forearms before trying to go for a monkey flip, but Beth uses her strength to her advantage, not budging and instead shoves Alicia to the mat.

Beth begins stomping Alicia and picks her up to her feet by the hair, but Alicia soon fights back with a kick to the stomach and forearm shots. Alicia goes for an Irish whip attempt but Beth reverses, Fox telegraphs this and manages to hop onto the middle turnbuckle and goes for a back elbow but the Glamazon grabs her. Beth goes for a back suplex but Alicia manages to squirrel her way out of it and lands firmly on her feet. Beth with a clothesline attempt but Foxy uses her limber body to hit the Trish Stratus-like matrix move, but as she gets back to a vertical base, Beth hits her with a double axe handle across the chest.

With no more tricks up her sleeve, Alicia is caught in Beth’s Glam Slam web. Beth hoists Alicia into the air and brings her down hard against the mat. Perhaps one of my favorite Glam Slams. Alicia really took it well!

Beth scores the victory, but she isn’t done. Beth tries to go for a second Glam Slam but not so fast! Tamina‘s music hits as she comes out to make the save. Beth drops Alicia and allows her to wriggle out of the ring. Meanwhile, Beth and Tamina stare into each other’s eyes, both smiling, as if to say that they realize they can bring the fight to one another. With eyes locked for a good minute or so, it’s clear that these two will eventually meet for the Divas Title. Beth seems to be clutching the belt as she leaves the ring and retreats up the ramp, perhaps realizing that Tamina will be a hard challenge. Tamina, however, continues to look on with an infectious smile, perhaps feeling as though she has Beth’s number.

Thoughts: Despite being 1-2 minutes, I really enjoyed the match between Alicia and Beth. There was plenty of action that made use of the short amount of time and hey, if you’re only going to get two minutes at most, may as well make it an entertaining two minutes, right? I thought the chemistry was great and Alicia showed some agility and speed which offset Beth’s power. Good stuff. As I said above, I really loved the Glam Slam also. I think perhaps because Alicia has those long limbs, when she came crashing down, it almost looked picturesque. Good match, I thought.

As for the staredown, I have one word: Amazing! I feel like this is a good starting point for Beth and Tamina, and I particularly like the fact that Tamina is this confident babyface who knows she can match Beth in size and strength, whereas Beth has always had an advantage over Divas like Kelly Kelly. I’m also loving the evolution of Beth’s character lately with the, “Get out of my ring!” gimmick and her outcry for competition. The smirk towards Tamina because she’s finally being given some competition was really well done. It adds more intrigue than just the usual heel shtick with the champion trying to avoid the challenger so they don’t get beaten up.

If that match and post-match staredown were the main course, AJ and Michael Cole of all people gave us dessert.

Watch below:

During an ‘interview’, things quickly disintegrated as the bane of all of our existences, Michael Cole, began running down AJ like it’s NXT Season 3. However, thankfully, this is SmackDown… and on SmackDown, AJ gets to fight back!

Cutting a promo like her life depended on it, AJ told Michael Cole that he was a “biased, obnoxious jerk”. She even stands up for the Divas division, calling Cole out on his commentary mocking her, Daniel Bryan and the Divas. Four for you, AJ Coco!

Of course, soon AJ’s overprotective boyfriend Daniel Bryan makes his presence felt as Michael Cole quickly shuffles back to his seat.

Thoughts: It’s like Christmas in the Divas division. First Tamina gets to talk and show some personality earlier in the week, and now AJ too? Great promo by AJ and I like the fact that the Divas division was not forgotten. Hopefully AJ’s pairing with Daniel Bryan and promos such as this one will allow her to get over more. Fingers crossed that she can then be re-integrated into the Divas division and get something of a push. Go, AJ!

We also got to see the latest Natalya backstage segment, which this week featured Natalya’s Hart Dynasty pal, Tyson Kidd, and the punchline was delivered by Hornswoggle. (Apparently Santino was busy this week.)

Excluding that segment, I was thoroughly entertained with SmackDown this week. In the words of Kelly Rowland: “AJ, girl, you put it DOWN!”

This week on SmackDown, Natalya and Beth Phoenix reunite as the Divas of Doom, to take on the team Aksana and Tamina in tag team action. We also had the return of everyone’s favorite pocket rocket, AJ. But before we get into any of the good stuff, why don’t we get this backstage segment out of the way.

Watch below as Natalya and Beth chat about their match:

Oh, WWE… I really hate you sometimes. I really don’t get the point of this whole farting gimmick, aside from making little kids laugh and embarrassing Natalya. Hopefully, this gimmick will bomb and we can all move along, because this is just getting hard to watch.

Next up, we have our Divas match for the evening. Watch below as the Divas of Doom take on Aksana and Tamina:

Aksana is out first to her espionage/Skinemax entrance theme to meet with her partner, Tamina, who’s already in the ring. Beth and Natalya are out next, and they’re all business it seems. While Natalya and Beth play up to the crowd, Tamina and Aksana discuss their strategy.

The official signals for the bell and our Divas match is underway with Natalya and Aksana starting the match for their respective teams. The ladies lock up and Nattie gets the upperhand, leveling Aksana with a Michinoku Driver. Natalya blasts Tamina in the face with a stiff forearm, before going back to Aksana, but gets caught in the gut with a kick from Aksana. Aksana tries to follow up with a vertical suplex, but Natalya tosses her to the ground face-first.

While Nattie gloats, Beth sneaks up and forcibly tags herself in, picks up the scraps and Glam Slams Aksana to pick up the win for her team.

After the match, Beth and Natalya exchange words for a minute and Beth leaves her partner in the ring. Dejected, Natalya attacks Aksana and goes for the Sharpshooter. Fortunately for Aksana, Tamina makes the save, laying out the Hart heiress with a superkick and a Superfly Splash.

While the match wasn’t much longer than last week’s and had about as much substance, it set up what looks to be a feud between Beth and Natalya, possibly turning the latter face in the process. I must admit, the prospect of a Beth/Nattie feud is fantastic. I just hope we can drop the fart gags behind…

Last, but not least we saw the return of NXT 3 graduate, AJ, who’s been M.I.A. since she was nearly trampled to death by Big Show. It seems her injury also affected her vocal chord, as she communicated exclusively through facial expressions and gestures. Check out the segment below:

While I would love to see AJ tap into her inner bitchy heel and join forces with Daniel Bryan as the top power couple in WWE (sorry, Maxine and Derrick Bateman), I’m really enjoying this good girl/bad boy angle. I’m interested in seeing what kind of role AJ will play in this Big Show/Daniel Bryan storyline in the weeks to come. I believe that this could be the breakout storyline that could lead to her becoming a top Diva.

Welcome to what might be the shortest SmackDown Redux in the history of Diva Dirt! This week we got the SmackDown in-ring debut of NXT 3 graduate, Aksana against the First Lady of the Hart Dynasty, Natalya. Can Natalya finally break her losing streak or will Aksana avoid a Lithuanian shovel beating by picking up her first win as a SmackDown Diva? But before we get into the match, let’s check out the backstage segment that led to the match:

… Wow. I’m seriously at a loss for words. Let’s just move on to the match:

So we start off with Natalya, already in the ring looking frustrated. Aksana is out next, using her Skinemax entrance theme. I’ll just assume that the crowd is so silent due to the shock from that backstage segment.

Right as the bell ring, Nattie starts shouting up the entrance ramp for Tamina to come to the ring. Aksana seizes the opportunity and rolls Natalya up, getting the upset victory. Post-match, a pissed off (and understandably so) Natalya attacks Aksana from behind and puts her in the Sharpshooter. Tamina makes the save and lays out Nattie with a Samoan Drop and a Superfly Splash to end the Divas segment for the night.

Can anyone explain to me? Seriously. From the cringeworthy segment backstage to the five second match, that had to be one of the worst showings I’ve seen for the Divas in the past few months, and that’s saying something.

I think the real loser here is Natalya. She went from being on the top of the world as a member of the Divas of Doom to a downward spiral in a matter of months. I’m usually not one to go on about how wrestlers are being ‘punished’ with the storylines they’re given, but it seems as though poor Nattie has really pissed off someone because she’s being dealt the worse hand ever, it seems.

Usually when we have an awful week for the Divas, I would end the Redux by praying we get a better segment next week. I’ll save my breath this week, as I don’t see how it can get any worse than this. Until next time, guys. *Farts and runs away*

With the absence of a Divas match on last night’s episode of SmackDown (see Superstars instead), it was up to Vickie Guerrero and Brodus Clay’s funky mommas — Cameron and Naomi — to give us our Diva fix this week.

In a good ol’ fashioned dance off, Vickie showed us her dancefloor moves as she faced off against Brodus Clay — much to the amusement of SmackDown ring announcer, Lilian Garcia (Yes, girl, we caught you laughing your ass off!)

Watch as Vickie makes a show of herself and Brodus Clay jiggles… jiggles… and then jiggles some more. Oy vey. It’s enough to drive Lilian loca! (See what we did there?)

Thoughts: Though not a match, definitely a fun segment — if you can look past Brodus Clay and his jiggling man parts. Vickie brought the lulz while Cameron & Naomi brought the heat! I’m hoping one day we may see Naomi take center stage with Brodus, perhaps the two of them in a mixed tag feud with a Superstar & Diva.

This week on SmackDown, we get a second helping of Tamina vs Natalya in a return match from last week. We also are blessed with a triple shot of SmackDown’s resident pocket rocket, AJ. Let’s kick things off with our Divas match for this week.

Tamina was able to surprise us all, when she pulled out an upset over Natalya last week. Can the Polynesian Princess shock us all once more, or will the First Lady of the Hart Dungeon have her revenge? Check out the match below:

The Divas segment starts off with Natalya already in the the ring, looking pissed off, just like last week. Tamina is out next with a new entrance video and theme and new gear as well. The second generation Diva stops at the top of the ramp, to do her father’s iconic pose, before heading down to the ring. The referee signals for the bell and the match is underway.

Natalya wastes no time slapping Tamina across the face, before leveling her with a vertical suplex for a two count. Nattie tries to whip Tamina off of the ropes, but Tamina reverses it, leapfrogs over her and hits her signature Samoan Drop. With Natalya laid out, Tamina goes up to the top rope and hits the Superfly Splash to pick up the victory for the second week in a row.

Well, that was… quick…

It looks like Tamina is definitely a babyface now, but I still don’t know exactly why she’s feuding with Natalya. To be fair, there is a interview on WWE.com that explains Tamina’s newfound attitude, but I think there should be some sort of explanation on the show for those who won’t be bothered to look up the interview.

While I am happy that Tamina is seemingly finding her place in the Divas division, I can’t help but feel bad for Nattie, who has been really been racking up losses in the past few months. Nattie’s position in WWE feels a lot like Victoria’s (TNA’s Tara) last year in WWE, being used to elevate newer talents. The difference however, is that Victoria got to have a few solid storylines, feuds and title reigns; opportunities that Natalya has never really gotten. Nattie is one of the most talented, well-rounded Divas on the roster and it’s a damn shame to see all her potential go to waste as a glorified enhancement talent. Hopefully, this won’t be her permanent role as a Diva.

Next up, we have a few backstage segments with NXT3 alumna, AJ. First up AJ proclaims her love for fellow NXT graduate and WWE Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Bryan:

Next we see AJ appeal to the softer side of The Big Show, as she tries to save her boyfriend from imminent doom:

Last, but certainly not least, AJ takes one for the team (and by team, I mean Daniel Bryan), as she’s damn near killed by a stampeding rhino… erm… I mean, Big Show, when she accompanied Daniel Bryan to the ring for his main event title match:

They say love will make you do crazy things, and jumping in front of a charging 400 pounds of man has to be near the top of that list of crazy things. By the looks of things, it seems Daniel convinced AJ to jump in front of Show to help him keep the title and she did it to prove her love. It’s an interesting dynamic, this good girl/bad boy pairing, and I think it will get AJ over as a babyface and get Daniel some legit heat as a heel champion. Hopefully, we get some more AJ/DB interaction next week… If AJ isn’t in a coma after that bump, that is…

Hit or miss show for the Divas this week for the Divas this week, in my opinion. While the 30 second match was definitely a miss for me, AJ’s backstage segments and near death in the main event was a big hit. If we can get a decent match for the Divas next week AND a few segments backstage, we could have a good show next week. Fingers crossed, guys! Until next week!

After a small disagreement between generational Divas, Natalya and Tamina ended in fisticuffs on last week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, both Divas had something to prove as they face each other in singles action this week. But first, two of my favorite Divas, AJ and Alicia Fox were featured in a backstage segment with the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Bryan. Check it out below:

First of all, it’s always good to see the Divas get some screen time with the Superstars. It’s damn near impossible for them to get any time in the ring, but I digress… I’m really interested to see where this relationship between AJ and Daniel is going. It seems that Daniel has been getting douchier and douchier since capturing the World Heavyweight Championship, which makes me wonder if AJ will be the angel on his shoulder, trying to keep him from straying off of the path of righteousness or if she will tap into her heel past in FCW and join Daniel on the dark side, becoming SmackDown’s newest power couple. Only time will tell, but this would explain why we never got that Kaitlyn heel turn… Just sayin’

Now that we’re done with the appetizer, let’s move right on along to the main course! Watch below as Tamina and Natalya face off in the clash of the generational Divas!:

We kick things off with Natalya already in the ring, looking pretty pissed off, and to be honest, can you blame her? I’m convinced that Tamina tried to take off her head with that superkick last week. Before Tamina comes out to the ring, we are treated to a video package focusing on Nattie’s father, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart.

Tamina is out next and we get another video package, this time on Tamina’s dad, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. So I’m guessing this feud is based on their families? A little forced if you ask me, but it’s better than nothing, I guess.

The bell sounds and Natalya goes after Tamina without hesitation, taking the Samoan warrior princess off of her feet with a double leg takedown, followed by a flurry of forearms to the head. Natalya berates Tamina about messing with her family, before pummeling her again with vicious strikes to the head.

Natalya looks to finish off Tamina with the Sharpshooter, but Tamina fights her off and gets back to a vertical base. Nattie tries to get the upperhand with a clothesline, but Tamina ducks it and goes for a crossbody. Unfortunately for Tamina, Natalya had the same thing in mind and the Divas collide in mid-air and crashed down to the mat.

Both Divas struggle to get back to their feet, but Tamina makes it there first and flattens Nattie with a Samoan drop followed by her Dad’s finisher, the Superfly Splash, to pick up the upset victory.

Not a bad match, but is anyone else confused about who is the face and who is the heel in this rivalry? I know I sure am. Although I feel like using Natalya and Tamina’s lineage as reason for a feud is a bit of a stretch, it’s nice to see some kind of effort made on a Diva storyline. I’m not exactly sure where else things could go from here, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully, this isn’t just a one shot deal, because Tamina has a lot of untapped potential and getting to work a program with one of the best female wrestlers in North America could be just the thing she needs.

All in all, not a bad night for the Divas, but not a particularly good one either. Hopefully we get some more development in this Nattie/Tamina feud and AJ’s relationship with Daniel Bryan on next week’s edition of SmackDown. Until then, I leave you with a lesson in the Spanish language by the one and only, Rosa Mendes!

Leave your thoughts, theories and rants on SmackDown in the comments…

Your answers to all this and more below…

As we head out to the bluely lit arena, some peppy party music starts to play alongside a pink camouflage titantron, that of which can only mean one thing…FOX! Out comes Alicia, but alongside her is none other than Kaitlyn, as the two ladies get ready for some tag team action. Following their introduction by Lilian Garcia and a brief recap of Alicia’s dominance, out walks their opponents in Natalya (without the tissue box…pardon me as I cry) and Tamina, both of whom look stellar tonight. As all four walk to their respective corners, the bell sounds and we kicks things off.

Tamina and Kaitlyn begin the bout together, as Tamina goes for a clothesline that Kaitlyn ducks. She runs off the ropes and hits a nice crossbody for a pinfall attempt, following it up with a dropkick for another. A kick to the midsection, proceeding on with a snapmare to Tamina, before charging off the ropes and getting hit by Natalya. Kaitlyn turns her attention to the pink and white clad diva, which allows Tamina the sneak attack advantage from behind. Tamina then tags in Natalya, as they double team Kaitlyn to make her pay for messing with them. Hook of a leg gets a one count, as Nattie slams Kaitlyn’s head down and applies an awesome submission. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long as the hair is being grabbed to initiate a count of five.

Following that, Natalya hoists Kaitlyn up with a sick sit down bodyslam, as she then goes for a legdrop that Kaitlyn rolls out of the way from and makes the tag to Alicia Fox! Fox hops over the ropes and leap frogs over a charging Natalya. From there, she runs forward and BAM! The return of the Scissors Kick which scores the victory for Kaitlyn and Alicia. As they celebrate, Tamina seems very upset with Natalya for their loss. She backs up and DRILLS Nattie with an indescribably hard super kick! Tamina then proceeds to ascend to the top rope and leap off with her patented Superfly Splash! She poses over her downed tag team partner, as we are left wondering if 2012 will be the year that Tamina makes her presence known in the divas division.

And just because I can, check out everyone’s favorite pocket rocket, AJ, as she briefly talks to Daniel Bryan:

…And since I do support the FCW Divas, you can also view Aksana in a segment alongside her Teddy Bear and the phenomenal Drew McIntyre:

Thoughts: This is what I like to see with Smackdown. I know we’re lucky to get a minute or two of ring action, and I’ve come to accept that. I just like seeing some variety in the matches. Nothing against any of the girls who are prominently featured, but it’s fun to see divas like Kaitlyn and Tamina being used on the blue brand because it gives the matches some freshness. I thought what they did was fine, although it was kind of odd that Alicia only did one move. I’m guessing maybe they were running low on time, or something was possibly edited out, but nonetheless, I’m glad she’s bringing the Scissors Kick back. Natalya was great in the moves she was able to show, and I loved the submission and sit out bodyslam.

Onto Tamina, what can I say? I’m ecstatic that they are finally using her as a threat. She has such a unique look and demeanor about her that I always thought she could be something special for the WWE if given a chance. We all know how fast things can change week to week, so I hope they continue to do something more with her. Overall, in terms of time, it was the usual, although maybe a little bit longer, but in terms of action, I say it’s a definite step up over the past couple of weeks. I’m interested to see where things go from here.

This week on SmackDown, Natalya takes on the vivacious Alicia Fox in singles action. Can Alicia keep her streak alive with another win over Natalya, or will Nattie make Alicia cry? Check out the match below to find out:

Out first is Alicia, who seems to be moving in fast forward, as she damn near runs down the ramp. Perhaps there is some cryptic promo that needed running? Anyhoo… Natalya comes out next, with a box of tissues in tow. Natalya taunts Alicia for a bit, but Alicia locks her in a headlock, kicking off our match for the evening.

Natalya manages to fight out of the hold and toss Alicia into the corner, but Alicia counters with a sunset flip. Alicia tries her best to take down Nattie, but the third generation Diva stands her ground and stomps on Alicia’s midsection. Natalya stays on top of Alicia, locking in a painful looking abdominal stretch. Alicia fight her way out of the submission, only to be slammed down to the mat by her hair. Ouch…

Natalya rolls up Alicia from behind for a near-fall, but Alicia comes back with a roll up of her own and gets the upset victory and a huge chunk of Nattie’s weave.

Post-match, Alicia gets on the mic and says that Natalya is “so synthetic, it’s pathetic” and that she was “outfoxed”, before celebrating. Natalya tries to attack Alicia, but Alicia sees her coming and lays her out with her somersault leg-drop. That looked like it hurt. ;/

Good match from these two ladies, but my question is: where is the division going? Who’s being pushed? Kelly? Alicia? Maria Menounos? It seems like ever since Beth vs Eve at Vengeance the division has been at a standstill. With TLC right around the corner, WWE better work something out quick if they plan on putting a title match on the card at all.

In other news, Rosa Mendes showed off her dancing skills as part of her new found partnership with Epico and Primo. Enjoy:

Well, that it for this week’s Redux. Let’s hope the blue brand gives us a bit more to talk about next week.

Without any further ado, let’s kick things off with some Santa suits!

After an in-ring segment to open the show, Saint Mick declares that we will continue the night with a divas match, as he beckons for them to come out. Strutting their finest red and green is Alicia Fox, AJ, Kaitlyn, Rosa Mendes, Natalya, Aksana (who gets extra points for giving me Katie Lea vibes), Tamina, and the Bella Twins. We head to a commercial break, but upon return, Mick announces that this will be a Mistletoe on a Pole match where the diva to climb up the pole and retrieve the mistletoe will be able to cash it in before Christmas for a prize that he believes we can all allude to.

The bell sounds as all women go crazy. AJ tries to climb first, but Natalya manages to knock her down…as um…well…basically they all attack each other in the ring with various holds. Tamina manages to sweep Natalya’s legs out from under her as she falls to the canvas, and Kaitlyn tries to keep the Bella Twins away from the mistletoe. Everyone’s favorite mamacita, Rosa Mendes, makes her way towards the pole but she is soon taken down. Alicia Fox makes it up a few steps, but Nikki Bella manages to pull her off and toss her to the side. The Bellas look to work together, but Brie drop toe holds Nikki and climbs on top of her head to grab the mistletoe! The Bella Army rejoices as they believe Brie to be getting a future Divas Championship match…but what a scandalous surprise Mick Foley has in store for us all.

The Bellas attempt to celebrate Brie’s victory, before Mick cuts them off and tells them that he never said the match was for a Divas Title shot, but rather she will get to cash it in and kiss a Superstar of her choice. The Bellas try to argue over the Mistletoe, as we end this marvelous segment.

Backstage we head to Mick Foley standing by with Jimmy and Jey Uso practicing their entrance. He turns his attention over to Rowdy Roddy Piper as they embrace and chat up a few things, before Mick then focuses on the diva that I wish WWE would push to the moon, Maxine. He asks her if she has been a good girl this year, to which she replies that of course she has. That annoyance, Hornswoggle tries to serve Maxine a glass of Egg Nog, but she brushes him off like the perfection she is and walks off. After some chatter between a few of the superstars (featuring a cameo from Goldust!) Roddy Piper comes back on screen as he kisses Maxine’s hand and talks to one of the most underrated sports entertainers there is, Trent Barreta. (Note: Apologies if I begin to insert some opinions that I want to be taken as facts here) David Otunga interrupts my dream team scene, and blubbers about WWE music licensing with the Christmas tunes, before Mick Foley books him in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight against Randy Orton for tonight!

Up next, we open to…Hornswoggle trying to place an ornament on a spot of the Christmas Tree that he can not reach, which sparks the phenomenal brilliance that is possibly a new bad side of Kaitlyn to emerge and tell him that maybe he should ask Santa to be a little bit taller next year. (Note: Insulting Hornswoggle is only going to make so many people like you even more Kaitlyn) After some chatter between Teddy Long and Sheamus, the Lithuanian Beauty, Aksana (complete with saxophone music and pink lighting) walks into the scene with some mistletoe in her hand.

Teddy excuses Sheamus from the conversation, as Aksana apologizes for being late due to her match. T-Lo tells her that it’s alright, to which she can’t believe the size of this party. Back in Lithuania, all they got each year was a new shovel, (I’m assuming to beat people with) therefore Aksana does not quite understand exactly what mistletoe is. Teddy says that since they are standing under it, she should just do what comes natural. He puckers up for a smooch, but Aksana proceeds to tear a leaf off and eat it! She claims it tastes good and tickles her amazingly misunderstood pronunciation of tonsils, so let’s all hope that it’s non-toxic. We get some shots of Kaitlyn & Curt Hawkins (lighting the menorah) as well as returning backstage couple, Alicia Fox and Justin Gabriel, to close this segment.

We head backstage yet again, to see Ricardo Rodriguez chatting up the Bella Twins, as they ask what they should get Alberto Del Rio for Christmas. Ricardo suggests that the three of them go to dinner to discuss this, but Brie orders him to get them some egg nog. He begrudgingly takes their glasses and goes to fill them up, as Mick Foley, Dusty Rhodes, and Roddy Piper talk some. Saint Mick then heads over to Hornswoggle and gives him a hug which unfortunately gives him the gift of gab and he is able to finally dub the Bellas as being twins, and also states that Vickie Guerrero is a grandma. Natalya looks on in the background as if she is very unamused (Assuming because this is supposed to be a party, yet she’s not buying shoes or snapping Gismo photos), as Vickie and Hornswoggle engage in an Excuse Me-off until she walks off.

Finally, we round up this night’s events with a shot of Daniel Bryan preparing for his Cage Match where he could become World Heavyweight Champion, when he is approached by resident goddess, (Hopefully Tamina doesn’t see me use her title on someone else) AJ. She wishes him good luck and gives him a kiss on the lips before walking off and saying that she knows he can do this. Could D-Bryan be getting his fourth diva hook-up within the span of 11 months?!

Thoughts: To begin with the match, I was actually rather entertained. It was ridiculously short, but it was something different and I like different. I’m not a fan of seeing the same match week after week after week, so even if it was under a minute long, at least we got to see some fresh faces take the center spotlight. The segments were really enjoyable overall, and I think each had some standout moments. Clearly Aksana eating mistletoe was the highlight considering I love all unexpected, random moments, and if anyone tells you they thought she’d chomp down on it, they are lying through their teeth. I’m interested to see where this Daniel Bryan/AJ romance is headed, but anything that gets her airtime every week works for me. Heel Kaitlyn, I’m still bummed that you’re likely going to split from AJ, but like I said with her, as long as you get air time, I’m okay with it.

Hello all and welcome to this week’s edition of the SmackDown Redux! After picking up a win over Eve Torres at Survivor Series, Divas Champion Beth Phoenix, teams up with her fellow Sister of Salvation, Natalya in tag team action on this week’s edition of SmackDown. Who are their opponents, you ask? Their favorite punching bags, AJ and Kaitlyn, of course! Can the Chickbusters live up to their name this week, or will they be the ones to get busted? Check out the match below and find out:

We start things off at the commentary booth, where the lovely Alicia Fox has joined to give her opinion on this week’s Diva action. Beth and Natalya make their way to the ring first, sporting matching camouflage gear. As they head down the ramp, Alicia comments that Beth “…has more muscles than Mason Ryan”. Oh, no she didn’t!

The Chickbusters are out next, and the commentary team makes sure to point out that AJ and Kaitlyn are best friends, as well as Kaitlyn’s anger at AJ last week, after their loss. Both teams head to their respective corners and the official signals for the bell and our match is underway.

Kaitlyn and Natalya start things off for their respective teams with a basic lockup, but Nattie quickly gets the upper-hand and forces Kaitlyn into the corner. After a hip bump, Natalya charges at Kaitlyn in the corner, but Kaitlyn manages to escape and uses the opportunity to bring Nattie over to the Chickbuster corner for a tag.

After a quick double team splash in the corner, AJ keeps the pressure on Nattie with a quick kick to the leg and a fake out hurricanrana, that sends Natalya flying into the ropes. AJ tries to follow up with a roll up, but Nattie holds on, sending AJ to the mat.

AJ tries to back on offense, but Natalya grabs her by hair and pulls her down to the canvas. Before AJ can get her wits about her, Nattie slaps on the Sharpshooter, causing her to tap almost immediately.

Post match, a frustrated Kaitlyn leaves AJ at the mercy of Beth and Natalya, but Alicia makes the save.

Two things stood out to me in this match, and one of those things I’m not too thrilled about. Let’s start with the good: It looks like they’re setting Alicia Fox up to be the next challenger to the title, which only makes sense, as both Kelly and Eve had both had their shots. With any luck, Alicia vs Beth will be just as good as Kelly vs Beth and Eve vs Beth.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about the bad: It looks like the Chickbusters may be officially heading to Spiltsville. For some reason, WWE seems to thinks that it’s time to go their separate ways, which is a damn shame. AJ and Kaitlyn have a pretty good chemistry with one another and I think they compliment each other really well, but I don’t think either of them are quite at the point where they can be split up without one or both of them getting lost in the shuffle. Hopefully, that won’t be the case. On the other hand, I gotta give WWE kudos for at least attempting a secondary feud with the Divas. I love Beth, Nattie and Kelly’s Krew just as much as the next guy, but it’s nice to see someone else get a chance to shine every once and a while.

Well hello there. Yes, it’s me, your resident Redux jacker, Bobby here. Steven is MIA this week… alright he’s really at the WSU iPPV, therefore I am filling in to bring you all of the greatness that comes with Friday Night SmackDown. I like to call tonight’s episode “Adventures in Divaland” because there seems to be a lot going on right now involving many different women. Tonight we had two of my top three favorite Divas, AJ & Kaitlyn, in tag team action against the polarizing duo of Beth Phoenix & Natalya. On top of that, we also got to see appearances from Alicia Fox, Aksana, and my other favorite, Maxine!

Okay enough blubbering. Let’s get down to business.

Because I like to start things off with the match (unless it’s NXT because there’s usually so much going on), we will kick things off with the Divas of Doom entrance. Beth Phoenix & Natalya walk out in their finest pink & black gear, as they pose on the ring apron with Beth’s Divas Championship. During said entrance, we discover that Beth’s match against Eve Torres has been turned into a Lumberjill match, which brings many different reactions from fans I’m sure. Following this up, we finally get to see this new kickass theme of AJ’s on TV, as the Chickbusters step out from the back in some red gear to combat the sinister Sisters of Salvation. Once all four Divas are inside the ring, they head over to their respective corners and the bell sounds as we get underway.

Beth and Kaitlyn start things off, as Beth shoves the plucky NXT winner back into the ropes. Kaitlyn fights back with a punch and a nice dropkick to send Beth into the corner. Phoenix then gets drilled with a flurry of kicks by Kaitlyn, before backing up to the center of the ring and taking control with a bodyslam attempt. Kaitlyn, however, being the improving hybrid diva she is, manages to escape out the back and shove Beth right into the ropes. She runs up towards the Divas Champion, however, Phoenix hoists her up and drops her throat first onto the top rope. Ouch!

