This week on Superstars, we finally get to see her doing something other than entertaining the guest hosts – it will be Gail Kim taking on Alicia Fox in a battle between two former champions. Can Alicia outfox Gail, or will she eat defeat? (I’ll leave the jokes up to David!) Let’s find out.
Out first is Alicia Fox in her brown and blue gear, looking sassy as ever. It’s now that I realize there’s a new commentator beside Lawler, who’s name is Scott. As I watch and listen to the match, I have to wonder where they got this man. He’s as wooden as…well, as a piece of wood. I mustn’t be too harsh, and honestly I tune out the commentary during the women’s matches anyways. Gail Kim’s music hits and tonight she’s in her light purple gear, which she looks stunning in. I must say the extensions look very good on her. She gets a good pop from the crowd as she makes her way into the ring.
The bell rings and the two lock up, jockeying for position. Gail winds up forcing her against the ropes. The referee breaks them up, Alicia shoving her face and smirking. Another lockup, Alicia getting Gail into a side headlock, then flips her over to the canvas. Gail reverses, wrapping her legs around Fox’s neck.
The Halloween edition of NXT certainly left a positive taste in the mouths of viewers. Brie Bella and AJ put together a match that was perhaps one of the best Diva matches on television this year. Nikki Bella continued her descent into WWE heeldom much to the disgust of her twin. Maxine won a Halloween candy eating contest, while Kaitlyn took home top prize in the costume contest for her Vickie Guerrero impersonation. Was it mentioned that the sexual tension between Kaitlyn and her mentor’s boyfriend, Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler, reached an all-time high?? Oh, lets not forget the fact that Ted DiBiase and everyone’s favorite French-Canadian Diva, Maryse, invaded the show. They set out on a quest to get the Million Dollar Championship back from Goldust and Aksana. Aksana saved the day once again and looked amazing while doing so.
Tonight, the highly anticipated wedding between Lithuanian-born Aksana and the adorable Goldust will take place. Will Maryse and Ted show up? There’s an elimination too. Which rookie is going to be sent packing during the ninth week of competition? Lets take a look!
Note: Please excuse the audio on the videos. It looks like a production copy of the show leaked.
Striker is in the ring and he brings out the rookie girls. Kaitlyn, Maxine, Naomi, AJ, and Aksana make their way to the ring. All the girls look gorgeous tonight as they’re in street clothes which leads me to believe no one will be wrestling tonight. Striker explains to them that tonight is the elimination but adds that with three challenge wins Naomi is eligible for immunity. He also says that with the exception of Aksana, the other three girls can catch and tie Naomi. Since mathematics is not on Aksana’s side, Striker excuses her from tonight’s competitions so she can get ready for her wedding. Aksana waves, walks off, and we’re told that the first challenge tonight is a kissing contest. Striker wants a special guest judge so of course, Hornswoggle is brought out. Maxine is not happy about this but Horny, on the other hand, is overjoyed. Striker tells him that he gets to pick which Diva kisses the best.
In an effort to get this Divas Championship feud rolling again after last week’s lull, WWE gave us another Michelle McCool vs Natalya match, but this time with a twist: If Natalya could beat Michelle McCool in singles action, she’d receive one last shot at the Divas Championship at Survivor Series. Can Natalya overcome the odds and get another crack at the title? Will Lay-Cool cheat their way to another victory? Find out… after this pointless Divas segment. Damas y Caballeros, I present to you: Diva Twister!!! (With a very special cameo):
I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t expect the majority of the Raw Divas to be lumped into a segment with Pee-wee, so I wasn’t really surprised. The jokes were cheesy and the acting bad, no surprise there either. Another typical Guest Host segment, all in all. If I feel bad for anyone, it’s everyone in the audience under 21, who had no idea who Pee-wee Herman was and The Bella Twins for having to share their “Guest Host Arm Candy” spot with Eve and Melina and any other Divas that don’t happen to have a match on Raw or Superstars that week.
Believe it or not, there was a silver lining in this black cloud of a segment. Four-time Women’s Champion made a rare appearance, accompanying her self-professed idol, Pee-wee Herman in this segment. As a huge fan of Lita, I almost blacked out when I saw her pop up on my screen. She could have eaten a live puppy on the air and I’d probably say it was the best moment of Raw this week. That said, even Lita’s appearance couldn’t save this bomb of a segment. Thumbs down for Diva Twister and two thumbs way up (I wish I had more thumbs) for Lita’s cameo.
It’s not Halloween without the Divas breaking out a costume — or eight, and that’s exactly what we saw this week on SmackDown. Some were uninspired (Batman & Robin? Yawn.) and some (Lady Gaga, Beyonce) tried to capture the pop culture of the day, even though WWE is about a year behind in what’s relevant.
