While the February pay per view spot as of tonight is known as Elimination Chamber, for the past 9 years it has belonged to a little pay per view called ‘No Way Out’. As one of the least Diva-friendly pay per views, the event has been host to only one and a half Divas matches over the years. But thankfully, one of those matches just happens to be this one — a match that helped make a name out of Trish Stratus and showed that she wasn’t just a pretty face. This match continues to be remembered as one of the most memorable Divas matches to this day. The other match, Jamie Noble vs Nidia in 2003, not so much.
After concentrating on a single storyline for the past few months, this week’s SmackDown felt more in line with the mixed bag that we once saw on SmackDown pre-Diva Trade. There was a little bit of this mixed with a little bit of that and it just felt like WWE were trying to accomplish all too much with the Divas without any real substance to it ala a time when we had Michelle/Melina, Maria/Ziggler and Maria/Melina. It may seem cool to indulge in all of the Divas but after growing accustomed to a single storyline developing over weeks with plenty of effort, it feels like a step back to me.
First of all this week, we have new Women’s Champion Mickie James backstage with Vickie Guerrero apologising for last week’s incident:
Mickie comes into the office to apologise to GM consultant, Guerrero over the splatting incident last week but Vickie isn’t so accepting. She tells Mickie that she’ll face Michelle McCool next week, defending her Women’s Championship and the catch is that Vickie will be special guest referee. As I’ve been mentioning in the past couple of weeks, I really love the use of Vickie in the Divas storylines because she’s a woman herself and is in power, so it’d make sense for her to have a vested interest. It’s also interesting to have a storyline where the heel GM kind of exerts her authority over one of the talents and kind of makes their life hell — if done right, this could be a fun Diva version of Stone Cold vs Vince McMahon. My only fear would be that Vickie overshadows a ‘real’ Divas storyline. I could totally see them going for a gimmick match of Mickie vs Vickie at WrestleMania. While a step up from Santina last year, it would once again cheat us out of our desire to have a competitive, great Divas match on that big event and this year it seemed we were so close with the Mickie/Beth/Michelle storyline.
Speaking of which, once again Beth is noticeably absent from SmackDown despite being part of a big angle at the Royal Rumble and then being part of a big moment in the storyline the week after. I don’t know if there’s a bigger backstage thing going on here but I don’t know what else could explain them dropping the ball like this. There really is no excuse to just stop what was great development for Beth. Such a waste.
Any sort of buildup to this Sunday’s Divas Championship match was noticeably absent from Monday’s Raw, but never fear! The WWE hasn’t completely forgotten about this match, for this week on WWE Superstars, Gail Kim tries to build some momentum going into the big match in taking on Katie Lea. Watch the match below:
Katie Lea takes control out of the tie-up, twisting Gail’s arm behind her back. Gail gets out of the hold by hitting a snapmare, then rolls Katie into a crucifix pin. Katie kicks out, and Gail takes her down again with an arm drag, holding onto the arm and twisting it behind her head. Katie gets free by catching Gail in a leg scissors, but Gail slips free pretty quickly, rolling Katie into a pin for a 2-count.
Katie reverses an irish whip, sending Gail into the corner. Katie charges but misses her mark when Gail slips out through the ropes. She then sends a shoulder into Katie’s midsection, flipping over her back-to-back and attempting a roll-up. Katie hangs onto the ropes, though, and Gail goes flying without her. Running in for the attack, Gail is redirected shoulder-first into the ring post. She hangs there for a while and Katie has to drag her out from between the ropes to roll her into a pin. Gail kicks out at 2.
Katie lays a few boots into Gail before latching her into an arm submission identical to the one Gail hooked her in at the beginning of the match, right down to the same arm. I like that–it tells a bit of a story. Still, we might end up with two competitors with bum left arms by the end of the match. Yikes. Michael Cole says that Katie Lea is working on Gail’s right shoulder, the shoulder that hit the ring post, but it’s actually the opposite. Oh well. Might as well take out both arms, I suppose.
With ECW singing it’s final swansong last night [unless it’s resurrected and bastardised again], the three Divas of the show are now set to be moved around. We have learned that the current plan is for Savannah to be part of the SmackDown roster. As reported earlier in the month, Savannah played a role at … Read more
WWE has announced the pro and rookie duos for it’s new series, WWE NXT to debut next Tuesday but quite unsurprisingly, it doesn’t seem this ‘season’ will feature any Divas. Boo! The show will feature ‘WWE Pros’ teaming up with ‘Rookies’ as their mentors throughout the series. So we decided to come up with our own pro/rookie team suggestions for NXT. WWE, please feel free to steal and put them into practice.
AJ Lee & Melina
Pro: Melina. Three-time Women’s Champion, one time Divas Champion, Diva of the Year 2009 in Diva Dirt Year-End Awards. Rookie: AJ Lee. Queen of FCW, former WSU Tag Team Champion.
