Looks like Diva of Doom Beth Phoenix has a little egg pumpkin on her face. The Glamazon told the WWE Universe confidently on Friday Night SmackDown that the clock was about to run out on Kelly Kelly‘s Divas Championship run, yet the clock struck midnight and Kelly is still your Divas Champion.

In front of her hometown crowd of Buffalo, New York, Beth challenged Kelly in a second consecutive pay per view match at Night of Champions. Let’s see how it all went down, shall we?

Out first is the Divas Champ in a bright turquoise ring attire. Loving this color choice. Kelly’s BFF Eve has returned also, accompanying the champion. Michael Cole mentions that we are in Beth’s hometown, and of course, Jerry Lawler chimes in saying that he’s in Kelly’s corner.

As Kelly’s music dies down, it’s time to welcome back the hometown hero. As soon as Beth’s music hits, we hear a huge cheer from the crowd. As Justin Roberts announces her hometown, there’s an even bigger reception. Pan to the crowd: “If Beth loses we riot” sign. Hmm…

Beth makes her way down the ramp looking super charged-up thanks to the rapturous applause. Really liking this black variation of her new Pin-Up Suits, though I still miss the Glamasuits. Cute hairdo too. In Beth’s corner is her BFF — looking gorgeous in a super cute black dress — Natalya.

As Beth gets in the ring, she takes to the turnbuckle for her signature pose, looking ecstatic at the reception from her fellow Buffalo residents. Beth is certainly all fired up! Meanwhile, Kelly seems a little nervous after seeing this new passion in Beth.

The bell finally sounds and the two Divas lock up as Beth backs K2 into the ropes and the referee breaks things up. Kelly launches at Beth, applying a side headlock but the Glamazon quickly powers out of the hold. Beth with a shoulder tackle taking Kelly down next. She goes for an elbow drop but Kelly moves out of the way. Kelly off the ropes as Beth tries to go for a hip toss but Kelly manages to use gymnastic ability to land on her feet, surprising the Glamazon. Kelly uses this to her advantage and quickly cuts Beth down at to her knees with a kick. Meanwhile, rather unusually for the Divas Champion, she gets a big “Kelly sucks” chant. Never thought I’d hear that from a WWE crowd!

Kelly climbs the turnbuckles and jumps up on Beth’s shoulders for a hurricanrana into a pin attempt but Beth kicks out. Kelly with a drop toe hold onto the middle rope. Kelly then jumps up on Beth’s shoulders again, this time for a tarantula maneuver, choking Beth out from the other side of the ropes. Kelly then climbs up top and goes for a crossbody only to be caught by the bigger, stronger Glamazon.

Beth brings Kelly down over her knee and begins spanking her, humiliating the Divas Champ and perhaps mocking her for using the stinkface. Beth then follows up with a hard kick to the stomach which sends Kelly reeling across the ring. Beth then drives her foot into Kelly’s neck, using the ropes for leverage. Pin attempt by Beth but the champion kicks out.

Beth now chokes Kelly over the middle rope before the referee breaks it up. The Glamazon then guillotines Kelly into the bottom rope, doing a number on Kelly’s windpipe. Good spot. Another pin attempt by Beth, but no three count.

Kelly rises to her feet, fighting back with forearms but Beth overpowers her with a knee to the stomach and then whips her into the ropes, picking her up for a sideslam, however Kelly manages to free herself and hits Beth with a bulldog.

Like a good BFF, Natalya pulls Beth out of the ring to regroup before Kelly can pin her, but Eve sees this and is hot on Natalya’s trail. Eve with a clothesline on Natalya followed by several forearm shots. However, Beth then rises to her feet and slams Eve against the floor by the hair. Ouch!

Back in the ring, Kelly is still on the mat as Beth re-enters. Kelly, however, senses Beth coming and goes for a quick small package but Beth kicks out. Next, Kelly goes for a crucifix into another roll-up attempt but again Beth is not going down for the count.

Both Divas rise to their feet as Beth launches Kelly into the corner. Beth goes for a splash but K2 moves out of the way as the Glamazon eats turnbuckle. Kelly with a kick and a Kelly Killer attempt but Beth manages to counter and hits Kelly with a hard clothesline.

Beth looks around at her hometown crowd who are cheering her on. It looks like Beth is ready to put away the champion. Beth picks up Kelly and props her up on the turnbuckles. Beth climbs the turnbuckles too and sets up Kelly for a superplex. As Beth hits the move, the crowd and announcers react in unison. That’s what creates a great moment. The crowd participation and the announcers really getting behind it, selling it as a big move. Both ladies are on the mat, having had a lot taken out of them. Meanwhile on the outside Natalya’s express is priceless! We catch a replay of the superplex once again, which is a nice touch, again putting the move over as a big moment.

Both women are still down on the mat as the referee begins counting them out. Beth somehow manages to crawl on top of Kelly for a pin but Kelly manages to roll away before Beth gets the three count.

Beth rises to her feet and picks Kelly up by the hair. Beth picks her up for a powerbomb, it seems, but Kelly manages to roll through Beth’s legs and rolls her up for the 1, 2, 3.

K2 leaps out of the ring almost instantly, just as she did at SummerSlam, as Beth is overcome with disbelief at losing in her hometown of Buffalo, New York. “I think Beth choked!” cries Michael Cole.

Kelly celebrates, emotionally, as she retreats up the ramp hoisting the Divas Championship above her after a valiant title defense.

So Kelly is still the Divas Champion and Beth Phoenix walks away empty handed for the second match in a row.

Let’s start with talking about this match. I really enjoyed Beth and Kelly’s work together at SummerSlam, but I much preferred this match. First of all, the crowd investment in this match really added to it. Perhaps we need to have all Divas matches in someone’s hometown? Beth really came out there looking like a hometown hero and had the crowd rooting for her, and even chanting “Kelly sucks!” which is no easy feat. The passion from the crowd got me into this match that much more.

As for the bout itself, I enjoyed the story they told with Kelly going for quick roll-ups trying to score the victory, as she can’t overpower the Glamazon. I thought Beth and Kelly worked really well together and both came off looking good in the ring. The superplex from the top turnbuckle has to be the highlight of the match. Sure, we’ve seen superplexes in the past from the Divas, but not in recent memory. The way that WWE has stripped back its division and made it less hard hitting, it makes spots like this that much more exciting when we do get to see them as they’re a rarity nowadays. That superplex spot felt special and like something we will remember because we don’t see it every week. I also liked the fact that the announcers played it up as something special as well. The stars aligned here — it was executed well, the crowd was into it, and the announcers did their job right.

Now what everyone wants to read about: The finish. People have thrown their remotes at the TV, typed furious messages on Twitter (including some extremely inappropriate stuff to Kelly) and threatened to not watch WWE ever again. I say, if you take it that seriously, you really need to get your priorities sorted.