Watch as what begins as a Halloween costume contest becomes a full-fledged eight Diva tag team match:
A rarity for the Divas, they each get their own entrance in order to show off their costumes. The Bellas are out first dressed as Batman and Robin. Out next is Alicia Fox dressed as Cleopatra; a valiant effort but not quite as breathtaking as Asha on last night’s episode of ‘Outsourced’. Kelly Kelly, rather predictably, goes for a ‘sexy’ Little Bo Peep costume. Rosa Mendes is a leprechaun? Doesn’t she realise Hornswoggle is in the ring and likes to sexually assault Divas? Former Divas Champ, Melina is Spiderwoman and then it’s the pièce de résistance: Lay-Cool as Lady Gaga and Beyonce. You’d think they’d go for the matching Telephone outfits, but nope — Layla is Beyonce in the two year old ‘Single Ladies’ video (which is what we suggested for Alicia Fox last year and sorry Lay, it would’ve suited her much better) and Michelle is Gaga in the equally old ‘Poker Face’ video. Still, A for the effort of trying to do something relatively current.
Onto the costume contest now, but before Teddy Long can begin his officiating, Michelle takes to the microphone and pretty much says Lay-Cool should win and save us from the laborious task of watching each of them shake their rumps and embarrass themselves. Melina takes exception and argues with Lay-Cool only to be hit with a zinger from McCool. “Why are you even dressed up? You’re scary enough as it is.” I giggled. Sorry Melina… Layla shoves Melina but before she can fight back, Hornswoggle intervenes and knocks poor Michelle on her butt in fright. Didn’t that little sex pest troll learn from last time not to mess with Michelle?
Tensions are building between Mickie James, Tara and Madison Rayne. With such a violatile mix, what can we expect on Impact tonight?
Apparently we’re kicking the show off with a fight backstage! It’s Tara and Mickie James going at it in catering (with no food…), beating each other with garbage, empty pans, a beverage keg and anything else they can get their hands on. There’s a few people looking on in the background, one of them actually appearing to be laughing. (Corpsing? Send for the man!) Maybe they should be getting acting lessons from Dixie Carter if they’re going to be on screen.
They wind up in the ring eventually, with Madison Rayne, Sarita, Velvet Sky and Angelina Love getting involved along the way. Flair comes out with security and separates them (not very well however) and stipulates that later we’ll see The Beautiful People and Mickie James vs. Madison, Tara and Sarita. He keeps calling Mickie “nutjob” along the way. Ric Flair has finally lost it.
Thoughts: Not a bad way to start the show, featuring most of the Knockouts division. It’s nice to see Sarita getting involved as she’s one of their best workers, as anyone who’s seen her work outside of TNA can attest to. If they can continue to keep this level of passion in this feud, it’ll put the Knockouts back on top as a big ratings draw for TNA. Me? I’m not going to put all my eggs in this basket just yet.
We’ve had a couple of months downtime, but we’ve not been resting on our laurels – as we return with one of our biggest guests yet, recent WWE “Anti Diva” Serena Deeb! A nicer person you could not hope to meet, as despite being inundated with wrestling bookings, she was able to give us over … Read more
Rookie Divas Maxine and Kaitlyn stunk it up in what was perhaps one of the worst matches in WWE history. Naomi swept the challenges, putting her first in line for immunity from elimination. Aksana received her engagement ring from Goldust and fawned over it, even during challenges. And last, but certainly not least, the highlight of last week’s episode was the beginning of perhaps the end of the Bella twins as Nikki Bella showed some fire (as well as major heel tendencies) during the tag team main event which pitted Nikki and Brie Bella against Naomi and her pro, Kelly Kelly.
This week can only be better, right?
Mr. Blue Eyes, Matt Striker, was waiting for us as the program began. He introduced us all to the Halloween edition of NXT and brought out the rookie Divas. They were dressed in Halloween costumes of course and kudos to them for not being so stereotypical. AJ was out first this week and she was dressed as Ninja Turtle Raphael. Naomi followed her and was dressed up as the Hamburger Helper hand. Wow. Kaitlyn is out third and she’s wearing a dead-on Vickie Guerrero costume complete with padded backside. Out fourth is Maxine and she’s playing the part of “Ice Queen” tonight. And last, but certainly not least, the future Mrs. Goldust walks out and she’s dressed in a fire engine red devil costume. The girls get in the ring and Striker lets us know that elimination is next week and that currently, Naomi is leading the pack with immunity challenge wins. He tells the girls that there is plenty of time left to catch Naomi and even pass her, and with that being said the first competition of the night is about to take place. Of course, it’s a Halloween costume contest. Each girl will have fifteen seconds to impressed the WWE Universe with her costume and the fans will be the judges.