Perhaps the most obvious pairing for WWE NXT would be to put FCW’s ‘Pocket Rocket’, the young and talented AJ Lee with Melina. Lee has long been a fan of Melina and looks up to the former Women’s Champ so it’d a dream come true for her to one day be on the same roster as the A-List Diva. But how about going one step further and having Melina mentor AJ on NXT? Melina is known for her fire and passion which comes through in the ring, but outside of the ring she’s just as easily able to play the smiley babyface and the bitchy heel. No doubt, she’d have some invaluable lessons to share with Lee who is already well on her way to one day becoming a WWE Women’s Champion! She’s already the Queen of FCW and the standout female wrestler there with Serena now called up. Melina is sweet and good-natured and would be a positive role model to Lee who I think should play a babyface. She has a great likable quality to her just like Melina.
Aksana & Maryse
Pro: Maryse. Former Divas Champion. Best Heel in Diva Dirt Year-End Awards. Rookie: Aksana. Former world renowned fitness model.
Aksana — known in the fitness world by her real name of Zivile Raudoniene — it seems was hired following the success of Maryse in the Divas division. Both are voluptuous blondes and both have a foreign sexiness to them. Aksana could play the bitchy heel role like her mentor, Maryse in NXT — trying to psych out the other girls and make sure that she stops at nothing for success. With Maryse’s help, Aksana could be the ‘villain’ of the reality-like show. But then again, Maryse being the attention-loving Diva that she is, why would she want more competition on the main roster? This could be an interesting dynamic with Maryse sabotaging Aksana along the way and the pair clashing would make for great drama.
In shades of the original ECW, Rosa Mendes and Tiffany managed to draw a fabulous ‘E-C-Dub’ chant on the final episode of ECW last night. ECW GM Tiffany seemingly decided “what the heck, it’s the last night” and attacked one of her ’employees’, Rosa, after she and Zack Ryder interfered in the ECW Championship main … Read more
If last week’s Raw was lacking in terms of build-up to the Divas Championship Tournament finals, this week was downright moronic. With Maryse and Gail Kim‘s long-delayed match still set for this Sunday’s Elimination Chamber PPV, one would be safe to assume that there would be at least some build up for it on the last Raw before the show. Just a little? Maybe even merely acknowledging it? Well, keep your hopes at ground level, kids, because the WWE disappointment machine was on full power this week:
Guest GM Jerry Springer comes to the ring for a special show entitled “WWE Superstars’ Most Intimate Relationship Secrets Revealed”. If you’ve ever seen Springer’s show, you know that it only features the trashiest of the trashy (think topless midget fights), so this was never destined to be flattering for any individual involved. Springer introduces Kelly Kelly, whose secret is that she’s pregnant! Yep, she must be early along, because we all know nothing says pregnant like washboard abs and a belly-baring top. She tells Jerry that she doesn’t know who the father is, in a move more akin to Maury Povich’s show than Springer. But whatever, just go with it. All you need to know is that Kelly is the village bicycle.
She brings out the first possible father, Santino. He calls Jerry Maury and details the situation that he thinks got Kelly knocked up. Kelly then tells him that she needed someone else to “finish the job”. It’s at this moment that I wonder what happened to the WWE’s PG aspirations. I guess they go out the window when someone like Springer’s on the show. Still, I’d be pissed if I were a parent who brought my kid to the show.
She says she needed someone with more experience, and this prompts Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler to be brought into the mix. A few dry heaves later, Brie and Nikki Bella come out with a revelation of their own. They say they saw someone else with Kelly, and Nikki breaks in to announce that Brie is a man. They catfight, Springer style. After the fight is broken up, the next possible baby daddy is brought out, and Chris Masters enters. In response to this, Eve Torres comes busting in with her best impression of a Springer guest, trash talking Kelly for “stealing her man” and fighting with her. She then reveals to Chris that she had cheated on him with the Great Khali, who comes to the ring and embraces her. The craziness simmers down, and Jerry reads the results of the paternity test, revealing the father of Kelly’s 3-day old fetus. Science has come a long way, eh?
Welcome to this week’s edition of FCW Watch. In the last month or so, rookie sensation AJ Lee has taken on all comers and shot to the top of the FCW Diva totem pole. However, she has one last obstacle to overcome: Queen of FCW and Smackdown Diva, Serena Mancini. The last time these two met in singles action the result was less than impressive. Can they put on a decent match this time around? Watch below as the ‘Pocket Rocket’ takes on the First Lady of The Straight Edge Society for the crown:
First out is the challenger AJ Lee, who is perky as always. AJ’s ability to get the crowd behind her is a great quality to have and will definitely benefit her when she makes the jump to the main roster. Out next is the Champion Serena, sporting some new gear (Finally!). The newly converted Serena removes her trademark Fedora to revealed that freshly shaven head we’ve all come to love (or hate) in the past month on Smackdown.