I had no problem with the finish. Sure, it would have been great to see Beth walk away as champion in her hometown but A) WWE has a history of having wrestlers lose in their hometowns and B) she is a heel, so it would make more sense to have her lose in her hometown. I think the victory here did wonders for Kelly and made her look like a great champion. I really think she’s had a good run as champion and has been well booked in terms of credibility as champ, picking up numerous pay per view victories. In the fickle days of Divas Champions losing their title after a couple of months in a very nonchalant way on Raw, Kelly has been built up well and has had a good run. Regardless of how you feel about her, having a good run as champion helps the belt as a whole and I think it increases anticipation for when Beth eventually does win the Divas Championship. WWE fans, it seems, are so accustomed to instant gratification and complain when a belt isn’t switched in the first title match (i.e. SummerSlam). Good for Kelly, I say, and good for the belt. I really thought she came out of this match looking like a stronger champion than she did going in and that’s a good thing for everyone. Fans may not like Kelly because she’s a “model” and has “no place in the WWE ring”, but WWE is always going to have Divas like Kelly. Even if Kelly wasn’t in WWE, there’d be someone else with a similar background in her place and in this match. Get used to it. It’s what WWE does with those girls that is make or break, and I think they’ve done a good job with Kelly as champion in the long-term. The Divas division will never be perfect with silly matches on Raw etc., but where it counts — the feuds/pay per view matches — I think Kelly has been a successful Divas Champ.

As for her in ring performance, yes, Kelly is not as experienced as Beth but that is why putting experienced workers versus less experienced workers works. Kelly is able to learn and get better by working with Beth, and I think she held her own. I really don’t care what the Kelly detractors may say, she took her licks in this match and I was impressed. She’s no ring master by any means, but I feel I’ve seen a growth in-ring and in confidence in her as champion and she’s really grown on me. I’m liking what I’m seeing so far. Bear in mind, Trish Stratus wasn’t so crisp and clean during her first title run. Not saying that Trish is the best wrestler in the world ever, but by her seventh Women’s Championship run, the WWE fans were behind her as a credible competitor. Kelly has a long way to go, but she’s also very young. If she chooses to stick with WWE, she can only continue to improve. If you think Kelly’s job is easy, please take that superplex from Beth and get back to me.

I was really impressed with both Divas — and the crowd. Good stuff at Night of Champions. I hope if they do get a threequel at Hell in a Cell, it’ll be just as good, if not better.

Kudos to both ladies.

Match Rating: 4/5

Tell us what you thought of Night of Champions in the comments…

Hometown Diva Beth Phoenix lost her Divas Championship match last night in Buffalo, New York, the site of Night of Champions, and she’s not happy about it!

Speaking to WWE.com, Beth says that Divas Champion Kelly Kelly got lucky.

She continues: “My mom and dad were sitting in the front row and watched me get beat by Kelly Kelly. How would that make you feel?”

Finally Beth added: “I’m through being nice. It’s time to get angry.”

Watch the video here.

Thoughts: I really love that last quote, but it won’t mean anything unless WWE Creative follows through and kicks things up a notch tonight on Raw. How about having angry Beth and Natalya storm the ring during a Kelly/Bella match and just beat up on all the Divas? WWE needs to turn the heat up.

While the Glamazon Beth Phoenix had the momentum in her hometown, Divas Champion Kelly Kelly once again pulled off an upset victory to retain her championship.

After enduring a vast amount of punishment from the Diva of Doom, including a sick looking superplex, Kelly managed to overcome the odds and left Beth Phoenix devastated in her hometown of Buffalo, New York.

Kelly came into the match at a distinct disadvantage with the fans cheering on their hometown Diva and even chanting “Kelly sucks!”, however the champion remained undeterred by rolling through a powerbomb attempt by Phoenix to take the victory for the second match in a row.

Thoughts: I really expected Beth to take the victory here, but I kind of like the strong build they’re giving Kelly. It gives the championship credibility to make your champion look strong and pick up numerous victories in title matches. As for what’s next? Perhaps Natalya could be next in line for a title opportunity.

What do you think? Tell us in the comments…

Vote below and rate the Divas Championship match on a scale of 1-5. 1 being the worst, and 5 being the best.

RELATED:
- WWE Night of Champions Results: Kelly Kelly Upsets Beth Phoenix in Her Hometown

Tune in at 8pm ET on pay per view.

Discuss the show in the comments!

The Divas Championship is on the line tonight at Night of Champions when Kelly Kelly defends against Beth Phoenix in her hometown of Buffalo, New York. Can the Diva of Doom take the victory? Or will Kelly’s Cinderella fairytale live on? The Diva Dirt team weigh in…

April: I hate to say that the run the Divas of Doom have had so far hasn’t quite reached its peak yet, but I’m going to. I think maybe its a bit too early for the title to swap over. I’m going to have to say that Kelly Kelly is going to retain her coveted butterfly belt. I know most people seem to hate her but I’m a Kelly supporter. She’s come a long way since her ECW exhibitionist days and has truly proved she can hang with the beat of them. She wants to be a Diva, no matter her background is, and I think she is going to give Beth a run for her money. #team2k

Bobby: I don’t know where to begin with this. I think it’s been a pretty eh job of building to this match when there was so much time to capitalize on it. Storylines through Twitter aren’t really my thing, but props to the Divas involved for getting some type of story behind it. I thought there was a definite explanation for Kelly to retain at SummerSlam if it was through a roll-up, and they did just that… but I don’t see where it could go from here other than the hometown girl Beth Phoenix getting her moment tonight.

Cryssi: Logic dictates that Beth will walk away tonight with the ‘W’ but for some reason I just can’t make myself go with logic. Its probably my buzz speaking but I’m going with Kelly Kelly as my winner. She’s not even scratched the surface of her title reign yet and I don’t want it to come to an end.

Erin: The WWE hasn’t really met most fans’ expectations with this feud, so it makes me wonder whether this was really meant to change the division or just serve as one of Kelly’s title feuds. Still, it’s hard to imagine Beth, fully motivated and with a ruthlessness only found in heels, being beaten by Kelly. Natalya poses a threat as well, and I just don’t see the point in teaming those two up if you’re just going to have Kelly defeat them and move on. It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I’m gonna go with Beth Phoenix winning the match and the title and really starting to give the division a “makeover”.

Katelyn: For me, it seems unrealistic to keep seeing Kelly pull out cheap victories over Beth and Natalya – they’re clearly more powerful than the majority of the other Divas and they’re not stupid, so surely they’ve got to pick up a win at some point. A win in Beth Phoenix‘s hometown seems likely.

Melanie: Kelly Kelly got the victory at SummerSlam, as she should have done, but now logic dictates that Beth Phoenix gets the victory here because you can’t conceivably have Kelly beat the bigger, stronger Beth twice in a row in fluke fashion. To be honest, the build to this match has been weak as compared to the two-week build before SummerSlam. They could have done so much more with the Divas over the past few weeks. However, I think it’s time to deliver on this whole Divas of Doom promise by having them dominate the division as the top heels. It’s far more interesting to see the Divas of Doom with the Divas Championship in their position fending off competition from ‘underdogs’ than seeing them chase the title, I say. I predict Beth Phoenix takes the victory.

Steven: I think Night of Champions is the perfect time to pull the trigger on Divas of Doom and have Beth win the title tonight. I see Beth Phoenix winning tonight and feuding with the likes of Kelly Kelly and Eve for the time being, until WWE finds something interesting for them to do.

Who do you think will win tonight at Night of Champions?

We are just hours away from this year’s Night of Champions where Kelly Kelly defends the Divas Championship against Beth Phoenix. So, as we prepare for their encounter, let’s take a look back at past Night of Champions matches…

2009 | We move on to Night of Champions 2009 now where Maryse defended the Divas Championship against Mickie James. This pay per view may perhaps best be known for the Melina/Michelle McCool encounter that overshadowed this match, but nonetheless, Mickie James won the Divas Title from Maryse after an eight-month reign.

