AAA Women’s Champion, Sexy Star has reportedly been in contact with WWE about joining the company.

Star is a lucha libre wrestler known for wearing a mask, very unlike WWE’s current crop of Divas. She would definitely be a diverse signing.

For more information on Sexy Star, visit her Wikipedia page.

Thanks to everyone who sent that along.

WWE has reportedly signed Asian-American wrestler, Su Yung to a developmental deal. The young wrestler is based in the Memphis, Tenesse area and wrestles for Memphis Wrestling, also secondary home to WWE Hall of Famer, Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.

The report was posted on the website Wrestling News Center, complete with a quote from Yung. She reportedly said:

“I appreciate all my fans who supported me in the Mid-South area (and elsewhere) and I’m so excited about this new opportunity with the WWE.”

The report continues to say that Yung will continue on in Memphis until July when she’ll report to Florida Championship Wrestling.

Please note that this can’t be taken as 100% accurate and we are treating it strictly as a rumour. However, Su is very beautiful (as you can see above) and is in her early 20s which seems to be the trend in signing girls to developmental deals, so it seems plausible. Not to mention her connections with Jerry Lawler.

More information on Yung can be found here.

Ricci makes the claims on his blog, which you can see by clicking here.

All I can say is wow. It seems so absurd that it could be true, this is TNA after all. If true, and I do stress if, what does it say about the division that the Knockouts Champion can’t afford to travel to shows? Really unfortunate.

F4WOnline.com (by way of PWPix.net) is reporting that the WWE is set to release the first all-Diva DVD since 2006′s “Divas Do New York”. Apparently, it will be formatted like the DVDs of the past, with on-location photoshoot segments dominating the feature, accompanied by a compilation of matches.

If this report is true, I’m glad to see the WWE giving the Divas the DVD treatment again. It was a fun tradition they had going for a while, and I was disappointed to see them discontinue it in favor of WWE.com-based location photoshoots. It would be great to see some of the newer, post-“DDNY” Divas like Maryse and Katie Lea have some fun and possibly break character in the process.

I just hope the theme is decent and the title doesn’t sound like something you’d find behind a curtain at your local video store. “Divas Do New York” was a little too “Debbie Does Dallas” for my taste.

Do you have a favorite of the WWE’s multi-Diva DVDs? Sound off in the comments.

The Wrestling Observer newsletter reports that former developmental talent, Catalina White known ever so briefly as Saylor James in FCW has married new World Heavyweight Champion, Jack Swagger just days after he captured the gold.

The pair, who have been dating for some time, reportedly got hitched in Vegas last week. If true, congratulations to the couple!

White was with WWE from October 2008 through to March 2009 when she confirmed her departure in a statement to Diva Dirt. Click here to watch her only(?) televised match.

EDIT: White has confirmed via her Twitter page that she and Swagger did not get married contrary to reports. She wrote: “I am engaged not married….yet!!!! Lucky bastard!” There you have it!

The identity of mysterious new FCW Diva, Jamie Keyes is a model who valeted Kevin Nash at TNA’s Final Resolution pay per view last year going by the name of Brittany, reports Wrestlezone.

You can see a picture of her at the event above.

Reports circulating over the past few weeks suggest that former WWE Diva, Ashley Massaro could be heading to TNA in the near future. To clarify, we can confirm that Massaro has been telling friends she is heading to TNA after supposedly meeting with Dixie Carter.

However, given Massaro’s track record one shouldn’t be too quick to take her word as gospel. Massaro has previously made claims about a WWE return and a second Playboy cover shoot which as yet haven’t materialised. For what it’s worth, a source within the Playboy organisation who would know of such matters tells us that they haven’t heard anything about Massaro posing for the magazine again.

Not to say that it couldn’t happen but until it does, take it with a pinch of a salt.

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Awesome Kong gave notice to TNA on Tuesday night.  Keep in mind that wrestlers quitting TNA happens all the time and 80% of the time or more they get talked into staying.

I don’t even know what to say to this.

It’s being reported that WWE Diva and ECW General Manager, Tiffany and SmackDown’s Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre are engaged to be married. The report has surfaced from PWInsider though I’m not sure how accurate it is.

The site reports that the pair will marry in May.

Congratulations to the couple if true, I didn’t even know they were together. Tiffany previously dated ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ star, Alfonso Ribiero who played Carlton Banks.

Former Knockouts Champion, Angelina Love could be making a surprise return to TNA on January 4th as part of the big three-hour live episode of Impact. Reports are being attributed to news site Declaration of Independents, the lead writer of which is also the promoter of Women Superstars Uncensored, who recently used Angelina Love at their DVD tapings.

Meanwhile, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer also writes that TNA are looking to bring Love back in 2010.