As both Kaitlyn and I grasp our throats from the pain of either experiencing or watching that move take place, Beth immediately goes to work on the stomach with some kicks and punches before tagging in Natalya. The two then grab Kaitlyn and slingshot her into the air, before dropping her back first into the ring! I immediately relate this back to the feeling I had riding my first roller coaster, as I imagine Kaitlyn to be very dizzy and loopy after going through it as I was at the time. Natalya hurriedly makes pinfall attempts, but Kaitlyn does not give up.

The two taunt Kaitlyn as if it’s tear time, and Nattie then locks in an abdominal stretch. AJ begs Kaitlyn for a tag, as I believe Kaitlyn spots a mustache in the crowd which gives her the energy to flip the veteran diva over with an arm drag. Kaitlyn struggles to tag into AJ, but Natalya ends up bodyslamming her and going for a leg drop. Kaitlyn manages to roll out of the way and finally makes the tag!

AJ ascends to the top rope and leaps off with a beautiful crossbody onto Natalya, before continuing it up with some punches to the face and kicks. AJ runs off the ropes and goes for a sunset flip, but her small stature isn’t enough to pull Natalya over. Nattie takes it upon herself to lock in the Sharpshooter, before falling backwards to add even more pain and force me to cringe as I watch AJ get bent into a pretzel. Sadly, AJ is forced to submit, as the Divas of Doom take pride in their Diva Dominance. Kaitlyn, however, does not seem too pleased that she lost, as she puts her hands on her hips and questions AJ as to what went wrong…Could the Chickbusters (unfortunately) be heading to splitsville?

Let’s follow up the match with what I’ve been begging WWE to do since NXT Season 3, and that’s put Maxine on SmackDown where she belongs! We head out to the ring to see Ted DiBiase make his grand entrance for an upcoming match against Derrick Bateman, who has the vivacious vixen in his corner. During Ted’s entrance, we head to a video interview with Batemax taken earlier in which they introduce themselves to the crowd as NXT’s power couple. Maxine follows it up by saying that tonight, they are bringing their love to SmackDown! Derrick goes to plant a kiss on his lovers lips, but Maxine stops him and says to save it for later.

Note: I would review the match, but Derrick Bateman does not emerge victorious so I refuse!

Up next with our “Adventures in Divaland”, we stumble upon Alicia Fox, as she is seen chatting up Justin Gabriel backstage. As I frown at the thought of no Fancy Fox Hood sightings this week, she claims that she has never met a South African before and calls Justin dreamy. Zack Ryder then walks into the scene and asks the two to sign his petition so that he can get a US title match against Dolph Ziggler. Suddenly, The Big Show interrupts and signs the petition himself, as Ryder explains to him what happened earlier in the night when Mark Henry attacked Daniel Bryan and claimed he was next. Big Show walks off, as the three stand there in fear of what’s to come.

Continuing on with this trend of “Adventures in Divaland”, we first stumble upon two non-Divas, in Ted DiBiase and Hornswoggle playing the new WWE ’12 video game. Out of nowhere pops my playa, Teddy Long, who asks if they are having a good time. Ted DiBiase, rocking both the movember mustache and the WWE ’12 shirt, says that they just recreated the main event to Survivor Series. Teddy Long then congratulates DiBiase on his recent string of victories, as well as his involvement with the DiBiase Posse Parties, when out of nowhere comes some saxophone music and pink strobe lights!

Here comes Miss Lithuania, Aksana! She calls for Teddy and both DiBiase and Long respond, before the latter excuses both DiBiase and Hornswoggle from the room. Teddy then asks Aksana what is going on, before she states that she heard someone was playing the new WWE ’12 video game. Aksana claims that when she was younger she wasn’t good at them, but as she got older she became more accustomed to handling a… joystick. Teddy asks Aksana to meet him back in this very room later so that they can play the video game, as she kisses him on the cheek and exits. Teddy then clutches his heart as I relive the greatest segment of all time in my head — Teddy Long and Kristal Marshall’s wedding. If only I could have reviewed THAT episode of SmackDown we’d all be in for a treat.

Also tonight, we got to see AJ before her match as she tended to Daniel Bryan in the trainer’s room following his attack at the hands of Mark Henry earlier on in the show. The trainer walks off as she questions whether it feels any better at all, before the Big Show walks in and vows to get revenge for what Mark Henry did. He claims that if he would’ve been here, none of this would’ve happened and that he’s going to go find Mark.

Thoughts: Apologies, but I am currently in mourning at this very time. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the tag team match was great, as well as the fact that it was finally treated as more than just a squash where the Chickbusters don’t get an entrance, but I don’t want to see them split. They put on great matches against one another in FCW, but in a roster where the faces are limited, I fear that if Kaitlyn turns heel she could become lost after a feud with AJ and I don’t want that happening. She really impressed tonight though, as I think she held her own in the tag team match where she was the least experienced of the bunch. Thumbs up to the match (and the fact both teams got an entrance!)

It was also great to see Maxine and Derrick Bateman take to Smackdown. Whether she chooses Bateman or Dirty Curty, Maxine can make anything work in my opinion, and I want her on this show every week making great segments like she does on NXT. The video package was especially nice to see because it gave people who don’t watch NXT some back story of the two and so you didn’t feel like you were just watching a local talent or anything. Thumbs up to them, as well as the AAA (Alicia, Aksana, & AJ) sightings backstage!

Welcome to an extra “foxy” edition of the SmackDown Redux! Big thank you to everyone’s favorite TNA columnist for filling in last week, but I’m back and what a week to return! This week’s SmackDown was jam-packed with Divas this week! AJ and Kaitlyn were shown in a segment with Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry, Aksana got to be a part of her first Divas match on Smackdown (kinda). Hell, we even had Rihanna! So let’s get right into this week’s action!

After picking up not one, but TWO wins over the third generation Sister of Salvation, Natalya, Alicia Fox is looking to keep her winning streak going strong, as she takes on Tamina on this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown. With Rosa Mendes in Tamina’s corner and Natalya plotting on commentary, Alicia could certainly use some backup of her own, right? Everyone’s favorite Lithuanian import, Aksana will be at Alicia’s side during her match. Before we get into the match, let’s see the hilarious segment that led to this odd pairing.

The segment starts off with Aksana’s trademark Skinemax music and Sin Cara mood lighting. Aksana gushes to Teddy about how much she enjoyed competing in the Divas Halloween battle royal on Raw a few weeks back, and how she can’t wait to do it again. Teddy tells her that he wants her first SmackDown match to be “special”, so he wants her to observe a more experienced Diva. Cut music and lights! Enter Alicia Fox, stage left!

At first, Aksana is upset at Teddy, because he didn’t tell her that he’d gotten Rihanna to come to SmackDown, but quickly gets over it. One ‘Umbrella’ reference and a vague sexual reference later, Aksana saunters away, leaving Rihanna Alicia confused and Teddy drooling.

I must say, I really enjoyed this segment. Aksana has built a good character for herself and I’m always excited to see what cultural faux pas she’ll make or what new Aksanaism she’ll introduce. I was also impressed with Alicia, as well. Alicia can be hit or miss when it comes to her mic work, but the spunky, cutesy face role seems to come a lot more naturally to her than the heel role, she’s been playing for so many years.

My only gripe is that WWE is tardy to the party on their pop culture references, once again. Divas fans have been pointing out the whole Alicia/Rihanna thing for months now. Just sayin’. Nevertheless, I still got a chuckle out of it, so no harm done.

Next up is the match between Alicia and Tamina. Can Alicia and her Fancy Fox Hood overcome the strength of Tamina or will the Polynesian Princess pick up the win and put herself back in the winner’s circle? Check out the match below:

We start off our Divas match with Tamina and Rosa (who looks fantastic tonight) in the ring and Natalya on commentary. Alicia Fox is out next, accompanied by Aksana and Fancy Fox Hood. After some really half-assed editing, Alicia is miraculously in the ring and our match is underway.

The ladies start off with a basic lock-up, but Tamina gets the upperhand and throws Alicia into the corner and lays into her with a few stomps. Alicia tries to mount a come back, but Tamina takes her down with a fierce headbutt. Before Alicia can get her bearing Tamina grabs her by the hair and tosses her across the ring a couple of times, sending her crashing to the mat.

Keeping the pressure on her opponent, Tamina locks in a double underhook submission, looking to make the former Divas Champion tapout, while BFF Rosa poses and yells in broken Spanish at ringside. Alicia somehow fights out of the submission and flips Tamina overhead, putting her in the driver seat. Alicia turns up the heat with a flurry of strikes, but Tamina drills her with a elbow to the face, before grounding her with a scoop slam.

Tamina tries to finish Alicia off with a splash, but Alicia rolls away at the last second, sending Tamina face first into the mat. Alicia takes advantage of the opportunity and follows up with the kick to the face, setting Tamina up perfectly for her new somersault leg drop finisher. The ref counts to three and Foxy picks up her the win.

Although short, I thought this match was enjoyable. It seems Tamina has really come into herself as a wrestler. While she still may be green, she knows what works for her and doesn’t try to go outside of her comfort zone, which is good.

A few weeks back, I said that I thought Alicia needed some time to get used to her new face moveset and I think she is swiftly making the transition. While she has retained most of her old moves, she is slowly incorporating new techniques and moves, such as her new finisher. Hopefully, she can keep progressing and avoid the “5 Moves of Doom” routine so many WWE wrestlers fall into.

Speaking of Alicia’s new finisher, I really liked the ending of the match. Alicia’s new finisher looked much better here than it did when she debuted it last week against Natalya and is lot less hit or miss than the scissors kick. I know that a lot of Foxy fans are missing the old finisher, but this new one has definitely won my heart.

Last but not least, we had a segment featuring four of my favorite people: AJ, Kaitlyn, Daniel Bryan and Precious. Check out the segment below:

Not much to say, as this segment wasn’t dedicated to the Divas, but it was nice to see the Chickbusters get some shine in a segment with two of WWE’s biggest Superstars. Perhaps I’m reading too much into this and getting my hopes too high, but is this the beginning of some sort of geek/nerd friendship and/or stable between AJ, Kaitlyn and Daniel? Probably not, but I love to see a storyline involve two Divas and a Superstar, without there being a fight over who’s gonna sleep with him. (*CoughVeganNotVirginCough*). But this is WWE, so I won’t hold my breath for that.

Well, that does for this week’s SmackDown Redux. I would say, “See you next week”, but with all the Divas we saw this week, we may have reached our “Diva quota” for the month. Until next time!

Why, hello there. If you’re wondering why I, Bobby, loyal supporter of Miss Karen Jarrett, have hijacked the SmackDown Redux this week, well, let’s just assume Steven’s computer has another case of anal bleeding and is in worse condition than Jerry Lawler. Nonetheless, this week on SmackDown, we had a fast paced singles bout between the Diva with one of the best perky struts to the ring I’ve ever seen, Alicia Fox, and the Diva with one of the greatest pissed off walks in the business, Natalya. These two have met many times before; wins have been traded, hair has been pulled, but bragging rights are in order for this challenge.

Which fiery Diva will leave with a victory? Let us find out!

“PA-PA-PA-PAARTAYYY”

No, folks who didn’t see Raw a few weeks ago, Maria Kanellis has not returned to the WWE. This is clear to us because out pops Alicia Fox, decked out in her finest Fox hoodie (which she reassured us via Twitter that no animals were harmed in the making of). As I question how many of these I will see being worn by the Fox fanbase within the upcoming months, she hops herself up into the ring as we head to a commercial break. Upon returning, her opponent, Natalya, steps out from the back, and, oh my, if looks could kill, Alicia would be scurrying back to her foxhole and taking cover!

Natalya climbs into the ring and wastes no time trying to get her hands on Alicia, as we take a lengthy look back to Monday night’s Halloween battle royal. They focus on how Nattie eliminated Fox from the match, but it ended up costing her the victory as Eve took control from behind. Back to the ring, Natalya screams out that Alicia stuck her nose where it didn’t belong, and ever the perky Fox, replies that Nattie’s nose is bigger than hers! Them are some fighting words! The two lock up, as Natalya takes control with a side headlock takeover.

The ladies get to a vertical base, as they back into the ropes and Alicia tries to Irish whip Natalya, only Natalya reverses it, but then Alicia reverses it again! Alicia burrows down in the ring like she’s trying to hide behind a log from the Fox Hunter, Natalya, as Nattie jogs over her and runs off the other side. A-Fox leaps up over her opponent, and Natalya holds onto the ropes to stop her running. I’m sure she might be very dizzy or winded right now, but being the fighter she is, Natalya charges forward, right into a nice dropkick by Alicia. Nattie crawls to the corner, and tries to throw Fox into the turnbuckle, but Alicia manages to catch herself before she collides with it.

Both Divas get back up, as Natalya throws Alicia face first into the ring and begins kicking her in the leg. Fox cries out “OW!” multiple times, but the ruthless Neidhart doesn’t care, as she slams Alicia’s face down to the mat. Natalya grabs Alicia’s legs, as the two trade hilarious insults once again. She locks in a Boston Crab! Michael Cole mistakenly calls it the Sharpshooter (how does it feel to be the dumb one now, Cole?) as Fox manages to turn it over and kick Nattie backwards. Alicia goes to kick Natalya in the stomach, but Nattie catches her foot. Alicia then DRILLS Natalya with a sick enziguiri to the face. From there, she springs forward with a front flip leg drop and gets the victory! Natalya realizes what has happened, as Alicia poses on the entrance ramp to end the segment.

Thoughts: These two really know how to make an enjoyable match out of such little time given. I remember they did it once on Superstars, and now here as well. I thought the action tonight was hard hitting, fast paced, and overall, awesome. Their insults were hilarious back and forth to one another, and Alicia picking up the win seems to cement her more up in the level of Eve now. I’m curious to see where things are going from here, because surely the Divas of Doom need a third for this eventual six Diva tag. Let’s wait and see, but as far as tonight goes, Natalya and Fox delivered in a situation where it could’ve been ridiculously short. Hats off to both of them.

While there was no match scheduled for Smackdown this week, we were blessed enough to get an actual promo leading into the Divas Championship match between Eve Torres and Beth Phoenix. Shocking, huh? Watch below as Beth, Eve and Natalya show off their mic skills this week on the blue brand:

It’s been a long time since we had a decent Divas promo, and it’s a breath of fresh air, to be honest. I’ve never thought of Natalya as the strongest Diva when it comes to mic skills, but I thought she did pretty well here. The challenger, Eve did really good as well, but I’m gonna give the MVP award for this segment to Beth Phoenix.

Beth has been playing the stoic, bruiser heel role for so long, I almost forgot how good she is when it comes to laying down a promo, but she reminded me tonight. I would say that, aside from capturing the title, this is one of the most interesting things that D.O.D has done since they first turned heel months ago. As fans, sometimes we forget that sometimes a good promo can be just as good as a match (especially if it’s a two minute match). While this segment may not have been the greatest ever, it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

So let’s talk about the big, pink elephant in the room…: What happened to Kelly Kelly?! A few weeks ago, Kelly was going psycho on D.O.D and seemed like she was on the fast track to a title rematch at Vengeance, but now she’s nowhere to be seen. While it’s nice to have a change of pace from Beth vs Kelly for a fourth PPV, I feel like there’s some more mileage in that feud. I expect Kelly to be in Eve’s corner this Sunday to support her BFF and possibly unleash ‘Crazy Kelly’ on D.O.D once again.

All in all, a good week for the Raw Divas on Smackdown. With any luck, they can ride this momentum into Vengeance and put on the fantastic match that Diva fans are hoping for.

WELCOME to the SmackDown Redux!~ Steven’s computer is facing problems (anal bleeding?) therefore I shall take over this week and bring you your SmackDown fixture. This week, our reigning Divas Champion, Beth Phoenix, goes one on one with her arch nemesis, Kelly Kelly, in a non-title match. With both Natalya and Eve Torres ringside, who knows what could happen?! Can Kelly topple the terrifying Glamazon, or can Beth continue to plow through the division one by one until there is nobody left? Let’s find out!

As we head to a commercial break, we see both Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres heading out to the ring as the recycled version of Kristal Marshall’s old theme song plays in the background. Upon return, we see Beth Phoenix and Natalya make their way to the ring in matching gear. I shall admit, the Divas Title looks pretty good on Beth’s shoulder…but nonetheless, the upbeat theme of Kelly Kelly hits, as she and Eve enter the arena. Kelly removes her Dallas themed jersey, as the bell sounds and we kick things up.

Beth ambushes Kelly into the corner and begins choking her relentlessly! She backs up and charges forward, but Kelly ducks out of the way and takes control, smashing the Glamazon’s head into the corner and proceeding to level her with kicks to the stomach. K2 ducks a clothesline and runs off the ropes, looking to go for her patented spinning headscissors. After a few lightning fast spins that make even me feel dizzy, Beth manages to stop the move and drop her with a sick backbreaker.

A kiss blown from the Glamazon’s mouth follows, as she hooks the leg but only gets a two count. Beth starts slapping Kelly in the back of the head, but this only fires K2 up as she begins decking Beth with an assortment of punches. From there, Kelly runs off the ropes with her, now patented, Lou Thesz Press, as she continues to go crazy on her rival with fists to the face. Both women get to a vertical base, as Kelly is sent flying into the ropes. She comes back with a nice spinning DDT for a two count.

Beth falls into the corner, allowing Kelly to run forward with her handspring elbow attempt. Beth catches her though, and lifts her over the top rope. Kelly lands on the ring apron, but Beth quickly grabs her by the head and smashes her face first into one of the metal poles on the turnbuckle. From there, she grabs K2 by the arms and drags her inside the ring. She’s up……and DOWN with the Glam Slam. Beth flips Kelly over and covers for the victory.

Divas of Doom celebrate…as Kelly and Eve plot their next move for Diva domination.

Thoughts: Pretty solid match overall. Granted it wasn’t to the level of their pay per view outings, but what would one expect with a shorter time length given? Overall, it was much better than seeing a thirty second squash, and I really enjoy Beth and Kelly’s chemistry together in the ring. I think it goes to show how much they are meshing together when they can put on a good match in 1 or 2 minutes, and hats off to them on delivering a fun non-title bout. Not sure where this leads to, but since this was non-title, I’m assuming Kelly still has her rematch clause in tact.

This week on Friday Night SmackDown the new Divas Champion, Beth Phoenix (along with her BFF, Natalya), makes her first appearance on the blue brand as champion to face off against a former Divas Champ, Alicia Fox. Can Foxy pull out a win and work her way into title contention, or will the Divas of Doom show her how Pin-Up Strong they really are? Check out the match below and find out:

First out are Divas of Doom, who pose with the Divas Championship. While they make their way to the ring, we are treated to a video of former champ, Kelly Kelly, totally losing her marbles and snapping on Beth this past Monday on Raw. If Beth is feeling the aftereffects of that beating, she sure is hiding it very well.

Alicia makes her way out next, as sassy as ever and looking to pick up a win over the champ in this non-title match. The official signals for the bell and our match is underway.

Beth wastes no time going to work on Fox with a kick to the gut and a few clubbing blows to the back. Beth whips Alicia into the corner and charges her, but Fox fends her off with a double kick to the chest, before going for a sunset flip pin. Unfortunately for Alicia, she’s not strong enough to take the Glamazon over and eats a boot, before being taken down with a Glam Slam. After the match, Natalya slaps on her new Pin-Up Strong submission, while Beth grabs a mic and taunts Alicia, forcing her to cry.

Well, that was quick, huh? I expect to see Beth having a lot more squash matches in the next few weeks, (Watch out, AJ and Kaitlyn) to push her as a dominant force in the division. I see this happening until they meet worthy opponents, presumably Eve or the newly unstable Kelly Kelly, who will put an end to their reign of terror.

As for this match, it was too short to really have an opinion on. I know it was meant to be a squash, but a bit more effort could have been put into it, to be honest. If this is what we have to look forward in the next few weeks, I’m bored already. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope that Kelly goes psycho again, so we have something to talk about.

The Divas of Doom have been having a tough time delivering said doom to anyone with the initials K.K., but this week Natalya‘s been given the chance to live up to the hype, facing Kelly Kelly while Beth Phoenix sits in on commentary:

Natalya gets a bit up close and personal with her pre-match taunts, provoking Kelly into slapping her. Meanwhile, on commentary, Beth claims that she knows she can get the job done this Sunday, and that Kelly’s wins so far were only flukes. In the ring, Kelly delivers a few more blows before trying to Irish whip Natalya into the corner, but she resists. Here Natalya’s strength advantage shows itself as she instead pulls Kelly into her arms and charges, driving her into the turnbuckle. Natalya backs up to ready herself for another charging attack, but only gets two boot prints on her chest. Kelly climbs the turnbuckle and hits Natalya with a flying Lou Thesz press, pummeling her with a series of right hands before she is shoved off.

She gets Natalya in a belly-to-back hold, but Natalya runs to the ropes and shakes her off, and on the return slams her to the mat with a vicious clothesline. She props Kelly up, wrenching one arm behind her left leg and locking her hands beneath her chin. Kelly quickly starts to fight out of the submission (Almost too quickly, if you ask me.. Clearly, this match has a strict time limit), but Natalya keeps her hands locked, eventually slamming Kelly head-first to the mat to stop the onslaught.

Natalya brings Kelly to her feet, slapping her and sending her into the ropes. On the return, Kelly blocks Natalya’s attack with one kick and another before she scrambles onto her shoulders, rolling to the mat and holding her in a tight pin. Kelly gets the 3-count and the win.

With yet another blight to her reputation, Beth storms the ring and attacks Kelly, taking her out with the Glam Slam. Not to be outdone (though technically she already has), Natalya locks Kelly’s legs in her own and hangs her upside down, holding her arms back as Beth delivers a message. Mic in hand, the Glamazon holds it close to Kelly’s mouth to capture her sobbing and screaming, saying that that is the sound Kelly will make when she takes the Divas Championship from her this Sunday. Finally, Beth gets to her feet, Natalya releases Kelly, and the both of them stand triumphant over their foe.

Thoughts: Yet another instance of the Divas of Doom being full of talk, but unable to get the job done where it counts: in the win/loss column. Natalya and Kelly’s match was nothing special, just a chance for Kelly to one-up them again and draw the ire of Beth. Clearly, the DoD are stronger and more vicious than Kelly and can string her up for punishment quite easily, but it’s between the bell rings that they just can’t seem to get the job done. Beth has promised (again) to take the title from Kelly this Sunday, so I suppose we’ll see if she will finally make good on her promise, or if the DoD’s achille’s heel, the dreaded roll-up pin, will be their downfall once again.

After two straight losses at Night of Champions and Raw, the Divas of Doom aka Beth Phoenix and Natalya, are looking to pick up a win on Friday Night SmackDown over The Chickbusters, AJ and Kaitlyn. Will D.O.D steamroll over the rookie Divas yet again or will the NXT 3 alumni pull out the upset victory? Check out the match below:

Straight from commercial, we find the Chickbusters already in the ring, fist bumping it up, as they await their opponents. Although they may look excited, I’m sure AJ hasn’t forgotten that brutal Glam Slam from last week… D.O.D come out next, still seething from their recent and looking to take out their frustrations on AJ and Kaitlyn. Poor Chickbusters…

The referee signals for the bell and Kaitlyn and Natalya start the match off for their respective teams. The lovely Divas lock up in the middle of the ring, but Nattie quickly overpowers Kaitlyn and forces her into the corner. Nattie grabs her rookie opponent by the hair, prompting the official to intervene, giving Kaitlyn just enough time to avoid Natalya as she charged into the corner. Kaitlyn follows up with a dropkick, but her momentum is quickly broght to a screeching halt, when Natalya sends her flying into the second rope.

Natalya tries to choke Kaitlyn out using the ropes and is admonished by the referee. Taking advantage of the distraction, Beth nearly breaks Kaitlyn’s jaw with a cheap kick to the face. With Kaitlyn effective neutralized for the moment, Nattie tags Beth in and they lay Kaitlyn out with a double delayed vertical suplex. Adding insult to injury, Beth grounds Kaitlyn’s face into the mat, but Kaitlyn fights her off and tags in the fresh AJ.

AJ comes into the match fiery as ever, laying into Beth with a flurry of strikes, culminating with a impressive shining wizard kick. It looks like AJ has this one in the bag, but Natalya breaks up the pins, which leads to Kaitlyn making the save for her partner. With Kaitlyn and Nattie fighting on the outside, Beth whips AJ towards the corner, but AJ attempts to reverse into a headscissors. Unfortunately, Beth catches her and lands a stiff kick to the gut, before finishing AJ off with a Glam Slam.

All in all, a pretty good match. D.O.D was made to look super strong, much like last week and I thought theChickbusters looked pretty good as well. Kaitlyn seems to be progressing well as a wrestler and even has some “real” ring gear, which definitely earns her some points in my book.

My biggest gripe is the fact that D.O.D seem to be stuck in a loop. Beat up rookies, earn title shot, lose title shot, wash, rinse, repeat, etc. WWE either needs to pull the trigger when it comes to D.O.D, because slowly but surely fans are losing interest. Something exciting needs to be done and soon, if WWE expects fans to keep believing the Divas of Doom hype.

Let’s be honest, shall we? The minute spoilers came out on Tuesday all of you knew that a SmackDown this epic could only have the most epic Redux writer of all covering it. And yes, that’s me, Cryssi. So here I am, taking over Steven’s SmackDown Redux and bringing it back to the greatness that I built it up to be. With Night of Champions only a few days away, it seems like the blue brand decided to pull out all stops to try and get some momentum going. Beth Phoenix, our gorgeous number one contender to the Divas Championship, took on AJ, our resident adorable Diva. And yes people, Beth and AJ’s respective BFFs were at ringside; Natalya and Kaitlyn.

Also, with SmackDown hailing from Toronto, former seven-time Women’s Champion and Diva of the Decade, Trish Stratus, made not one but two appearances, and she joined seductress Aksana in one of those! Why waste any more time? Lets take a look at how all the SmackDown drama unfolded this week.

Our first taste of Trish this week comes in the form of a backstage segment. Teddy Long and Zack Ryder are chatting, when Aksana comes into the picture. She looks smoking hot this week (the black hair is totally growing on me) and she asks Teddy what’s going on. Teddy says that he was talking to Zack about Zack taking responsibility for his actions. Aksana askes Teddy if he wants a massage and says that in her country, it was basically her job to give men massages after a long work day. She begins working over Teddy’s shoulders and when she starts to go lower, he bends over, so of course it turns into something slightly perverted! Teddy is making these noises of um… pleasure when someone else walks into the scene.

TRISH!

Aksana and Teddy jump apart and Teddy claims that it isn’t what it looks like. Trish agrees that it never is. Hilarious! Poor Teddy, he sticks his foot in his mouth and feeling like he’s suffered enough mortification, Trish just leaves. LOVE it!

Wonder if Trish had flashbacks of when Triple H had her bent over, showing her some wrestling holds, and Queen Stephanie walked in and had a mental breakdown?? Pretty sure the segment with Aksana/Teddy was meant to sorta spoof that in a weird 2011 way and it absolutely worked. Again, Aksana and her black hair are growing on me, and Trish, like always, looks fab. Wonder who else Trish might run into backstage this week? Hmmm….

After a well done video package featuring Sheamus, we’re taken to the backstage area once where Trish is standing with her fellow Canadian, Edge. She’s fitting a pair of gloves on his hand, no doubt part of her new yoga fitness line, and Edge admits to her that he hasn’t done much yoga in his day. He strikes a pose, and the old friends share a laugh, but that’s quickly broken up by the appearance of Edge’s former best friend and the greatest World Heavyweight Champion to ever grace the squared circle, Christian!

For some ungodly reason unbeknownst to me, Christian presence is greeted in the arena by a chorus of ungrateful boos from the Canadians who do not respect their hometown hero. The delicious yet arrogant Christian smirks at the two people he knows very well. He asks them what’s going on before turning to Trish and looking her up and down. Christian tells her it’s nice of her to show up when she has something to sell, and calls her selfish. Then he turns his attention to Edge. Christian is extremely peppy given the circumstances and tells Edge that it’s good to see him again, and that’s so great to be reunited. Edge seems confused, and says that they apparently missed phone calls to one another after SummerSlam, given what happened between the two of them.

You know, when Edge cost Christian the World Heavyweight Championship.

Christian brings that up, but not in blunt terms. He says that perhaps Edge did cost him the title, because he maybe blew Christian’s concentration, but he actually says he can’t really fault his bestie for that. All he was doing was speaking his mind, and that’s what friends are supposed to do, right? Be honest with one another? They hug it out, and Christian gushes about how good it is to see Edge again. They break apart, and yes Trish is still standing around what this moment unfold. Christian eludes to the fact that it’s a big night for Edge, and that since this is basically Edge Appreciation Night, Edge should go see Teddy Long and do Christian a favor. He owes him after all. He wants Edge to go tell Teddy that he (Christian) deserves ONE MORE shot at the World Heavyweight Championship.

He totally deserves it, by the way.

An awkward silence falls over the group and Edge doesn’t really have anything to say. He just sorta makes these weird, painful facial expressions. It doesn’t really settle well with my boo, and he starts flipping out. Christian not so politely reminds Edge that back at WrestleMania he was in Edge’s corner did everything he could (i.e. look smoking hot while he was just a few feet away from me) to make sure Edge retained the title. And basically, you know, it really is all Christian’s doing that Edge retired as champion. Edge can’t take it anymore and he tells Christian that thanks to him he now has a headache and there’s something he’s been wanting to NOT tell Christian. He basically calls him a little bitch.

Wow… rude.