Remember this match? Tell us your memories of it…

We are just hours away from this year’s Night of Champions where Kelly Kelly defends the Divas Championship against Beth Phoenix. So, as we prepare for their encounter, let’s take a look back at past Night of Champions matches…

2007 | Similar to tonight’s Night of Champions match, 2007 saw another underdog story as Candice Michelle tried to topple the dominant Diva, Melina in the inaugural Night of Champions event. Watch below…

Remember this match? Tell us your memories of it…

We are just 24 hours away from this year’s Night of Champions where Kelly Kelly defends the Divas Championship against Beth Phoenix. So, as we prepare for their encounter, let’s take a look back at past Night of Champions matches…

2010 | While Kelly and Beth battle for the Divas Title tomorrow night, it was one year ago that the belt became the only official championship for the Divas as WWE unified the Divas and Women’s Championships. It would be Melina vs Michelle McCool to determine the first ever Unified Divas Champion…

Still miss the Women’s Championship? Still bitter Michelle won? Tell us what you think…

Beth defeated Eve Torres tonight on Raw to earn a rematch against the champion.

This year’s Night of Champions will be held in Beth’s hometown of Buffalo, New York.

F4WOnline.com reports that match has been on the cards since a month ago, and given that Kelly won their initial meeting and the feud has continued since SummerSlam, it’s the most obvious choice.

RELATED: WWE SummerSlam in Review: Kelly Kelly Delivers a Summer Shocker!

The real question is, with the pay per view on September 18th, how will WWE keep this storyline going? It’s kind of stalled in the last couple of weeks save for some ‘clap taunting’.

Thoughts: The SummerSlam match didn’t disappoint and I’m looking forward to the rematch. Night of Champions is in Beth’s hometown of Buffalo, NY, so the stage really is set for her to have an epic homecoming. My guess is Beth will take the title at that event.

Seeing as how the match is being contested under Lumberjill rules, all the WWE Divas (including a pissy looking Layla) make their way out to the ring first. There are a crap ton of fashion mistakes going on tonight but the Bella Twins certainly look nice, as does Maryse. The Lumberjills get settled around the ring and Michelle’s theme music begins to play. She walks out with both halves of the Women’s Championship and she’s rocking some fierce new red gear. Unfortunately, she gets absolutely no reaction from the crowd during her entrance. Michelle poses with the belt and then Melina’s music hits. She waltzs out to an absolutely massive pop and sadly, she is not in new ring gear. She gets on the apron of the ring and sinks down into her sexy split, and that’s when Michelle decides to attack. Melina hops up just in the nick of time and Michelle ends up on the mat.

Melina goes after her but both women end up in the ring. Michelle scrambles to the ropes and Melina stands tall and proud. Melina sheds her fur vest and the bell rings. The match is on. Both girls lock up and begin to jockey for position. Michelle forces Melina back into the corner, but Melina whips it around. Michelle forces her foe to the ground and both roll around before tumbling out of the ring. They finally break the hold and both girls get to their feet. Several Lumberjills stand around and wait for their cue, but Michelle diverts their attention by slapping Rosa across the face and getting in the ring. None of the Lumberjills bother to attack Melina and she slides back into the ring after kicking Michelle in the stomach. She then throws her down by the hair and starts throwing forearms. Melina throws herself into the ropes and attempts what looks like a hurricanrana, but it doesn’t work out. Instead she lands on her feet and Kaval kicks (hee hee) Michelle to the ground. Melina goes back at Michelle but the co-Women’s Champion is able to fend her off. They both block a kick from each other and end up in the corner.

The fight goes on until finally Melina gains the upper-hand. She throws Michelle’s legs through the ropes and climbs up to the top turnbuckle on her knees. She signals for one of her trademarks but Michelle anticipates it and throws Melina off the top rope onto the concrete. The Lumberjills make no move to go after Melina. The LA beauty is slow to her feet but she finally ends up back inside. Michelle is waiting and takes Melina down. Michelle begins laying into Melina with kicks and forearms, and goes for the cover. She only gets a two. Melina is picked up but only to be knocked down again not once, but twice. She tries to get up using the ropes but Michelle is absolutely relentless. Her offense continues and she locks Melina in a head scissor.s The Diva’s Champ tries to get out of it and eventually Michelle breaks the hold. Thinking that she’s sufficiently worn Melina down, Michelle goes for the Faith Breaker.

Melina pulls herself up into a mid-air sitting position and fights her way out of the move. Michelle gets planted face first into the mat and Melina gingerly goes on the attack. Michelle is able to get Melina in a belly-to-belly suplex and ground her, and then she goes for the pin. Afterward, things get interesting when Natalya decides to get involved. She distracts Michelle and they have a heated exchange. This draws the attention of the official in charge and while he is chastising Nattie, Melina rolls Michelle up for the victory. She seriously has the FSU grad pinned for a count of 234972039874234 before home dude turns around and begins to count. It surprises no one when Michelle kicks out.

Michelle is quick to her feet and takes down Melina with a clothesline. Then she jumps to the outside. She goes right for Nattie, but the one-on-one doesn’t last. All the Lumberjills get involved and they start tearing Michelle to pieces. There’s a funny moment when Rosa tries to throw a punch at Jillian, but Jillian blocks it. That was an obvious miscommunication/epic fail. Anyway, the girls toss Michelle back in the ring and Melina takes control. She eventually ends up laying Michelle out on the ropes and using them for her own momentum, Melina charges towards her blonde headed opponent and lands in the middle of Michelle’s back on her knees. Melina lets out a Primal Scream and Michelle rushes her. Melina drops into a back bend to miss whatever Michelle was trying to throw, but Michelle catches on and slams Melina to the mat. She forces Melina in the corner and sets her on the top rope.

Now things get tricky.

I can’t tell if this was a botch or planned. Michelle looks to be going for a superplex but maybe she missed her footing because all of a sudden both girls take a big tumble to the outside of the ring. None of the Lumberjills except for Nattie make a move. Natalya throws one punch but that’s it. Gail Kim goes to help Melina up and things temporarily stop for a few seconds. Once Melina is safely inside the ring, the girls start attacking Michelle again. This gives Miss Layla El all the time in the world to waltz into the ring and start beating down Melina. Melina fights back and she dumps Layla to the outside. The Divas turn their focus on Layla and Michelle slips away. She gets back in the ring and greets Melina with a big boot to the skull. Melina goes down and Michelle makes the cover. Layla climbs back into the ring and the Lay-Cool lovefest is on. The girls hug and celebrate next to Melina’s fallen body and every other Diva stands there disgusted over what just transpired. Lay-Cool celebrate on their way up the ramp while the face Divas get in the ring to console Melina and watch in horror.

Observations: Lots to talk about so lets get started. The match didn’t do it for me. I thought this was one of their worst matches in my opinion. It seemed sloppy and their transitions were slow. They do have amazing chemistry, but tonight it wasn’t working as well as it usually does. I think the factors involved contributed to that. They weren’t able to hit as hard like they did at NOC ’09 and that’s due to the fact their outside action was limited. What I did enjoy about the match is how the Lumberjills played a huge part. I really enjoyed the story they told tonight. The fact all of them were just waiting for Michelle to get tossed on the outside was brilliant. I really enjoyed seeing them gang up on her. Layla sneaking in the ring was pretty good, but the ending was predictable.