Aksana went first. Music started to play and Aksana really did nothing but blow kisses, pose, and move around a little bit. She didn’t even dance. She probably should have just done her push-ups again. Maxine went next. Striker asked her what her costume was and she told everyone that she was an ice queen. Striker remarked that she could certainly melt that costume, and Maxine looked up at him. She said that she could melt that costume and that she could send shivers down his spine. Maxine asked Matt if he knew what cold water did to a man. She looked away from him and revealed that she would hate to embarrass him so she is going to use the rest of her time to say that there is only one place for this queen, and that place is on top.
After last night’s impressive showing at Bragging Rights between Natalya and Layla, the WWE Divas took two steps back and put on a random sixty seconds tag match for our enjoyment on this week’s edition of Raw. Watch below as Lay-Cool takes on Melina and Gail Kim for no apparent reason. Enjoy:
We kick things off with all four Divas in the ring (big surprise), and Lay-Cool are doing their usual preening. Across the ring, Gail and Melina mock the Co-Divas Champions in an adorable fashion. The bell rings and Layla sees Melina and Gail’s mimicry and comes charging at Melina. Melina evades and goes straight for Michelle, who ducks out of harm’s way. Layla tries to sneak up behind Melina to gain the advantage, but receives a kick to the mush for her trouble. Totally in control at this point, Melina knocks Michelle off the apron, before knocking Layla down with a modified Shining Wizard and a flying facebuster for a two count.
Melina tries to whip Layla off the ropes (tries is the operative word here), but Layla reverses it and kicks Melina in the shoulder and turns around and knocks Gail off of the apron. Layla turns her attention back to Melina, going for a clothesline, but Melina dodges again. Both ladies come charging across the ring with the same thing in mind it seems, as they collide in midair with dual crossbodies.
Both ladies struggle back to their feet and they both make it to a vertical at around the same time. Melina goes to roll Layla up, but doesn’t realize that Layla has managed to tag in McCool. Melina thinks she has things in the bag, but Michelle lands her patented big boot for the win.
It’s fair to say that WWE pay-per-views are either hits or misses. The events are either successful surprises or true epic fails all around. Bragging Rights was no exception. For once, it fell into the positive category as the WWE put together a strong show on all accounts, and for us Diva fans, we were treated to something truly special. The decision to put Layla in the ring against Natalya was met with some skepticism and a few eye-rolls, but judging from their SmackDown interaction it had all the ingredients to make a yummy recipe. To say Natalya versus Layla delivered would be an understatement. They put together a gorgeous, pure wrestling match that told a story and left everyone wanting just a little more. Michelle McCool once again put on a flawless performance on the microphone and on the outside of the ring. And to add the icing to this already delicious cake, Aksana and Maryse got involved in the Bragging Rights action by fighting for their men during the Goldust/Ted DiBiase grudge match.
What a night.
The match us Diva fans waited patiently for all night kicked off in grand style. Lay-Cool made their way to the ring and they had microphones in their hands. Layla and Michelle walked out on stage where Layla promptly demanded that the sound techs in the back cut their music. Once it was quiet, Layla turned to Michelle and with a cheeky little grin, she told her BFF that Natalya was no doubt excited to have a title match in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Michelle looked confused and wanted to know why Natalya could be excited over such a thing and Layla simply pointed out that Nattie would be at home amongst all the stupid accents. Massive heat for that comment. Michelle chuckled and began to imitate the accent in question. She said the men in Minnesota like their women larger because it’s so cold. Layla agreed and said that by the looks of things, it got extremely cold in Minnesota. Cue the collective “brrrrrrrrrrrrr”. Lay-Cool got inside the ring and Michelle continued speaking. She said that the comfortable surroundings won’t help Natalya out tonight. She’s going to need more help than that because tonight, they (Lay-Cool) will beat Natalya faster than they can delete all those text messages they keep getting from Brett Favre.
Real Talk. Ewwwwwww. Stop. According to Lay-Cool, Favre is doing nothing but embarrassing himself. Both members of Lay-Cool agree that Brett can’t help himself when it comes to them because they are flawless. They started to check their reflections in their championships when Natalya’s music hit. The third generation Diva walked to the ring with a smile etched across her lovely face. The commentators went over the fact that this match was for the WWE Diva’s Championship (apparently they’ve dropped the ‘unified’ part) and Natalya played to the crowd. Both girls got ready for the match and when the bell rang, Natalya and Layla started to circle one another. They went for a lock-up but Natalya effortlessly scooped up Layla and grounded her. She tried to work over Layla’s arm, but the British-born Diva was able to reverse it into a headscissors. Natalya was able to spring out of it and land on her feet, but Layla responded with a swift kick to the back of Nattie’s thigh. Layla took hold of Natalya’s wrist and started to twist it, but Natalya flipped through it, reversed it, and got Layla up in the air. While holding Layla upside, Natalya showed off her strength by doing a few squats, an homage to her late uncle, the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith. She planted Layla in the mat and went for a cover. Layla kicked out right before the two.