Christian of course gets upset and storms off, and when Edge turns back to Trish, she’s speechless. She’s not really sure what to say and before they can resume their yoga talk, Zack Ryder rushes up. He forgets to breathe and tells Edge to please tell Randy Orton and Mark Henry that there is a no contact policy for the Cutting Edge segment later on tonight. He runs off before Edge can protest and Trish just blinks. She asks Edge if that was the Internet Champion and neither one of them really knows what just happened. They shake it off, Trish goes back into yoga mode, and Edge suddenly finds himself learning the proper way to breathe.

Greatest. Segment. Ever.

If there’s anything better than Trish, Christian, Edge, and Zack Ryder in one segment, then let me know, because honestly there isn’t. So much history between the three, and throw in Ryder whom everyone loves… it’s perfect. Dolph Ziggler perfect.

Wow.

And you know, SmackDown still has a match. As promised, Beth takes on….

What in the world?! Steven, what are you doing?! THIS IS MY SMACKDOWN REDUX! GO AWAY! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! EXCUSE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know how long it took me to get out of the trunk of that car, Cryssi?! And how did you get chloroform anyway?! Anyway, while Diva Dirt security takes care of Cryssi, let’s move onto our match between AJ and Beth Phoenix, shall we?

We come back from commercial to find AJ in the ring along with her BFF, Kaitlyn. AJ is sporting a new version of her signature gear, this week in green. I approve. Not to be outdone, Beth makes her way to the ring next, accompanied by her BFF, Natalya and is also rocking new gear. Beth makes her way to her ring and poor AJ looks absolutely terrified, but the Geek Goddess isn’t about back down from the Glamazon. The official signals for the bell and our squash… um… I mean our highly competitive, evenly matched contest is underway… Yeah… That’s what I meant…

The ladies start off with a basic lockup, but Beth immediately gets the upper-hand, muscling AJ into the corner. AJ cowers for a moment, but snaps right into action when Beth comes charging at her. AJ slides between Beth’s legs and lands a kick, which slows Phoenix down a bit. AJ tries to capitalize on the moment and goes for a wheelbarrow bulldog, but Beth reverses it into back suplex, laying AJ out.

As AJ writhes in agony on the canvas, the #1 contender lifts AJ and gorilla presses her a few times, before dropping her right into a kick to the gut. AJ attempts to make a comeback with a flurry of strikes, but she’s floored once again by a big boot to the chest by the Glamazon. Done playing games with AJ, Beth picks AJ and plants her with a BRUTAL looking Glam Slam to pick up the win.

Post-match, Beth gets on the mic and says the Kelly Kelly and all the other ‘Cinderellas’ in the WWE are going to have their fairy tales ended on Sunday when she wins the Divas Championship. So… does that make her and Nattie and ugly stepsisters? Analogy fail, much?

As for the match, I liked it. It was fairly short, but it did exactly what it was meant to do: make Beth look strong going into Night of Champions. Gotta give credit to AJ, as well. She knows how to take a hell of a beating. I thought she sold everything Beth threw at her very well. Hopefully, one day she’ll be in the title picture, as opposed to being fodder for the #1 contender…

All in all, it was a good night for the Divas. A solid match going into the next PPV, legendary Diva appearances, green plaid… what more could you ask for? Hopefully, the Divas can keep this momentum through Night of Champions.

And that’s it for this week’s SmackDown Redux! See you all next week! If I don’t get kidnapped by a crazed Christian fan again, that is…

After Beth Phoenix picked up a victory for Team Vegetables on Raw this past Monday, Divas Champion Kelly Kelly evened the odds on SmackDown last night by picking up a point for Team Candy. That’s if you’re keeping score.

Check out the Divas Champ taking on Diva of Doom, Natalya, below:

Out first is Kelly Kelly, looking fabulous in blue (Note to Kelly: This is your color.) while Natalya is out in black, with Beth by her side.

As the Glamazon and Hart Dynasty Diva make their way to ringside, Beth gives a Kelly a very sinister glare. What ever could Beth be thinking?

In the ring, Kelly is unphased as she quickly turns up the sass, saying something inaudible to Natalya while looking rather pissed off.

As the bell rings, Nattie runs at Kelly, attempting to get a jump on things by attacking her but Kelly cleverly scouts this and moves out of dodge, leaving Nattie to eat ring rope. Kelly then fires away at Natalya with forearm shots and then hits her with a bulldog. Kelly tries to pin Natalya but the Diva of Doom kicks out at one.

Kelly then jumps up on Natalya’s shoulders and positions herself over the top rope, locking in a tarantula position a la Tajiri. The champion impressively manages to choke out Natalya until the referee reaches the five count, at which point she must break it up. As Kelly jumps up on the apron to get back in the ring, Natalya viciously knocks her off sending Kelly flying off the apron and onto the floor outside. Kelly really does take those bumps to the outside well!

As Kelly struggles to her feet, her opponent for Night of Champions perches herself on the steel ring steps watching the champion with a smug look. Oh, we love it!

Natalya, continuing her aggressive streak, launches at Kelly from behind axing her across the back and sending her back down to the floor as Beth looks on approvingly. Natalya then adds in a hard slap across the face, humiliating Kelly further, before rolling her into the ring.

Back in the ring, Natalya revels in her handiwork as Kelly struggles to catch her breath and rise to her feet, but she isn’t going to give her the chance to — Natalya lays in a big boot to the stomach and sends Kelly reeling. Natalya again is relishing in the pain she has caused. Nattie talks trash to Kelly, getting right in her face.

Natalya now shows off her technical prowess, locking in an abdominal stretch on K2 who screams in agony as only Kelly can. Kelly, however, finds a second wind and begins elbowing her way out of the move but Natala is one step ahead, slamming her against the mat by the hair. On the outside, Beth applauds her partner.

Pin attempt by Natalya but no three count. Natalya then applies a chin lock and backs K2 into the ropes where she talks smack directly in Kelly’s face trying to intimidate her.

However, the intimidation doesn’t work as Kelly begins to fight back with a big slap to the face. But before she can continue the momentum, Natalya hoists her over her shoulders and begins spinning on the spot before tossing K2 over the top rope, but Kelly manages to hang on to the apron. Kelly with a shoulder tackle through the ring ropes and then a sunset flip attempt but Natalya manages to roll through and is in perfect position for a Sharpshooter. But before Natalya can lock in her signature submission, Kelly manages to roll her up into a small package and takes the victory.

After Kelly gets the win, Beth runs into the ring and begins laying in some vicious strikes but Kelly manages to flee the ring to safety. Meanwhile, Natalya is furious with her loss.

Thoughts: Loved this match! Natalya and Kelly really do have great chemistry. Natalya’s viciousness in this match shows was very well done. She was just the perfect level of vicious to live up to the ‘Divas of Doom’ nickname. Like the Beth/Kelly match at SummerSlam, the logic here was solid, with Kelly playing the underdog and eventually taking the victory in a surprise outcome. I would love to see what these two Divas could do in a 10 minute pay per view match.

Big props to Beth also, who I think added a nice wrinkle to the match from the outside. She came across sinister and menacing on the outside, perching herself on the steel steps watching on and clapping at Natalya’s viciousness. That definitely worked also.

One concern I would raise, however, is that I truly hope Natalya and Beth are booked as equals in Divas of Doom and that Natalya isn’t just booked as Beth’s subordinate a la Layla and Michelle. Both of these Divas are incredible, and I think it would be a shame if they made Natalya the ‘weaker’ of the two. I would like to see Natalya vs Kelly for the title, perhaps.

What did you think of this week’s Divas match? Tell us below…

Welcome to a very special SUPER SmackDown Redux! This week, the Divas of Doom (Natalya and Beth Phoenix) take on the team of Alicia Fox and the Divas Champion, Kelly Kelly in tag team action (with Aksana as ring announcer!). Can DOD back up their words and put Kelly and Alicia in their places or will the champ come out on top once again? Check out the match below:

Out first are the Divas of Doom, looking stoic as usual. While Nattie is in her usual pink and black attire, Beth is sporting a darker, more subdued version of her SummerSlam gear and it looks pretty good. Kelly and the newly babyfaced Alicia Fox are out next, playing to the crowd. Is it just me or are Alicia’s face mannerisms nearly identical to her heel ones? Ahem. Anyhoo…

Both teams take their places and the official signals for the bell, kicking off our tag team match for the night. Kelly and Natalya start the match for their respective teams with a lockup. Natalya muscles Kelly into the corner, prompting the referee to call for the break. While Nattie is distracted, Kelly slaps her across the face, which only upsets her. Nattie goes for a clothesline, but Kelly dodges and takes her down with a Thesz Press, followed by a few punches.

After a stiff forearm, Kelly attempts to whip Nattie across the ring, but it gets reversed. Kelly goes for a headscissors out of the corner, but Natalya catches her and drops her flat out her face, turning the tide of the match. With the champion dazed, Natalya drags her to her corner and tags in the Glamazon.

The Divas of Doom keep the heat on Kelly Kelly, flattening her with a double team shoulder block for a near fall. Frustrated, Beth Phoenix throws Kelly onto the second rope and starts pounding on her. The referee manages to pull her away, which gives Natalya a chance to land a cheap kick to the face of the champion, allowing Beth to get another near fall.

Kelly tries to fight out of the grasp of the Glamazon, but Beth quickly puts an end to that and lifts Kelly up for a slam. Fortunately for Kelly, she manages to escapes and makes the hot tag to the fresh Alicia Fox.

Beth tries to cut Alicia off at the pass with a clothesline, but Alicia blocks it and sends her reeling with a forearm. Taking full advantage of Phoenix rare moment of weakness, Alicia heads to the top rope and lands a high crossbody. Beth tries to slow Fox’s momentum by reversing her Irish Whip, but Alicia leaps to the second rope and land a (slightly awkward) back elbow, taking Beth off of her feet once again.

With Beth incapacitated, Alicia knocks Natalya off of the apron, before taking landing a high kick to the head of Beth Phoenix. Alicia launches herself off of the ropes, looking to finish Phoenix off with a scissor kick, but gets blasted with a double axe-handle to the chest. Wasting no time, Beth lifts Alicia off of the mat and lays her out with a Glam Slam, picking up the win for her team.

Pretty good match for the Divas on this week’s SmackDown. I really thought Kelly did a good job as the babyface in peril. She took the brunt of the offense from Beth and Nattie and didn’t need to resort to her typical moveset, which is a refreshing change of pace. I thought things got a bit awkward and sloppy when Alicia hit the ring, but I’ll chalk it up to her adjusting to a different moveset as a babyface for now.

As always, Beth and Nattie were great in the ring, but as characters I feel like they’re slowly but surely becoming all sizzle, but no steak. If the Divas of Doom are going to be a dominant force in the Divas division, they need to do something big. Standing on the ramp clapping and the occasional vignette just isn’t cutting it anymore.

With only three weeks left until Night of Champions, I hope WWE can really give us some real direction and development in this DOD/Kelly feud. While I can’t speak for everyone, this rivalry has gone from a raging fire to fizzling flame in a matter of weeks. Let’s hope things make a change for the better in the coming weeks.

Welcome everyone to this week’s SmackDown Redux! Filling in for Steven this week as he braves the battle of Hurricane Irene shall be yours truly, normally NXT Watch-er, Bobby. This week, we saw a first time match up, as the Booker T-proclaimed Warrior Princess, Tamina, took on the overly perky & nice (alright, gotta shake off the NXT/Maxine rust here) Divas Champion, Kelly Kelly in one on one action. Alongside the non-title bout, we also had a brief segment with Aksana backstage…so without any further ado, let’s kick things off!

We head back from a commercial break to Tamina standing in the ring. Of course, she uses this new theme song whenever she doesn’t get to actually enter on TV, but nonetheless, Tamina sports some sick new gear as well, and looks as menacing as ever standing in the ring. Out next comes the fan favorite, who has grown accustomed to the blue brand as of late, Divas Champion, Kelly Kelly. As she makes her way to the ring, we get a brief promo from Natalya shot earlier in the night. She proclaims that Kelly Kelly is beautiful, much like the WWE’s version of a barbie doll…only she doesn’t play with dolls. (Note: Natalya’s got a pretty mean looking stare as the promo ends… if looks could kill).

The bell sounds, as the two divas circle each other around the ring. They lock up as Tamina takes the quick upper strength advantage. Kelly ducks a punch in the corner and begins going crazy on Tamina. A thesz press soon follows, as she proceeds to slap Tamina right in the ass. This infuriates Tamina, and brings out my favorite feature in her…the bitch face. She can master it like no other, but back to the match…Kelly runs off the ropes with a spinning headscissors takedown that sends Tamina into the ropes. She slowly tries to flip over to the outside of the ring, but finally does so as she manages to avoid a kick from the champ.

Kelly locks in a handstand leg choke to reach a four count, but Tamina takes control, snapping K2′s head off the ropes. Tamina slides back into the ring and drops Kelly with a bodyslam. From there, she applies an arm lock, before Kelly manages to flip it over into an arm drag. K2 drops Tamina with a kick to the knee, before pounding her face into the mat and following it up with a bulldog.

Kelly picks Tamina up and sends her into the corner. She runs up and hits a nice handspring elbow, proceeding with the stinkface. You know that’s gotta piss Tamina off…but nonetheless, Kelly climbs to the top rope and jumps off with a crossbody attempt, only Tamina is able to catch her in mid air. Kelly slips out through the back, however, and drops Tamina with the K2 for the victory! The Divas Champion celebrates with her title, as the segment comes to a close.

In other news, we had a very brief Aksana segment this week, where it’s discovered that we have the option to ‘turn her on’ this Tuesday night on the live edition of Super Smackdown.

Thoughts: The match was pretty standard. Yes, there was a sloppy part after the headscissors, but other than that I thought it was pretty much your average match. Kelly has picked up a lot of wins since becoming champion, which definitely makes her look strong heading into her eventual fight with the Divas of Doom. Speaking of which, I thought Natalya’s promo was awesome. She has a very old school feel to her when she’s on the microphone, and I enjoy how she doesn’t just stand there and sound like she’s reading off of a cue card, rather she puts emotion into her mic work and I believe she means what she says. As for Aksana, I don’t even think she could grasp a cue card, and I do believe every misinterpreted thing that she speaks. All in all, an average edition of SmackDown. Hopefully the live Tuesday episode doesn’t disappoint.

This week on Friday Night SmackDown, Natalya trades in her fellow Diva of Doom, Beth Phoenix for the feisty Alicia Fox, as they face off against the team of former NXT rookie Diva, AJ and the reigning Divas Champion, Kelly Kelly. Can the champ ride her SummerSlam momentum to another win over the Divas of Doom, or will Nattie do what Beth couldn’t and knock Kelly down a peg or two? Check out the match below and find out:

First out is the team of AJ and Kelly Kelly, who are both looking fantastic. Kelly’s gear is giving me some Michelle McCool, while AJ’s new baby blue gear is stunning. Hell, even Josh Mathews noticed it. Alicia and Natalya enter next and Nattie looks like she’s all business tonight. Despite having faced each other several times in the past, both Alicia and Nattie appear to be on the same page. That said, appearances can be deceiving… The official signals for the bell and Natalya and AJ kick things off in this Divas tag match.

Natalya and AJ start off with a basic collar and elbow tie-up, but Natalya gets the upperhand when AJ tries an armdrag is unable to take the veteran over. After being (wo)manhandled back to her feet, AJ tries her hand at a schoolboy pin, which is unsuccessful as well and gets a stomp to the gut for her trouble. Using her significant size advantage over AJ, Natalya grabs her opponent by the throat and muscles her into the corner, leaving her cowering in fear.

After some prompting from the referee, Natalya backs off of AJ for a moment, but charges right back in for the kill. Luckily for AJ she saw it coming and manages to get her feet up, sending Nattie reeling. AJ tries to take advantage of the moment and take Nattie down with a flying crossbody, but once again she’s not able to take the third generation Diva off of her feet.

After wiggling out of a powerslam from Nattie, AJ runs straight into a stiff back elbow, but manages to recover quickly and take Natalya down to the mat with a beautiful floatover headscissors. Nattie kicks out quickly and brings AJ’s momentum to a screeching halt once again. Natalya whips AJ into the corner and charges at her again. AJ sees her coming and tries to get her feet up for a kick. Unfortunately for AJ, the same trick doesn’t work twice. Nattie blocks the kick, snaps AJ down to the mat and drags her over to her team’s corner, before tagging in Alicia Fox.

After a bit of double teaming, Alicia takes AJ down with a snapmare, followed by a few knees to the side and head of AJ. AJ tries her best to get her partner, but Alicia grounds her with a headlock, effectively neutralizing AJ’s high flying abilities. AJ also fight her way out of the submission, only to be pulled back down to the mat by Alicia and dragged to the opposite side of the ring.

After a double vertical suplex from Nattie and Alicia, Nattie goes for the pin but only gets a two count. Looking to keep control of the match, Nattie tags Alicia back in and Fox goes to work on AJ in the corner. The referee pulls Alicia off of AJ, which gives her just enough time to fight her way out and get over to her partner, Kelly Kelly.

Kelly comes into the match like a house of fire, taking Alicia down with a Thesz Press, followed by her patented headscissors and a running bulldog. Stunned, Alicia crawled to the corner, setting herself up for a Kelly Kelly stinkface. Kelly tries to end things with a hurricanrana, but Natalya makes the save and ends up brawling with AJ on the outside of the ring.

Looking to capitalize on her partner’s distraction, Alicia goes for the Scissors Kick, but the champ evades and counters with the K2 to pick up the win for her team.

Post-match, Alicia and Natalya get into an argument, which ends in Alicia getting blindsided by Nattie and locked in the Sharpshooter on the outside of the ring.

Very good match from the Divas on SmackDown, this week. Up until now, Beth Phoenix has been the face of the Divas of Doom, but Nattie showed that she could hold her own this week. Hopefully, we’ll see Natalya get a shot at the Divas title soon. Also, props to AJ and Kelly, who held their own this week. While Kelly will never be a world class cheerleader, she did well in her role as the hot tag and AJ took a beating the entire match, but had a few shining moments of her own.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the post-match segment. I’m assuming that this solidifies Alicia’s face turn, which is a damn, because she made a pretty good heel, in my opinion. We’ll see how it turns out. As long as she does to dance like she did the last time she was face, she should be ok.

And what would Fridays be without our weekly dose of Aksana? This week’s Aksanaism is a doozy. Check it out below:

Oh, Aksana…

After turning heel on their respective brands last week, Beth Phoenix and Natalya have come together to form their own faction, Divas of Doom, dedicated to destroying all the perky princess Divas in the WWE. Their first targets? SmackDown’s rookie Divas, AJ and Kaitlyn. Can the Chick Busters pull out an upset victory or will the Divas of Doom steamroll over them, building even more momentum going into SummerSlam.

Check out the match below to find out:

Kaitlyn and AJ are already in the ring awaiting their opponent as DOD make their entrance. I must admit, Beth and Nattie are quite formidable as a unit. If I was AJ or Kaitlyn, I’d probably try to make a run for it, but that’s just me. Natalya step into the ring to kick things off for their respective teams and our Diva tag match is underway.

Right off the bat, Natalya grabs a handful of Kaitlyn’s hair, looking to prove her dominance over the NXT winner. Kaitlyn breaks free and slaps on a waistlock, but Nattie escapes with a hip attack, followed by a slap across the face. While the rookie Diva is still stunned, Nattie lays her out with a scoop slam and tags in her partner Beth Phoenix.

The veteran Divas lift poor Kaitlyn over their head and nearly put her through the mat with a double team electric chair drop for only a two count. Frustrated with Kaitlyn’s tenacity, Beth whips her into the corner and charges in for the kill, but Kaitlyn evade and scrambles to tag in her fellow Chick Buster, AJ.

AJ comes into the match like a house of fire, using her speed to dodge a blow from the Glamazon and hits an offensive flurry of her own, almost taking the former Women’s Champion off of her feet. Unfortunately for AJ, Beth manages to reverse the wheelbarrow maneuver into a Glam Slam to pick up the win for her team.

Post-match, Beth grabbed AJ and tossed her out of the ring, while Nattie locked Kaitlyn into the Sharpshooter as Beth watched on.

Short, but sweet match for the Divas this week. While it may not have been much, I think it achieved its purpose: To make Divas of Doom look dominant going into SummerSlam. And it worked.

As for the Chick Busters, while they not be picking up many wins, I think they are progressing nicely in the ring. Especially Kaitlyn. I know I gave the NXT3 winner a lot of grief during her season and after her win, but I think she is trying her her best to improve as a wrestler and it’s showing. While I definitely think she and AJ have room for improvement, I’ve enjoyed their work on SmackDown recently.

We also had another encounter between Teddy Long and Aksana, who debuted two brand new Aksanaisms: “Why you long, Teddy?” and “Do you want to do me with business?” Classic…

Although I’m liking Aksana in this role, it seems tailor-made for FCW/NXT’s Maxine, who is known for using her feminine wiles to attain power. Oh well, we’ll just have to have and see how this Aksana storyline plays out in the coming weeks.

All in all, I thought the SmackDown Divas had a good week. The new union of Natalya and Beth is quite interesting and makes me wonder how Kelly Kelly will overcome the odds at SummerSlam this weekend…

This week on SmackDown, teacher took on student as Natalya and AJ faced off in a singles match. Will AJ surpass her mentor or does Natalya have a few more lessons to teach? Check out the match below:

Out first is AJ, who is perky as always. Natalya is out next to a pretty decent pop from the audience. After a few awkward grins to one another, the referee signals for the bell and our match is underway.

They start things off with a handshake before locking up. AJ gets the upper-hand with a waistlock, but Nattie reverses into a waistlock of her own. AJ escapes and slaps on a hammer lock, but Natalya reverses once again with a fireman’s carry into an armbar. AJ tries to to turn the tables with a head-scissors, but Nattie kicks out, leaving both Divas at a stalemate.

AJ and Nattie lock up once again and AJ attempts to take Natalya down to the mat with a headlock. Unfortunately for AJ, her small frame allows Natalya to easily toss her away. AJ tries once again, but this time uses her agility to run off of the ropes and take Nattie off of her feet.

Nattie fights back to a vertical base and whips AJ off of the ropes, but AJ gets the upper-hand yet again with a wheelbarrow armdrag. Frustrated with the resilient AJ, Nattie ties her up in a submission, but AJ wiggles once again, managing to lock in a submission of her own right before Nattie kicks her in the face.

Natalya whips AJ off the ropes yet again, but the ‘Geek Goddess’ goes for a crucifix pin. When that fails, she converts into a sunset flip. Natalya rolls through the pin attempt and locks in Sharpshooter, making quick work of AJ.

Post-match, Natalya turns heel and beats the hell out of poor AJ, which is reminiscent of Beth attacking Kelly this past week on Raw. After she’s done, Nattie grabs a mic and says she agrees with Beth and that “… the days of the perky, cute little princesses are over.”

All in all, a great segment. I wish the match was longer, because AJ and Nattie really had some great chemistry, but it was still a good match. The post match beatdown was excellent, in my opinion. Much like Kelly Kelly on Monday, AJ sold this beating like a champ, making it so much more believable.

Like everyone else, I’m wondering where does this heel turn lead? Beth’s turn was needed to make her the #1 Contender, but what is the point of Natalya’s. Perhaps she will align herself with Beth and return to Raw? I surely hope so, because the Sisters of Destruction could be the most dominant Diva duo since Lay-Cool. Can’t wait to see how this Natalya storyline plays out in the coming weeks.

This week we also got the official debut of NXT3 Rookie Diva, Aksana, sporting a brand new look. Watch below as she tries to seduce Teddy long into giving her a spot on Smackdown:

Cute segment here between Aksana and Teddy. Aksana’s strongest asset is her character, so I’m not surprised to see her being used in that capacity to SmackDown. I foresee a lot more of these segments with Teddy Long in our near future, so hopefully it doesn’t get stale too quickly.

Overall, a really good week for the Divas on both Raw and SmackDown. Hopefully, WWE will continue giving the Divas some decent writing and some time to work with.

SmackDown is starting to become hit or miss when it comes to Diva matches, but this week we were lucky enough to get one… even if it was the same match we’ve seen several times in the the past. This week. Alicia Fox, who has been on quite the winning streak as of late, leads her team of Tamina and Rosa Mendes into battle against Natalya and her proteges, AJ and Kaitlyn. Can Alicia and co. pull out a win this week or will Team Natalya (finally) be victorious? Check out the match below and find out:

We kick things off with Natayla already in the ring working out their strategy for the match. Alicia, Tamina and Rosa are out next and Alicia is rocking pigtails yet again. I guess having her weave ripped out once was enough for her, huh? Natalya and Tamina get into position to start the match and the official signals for the bell.

Nattie starts things off by getting right in Tamina’s face and talking some trash. Not intimidated in the slightest, Tamina piefaces Natalya and goes for a slap. Natalya blocks the slap and dishes out one of her own, before charging at a stunned Tamina full speed. Tamina tries to cut off Natalya’s momentum, but Nattie slides between her legs and goes for a crucifix pin. Unfortunately for Nattie, she can’t manage to get the Polynesian Princess’ shoulders to the mat. Natalya quickly converts into a sunset flip for a quick one count.

Tamina tries to take Natalya down with a kick, but it’s blocked and Natalya takes her down and goes for the Sharpshooter. Tamina quickly fights out before Nattie can lock it in and hits her signature Samoan drop, nearly sending Natalya through the ring. Instead of going for the pin after her finisher like most people would, Tamina drags Natalya over to her corner and tags in Alicia, who goes right to work, slamming Natalya into the mat, before going into the pin for the nearfall.

Not giving her opponent any time to breathe, Alicia whips her legs around and locks in a leg-scissors. Unfortunately for Fox, Natalya easily overpowers her and hangs her in the “Tree of Joey Lawrence” (Thanks Prazak and Danger) and levels her with a dropkick to the gut. Nattie crawls over to her corner and manages to tag AJ, who speeds up the pace considerably.

Right out the gate AJ evades a charging Alicia and retaliates with a flying clothesline/tilt-a-whirl headscissors/Shining Wizard combination and goes for the pin, which prompts Rosa and Tamina to rush the ring, saving their leader from defeat. Nattie and Kaitlyn come to AJ’s rescue, and the Divas take the fight to ringside, leaving AJ and Alicia in the ring.

Alicia whips a dazed AJ across the ring and charges, but AJ counters with an elbow to the face and goes to the high risk district. AJ comes flying off the second rope with a crossbody, but Alicia dodges and hits her scissors kick to pick up the win for her team.

A pretty good showing for the Smackdown Divas going into the battle royal on Monday. It’s so rare that the SmackDown Divas get included in these Raw battle royals, so I think it was important to make the blue brand Divas look like credible contenders going in, which I think was achieved.

As for the actual match, with the exception of the slightly botched scissors kick ending, it was really good, even if it was a bit predictable. Definitely the best tag match these Divas have had against each other.

Last, but certainly not least, we have to discuss Alicia’s dominance on SmackDown and what it means for the upcoming battle royal. With the recent string of wins lately and the lack of challengers on Raw, it seems almost certain that Alicia Fox is being groomed to have a feud with Kelly Kelly and possibly even a second reign as Divas Champion. Believe it or not, I would actually like to see this feud happen. I’ve enjoyed most of the matches that Alicia and Kelly have had together and I think they could put together something decent at SummerSlam. Also, if Alicia does win at SmmerSlam, it would bring the butterfly belt back to it’s home on SmackDown and give Divas like Nattie and AJ an opportunity to work in a championship program.

Anyhoo, great week for the SmackDown Divas. Hopefully, one of them can be the last Diva standing on Monday Night Raw and make their way to SummerSlam. GO TEAM SMACKDOWN!!!

This week on SmackDown, Kelly Kelly brought her shiny new Divas Championship to the blue brand, as she faced Rosa Mendes in a non-title match. Can Kelly build up some more steam going into her very first title defense at Money in the Bank, or will the Freakin’ Costa Rican pull out an upset win over the champ? Check out the match below and find out:

We start off with Rosa in the ring with Alicia Fox, who has seemingly become the leader of this Mean Girls-esque Diva faction on SmackDown. Out next is Kelly Kelly, and the announcers bring our attention to the fact that her elbow is bandaged up. Too bad the Divas don’t get enough time to do things like work an injured body part or anything like that, because a preexisting injury would have been an excellent focal point for the match. But hey, what do I know?

Anyhoo, after some crowd working by Kelly and some trash talking from Rosa, the official signals for the bell and our match is underway.

Right out the gate, Kelly avoids locking up and rolls Rosa up with a victory roll for a one count. Kelly charges after Rosa, but Rosa pulls her into the second rope, neck first and goes for her own pin. Unfortunately for Rosa, Kelly kicks out at two. Frustrated, Rosa lashes out at Kelly with some mounted punches, before slapping on a modified surfboard submission.

After a bit of struggling, Kelly fights out of the submission with a butt bump, followed by an over-the-shoulder throw. Kelly takes advantage by tripping Rosa and smashes her face into the canvas, before giving her a butt slap, adding insult to injury. Rosa tries charging at the champ, but Kelly evades and takes her down with a neckbreaker for a nearfall. Kelly picks up Rosa and whips her into the corner for a stinkface, but when she tries to finish her off with the bulldog, Rosa manages to block it. Seeing her opportunity, Rosa goes for a spinning neckbreaker, but Kelly reverses it into the K2 to pick up the win.

Post-match Alicia Fox and Kelly shoot some dirty looks at each other, as Kelly celebrates her win. I’d like to think that the combination of Kelly’s SmackDown appearance and the looks that her and Alicia were giving each other might mean that the Divas Championship might be defended on both brands again, but that’s most likely not the case.

Very short match this week (as usual), but it served its purpose, just like Kelly’s match against Melina on Raw did: To make Kelly look as strong as possible going into her title defense on Sunday. Both girls looked pretty good in the ring, which is more than what I expected. I would have liked to see more of the AJ/Kaitlyn/Natalya vs Alicia/Rosa/Tamina rivalry, but the champion appearing on SmackDown is hopefully a good sign for the coming weeks.