I didn’t want Michelle to win. I really thought Melina deserved it out of the two. Michelle has accomplished so much already and I wanted Melina to have this moment. That said, I think the forgotten element in all this is Layla. She did get screwed out of an epic opportunity and I can’t wrap my head around why that happened to her. Layla has improved so much and as the woman on record as the actual holder of the Women’s Championship this should have been her moment. The only thing I can think of to justify this is that perhaps the WWE went with Michelle in this case because she and Melina do bring out the best in each other. I may not have been crazy about the match, but it is the best thing we’ve seen on television in a very long time from any combination of Divas.

The parts of the match that stand out the most to me are the beginning when Melina is down in her split entrance. Michelle has attacked her before from that position but this time the savvy vetran was waiting for her. All the Lumberjills ganging up on Michelle was another highlight. We’ve never seen that in one of these matches before and it was nice seeing everyone play a role tonight. Last but not least, Rosa’s epic fail with Jillian was another highlight. I’m not sure what happened there but Rosa got real confused. It was a nice little hot mess and you know me! I looooove hot messes!

Tonight’s pay-per-view was a whole was just okay. There’s nothing more to really say. I wish the outcome would have been different, but Michelle is a good champion. She’s got a damn good storyline on SmackDown and I’m definitely anxious to see where this is going to lead. How close is the Glamazon to returning? Is the Hart Dynasty title loss a blessing for Natalya? What happens to the Raw girls now? Where does Melina go? The questions could go on and on, but this Redux is coming to a close. Hell In A Cell is only two weeks away. Wonder if there will be a Diva match on that one?

Match Rating: 3/5

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Michelle McCool made history once again tonight by becoming the first ever Unified Divas and Women’s Champion in WWE, defeating Melina in a lumberjack match.

McCool’s historic win marks the third year in a row that the Diva has made history. In 2008, she became the first ever Divas Champion and last year, she became the first woman to hold both the Divas and Women’s Titles. Now she adds first ever Unified Champion to her list of accomplishments.

Meanwhile, Lay-Cool reunited proving that their little tiff which began last week on SmackDown, was all a ruse. On SmackDown, McCool and Layla picked one of their names out of a hat to determine who would face Melina. It was later revealed that all the names in the hat said Michelle’s name. Layla came out with the rest of the lumberjacks for the match tonight, looking uninterested and annoyed at Michelle. However, a swerve at the end of the match proved that it was an all an act as Layla distracted Melina allowing Michelle to take advantage and win the match.

History will be made tonight when the Divas and Women’s Championships are unified at Night of Champions. Who will walk away as the first ever unified champion when Melina faces Michelle McCool? Our predictions below…

Cryssi: As I stated in my SmackDown Redux, I’m not buying for one second that Lay-Cool are actually fighting. This is little rift between the two is nothing more than a cheap ploy to throw the Divas Champion off her game. They want to get inside Melina’s head and lull her into a false sense of security going into Sunday night. Melina is gonna come out all smiles and ready to face Michelle for the right to become the first ever unified champion of the Divas division. Michelle and Melina are going to square, get ready to fight, and all of a sudden Layla is gunna waltz out, Kaval and Vickie Guerrero in tow, and announce that the match is now a triple threat since she is the rightful Women’s Champion. Lay-Cool are gonna act like they’re pissed and BAM! Melina is gonna become the victim of an instant double team. The Divas Champ is gonna fight valiantly but in the end she’s going to come up just a little short. Or is she? NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND! Lay-Cool’s plan is going to backfire. Layla will end up being the one pinned. Michelle will have a mental breakdown and blame Layla for losing their title. And Melina, bless her heart, is going to lift both of those belts sky high and share her tears with the entire WWE Universe. Kodak moment.

David: I’m not thrilled that the WWE is unifying the Women’s and Divas Titles, but I am looking forward to seeing Melina and Michelle McCool wrestle at Night of Champions. These two rarely disappoint in the ring, and when you combine their skills with the other storyline elements (the title unification, tension in Lay-Cool, and the lumberjacks) the WWE really should deliver an interesting match. I am hopeful that after the title is unified the WWE will devote more time to booking interesting storylines that don’t just center on the championship belt. I think a Melina loss Sunday night would be confusing because she has been pushed so strongly since her return, so I think Melina will unify the title and LayCool will become even more divided.

Erin: I never thought the WWE would take the title off of Melina so soon, but this match gives me some doubts. Michelle is clearly the WWE’s golden girl, as she’s held a title (co-champ or otherwise) for what seems like forever. Part of me thinks they’ll reward Michelle with the unified championship based on that history. Also, the fact that the champ will have to travel between Raw and SmackDown makes me think the WWE sees this as an opportunity for more Lay-Cool now that their NXT duties are done. I’m picking Michelle to win and become the unified champion.

Jennifer: The WWE is going full steam ahead with it’s plan to unify the titles, so only time will tell what happens to the women’s roster as a whole. There’s been little to no buildup for this match, other than Lay-Cool challenging Melina on Raw a few weeks ago. Hell, we didn’t even see Melina last week on Raw! Meanwhile on SmackDown, there’s dissent in the ranks of Lay-Cool (with poor Kaval caught in between) over who would face off against Melina. Michelle wound up being the lucky one thanks to some dirty tricks. I have no problem seeing Melina vs Michelle since they’ve had great matches against one another, but Layla was clearly screwed out of proving she was more than a flunky for Michelle. I see Melina coming out the winner at Night of Champions, either due to miscommunication between Lay-Cool or Layla outright causing Michelle the loss.

Melanie: This is a huge moment in history… the two Divas belts being unified, so why am I not the least bit excited? The lack of build-up to this match and lack of interaction between Lay-Cool and Melina has killed any momentum they could’ve had going into Night of Champions. With Layla being conned out of competing in this match by Michelle on Friday night, I expect her to screw Michelle out of the unified championship. Melina wins.

Shanti: I could really care less about this match and who wins. That may sound quite harsh, but it’s true. The WWE didn’t give me a reason to care about it. That’s not a knock on either of the women involved in this. This is simply about WWE creative and their lack of effort regarding the build up to this match. This is a historical time for the Divas division. There is a possibility that one of the most historical belts in all of wrestling could be gone after tonight and they give us a very lackluster/unorganized build up. That’s not saying the match itself will automatically be that way too, but it doesn’t have as much meaning and hasn’t drawn me in to the point where I’m just dying to see it like it should feel. Am I surprised? Of course not. Is it sad? Yes. I know this sounds like more of a rant than a prediction, but this is how I feel. With that being said, I think Melina is going to win tonight. I also think that if they are not going to make another belt, the Divas belt will be staying around for the simple fact that it’s not the belt that is “broken.”

Steven: This is actually a really tough choice to make. Both Lay-Cool and Melina have had really strong showings this year. Melina made her return and shot straight to the top of Raw’s Divas division, while Lay-Cool have ruled SmackDown with an iron fist. However, after the events that occured between Michelle and Layla this week on SmackDown, I have to think the tension between them will finally come to a boiling and cost them the titles in the end. I predict that Melina will walk out of Night of Champions as the undefined… erm… undisputed Divas Champion.

Leave your predictions in the comments.

Don’t forget to join us for our Night of Champions live blog at 7.45pm ET/12.45am UK.

Also, Diva Dirt LIVE Does Night of Champions goes on the air at 11pm ET right after the PPV. Call in on 866-588-9257.

Diva Dirt LIVE returns for a pay per view special as we dissect all the fallout from tonight’s Night of Champions pay per view. We’ll be discussing tonight’s big title unification match and as always, taking your calls throughout the night too in a 90 minute post-Night of Champions special.