Love’s release was possibly the biggest women’s wrestling bombshell of the year, she was let go in September after TNA discovered that she had been working under an expired visa. Prior to her departure, she had been a two time Knockouts Champion, both won this past year. Meanwhile, she and Velvet Sky were rumoured to be in line to become the first Knockouts Tag Team Champions, an honour which later went to Sarita and Taylor Wilde after Love’s release.

This is definitely a good look for TNA. Roll on January 4th!

Reports have been circulating on various sites that Beautiful People member, Lacey Von Erich could soon be on her way out of the company. Von Erich is reportedly on ‘thin ice’ with management.

Since joining TNA in September, Von Erich has been a controversial Knockout to say the least; the day after her debut aired on television, an interview with Miami Herald in which Von Erich had some choice words about former Knockout Angelina Love surfaced. This then led to former WWE Diva, Sunny piping in with her now infamous horrible tirade against Lacey. It had also been reported that Von Erich had an incident backstage with one of the company’s top Knockouts, Awesome Kong.

It should be noted that TNA planted the seeds for a new programme with Von Erich and The Beautiful People and the returning Roxxi this past Monday at the New Year’s Knockout Eve taping.

Is TNA [and TBP] better off without the VE? Or are you pro-Lacey? Sound off in the comments.

Sarona Snuka has been working for Afa the Wild Samoan’s WXW, Afa also had a hand in her training.

TNA’s backstage interviewer extraordinaire, Lauren Brooke is set to leave the company reports ProWrestling.net. Brooke is due to be married and reportedly wants to move on from the company to enjoy marital bliss.

Meanwhile, in a case of good timing, Christy Hemme debuted last week as the latest backstage interviewer after opting to retire from the ring.

It’s sad to see Lauren leave TNA as she wasn’t your average blonde interview like her predecessors Crystal and err, that other one. She injected personality into her role and her work with The Beautiful People has been great. Good luck to her!

EDIT: Lauren has confirmed her departure on her Twitter page, writing: “Truly going to miss the wrestling fans and my fam [sic] at TNA.”

The Beautiful People’s Madison Rayne is supposedly receiving great reviews from TNA’s road agents, with the feeling that she is improving rapidly — moreso than any other Knockout, reports the Wrestling Observer.

On the other hand, they are not too fond of Lacey Von Erich.

It’s definitely nice to see Madison getting the recognition she deserves, she is verging on becoming a breakout star for TNA’s Knockouts division. Rayne is recognised in the category for ‘Best Newcomer’ in Diva Dirt‘s Year-End Awards. The agents’ response to Von Erich however, is hardly shocking.enter>

TNA Knockout, Kristal Lashley may soon be turning heel to play a ‘wrestling snob’ reports the Wrestling Observer. Kristal, the wife of Bobby Lashley, debuted at October’s Bound for Glory pay per view and up until now has been playing the sweet wife of the former ECW Champion. Read the details below:

It’s not confirmed that Bobby Lashley will be turning heel but it sounds like Kristal is. The current plan is to have Kristal do a storyline soon where she plays the role of a snobby person who looks down on pro wrestling. Her character will play up the idea that wrestlers are low-class and MMA is a higher-class environment.

The role will likely be a juicy part for Mrs Lashley, but can she make it work? I am confident that she can judging by her WWE work.

The 36 year old is well known on the British independent circuit and has wrestled TNA’s Alissa Flash in Real Quality Wrestling.

Earlier this year, she was featured on a one-off show called ‘The Wrestler’ starring popular British TV personality, Justin Lee Collins.

EDIT: Our own Women of Wrestling Podcast host, Stew Allen informs us that the above news is incorrect. Stew spoke to Saraya at length last week and tells us that the Wrestling Observer, which originally made the report, was given bad information. Apologies for the error and thanks to Stew for doing some digging for us.

As previously reported during the Diva Trade, WWE has not been happy with Mickie’s weight and this was one of the reasons for last night’s segment.

The other reason for the segment has to do with the Diva’s outside endeavors including studying for a degree and pursuing a country music career; Mike Johnson reports there is some unease among WWE management that Mickie is putting herself before her WWE commitments and expect her to put the company first. There is supposedly a belief that like The Rock and Stacy Keibler, James may endeavor outside the company and find fame in other areas where WWE cannot control her.

The general feeling is the segment wasn’t used to gain heel heat for Michelle McCool but rather send a message to James.

As I wrote in yesterday’s Redux, there was no way that this segment was scripted solely to push a storyline. It’s an extremely touchy subject and this is WWE after all, they wouldn’t script something like this without an ulterior motive. Pathetic.

A report in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer newsletter suggests that WWE officials are losing faith in Divas Champion, Melina since her move to Raw last month.