In a land far away, evil tyrant Vince locked out his SmackDown Divas deeming that they would not have “fun, fun, fun” on a Friday. It was a cold, harsh lockout. The Divas wandered aimlessly backstage, their reason for being taken away from them. Some drowned their sorrows in catering. Some tried to dress up as male Superstars to try and get on the show. Some stuck pins in voodoo dolls of the Raw Divas.

But then… The drought eventually ended when AJ, the spunky young newcomer, decided that she had to, in fact, “get down on Friday.”

And so, here we are. The Divas lockout is over! Hurrah!

SmackDown, it seems, is now the tale of womanhood as AJ, a ‘little girl’ (Michael Cole’s words), journeys to become a woman by defeating Tamina: Warrior Princess (Booker T’s words).

It’s AJ, minus her annoying/catchy (delete as applicable) entrance theme, taking on Tamina as the Divas drought ends on SmackDown. As usual, team leaders, Alicia Fox and Natalya are also at ringside.

As the bell rings, AJ and Tamina lock up as AJ tries to go for an armdrag on the much larger Samoan Diva. Tamina, of course, is not budging — Duh! — and uses her strength to hoist AJ off the ground with great ease. The Great Khali Tamina has both of her hands around AJ’s neck and tosses her into the corner. Tamina gets in AJ’s face before the referee pulls her away. AJ looks horrified.

Tamina runs at AJ, but AJ scouts this and kicks Tamina in the face with both feet. AJ with forearms before being pushed into the ropes by Tamina. She uses the momentum to baseball slide through Tamina’s legs. As Tamina turns around, she takes AJ down with a chop.

AJ is whipped into the corner with great force. She slumps into the corner as Tamina hits a running butt-bump, shades of the late Umaga. Tamina grabs AJ by the hair, taunting her. Meanwhile, Michael Cole continues his usual anti-Natalya spiel on commentary. The sky is blue.

Tamina slams AJ back to the canvas and goes for a pin but AJ kicks out.

Tamina with a chinlock on AJ, almost bending her in half. As the crowd tries to cheer on AJ and get her back into the match, Tamina slams AJ face-first back into the canvas. Tamina with a boot to the fallen AJ. She then whips herself off the ropes and goes for a splash but AJ rolls out of the way.

Meanwhile on commentary: “Tamina’s a woman. AJ’s a little girl.” – Michael Cole.

AJ gets back on her feet and hits Tamina with a forearm followed by a spin kick to the midsection. With Tamina down on her knees, AJ runs the rope and hits her patented running knee strike, taking down Tamina. Pin attempt but Tamina shakes AJ off.

AJ with a splash in the corner on Tamina. Tamina whips AJ into the opposite corner and goes for a splash of her own but AJ moves out of the way.

AJ with a roll-up on Tamina for the win.

After the match, team leader Alicia is not happy with Tamina’s loss as the pair come face to face and exchange words. Dissension in the ranks, already? We need Rosa to tie their hands together with her jump rope so they’re forced to make up.

Thoughts: Question: Is Gabrielle supposed to be able to beat Xena? Once again, Tiny Spicy picks up a victory over the much larger Tamina. Sorry Booker T, Warrior Princess she is not.

Decent little match, but unfortunately, after being spoiled with lengthy Superstars matches of late, none of the matches on Raw or SmackDown quite measure up. Timing is everything and these Divas matches are never of a suitable length.

The Tamina/Alicia tension is interesting but I think it’s far too soon in the game to break up these teams they seem to have created. But having said that, at least there’s some sort of storyline here. Perhaps they could build up the Tamina/Alicia situation and do a full-blown storyline. WWE clearly has no long-term plans for the SmackDown Divas with the Divas Championship mostly seen on Raw despite being available to both brands, so they need to do something. I’m not a fan of WWE having a division on SmackDown when there’s nothing to compete for. It makes the matches meaningless, in my opinion. They need something to fight over. Or they need to create storylines like they did back in the days of Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie which didn’t have a belt involved, but had a continuous storytelling week-to-week. That is something they could do with Alicia and Tamina.

Yes… I went there.

I think it’s fair to say that this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw was nothing more than a big ole mess. Fourteen divas, one ring, and no time is never a good combination but when things end up with a chorus line or a kick line, or whatever the hell you want to call it, it’s just not good for anyone involved. I can only thank the wrestling gods high in squared circle heaven for sparing at least seven of the girls the utter humiliation of just looking dumb. As far as the other seven… well, at least three of them got a chance to redeem themselves on SmackDown. The war between the heels and the faces continued on this Friday and we finally got our six Diva tag team match. Natalya joined her rookie pals, AJ and Kaitlyn, to take on Tamina, Alicia Fox, and Rosa Mendes. Will the heels reign supreme or will the faces carrying their kick line momentum to another victory?

Like usual, we kick things off with the entrances and rather than just letting us see the face entrance, we get the heel entrance this week as well. Alicia, Tamina, and Rosa come out to Alicia’s music and they stand in the ring with their bitch faces on while the faces make their way to the ring. I also thank the wrestling gods for not letting me hear AJ’s theme again, and if all she ever does is tag with and use Natalya’s music from here on out… I’m okay with that. Anyway, the faces pose for the crowd and it’s decided that Alicia and Kaitlyn will begin.

Alicia attacks right off the bat by kicking Kaitlyn in the stomach and knocking her down with a stiff looking forearm. She tosses her in the corner and looks to bounce her head off the turnbuckle, but Kaitlyn gets a foot up to block. Kaitlyn fires back with an elbow, as well some other offense, and she throws Alicia into the corner padding. Alicia stumbles away from Kaitlyn and groggily turns around only to be knocked down with a clothesline. She wisely gets up, runs to her corner, and tags in Tamina.

Tamina and Kaitlyn lock up, with Tamina easily getting the advantage here. She sends Kaitlyn flying into the corner and the NXT season three winner smartly tags in Natalya. The gorgeous blond enters the ring and slides between Tamina’s legs. The surprised Diva whirls around and Nattie nails her with a dropkick. Tamina goes stumbling into the ropes and Nattie goes to use the adjacent ones for leverage. Rosa inserts herself into the action by getting Natalya’s attention, and that allows Tamina to recover. When Natalya turns around, Tamina slams her foot into the Canadian’s gut, and Nattie is doubled over in pain. Tamina follows it up with a vicious little headbutt and Nattie is sent to the ground. This gives the beautiful brunette a chance to work over those powerful legs of Natalya’s and she decides to try and weaken the left one.

And when I say left, I could mean right. I’m ambidextrous so I don’t really know the difference.

Anyway, Tamina snaps Natalya’s knee (not literally) but it proves to be a mistake because the experience of Nattie pays dividends. Natalya is able to turn Tamina’s wannabe submission into the Sharpshooter and she pulls the lesser experienced Diva to the center of the ring. She’s looking for a victory but Rosa jumps in the ring and attacks Nattie from behind. This brings in Kaitlyn, who is quick to dispose of Zack Ryder’s ex-girlfriend (still a travesty he was left off Raw this week, ahem). Nattie scrambles to her corner and AJ finally gets to see some action.

The little spitfire comes flying in with some pretty snazzy forearm shots to Tamina’s face. However, the larger, more powerful girl is able to shove AJ off. AJ bounces off the ropes and attempts to wrap herself around Tamina’s shoulders, but Tamina puts a stop to whatever it is that AJ is wanting to do. She simply falls back and crushes AJ, and she goes for the cover.

One…

Two…

Three!

Alicia, Tamina, and Rosa are able to celebrate a victory.

Welp, it wasn’t bad.

That said, it wasn’t good either. I want to reserve extreme judgment because some people are saying this match was horribly edited. Apparently there were digitals that showed different things happening in the match that was shown on television. I can’t confirm that because honestly, I don’t have a clue. All I can talk about is what I saw in three short minutes. A good minute of the match was used simply for ring entrances and the rest was action. Alicia and Kaitlyn worked well together and wow, Alicia just looked so pretty to me tonight. Tamina worked the majority of the match and against Natalya, she was solid. I would honestly like to see a one on one match between those two because I feel as if Natalya could bring out Tamina’s best. They could match power for power moves, and it could be a great contest.

Not really sure what else I can say about this week’s SmackDown. It went how pretty much how I thought it would. I don’t know if we can ever expect the girls to improve when they’re given so little time but all we can do is continue to support them no matter what. One day someone will wake up and realize that there are amazing wrestlers on the Diva roster and they’ll give those girls a chance to shine and make the girls who lack look like a million dollars. Look what happened when time was invested in Layla.

That’s basically all I’ve got this week, I’m afraid. It doesn’t look like we’ll have anything to watch at Capitol Punishment unless something is added at the last minute. I’ll be watching regardless but should we not have any Diva action on Sunday, I’ll just hope that we get something great come Monday.

Of course with a three-hour show, that probably won’t happen. Until then… Cryssi out!

AJ’s big singles debut kicks off with her standing backstage with some random announcer dude that is not Matt Striker. He introduces her and when AJ starts to speak, she gets interrupted by Tamina and Rosa Mendes. They have a present for AJ and when she opens it, it’s a block of fake cheese. They call AJ a mousey loser, which is stupid, and AJ tells them that Lay-Cool want their gimmick back.

Oh boy. Rosa and Tamina are not convincing bitchy heel characters and that segment was all kinds of lame. I’m not usually so harsh but that was Kelly Kelly/Drew McIntyre bad. Yikes.

Surely the match will be better, right?

AJ and Natalya make their way to the ring first. Words can not express how horrendous AJ’s theme music is to me but nonetheless, the heels are waiting in the ring for her. Tamina looks confident. Rosa looks fierce. AJ is excited. The bell rings and we have a match! Welcome to singles competition, AJ!

AJ tries to get things rolling by locking her arms around Tamina’s waist. She eats an elbow to the face for her efforts and goes sprawling on the mat. Tamina bends down and taunts her opponent, and grips her by the neck. She pulls AJ up and to me, it looks like she wants to slam AJ down backwards. AJ has other thoughts and manages to reverse the move and end up on her feet. She kicks Tamina in the stomach and goes for a dropkick. It’s a total whiff because Tamina falls back way to soon and it just looks so awkward. The botch is covered when AJ pushes Tamina against the ropes and struggles for position with her. Tamina ends up with the upper-hand and headbutts AJ clear across the ring!

The referee goes to check on the former NXT competitor and Tamina follows him. She jerks AJ up by the hair, pulls her into the middle of the ring, and body slams her down. She grabs AJ by the arm, shoves her on her side, and tries to pull the smaller girl’s arm right out of the socket. AJ is clearly in pain and Tamina adds insult to injury by pressing her knee into AJ’s cheek to hold her down. This goes on for a few seconds before AJ fights her way up to her feet. Tamina immediately jerks AJ back by the hair and the rookie’s head slams into the mat.

Tamina backs up and throws herself into the ropes. She looks to squash AJ flat but AJ thankfully moves. Tamina gets back up but AJ has a second life now and she ducks a clothesline attempt from Tamina. AJ dropkicks Tamina’s legs out from under her and throws herself back against the ropes. She bounces off and catches Tamina in the face with a wicked knee. She goes for the cover but Tamina powers out.

Both girls recover and AJ forces Tamina into the corner of the ring with several convincing forearm shots. She wants to whip her larger opponent across the ring but Tamina is just to strong. She wrenches AJ’s arm around and throws her into the opposite corner instead. She goes to follow-up but AJ wisely gets the elbow up and Tamina stumbles back. AJ hops up on the second rope and throws herself off but Tamina is waiting.

She catches AJ and looks to end the match by throwing AJ across her shoulders. To her credit, AJ fights back, manages to slide from Tamina’s back, and rolls her up. She gets the three count and scrambles out of the ring and into Natalya’s arms almost as quickly as she was able to end the match itself! Tamina and Rosa are both stunned at the outcome and AJ is beaming from ear-to-ear having earned her very first victory as an official WWE Diva.

That theme music…. no. Where do I start?

AJ looks great in green, that’s for sure. It flatters her MUCH better than red. It was also nice to see her finally work a singles match. Granted she didn’t get to do much but bump for Tamina and her five moves of doom, but it worked. There wasn’t really any other way to book this match, I guess. AJ, being much smaller than Tamina, was never going to dominate. Couple that with the fact she’s a total rookie and you have the stereo-typical recipe for a heel dominated/quick face win match. What can I say about it, really?

A lot of people complain about tag matches but when you have “green” girls in the ring it helps mask their lack of skills a bit. Tamina isn’t exactly a seasoned performer and that came across tonight in a big way. She’s so limited in her move set and she didn’t even get a chance to try her big splash again, which was her highlight last week. I didn’t enjoy her performance and I hate saying that. AJ is light-years ahead of her in terms of skills and just pure athleticism and I wish AJ’s debut singles match would have been against either Rosa or Alicia, but oh well. It wasn’t meant to be.

At least AJ has a win under her belt and Natalya’s coaching record is almost at .500! Next week, I’d like to see Kaitlyn get a singles victory as I don’t think she’s had one yet since NXT (can someone look that up please?), and then perhaps finally the six Diva tag team match.

I wish this could have been a better report for the sake of both AJ and Tamina, but alas, it wasn’t. It’s not like it matters, regardless. It’s only my opinion and my opinion is only one of many. The great thing is we all have the right to express how we feel so love what I say or hate it, just remember, I have the right to think it.

And guess what? All of you have the same right as well. I respect that.

Until next week… Cryssi out!

This week’s episode of SmackDown brought us a rematch of sorts from last week. The ChickBusters (Kaitlyn and AJ), with Natalya at their side, took on Team Heel featuring Alicia Fox and Tamina. The most notable difference this week is that the heels countered Natalya’s presence by adding the rarely seen Rosa Mendes to ringside (I guess she is heel again). Will Rosa’s presence bring anything to the match? Will AJ and Kaitlyn pull out the victory this week? Will Alicia continue to just be the fiercest Diva ever? Lets stop wasting time and find out.

When SmackDown returns from what I can only assume has been a commercial break, A-Fox’s music is playing in the background and the so-called bad girls of SmackDown are posing in the ring. It’s only a few seconds later that Alicia’s theme fades and Natalya’s begins to blare across the PA system. Dressed in the most gorgeous sequined mini I’ve ever seen on SmackDown, Nattie leads her rookies out onto the stage. Kaitlyn and AJ look ready for battle and they all head to the ring. Much like last week, a backstage video begins playing while this is going on.

Natalya, Kaitlyn, and AJ are in their lockerroom and Kaitlyn says that last week herself and AJ were just warming up. AJ whole-heartidly agrees with this and says that tonight they were going to make Natalya incredibly proud. Nattie appreciates their attitude and says that the two girls have her support. Kaitlyn asks her if she has any last words of Diva wisdom, and she smiles and tells them both not to lose.

Good talk!

Once the bell rings, Kaitlyn and Tamina get set to kick things off. Tamina shoves the NXT winner a couple of times before Kaitlyn finally womans up and shoves her back. Tamina gets a bit miffed at Kaitlyn’s gall and she kicks her in the gut before jerking her down by the hair. Kaitlyn rolls around in pain and Tamina seizes the chance to pick her opponent up and throw her into the corner, and tries to follow it up with a huge splash. Kaitlyn is able to move out of the way and Tamina smashes into the turnbuckle much to the shock of the crowd. When Tamina staggers back, a crouching Kaitlyn headbutts her in the abdomen and rolls her up for a quick pin.

Tamina powers out.

Both girls get to their feet and Tamina lumbers over to her corner and makes the tag to Alicia. Foxy lunges for Kaitlyn, but the blond ducks and Alicia goes down. Kaitlyn gets the tag to AJ and feisty little rookie comes in, ready to go on offense. She nails Alicia pretty convincingly and takes her down with a nice little headscissors. She goes for Alicia again, but the former champ manages to get her knee into AJ’s stomach. That shifts the momentum and Alicia nails the smaller girl with a convincing right hand. She picks her up by the hair, drags her to the corner, and tags Tamina back in.

She comes in and kicks AJ, then picks her up and throws her to the middle of the ring. She jerks the new Diva up and holds her while AJ tries to throw punches to fight off Tamina. This amuses the daughter of Jimmy Super Fly Snuka and she lifts AJ high in the air. AJ is nearly broken in half as Tamina plants her into the mat and just to add insult to injury, Tamina runs and knocks Kaitlyn from the apron. The distraction allows AJ to get to her feet and she manages to duck a wild swing from Tamina. She takes her momentum to the ropes, bounces off of them, and leaps at Tamina. The stronger Diva catches AJ, throws her on her back, and falls back. AJ is crushed from the high impact move and Tamina picks up a very convincing one… two… three!

For the second week in a row, the heel Divas win.

MUCH better match than last week. Tamina looked so, so solid. You know, I have no idea where they are going with this whole coaching thing, but wouldn’t it be fun if it lead to Natalya getting pissed off that AJ and Kaitlyn just can’t win, and she wound up in a feud with them? The idea of Natalya versus AJ makes me positively salivate. What beautiful matches they could have. I wouldn’t even mind seeinf Natalya versus Kaitlyn, to be honest. The best way for Kaitlyn to continue to improve in the ring is to work with girls who know what they’re doing. Natalya is one of the very best in the WWE, male or female, and I actually credit her for helping Layla become the Diva she is right now (get well soon, girl). If I got to decide what happens next, I would have a six-Diva tag match next week with the faces losing again. That would lead to Natalya kind of scolding AJ and Kaitlyn at the end, and set Nattie up for a singles match the following week against Alicia. Natalya could pick up the win over Alicia and show the girls how winning is done and next week both Kaitlyn and AJ could have singles matches against Tamina and Rosa. I’m pretty sure you can figure out what will happen, and I don’t want to get to far into this. The use of all SmackDown Divas gets a big thumbs up this week.

And Tamina’s performance definitely gets two thumbs!

Well done to the ladies of SmackDown. Can’t wait to see what happens next week.

PS… how hot is Christian as a heel? Like always, until next week… Cryssi out!

Tonight we begin things with Alicia and Tamina in the ring.

Random Thought: I can only assume that Tamina and her cave-woman attire are heels by default now due to the severe lack of them on the blue brand, but who knows? Maybe Rosa won the coin toss this week and didn’t have to play the heel?

Anyway, Alicia and Tamina are waiting when Natalya’s music starts. The third-generation Diva leads her team of faces, consisting of Kaitlyn and AJ, to the ring. While they’re walking/playing to the crowd, a little video promo from earlier begins to play:

Natalya is talking to AJ and Kaitlyn and she says that both Alicia and Tamina are really strong competitors. Kaitlyn claims that she doesn’t like them because their names have to many A’s. AJ is just happy that she gets to make her SmackDown debut alongside Kaitlyn, and both girls want Natalya’s expertise at ringside. Nattie said she would be happy to support them at ringside.

Random Thought: Seriously? Melanie said it best on Twitter this morning when she said Kaitlyn’s character is a Brittany (from Glee) rip-off. I swear I think Brittany used a line either exactly like that or eerily similar. Ugh.

While that is going on, Nattie is giving her rookies some words of encouragement and it’s decided that AJ is going to kick things off against Alicia. The referee runs down the rules of your typical Diva tag team match and the bell rings to signal the beginning. The feisty little AJ is read to fight and Alicia just stares at her like she’s beneath her. AJ tells her to come on and the match is on. Alicia tries to bully AJ against the ropes, but the former Queen of FCW isn’t having it. She forces Alicia back with an elbow to the face and tries to capitalize, but Alicia chops her down to size with a knee to the gut. She pulls the smaller Diva up by the hair and whips her into the ropes. It looks like Alicia wants to hit AJ with a sidewalk slam (I am totally making that up, mind you) but AJ counters with what ends up being an extremely sloppy head-scissors take-down. AJ runs to the ropes, uses them for momentum, and ends up kicking Foxy in the face. AJ seems satisfied she’s grounded Alicia so she makes the tag to Kaitlyn.

The rarely seen NXT season three winner leaps into the ring over the top rope and attempts to pick up right where AJ left off. She allows Alicia to get up and when the ex-Diva’s Champ comes at Kaitlyn swinging, the Texan ducks, drops down, and is able to bring Alicia down to the mat. Kaitlyn goes on offense by slamming Foxy’s head into the mat more times than necessary. After that, she awkwardly forces Foxy into the corner and kinda-sorta but not really squashes her down. Alicia is able to push Kaitlyn away from her with her foot, but the blond quickly recovers. She pushes Alicia back against the turnbuckle and elbows her. Then Kaitlyn takes her opponent and executes a nice sidewalk slam (that I didn’t make up)! Kaitlyn goes for the cover but Tamina makes her presence felt by breaking it up.

AJ comes flying into the ring and attempts to take out Tamina but it’s just a really bad exchange between the two. They finally fall out of the ring and that leaves Kaitlyn and Alicia. Both have made their way to their feet and Alicia kicks Kaitlyn in the stomach. Kaitlyn doubles up which leaves her vulnerable. Alicia pounces on the opportunity and she sends Kaitlyn to the mat with a beautiful axe kick. Wow that was just flawless! Alicia goes for the cover and she gets a big win for the heel team.

Very cool to see Alicia and Tamina win, but unfortunate for AJ who becomes the first Diva to lose her debut match in God knows when. I feel kind of bad for AJ and her fans as they’ve been waiting for this. She got little to no hype. Had it not been for the little thirty second video before the match people who didn’t watch NXT would have been left clueless as to who she is. It was just bad booking. If you’re going to debut a Diva, at least give her some fan fare. I’m sure none of us expected a Kharma-esque debut, but AJ could have gotten something a bit better than a losing effort in a Diva tag match.

That said, it’s great to see new faces on SmackDown. Tamina, Alicia, and Kaitlyn were fun to watch despite the fact they, along with AJ, put together a sloppy match. Some of the spots were cringe-worthy, but I’ll cut them some slack. They’re all newish to each other (yes, Alicia was on NXT; yes, Tamina was in FCW with AJ; blah blah blah) and SmackDown is in a different league from NXT and FCW. I find it unfortunate that AJ has to play her annoying face character. Her heel work in FCW is delicious but at least we’ve got something new. And now we have something to build on. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing this whole “Nattie and her rookies” thing develop. Maybe Naomi can get called up next and Alicia can have her rookie, plus Tamina. So yeah, Alicia and her rookies. Maybe we could have a six-Diva war through out the summer? Girls on SmackDown need a storyline so writers, take notes! Stop stealing Glee quotes and make something happen.

SmackDown was average at best tonight.

Congrats to AJ for finally getting to the main roster. Here’s to many years, many wins, and hopefully a few title reigns thrown in.

Until next week, Cryssi out!

Today’s SmackDown Redux comes to you with a heavy heart and somber mood. The wrestling world lost an absolute icon today as “Macho Man” Randy Savage tragically lost his life in a car accident. If any of you are anything like me, you grew up watching him steal the show night after night. Savage’s talent, charisma, and personality made him the total package when it came to this sport as far as I’m concerned. His matches with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, and a young, brash Shawn Michaels are instant classics that will live in my heart, the hearts and minds of many others, forever. For me personally, Savage was the last remaining childhood hero that I had. I’ve watched all the others have their lives end far to soon, most notably Owen Hart. I was watching In Your House that night and I’ll never forget what I saw. If we can learn anything from the events of today, and from the past, it’s that life is way to short. It can be taken from you in an instant. You’ve truly got to cherish every moment and live like it could be your last. Rest peacefully, Macho Man.

When things like this happen, I always find a comforting perspective. I’ve wasted my time for the past few weeks bitching and complaining about everything that is wrong with sports entertainment. I’ve written it off, refused to see the bright side, and have just basically been on a rampage about everything. I definitely stand by everything I’ve said, but I feel bad for wasting my time, and yours for that matter, by raging. At the end of the day, who cares who has a title? Do win and loss records really matter? Whether you’re a main-event megastar that the company is centered around or you’re a young hopeful paying your dues in the developmental system, you’re risking your livelihood with every step you take in that ring. You’re giving it your all whether you have two minutes of television time or thirty minutes. Sports entertainers are still pro wrestlers. They’re still athletes who work their asses off to be as gifted as they are and to look the way they do.

In my ridiculous and jaded sense of reality that I’ve been living in since Extreme Rules, I had forgotten that. And for that, I’m truly sorry.

Tonight’s SmackDown is a good example of how something great can be made despite having very little. Reigning Divas Champion, Brie Bella, took on the soon-to-be (I hope) Queen of SmackDown, Natalya, in a great little match that helped make Brie look strong going into Over The Limit where she’ll defend her championship against, Kelly Kelly. Lets take a look at how it all played out.

We open up with cutie pie Todd Grisham backstage with the champ and her sister, Nikki Bella. Todd begins the interview by asking Brie why she left Nikki to get destroyed by Kharma on Monday. Brie defends herself by saying she didn’t do anything wrong and that she attacked Kharma first. Nikki interjects that the only reason Brie even went after Kharma is because she knew Nikki was going to jump in next. Nikki also called Brie out on leaving her, and she’s not to thrilled by it. Brie cuts her eyes at her sister and says that she knows Nikki would have done the same thing had the roles been reversed. Nikki gets this look on her face and then admits that she would have. Satisfied, Brie starts to rant about how she now has to face Kelly Kelly at Over The Limit (they showed a graphic for the match right before the interview began) and on top of that, she has to go into battle with the “wench” Natalya. She wants her and Nikki to get back on the same page. Nikki says they were never not on the same page. That brings a smile to Brie’s face and the sisters lock arms and walk away. Todd wishes them good luck and we go to a commercial break.

Backstage segments for Divas are rare and this one was definitely a treat. The Bellas have great characters and watching their banter in the opening seconds of the segment was great. They’re rock solid when it comes to oozing attitude, and I love the fact they blatantly admit that they need each other to win more or less. We’ve not seen the Bellas on television nearly enough since Brie has been champion and it’s really unfortunate. Absolute gold could have been made from them as champions, and I hope that if Brie does lose on Sunday, another title reign is in her future. Nikki’s too!

The match begins after the commercial break and the twins are out first. Brie is proudly holding onto that title and Nikki plays it up. They get inside the ring and when their music fades, Natalya’s music starts to play. The third generation Diva makes her way out and Brie just glares at her the entire time. She also keeps that title high in the air which makes me lulz. Nattie taunts the crowd once she’s inside and the bell rings to begin the match. The girls lock up and Natalya tries for a scoop slam. Brie wiggles out and pushes Nattie towards the turnbuckle. Natalya stops the momentum easily, turns around, and both opponents lock eyes. Brie calls Natalya a loser, while the blond Diva just smirks. Natalya takes down Brie with a headlock, but the Arizona native is about to lock her legs around Nattie’s head to reverse it. The crafty Nattie bridges out and again we have a staredown between the two. Love this!

Brie is the first to strike, or try. She swings wildly at her opponent, but Natalya ducks and locks her arms around Brie’s waist. The younger twin fights her way to the ropes, wraps her arms and legs around them, and that forces Natalya to back off. However, Nattie rolls back towards Brie, who is waiting, but Natalya gets the upper-hand by taking Brie down into a lateral press. She goes for the cover but only gets a two count.

Nikki, clutching the title, looks worried for her sister especially when Nattie decides to try for the Sharpshooter. Brie scrambles to the ropes, fights off Nattie, and rolls to the outside. Natalya goes for it but Brie is able to bound Nattie’s neck off the ropes and finally catch a break. With Nattie down, Brie rolls back in and immediately goes for the other girl’s arm. She works it over for a few seconds before Natalya muscles her up on her back. It’s easy to see what happens next. Natalya falls backwards, crushing Brie underneath her, and now both girls are hurting.

It’s the champ that gets up first. She tells Natalya to bring it and once Natalya is up, she slaps the hell out of Brie. Brie goes flying back (love the dramatic crowd gasp!) and when she whips around, she is pissed. She looks to take Natalya’s head off with a clothesline but again she misses, and Brie is forced to eat a wicked shot from Nattie. The champ still refuses to stay down. She gets back up and tries to fight, but after a reverse whip that didn’t work out or something (excuse me, I’m incredibly overwhelmed by all the wrestling to be honest), Brie ends up on her back again because Nattie has hit her with her spinning clothesline signature move. Nattie, bless her, is still selling the work that Brie did on her arm earlier, and like a trooper she shakes it off. She goes for an extended powerslam, and for Brie, I’m sure it fells like an eternity. When she finally hits the mat, it sounds so painful, and Brie cries out in pain. Natalya keeps up the offense with a flying snapmare that forces Brie into a groggy sitting position and she follows it up with a dropkick to the back. Natalya goes for the cover, but Brie somehow gets out of the pinning predicament.

Natalya seems shock that she wasn’t able to get the pin, so she decides it’s time to put Brie away. Brie goes for the ropes and Natalya follows her. She begins pounding away on the champ in frustration and Nunzio is forced to make Natalya back up. Natalya forces her way past him and goes for Brie again, who once again sticks herself between the ropes. Nunzio has to physically restrain Natalya and that gives the chance she’s been waiting for. She cheaply kicks Natalya in the knee, which drops the powerful Diva down. Then she throws Natalya into the turnbuckles. Natalya cries out in pain and that gives Brie the chance to hit her finisher. She gets a clean victory over the former Divas Champion and Nikki climbs into the ring to celebrate. The twins embrace each other and Brie basically looks like a million bucks going into Over The Limit.

What a great match. The Bellas are NEVER given enough credit for just how good they are in the ring. The haters bash them for no reason whatsoever and it’s so annoying. The chemistry between Natalya and Brie was ridiculous. This should have been a pay-per-view match because I’m actually salivating over the thought of what else they could have done with more time. The Bellas should have had their title reign on SmackDown because they were booked better in one night than they’ve ever been on Raw. I loved this match so much.

And lets be honest, is it even possible for Natalya to have a bad match?

Great job to all three girls. I surely hope Kelly Kelly can put together something great with Brie for Sunday. Their first match wasn’t impressive. I’m going to hope for more come Sunday, especially after seeing how well Brie and Natalya worked together. No pressure!