Don’t forget, we’ll also be hosting our regular live blog at 7.45pm ET!

All the details you need to call in, tweet and comment are after the cut:

You can either call, tweet or comment during the live show:

* Call in: We’ll be on the air live from 11pm ET/10pm CT/8pm PDT/4am UK. US listeners can call us toll free from landlines on 866-588-9257.

Alternatively, listeners worldwide can call us for free via Skype and BlogTalkRadio. Make sure you have an active user account and are logged into both Skype and BlogTalkRadio. Then, during the live show visit tinyurl.com/ddlivenoc and click the ‘Click to Talk’ button (see below). By clicking, this will open up Skype and put you through to us.

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* Comment: As well as Twitter, you can leave your thoughts the old fashioned way — in our comments section! Just leave your comments in the post for Diva Dirt LIVE, which will go online at 10.45pm ET. Again, tell us what you think of our topics and of the show, ask us questions etc. We will read out a sample of comments throughout the show, so keep ‘em coming!

Be sure to join us at 11pm ET live!

See you all tonight!

* THIS IS AN EXCITING MOMENT! THIS IS AN AMAZING CHALLENGE THAT I’M ALL FOR! TO HAVE THE DIVAS SUPPORT SAYS SO MUCH AND I AM SO GRATEFUL. IT’S ALSO A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD NOW. ONE ON ONE.

* NOW THAT ITS ONE ON ONE IT’S GOING TO BE FAIR AND I KNOW IT WILL BE GOOD. LET’S SEE WHO IT IS, LAYLA OR MICHELLE. I’M READY FOR THIS.

* EVERYTHING IS ON THE LINE FOR NOC. BOTH THE TITLES. IT’S GOING TO BE AN AGGRESSIVE MATCH.

* MY HEART KINDA HURTS BECAUSE I HAVE SO MUCH LOVE AND RESPECT FOR THE WOMEN’S TITLE AND PRIDE IN WHAT WE HAVE BROUGHT TO THE DIVA’S CHAMPIONSHIP….. IT’S GOING TO WEIRD TO CHANGE EITHER OF THEM. (Speaking on what the championship belt will look like after Night of Champions)

The WWE Divas and Women’s Championships will be unified at Night of Champions when Melina faces either Layla or Michelle McCool.

The match will also be a lumberjack match with all the other WWE Divas surrounding the ring.

Night of Champions takes place on September 19th.

WWE’s Night of Champions 2009 is in the books and with the dust settled, we have a new Divas Champion but the same Women’s Champion. Mickie James defeated Maryse to become the third title holder of the Divas title, while Michelle McCool retained over Melina.

SmackDown columnist, Erin looks back at the Women’s Championship bout:

With barely a mention going into the PPV, I didn’t have much hope for Melina and Michelle’s match to really deliver. It’s not that I don’t have faith in either woman to pull off a good match, it’s just that the buildup sucked. Will they exceed expectations? Let us see:

Just as Melina goes to make her signature entrance, Michelle baseball slides into her, knocking her off the apron. Melina takes a sick spill, and the match is off to an interesting start. It certainly got the crowd’s attention. I like that Michelle was the aggressor, instead of playing the cowardly heel they seem intent on portraying her as. Granted, attacking Melina when she’s so vulnerable isn’t exactly a brave move, but it still showed plenty of fire. Once she finally makes it to the ring, Melina tackles Michelle, pummeling her for a bit before letting up. Michelle tries to strike back, but Melina does the Ma-Trish move (Ma-Lina move?) to avert the blow, taking Michelle down with an arm drag and then holding her in an arm bar. She doesn’t settle for a rest hold, elbowing Michelle in the face and irish-whipping her into the corner. Melina runs up to the corner, jumping onto the second rope and doing her reverse kicks, nailing Michelle in her face and stomach. She covers a lot of area before relenting, adding one more frontal kick for good measure before Michelle bails out of the ring.

But Melina won’t have any of that, grabbing Michelle by the hair and dragging her back in. I’ve mentioned this plenty of times before, but I love it when babyfaces aren’t passive and go after their opponent as fiercely as the heels do. Apparently, Michelle feels like playing keep-away, shoving Melina and making another break for it. Melina runs after her again, this time keeping her in the ring. Michelle pulls the classic heel move of calling time out, begging for a break. Melina seems to honor this for a moment, that is before dropkicking Michelle in the face. So much for good sportsmanship, eh? Melina keeps her momentum, bouncing off the ropes and performing a modified hurricanrana, landing on her feet instead and kicking Michelle in the gut. JR calls her “agile and hostile”, which is a pretty accurate description, I’d say.

Michelle ends up on the ropes in what I call the “taking the 619″ position. Melina looks to knee her in the back of the head, but Michelle ducks out of the way, letting Melina’s own momentum send her flying through the ropes and out of the ring. Now she’s the aggressor, following Melina to the outside and pounding her against the barricade. She tosses Melina back into the ring, trying for a pin twice in a row (what, maybe 2nd time’s the charm?), but only getting near falls. Frustrated, she latches onto Melina’s leg, twisting her into a modified Boston Crab. Melina’s extreme flexibility and pained screams help sell the move, and she really an truly looks like she’s in agony. She almost looks like she’s going to pass out, half-heartedly reaching for the ropes that are a mile away. Michael Cole is so impressed by this that he diverts into the requisite “Michelle was a school teacher” mention. I wonder if there’s a single person left on Earth that doesn’t know her former line of work. I think the Divas need to fill out bio sheets, just so the announcers have some new things to talk about..

Anywho, back to the match. Melina advances towards the ropes, letting out an ear-piercing scream. Michelle lounges back before finally letting go, kicking the rope out of Melina’s grasp. She bends a standing Melina between the top and second ropes, pulling her back, pendulum-style, and letting her snap forward, smacking into the top rope. It seems like Michelle and Melina really collaborated on this match, coming up with unique ways to use Melina’s flexibility to their advantage. It adds another level to the match, and allows Michelle to look like a ring technician who truly deserves the belt she holds. Melina eventually falls off the apron, once again on the outside. Melina takes refuge on the barricade, and Michelle looks to duplicate her attacks earlier in the match, coming at her with a kick. Melina moves, and Michelle’s suddenly straddling the barricade. The fans let out a massive “ohhhhhh!”, as the move looks pretty damn painful.

Melina joins Michelle on the security wall, climbing onto it and nailing Michelle in the head. She advances to her feet, pulling Michelle up with her. The two fight for momentum, looking shaky, before Michelle latches onto Melina and performs a modified DDT, pounding her head into the barricade and landing on her feet. Melina’s out cold on the outside as Michelle gets back into the ring, stopping the referee’s count. (Was he even counting? They were out a helluva lot longer than 10 seconds.) The camera pans in for a fantastically evil closeup on Michelle’s face. Her crouched pose looks a bit Undertaker-esque, no? Sorry, didn’t mean to open that cans of worms..

Melina stirs on the outside, climbing back onto the apron. Michelle looks to use the baseball slide trick again to knock Melina off, but she telegraphs it, hoisting herself up by the ropes and letting Michelle taste the ringside mat this time. Melina sells her exhaustion, taking the moment to lay back on the apron. In a match with this much physicality, it’s so important for the girls to sell the damage they’ve received and keep continuity, and Michelle and Melina are doing this to a T. Michelle gets back up, back on the attack, but Melina catches her head with her legs, holding Michelle captive and pounding her head onto the apron. That’s certainly an inventive counter if I’ve ever seen one. She keeps Michelle contained for a few more moments before sending her back to the floor, kicking her in the gut. As Michelle gets back to her feet, so does Melina, and she comes flying at Michelle, screaming like a wild animal and doing a modified version of her spinning facebuster, both women landing on the hard mat outside.