The Divas return to WWE Superstars this week after a one week absence. The match was filmed last night and airs on Thursday. For spoiler purposes we’ve put the video in spoiler tags, click ‘Show’ to watch.
WWE is set to give ECW it’s final swansong tonight before introducing a new show, NXT next week. The show, which will feature upcoming talents from the developmental system, is said to be shaping up nicely. The Figure Four Weekly newsletter writes that Vince McMahon wants Divas to be heavily involved in the show. Take … Read more
Talk show host and all around trash magnet Jerry Springer is hosting Raw tonight. Keep a look out for build up to Maryse and Gail’s match at this Sunday’s Elimination Chamber. Discuss the show in the comments!
7-time WWE Women’s Champion, Trish Stratus briefly returned to WWE to take part in a new webisode called ‘Introducing…’ on WWE.com. The series catches up with Superstars past and present who discuss their first appearance on WWE television. Unfortunately, the video is only available to WWEClassics.com subscribers so you will have to pay to see … Read more
Straight Edge Society Diva, Serena has been added to the WWE.com Superstars section. Check it out by clicking here. Though usually customary to have an initial photoshoot already uploaded, Serena doesn’t have any posed pictures on her page yet but you can preview what will likely be an upcoming photoshoot. There’s some posed shots in … Read more
After humiliating Michelle McCool and Layla at the Royal Rumble and snaring the coveted Women’s Championship on the same night, you’d think the jibes and taunts at Mickie James‘ expense would be over by now. Wrong. It’s evident that SmackDown has hit a creative roadblock as we seem to be going around in circles with little to no new storyline progressio — same old story. Watch this week’s action below:
McCool and Layla once again tease Mickie over her weight at the crafts table where a bowl of fruit is laid next to a bowl of cottage cheese. [Seriously, what crafts table has a bowl of cottage cheese anyway?] Mickie says that ‘this between us’ is over but Lay-Cool have other plans. Mickie smacks the bowl of cottage cheese out of Michelle’s hand and one obviously inserted sound effect later, we’re led to be believe that it was dumped all over a bystanding Vickie Guerrero.
In the ring then, we’re ready for Mickie vs Layla with James getting in a few forearms and a low dropkick before the match is stopped by Guerrero. Looks like Mickie is set to catch hell from Vickie. Guerrero makes the match a handicap match and as if by magic, Michelle is already taking off her hoodie, belt and shoes. As McCool gets in the ring, she’s attacked by Mickie who then fights back with a kick to the stomach as Layla gets her licks in. Mickie is thrown against the ropes but comes back with a kick to Michelle and slams her face first to the canvas. She then follows through with a Thesz Press on Layla. Michelle comes at her, Mickie sweeps her off her feet and goes for a bridged pin but Layla hits her with a low dropkick, breaking up the pin.
Mickie tries to fight back against Lay-Cool but is overpowered by McCool who hits her with a spinning backbreaker. Mickie is thrown into a corner and McCool hits a high knee. Layla then has her turn but is thrown over the top ropes by Mickie who then hits her with a forearm. She hits McCool with an elbow and goes for her patented headscissors from the corner but Layla grabs her hair. Mickie is forced to let go of the hold on Michelle and then kicks Layla off the apron.
Michelle comes charging at her with a huge [barefoot] big boot and a Faith Breaker for the win.
Welcome to FCW watch, where we take a look at our future Divas down in Florida Championship Wrestling. On the last edition of FCW Watch, we saw an impressive singles debut from former Orlando Magic dancer, Naomi Night. This week we get yet another debut from Abraham Washington’s better half, Liviana, as she teams up with Naomi Night to face AJ Lee and Raw Diva, Eve. Will Liviana impress us as much as her partner did in her match? Watch the match below and be the judge:
AJ Lee and Eve vs Naomi Night and Liviana
Naomi and Liviana make their way to the ring first, to the tune of a generic Gwen Stefani rip-off. Next out is future Queen of FCW candidate, AJ Lee who introduces her partner Eve.
Eve is set to start things off with Naomi, but Naomi wants a piece of AJ, perhaps to avenge her loss last week. The two lock up and show some of their basic wrestling skills until AJ gets the upper hand, laying Naomi out with a stiff dropkick. AJ Lee stays on the offense, throwing some forearms but Naomi takes control, tossing AJ into the middle rope.