See you guys on Sunday.

This week’s Diva portion of SmackDown kicks off after an unfortunate plug for the main event later in the evening (which I won’t be watching because I’m still boycotting, haha). Layla is in the ring, dressed in street cloths and holding a microphone, and her music is playing. I’m just going to call it her music now because it’s the second week in a row that she’s used it. Anyway, once the music fades, she starts speaking. Layla says that at Extreme Rules her friendship with Michelle McCool came to an end when she finally beat her in a Loser Leaves WWE match. Layla continues on by saying that during the match she ended up hurting her knee, but as painful as the injury is, it was worth it. She’s glad she finally rid the WWE of the poison that is Michelle McCool.

That prompts Michael Cole to come out of the Cole Mine, microphone in hand, and put a stop to Layla’s promo. He gets in the ring and oh so politely tells Layla that no one cares about her or Michelle. In fact, he adds, no one apparently cares about any of the Divas. He tells Layla that she’s been inhaling to much hayseed here in the Volunteer state. Womp womp. He makes a reference to Layla’s promo saying that it sounds like something out of the original Housewives (wtf?! REAL Housewives, asshole) and he turns to the crowd. He says they only want to hear him talk about Tennessee’s own, Jerry Lawler.

Like puppets, the crowd pops.

At this point, I’m tuning out because personally I don’t give a crap what Michael Cole has to say. His feud with Jerry Lawler has been one of the biggest wastes of time I’ve ever seen. I was in Atlanta for the ‘Mania match and it came off as one of the worst matches of the night. The fans used it as filler to get beer and go to the bathroom, myself included despite the massive crush I’ve developed on Jack Swagger recently.

Layla starts talking again. Michael Cole makes another stupid, tasteless reference to his mother being alive. And Layla goes, “wow, Michael. Wow.”

Exactly girl. Are your ears bleeding too?

“Michael… SHUT UP!” Layla gets in his face but the pompous jackass just rolls his eyes. She tells Cole to go crawl back into his little glass house like a little puppy and Cole cuts her off. He tells her that she’s just like all the other Divas; nothing but a pretty little crybaby. He mocks her and her injury, and then makes the horrific comment that the Divas shouldn’t even be in the WWE. He’s about to launch into a massive rant when the music of Kharma hits. Cole freezes. Layla freezes. Both of them in the ring turn towards the entrance ramp where Kharma is making her way onto the stage.

She locks her eyes on Layla as she slowly makes her way to the ring. Cole gets the impression that he’s safe from her wrath and he begins harassing Layla about the fate she’s sure to suffer. Kharma gets in the ring and when Layla goes to run, Cole sticks his foot out. Layla trips over and falls on her face which makes her easy pickings for Kharma. Layla kisses the ring mat via Implant Buster and Kharma adds another victim to her list. Cole starts taunting Layla, and he’s really going at it.

But then…Kharma turns her sites on him!

Cole looks petrified and rightfully so, and he hightails it out of the ring and back to the safety of the Cole Mine. Kharma follows him and for a few intense seconds she stares a hole right through Michael Cole. He wets his pants (I’m totally making that up) and finally, Kharma leaves him be. She’s sent another message.

What’s going to happen on Raw now?

In my personal opinion I hope Michael Cole gets slaughtered on Raw so we don’t have to waste another pay-per-view match on himself and Lawler. If I sound slightly annoyed in this Redux it’s because I am. The reason I’m annoyed is probably going to surprise you, though. It absolutely makes me sick to write this but having stupid Michael Cole interrupt Layla’s promo is perhaps one of the smartest things the ‘E has done for the Divas other than hiring Kharma. At this point, Cole is a heat magnet and despite the fact his promo began with the crowd cheering for Lawler, it ended with the crowd sympathizing with Layla. We all agree that Layla should be SmackDown’s top face and when Cole tripped her the crowd was all over him for the heinous act. As a result, Layla was fed to Kharma and she was put away with the Implant Buster. The segment also served as yet another tool in getting Kharma over, not that she needed any more help. The crowd was going nuts when she was eyeing up Cole and who didn’t want her to just rip the Cole Mine out of the ground and wrap her hands around Cole’s scrawny neck?! I’m a little impressed by this. Kudos to you, WWE. You actually decided to think outside of the box for a change.

That said, if I ever have to see a Kharma vs. Michael Cole match, I will scream. No doubt it would be enjoyable, but if the powers that be won’t let a legit Hall of Famer beat the cocky so-called broadcast journalist, then there’s no way in Hell they’re going to let a woman beat him, not even a woman like Kharma. Of course I could be wrong, but at this point, I doubt it. WWE doesn’t give fans what they want and if they do start, it won’t be in the Diva’s division I can promise you that. Call me negative, or even a cynic. I don’t care. These have and always will be the musings of a real wrestling fan.

It’s just here lately this real wrestling fan is a lot more jaded. Until next week… goodnight!

And now?

The decorated career of Michelle McCool is nothing more than another chapter in the history books. Layla is/should be the top face on SmackDown. Kharma is running rampant on both brands (as we will see later). I no longer support Randy Orton title reigns because it prematurely ended the first ever, and well deserved reign of Christian.

Oh yeah, that Bin Laden guy is dead, too.

So yeah, what a difference a week makes, right?

SmackDown opens up for the Divas by showing a highlights from the Layla/Michelle Extreme Rules match. The match itself still gives me chills for the sheer emotion it brought to the table. They leave out Kharma’s debut and when the show returns, the Lay-Cool theme song begins to play. I suppose we have to call it Layla’s song now, but anyway, the feisty little spitfire makes her way to the ring. She’s still sporting the word “Flawless” on her gear, which I love, and she plays to the crowd once she enters. After a second, her music fades out and is replaced by the sassy little beat belonging to new SmackDown Diva, Alicia Fox. Foxy sashays her way out to the ring dripping with attitude and beaming with confidence. She enters the ring, plays to the crowd as well, and gets settled for her first match on the blue brand in awhile. Once Fox’s music fades, the referee calls for the bell.

Layla and Alicia lock up with Alicia getting the early advantage and shoving Layla away. Layla seems game and nods, then goes back for more. Again it’s Alicia who takes control and she ends up muscling Layla into the corner of the ring after a nice uppercut to the jaw. She punches and kicks Layla until the smaller woman goes down, then she sloppily begins to choke Layla with her boot. The referee forces Fox to break the “choke” and Layla seizes the chance to catch her breath. When Alicia goes back for her, Layla smartly moves, and Alicia finds herself on the receiving end of Layla’s crisp offense.

Oh, the match is over.

Huh?

Layla nails Alicia with her cute little spinning heel kick and an orthodox reverse neckbreaker. Alica goes down like she just got shot and is bleeding out, and Layla goes for the pin. She gets the three count and her first victory in the Post-McCool Era. Layla climbs to her feet and celebrates, and rightfully so. Alicia just withers around on the mat in pain. The referee bends down to check on Alicia and Layla goes to get out of the ring. Before she can leave, the music of Kharma hits. Layla’s jubilant facial expression turns to one of sheer terror and she wisely leaves the ring as Kharma ceremoniously takes off her jacket and walks down the ramp. A hurting Alicia winces as she gets to her feet with the help of the ropes. She doesn’t run but she never takes her eyes off Kharma. Layla backs up against the Cole Mine as Kharma gets in the ring. Not wanting any piece of the monster who’s destroyed Michelle and Maryse, Layla runs. She pauses half-way up the ramp because Kharma is watching her like a hawk.

With Kharma’s back turned, Alicia walks up behind her and kicks in the back. Kharma doesn’t flinch. But what she does do is slowly turn around and give Alicia the most menacing look I’ve ever seen. Foxy doesn’t back down but as we can all predict it doesn’t end well for her. Kharma literally separates Alicia’s shoulder with her fist and kills her with an Implant Buster. It’s a horrific scene that sends Layla fleeing to the back and it gives us all just another taste of what Kharma is going to bring to the table.

Amazing.

Kharma scares me. What I like most about tonight is that Layla used her head and got out of the ring. And that Alicia stood there and was ready to fight. Yes it ended horribly for Alicia Fierce but at least she didn’t cower in fear like Michelle and Kelly. Something tells me that Alicia would be the character that lasts for awhile in a horror movie, and Layla could very well end up being the heroine that makes it to the end, but enough with the horrible analogies.

The little match between Alicia and Layla was kind of sloppy when Fox was on offense. I wish I didn’t have to say that but it’s true. I still love her though, and it’s good that she’s on SmackDown. Layla got a surprising mixed reaction which bothered me a bit. She should go into the role of top face, so hopefully in the coming weeks she can get over as just that. What else can I say about Kharma that hasn’t been said? We’re going to see more of this until someone steps up and challenges her. Which Diva will that be? My money is Beth Phoenix and/or Natalya. It could very well take both Sisters of Destruction to subdue Kharma, and it’s not to far-fetched to think that it may happen. Kharma is after all the girls and she proved tonight she’s not biased towards Raw or SmackDown. I can’t wait to see how this story develops. It’s actually the only thing worth watching on WWE programming right now.

The words of a bitter fan…

Until next week!

The ‘Cool’ part of Lay-Cool is the first to make her way to the ring. Michelle is sporting her SmackDown pride shirt and she does her usual playing to the crowd once she enters the ring. The Lay-Cool theme music continues to play as Lay makes her way out. She is dressed in her blue brand shirt as well and she looks a lot more hesitant to get in the ring than Michelle! Perhaps she’s having regrets over beating the tar out of Michelle?

The bell rings and the two girls immediately lock up. They end up forcing each other back against the ropes and Michelle muscles Layla off of her. Layla bounces right back up and takes Michelle down, and they start brawling. They roll around in the ring and then they fall to the outside. Michelle takes the lead at this point and picks Layla up, only to throw her against the steel guardrail. Layla is hurting but she’s relentless. She goes right back at Michelle, but the former Diva’s Champion whips her ex-best friend into the opposite guardrail. Layla takes a horrible bump but when Michelle comes back at her she gets her foot up. Michelle is kicked away but she comes flying back at Layla. Layla dodges it and bounces Michelle’s face off the guardrail. She tries to follow it up by grabbing a handful of Michelle’s blond hair, but that failed and Michelle goes back on the offense. She shoves Layla away from her and then forces her former partner to eat a huge boot to the face. Layla tries to get back up, but Michelle kicks her back down and they start fighting again. They roll around and fight for a little while longer until the referee finally calls for the bell. The match is thrown out but Lay-Cool just want to fight. Two referees have to break it up and eventually they get the girls apart.

The crowd is actually furious that this fight has been broken up and Lay-Cool are frustrated as well. The fans begin a ‘Let Them Fight’ chant and that prompts Lay-Cool to try and attack one another again. The referees maintain order and Layla takes the microphone. She says that they need to have an actual match, a one-on-one, no disqualification, no count-out match. She says that she is sick of Michelle and she wants to shut her up for good. After throwing down her challenge Layla storms off and Michelle stalks to the ring. She has a microphone and she screams that Layla would be nothing without her. She accepts Layla’s challenge but only on one condition… LOSER. LEAVES. wwe.

GASP!

Layla accepts.

And that sets the stage for Sunday, Diva wise.

Okay. So if you read spoilers you know that this was originally taped with a loser leaves SmackDown stipulated and come to find out when the show aired in Australia, it had been changed. With the stipulated now set as a “Loser Leaves the WWE” match, we have a whole new animal on our hands. At first it seems insane, but as we reported here at DD, there is a rumor floating around that Michelle is on her way out of the company. Things seem pretty cut and dry.

If everything turns out to be true, then this is a huge loss to the Diva’s division as Michelle is one of the most technically sound girls on the roster. Lay-Cool has basically dominated Friday nights for how long now? Seeing one of them go is going to be heart-breaking. I know both girls have their haters and frankly I don’t care. These are the only two girls the WWE has put anytime and effort into and it sucks that one of them is leaving. I feel like it will be Michelle and if it is, I’ll miss her. What McCool brought to the table that some people refuse to see is actual talent and passion for the sport. She went from being a high-school teacher to being a Diva and one of the most athletic ones. Her ring work was always solid. Her willingness to learn and grow as a performer is to be respected. Love her or hate her, Michelle got people to watch her and that’s the mark of a true performer. I have no clue what the WWE will do without Michelle (should she actually be leaving) and I don’t know what you readers will do without her to complain about. Maybe we can go back to having a happy peaceful comment section?

Tonight’s segment was just as passionate and as fun as Raw’s. As much as I’ve enjoyed Lay-Cool as a team, they’ve made even better enemies. Their brawl was just a sample of what we could possibly get on Sunday and my expectations are so high for that match. Ignoring the completely un-called for, stupid edit they put in, SmackDown was brilliant. All I ask is that if the WWE ever wants to change stipulations at the last minute, that they do it on the actual pay-per-view. It would have taken all of thirty seconds to let Michelle take the microphone at Extreme Rules and bully Layla into making it a Loser Leaves the WWE match. That said, I can’t recall when we’ve had an actual Loser Leaves WWE match for the Divas, so if Layla does win and Michelle does leave, it’s an amazing scenario for Layla. She could be catapulted into a position where she ends up as a top face and who knows? If they want to put the time and effort into it, the sky is the limit for Layla.

But baby steps. Definitely an A minus for SmackDown tonight. Here’s hoping that Sunday delivers just as well.

Michelle McCool and Layla are both dressed much better this week than last. Layla returns to being sexy in short shorts and a wife beater, and Michelle is also rocking daisy dukes, as well as a slinky silver, off-the-shoulder top. LOVING it! Michelle tells the doctor that this therapy has been working wonders for them because last week on SmackDown, Layla lost yet another match! Michelle gives a sarcastic “yay” and Layla pretty much kills her with a dirty look.

In no mood this week, Layla fights back. She points out that at least she is competing and spitefully tells McCool that she did such a great job on commentary. Michelle merely rolls her eyes and tells Layla that she wouldn’t even be here if not for her (Michelle). Layla claims that couple’s therapy was her idea but that’s not what Michelle is referring too. She says that Layla wouldn’t be here in general, meaning in the WWE, and then she calls Layla a dummy. Michelle says that Layla has done nothing but ride her coattails and that is why she is a semi-successful WWE Diva.

Then Michelle asks for her coat back, the one Layla apparently took when she took Michelle’s shoes.

The doctor encourages the girls to stay on topic and both of them snap at him to shut-up. Layla firmly believes that Michelle gave her the coat, thus making it hers, but Michelle just accuses Layla of always wanting what she has, like the championship. Layla doesn’t appreciate that and says that she was as much Diva’s Champion as Michelle was. Layla also says that they’re probably in a slump and that if Michelle doesn’t start showing her respect then there won’t be a Lay-Cool anymore.

Emotionless, Michelle says that’s fine with her; Lay-Cool probably shouldn’t be together because Michelle doubts that Layla is flawless.

Whoa!

Layla’s face crumbles and she looks like she is about to cry. She gets up and tries to walk off, but Michelle jumps up and grabs her. She quickly apologizes to the other girl and says that she doesn’t want to see Layla cry. Michelle embraces Layla and they hug it out. They pull apart and Layla walks over to the therapist and thanks him for his time. Michelle uses the opportunity to attack Layla from behind and just generally be a bully. She heels it up and storms out of the session leaving Layla a confused, battered mess.

Interesting turn of events though I’ve been expecting this for awhile. Layla took her beating well and this week’s segment was MUCH BETTER than last week’s. I love the fact that Layla just didn’t roll over and die when Michelle was berating her, and Michelle’s heelish ways were so delicious this week. The attack from behind after the hug was vintage heel and if either Layla or Michelle end up traded to Raw on Monday without us getting at least one match between these two, I’m going to feel really, really cheated.

As far as the rest of SmackDown goes, former WWE Diva Lita returned…. kind of!

The co-number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship, the delicious Latin sensation, Alberto Del Rio, is in the ring and he has decided to throw a retirement party for Edge tonight. The ring is set up for a party and what party would be complete without gifts? Albie and his cronies, Brodus Clay and Ricardo Rodriguez, have come bearing gifts. The first is a grandfather clock because apparently retiring while in your late thirties makes you way over the hill. Personally, I just think being in your late thirties makes you sexier, but anyways. The second gift Alberto has for Edge is a pack of Depend undergarments. It’s nice to know that if I ever retire to England they have the name brand adult diapers. To demonstrate what they’re for, Alberto holds one up to his crotch area.

I’ll refrain from making a comment.

Finally the third gift is something Edge will really enjoy. Albie cues the people backstage and the theme music of the one… the only… LITA begins to play. The crowd goes absolutely wild but of course it isn’t Lita that comes out. It’s a horrible caricature of the former extreme queen. An overweight woman strolls down to the ring and honestly, the look on Brodus Clay’s face is priceless. Albie is dancing and flirting with this fake Lita as she heads to the ring and he makes Brodus hold the ropes for her. Fake Lita gets in the ring and Alberto tells her that she’s never looked better. He also kisses her hand.

Real talk.

This is the second time I’ve been jealous of an overweight person. Remember Margarita from NXT who got to make out with Lucky Cannon?! Now this girl gets charmed by Alberto Del Rio. I haven’t employed the GTS system yet so please, show me some love!

Ahem, now that’s out of the way…

The gifts keep coming after Fake Lita. Ricardo rides out on a motorized scooter complete with oxygen tank strapped to himself and finally that brings out Edge. Reckon his telenovela audition didn’t go as well as he planned? He is still on television speaking English, not that I’m complaining. He calls everything in the ring, including Fake Lita, a fifteen hundred pound bag of poop and when Albie orders Brodus to attack the ailing Edge, the Rated R Superstar gets ready to fight. Brodus lumbers towards Edge but out of nowhere Christian appears with a ladder. I have a total moment and Brodus gets annihilated. Fake Lita, Albie, and Ricardo have to scurry from the ring before they suffer a similar fate. Alberto may have gotten caught but honestly who cares because this is a women’s wrestling website.

Christian places the ladder in the ring, climbs that sumbitch, and grabs the championship that has been hanging above the ring for the entire broadcast. He hoists it high in the air and SmackDown fades with the image of Edge clapping, Christian as “champ”, and this writer marking like a no-good fan girl. Yes, I’m shaking my head.

Now why did I cover this?

Well number one because I can. And number two, with all the rumors circulating about Lita possibly returning to wrestling why not cover it? She’s been featured in all the Edge goodbye packages and she’s been mentioned by a lot of people recently. As suggested on Twitter, wouldn’t it be amazing if she returned at Extreme Rules alongside Edge and helped Christian win the World Heavyweight Championship?

What if Christian and Lita teamed up and Alberto teamed up with a Diva? Lita versus Rosa Mendes anyone? Well, that might be stretching it but Hell, why not?! The more random the better. Now lets wait and see if Awesome Kong rips to pieces a red-headed doll…

Thank you, Edge.

Okay, now on to tonight’s show! My mascara is fixed. I’m not going to drown in my tears any longer. Last week, Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly returned to action with a victory over Michelle McCool and Layla. This week, Kelly steps back inside the ring to try and prove that her victory in the tag team match was no fluke. She takes on Layla, who’s desperate to try and repair her relationship with her former BFF.

Toss in a therapy session and Rosa Mendes auditioning for Telemundo’s hottest telenovela, Los Herederos del Monte, and you have this week’s amazing edition of the SD Redux!

The doctor welcomes both girls to their first session and immediately Michelle questions why they’re there. They’re not Brangelina, Beyonce and Jay-Z, or any other “couple” in the world for that matter. She also wants to know why Layla is holding her hand and promptly jerks it away. A tissue holding Layla tells Michelle that they’re a team, kind of like Burt and Ernie or “Thelmer” and Louise. Michelle rolls her eyes and corrects Layla’s pronunciation of “Thelma” and says it’s great that Layla wants to compare them to puppets and two characters who drove off a cliff together. Layla says they were best friends like she and Michelle used to be. Michelle places emphasis on the “used to be” part and both girls go silent for a moment.

Layla asks Michelle how her back is doing and Michelle snaps that it hurts because she’s been caring Lay since day one. Layla responds with “ouch” and that she was wondering about their match last week. The doctor tries to chime in but both girls simoltaneously cut him off and then scream stop. Michelle demands that Layla stop talking like her and stop trying to steal her spotlight, and her shoes. Layla finally fights back and says she carried Lay-Cool while Michelle was injured with her big, fat Frankenstien foot and Michelle just yawns. She points out how well that worked out for them seeing as how Layla always lost. Layla lets go with another “ouch” and admits that those words hurt. Michelle says that it needs to hurt because Layla goes out there every week and gets her butt kicked in the ring. Michelle goes on to say that Lay-Cool became “Un-Cool” the minute she got hurt and Layla attempted to take the lead.

Layla can’t believe what Michelle is saying to her. She says that she never went out there to try and take the lead. All she’s ever wanted is for them to be equals. Michelle scoffs and says that if Layla grows three feet, gets blond hair, and gets better in the ring, then they can talk about being equals. Okay so I’ll say it for Layla this time, ouch! Michelle gets up and leaves the session, and Layla remains parked on the couch. After a moment, she screams at Michelle “I’m keeping your shoes, Miss Thang!” and she forces a big smile as she turns to the doctor. Layla goes “soooo, same time next week?” and the scene comes to a close.

Okay… REAL TALK!

Miss Layla El needs to walk up to Michelle and be like “excuse me, but who got pinned at ‘Mania by Snooki?! Who is the real loser?!” I mean seriously. Don’t be so nice, Lay. If you’re going to go into battle with Michelle, you need to man up and fight fire with fire. This all started because Big Fat Frankenstein Foot got pinned by a reality show star. You may have lost 2309472304789234 matches, but you didn’t get pinned at WrestleMania, guuuuuuuuurl!

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, lets continue on!

Rosa and Edge are backstage once SmackDown returns to it’s regularly scheduled broadcast. The lovely Latina has a sad look on her face as she gazes up at the Rated R Superstar. The following is a word for word translation of the entire segment.

Rosa Mendes: “Oh pretty man, why are you leaving us? Please don’t say you are leaving the WWE because you want to spend more time with the amazing Diva Dirt SmackDown Redux writer, Cryssi! That’s not fair to the rest of the women who watch this show every Friday night just to see how amazingly gorgeous you are!”

Edge: “I have no idea what you just said but Cryssi is the most wonderful woman in the world.”

Rosa Mendes: “We’re going to miss you so much. No one has better street style than you do, except maybe Christian. I can’t imagine not oooohing and ahhhhhing over your fashion choices every week. Who else can be that fierce? Better yet, what other main event SmackDown star is going to share the main event with the Divas? I haven’t had my chance yet!”

Edge: “I really need to go see Cryssi…”

Alberto Del Rio enters from stage left and walks up behind Edge and Rosa.

Alberto Del Rio: “I want Cryssi!”

He extends his hand and the battle for my affections is on.

Or is it?

Edge knows that he has already won my heart and he intensely stares down Del Rio. After a few seconds and one creepy wink, Edge walks off. Perhaps Del Rio can go find Rosa and give her a storyline now. Hey Rosa! There’s your ticket into the main event. Work it, sistah!

And speaking of working it, Kelly Kelly did all that and then some. Lets take a look.

The smiley blond from Jacksonville, Florida makes her way to the ring first. She’s still sporting bad hair but what Diva isn’t these days? She plays to the crowd like usual once she gets in the ring and then it’s time for Lay-Cool’s entrance. Michelle and Layla walk out and while tries to do their ring entrance, a jolly green giant-esque Michelle denies her. Layla can’t believe it and the announcers hype the tension between the two former best friends. They show a video package highlighting last week’s drama and Michelle takes a seat at the commentary booth.

The bell rings and the match gets underway.

Layla gets things started with a kick to Kelly’s mid-section followed by a takedown. She drops down to the mat and begins to take her frustrations out on Kelly. She slams the back of the blond’s head into the mat a few times, then forces her to eat a face full of the sweaty, gross canvas. Layla tries to keep the attack going but once she brings Kelly to her feet, the former main-eventer mounts a mini-comeback. She Thesz presses Layla down and begins pounding away. She keeps the momentum despite Layla’s efforts and does her cool corner choke hold. After flipping to the outside and bringing Layla out of the ring, Kelly slams Layla’s face into the protective floor padding. She wants to continue her roll but Layla is able to muscle her off and send her crashing against the ring. Kelly hits her lower back pretty hard and Layla lunges for her.

Kelly moves out of the way and it’s Layla who crashes. The referee is counting and urging the girls to get back inside the ring. They’re not having it. Layla ends up shoved into Michael Cole’s Plexiglas box and she finds herself locked into a stare-down with Michelle. Kelly seizes the moment to turn Layla around, kick her in the stomach, and plant her with her finishing-like Facebuster. The referee forces Kelly into the ring and Michelle jumps off commentary and throws Layla in after Kelly. Well she tries to throw her in. The first attempt fails and just looks painful. The second try succeeds and Layla stares at her former partner like she’s crazy. Kelly comes up behind Layla and rolls her up, and like de ja vu… Kelly gets a win!

Layla is in shock. Michelle rolls into the ring and of course she begins to give it to Layla. Layla has no explanation, really. Michelle’s seemingly fed up with Layla’s losing ways and as she goes to leave, Layla stops her. Michelle roughly shoves Layla across the ring and storms off, leaving her ex-bestie confused and hurt. Michelle can be heard saying “good luck without me” as the scene fades.

Drama! I wonder if Michelle will show at couples therapy next week?

I loved this week’s episode of SmackDown. Couples therapy wasn’t as wonderful as I hoped, but I loved Layla deciding that she was going to keep Michelle’s shoes even though she made fun of her feet. I have my thoughts about where this feud is going to go but I’m going to keep them on hold for now. I want to keep a happy, positive attitude and ranting about my fears of Layla getting buried won’t maintain that rainbow of positivity.

The segment between Rosa and Edge was a nice touch. It just seemed fitting that the one man who’s had plenty of Diva storylines in his career go out with one more segment. I loved it. And I’m truly going to miss Edge more than most. From the bottom of my cold little heart, thank you Edge.

And thank you SmackDown writers for giving us a lot of fun things to talk about tonight. Kelly and Layla had a great match. The battle between Lay and Cool is on. Who’s side are you on?

Lay-Cool kick us off tonight with their ring entrance. They talk amongst themselves as they make their way down the ramp and of course, we are reminded that Michelle was destroyed by Snooki sometime during that infamous ‘Mania match. Michelle is not thrilled with the replay and Booker T makes a comment that tension has been brewing between Lay-Cool since that match. Interesting.

Lay-Cool’s theme is soon replaced by Kelly’s and the crowd erupts. Kelly and Beth make their way to their ring and they look amazing (sans Kelly’s hair). Kelly and Beth play to the crowd and once all four ladies get in their designated positions, it’s match time. There’s a small debate between Michelle and Layla over who will start the match and Layla basically forces it on Michelle. Beth is starting for the faces and the old rivals start sizing one another up. They lock up and Beth immediately shoves Michelle to the mat and follows her into the corner. She begins beating down the former schoolteacher until finally McCool is able to get away.

Beth is relentless and she grabs Michelle, throwing her across the ring. Unlike the one on Tough Enough, this Michelle is able to run the ropes and unfortunately for Layla, Michelle runs right into her. Layla had been standing on the ropes cheering for her bestie and when Michelle knocks into her Layla literally goes flying in mid-air. It’s the most insane thing I’ve ever seen. Who knew Divas could fly??

While Layla lays around on the outside, things continue inside. Michelle scrambles away from Beth, backs up to her corner, and waits for Layla to tag her.

But Layla isn’t there. Duh.

Michelle sees her parnter on the outside of the ring and she begins screaming. She wants to know why Layla isn’t on the apron. Beth uses the distraction to roll Michelle up, but the FSU alumn is able to kick out. Beth is quick to scoop Michelle up and nail her with back-breaker. She goes for another cover. Michelle kicks out. She goes to her corner and Layla tags herself in. Michelle doesn’t seem pleased and she wants to know what’s going on. The two bicker and finally Michelle just shoves Layla away. That sends her into the clutches of Beth who powers her (Layla) up over her (Beth’s) head. Layla is screeching and for her efforts she gets dropped across the turnbuckle. Beth swiftly kicks her opponent in the abdomen and Kelly asks for the tag.

The Glamazon obliges.

The former main-event Divastar (see how clever that is?) comes in and sits herself down on the turnbuckle. She wraps Layla in a choke and flips back onto the apron. She holds the move for a four count and flips to the ground, sweeping Layla’s feet out from underneath her. Layla faceplants the mat and Kelly is back on the turnbuckles again, this time flying off. Layla is hit with a lovely crossbody and Kelly goes for a cover. Two count. Kelly cheekily slaps Layla on the bum once the two girls get to their feet and the insulted Brit goes for a big right hand. Kelly is able to block and then she surprisingly catches Layla offguard with a nice little almost finisher. She attempts to put her opponent away but Layla is able to kick out again.

The last ever Women’s Champ finally begins to mount some offense. She strikes Kelly with a few decisive kicks to send her reeling and she looks for the tag. Michelle grips her lower back in pain and rolls off the apron, leaving Layla to fend for herself. Layla hollers at her and Kelly gets right in there and rolls her up. Layla is pinned for the one… two… three and Beth jumps in the ring to celebrate with her partner. The two embrace while Layla looks annoyed. Michelle claims that her back hurts but she’s walking away just fine. Layla can’t believe it. The two girls bicker up the ramp as SmackDown fades to a promo for Christian versus Alberto Del Rio later.

Hello.

Personally, I found this match pretty much. I like the mean girl antics between Michelle and Layla to one another, and I love how Michelle is just so heel in this situation. What I adore even more is the fact that Beth and Kelly got screen time and a much needed win. It still disappoints me that Kelly wasn’t involved at WrestleMania but I’ll take this as a small consolation. WrestleMania always restarts the year for the Divas and their male counterparts and I believe that the Summer of 2011 could be the Summer of Kelly Kelly. The Diva’s Championship is just sitting around backstage at Raw on a champion that is never featured so why not shake things up?