It’s easy to see why, considering Melina hasn’t had great showings in the ring since moving to the red brand. Until her move on October 12th, it looked as though Melina was going to have a banner year — perhaps one of the best years for any Diva in recent years. Her work had been at a consistently high level since her return last November and it seems the move to Raw was something of a promotion. Since moving however, she hasn’t had great matches on television [particularly with Jillian] and house show reports haven’t been too favourable either.

The veteran, who was released by TNA just earlier this year, will reportedly be brought back to work as the valet for Beer Money Inc., the team she managed during her last run.

We’ll have to wait and see if the rumours are true in just 24 hours time. Easily one of the most underrated yet hardest working women in wrestling, Jacqueline has been prominent on WWE and TNA television combined for over a decade, which is unthinkable for most women in the sport. At 45 years old, Jacqueline’s supposed return would be unprecedented.

As reported, former Divas Champion Maryse is due to return to Raw soon with the Diva herself claiming she would return in time for Survivor Series on November 22nd.

Maryse on her Twitter page has noted that she is in Tampa, Florida, perhaps to prepare for her in-ring return at Florida Championship Wrestling.

One website is reporting that her return may occur on the night after Survivor Series much like Melina last year, this seems to be the most likely and logical scenario also.

Former WWE Diva, Candice Michelle has reportedly told fans that she may join TNA.

Appearing at the Big Apple Comic Con in New York earlier this month, Candice responded to questions of joining TNA with a ‘maybe’. She continued that she had only talked to TNA once or twice but hoped to wrestle again soon, said one convention goer.

As previously reported, there has been a level of interest in bringing in the Go Daddy girl who was released by WWE in May of this year.

The Wrestling Observer website reports what we already knew — Kevin Nash’s Big Sexy Tour valet search is likely to be fixed. The early buzz was that Candice Michelle may be brought in using that route, but they are now reporting it could be a vehicle to introduce former WWE Diva Lena Yada.

Yada was released by WWE last year and took part in the 2007 Diva Search won by Eve Torres. Earlier this year, she signed on to compete for Wrestlicious which may throw a spanner in the works. I’m not sure if she’s under contract for them however.

Lena was in attendance at Bound for Glory this past Sunday, though the event was in her home state of California and she was supposedly visiting good friend, Tara.

TNA Knockout, Daffney has reportedly been sidelined after suffering a broken arm at the Bound for Glory pay per view on Sunday, says Wrestling Observer.

Daffney took a jaw-dropping bump on Sunday during the Mick Foley-Abyss match.

Having become the go-to girl for insane spots this past year, it’s of no surprise that one would finally take it’s toll on Daffney. We wish her a speedy recovery!

More rumours on each of the Diva trades has circulated. This time, NoDQ.com reports why Beth Phoenix, the Bella Twins and Melina were moved:

Beth Phoenix was moved to Smackdown because it was felt that she lost momentum on RAW. It’s been rumored that she could be paired up with Dolph Ziggler.

The Bella Twins were moved to RAW because Vince McMahon was said to have “fallen in love with them” following their guest host skits on RAW several weeks back. They are expected to be featured in guest host segments on a regular basis now.

WWE is said to be high on both Jilian Hall (McMahon likes her act) and Melina (which is why she was moved to RAW).

In the case of Beth possibly being united with Dolph Ziggler, we can somewhat corroborate. Not to say WWE will go that route, but if they do it falls in line with what we’ve heard. As expected, it doesn’t sound like the Bella Twins will be wrestling much.

According to a well-placed source, new Knockout Lacey Von Erich may already have suffered her first injury. Our eyewitness claims that Lacey had much of her upper leg wrapped tonight after the Impact tapings, in which she competed in a 6-Knockout tag team match but didn’t actually wrestle. Perhaps her tripping incident landed her with a muscle strain (or worse)?

Of course, it’s not clear if she’s actually injured, but the fact that they didn’t allow her to step foot in the ring tonight is pretty telling. There’s a good chance that it’s just a cautionary measure, but with the way Divas have been dropping like flies as of late, it was only a matter of time before the injury bug infected the Knockouts too.

For her encore to Laceygate, former WWE Diva Sunny – real name Tammy Sytch — is now teasing on her Facebook that a current TNA Knockout is pregnant.

Sytch witholds the name however, saying it’s a friend of hers. Hmm, she’s willing to out the girl but won’t name her? I see the logic.

Let the guessing games begin…

EDIT: I’ve been told that Tammy only wrote that on her Facebook to mess with the Internet journalists, which according to commenter MachoMadness she has now confessed to. I guess someone’s enjoying their new found level of ‘Internet fame’. You’re right up there with Damien Demento, what great company to be in.

Like Destiny’s Child and most recently, the Sugababes, The Beautiful People has undergone a lineup change. Judging from those two groups, you can drop members and bring in new ones and still find success. But what happens when the Beyonce of the group is cut? Well if the Wrestling Observer is right, it looks like TBP 2.0 will be cut off at it’s legs.