The road to Bragging Rights heats up for the Diva’s tonight as Michelle McCool and Layla take on their opponent for Sunday, Natalya, with her partner, Kelly Kelly, in a tag team match. Since the anti-climatic conclusion of Hell In A Cell earlier this month, the rivalry between Nattie and delicious co-Unified Divas Champions has been picking up steam. For the past few weeks, we’ve watched Nattie come ever so close to locking Layla in the Sharpshooter, only to have Michelle jump in at the last moment and save her BFF. Will the same thing happen tonight? Dun dun duuuuuuuun!
When SmackDown returns from commercial break, Lay-Cool are already in the ring. Despite the fact Halloween is only a week away, Lay-Cool have decided to wrestle in costume tonight. Michelle has donned some nice yet ill-fitting jeans, a Hart T-shirt, and leather jacket. She’s dressed as Bret Hart complete with dark hair and baseball cap. Layla has morphed into a pink and blond haired Natalya. She’s wearing the third-generation Diva’s ring gear and to cap it all off, Layla has added a Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart goatee to the mix.
Random Thoughts: At this point, all I can say is wow. These costumes are pretty hilarious and Lay-Cool are probably the only Divas who would pull off something so evil. I would love to see someone dress up and imitate them one week. Now that would be amazing.
Last week, we saw a title change hands without a finger being lifted. One wonders if things can go up from here, or if it’s possible to go even lower. Having done a test run on Xplosion with pretty good results, tonight we would see a rematch between Sarita and Mickie James. Can James pick up another victory or can the former Dark Angel get the pin this time? Find out below..
Out first in a new outfit of green and purple is Sarita. She’s looking good in those colors, and I believe she has some streaks in her hair. Very nice! Exuding confidence, she enters the ring. “HARDCORE COUNTRY!” blares, signalling the arrival of Mickie James. And as she enters, my jaw drops. I know she’s playing up the ‘country’ aspect of her character but…the shorts are ripped so high, you can see the pockets! They look like they’re barely there, and the top looks like she could bust out of it at any time. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, considering what Angelina, Velvet and Madison have worn to the ring but…goodness. Her hair looks fabulous though, so that’s a plus. She gets a great reaction from the crowd as she enters, but Sarita doesn’t look impressed. As the bell rings, the two circle each other before locking up.
Sarita initially gets the upper hand with an arm lock, but James counters and manuevers her into a monkey flip that sends Sarita across the ring. The Latina is not impressed and she gets up, shoving James while saying, “Who do you think you are?” MJ blocks a forearm and counters with a spin kick that connects to Sarita’s stomach, then follows up with a nice bit of offense that ends with a nice dropkick and a pinning attempt. The cover’s good for two.
Fresh off a disaster of an elimination episode, NXT put together it’s most impressive and exciting episode yet. Naomi soared to new heights as she impressed in a match against pro Diva, Alicia Fox. Kaitlyn and Vickie Guerrero reached the point in their relationship where they reluctantly agreed to tolerate one another until the next elimination. AJ proved to everyone that she is a legit wrestling fan by dominating the “Name That Tune” challenge and Maxine continued to impress everyone with her mic skills. The icing on the proverbial NXT cake at the end of the night when Aksana lost it over her immigration woes and Goldust reiterated to her that they do indeed have options to fix these problems. He got down on one knee and popped the question, and Aksana happily accepted it.
So what happens next with the second elimination a mere two weeks away? Lets take a look…
It’s redundant that NXT always begins with Matt Striker introducing the rookies and tonight was no exception. He’s standing in the ring and introducing the rookie girls. Kaitlyn, Aksana, Naomi, AJ, and Maxine make their way to the ring where the host himself is standing. He tells the girls that they’ve made it to the halfway point of the season and that in just two weeks, the second cut will take place. He congratulates Naomi and AJ on their wins last week and tells them that they are one step closer to immunity. He starts to tell the others that they have plenty of time to catch up when Vickie decides that she wants to interrupt. She starts screaming “Excuse Me” and begins to walk down towards the ring. She tells Matt that she just can’t handle the way he talks to the rookie Divas and then she turns her attention towards Kaitlyn. Vickie wants to know why Kaitlyn is dressed the way she is and basically, Vickie does not approve.