Anytime Beth gets to wrestle is an absolute treat. The WWE sorely dropped the ball on her comeback earlier in the year, so here’s hoping bigger and better things are going to happen to the Glamazon in the post WrestleMania era.

Lay-Cool seem to be on the verge of a split but this has been teased so many times before that I’m not getting my hopes. In an interesting twist, the drama did continue backstage.

After a commercial break, Michelle is seen standing around pacing. She looks visibly upset over what happened earlier and Layla comes up to her. She wants to know if Michelle has calmed down any and Michelle just wants to be left alone. Layla ignores her, asks about Michelle’s back, and brushes off her friend’s response. She’s got a card in her hand and claims that she meant to give it to Michelle last week. It’s an appointment for couples therapy and Michelle tells Layla that they’re not a couple. Layla doesn’t care and says they need the help, and Michelle disagrees. She says Layla needs the help, but the Brit isn’t having it. She demands that Michelle show up and walks off, which prompts Michelle to make a snarly remark about how she’s always the one who shows up. She tosses the card and SmackDown fades towards the ring area.

Meow.

All I can say is I truly hope we get video of these counseling sessions.

You knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

With Jersey Shore star Snooki in the mix at WrestleMania, it was only a matter of time before Lay-Cool dressed up as the ‘guidette’ — and that’s exactly what they did on SmackDown this week. Try not to hurt your neck… it’s time to fist pump, Lay-Cool style:

Kicking off the Divas portion of the show are Kelly Kelly and Rosa Mendes set for tag team action against the ‘flawless BFFs’. Out they come in some interesting — and not at all ring-ready — outfits, plus the trademark Snooki poof hair, huge slippers and hairspray.

Kelly Kelly is all business and ready to wrestle but in true Lay-Cool style, Layla and Michelle ham up their Jersey Shore spoof, fist pumping and to their hearts’ content. That is until Kelly and Rosa break up the party by taking them down to the mat. Let the slippers fly!

While Rosa mounts Layla in the ring, K2 — in devilishly delectable red — and McCool head to the outside. Michelle eats barricade but Kelly gets a huge boot for her troubles. Great spot!

Back in the ring, Layla and Rosa are on their feet now and Lay is in control. However, Rosa soon charges back with a clothesline and a nice snap suplex. Rrrrosa goes for the cover but Michelle breaks it up. Layla hits the Lay-Out and it’s over!

But wait there’s more!

Lay-Cool take the microphones, denouncing Trish Stratus as ‘Trash Stratus’ and John Morrison as ‘John Snorrison’. Layla calls Snooki a ‘meatball guidette’. Michelle says Snooki may be famous but she’ll never be flawless. That’s the best you got?

If we’re basing an entire WrestleMania match around Snooki being famous but not flawless, tonight’s SmackDown certainly did it’s job. Albeit an underwhelming job. But on the bright side, Monday’s go-home segment for this match sounds epic, so we’ll just hang our (barely existent) hopes on that.

Lay-Cool make their way to the ring first. They’re clearly back on the same page and Michelle is back to being a fashion goddess with her amazing grey mini-dress this week. Talk about one flawless looking human being! Layla looks like she always does, in case anyone cares. Unless she’s wearing the wrapping paper ring gear she looks gorgeous. So yes. Anyway, as Lay-Cool make their way to the ring, SmackDown cuts to a commercial break. It returns with Layla in the ring and Michelle sitting at the commentary booth. Josh Matthews and Booker T are hilariously no-selling Michelle, and she doesn’t even care. She takes over the broadcast with Micheal Cole. Brilliant.

Kelly comes out and like always she represents sunshine on a cloudy day. Layla doesn’t look so impressed, and judging from Michelle’s commentary, she’s not impressed either. This should be good. Once Kelly is inside the ring, the former Extreme Expose dance partners begin going at one another. Layla pushes Kelly back, and Kelly retalilates by shoving Layla towards the ropes. She takes her former friend Layla by the hair and starts slamming her head into the turnbuckle, then Kelly adds a few stomps in there. Kelly backs off and when she goes back towards Layla, the ex-champ kicks her back. Kelly is doubled over and gets thrown into the corner, but she rebounds nicely with a stiff looking boot to Layla. Layla goes down and when she’s able to make her way back up, Kelly positions herself on Layla’s shoulders and bends over the top rope. Yes, it’s an illegal choke but Kelly somersaults out of it and onto the floor right before the five count ends. She jerks Layla’s feet from underneath of her and poor Lay faceplants her own self into the mat.

Kelly gets back into the ring and insultingly walks across the back of her fallen opponent. She smirks as she rebounds off the ropes and takes Layla down with a Thesz Press. She throws some nice little punches to Layla’s head and face, and when the two girls get back to their feet, Kelly sends Layla crashing with a clothesline. After a hair-pull takedown, Kelly nails Layla with a facebuster and goes for a cover.

Two count.

Both girls slowly get back to their feet and Kelly tosses Layla into the corner. She signals for the crowd and launches into her back-handspring/elbow combo, but Layla is game and gets her feet up. Kelly slams the side of her head into the mat. It’s not enough to knock her out because once Layla tries to gain control, Kelly fights back with an elbow to the gut. Layla tries to get into the match once again, but Kelly is just to strong tonight. She kicks Lay and slams her head into the mat several times. That prompts Kelly to try and set up her finisher, but Layla is able to lift Kelly up on her shoulders. Kelly fights back with punches and gets up in the corner. She makes sure Layla is out for the count and she starts to climb up the ropes.

That draws Michelle into the mix. She declares that Kelly is not going to get on those ropes and she jumps to her feet and begins screaming. Kelly turns her attention to Michelle, which gives the savvy Layla the chance to jerk Kelly off the ropes and put her away. Kelly lands with a dull thud and Layla makes the cover, getting the decisive one… two… three. Lay-Cool embrace on the outside of the ring and we cut backstage to a shot of Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel walking around. Snooze.

Personally, I liked this match. Kelly was booked so strong. She basically controlled the match from start to finish and it’s good every now and then to switch things up. Usually the babyfaces always have to pretend to be in peril and it was nice to see the aggressive side of 2K. From a character building stand-point, it seems like Kelly has learned what to expect from Lay-Cool so she came to the ring ready to fight and looking for a win. You always, ALWAYS, have to be on your A-game and it seemed like Kelly recognized that. Lord knows she has enough experience with Lay-Cool to know what they’re about. The distraction ending was typical but I love how subtle it was. Michelle stood up and screamed, which diverted feisty Kelly’s attention just enough for Layla to come up out of nowhere.

This match was short, but it was perfectly put together for both girls.

I look forward to seeing what we get on Raw come Monday!

Highlight of the Night: Kelly walking across Layla’s back which prompted Josh Matthews to talk about how athletic she is. Michelle promptly called him out on it, saying what’s so athletic about walking on someone’s back. Beautiful.

Lay-Cool are out first. Michelle seems to have gotten a new weave and Layla’s outfit doesn’t look like an eyesore this week. Michelle, however, is not at her fashion best and I just can’t get behind the LBD/camel-colored boot combo. We are off and running, right? This is and always will be the Real Wrestling Fan’s guide to SmackDown. Kaitlyn out second with her own theme song and video. The song is horrendous but her new ring gear compliments her curves nicely; still hating on her hair. She gets a thunderous pop being the hometown gal and all, and it’s just nice to see her on SmackDown for a change.

The bell rings and both Divas lock up. Layla forces Kaitlyn back against the ropes but her advantage is very short-lived because the former fitness model uses her power to shove Layla back across the ring. Layla reaches for the ropes to help herself up, and Kaitlyn walks towards her. Layla doesn’t want any part of the NXT season three winner but Kaitlyn grabs Layla by the legs and viciously yanks her off the ropes. Layla crashes into the mat and Michelle screams on her BFF’s behalf. Layla begins crying about her tailbone hurting and Michelle tries to comfort her. Kaitlyn rips the British-born beauty from Michelle and carelessly tosses her across the ring.

That brings Michelle to the apron. Kaitlyn tries to pull her into the ring but it’s unsuccessful, so she turns around to go back to Layla after disposing of Michelle. Layla is waiting and nails Kaitlyn with a kick. Two seconds later Layla grabs Kaitlyn and nails her with her finisher, and she gets a quick pin. Lay-Cool’s theme song hits and Michelle makes her way into the ring. Lay-Cool embrace and celebrate Layla’s victory, then they turn their attention to Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn is dragged to the corner and positioned precariously between the steel ring post. Layla jumps to the outside to hold a struggling Kaitlyn. Michelle taunts the helpless rookie for a second before backing up and getting set. She runs towards Kaitlyn and slams her in the back of the head. Kaitlyn’s face bounces off the turnbuckle and she’s left to whither around on the mat in pain. Lay-Cool celebrate their dominance and the message they’ve sent is pretty loud and clear; they’re back to being flawless and there’s nothing any of us can do about it.

What can I really say this week that I haven’t said in previous weeks? SmackDown was its usual self. Lay-Cool once again took center stage. And once again, random Diva number five looked okay in the ring for the few minutes she was given. I try and build up SmackDown as much as I can. In recent weeks we have honestly gotten some beautiful matches (main event matches, no less) from these girls. But there is never any follow-up. Kelly Kelly just had Vickie Guerrero fired. Where is she now? I wasn’t aware that because she won her second main event match with Edge that Kelly couldn’t be on SmackDown on a continuous basis. I don’t want to get into a rant because I realize that this is the slow point of the year for the Divas, but I can only hope and pray that come Monday night something will get set up for Wrestlemania. They have a golden opportunity to set-up a match that will feature Trish Stratus and Lay-Cool and I sincerely hope they do.

As far as tonight goes, everything was just okay. The match was way to short and honestly there’s really nothing for me to judge. Neither Kaitlyn nor Layla showed us much tonight and it’s a shame because as someone who covered NXT3 from top to bottom, start to finish, I would like to see how she’s improved in the ring, if at all. It’s a shame that Kaitlyn hasn’t been featured more on the program, but none of the winners with the exception of Wade Barrett, seem to fare well once they make the main roster. To be fair, Barrett’s not really did that well either but this is a Diva site and personally we don’t care so much about that.

Kaitlyn received the typical beatdown treatment after the match as well. The way Lay-Cool finished her off was pretty impressive. I liked seeing her get her head slammed into the turnbuckle in such a brutal fashion. Michelle McCruel is such a fitting nickname!

It seems pointless for me to even rant about this SmackDown despite the fact I want too. Ranting does no good and I’m not going to bother to try and find a silver lining in this dark cloud. I can’t really say anything else about the show tonight. But what I can say is I hope and pray that if we by chance have any readers in Japan that you’re safe and sound, warm and dry. Japan is a mecca for professional wrestling and we’ve got to remember them in our thoughts and prayers tonight. Tragedy doesn’t just affect one area, it affects all areas. I truly hope and pray that everyone in Japan and across the Pacific are staying strong.

The team of Beth and Rosa make their way to the ring first. Brings back memories of Rosa being Beth’s sidekick doesn’t it? Beth is wearing her awful red Glamasuit (sorry David, but it’s an eyesore) and Rosa is wearing silver-gray and black. They pose for the fans once they’re in the ring and Lay-Cool’s theme music begins to play. Michelle and Layla, both in their eye sore outfits, do their usual shtick on the stage before they go to the ring. A video recapping Rosa’s shock win over Layla last week is shown and the dissension between Lay-Cool is teased despite the fact Michael Cole insisting everything is fine now. We switch back to the ring and Lay-Cool can’t seem to decide who will begin the match. Michelle finally takes the initiative and the bell rings. Beth and Michelle (hurt foot and all) lock up and the Glamazon is quick to get behind Michelle, lock her arms around her waist, and take her down to the mat. Beth hops up and grabs the injured foot much to Michelle’s horror. The ex-schoolteacher starts screaming and pleading, but Beth shows no mercy and slams her fist right into that boot. Michelle screams like she just got stabbed with a rusty butcher knife and while she’s withering around in pain, Beth tags in the Freakin’ Costa Rican, Rosa!

Rosa follows up on Beth’s progress by taking Michelle’s foot and slamming it into the mat. Michelle continues to shriek and she realizes she needs to make a tag. Layla urges her on, but Rosa tries to prevent the tag. Luckily for Michelle she’s able to push Rosa away and get her bestie into the match. Rosa is game and helps Layla into the ring… by the hair. She tosses the Brit across the ring by the hair, actually, and Layla lumbers back to her feet. Rosa takes her down again and she heads for the ropes. Michelle is waiting which distracts the gorgeous Latina and she whips around to confront the FSU alumni. She takes a wild swing at Michelle, who ducks and bends to get out of the way, and Layla capitalizes by kicking Rosa in the stomach and leveling her with a huge forearm. Rosa gets kneed in the gut and Layla brings her to the corner and tags in Michelle.

As Michelle gets in, Rosa pushes Layla away. She ends up crashing into Michelle, who doesn’t take to kindly to the shove. She shoves Layla into the corner and screams that her foot hurts, and she turns around to go and get Rosa. Rosa has almost gotten to Beth at this point to make the tag, but Michelle keeps it from happening by throwing Rosa to the opposite side of the ring. She drops down and begins to pound on her. The referee breaks it up because Michelle has shoved Rosa underneath the ropes, but Michelle goes back to work. She gets Rosa in position to go for a sick kick with that loaded boot but Rosa moves and Michelle viciously kicks the ropes instead. Michelle crumbles in pain and begins to roll towards Layla to make the tag. Meanwhile, Rosa has made the tag to Beth!

Beth and Layla come in simultaneously but it’s all Glamazon. She takes Layla down with a shoulder block, as well as a clothesline, and she just takes her to school for lack of a better term. Beth kicks Layla in the stomach and whips her into the corner. Layla does her best to block this and tries to leap over Beth, but the lovely Buffalo, New York native catches her much smaller opponent and slams her down into the mat. She goes for a cover but Michelle flies in and breaks it up. That brings Rosa into the ring and Michelle gets the heck away from her. She wants none of Rosa at the moment! The referee restrains the dark-haired beauty and forces her out of the ring, and Beth goes to pick Layla up for a Glam Slam. Michelle seizes the moment to jump up and nail Beth in the side of the head with her boot, and Layla goes for the cover. Team Lay-Cool pick up a big win!

Lay-Cool fall into each other’s arms and praise Michelle’s foot which is bedazzled with the word “Flawless” on it. They celebrate their win and Beth’s return to SmackDown has resulted in a cheap loss.

Is it just me, or does this whole “loaded boot” thing give off Bob Orton vibes? I can totally see Michelle and Layla as a modern day Cowboy Bob and Roddy Piper type of combo. And I promise that this is really Cryssi writing. David hasn’t suddenly taken over the SD Redux and made it old. Bad  joke. But seriously, I love the fact Michelle used her boot to knock out Beth and get a cheap win for her team. Orton used to do it all the time. I’m fairly certain he didn’t have a broken arm for a million years. I really want to see Michelle get more wins like this because we’ve never really seen a Diva compete while injured. I find it fascinating that Michelle could use her protective foot as a weapon and honestly, I would love to see her keep this up for awhile. It just added a whole new dynamic to the match in my opinion.

As far as the Lay-Cool tension goes, it is what it is. Don’t expect to see a break-up happen until after Wrestlemania, if at all. I think it’s a shame because a Layla versus Michelle WM match could have been pretty amazing. It definitely would have deserved a big stage after all the work these two ladies have put in this year.

Beth and Rosa as a team was interesting. I can’t pick it apart and I can’t really praise it because it really didn’t do anything. It just seemed like a random Diva pairing and I wish the commentators would have put over the fact Beth and Rosa have a history together. Beth getting pinned didn’t really bother me. Her loss was cheap and doesn’t really hurt. Didn’t see enough of Rosa this week to judge her ring skills. She didn’t look bad though so that’s a good thing and I know her fans are just excited to have her on TV for the second week in a row.

The match itself was good. I liked it and that’s because of interesting ending. I would say SmackDown was pretty good again this week and I look forward to next Friday, like usual.

The six-hundredth episode of SmackDown went off without a hitch in my humble opinion and to say the Elimination Chamber was amazing would be an understatement. The momentum kept on rolling with a solid Raw, so with history not on the side of the Divas, this SmackDown can either be a hit, or it can be a total miss. I’m not entirely sure which it’s going to be because I’m writing this intro without having watched the show. So how about you great readers take this journey with me this week?

SmackDown doesn’t really waste any time getting started this week. Before the intros even roll, a video package highlighting last week’s firing of Dolph Ziggler is shown. This is relevant to us Diva fans because number one, Dolph is sexy, and number two, it involves Vickie Guerrero. And Vickie is made of win. Once the package concludes, SmackDown General Manager, Theodore Long, is shown on the screen. He says that due to Vickie’s involvement with Dolph and Dolph’s attack on him (Teddy), Teddy has every right to fire Vickie. But instead of doing that, he is going to give Vickie a chance to fight for her job. Tonight’s main event is going to be a mixed tag team match featuring the team of Vickie and former Intercontinental Champion, Drew McIntyre, taking on the team of Kelly Kelly and the World Heavyweight Champion Edge. If Drew and Vickie lose, then Vickie can kiss her SmackDown career goodbye. Teddy smiles, takes off his glasses, and the SmackDown intro begins to play.

Do you know the enemy….

What?!

Now that’s an opener! Not only does it set the tone for the rest of the show, but Diva fans have something to look forward too. Kelly and Edge were incredibly successful (and majorly cute) the first time around, so I expect much of the same this second time. It’s nice to see Kelly picking up where she left off; in the main event! And every time Vickie gets in the ring, hi-jinks always ensue! I have high expectations for tonight. Lets see if the show can live up to them.

(Long drawn out Cody Rhodes’ segments don’t help those high expectations. Just sayin’!)

Layla versus Rosa Mendes is our strictly Diva match of the night. Michelle McCool is on commentary and wow, she looks fierce. And speaking of fierce, Rosa and her dark locks are amazing. Okay anyway, Rosa’s music is playing as we get started and yes, she is dancing. Layla seems confused by Rosa’s gyrations and she wants to know what’s going on. The bell rings and our comedic gem begins to mock the Latina Diva, and of course, Rosa takes exception to that. She pounces on Layla and begins smashing her head into the mat. Michelle is completely disgusted by this and says as much. Layla does fend off her foe and comes back with a sharp little kick to the stomach. Layla slams a forearm into Rosa’s face and attempts to whip her into the corner. Rosa reverses it and sends Layla flying, but Layla catches herself on the bottom rope. She goes to jump over an oncoming Rosa, but saucy Rosa catches Layla’s feet and throws her over the ropes. Layla lands on the apron, knocks Rosa in the face, and is able to move when Rosa tries to spear Layla off the apron.

Rosa catches her mid-section on the ropes but she is able to stop a kick from Layla. One sloppy exchange later and the two women awkwardly tumble to the outside. They get to their feet simultaneously with Rosa gaining the upper-hand. She slams Layla’s face off the apron and the ex-champ fights back with a very weak kick. Rosa is loving her moment and she absolutely sends Layla flying into the steel guardrail. Layla goes down almost right in front of Michelle and that prompts the leggy blond to declare that she needs to help her friend and she throws down her headset.

As Rosa is trying to throw Layla into the ring, she’s distracted by Michelle. Rosa drops Layla like a bad habit and she bucks up to Michelle. Michelle starts trash talking Rosa and that allows Layla to nail her from behind. Rosa flies into Michelle and sends her crashing to the ground, and Layla sneaks back into the ring. Frustrated, Rosa gets up and goes to follow Layla, but Michelle is livid. She attacks Rosa and begins beating the living Hell out of her. The referee sees what’s going on and he calls for the bell which gives Rosa the WIN. Rosa the win?!

Wow.

Layla flips out on Michelle and demands to know what in the world she’s doing. Michelle tries to explain that she was taking care of business but interestingly enough Layla doesn’t seem to want to hear it. The two BFFs stare at each other for a minute, and after Michelle pulls away from Layla the first time, they finally shrug it off and leave the ring together.

Okay first of all, wow. I want Michelle’s body. Her figure is to die for. Second of all, did the WWE forget they had a pay-per-view this past Sunday? They didn’t even mention Lay-Cool antics at the Chamber and they certainly didn’t bring up Trish. How odd to have Michelle on commentary and everyone acting like Sunday never even happened. All they did was talk about the Lay-Cool drama. That’s just not acceptable.

As far as the match goes, we can’t really call it a match. It was like two minutes long. I’m not complaining because I actually enjoyed it. Rosa getting a win was nice and she looked really sharp on offense. Layla is so good at selling for the faces and I loved her starting the fight with Michelle this week. It was fun to see Layla angry and Michelle acting like she did nothing wrong. I reckon at this point the split is inevitable (duh/hello) and I’m interested to see which girl will end up on top. It’s all just a waiting game now.

But seriously, how can you not mention the Elimination Chamber during this?!

Later on, Vickie is seen backstage beating on Teddy’s office door. She calls his name and then says that putting her in a match for her job is completely unfair. She grabs the door-handle and begins to shake it, and then screams at Teddy to come out and speak to her. When he doesn’t, an upset Vickie gets dramatic before she walks away.

Short and sweet, and most importantly, to the point. I don’t blame Vickie for being upset about the stipulation!

Again, we see Vickie backstage and this time she finds her nephew, Chavo Guerrero. She frantically tells him that she’s basically asked everyone around the building for help and all of them have flat turned her down. She gives Chavo a speech about them being family and says that they have to stick together. Chavo agrees with his aunt and when Vickie goes to hug him, he brushes her off. He brings up all the horrible things Vickie has done to him in the past and says that paybacks are a you know what. Needless to say, he won’t be helping Vickie tonight.

Awww poor Vickie!

Drew and Vickie are the first team out and they enter to Drew’s music. Drew, as usual, looks angry. Vickie, on the other hand, is still upset over the situation that she’s basically brought on herself. After the match is explained, Edge’s theme song begins to play and he makes his way to the ring with the gorgeous Kelly. They receive a thunderous ovation and they continue to look adorable together. Edge poses on the ramp behind Kelly, pyros fly, and the blond twosome pose some more once they get in the ring.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Edge and Drew are ready to start the match off, but Kelly is bouncing around on the outside. She holds out her hand and Edge gleefully makes the tag. Drew has no choice but to get out of the ring, and Vickie has no choice but to enter. She’s hesitant to say the least but she finally gets in. Kelly and Edge get the crowd solidly behind their team and Vickie shoves Kelly back. It doesn’t phase the blond bombshell. She actually wants to know if Vickie is serious. The SmackDown Consultant attempts a kick, but Kelly catches her by the foot and sends her down. Kelly wastes little time in going to town on Vickie. She jumps on top of her and begins knocking her around. The ref has to pry her from Vickie and that allows our favorite heel to scramble away and tag Drew in.

The hot Scotsman gets in the ring and begins barking at Kelly that he was the only one who stuck up for her. Edge places himself in front of the two and gently pulls Kelly from the situation. They start fighting in front of Kelly and Drew ends up with the advantage. He whips Edge into the corner but when he goes for the follow-up, Edge is able to execute a sunset flip and go for the first cover of the match. Two count.

Cue shot of Vickie nearly having a heart attack on the apron!

Edge taunts Vickie with how close that count was as he nails Drew in the face. The champ attempts to whip his handsome opponent in the ropes, but Drew reverses it and Edge finds himself against them instead. Drew comes at him, but the Canadian is able to kick the other man back. Edge comes at Drew, but the brunette anticipates this and is able to send Edge crashing down. Drew rolls over on Edge for a cover, but it’s barely a one count.

The match spills to the corner where Drew starts working over Edge. He jerks the champ from the corner and stomps on Edge’s pretty face. Drew gets on Edge like he is going for a cover, but he yanks him up instead. He wants to punish Edge for whatever reason so begins punching him and whatnot. Some manly stomping follows until Drew backs off and grabs his own head.

I guess he is slowly spiraling into this cray cray aggressive character who just can’t help himself when it comes to beating people?

Drew finally turns his attention back to Edge and locks him in some modified camel clutch like move. We get a nice close-up of Edge’s perfectly straight and sparkling white teeth. The crowd is after Edge to get back into things and he finally begins to fight free. Drew doesn’t let up and jerks Edge down by the hair much to the chagrin of the crowd. Instead of trying to cover Edge, Drew goes to Kelly and begins arguing with her. Vickie is in shock and Kelly doesn’t seem to care about what Drew has to say. When Drew turns away from the blond, Edge is waiting and takes him down in nifty fashion. Both men are down and it’s a hot minute before they both make their way to their feet.

Once they do, Drew swings wildly at Edge, who ducks the clothesline attempt. Using the ropes for leverage, Edge comes flying at Drew and knocks him down. Edge definitely has the momentum now and takes it to drew. Kelly is nodding in approval from the outside and Edge sends Drew crashing and burning with a fun facebuster type of move. Edge goes for a quick cover but Drew muscles out. Vickie looks absolutely sick to her stomach and rightfully so. If Drew screws this match up for their team, Vickie loses her job!

Edge continues his path of offense and sends Drew into the heel corner. Edge goes to pulverize him, but Drew moves. Edge stops his own momentum and ends up face-to-face with his ex-wife. Vickie slaps the former man across the face and no, Edge is not amused. In fact, Edge is pretty pissed but he does the right thing and turns around. Unfortunately for Edge, Drew is waiting and nearly takes Edge’s head off with a big boot to the jaw.

It takes Drew a minute to collect himself and Vickie goes nuts. She wants Drew to put Edge away and who can blame her? Drew finally pulls Edge to the center of the ring and appears to be setting Edge up for the future shock DDT. He glances at Kelly before going into the motion and she’s not happy. Drew wants to hit the move but Edge is able to reverse, shove his boot in Drew’s gut, and he lays Drew out with a guillotine like DDT of his own! Fun!

Edge backs up and that crazy look comes across his face. We all know what that means. He begins raking his hands through his hair and getting set for the spear. The crowd wants it but Vickie sure doesn’t. She runs into the ring and begins to beg Edge to have a little mercy. She’s practically in tears and Edge sneaks a peak over at Kelly. Pretty soon, Kelly comes flying into the ring and spears Vickie out of the way, which leaves Edge’s path clear to Drew. Kelly kicks Vickie from the ring, Drew eats a spear, and Edge gets the cover for the one… two… three! Edge’s music begins to blare and Kelly rushes into the arms of the World Heavyweight Champion.

Vickie is completely crushed. Her reign of terror over SmackDown has come to an abrupt end and she now joins her boyfriend in the unemployment line. Edge and Kelly lean over the ropes and wave goodbye to Vickie. They’re completely beside themselves with joy. Teddy Long comes out and yes he is dancing. It’s awesome. What’s even more awesome is Edge dancing like Teddy. Wow. Teddy has a microphone and goes to the ring as SmackDown cuts to a commercial break.

When the show returns, Vickie is alone in the ring with Edge and Teddy. All three of them are hamming it up and the crowd has even started to sing that song. Yes, you know the song. Teddy starts talking but Vickie grabs the microphone and begins to beg. It’s bad. Teddy cuts her off and fires her without mercy, and the crowd goes wild. He leaves the ring and Vickie is left with Edge. She’s inconsolable but the Rated R Superstar doesn’t care. Seeing that she’s not going to get any sympathy from her ex, Vickie rolls out of the ring. She goes to referee Scott Armstrong and begs him to help. She goes to Booker T who has no mercy for her. She practically dies in the arms of Michael Cole who promises he will try and talk to Teddy. She even goes to the cameraman and begs him to try and help her get her job back.

And then Vickie gets the microphone. Oh boy.

She spazzes out at the crowd who begin to boo heavily. Once she’s in the ring again, Vickie approaches Edge. She says that they have great chemistry together and that back in the day her heart was always with him. Vickie says that he can help because he is the champ and she drops down to her knees. She wraps her arms around Edge’s legs and begins screaming that he please help her and that she needs her job. Edge says that yeah he can help her but he would rather sing. So yes he starts to sing her away from the ring. Wow. Just wow.

Vickie makes her way up the ramp and breaks down right before going backstage. She starts screaming what sounds like “you wait!” With Edge distracted, Alberto Del Rio comes in and attacks his Wrestlemania opponent from behind!

And that’s where our Redux ends.

Brilliant main event from a character standpoint! Kelly got another moment and Vickie was fabulous even when being fired. There wasn’t enough Diva action in the actual match for my liking but that could be a good thing since Vickie was one of the competitors. She’s not a wrestler. She’s a fierce character. Drew and Edge are hot, so having to watch them wrestle wasn’t bad I suppose. I’m interested to see where this is going next week.

And yes, I’m still bothered that Sunday wasn’t mentioned at all during this either.

And where was Christian when Alberto attacked?! I swear the WWE totally forgot they had a show this past weekend. Whatever. At least SmackDown was still solid and we have a lot to look forward too on the road to Wrestlemania… I think.

Welcome everyone to this glorious edition of the SmackDown Redux dedicated to the A-List’s show 600th episode! Congratulations to the WWE and to all the Divas and Superstars who have appeared on the Blue Brand over the years. SmackDown has proven to itself to be the home for better wrestling, better storyline, and overall, it’s just more consistent on a week-to-week basis. That especially rings true for the Divas, who usually get pushed off the show for special occasions on Raw. SmackDown’s 600th episode provided us with a tag team match that featured Diva’s Champion, Eve, teaming up with the Glamazon, Beth Phoenix, taking on the team of Layla and Maryse. An injured Michelle McCool was at ringside providing commentary.

We kick things off this week with Eve’s terrible theme music blaring throughout the arena. The champ and her partner, Beth, make their way to the stage. They do their trademark poses, play to the crowd, and make their way to the ring. Once inside they pose some more and SmackDown goes to commercial break. When it returns, ex-champ Michelle is at ringside with the trio of announcers that does NOT include Matt Striker anymore (so bitter), and Maryse and Layla are in the ring. Everyone is ready for action.