Ever since Lacey Von Erich was announced to be replacing Angelina Love, there has been a lot of uncertainty from fans regarding the wrestling ability she can bring to a group that has already lost it’s strongest worker. F4W reports that the new lineup of the group will be more character-based, rather than a wrestling stable.

The idea is for The Beautiful People group to be focused more on doing skits and vignettes and less on wrestling with Angelina Love no longer with the group. The reaction to Lacey Von Erich is that she’s gorgeous, even better looking then the other members, but doesn’t have the performing instincts Sky has and isn’t much of a worker.

Translation: Expect more of those backstage segments with Lauren on those throne-looking things. I have to wonder if any of the current lineup are strong enough to lead this group from an in-ring standpoint, it seems like they need someone of the level of Angelina to come in and be the ‘worker’ of the group. Blondes on the indies, send your resumes in NOW! Krissy Vaine girl, if you’re reading, that means you

EDIT: Another report on TBP 2.0 comes from PWTorch by way of Lords of Pain, this one highlights Madison Rayne as the strongest worker of the current lineup:

Of the three present members of “The Beautiful People” — Von Erich, Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne — many feel Rayne is the best worker of the trio. However, they also feel she needs to overcome some confidence issues before she can reach her true potential in the wrestling industry.

I wholly agree with this, Rayne is by far the best worker of the group and anyone who has seen her in SHIMMER knows she has a certain spark that could translate to becoming a great top Knockout in the years to come. However, I definitely can see the confidence issues — she has never looked overly comfortable in The Beautiful People which was why I was quite excited when they kicked her out. As talented as she is, her I’m assuming, real life sweet naturedness oozes through the bitchy heel she’s supposed to be playing.

Backstage speculation at the Air Canada Centre suggests that the legendary Trish Stratus may work a match tonight as part of her guest hosting gig. And with the Divas Champion, Mickie James and Kelly Kelly hurt, it seems like the stars have aligned.

If you listened to today’s Diva Dirt Roundtable, one reader suggested Trish team up with fellow Canadian Gail Kim in a tag team match against Beth Phoenix and Jillian. If they do put Trish in a match, that’s what I’d like to see too & it also seems logical with Trish and Gail being the hometown Divas, it’d give the fans in attendance a nice moment.

There is also talk, according to Lords of Pain, that they may set up a storyline with Trish for a return engagement. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say something with Beth Phoenix.

Join us tonight for our ‘Raw is Trish’ live blog to discuss the show as it happens, it all kicks off at 8.45pm ET/1.45am UK.

- Today’s ClickWrestle Match of the Day is Daizee Haze vs Nicole Matthews

For what it’s worth, Candice Michelle‘s name was briefly brought up at last week’s Impact tapings, a source tells Diva Dirt.

Whether it will lead to anything substantial is speculative at this point. But for Candice fans holding out hope, there was a mention or two of her name.

With TNA launching a tag team division, I assumed it could tie into that but there’s no current Knockouts that could really bring in Candice as a tag team partner, other than Tara who’s already working with Christy Hemme.

Candice was released from WWE on June 17th, shortly after being cleared for in-ring competition. That date would put her 90-day no compete expiration at around September 17th.

Rumours around the ‘net are coming in thick and fast, with one suggesting that Mickie James was chewed out last night at Raw for reacting unprofessionally following her match last night — an obvious reference to the sour look on the Divas Champ’s face.

But that’s not all, apparently the higher-ups were not too happy with Mickie’s obviously improvised finish, in which she ended the bout with a forearm and felt she should have ‘handled it better’, which is a fair assessment in my opinion.

As for Gail Kim, she was knocked for six but didn’t suffer a concussion thankfully as was speculated earlier today.

It should be stressed that all of this is just rumour at this point. There don’t seem to be any reports from the major players, right now. I expect any ‘news’ regarding last night will be of interesting discussion, hence why I opted to post this.

I wanted to make this week’s Redux as diplomatic as possible, because I do feel last night was an unfortunate incident and is best left to lie. So I did try to hold back more of my personal opinions as to Mickie’s death-scowl last night. I guess I’ll let loose on Thursday’s Roundtable, but if what is written above is truthful, I can’t disagree with any of it.

WWE is finalising the card for this Sunday’s SummerSlam and according to Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, there may be hope for the Divas yet. At one point last month, both Divas title matches that were originally booked for the pay per view were scrapped.

Meltzer notes that they may vote in favor of a title match or do a gimmick match instead, I’m assuming use all of the Divas.

Funny thing is, I joked on our Twitter page a while back about WWE doing a ‘Miss SummerSlam’ bikini battle royal…

I’m gonna make a debut soon… Where could it be

Then again, it could simply be some innuendo to get sites like this talking, when she’s in fact referring to something else. Kristal has been enjoying a lot of success in fitness modelling since leaving WWE and giving birth to her son with Bobby.