Last week, WWE treated us with a very good promo from Co-Divas Champions, Lay-Cool and the #1 contender, Natalya, creating more hype for their match at Bragging Rights. This week, Natalya faces off with former Divas Champion Alicia Fox in singles action before her title match against one of the members of Lay-Cool at Bragging Rights. Check out the match below:
We start off with Natalya already in the ring, receiving cheers from the fans in her hometown of Calgary. Alicia makes her way out to the ring next, looking cocky as ever. The two Divas circle each other for a bit and the referee calls for the bell to kick things off. The Divas start off with a rough tie-up, with Alicia getting the upperhand and muscling Natalya into the ropes. Natalya reverses the hold, forcing Alicia to the ropes and the referee gets between the two to break things up. Nattie breaks clean, but Alicia seizes this opportunity and takes Natalya down with three hard slaps followed by a kick to the head.
(The alternative title was “The REAL Jersey’s in the house BITCH!” but I had second thoughts about that.) Four days ago, we saw Tara crowned as the new Knockouts Champion. Madison Rayne made it very clear she was not happy about this development. Tonight will see the fallout from the match as well as someone from the real Jersey Shore invade Impact looking for the impostor. Lets get down to business, shall we?
Some unfamilar music hits and out comes Madison Rayne wearing black pants with her name splashed on the side and a hot mess of a top. Yikes. She has a referee in tow, and as she climbs into the ring with him, we get a short recap of what happened at Bound for Glory. Madison grabs a mic and goes off about how, on the biggest night in professional wrestling, her plan to become three-time Knockouts Champion went awry. She wants Tara, the person who owes her job in TNA to Madison herself, to come to the ring for a title match right NOW.
“Broken” heralds the entrance of Tara to the Impact Zone. She looks conflicted as she walks to the ring, title belt fitted around her waist. As soon as she gets into the ring, Madison reminds her that it’s because of Rayne that she was back in TNA, that she was able to wrestle, and that she was in the match on Sunday. “ME, ME, ME!” (I know another Madison who’s laid claim to ‘ME’, pretty sure that’s gimmick infringment Ms. Rayne..!) The brunette urges Tara to do the right thing, so very reluctantly, Tara takes off her belt and hands it to the referee. After holding it up, he gives it to the ring assistant, and calls for the bell. Madison again tells Tara to “do the right thing” …and with a good deal of hesitation, Tara lays down. Madison, quite enthusiastically, pins her.
The show may be called ‘WWE Superstars’ but it was all about the Divas last night, as we saw not one, but two good, solid matches from the Divas of Raw and SmackDown. Furthermore, it’s worth pointing out that both matches are rematches from pay per views that have occurred in recent months and in both cases, I felt the matches were much better than those PPV outings.
First up, we had Kelly Kelly vs Layla in a rematch from July’s Money in the Bank pay per view. Watch below:
We kick off the show with K2 with #1 Contender, Natalya in her corner. Can this be considered the new Blondetourage? (Come back, Skirt Tiffany!) Next out is Lay-Cool and they are referred to as ‘the strongest Diva alliance in WWE history’. That is quite possibly true.
As the bell rings, Layla begins working out in the ring, before screaming “Boo!” in Kelly’s face. If I didn’t find Layla totally adorable & hilarious, that would have been really lame. It’s a good thing you’re cute, Layla. Kelly finally has enough and slaps Layla straight across the face and it’s on! The two Divas tussle, grabbing each other’s hair and back into the ropes as the referee tries to break things up. Layla runs at Kelly going for a kick but Kelly counters into an atomic drop on the co-Unified Divas Champ. K2 then kicks Layla in the back of the knee, taking her down, and goes for a pin but no dice.
Kelly hits another kick, this time to the front and once again, goes for a cover but Layla kicks out. Layla scatters to the side of the ring seeking comfort from Michelle but Kelly is not far behind and begins stomping into Layla’s lower back. Kelly hits a forearm and attempts to whip Layla into the corner, Lay reverses and runs at K2 but gets a boot in the face. Kelly attempts a crossbody from the middle rope but Layla moves out of the way and K2 instead meets the canvas. Ouch! Layla goes for an opportunistic cover but Kelly kicks out.
Layla hits a snapmare followed by a low kick before applying a nice body-scissors. Layla cinches the submission in tightly and even rakes Kelly’s face. K2 fights back however, pulling Layla’s hair. Layla then expertly rolls over into a pin but they roll back over before a 3 count can be made. She goes for the pin again but at two, Kelly manages to break free and goes for a roll up over her own but Layla kicks her off. Layla then hits a low dropkick on Kelly. Lay then begins pulling at Kelly’s hair but gets an overhead kick from Kelly who then begins smashing her head face-first into the canvas.