Before we get into that, I want to touch on the fact that Michelle admitted she had an injury. She posted about it on Twitter earlier in the week and she basically said the same thing during the match. She injured her foot when she kicked Layla in the head a couple of weeks ago. We definitely wish Michelle a speedy recovery!

Now, onto the match!

Beth and Maryse are somehow nominated to start things off tonight. The bell rings and Maryse sends a crafty looking slap right across the Glamazon’s kisser. Beth isn’t amused and she lunges at Maryse who beelines towards the ropes. Beth isn’t about to let the French-Canadian bombshell get away with that, at the ropes or not, and she uses her power to scoop Maryse up and dump her face first across the top turnbuckle. Blond hair starts flying as Beth starts wailing away on Maryse in the corner. She whips her across the ropes, runs towards her, and slams into her. Maryse comes stumbling out of the corner and Beth is waiting to take her down with a savvy little clothesline. She goes for the cover but Maryse gets her shoulder up fairly quickly. She’s also able to scramble to the corner and make the tag to Layla.

Beth steps back and allows Layla to get in the match. The two girls circle one another like they’re going to lock up, but Layla attempts to catch Beth off guard with a kick to the shin. Beth drops down but it’s not enough to keep her there. When Layla goes to work over Beth’s arm, Beth ends up pushing her down and taking over for her team. She drags Layla to the middle of the ring, twists and turns the other girl’s arm in all sorts of directions, and then picks her up in the air. Not sure if the next part was meant to happen, but Beth ends up dropping Layla right on her face and she tags in the Diva’s Champ.

Eve comes in nails Layla with a series of dropkicks, and after a forearm, Eve sends Layla into the corner. She goes after her, and Layla gets her foot up, but Eve catches it. She spins Layla around, scoops her up into a suplex, and after sending the Brit down, she floats over for a nice cover. Layla kicks out after a two count. Eve helps her foe up and attempts to whip her into the ropes, but Layla reverses it. She sends Eve flying but much to Layla’s chagrin, when Eve comes back, she flips over Layla, and brings her down for another pin attempt. Layla is able to roll through it and she grabs two handfuls of brunette hair and slams the back of Eve’s head into the mat. The champ is momentarily dazed but once she’s able to stand, she ducks a roundhouse kick from Layla. Layla is shocked but that shock is short-lived after Eve kicks her in the stomach and then catches her under the chin with another. A clothesline follows and once again, Layla is down.

This sends Michelle into action. She ditches her headset and hobbles to the ring. She gets up on the apron and starts screaming at Eve. Beth jerks Michelle down, but the distraction has allowed Layla and Maryse to set up for a sneaky little double kick to the champ. Maryse slithers from the ring, Layla goes for the cover, and Eve gets pinned for the one… two… three. Layla caresses Eve’s face and the heels flee from the ring as soon as Beth gets back in. They celebrate while replays are shown, and Layla rejoins her bestie Michelle as our Diva action for the night fades out.

You know this match wasn’t half bad!

I want to start off by saying that it’s wonderful to finally see Beth back in action after being absent for the past three weeks. And secondly, it was nice to have Eve and Maryse on the 600th show because SmackDown is really where both Divas got their start and first chance to really flourish. Now, about the match…

Eve always seems to bring something different each time she steps into the ring. I’m not sure why some people pick on her move-set and say it’s limited because honestly, I don’t see it. She meshed nicely with Layla this week, better than their match last week in my opinion, and I definitely think Eve was better tonight than on Raw. Thus far, Eve hasn’t been booked to look like a strong winner, but tonight she was booked to look like a strong loser. It took a distraction from Michelle, and a sneaky double team from Layla and Maryse to put her away, and that to me is a step in the right direction. Now if only we could get the girl some solid wins and a character… come on writers!

The beginning of the match with Beth and Maryse was fun. I don’t blame Maryse for not wanting anything to do with Beth. She’s the Glamazon! You’d have to be crazy to wanna go one-on-one with her. But Maryse, bless her, stepped up to the plate because she really had no choice, and she sold like a champ. Loved her bitchslap to start the match off too. So catty, so Maryse.

Michelle didn’t really distract on commentary. She explained her injury and cheered her bestie, even if the “go Lay” comments seemed a little uninspired. Tension still? She did come to Layla’s defense and there wasn’t really any animosity between the girls tonight. We’ll have to wait and see if they continue with the Lay-Cool tension once Michelle’s injury is healed enough for her to compete. I don’t expect to see much Lay-Cool drama in the coming weeks.

That’s really it, to be honest. I’m glad the girls got a chance to be on the show. I’m real glad Beth finally got to wrestle again. And I’m kind of sad there won’t be a Diva match at the Elimination Chamber. The card is really small (four matches as of now), so perhaps we can get a last minute addition? At this point I would love to see something thrown together for the girls because no doubt they’ll get a raw deal come Wrestlemania. I guess we’ll just have to wait, see, and beliEVE.

A not so appropriate title for this week’s SmackDown Redux would be “The Hangover Edition” but that’s incredibly unfair to the newly crowned Diva’s Champion, Eve, and her opponent on this week’s episode of the A-List show, Layla. However, after last week’s epic episode, I truly felt like this week was nothing more than a buzz kill. The match itself was okay, and so was the backstage segment that featured Michelle McCool and Vickie Guerrero (…and Dolph Ziggler). But unfortunately it just failed to live up to the high expectations that last week set.

Of course, I’m getting ahead of myself. This is not the time to talk about my personal opinion. This is merely the introduction so let me get all generic on you people and say…

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO HEREEEEEEE’S SMACKDOWN!

Tonight’s Diva portion of the show kicked off with a segment. Lay-Cool are walking backstage with Layla dressed to wrestle. They’re chatting about the Royal Rumble and Michelle calls Eve a snake. They agree that she didn’t deserve to be in that match at the Rumble and Michelle says that it’s all because it was Lay-Cool’s rematch. They can’t decide how Eve got into the match and Michelle seems a little annoyed that no one ever seems to help them out like that. They agree that Eve’s victory was nothing more than a fluke and Michelle makes the statement that had the referee been doing his job correctly that she would be the new Diva’s Champion. Layla stops them and goes “don’t you mean we?” Michelle just looks at her and goes “yay, whatever Lay.” This insults Layla and rightfully so, but before she can reply, the door to Vickie’s office swings open and out walks the woman herself.

Vickie glares at both Michelle and Layla, and tells them how disappointed she is in them. She says they cost Dolph the World Championship last week and she can’t believe she put so much faith in them. Vickie says that if she wants something done right, she’s going to have to do it herself and that’s precisely why she is the special guest referee in Dolph’s match tonight against Edge. Dolph walks up and places his hands on Vickie’s shoulders. He demands to know why she’s talking to a loser and his blue eyes go straight to Layla. Layla wants to know just who he’s calling a loser and he replies that he’s speaking to her because last week she cost him HIS championship. Dolph tells Vickie that they don’t have time to talk to them because they have a match to get ready and both Dolph and Vickie walk off.

Oh yeah, during that whole exchange between Layla and Dolph, Michelle was looking at the number one contender like she wanted to throw him against the wall and have her way with him. Please tell me that I’m not the only one that noticed that?

And someone please tell me that I’m not the only who noticed Michelle reaching out to grab a handful of Dolph booty as he walked off?

Interesting.

Anyway, Layla glares at Michelle and sarcastically thanks her for having her back. Michelle just stares at her BFF as Layla walks off. The show then cut to a commercial break.

When SmackDown returns, Lay-Cool are in the ring. They’re talking and perhaps smoothing things over. A video package of what transpired at the Royal Rumble plays and then Eve’s music hits. The Diva’s Champ walks to the ring to a nice ovation. She slaps a few hands on her way down the ramp and when she gets inside the ring she plays to the crowd. A few seconds later, the bell rings and we officially have ourselves a match! The girls look like they’re about to lock up but Layla decides against it and slips out of the ring. She goes right to Michelle and pleads with her to have her back. She says she can’t focus and that she needs Michelle’s support, and Michelle does her best to assure Layla and for the moment that seems to satisfy Layla. She goes back to the ring as the referee starts the count, but she changes her mind. Layla goes right back to Michelle and their conversation continues. Layla is convinced she can’t in the ring and face Eve, and Michelle tries to calm her down by telling her to breathe.

Eve has had enough of the stall tactics and gets out of the ring. She violently shoves Michelle to the ground and takes Layla by the head and slams it off the broadcast table. Eve follows it up by tossing Layla into the ring. She goes in after her but Layla greets her with a kick to the stomach. Eve drops to her knees and Layla grabs a handful of hair and pulls Eve’s hand back, slamming it into the canvas. Layla works over Eve and eventually throws her against the ropes. That gives Michelle and opportunity to badger the champ while Layla chokes her for a few seconds. Layla jerks Eve off the ropes and drop kicks her in the back which sends Eve face first into the ground. Layla goes for a quick cover and Eve gets the shoulder up after the two.

Layla remains on offense and places Eve in a pretty submission hold. Michelle turns her back to the action to sorta play off of what Layla is doing and meanwhile, Layla encourages Michelle to look at what she’s doing to Eve. Eve finally starts to fight back with kicks and elbows, and Layla finds herself releasing the hold and moving back. She shakes it off and comes back at Eve, but Eve is waiting and does an awesome little Greco-Roman like takedown to Layla. Both girls are slow to get to their feet and Layla is holding her lower back in pain. They finally greet each other and Layla takes the initiative to shove Eve back. When Layla goes at Eve, the California girl takes a wild swing but misses with the clothesline, however she catches Layla on the rebound with a nice drop kick.

Eve is now on offense and she takes it to Lay, making sure the British-born beauty stays down. Once Eve is satisfied that Layla isn’t going anywhere, she nails her with a standing moonsault. She goes for the cover but Layla manages to get the shoulder up after the two. Both women get back up and Layla is able to fend Eve off with a kick. Eve isn’t about to let her advantage slip again and she brings Layla down with a nice looking little move I’m going to call a face-breaker. How awesome. Layla rolls onto her back and Eve decides that it’s time to finish the match with the top rope moonsault. She climbs to the top rope but Michelle jumps on the apron. The distraction is enough to allow Layla to kick Eve’s feet out from underneath her and poor Eve just crashes and burns. Layla grabs her foe by the ankle and pulls her to the center of the ring.

And then Eve randomly wins.

Huh?

Other SmackDown tidbits…
Before his match with Chris Masters, Drew McIntyre got on the microphone and dedicated his match to recently fired Diva, Kelly Kelly. He blamed Edge for Kelly’s firing and he called out Edge, saying he would never forget it. And yes, I did just throw up in my mouth.

Vickie Guerrero also refereed the main event as it was so perfectly hyped up throughout the week. During the match she actually attempted to spear Edge which didn’t go over so well. I would definitely recommend finding a video of that somewhere and watching.

It’s hard to sit here and say what I liked about SmackDown because I just felt letdown. I know it’s incredibly hard to follow-up something as beautifully divalicious as last week, but come on! I do feel like Eve and Layla put on a fun match. I really enjoyed it, especially some of Eve’s mat moves. Layla is a little submission goddess and I think Eve’s standing moonsault is one of my favorite moves. The crowd, as well as the weird ending killed this match for me personally. The crowd was rude and the ending made little sense to me. After watching the match twice and missing it both times, I just gave up on it. It is what it is. Fun to see Eve back on SmackDown though.

Lay-Cool tension was teased again and I think the split is pretty inevitable now. I don’t want to see it, but that looks like the direction we’re headed. I just have to ask, why was Michelle trying to grab Dolph’s ass?!

As far as next week’s SmackDown goes, I don’t have high hopes for the Divas. It’s advertised as the 600th episode and the interpromotional main event is all we need to know to be able to tell the Divas will get pushed to the back burner. They usually do when it comes to special shows but maybe we’ll get a Raw vs. SmackDown or Heel vs. Face tag team match. I just hope that it won’t suck and every girl will get a chance to wrestle.

And can we please have better follow-up to Kelly getting “fired” than Drew just dedicating a match to her? Gross.

For the first time in the history of my SmackDown Redux, I’m going into the A-List show absolutely cold turkey, unsure of what exactly is going to happen. On Tuesday night I took a serious vow to remain spoiler free this week and to not watch the show until it airs in the U.S. on SyFy. I’m pleased to report that I stuck to my vow and as I write this, the show is getting closer to starting. All I know is that the main event features the team of Kelly Kelly and the World Heavyweight Champion, Edge, taking on the team of Michelle McCool, Layla, and Dolph Ziggler. As cool as mixed tag matches are, this one gets even better because on Raw, Vickie Guerrero announced that this match would be for Edge’s championship. Call it his punishment for using the banned spear at the Royal Rumble. I call it freaking epic because this is going to be the best Redux in the history of Reduxes.

I really should not be this excited for a taped wrestling show.

And so the show begins. We kick things off with Booker T in the ring announcing that he is the newest addition to the SmackDown broadcast team. This upsets me because I am a Matt Striker fan. I’ll miss you blue eyes. Anyway, Booker T does his spinaroonie thing in the ring and as that concludes, Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler make their way to the ring with extreme, massive heat. Vickie is screaming excuse me and they get in the ring with Dolph helping his girlfriend get in like a true gentleman! Vickie says that tonight will be a SmackDown we will never forget. She has set up qualifying matches for the SmackDown elimination chamber and then she begins to talk about tonight’s main event. She calls Dolph the uncrowned world champion and she brings up Kelly. She calls her a tramp and orders her to come to the ring.

RIGHT NOW KELLY KELLY.

Kelly finally comes out to a massive pop and Dolph and Vickie look at her in disgust. They are not happy with the gorgeous blond princess. Vickie demands to know who Kelly thinks she is because she put her hands on her (Vickie) at the Royal Rumble. She blames Kelly for costing Dolph the match at the Rumble and she wants an explanation. Vickie claims that she has thought about what to do to Kelly all week and as easy as it would be just to fire her, she would much rather humiliate her and strip her of her dignity, piece by piece. Vickie wants Kelly to feel what it’s like to be a distraction and she wants her to live with the fact that she is going to be the reason that Edge loses the World Heavyweight Championship. Vickie sneers and tells Kelly that Kelly must have forgotten who she was dealing with.

Kelly has her own microphone phone and she just laughs. She says that everyone knows who Vickie is. She says that Vickie is the person who is constantly backstage rifling through her stuff and unfairly invading her personal life. Kelly says that she’s sick of it and instead of Vickie firing her, maybe she should just quit. Vickie replies that she has no clue what Kelly is even talking about and Kelly gets up in her face and says that Vickie is nothing more than a power-hungry, vindictive, paranoid witch. Kelly then screams that everyone is sick of Vickie which brings the former Intercontinental Champion to his girlfriend’s defense.

Dolph points at Kelly and says that he doesn’t care about Kelly’s accusations towards Vickie. All he knows is that Kelly cost him HIS world heavyweight title. Dolph is pissed and tells Kelly she has nothing to say and that when she ran down and attacked Vickie, that allowed Edge to take advantage of the situation and use the banned spear to finish off the match. Dolph wants to know if Kelly forgot that little tidbit of information and he points at the ‘Tron and tells her to take a look.

Cue Royal Rumble footage that isn’t really footage. It’s merely a screencap of Dolph getting speared. Lulz.

Dolph glares at Kelly and says that Vickie can’t reverse the referee’s decision but he wants Kelly to know that he is the UNCROWNED World Heavyweight Champion. He continues on his tirade by telling the sunshine blond that the only reason she is allowed to stand in the presence of himself and Vickie is because Kelly will likely be the reason that Dolph does become the champion later on tonight. Kelly is fuming and Dolph continues to verbally bitchslap her by telling her that until the main event, she is of no use to anyone. He tells her to get out of the ring and practically tries to shoo her towards the ropes. When Kelly refuses to comply with his demands, Dolph gets irritated and screams “NOW!” Kelly narrows her blue eyes and reaches back, and slaps the holy living shit out of Dolph Ziggler.

Good grief!

The bleached blond championship contender hits the mat, grabbing his face in pain, and Vickie attempts to get up in Kelly’s grill. Kelly shoves Vickie right on her butt after blocking a slap, and she bucks up to Vickie. The trash talking and insults are flying, and Lay-Cool come rushing to the ring. They bump Kelly away from Vickie and bully her into the corner. They look like they want to attack but Edge comes flying in the from the back and slides in the to protect his tag partner. Lay-Cool wisely back up and Dolph attempts to attack Edge. Edge sends Perfection flying from the ring, orders Kelly out, and Lay-Cool and Vickie wisely get out as well. Edge joins Kelly and both sides stare one another down while SmackDown goes to commercial break.

What an opener, ohmygod.

Observations: My God what an opening segment. I’m fairly certain we can all agree that it was the biggest moment in Kelly’s career and she made the most of it. Her passion and fire were evident and wow that slap to Dolph nearly took his head off. Homegirl brought the emotion and she blossomed into a full blown force to be reckoned with right in front of our eyes. I don’t know if this means the Kelly/Drew storyline is done, but at this point I don’t give a crap. This is better. This will mean more for Kelly in the long run than some pointless angle with McIntyre that no one cared about from the start.

I’ll be honest, I was so baffled about Kelly’s random run-in at the Rumble. Now, I’m just grateful and excited that the WWE writers came up with it. Tonight is going to be epic.

Later on in the night Edge and Kelly are backstage. He is moaning about his title reign coming to an end tonight because the deck is clearly stacked against them and he is telling Kelly that he didn’t think things would end like this. Kelly looks incredibly annoyed and she comments, “so you don’t have faith in me?” Edge tries to cover it up by saying that Kelly can’t beat two Divas at once and Kelly once again repeats herself, saying that Edge doesn’t have faith in her. That gives her a chance to rant and she compares Edge to Drew McIntyre, saying that men were all the same. Edge seems confused and asks what Drew has to do with things and Kelly says it doesn’t matter. Edge tries to apologize in his Canadian language but Kelly shakes it off. She says that sorry just isn’t good enough and she walks off leaving the champion shaking his head.

Observations: Edge’s Canadian accent is so sexy. Anyway, I like the fact Kelly mentioned Drew here because it basically explains why this storyline has abruptly come to an end. Thank you wrestling god (JBL).

To cap off this amazing night we get into the main event of the evening. I don’t know about you but it’s basically been the only thing wrestling-wise I’ve cared about all week! Lay-Cool, Ziggler, and Vickie are the first team out and they head out to Dolph’s theme song which I sing at the top of my lungs every morning when I do my make-up (true story). Layla, Michelle, Dolph, and Vickie look like a force to be reckoned with and the ring entrance Lay-Cool and Ziggler come up with is truly gorgeous. I love these three so much I swear to goodness. Wow.

Out next is Kelly Kelly. She gives the fans a smile and but turns serious as she makes her way down the ramp. She smartly decides against entering the ring on her own and waits for her tag team partner, Edge. His music hits (which I know every word too as well and sing on the way to work each morning; again, true story) and he looks positively delicious. He joins Kelly and together they make their way inside the ring. Dolph taunts them both and even rubs his cheek in homage to the vicious slap Kelly gave him earlier. “Metalingus” by AlterBridge dies down and Tony Chimmel begins to make the introductions. He introduces the challengers first. Lay-Cool are greeted with heat (so please people don’t comment by saying Lay-Cool do not get heat) and Ziggler’s reaction basically mimicks the girls’. Their opponents are announced and Kelly Kelly’s pop is superb. Edge is announced as the champion and we’re basically set for the greatest match of all-time.

Or so we think…

Ziggler and Edge get ready to square off and while the referee is showing off the belt, Vickie gets on the microphone. She declares that if Edge uses the spear in any way, shape, or form he will be stripped of the championship effective immediately. Edge is not amused. The bell rings and we are set to go. Dolph and Edge circle one another before getting down to business.

Why isn’t this part of the match taking place at my house?

Dolph levels Edge with a kick to the stomach and begins to pound him down to the mat. Apparently he has a lot of pent up anger and frustration over being the uncrowned champion and instead of finding more productive ways to deal with it, he just beats the heck out of Edge of thirty seconds. Alright then. Dolph gets back to his feet and Edge has to use the ropes to help pull himself up. Dolph takes advantage and whips Edge across the ring. Edge manages to duck a clothesline and when Dolph spins around Edge takes him down. He follows it up with a wicked clothesline, throws Dolph into the corner, and then throws him up in the air. Dolph’s gorgeous face crashed to the mat and Edge backs up looking for the spear. Vickie teases him and tells him to go for it, but of course Edge can’t. It doesn’t matter anyway because Dolph rolls out of the ring to avoid further punishment.

Edge has other plans.

Dolph looks to climb back inside the ring but Edge greets him with a dropkick right through the ropes. Dolph crashes hard and Edge gets out, and throws his challenger back inside the ring. Dolph scrambles to his corner and reaches out to Lay-Cool and both girls tag him. Layla and Michelle hit the ring and almost immediately the referee orders one of them to get out. Layla argues with the ref while Michelle assures her bestie that she has things completely under control. When Michelle turns around, Edge is waiting for her and she jumps. She tells the Rated R Superstar that he has to get out of the ring and the referee finally tells him that he really doesn’t have a choice. Edge reluctantly turns around and glances at Kelly who actually seems ready for this opportunity. She nods her head as if to assure Edge that everything is going to be alright and without having a choice really, Edge exits the ring and stands on the apron.

Kelly gets inside and looks at Michelle and just when the girls get set for action we are sent TO A FREAKING COMMERCIAL BREAK. THANKS WWE.

Ugh.

After what seems like forever, SmackDown returns with Michelle beating the tar out of Kelly in the corner. She’s squeezing her face and yelling at her, and when the referee finally forces her to back off, Michelle turns to Edge and starts taunting him. Epic. She turns back to Kelly who kicks her and grabs her up by a handful of hair. Kelly ends up positioning herself on Michelle’s shoulders with her legs wrapped around the neck of the former multi-time Diva’s Champion. She falls back into a handstand and starts choking Michelle. Dolph and Layla are freaking out while Michelle screams for her life. Kelly breaks the hold by backflipping down to the floor. She jerks Michelle’s feet out from underneath her and pulls the FSU alumni to the mat. Kelly drops down beside Michelle, grabs her by the head, and starts pounding her face into the ground. Kelly looks at Dolph and Layla and sends a mental “eff you” towards them as she climbs back up on the apron. Layla charges her but Kelly kicks her square in the stomach and to the outside. Michelle gets up and knocks Kelly on her back but when she goes to grab her, Kelly kicks her away. Michelle goes back but Kelly locks her hands on the bottom rope and attempts to get her legs around Michelle’s neck again. Michelle grips her tightly and Kelly relinquishes her grip on the ropes. Michelle spins her around as Kelly tries to fight out of the hold and she just slams Kelly Kelly into the guardrail.

Goodness gracious that was one of the sickest bumps I’ve ever seen.

The side of Kelly’s head smashes into the steel and she’s laid out on the floor. How that didn’t knock her out is beyond me but my God, Kelly is down. Michelle seems shocked at what just happened but she finally claps her hands and dusts them off for a job well done. Michelle gets Kelly back in the ring and goes for a cover, but the referee won’t allow it to happen because Michelle’s feet are underneath the ropes. Michelle responds by kicking Kelly more towards the center of the ring, while Dolph goes off on the ref for his questionable decision making. Michelle improvises by stomping on Kelly some more while Dolph taunts the helpless girl by yelling “stay down, Barbie.” Michelle points at Layla and asks her if she wants some, and of course Layla is always game. The girls make the tag and Michelle whips Kelly right into devastating clothesline courtesy of Lay. Layla smiles proudly and goes for the cover, but Kelly is able to get the shoulder up.

Layla forces Kelly back into the Lay-Zig-Ool (sorry Kaval) corner and makes the tag to Michelle. Michelle comes in only to have Kelly tossed in her general direction. Michelle wraps her arms around Kelly’s waist and plants her into the mat with a beautiful belly-to-back suplex. Michelle locks her eyes on Edge as she goes for the cover. Kelly manages to get her shoulder up much to Michelle’s disgust. Kelly reaches towards Edge for a tag and tries to get to him, but Michelle stops her via a handful of hair. She picks up Kelly but Kelly is able to flip out of her hold and nail Michelle with a huge slap to the cheek. Michelle goes down but all of Kelly’s energy has been exerted and she still can’t make the hot tag to the champ. Michelle gets up first and kicks Kelly even further away from her partner. She stiffly kicks Kelly and finally throws her into the heel corner. Then she makes the tag to Layla.

Layla comes back into the match, stomps Kelly in her throat, and flips her onto her back. Layla follows it up by wrapping her legs around the neck of Kelly and trying to send her to la-la land. Edge hops around on the apron and starts clapping his hands which brings the hot crowd to their feet. They are solidly behind 2K and the champ. Dolph and Michelle scream at the fans to shut up and they get louder which brings Kelly back to reality. She manages to kick Layla in the head which causes the last-ever WWE Women’s Champion to release her submission hold. Slowly, but surely Kelly inches her way towards Edge but Layla staggers to her feet and drops Kelly with a double axe handle to the lower back region. Kelly collapses and Layla turns to rub some more salt in Edge’s wounds.

She goes back to work and drags Kelly to her feet. Layla seems to have a plan but Kelly gets her fiftieth wind of the match and is able to faceplant Layla into the mat. Edge marks while Dolph freaks out and both former Extreme Expose members are down for the count. I’m loving this. It’s brilliant. The crowd is wild and this brings Kelly to the point where she is literally millimeters away from Edge’s hand. Seeing his championship opportunity slipping away, Dolph runs into the ring. He is intercepted by the referee who fights with him to get back on the outside. All the while poor Kelly has finally tagged in Edge. Thanks to Dolph’s distraction, the tag went unnoticed and Edge is told by the ref he has to remove himself from the ring. Edge is in shock and while he’s arguing, Layla grabs Kelly and kind of throws her towards Michelle. Michelle comes into the ring, as does Dolph, and things break down. Edge says piss on this and he attacks Dolph, sending the Bikini-bottom loving Ziggler to the outside. Dolph is thrown almost head first into the guardrail but inside the ring, Layla has scooped up Kelly. Michelle is set to finish off Kelly and win the championship for Ziggler with a big boot but Kelly ducks it and Michelle knocks out Layla instead!

Ohmygod!

Layla goes down like a ton of bricks (I feel the need to make that reference at least once a week) and Michelle looks absolutely dumbfounded over what has just transpired. She quickly tries to fix it but Kelly fights her off and kicks her out of the ring. A dazed and confused Kelly looks around for Edge who isn’t in position. He finally makes his way to their corner but Kelly has gone to the wrong one. She’s out of it. Edge calls her name and then he encourages her to go for the spear. On the opposite side of the spectrum, a groggy Layla is getting up and she has no clue what is about to hit her. With tears in her eyes, Edge chanting ‘spear’, and the crowd in the palm of her hand Kelly summons all her energy and spears Layla straight into the mat. She rolls over, makes the cover, and she gets the one, two, three.

Goosebumps.

Josh Mathews is freaking out on commentary and Vickie has gotten up from her seat. She looks sick to her stomach. A teary Kelly has made her way to her feet and she is greeted by Edge who gives her a hug. It’s a gorgeous moment for Kelly, and a great one for the Divas and personally, I’m a bit emotional myself having witnessed this main event and basically the maturation of Kelly Kelly as a performer in front of my eyes. Kelly clings to Edge in the ring after he raises her hand in victory. After a moment, Vickie makes her way into the ring, microphone in hand. She sarcastically claps for Kelly and Edge. After a second, she raises the microphone to her lips and congratulates the pair of them in true Vickie fashion. She fires Kelly on the spot which reduces the younger girl to tears. Edge is shocked but Vickie isn’t finished. She screams that she doesn’t give a damn about Kelly and berates her the entire time Kelly is sobbing up the ramp, mascara and eyeliner streaming down her face. Vickie says that SmackDown is her show and she wants Kelly out of her arena.

Behind her Edge is literally seething. He looks ready to spear Vickie straight to Hell but she keeps her eyes locked on Kelly. Kelly chokes back sobs and turns away from the scene which prompts Vickie to turn her attention to Edge. She tells Edge that next week he will be the former World Heavyweight Champion because next week he will have a rematch against Dolph Ziggler. And as if that wasn’t enough, Vickie says that this time there will be a special referee calling the match. It will be her. She laughs maniacally at Edge’s plight and the horrified champ goes to walk away. Ziggler comes back in the ring and destroys Edge with the ZigZag, perhaps a prelude to things to come next week?

SmackDown fades with the image of Dolph standing tall over the champion.

What an amazing night.

Honestly, it’s impossible for me to look at this match and this night as a whole from an objective stand-point. What transpired tonight is everything I could have possibly hoped for and then some. As a wrestling fan this was everything to me. As a Diva fan this meant the world to me. Moments like these are why I continue to support the WWE because every now and then they throw us a truly beautiful moment that we can cherish forever. Kelly’s fight back from death tonight, Vickie’s harsh words after the match, the sheer emotion on Kelly’s face as she won the match for Edge are images that I won’t soon forget. Michelle’s boot to Layla, Kelly slapping Dolph Ziggler to the mat, and the opening segment from tonight are some of the best moments in SmackDown history, at least for me. As a true fan of all six people involved in this storyline I got everything I wanted and then some. I’m so glad I went spoiler free and waited to watch the whole episode because it was worth every single minute I spent waiting. Michelle McCool, Layla, Kelly Kelly, and Vickie Guerrero completely owned SmackDown tonight. Edge and Ziggler, you were great eyecandy pieces for us Diva fans who are happy to see the roles reversed for a change. I have no idea what is going to come from all of this and I can’t predict whether I’ll like it or not.

Personally, I don’t want to speculate. I want to soak in the amazing Diva-centered SmackDown episode I just watched. And that’s exactly what I plan on doing.