Her body is totally banging right now so she’d definitely fit into TNA in that sense. Not to mention she’s dropped that crazy ass weave. But her wrestling ability is a whole other subject. Perhaps she could manage Bobby?

We’ve heard from a source that there is once again interest from TNA in hiring former WWE Women’s Champion, Jazz aka Carlene Begnaud. The ECW alumna has fallen off the radar in the past year or so but it’s understood that she gave birth to her first child with husband, Rodney Mack late last year/early this year.

It seems TNA is reaching out to those who may know Carlene in order to contact her about coming into the company.

Last year it was revealed that the position of ‘problem solver’ for the Beautiful People, which was held for a short period by Mickie Knuckles, was originally intended for Jazz.

It has been reported that Mickie Knuckles aka Moose is, indeed, set on returning to TNA.  Just one year ago, Mickie broke her right femur bone during an attempted stage dive onto Sara Del Rey at a IWA Mid South event in Joliet, Illinois.  She has undergone a successful leg surgery since then.  It is now anticipated that Mickie could very well make a comeback.  Mickie Knuckles made her TNA Impact! television debut on June 5, 2008 as the muscle behind the Beautiful People.

The possibility of her return leaves me to question just what could be in store for Moose in TNA.  The addition of Madison Rayne into Mi Pi Sexy doesn’t leave much room for additional member.  However, with TNA’s newly acquired Knockout initiave, Moose could benefit from the sea of credible singles competitors such as Alissa Flash, Sarita, and Ayako Hamada.  Titanium rod and all.

Women’s Champion Michelle McCool may have been injured last night after a house show match in Hampton Beach, MA with Eve Torres.

Reports say McCool took a bump to the outside and didn’t get up. The match was ruled a no contest and two parademics helped the Women’s Champ to the back.

Conflicting reports suggest a second referee came out to ringside, checked on Michelle and threw up an ‘X’ sign.

We’ll keep you updated as things develop.

The only thing I have heard so far is that there has been talk of doing a Knockouts show, but I don’t know much beyond that. The details of the show could be interesting, as there are possibilities for it to air either air on TV or even stream through TNAwrestling.com, as I suggested on the Roundtable a couple of weeks ago.

TNA has been pitching a secondary show to Spike TV, but the idea was for Jeremy Borash’s Spin Cycle to take the spot.

I think TNA could easily produce a weekly 30 minute show either for Spike or for their website, spacing out the taping of matches between their 3 Impact tapings every month. I would hope [and expect] that the Knockouts will continue to be part of Impact, while the second show will give the rest of the growing Knockouts division a chance to shine.

It should be noted that this is just speculation at this point, so we’ll see where this goes!

WWE executive producer, Kevin Dunn has reportedly proposed an idea of doing an American Idol-like search to replace Raw ring announcer, Lilian Garcia who has announced her departure for later this year.

I’m not completely opposed to the idea, I mean it adds some importance to Lilian’s position which is oft overlooked and it would make a big ado over her leaving. However, I hope it doesn’t infringe too much upon the actual shows — but then again, I think I’d rather watch this than some of the skits that we see on Raw.

I think Lilian should have a say as should the fans. Maybe have Lilian judge the contestants and have the fans vote for the winner. It’s already a step up over the Diva Search, because the girls have to be talented singers — and surely it’s better to have a non-wrestling talent than no talent at all?

The Raw Divas weren’t the only ones getting ready for summer last night, as Stacy Keibler was spotted in a summery orange top at the Matt Leinhart Foundation’s Celebrity Bowl on Monday night. The Keib looked cute and well put together. Check out more images below:

Meanwhile, it looks as though Stacy’s three years of making the rounds hoping to get discovered may pay off. The 29-year-old is reportedly on the list of candidates for the female lead in Warner Bros’ Green Lantern movie, which will star the husband-of-my-fantasies, Ryan Reynolds.

You’d think Vince McMahon’s geriatrics would fail to shock us after all this time, but nope — the egotistical WWE Chairman has found even more salacious ways to make us shriek in horror. This time, Vince McMahon believes that Vickie Guerrero betrayed WWE by leaving the company to spend more time with her children.

The former Raw General Manager left the company in early June, but handed in her notice weeks prior, hence the change the direction for Guerrero as the writers began scripting the pig jokes to appease Vince. Power Slam magazine has the scoop:

MID-MAY 2009: Vickie Guerrero, the least likely wrestling success of the last five years, asks for her contract release. Vickie’s reasoning is perfectly rational: as a single parent, she feels it is important to spend more time with her fatherless teenage daughters during their crucial adolescent years. Vince’s reaction to her decision is perfectly irrational: he takes grievous offence and begins to rant and rave that Vickie has betrayed WWE. Yes, Vince believes the widow of Eddie Guerrero is ungrateful to the pro wrestling industry because she is putting her family first. From this point on, Vince’s shameless lackeys curry his favour by pitching gratuitous pig and fatso jokes about Vickie at creative meetings — which earn booming guffaws from Vince.