A fired up Kelly is on her feet now and riles up the crowd to get behind her as she gains momentum with some offense. Kelly whips Layla into the ropes, but Layla manages to hit that impressive cradle pin on Kelly and nearly has the match won but K2 kicks out.
The first elimination of the season took place and perhaps the most well known rookie girl, Jamie, was sent packing. Her send-off from the show was filled with dignity and class, and well wishes for the remaining five. Aksana‘s immigration woes took a turn for the worse when it was revealed that she had four weeks to clear up her issues or she would be deported. Maxine took a horrible bump in the ring that may or may not keep her sidelined with a neck issue. And finally, the Kaitlyn/Dolph/Vickie Guerrero love triangle came to a head when Kaitlyn defeated Vickie in a one-on-one match.
How will tonight’s episode play out? Keep watching and find out!
As per usual, the gorgeous Matt Striker is the first person we see when NXT begins. He announces the girls and out comes Maxine, Aksana, Kaitlyn, AJ, and Naomi. They get in the ring and for some reason all of them have air horns in their hands. Striker tells them that the next elimination is three weeks away and as far as challenges go, the slate has been wiped clean. Everyone starts from scratch tonight and the first competition of the evening is going to be Name That Tune. For the first round, thirty seconds of a WWE Superstar theme will play and the first girl to sound their horn will get a chance to answer. In the second round, the points will be doubled.
This competition isn’t really a competition to be honest. AJ basically gets every single theme song right but one. All the other girls stand there and look dumbfounded and AJ even seems a bit embarrassed that she knows every single answer. She scores 1900 out of a possible 2000, with Naomi getting 100 points for an earlier answer. Needless to say, AJ picks up her first challenge win. Striker announces that up next is a rookie versus pro match, with Naomi taking on former Diva’s Champion, Alicia Fox. The show fades to a promo for Chris Jericho’s new DVD.
After the frustrating mess that was the Divas action on Raw last, WWE decided to forgo a match altogether this week and have Natalya and Lay-Cool cut a promo in the ring. Will they be able to deliver on the mic or will we be just as upset as last week? Check out the segment … Read more
At Bound for Glory, Knockout fans would see the culmination of the feud that has been building for the past few weeks. The insertion of the newest Knockout, Mickie James, as the special referee was a wild card added on just last Thursday. Would the match really be more of a tag team effort (as the Beautiful People have led us to believe), or will fragile alliances break under the pressure (how deep is Tara’s loyalty to Madison really?) as the Knockouts Championship is on the line? And where would Mickie fall in all of this? Lets find out…
We open with Christy Hemme backstage with Madison Rayne and Tara. Madison proceeds to shred Christy verbally, unloading on the poor redhead her frustrations and fury. The promo is actually pretty hilarious and well done, with Tara providing the straight face in the background. Words can’t do it justice, you should have a listen for yourself. I’m loving Madison on the mic!
Once the interview is done, we see a video package detailing how this feud came to be, with several of the past interviews from each woman spliced in. Also included is how Miss Tessmacher came to be the Knockouts Division supervisor – something she has done a particularly good job at so far. The “Tale of the Tape” brings us up to speed before we fade back into the arena.
“HARDCORE COUNTRY!” blares over the speakers (I’m sorry, I can’t take that music seriously…how cheesy can you get?) and out skips Mickie James, who gets a loud welcome from the crowd. She looks fantastic in her referee shirt, hair done up properly. She feels genuinely enthusiastic to be there. After her entrance into the ring, new music plays and out come Madison Rayne and Tara, guiding the motorbike down the ramp instead of coming through the crowd. Very nice bike!
Natalya faced off against Michelle McCool, one-half of the self proclaimed co-Diva’s Unified Champions, in a riveting match at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. The third generation Diva defeated the champion by disqualification when Michelle’s partner-in-crime, the vivacious Layla interfered by throwing her shoe. Natalya was left in the ring with a hollow victory and no title to show for it. The next night on Raw, Natalya got a chance to take three seconds of her frustration out on Alicia Fox, and picked up a win, while Lay-Cool fell to defeat thanks to a dastardly twin switch orchestrated by those darn Bella twins! Those events led the majority of us to think that perhaps Lay-Cool versus Natalya was officially over. But maybe it’s not! Tonight, Layla steps inside in the ring against long-time rival, Kelly Kelly. Michelle will be at ringside but guess who will be joining her…
The team of Lay-Cool are the first to enter the ring on this glorious Friday night. Layla is wearing her SmackDown best and Michelle is wearing a T-shirt that has been constructed to say “Flawless Dynasty.” Lay-Cool play to the crowd who thank their lucky stars that the two girls aren’t wearing microphones tonight. Their ring entrance is short lived because pretty soon Kelly and Natalya make their way to the ring. Kelly is supporting her American heritage with a red, white, and blue flag attire and Nattie is dressed in her usual pink and black. Layla and Michelle aren’t so excited to see Kelly and they immediately begin to hold their noses and act like her smell is the worse than the a men’s locker-room after football practice. From the outside of the ring, Michelle gives Layla some last minute instructions and when the bell rings Layla scoots into the ring and locks up with Kelly.