The crowd seems pretty into this, what with all the out-of-the-ring action and amped up physicality. I have to say, if this doesn’t get them interested in a Divas match, I don’t know what will. The ladies are putting out all the stops, and it’s great to see the fans appreciating it to a degree. Melina is slow to her feet, but eventually grabs Michelle and sends her back into the ring. Michelle kicks Melina, sending her flying before she can continue her attack. Both women lethargically move about the ring, the physicality of the match taking its toll. Michelle takes her time going after Melina and pays for it, a scissors take down sending her into the ropes like before. Melina bounces of the ropes and knees her in the back of the head, performing the move successfully this time. She gores Michelle into the corner a few times as JR dubs the match “as physically intense as any Divas contest we’ve seen in a long time.” Took the words right out of my mouth.. er, fingers.

Melina sets Michelle into the corner, laying her across the second rope and jumping up, kneeing her in the stomach. The crowd is really reacting to these moves, and seem to be as into this match as any Divas match we’ve seen recently. Kind of ironic for a match with little-to-no buildup. Melina nails Michelle with a reverse spin kick, going for a pin but only getting a 2-count. Melina shows her frustration, looking to irish-whip Michelle into the corner, but Michelle reverses it, latching Melina into a belly-to-belly hold, finishing with a suplex. She gets a near fall, and spears Melina into the corner, turning away for a moment and paying for it, as Melina latches into her with her legs, chopping her in the head. She stays on the turnbuckle, hitting Michelle with a flying take down into a pin. Michelle reverses the pin into one of her own, bending Melina seemingly in half as the referee makes the three count. And with that, the match is over.

Melina looks on in disbelief, and Michelle looks like she can’t quite believe it herself. Both are absolutely wiped, looking like they just completed a marathon. The match, though clocking in at around 7 minutes, certainly felt like a marathon. The girls gave it their all, demonstrating that the Divas can put out all the stops at a PPV just like the guys. The fans were all the way into it, reacting to the big moves and moving with the emotions and tide of the match. This is everything a Diva fan wants – big moves, intense physicality, telling a story with the match, and great fan reactions. The end may seem like a cop out to some, but it just adds to the unpredictability to the match – no one thought the match would end so quickly, and it’s great to keep the fans guessing. It also adds to Michelle’s heel persona, almost as if she cheated the fans out of a spectacular climax. I loved it, personally, but to each their own.

As Michelle left the ring, Melina gave her a look that tells us that this feud is far from over, and I can’t help but love it. These girls have showed with this match that even though they’ve been feuding for quite some time, there’s no burn-out in sight. If they can keep delivering this type of intensity, I don’t care if this feud goes well into Christmas. A long-burning feud has shades of old school wrestling to it, and I don’t see problem with taking a cue from the ladies of the past and extending a feud as long as it’s still hot. And hell, if you don’t think this feud’s hot, you need to check your mental thermometer or something..

Melanie’s review of the Divas Championship match after the cut:

Following the SmackDown match, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Raw Divas to try and top their counterparts. That hill gets even steeper factoring in one of our challengers in this match isn’t as experienced as the 3 other ladies on the card. The result was a bloated, disappointing match although fans were given a kodak moment at the end, with the crowning of a new Divas Champion in fan favourite, Mickie James.

When you are watching a pay per view live, the atmosphere is very different to rewatching it the next day. From the live point of view last night, the atmosphere was less than pleasant regarding this match. Having rewatched it for review purposes, it still wasn’t a great match, it wasn’t even a good match or an average match — it charted below average at best. Yet I felt some salvation near the end. Mickie’s title win and the nice, definitive finish perhaps brought this match up a little more, though not enough to speak more highly of it.

Having said that, this was an incredibly bloated match, I felt there was no game plan or strategy going into it. It definitely looked as though the two Divas were beginning to lose their way as the match continued. Now I’m sure they worked with one of the producers to choreograph the match so I don’t know where it all fell apart, it just seemed as though they went out there and freestyled the match and it didn’t work. It’s not as though the two Divas don’t have any in-ring chemistry, we saw a decent match between them post-Draft in April but there was something off in this match that probably won’t be explained to us. Maybe they forgot their routine, or they didn’t plan enough prior to the match or the match ran longer than it was meant to.

I would say the latter could be true, though we’ll never know, perhaps they were told they’d have to go for a couple of extra minutes just before they went out to the ring? I don’t know. Either way, they could have easily shaved off a couple of minutes from this match, that was spent stalling and in rest holds and tacked it onto the Women’s Championship match, earlier in the evening. The SmackDown Divas could have utilised the extra couple of minutes to work out a less rushed ending.

The match begins with some good taunting from Maryse, throwing her ring jacket in Mickie’s face. Mickie throughout the match, looked very focussed and had the right mentality — she was just not playing, she was there to kick Maryse’s ass. I definitely appreciate the extra mile Mickie put into her character last night. After the ring bell, we get even more taunting and stalling but honestly, it wasn’t working — no one in the audience was amused and I certainly wasn’t either, just to get to the damn wrestling.

We begin with a lockup and a few exchanges, nothing too exciting before Maryse retreats to the ring ropes. Mickie continues to carry her intensity, I like this side of her, I hope we see it more often. Mickie goes for a nice arched rollup but Maryse kicks out and then begins to get some moves in on Mickie. Mickie then picks up the pace, with a snapmare followed by an awkward looking front dropkick. Things begin to pick up here, as Mickie goes for her legscissors but Maryse throws her over the top rope and then kicks her with a nice stiff kick which lands Mickie on the outside. Some shades of Michelle-Melina there.

But honestly, that was one of the only highlights this match had to offer. Afterwards, Maryse begins to find a short stride locking in the first of two camel clutches before going to the outside to get her can of spray. Mickie kicks it out of Maryse’s hand and attempts to use it herself but the referee stops it. Honestly, this should have been the cut off point for the match. That foreign object should have signalled the end because from here on out, it just fell apart and the match lost it’s flow.

Maryse goes for her second camel clutch, as fatigue begins to set in for both Divas — and the audience too. A couple of more exchanges prolonging a long-winded match, before we get a decent finish with Mickie countering the French Kiss in a beautiful Tornado DDT for the win. Executed and sold perfectly.

A very, very up and down match, and that’s being kind. Maryse is not cut out for long matches and the repetitiveness of moves shows that. Taken out of her usual short matches or tag matches, Maryse’s flaws are as transparent as water. Mickie had a nice intensity in this match that I think is a welcome change from the smiley, jumpy Mickie we usually see. But to be honest, the damage was done way before the end and what I thought was a nice finish will likely be overlooked in history.

I like both Divas but this was not their night, nor am I checking for a rematch. I think they need to insert Beth Phoenix or Gail Kim here and make it a triple threat feud to ensure some good in-ring work if they make it to PPV again.

While this could be a very interesting match, I’m not ready to abruptly end the Michelle-Melina feud. Last night reignited their rivalry and I think we all want to see it made a trilogy. However, Michelle and Mickie had some fantastic chemistry at last year’s Survivor Series and I’ve been wanting to see that match ever since.