This news comes off the heels of word that several WWE Superstars [including Rey Mysterio and Edge] were pissed off at the way WWE treated Vickie near the end of her run. I am just so glad that Vickie had the sense to leave when she did rather than stick around and continue to be humiliated. Vince and company seem to have a sick, perverse pleasure in treating women like dirt and I’m not even talking about the endless T&A — Trish barking like a dog, making out with Divas in front of his wife, trying to do a storyline where he was the father of his daughter’s child. Excuse me, I just gagged a little bit…

Recently released WWE Diva, Candice Michelle will probably be the most expensive piece of ‘Candi’ you ever pay for, if you choose to hire out her services [not in the Ashley sense].

The former Women’s Champion is asking for a cool $5000 per appearance — but not in a wrestling role. For $5000 Candice will come and host a party or sign autographs or even just do her GoDaddy twirl on repeat for an hour, but she won’t wrestle.

$5000 for ‘eye Candi’ basically. Something tells me the only thing Candice’s agents will be hearing are crickets.

Looks like we could be seeing the last of Kong’s Syrian cohort in TNA. According to our partners at the Wrestling Globe Newsletter, TNA is dropping the ‘burkha babe’ character soon. Raisha Saeed, real name Melissa Anderson, will be taking on the persona of ‘Future Legend’ Melissa Flash.

Just hazarding a guess, Flash will be somewhere along the lines of the beloved ‘Cheerleader Melissa’ character. Anyone who has seen Melissa’s SHIMMER matches can attest to how smashmouth and hard-hitting she can be and is probably salivating for her debut. Well, you have a long wait ahead. In three weeks time, Flash will have her official debut against fellow newcomer, Sarita on Impact.

Personally, I never cared much for Raisha Saeed as a character, so I’m glad to see her go. Especially if the trade off is Cheerleader Melissa. Melissa, along with Sarita, could be serious contenders for the Knockouts title in the near future. Just in case you’re not familiar with Melissa (Shame on you!), here’s a little taste of what she can do:

CHEERLEADER MELISSA VS DAIZEE HAZE

Details are beginning to leak out on WWE’s release of former Women’s Champion, Candice Michelle and among them are some damning reports on Candice’s look. Many [including myself] will probably be shocked by this, because it seemed as though their main gripe was her injury prone status. But sources within the company have really gone all out against the ‘Go Daddy Girl’, bringing into question her look and weight — which any girl will tell you, is a major no-no.

Excerpt from one report below:

It is believed that Michelle’s less than stellar appearance at the television tapings in Los Angeles a few weeks ago ultimately sealed her fate with company officials. She had not been seen since WrestleMania, but when she arrived at the shows in Los Angeles, she didn’t look “Diva like,” and there were those who felt she was ready to leave the company and move on. As it turns out, WWE beat her to the punch by releasing her a few weeks later.

She told officials she was just about ready to return from her latest injury, but they gave very little leeway because she is a woman and there is a weight issue. The impression on her was always that she wasn’t someone with a naturally thin body, and that she had to work very hard to look the way she did, and when you get older, fighting those genetics gets much harder. In a company where the women are primarily there for their looks, some felt she didn’t have that look anymore, so they decided to let her go.

Now bear in mind this is the company that thinks we’re checking for closeups of Jillian in WWE.com photoshoots, so Candice must’ve been cracked out at that taping in Los Angeles for WWE to ‘seal the deal’. Apart from her obvious facial changes over the years [she looked HOT in 2004-2006], I don’t think Candice ever looked too bad. But then again, there were those horrible, unflattering house show candids a few months back, where you could see Candice’s gut hanging out.

I don’t know, something about this report seems a little too below the belt, even for me and I’m not even a fan of Candice. Call her out on her injuries fine, but stuff like this could’ve slipped under the radar — it seems to add more insult to injury for a girl who just got fired.

PS: Points if you got the Beyonce reference in the title =)

You may have heard reports that Serena Deeb of OVW and SHIMMER fame has signed to WWE. It is noted on her Wikipedia page that she recently debuted in FCW in tag match defeating Rosa Mendes and Alicia Fox. Well it turns out you can’t believe everything you read on Wikipedia (Go figure).

Despite appearing in a few backstage cameos with Finlay and Mark Henry on ECW, Serena has gone on record saying she hasn’t been offered a formal contract from WWE as of yet. And if  that’s not enough for you, I have a secondhand quote from Ms. Deeb herself. In regards to her ‘debut’ in FCW, Serena says:

…[she's] wondering where people come up with this stuff. She’s not even in Florida

Well there you go people. Serena is not part of the WWE roster (yet). Let’s all keep our fingers crossed though, because I hear there’s a sudden opening over on Smackdown.