Layla wraps Kelly in a headlock and flips her down to the mat on her back. She goes for a quick cover but Kelly is out after the one count. Both girls scamper to their feet and Kelly goes for Layla and throws her down on the mat. Layla rolls out of the way and gets up, clearly pissed off. She shoves Kelly who takes it like a woman, and then shoves Layla back just a little harder. Kelly attempts to follow it up but Layla kicks her right in the stomach, wrenches the arm, and then follows it up with another kick, this time to the ribs. Kelly tries to hook her arms around Layla’s waist but Layla backs her up to the ropes and nails her with an elbow to the side of the skull. Layla kicks Kelly in the stomach once again and this time the happy-go-lucky blond awkwardly falls through the ropes. Layla distracts the referee and Michelle sneaks up behind Kelly and kicks her again just for the hell of it. That prompts Natalya to come around the ring from the other side. The referee stops her before she can do anything and Layla slides out of the ring to get her opponent. Kelly is tossed back into the ring.
It was a very special TNA Impact last night: only days before Bound for Glory, TNA went live and promised us a spectacular show. Did it live up to the hype? There’s tons to talk about, so lets get right to it!
After a painful segment between Abyss, Dixie Carter, Eric Bischoff and various other male talents, we switch to an outside area where a car has just pulled up. Who exits but the country singer/wrestler Mickie James! The cameraman asks what she’s doing here. James is coy, saying only that we’ll have to watch and see. She looks good, rocking the beads threaded into her hair. Taz exclaims, “Mike, that WAS Mickie James!” Well no shit, Sherlock. We get an announcement from our fearless commentators that up next is the tag team match between Tara and the Madison Rayne vs. Angelina Love and Velvet Sky that will determine who owns the rights to “The Beautiful People” name and music. Should be interesting to see if any tensions regarding the upcoming pay-per-view match manifest in this one tonight…
Five weeks of build, anticipation, heart break, and horror culminated last night in the very first elimination for season three of NXT. One poor girl would have her dreams shattered as she is sent packing back to Tampa. Also this week, the Aksana/Goludst angle heats up as an immigration officer rears his ugly head (literally… he has an ugly head) and threatens our favorite Lithuanian. The Rookie Divas try their best to master the art of faux bull riding and of course, a Diva talent show takes place.
Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun!
This surely gets redundant but once again NXT (now exclusively on WWE.com) kicks off in grandiose fashion with Matt Striker announcing the rookie Divas. Naomi, Aksana, AJ, Jamie, Maxine, and Kaitlyn make their way onto the stage where the Pros (including Alicia Fox, Vickie Guerrero, Kelly Kelly, Brie Bella, and Nikki Bella) are already sitting. Striker teases the girls that this is the biggest night of their young careers. He explains how things are going to work tonight and then brings us into our first rookie challenge of the evening.
It’s a bull riding competition complete with mechanical bull.
After a decent showing and a controversial finish at Hell in a Cell, Diva fans were looking for some storyline progression in this Natalya/Lay-Cool rivalry. Well that simply wasn’t the case. Instead we were treated to a couple of lightning fast matches and a heaped helping of confusion on the side. First up, Natalya faces off against Alicia Fox in a match that flew past so fast, it broke the sound barrier:
We start off with both Divas already in the ring and neither one get so much as an introduction. The referee signals for the bell and Alicia goes on the attack with a flurry strikes. Natalya reverses an Irish whip to the turnbuckle, but gets a kick to the face for her trouble.
Last night, one half of the Unified Divas Champions, Michelle McCool defended her newly won title for the first time against the First Lady of The Hart Dynasty, Natalya, at Hell in a Cell. Fans have been waiting with bated breath for someone to end the reign of ‘The Flawless Ones’. Could Natalya be the Diva that takes them down a peg? Check out the match below:
Out first is the champion, Michelle (accompanied by Layla) and I must say, she is looking phenomenal in her new gold and black gear. Natalya is out next, also sporting some new gear. I’m a bigger fan of Natalya’s white gear, but this silver one is impressive as well. Natalya slaps hands with the fans, before climbing in the ring and posing for the fans. The two dominant Divas stare each other down and referee signals for the bell, starting the match.