Mickie James has ended Maryse‘s seven month reign as Divas Champion, pinning her to become the second Diva Dirt Grand Slam Champion.

As for the match, well… let’s just say we got covered the entire spectrum in one night.

Women’s Champion, Michelle McCool successfully defended her title against Melina in a knock-down, physical bout.

This match is must watch!

Maryse vs Mickie still to come.

Welcome to Diva Dirt’s live blog for Night of Champions 2009! Tonight, four Divas will enter the ring and two will leave as champions. Can Mickie James take the Divas Championship from Maryse? And will Melina regain the Women’s Championship from Michelle McCool? Join us to discuss the event as it happens, give us your reaction to the match and much more!

Two Divas matches tonight on PPV — way to spoil us WWE *cough* Tonight’s Night of Champions will see the Divas Championship on the line for Raw when Maryse defends against Mickie James. Meanwhile, for SmackDown the Women’s Champion, Michelle McCool defends against former champion Melina.

Our Diva Dirt writers weigh in:

Divas Championship: Maryse (c) vs Mickie James

Erin: This feud has been slow cooking for the past few weeks, which gives me the inclination that either they don’t give two shits about it, or they’re letting it build gradually (verrrryyy gradually). I have a feeling that they don’t know what else to do with Maryse as champ – everyone’s been complaining that she’s doing the same schtick over and over again, and the only thing to do to remedy that is to change things up. Let Mickie have the title, and either let Maryse chase or get into a non-title feud and develop her heel persona a bit more. It’s clear that Maryse as Divas Champ isn’t going anywhere (it feels like she’s been champ foreverrrr), so the best thing to do is move on. If not, the division’s gonna be going nowhere fast.

Melanie: It’s time for a title change, Maryse has held the title for 7 months now. An unprecedented reign in the women’s division and also bear in mind, that it’s her first ever major championship. Her title reign has been exhausted and I just feel like it’s time for fresh blood. I definitely see Mickie taking the belt tonight. Maryse, I’m sure will get a rematch in the near future or even a triple threat feud involving Beth, with both heels gunning for Mickie. Either way, there’s more possibilites with Mickie as champ and it’s a nice change too. I expect this match will get more time on the card than the SmackDown match, because it’s the more fresh match.

Steven: A few weeks ago, I stated in our roundtable that I didn’t think Mickie was coming out of Night of Champions with gold (or silver) and I stand by that statement. By having Mickie lose, it would be the perfect opportunity to extend this feud and shape it into a decent rivalry a la Melina and Michelle. I say Maryse retains and Mickie wins at the next PPV.

Tiffany: This may be wishful thinking on my part, but I’m holding out to see Maryse pick up the win.  I’m not entirely sure just how possible it may be, but I’m keeping hope alive.  Sure, Maryse got the last laugh going into the event, but this feud has been so back-and-forth that it’s hard to tell.  Maryse has had a lengthy reign so far, but I’m not entirely ready to see her let it go just yet.  And, I’m not entirely convinced that WWE is either.  We’ve seen Mickie in the title picture, but where exactly have we gone from there?  So…I’d like to see Maryse prevail this weekend, as unlikely as that may seem.  I think, by retaining, she has a lot more going for her.

Women’s Championship predictions after the cut:

Women’s Championship: Melina vs Michelle McCool (c)

Erin: This feud’s only just heating up again, and they’ve barely even built up the title match this time around (if at all.. I haven’t gotten the chance to watch SmackDown yet), which makes me think that they’re just shoving this match on the card so they can honor the “all titles are on the line” stipulation of the event. Due to the lack of push and overall excitement for the match, I don’t see a title switch taking place – it just doesn’t seem like the right time. Let Michelle and Melina battle a bit more before making a switch, if there even will be a switch. If you couldn’t tell, I’m going with Michelle on this one.

Melanie: Far too soon for a title switch, I think it’s an obvious outcome in favour of Michelle. Since we know the outcome, I can only hope that these two Divas put on another great show as they did at The Bash and attempt to steal the spotlight from Maryse & Mickie, whose match I believe WWE will put more effort into. I expect this will be a 3 minute affair while the Raw match will get a little longer, but I hope Melina & Michelle use the 3 minutes to the best of their advantage by getting really physical straightaway. I believe one commenter recommended having Melina attacking Michelle straight at the bell, which would draw a reaction from the crowd — could be a good move.

Steven: WWE hasn’t really put much effort into booking this rematch. In fact, it seemed to be tacked on as an afterthought. This half-assed booking leads me to believe that Michelle will retain and enter a new feud soon. The question is, with who? Hmmm, might be prime time to call up a new Diva.

Tiffany: I don’t think WWE will pull a “Victory Road” on us and have Melina regain the title this soon, so I’ll have to give this one to Michelle.  There just hasn’t been enough build-up.  Melina has been rather fiery these past couple weeks, and I’d like to see their rivalry escalate.  It’s just not going to happen for Melina at Night of Champions.

Don’t forget to join us for our live blog tonight from 7.45pm ET/12.45am UK.

Night of Champions returns tonight on PPV, and is set to make a lot of unprecedented benchmarks: The first time two Divas matches have been held on one card since 2006 & also the first time the same match has appeared in two consecutive PPVs since late 2007. But the real history being made tonight is that Night of Champions marks the first time ever that both the Women’s and Divas Championships have been defended on the same night.

But enough about tonight, this is about the event ‘Through the Years’. Night of Champions was originally known as Vengeance and began in 2001, before being fully rebranded in 2008. Vengeance/Night of Champions has seen several grudges settled but the Women’s Championship was first defended in 2001, but not seen again until 2007. Tonight marks the first time the Divas Championship will be defended at the PPV.

It all began in 2001…

2001
Jacqueline vs Trish Stratus

At the inaugural Vengeance PPV, young rookie Diva, Trish Stratus was in the first of her historic seven Women’s Championship reigns. Just a month prior to Vengeance [held in December in '01], Trish did the unthinkable — beat five other more experienced wrestlers to win the title. At Vengeance, Stratus would defend the title for the first time against the veteran, Jacqueline:

Remember a time when Trish was the one who was green in the ring? Feels like a lifetime ago, right? This was a nice matchup, though I gotta tell you, I don’t miss the ‘puppies’ chants one bit. As we all know, Trish would go onto hold the title six more times and get much, much better in the ring [we promise!].

More ‘Through the Years’ after the cut:

2003
Sable vs Stephanie McMahon

The infamous catfight took place in 2003, when Vengeance moved to a July spot & was a SmackDown only event. It was Sable vs Stephanie McMahon, who had an all-out, knock-down feud over the past few months:

Not exactly the most technical affair, I’m sure you’ll agree but this was a memorable match nonetheless.

2004
Molly Holly vs Victoria

In 2004, Vengeance became a Raw-branded event and saw Molly Holly and Victoria compete over the right to face the Women’s Champion. Yes, a #1 Contender’s match on PPV… kinda makes you yearn for the good old days when you didn’t have to be in a title match or a Miss WrestleMania battle royal to get on PPV, right?

Just months earlier, these two had a history making Hair vs Title match, where Victoria defeated Molly at WrestleMania XX. However, Victoria lost her Women’s Championship a month prior to this match, to shock horror, Trish Stratus [in her first heel reign]. So it would be Molly vs Victoria for the chance to face Trish. Victoria vs Molly — boy, what to expect from these two. ‘Technical brilliance’ could be one way to describe it.