(Witty little intro goes here…)

But this week, I so don’t have one!

Yeeeeeeeeah.

After last week’s completely solid edition of the A-List show, SmackDown, I had high expectations for this week especially after such a great edition of Raw. But as per usual, somebody somewhere dropped the ball and SmackDown had to regretfully job to Raw this week. It sucks and it’s unfortunate, and SmackDown does not deserve to be the Rosa Mendes of the shows. Ouch. That was a low blow.

Instead of the handicap match I predicted last week, we got a Diva tag team match consisting of Michelle McCool and Layla squaring off against Kelly Kelly and her partner, the rarely seen endangered species known as Kaitlyn. Following that, we also had continuation in the Drew/Kelly Kelly WWE High saga. Seriously, those YouTube videos are gold.

And no Beth Phoenix. Sorry, David.

Lay-Cool’s theme music is playing when SmackDown returns from commercial break. The official number one contenders for the Diva’s Champion are dressed in their flawless best and boosting each others’ ego as they walk down to the ring. Michelle and Layla pause to themselves out when all of a sudden they are clubbed down from behind. NXT Season 3 winner, Kaitlyn, sends them crashing to the concrete and Kelly Kelly isn’t far behind. The “faces” seem pretty pleased at their actions and they both kick Lay-Cool towards the ring. Kelly drops down besides Layla and begins pounding her head into the mat, while Michelle manages to kick Kaitlyn away and fight back just a little bit. Kaitlyn stumbles back and that allows Michelle to pry Kelly off Layla and scream at her to get off of her friend. Kaitlyn comes storming back towards Michelle, spins her around, and spears her squarely into the guardrail. Michelle screams in pain and rightfully so. She basically look like she broke in half. It doesn’t help the matter anyway when Layla gets thrown into Michelle. Both members of Lay-Cool hit the ground again.

Kaitlyn picks up Michelle and Kelly picks up Layla, and Lay-Cool find themselves tossed into the ring. Kaitlyn and Kelly climb in behind them and they send Lay-Cool to the canvas with simultaneous clotheslines. The referee orders Kelly from the ring and she obliges him, and that allows Lay and Cool to get back to their feet. Kaitlyn is waiting and double-clotheslines them back down. Layla rolls out of the ring and the referee asserts himself once again. He makes Kaitlyn back up and that gives Michelle some breathing room. She crawls to the corner and makes her way to her feet clearly baffled at the turn of events that has taken place. She’s screaming about Kaitlyn when the referee calls for the bell.

Kaitlyn runs full force towards Michelle but the former schoolteacher is able to get her elbow up and send Kaitlyn stumbling back. Michelle wildly goes for a roundhouse kick, but Kaitlyn ducks it and throws herself into Michelle. Michelle goes down and when she gets back up, Kaitlyn knocks her down again. The NXT3 winner follows it up with a nice little suplex and goes for a cover. Michelle easily kicks out and Kaitlyn jumps to her feet. She stomps on Michelle and goes to the ropes. From the ground, Layla reaches up and grabs Kaitlyn’s ankle, causing the rookie to turn around. She gets into it with Layla which is enough of a distraction to give Michelle the time she needs to recuperate. When Kaitlyn gets rid of Layla, she turns around, and Michelle absolutely decapitates her with a big boot right to the kisser. Kaitlyn goes down like a sack of potatoes, clutching her jaw, and Michelle proactively pins her. Lay-Cool pick up the victory and chances are it’ll be another two months before we see Kaitlyn on SmackDown again.

All I can do is just shake my head. The match, if you want to call it that, lasted for like a hot minute. Literally, one hot minute. Wow. What’s so bad about this situation is that it wasn’t even awful. The beginning was a wonderful change of pace even if it left me wondering which team were the heels and which team were the faces.

I’m not entirely sure what the WWE is doing right now. They announced a random title match for the Royal Rumble but did little to build it up. Now this is not surprising, but SmackDown has really been on fire lately. I guess the WWE can’t have a good Diva Raw and a good Diva SmackDown. That’s just asking to much and since they exerted all their energy into Raw this week, SmackDown clearly got the short end of the stick. It sucks and it’s disappointing, but life goes on. Michelle’s kicks are absolutely insane. How devastating do they look on television? I would be scared to death to take one of those kicks in the ring because I firmly believe in keeping all my teeth.

The evolution of Kelly Kelly continued. Immediately following her loss alongside Kaitlyn, the gorgeous blond bombshell stayed at ringside to watch the match between Drew McIntyre and JTG. She didn’t get involved but the camera caught her shaking her head at a lot of Drew’s offensive moves which confused me. In my humble opinion, Kelly came off looking like a hypocrite again this week seeing as how she helped stage an attack on Lay-Cool before her match even began! Matt Striker, yes the sexy blue eyed announcer that I wish would read me bedtime stories, pondered aloud; “Does she want Drew to be passive? Does she want to control her man?”

It’s a fair statement. You can’t really get pissed off at someone for being aggressive when you yourself are being just as aggressive. Kelly was a total heel tonight and whether you like it or not, I think she may end up turning soon. What I found to be the most interesting thing about the whole segment is who Kelly climbed into the ring after the match and Drew walked off without even noticing her. Kelly’s facial expression wasn’t a smile and it wasn’t a scowl. She seemed thoughtful and like it finally dawned on her why Drew is the way he is. Perhaps it’s the writer in me that is getting into this, but she suddenly seemed to understand him and call me crazy, but she looked like she wanted to reach out to him.

I love it.

I also love how I can make this crappy edition of SmackDown happy and positive. What lacked in Royal Rumble build and match action was compensated for with character development. I’ll take it even though it’s not what I wanted out of tonight. Come Sunday, I expect Layla, Michelle, and Natalya to deliver another amazing match but I truly hope that this will be the end. It’s time to move on and after tonight, I wouldn’t mind seeing a Lay-Cool tweener turn for a feud with a heel Kelly.

This is the WWE, after all. Never say never.

Last week, I proudly presented each and every one of you with the good, the bad, and the ugly of SmackDown. This week, we’re not going to be so fancy because not a lot happened. We had the usual continuation and follow-up, which is more than what happens on Raw so no complaints please. Beth took on the other member of Lay-Cool in a singles match while one reader’s prediction of a Drew/Kelly/Trent love triangle may actually end up coming true. Lets kick things off this week with the match featuring Beth Phoenix and Layla.

SmackDown’s fierce duo make their way to the ring first. Michelle McCool is dressed to thrill in a gorgeous grey mini and boots, while Layla is rocking purple better than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. So jealous. The girls have their Slammys and confident looks on their faces despite Michelle having lost to Beth on last week’s episode. They play to the crowd and to each other, and Beth’s music starts up. The Glamazon walks to the ring with a smile etched across her lovely face. Upon seeing her opponent, Layla’s look of confidence kind of dissipates. After Beth flips onto the mat, she eyes up Layla, and the match gets underway.

Beth and Layla lock up and jockey back and forth for position until Beth uses her strength to send the smaller woman into the corner. Michelle is right there screaming at Beth to get off her friend and when Beth backs up for a second, Layla strikes with a kick to the gut and a forearm to the face. Beth stares at her and lunges, but the crafty Layla moves out of the way and Beth eats the turnbuckle. Layla slams her in the upper thigh with two swift kicks and attempts to throw Beth across the ring. The Glamazon blocks it.

Layla gets tossed into the ropes but she comes flying back and levels Beth with a nice little strike to the jaw. Beth is reeling and Layla uses the opportunity to go back to the ropes for more leverage. This time when she comes back at Beth, the blond goddess is prepare and flips Layla down to mat by her feet. She grips her around the knees and begins spinning her around causing Layla to scream like she’s being murdered! Beth carelessly tosses Layla across the ring and the British-born former Diva Search winner hits the mat with a thud. Ouchies. Despite the headache she probably has now and the pain she is feeling, Layla attempts to get to her feet but she’s knocked right back down. Beth goes for a cover.

Two count.

Beth isn’t sure that was just a two but nonetheless she goes back to work. She scoops Layla up on her shoulder and it appears that she’s going to try and drive her into the turnbuckle. Layla refuses to let that become her fate and she squirms out of the Glamazon’s grip and shoves her into the corner instead. Beth hits her arm and stumbles back, and Layla grabs that arm, climbs up the ropes, and drives Beth down into the mat. Gorgeous. Beth grabs her left arm in pain and Layla follows it up with a kick to that very shoulder. Beth quickly goes for the ropes to try and pull herself up, but she gets stopped with yet another decisive kick that lands right between her shoulder blades. Layla pulls Beth from the ropes and goes for a cover.

One and a half count.

Layla doesn’t seem at all perturbed by not getting a near fall. She simply bends Beth’s arm into an awkward position and locks her in a modified version of a key lock (thanks Matt Striker with your pretty blue eyes and melodious voice…)! The submission hold causes Beth an extreme amount of discomfort, especially when Layla starts to move around to make it more uncomfortable. It takes native New Yorker a moment to collect her bearings but when she does, Beth finds the presence of mind to roll through the hold and slowly but surely, lift Layla off her feet. ‘Lay finds herself hoisted high in the air and perched atop Beth’s shoulder, and then unceremoniously slammed down into the mat. Both women are down.

The referee starts the count and both Divas very gingerly make their way to their feet. Beth is still selling that arm injury but despite that, she manages to block to attempted right hands from Layla. Beth comes firing back with forearm shots and then a big clothesline, and still Layla comes back for more. Beth drops her with an elbow and then a clothesline. Layla is stunned from all the takedowns, and Beth goes for the finish. She picks up Layla, bounces her off the top rope and slams her into the mat. She goes for a cover and Layla barely manages to get the arm up. The Glamazon picks up Layla and throws her into the corner. She attempts to slam into Layla, but Layla sends her back with an elbow.

Beth is off balance and Layla is quick to fling herself in her opponent’s direction. She immediately grabs that injured arm and tries to bring Beth down, but the Glamazon just isn’t having it. She scoops Layla up and drops her over her knee. A bent in half Layla suddenly becomes nothing more than an innocent piece of prey for the powerful former Women’s Champion. Beth locks her hands in Layla’s hair and throws her up in the air for the Glam Slam. Layla can do nothing to fight it and she finds herself planted into the canvas. Beth makes the cover and picks up her second victory in a row over Lay-Cool. She celebrates her victory while Michelle gets into the ring and checks on her friend.

I didn’t really like this match as much as last week’s but it was still so solid. The biggest thing that stood out for me is for the second week in a row they told a story during the match. This week it was Layla trying to take apart Beth’s left arm. Michelle unsuccessfully tried to take out the leg of the Glamazon last week and this week, Layla failed at her attempt of trying to ground the mighty Beth Phoenix as well. It’s telling in a sense that for two weeks in a row, Lay-Cool could not stop Beth in a one-on-one match. Beth is so strong and so powerful that even with weakened limbs she was able to fight through everything and keep the devilish duo on the losing end of things. Instead of a tag match next week, I’d like to see Lay-Cool challenge Beth to a handicap match and when they get the upperhand, have someone come down and make the save for Beth. It would be a great way to debut Kong perhaps, or maybe even Naomi or AJ. I’m just throwing out possibilities here. Either way, another enjoyable SmackDown match thus proving that the blue brand is the A show.

Switching gears now to on-going soap opera starring Kelly Kelly and Drew McIntyre. For the second week in a row, Trent Barreta made a guest appearance and judging from the looks of things, maybe his role will become more prominent?

The match itself is irrelevant unless you’re one of the three Trent Barreta fans on this site (I’m looking at you Bobby and Nessa… and myself, ahem), but it’s safe to say that things don’t exactly end well for Trent. Drew absolutely kills him at the end and picks up the victory. The match itself was pretty good but no, we’re not here to talk about that. Drew pins Barreta and afterwards looks at the referee and points at his wrist while getting up. I assume Drew wanted his hand raised?

The referee obliges the arrogant Scotsman and Drew makes his way over to the ropes. He shouts at the crowd in Scottish while Trent begins to stir on the mat. The referee starts helping Trent collect himself and that’s when Drew turns around to see what’s going on. The ref warns Drew to back off Trent, but Drew surprisingly extends his hand to his fallen opponent. Trent looks very hesitant to take it and rightfully so, especially after what happened last week. And instead of shaking Drew’s hand, Trent just knocks him right out of the ring. Okay, that was hilarious. Drew doesn’t find it very funny and he gets back into the ring and goes cray cray on Trent. Trent is unable to really fight back and McIntyre just pounds him into the mat. He goes to nail his finisher on Barreta, but Kelly has come down to ringside and made her way up the steps and onto the apron.

The hot blond who is sporting a dress that appears to have been painted onto her (…yikes) orders Drew to stop what he’s doing. McIntyre looks at her like she’s gone mad but to his credit he does drop Barreta. He pleads his case with Kelly, telling her that Trent hit him first, but Kelly doesn’t seem to care. She gets in the ring, storms past Drew, and heads to Trent’s side to see if he’s alright. Drew is basically in shock and he tries to reason with Kelly again. She screams at him to leave her alone and continues checking on Barreta. Drew exits the ring and he’s pretty pissed off.

And rightfully so.

Seriously? That basically left me with more questions than I have answers. How can Kelly get pissed off at Drew for attacking someone who hit him first? How can she scream at Drew to leave her alone when she’s the one who stuck her nose in his business this week? Why is Trent Barreta suddenly so interesting to me?

This whole little love story between Kelly and Drew is so weird now. Babyface Kelly came off looking like the heel tonight and I think I’m okay with that. What I’m not okay with is how Drew came off looking like a face. If Barreta and Kelly end up becoming the heel couple and feuding with Drew, I’ll just die. That’s not something I would have ever expected. They could also do this thing where Kelly aligns with Trent for this feud and half-way through turns on him to be with Drew. It’s so Christian/Trish/Jericho but why not? That’s how the WWE successfully turned their biggest babyface ever into a hated heel. Anything is possible. Intentionally or not, the WWE gave Kelly heel material tonight with her hypocritical actions and she worked it really well. Feisty Kelly is a fun character and I’m kind of excited to see where this goes next week. Can not believe one little segment actually put me on Team Drew. That’s actually a true compliment to Kelly because she made me actually feel something for someone who is usually just a nice piece of eyecandy.

As much as SmackDown failed to wow me like it did last week, I really enjoyed what I saw tonight. Not every show can be an A-List show, and the solid match and confusing little twist to our love story left me satisfied and excited to see the final show before the Royal Rumble next week. In my humble opinion, this is the most exciting time to be a WWE fan. The road to Wrestlemania is always filled with twists, turns, ridiculous angles, and fun stuff for everyone involved. This year’s element of surprise is probably heightened for me since I’m actually going to the Super Bowl of sports entertainment but that doesn’t take away from what it means to every single fan who devotes their Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and one Sunday a month to the biggest company in all of professional wrestling. I hope and pray that next week’s SmackDown continues this amazing trend of blue brand shows that we’ve gotten recently and I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Cryssi… out!

The title itself should explain the theme of tonight’s Redux. This week’s edition of Friday night SmackDown truly was good, bad, and ugly. But before we jump to conclusions, lets take a minute to reflect on the week in wrestling in general. There was a horrific match at TNA Genesis (popular consensus, of course. I, myself, have not watched it). There was an axed Diva’s match from Raw and lets face it, that’s not always a bad thing. Superstars saw the underused and underrated Alicia Fox and Gail Kim square off in a match that many people are saying is one of the most enjoyable matches in awhile (again, I have not seen it). And to cap things off, SmackDown delivered.

And it delivered in a truly ridiculously wonderful way.

To kick us off this week, we’re going to launch right into the good. That’s the whole point of good, bad, and ugly right? Michelle McCool (with Layla at ringside) taking on Beth Phoenix looks damn good on paper. It certainly looked brilliant when I saw the spoilers earlier in the week. The question is, did it deliver?

Lay-Cool, aka the Dynamic Duo, make their way to the ring first. Layla is rocking a hot, blue mini-dress and boots, while Michelle is in her green ring attire that I don’t like very much. They’re still carrying their Slammys and they’re still delicious heels. They play to the crowd as only they can and they get inside the ring to wait for Michelle’s opponent, the one and only Glamazon. Beth walks out in a rather plain Glamasuit but the crowd doesn’t care because they’re in Birmingham. No offense to my fellow Alabamians, but the majority of the state isn’t really up to par fashion wise. I am the exception. Anyway, once Beth is inside the ring and her entrance dies down, the bell rings and the match begins. The two statue-esque blonds circle one another. Beth gains the early advantage when she breaks the lock-up and forces Michelle into the turnbuckle. She drives her shoulder repeatedly into Michelle’s mid-section and follows up with several nice punches to the former school teacher’s skull. Beth finally backs off and Michelle moves from the corner, but she’s still positioned by the ropes. Beth whips her across the ring and takes her down by clubbing her in the chest.

Michelle scrambles to the corner and picks herself up, but Beth is waiting. She charges her rival but Michelle manages to move and Beth slams face first into the turnbuckle. Michelle looks to capitalize but as she comes at Beth, the Glamazon is able to catch her with an elbow and Michelle goes stumbling back. Beth hopes onto the second rope and is looking to fly off, but Michelle hops up and catches her with one of those devastating kicks she’s starting to get a reputation for. Beth awkwardly falls down, getting her knee (the one with the brace) caught, and Michelle seems to have gained the advantage for the time being.

Beth grips her knee in pain and the referee checks on her. Michelle’s not really in the mood to let Beth recoperate so she begins kicking her in that injured limb despite Beth being in the ropes. The referee gets her to back off but Michelle is quick to go right back to work. She stalks Beth while the former champion tries to get back up. A kick to the side eventually sends Beth back down to her knees. Michelle pulls her hurting opponent to the center of the ring by the her hurt leg and drops an elbow to the inside of Beth’s knee. She does it a second time and then painfully stretches Beth’s leg out in a position it shouldn’t be in before slamming it to the mat. Michelle turns her attention to the crowd and taunts them, which gives Beth a chance to attempt to get up. She tries and when Michelle walks back over to her, she manages to kick her back with her good leg. Beth fights back with some forearm shots but Michelle flips through the offense and locks Beth’s injured leg into a submission. Beth finally gets her around the neck and forces Michelle to let go, but she doesn’t let go completely. Michelle twists that leg around and goes for a cover.

Two count.

The former co-champion patiently waits while Beth crawls to the ropes and tries to pull herself up. Michelle then cruelly takes out Beth’s knee which sends the Glamazon back down to the mat. On the outside, Layla is cheering on her bestie and Michelle makes the mistake of turning to Layla and celebrating with her. Beth is able to roll-up Michelle and nearly pick up a victory! An annoyed Michelle gets her back into the match and clotheslines Beth to her back. Beth curls up in pain and Michelle hooks the injured leg and goes for a pinfall.

Two count.

Michelle gets up, tells a fan to shut up, and goes back to work. She wears Beth down with a forearm and an elbow, then once again begins working on that leg. The Glamazon is definitely reeling now and this match is superb. Beth is able to get to the ropes again and this time Michelle uses that to her advantage. She places Beth’s ankle on the rope, steps on it, and atomic drops herself down onto Beth’s leg. Beth withers around in pain and a confident McCool goes for the move again. Beth slams her foot into Michelle’s derriere and sends the leggy Florida State alumni over the top rope. Michelle lands with a thud and it takes her a hot minute to get up and climb back into the ring. Beth is waiting and nails her with some stiff forearm shots, then uses the ropes to help suplex Michelle down. She hooks the leg and goes for a cover.

Two count.

Both women get up and the frustration is written all over Beth’s face. She grabs Michelle and tries to go for the Glam Slam. Michelle kicks out of the attempt and leans against the ropes to catch her breath. She waits for Beth to get to her feet and flies at her with a big boot attempt. Beth catches it and throws Michelle up into the Glam Slam. She goes for the big finish but Michelle shockingly rolls through it and goes for the win! The referee counts to two before Beth rolls through that, sits square on Michelle’s shoulders, and gets the one, two, three!

Amazing.

Beth celebrates and taunts Lay-Cool on her way out of the ring and Layla starts checking on Michelle as the match fades into a promo for the Cutting Edge later on tonight.

Wow what a match. Michelle and Beth were on tonight. I absolutely love the way Michelle focused on one body part and systematically tried to pick it apart throughout the entire contest. Beth is so good as a babyface, especially one who is trying to fight her way through adversity to try and pick up a win. Michelle’s ring skills are impressive and those you try to deny the fact she’s good inside the ring are truly delusional. Together, these two made SmackDown magic tonight and whether or not this is just the beginning or something random to give us a Diva match, it was a beautifully put together match. I don’t think I can say anything else without risking repetition. Solid work from both ladies. There’s truly nothing I didn’t enjoy about this.

But you know, SmackDown doesn’t stop there because with the good, always comes the bad. But like I eluded to earlier, thing’s aren’t always what they seem. Because this week the bad becomes the bad ASS. Vickie Guerrero is one of the best heels in the business today. Lets take a look at what went down during the  critically Twitterly acclaimed Cutting Edge segment.

The World Heavyweight Champion, Edge, is the first to make his way to the ring and who can argue with that? It’s his show, his segment, and the real wrestling fan in me finds him so hot. Ahem, moving on. Edge gets in the ring and starts talking about his last man standing match with Kane from the previous. To be honest, I don’t really care about this and finally, he introduces his ex-wife Vickie and her boyfriend/new number one contender to the championship, Dolph Ziggler! The perfect couple walk out together with their arms around each other and both have sneers on their faces. Dolph helps Vickie into the ring and both grab microphones. Edge welcomes them to the show and says that he hopes all of them can be mature adults. He brings up the fact that Dolph’s victory from last week is slightly on the controversial side. Vickie is quick to reply that there was no controversy and that her boyfriend, Dolph, will become World Champion come Royal Rumble time. The crowd gives her a ridiculous amount of heat.

I love it.

Of course Dolph agrees with his woman, but Edge? Not so much. He stares at Vickie and makes a comment that this segment is reminding him of old times. He claims that he can feel the dynamic still flowing between them. Vickie just looks disgusted but that doesn’t stop Edge from telling her that the ship their love was built on had sailed. Dolph takes his beloved’s hand and tells Edge that if he is just going to insult his (as in Dolph’s) girlfriend, then they were just going to leave. He tells the camera man to cut and they go to leave the ring. Edge calls them back and tells Dolph to relax. He didn’t exactly call her a “man eating beast” or said that she “snores in her sleep.” Edge continues to defend himself by saying he did not say that you could go “para-sailing with a pair of her panties”, and Dolph calmly states that Vickie has lost weight. Edge starts to say something else about some kind of noise Vickie makes when she (insert expletive thought here) and Vickie is quick to stop Edge with a sharp “excuse me.”

Vickie turns to Dolph for support and he is there for her. Vickie turns to the crowd and says that she and Edge should just put all their garbage out there. She tells the crowd that once upon a time she was married to Edge, back when she was young, naive, and trying to discover who she was as a person inside. (I’m so using that line to justify my next bad relationship.) Vickie says that every day she lives with the regret that she was married to him. The camera gets up a close-up of Edge’s confused face. Edge wants to know when Vickie was ever young because she’s ten years older than he is and is wearing a necklace that says “cougar.” Dolph comes to Vickie’s defense again and says that Edge doesn’t need to be jealous that Vickie has gone from no class to first class. He praises Vickie as a godsend to his life and admits that he doesn’t know where he would be without her. He chastises Edge for not appreciating Vickie and everything she did for him back in the day. According to the gospel of Dolph, the people claimed that Edge would never be champion again and when Vickie took him like a little rescue puppy she gave him new life. She basically resuscitated the career of the Rated R Superstar and come the Royal Rumble, Dolph fully plans on pulling the plug and watching Edge’s entire title reign flat-line.

Vickie is so proud of those strong words and she turns to Dolph. She lets him know that the love between them is true and that they are true partners in every sense of the word. She turns to Edge and tells him that since this is his show, she has brought a clip to play. Edge raises an eyebrow and Vickie berates him further by saying that if she and Dolph ever got married that he would never do this to her.

Cue Alicia Fox circa Wedding Planner Era. Amazing.

Edge looks a little sheepish and looks at Vickie. He says he knows where all this hostility is coming from but before he can finish, Vickie shrieks…

“IT WAS OUR WEDDING DAY.”

Dolph comforts her and Edge takes a step back. He admits that perhaps Dolph is a better man than he is, but now he wants to play a little clip.

Cue AJ and Primo catching Dolph and Kaitlyn making out during an episode of NXT season three. Haaaaaay.

Vickie looks hurt having the past thrown in her face and Dolph looks ashamed. Edge, on the other hand, just looks smug. Edge taunts Dolph over the clip saying he wasn’t sure who the girl was since Dolph was doing a mighty fine job of blocking her face but he thinks it was Vickie’s very own NXT rookie Kaitlyn. Edge asks Vickie if that was Kaitlyn and the SmackDown consultant looks like she is on the verge of a breakdown. Dolph nails the living crap out of Edge (holy stiff shot, wow) and he begins beating down the champion. Dolph destroys the Cutting Edge set and turns to Vickie to make sure she is okay. Edge rebounds and nearly takes Dolph’s pretty blond head off with a big boot to the face, and the former IC champ goes down hard. Dolph rolls out of the ring which leaves Vickie alone with Edge and to say she’s unhappy would be an understatement. Vickie screams and goes off on Edge, slapping him not once, not twice, but three times and to his credit, Edge turns to walk off. Vickie isn’t done and she attempts to jump on his back. Edge picks her up and drags her to the other side of the ring where he walks off while Vickie is having a fit.

Before Edge makes his exit, he slowly turns around. And yes, he has that look in his eyes. He is going to spear Vickie. Vickie turns around and beings to push Edge’s buttons, and that stops him from leaving the ring. When he rips off his button down and starts messing with his hair, Vickie stops laughing at him.  In fact, she turns a pretty unflattering shade of white. She looks sick as Edge gets ready to spear her straight to hell but thankfully Dolph comes up and pulls Edge out of the ring. He slams Edge back first into the guardrail and kicks him around, before pulling him up. He thinks for a minute and then slams the back of Edge’s head into the steel ring steps. Edge flops over and is out, and when Vickie walks towards Dolph, the crowd starts chanting “You Suck” over and over again. Vickie and Dolph meet over Edge’s fallen body and embrace one another. It doesn’t take long for them to start making out and SmackDown ends with Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler securing their statuses as one of the best heel couples wrestling has ever seen.

Seriously? That had to be the best ending to SmackDown in a long time. Vickie is everything a female heel should aspire to be and more. Male or female, she is the most over heel on the roster and you can not take that away from her. She draws Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley heat and it gives me goosebumps. Vickie is probably one of the best characters in the whole company right now and the more I watch her, the more I want to see more. I’m not even sure if that last sentence makes sense, but she was so on her game tonight. Vickie is amazing.

Wow!

And last, but certainly not least, with the good and the bad, there’s always the ugly. And to be honest, I feel bad calling this the ugly portion of SmackDown this week because it sorta wasn’t. Sure, Kelly Kelly still had that blank stare on her face and neither participant have suddenly learned how to act (though Kelly took a step in the right direction), but the emotion was there. The segment didn’t seem so forced. Before I get into this any further, lets take a look at what happened during this week’s episode of WWE Days of Our Lives.

Following his shocking, albeit impressive, win over Drew McIntyre, Trent Barretta is seen walking backstage. After thanking a random stagehand who congratulates him, the delicious Trent is suddenly mauled from the side. The angry Scottsman shoves the helpless Superstar into some covered fencing and begins beating on him simply because he’s angry that Trent has better hair than he does. Drew demands that Trent tell him if he feels like a winner, and while he’s choking him via forearm to the neck, he suddenly stops. Kelly Kelly walks up with a pissed off look on her face and Drew looks like a deer who’s caught in headlights. He drops Barretta like a bad habit and Kelly storms off in obvious disgust. Drew screams her name and walks after her, finally getting the blond to turn around. Drew says that he knows what she just walked up on must look horrible but he just wanted to ask Trent for a rematch. (Sure he did…)

Drew continues on by saying that Kelly knows he is super competitive and then he admits that he just lost his head. Kelly isn’t buying his explanation one bit. She makes the claim that she actually thought Drew had a shred of decency after he saved her last week but obviously she was wrong on that. She goes to walk away but Drew gets her to stop once again. He says that he cares about Kelly and he gets her to look in his eyes. He repeats that he does care about her and then tries to justify his actions once again. Kelly is still livid and says that she doesn’t want to be around anyone who takes pleasure in hurting other people. Drew goes to say something else but Kelly steps up in his face and screams at him to grow up. She shoots him an angry glare and storms off. Drew paces and then lets out a growl.

Such drama!

Is it bad that I noticed Drew McIntyre seems to have gotten a haircut and that Kelly Kelly rocked that little black dress for all it’s worth? I am a real wrestling fan, after all. In all seriousness, I can’t believe I’m about to say this…

The segment wasn’t that bad.

Kelly plays angry pretty well, I have to give her that. I remember on NXT when she took the microphone and stormed down to the ring to challenge Lay-Cool and Kaitlyn to a tag match against herself, Naomi, and AJ. She really shined in that promo and tonight, she shined in that segment. Call me crazy, but this girl could be a really good heel. She has the attitude and instead of this creepy/stalker/beater vibe I’m getting from this storyline, I hope it goes the route of Drew teaching Kelly it’s better to beat the hell out of people than to keep fake smiling and pretending everything is okay when it’s clearly not.

And that totally makes me sound like a sadist. As long as they don’t go beating people with belts everything should be okay. So in conclusion this was still ugly because well, it’s Kelly and Drew, and that’s awkward. But it wasn’t so ugly you need to put your beer goggles on this week. More attitude from Kelly… PLEASE!

I think it’s safe to say that this week’s edition of SmackDown worked on all levels. When it comes to all-around programming, SmackDown is just on a different level than Raw is, and that definitely rings true when it comes to the Divas!