Michelle goes to lock up, but Natalya evades and locks in a waistlock, followed by a takedown, before quickly slapping on a front chancery. Michelle manages to reverse the hold into a hammerlock, but is foiled yet again, as Natalya reverses it into a another waistlock. Sensing that Natalya has the upperhand, McCool scrambles towards the ropes, forcing a break. Michelle rolls out of the ring, asking for a time out, but Natalya isn’t having any of that. Natalya slides out of ring and chases Michelle around the ring. Ever the BFF, Layla throws herself in front of the charging Diva, only to be thrown aside, but giving Michelle the opportunity to lay Natalya out with a vicious clothesline.
Last week on SmackDown there wasn’t really any Diva action so the Redux took a week off. But this week it’s back. SmackDown officially made its highly anticipated move to the SyFy network and to kick that off the show aired live. The Divas took part in an 8-Diva tag match. The team consisting of Natalya, Kelly Kelly, Brie Bella, and Nikki Bella took on the team of Michelle McCool, Layla, Maryse, and Alicia Fox. Lets take a look at the action!
The heel girls are out first and all of them are looking oh so fierce. Lay-Cool lead the way while Maryse and Alicia trail behind. They do their usual posing in the ring and then the face team come out. They’re led by Natalya. The faces are all decked out pink and black, showing their unity, and once all the shenanigans die down Kelly and Alicia begin the match. Alicia strikes the first blow with a kick to Kelly’s mid-section. She follows it up with a suplex attempt but Kelly wiggles out, slaps Alicia in the back, and both girls take each other down with a clothesline. Alicia holds her head in pain and makes the tag to Maryse. Kelly does the same and goes to her corner where she tags in Natalya.
The Divas return to WWE Superstars as The Bella Twins take on Alicia Fox and Jillian. Check it out below:
Alicia (accompanied by NXT Rookie, Maxine) with her Tina Turner esque outfit, and Jillian are the first tag team to make their way down to the ring. Jillian, of course, begins to speak to the audience about the laryngitis rumor being completely untrue and tries very hard to prove it to those watching by showing off her redonkulous singing skills. Her song of choice? “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem and Rihanna.
This may be my very first time being excited to see the Bellas. My ears are thanking them for interrupting the drowning cat… err, I mean Jillian. They are accompanied by their NXT Rookie, Jamie, looking prepared for a war with their camouflage get up. Can’t say I’m a fan of the curtain like material covering their boots, though.
Alicia is in the ring to start the match with Bella #1. Bear with me, you guys. I have no idea which twin it is and of course Cole & King didn’t bother to help. Alicia and Bella #1 lock up before Alicia pushes her off. Alicia tries to go after her with the clothesline, but she is monkey flipped by Bella #1. Numero uno delivers a couple of forearms to the face of Alicia, who tries to counter by ramming her head into the turnbuckle, but Bella #1 is able to block it with her foot and throws Alicia into the turnbuckle face first. She gives Alicia a kick in the gut for good measure before tagging in Bella #2.
Lay-Cool paid a visit to their old stomping grounds and literally stomped the crap right out of Kaitlyn. AJ continued to roll and secure her status as fan favorite of season three. Naomi gave us all hope that the Diva future is bright when she squared off against Michelle McCool as part of the six-woman tag team match main event. Kelly Kelly went ghetto when she stepped up and challenged Lay-Cool on behalf of Naomi and Jamie. Aksana revealed a huge secret to Goldust about how good her chances were of being deported and how she would get beat with a shovel if she returned home. And the best part of the show, CM Punk stepped up and blessed the WWE Universe with his brilliant commentary.
Will these storylines continue? And more importantly, will Punk keep his promise to remain on commentary?
This week NXT begins in it’s typical fashion. The four pros in attendance (Vickie Guerrero, Alicia Fox, Primo Colon, and Kelly Kelly) are sitting on the stage and the handsome Matt Striker (dressed in an amazing Argyle pullover sweater) introduces the rookies. Aksana, AJ, Kaitlyn, Jamie, Naomi, and Maxine make their way out and Striker says that the competition is now starting to heat up. He announces that Wednesday, starting at noon, the WWE Universe can vote along with the pros for their favorite rookie Diva. Striker makes his way down the ramp while speaking and tells us that being a WWE Diva means you have to have athleticism. He stops in front of a shiny, red wheelbarrow.
Each Diva has to take the wheelbarrow and run around the ring. Whichever Diva has the fastest time will win the competition. The rookie Diva with the most challenge wins will have immunity from next week’s elimination. Maxine is called to the starting line first. She gets ready to take off but that naughty tease in the argyle suggests that the wheelbarrow should have something in it. He takes a shot at Michael Cole in the process.