2005
Christy Hemme vs Victoria

Ah, Christy Hemme, we hardly knew ya! Talk about a serious case of ‘Peaked too soon’. Christy had a whirlwind 18 month career: From winning the 2004 Diva Search in duh, 2004, to taking the cover of ‘Divas 2005′, appearing in Playboy, wrestling Trish at WrestleMania, a brief feud with Victoria, moving to SmackDown where she had a brief feud with Melina and then was released. Did I get it all? Anyway, in the summer of 2005, Victoria returned to her bad girl roots [& would stay heel through to the end of her WWE run in 2009] and attacked a bunch of Divas in a swimsuit competition. Then she smashed a glass jug over Christy’s head — good times were had by the fans who were sick of Christy, then they wrestled at Vengeance…

You know how people [read: we] always say that Victoria can bring the best out of any Diva? We don’t say that for nothin’, you know! Victoria brought out the best in Christy in a very competitive match.

2007
Candice Michelle vs Melina

So we are now beginning to get closer to the current incarnation of Night of Champions with Vengeance: Night of Champions in 2007. This would be the historic moment when Candice Michelle became the first Diva Search contestant to win the Women’s Championship. One could argue that winning the title would be the beginning of the end for Candice. Maybe Moolah or Trish put a hex on it?

Candice scored her first and only Women’s Championship reign, before being released earlier this year. Meanwhile, Melina would win the title again in January 2009 and lose it in June… which brings us to this year’s event where Melina gets her rematch.

2008
Katie Lea vs Mickie James

So with Night of Champions now an official pay per view, the Women’s Championship was put on the line when champion, Mickie James defended against her ‘summer fling’ Katie Lea:

I wasn’t a big fan of this match last year, nor any of their matches to be honest. Mickie and Katie just don’t seem to have the chemistry with each other that I expected given their experience.

Anyway, that’s your lot folks! Vote for your favourite Vengeance/Night of Champions match below and reminisce about the good times in the comments!

[poll id="390"]

Don’t forget to join us for our Night of Champions live blog, tonight from 7.45pm ET/12.45am UK.

The match, to me, is a thing of new in today’s women’s division where Divas can rarely get on the PPV cards let alone let their entire feud play out on PPV. When was the last time the same girls got to have back to back matches on pay per view? I believe it was in 2007 when Beth and Candice had a series of matches including Unforgiven and No Mercy that year. A small show of progression, I’d say.

I guess we can assume Melina will face Michelle McCool for the Women’s Championship at the PPV, although no official announcement has been made. Both Divas were left off this week’s SmackDown broadcast.

Thanks to Diva Dirt reader Mike for tipping us off.

We are dusting off our monthly systematic breakdown, looking back at last night’s Night of Champions pay per view. With the Women’s Championship on the line, it was Mickie James defending against Katie Lea. This is a match I have been looking forward to, but it seems almost thrown together at the last minute – this match could definitely have benefited from a storyline behind it. Nonetheless, both Divas worked hard and delivered a decent match – if a little disappointing. This match to me, was average, it wasn’t bad but it hardly lit me alight in the same way as the iconic “I Quit” match at One Night Stand. Couple the average match with the lack of story history and again, average.

I give the girls credit, they did the best with what they had to deliver a good match and both Katie and Mickie worked hard to tell some sort of story during the match. The plot with Katie working over Mickie’s shoulder was nicely done and for a moment there I was even left thinking if Mickie was legimately injured when she was thrown into the ring post. However as I write this post 24 hours later, there’s not much that really stands out to me about this match – would it be any different on Raw? I definitely think the lack of storyline going into Night of Champions hurt this match, I wasn’t expecting a five-star classic and knew beforehand that the match would be just “okay” but I could have easily been enticed into the match with good plotting on Raw in the weeks leading to the event. Unfortunately, WWE’s schizophrenic booking leaves a lot to be desired, go figure…

As for the ring work, this match seemed a little sloppy to me, Katie didn’t look as technically sound as you’d expect an experienced wrestler to be. I think while she is a fine wrestler, she just doesn’t seem polished in the ring, meanwhile Mickie was on fine form last night. Perhaps giving Katie more matches at house shows and on Raw will help her, she’s not a bad wrestler at all but these two didn’t seem to mesh which is a shame given their red hot mixed tag team match on Raw a while back.

Fashion wise, I was feeling both of their outfits. It’s nice to see Katie in something new and that shade of blue definitely complements her. Meanwhile, Mickie looked much better than usual, I think the understated look works for her.

In all, this match was fine for what it was. Coming off the One Night Stand match earlier in the match, it is somewhat anti-climactic however. Match Rating: 5/10

It looks like WWE is seeing fit to pull the old switcheroo, though unlike the cool kind in movies like Fight Club (which I was referencing in the title, if you are insane and haven’t seen it), this kind of twist is one we didn’t want to see, but kind of expected.

According to PWInsider.com, tomorrow’s Night of Champions PPV will not feature a match for SmackDown’s new Women’s Title. Despite the fact that (mentioned here by our loyal visitors) color commentator Mick Foley confirmed the match’s existence at the beginning of this past Friday’s Diva tag team match, it looks like someone decided against it. Apparently, the words that many heard on our footage of the match has been cut from subsequent broadcasts, leading one to believe that either Foley misspoke or the decision to cancel the match was made afterwards. Either way, this news sucks.

Bloody hell – of COURSE they’re cutting it. They probably needed the extra minutes for a lengthier pretentious and tacky Triple H entrance. Grr.. Screw this – I’m going to watch an Edward Norton movie. That Fight Club reference got me in the mood.

WWE.com has announced that Mickie James will defend her Women’s Championship against Katie Lea at Night of Champions, hurrah! And after last night’s mixed tag team match, I’m pretty much sold… I can’t wait to see these Divas go at it! Read the full preview below:

WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James has held her title since April, defeating numerous opponents and showing the world why she deserves to be a four-time Women’s Champion. At Night of Champions, James will defend her title against Katie Lea Burchill, who – along with her brother Paul – has been introducing the Raw roster to their smashmouth brand of competition for the past two months.

On April 18, Mickie James won the WWE Women’s Championship by defeating a Diva who many thought to be an unbeatable opponent, Beth Phoenix. Proving that size and strength weren’t everything, James took down The Glamazon, and has managed to hold the powerful competitor at bay for the past two months.

At around the same time, the Burchill siblings made their Raw debut. Initially, Paul did most of the fighting, but in recent weeks Katie Lea has proven that she is more than proficient in the ring. While partnered with Beth Phoenix in a tag match against Mickie James and Melina, Katie Lea even did what The Glamazon could not, pinning James for the win. Katie Lea even went on to pin the current Women’s Champion again during an intergender tag match.

Mickie James struggled long and hard to reclaim the WWE Women’s Championship, and now she is being forced to face a Diva who has already pinned her twice in the past. At Night of Champions, will James be able to retain her title, or will Katie Lea Burchill walk away as the new WWE Women’s Champion?

This is a very interesting and logical match choice, but I wish they had more storyline going into it. I half expected a repeat of Mickie vs Melina vs Beth, because they have stopped and started a Katie-Mickie feud so many times over the past month or so. One of the big issues (which I’ll touch on more in RAW Redux) is that with the Divas, they start storylines and then drop them and go back to them. Sure, the end product is usually great but I wish there was more consistency in the execution. The Beth-Melina feud seemed to be the exception but they managed to ruin that this week as well.