According to a new story on Vickie Guerrero‘s WWE departure, Vickie’s daughters may have asked her to quit the company.

Both of Vickie’s daughters are teenagers, one of whom is said to have just finished her senior year in high school, and were becoming upset at the portrayal of their mother on national television and asked her to quit. Definitely understandable as you have to go into school the next day and everyone must be talking about you.

If this is true, I admire Vickie even more for putting her daughters above and beyond her career. Seeing your mom ‘married’ to Edge, having an affair with the Big Show, having ‘nude’ pictures of her leaked on WWE.com and being called a ‘pig’ – no matter how scripted – must be hard. As we’ve pointed out a number of times, Vickie did a great job and received an opportunity to earn an income that she would have otherwise never had dreamed of, I guess her and her daughters are now financially secure. I can’t fault someone who did what she had to do to invest in her children’s future. I hope their story is a happy one.

Looks like we aren’t the only ones noticing Maria has slowly been fading off SmackDown. According to sources, Maria’s stock has dropped with management, hence her lack of use over the past couple of months.

While most of the Divas on the brand are seeing an upsurge in ringtime, Maria has noticeably been disregarded or relegated to the odd backstage segment. The feeling is that Maria hasn’t shown enough improvement in the ring given her tenure and putting her in the ring could compromise the quality of matches, which is why WWE has opted to use less tenured Divas such as Alicia Fox, since the Draft two months ago.

Though we were only namechecked Alicia Fox, I think the same theory applies to the likes of Layla and Eve Torres in particular. I think it’s funny that Maria was an active performer and they decided to give Eve – an inactive performer – a storyline. I’ll admit I’m not the biggest Maria fan, so I guess I take a little pleasure in hearing that WWE is finally on my wavelength.

As I said last Friday in the SmackDown Redux, I was toying with the idea of doing a blog about Maria and her next career move. I think I’ll include the gist of it here: One can’t deny though, that Maria is one of the most popular Divas in WWE right now. But the truth is, she’s a horrible performer and I think the women’s division has passed her by. I think the company needs to find other uses for her, I wouldn’t out-and-out release her because she is popular, but maybe have her replace Eve as the backstage interviewer or perhaps as Teddy Long’s assistant.

Another thing to point out is that Maria can be seen as co-host on the new Macho Man DVD released by WWE. I guess that could be in line with the new direction for her; maybe move her away from in-ring stuff and move her into a broadcast role.

MELINA, GAIL, & EVE VS. MICHELLE, ALICIA & LAYLA (GUEST REF. MARIA)

And just for added measure, it looks like the SmackDown writers took pity on Maria - who doesn’t have (and frankly doesn’t deserve) a storyline – and decided to make her a referee for the night. Speaking of Maria, I keep meaning to write an indepth blog about what’s next for her in WWE, but the subject-matter isn’t much of a motivator. So you guys are going to have to motivate me. Is that a blog you want to see or not? If not, I won’t bother!

And if you had to look any further as to why Maria isn’t much of a motivator for me, look no further than this week’s SmackDown. Her spastic wardrobe continues to give me headaches everytime I see her on TV and this week was no different. I can’t begin to explain what she was thinking. I don’t know how any woman could dress like that, look in the mirror and think, “Damn, I look great.”

Speaking of fashion faux pas’, did Layla preserve herself in ice between last week’s taping and this week’s? Because she looked the same, head to toe. Usually, I wouldn’t mind if she dusted off one of her hot outfits twice in a row, but her look over the past couple of weeks has been less Layla and more Maria. Being in a lockerroom with Maria must be having a negative impact on her! Please straighten your hair and dust off the hot leather leggings.

Anyway onto this week’s action, I have to start off by saying it’s great to see Gail Kim back on SmackDown after a one week absence. I personally noticed her absence last week, perhaps because I unashamedly mark for Gail. And her work in this match proved just why fans should miss her when she’s away.

Looking at the match from top-to-bottom; we kick off with with rookies Eve Torres and Alicia Fox, and from the outset Alicia proves just what a head-start she has over Divas who have been on the main roster for longer than her by taking the lead. I really can’t fault this girl’s work ethic, she is already better than many of the Divas, I would argue she’s better than a certain Divas Champion too. Eve, who hasn’t really impressed me in the ring, shows some nice athleticism with a cartwheel into a chop-block, taking down Alicia. Eve retreats to her corner and tags in the lovely Gail Kim and things pick up from here, Gail and Alicia have a fast paced style, with Alicia being hurled into the corner but managing to counter and giving an arrogant reaction to the fans. Nice heel tactic there. Gail hits a really nice hurricanrana, then does her patented cross body through the middle rope and then takes to the top for another one.

Michelle tags herself in and immediately lays into Gail rather viciously. Things go a little topsy-turvy here, Gail goes for a hurricanrana but Michelle manages to grab her and powerbombs her into the rope and then it’s time for our “Gail Kim Bump of the Week”, with that sick over-head flapjack. Yizouch! Michelle picks apart Gail some more before tagging out to Layla, two of my favourite Divas in the ring now – Layla takes a lead over Gail and actually shows some decent mat skills. I think working more often with this group of Divas and Layla could become an extremely strong performer and give Alicia a run for her money. Layla hits a dropkick and Gail sells every move perfectly, Gail drop-toe-holds Layla into the middle turnbuck and hurls for a tag to the Women’s Champion, Melina.

The pace is about to pick up as Melina hits a well rehearsed chorus of moves and really riles up the crowd. The ‘Matrish’ into an overhead kick, showing her amazing flexibility. Then comes the knee smash in the corner, followed by the hair-drag smash and Layla looks to be done but somehow manages to kick out.

The end is nigh, as Alicia interferes and all hell breaks loose. On the outside, Eve clotheslines Alicia while on the ring apron, #1 Contender Michelle hits a big boot over the top rope on the Women’s Champ. This is enough to put out Melina, as the legal woman, Layla hits her ‘Layout’ for the win.

The end of this match caused a lot of mixed opinions in the spoilers post earlier this week, but given the context, I think it worked. Sure Layla has pinned the Women’s Champion, but it doesn’t derive from the fact that Michelle had a helping hand and will only further fuel their feud. But this is also a fantastic win for Layla, the biggest of her career thus far.

I would say this match could rival the show-stopping tag team match between Melina/Gail and Alicia/Michelle a few weeks back. Definitely a strong showing for SmackDown.

For Candice fans and I guess, Diva fans in general, that gaudy, horrible techno mix of Candice‘s theme music is definitely embedded in your brains (unfortunately). One of the lines is “All eyes on me.” Well, with the former Women’s Champion’s pending return to the WWE – all eyes are literally on her and not in a good way.

Our partners at the Wrestling Globe Newsletter have the scoop (PS you can subscribe by sending a blank e-mail to wrestlingglobe-subscribe@topica.com):

Candice Michelle said that she expects to return to the ring next month. There is a ton of heat on her right now similar to which just caused Vince to fire Kennedy; the perception that she is always injured and a lousy worker. One source told us: “She doesn’t exactly help her cause when she’s running around in LA hanging out at bars and going to Dodger games… What happened to rehab and getting back in shape? There are guys on our roster with far worse injuries sucking it up and still coming to work.” On the flipside, one of her biggest supporters in WWE is said to be Stephanie McMahon.

If WWE can cut one of their top Superstars in Kennedy, I fully expect that they are willing to drop Candice. Her comeback is make or break, if she looks bad in the ring, if she messes up – she’s gone. WWE management will likely scrutinise her every move and rightfully so. She’s an average worker and she’s injury prone. In these tough economic times, WWE cannot afford to waste a paycheck on someone who can’t do their job.

Cut-throat, I know, but she’s had plenty of opportunities and my key gripe (regardless of how much I dislike her) is the fact that she can’t stay healthy. Next time, WWE should just cut her.

New online reports have surfaced suggesting that Rhaka Khan is now gone from TNA, following in the footsteps of Roxxi who was released last month.

Of course, all of this comes just a month after news of a backstage altercation between the two which led to a 60-day suspension for each. Roxxi was later released, while suspended.

There is currently no word on whether Khan was released or left the company of her own accord.

In an interview with Diva Dirt, Roxxi told us: “There was an altercation but that stuff happens in wrestling. There was a miscommunication in the ring between her and I, but it was solved that day.”

One possible reason given is the ‘sloppy matches on TV of late’. No seriously… I don’t know what Vince or the rest of management are watching, but the Divas action in recent weeks has been the best it’s been in a very long time. Melina and Beth Phoenix delivered a great Women’s Championship bout last month, as did Gail Kim and Maryse with the Divas Championship.

And post-Draft, we’ve seen some good matches from both brands; Maryse and Mickie had a decent match a couple of weeks ago. SmackDown meanwhile, has been on a roll since the Draft. They had an awesome tag team match on WWE Superstars, followed by an impressive Michelle McCool-Gail match and the excellent tag team match last week.

Not sure how that constitutes as ‘sloppy’ in comparison to some of the slop we’ve seen in the past. I should hope the Divas have redeemed themselves and are put on pay per view soon, because the work has been good of late.

Then again, the women’s division doesn’t really stand a chance when you have a man in drag as the key focal point.