WWE will not be promoting another Survivor Series pay per view, Vince McMahon revealed today in an investors conference call. The WWE Chairman called the concept ‘obsolete’ in light of falling buyrates in recent years. The November pay per view will be rebranded beginning this year, putting an end to the 23 year long Thanksgiving … Read more
If you’re a fan of women’s wrestling and more specifically, the WWE Divas, then you are familiar with the “Piggie James” storyline that has graced our television screens in recent weeks. The angle has ignited a lot of discussion and controversy due to the sensitive issue it has been dealing with; a woman’s weight and image. The WWE constantly promotes their women as smart, sexy, and powerful and with those labels come certain expectations. I’m almost positive the girls employed by World Wrestling Entertainment are expected to maintain their appearance at the highest level they possibly can. I’m purely speculating here, but seeing as how the majority of their roster is filled with models, the girls get hired for their looks alone. If want to sit here and nitpick, the male portion of the roster has its fair share of lookers to but that’s not what’s important today. In the entertainment world, looks are everything, and as sad as it is, Mickie James could be considered big for a diva by some people.
Personally, I find it absolutely ridiculous to call Mickie James fat, but the writers over at the ‘E saw a chance for a storyline and they decided to role with it. Week after week we got a chance to see then Women’s Champion, Michelle McCool, and her BFF, Layla, humiliate and taunt Mickie for being “overweight”. Team Laycool (and sometimes Beth Phoenix) made Mickie’s life a living hell until the Royal Rumble when Mickie finally got some much needed and oh so sweet revenge. Laycool got served a nasty little dish of their own medicine and Michelle suffered the ultimate embarrassment of losing her precious title in less than a minute. I thought the end justified the storyline, and overall I thought the angle was brilliant. Lets face it, the WWE just doesn’t care about their divas like they used too. The Diva division has suffered in the post-Trish era. I don’t know if it’s because the WWE just doesn’t care these days, or if it’s because they don’t have the confidence in any of their women like they had Trish. Either way, women haven’t had legit storylines in a long time and their three minute matches have been sloppily put together and terrible to say the least.
Since the draft last April, Smackdown has more than proven itself as the place to be if you’re a diva. The girls on the blue brand are given a little more time and for the most part, better writing. As a diva fan, I didn’t find Piggie James appalling whatsoever. I found it funny, dramatic, annoying, and I enjoyed it. As a woman, I sympathized with Mickie and wanted to punch Michelle McCool and her perfect little self in the face. Us diva fans were FINALLY given a storyline we could get emotionally attached too. We were made to root for Mickie and we were made to hate on LayCool for their terrible actions. All women were given mic time. They were given segments. The storyline had extreme build and that’s something we haven’t seen since the days of Trish and Lita. Our girls were finally given time to shine. I had no idea Michelle was capable of comedy. I had no clue I could ever be made to want Mickie James win a match. I was so excited to see what Beth Phoenix would do and which side she would pick. I even marked out for Maria when she got herself involved and cut the best promo she’s ever done. This simple, childish storyline brought something out of each and every woman involved and it was refreshing to see. Despite the touchy issue it was built on, I think everything worked out well in the end. Us Diva fans were finally given a reason to get excited and emotional.
For weeks we’ve been following the Divas Championship tournament, with all its stops and starts. Two weeks ago we finally made the match-up for the finals, but getting to that match has been harder than it seems. Many of us want the WWE to just get it over with, as it’s been obvious from the start that Maryse will be walking away with the title. Thus, it’s been some acute form of torture to see the WWE stretch this thing out as long as possible. This week was no different, and on top of it we got some bad good news: the finals will be taking place in less than two weeks at the Elimination Chamber PPV. Until then, we’ve got two Raws to fill, and you better believe it that the WWE will give it as little build up as possible:
See? We’ve been treated to a random match between Gail Kim and Jillian, which kind of sneaks up on us because no one was given an entrance, and the match wasn’t even announced. Hey, they’ve gotta free up time for all the Shawn Michaels angst and John Cena beatdown replays! Maryse, of course, is on commentary, making this impending finals match-up even more of a laughing stock. You’d think the WWE would get that doing it this way makes it look like Maryse is the champion, scouting her challenger in Gail. I’m sure they notice, but just don’t give a shit.
In the ring, Gail and Jillian start with a tie-up, Jillian taking control and backing Gail up against the ropes. Gail slips through the ropes, falling to the outside. Jillian tosses her back into the ring and goes for a pin, getting a 1-count. She whips Gail into the corner and gets an elbow to the face when she goes for an attack. Gail climbs to the top of the turnbuckle, but Jillian sweeps her feet and knocks her all the way to the mat. Another pin, another 1-count.
Meanwhile, on commentary, Maryse talks about how much more sophisticated Raw Divas are in contrast to what’s been going on on SmackDown with Mickie James. Complain about the fat jokes all you want, Maryse, but at least they’re given more than 3 minutes of screen time. Maybe the Raw Divas should start having food fights.. Jillian pounds Gail’s head onto the mat and hoists her up, but Gail slips free, hitting the Eat Defeat. She pins Jillian for the win.
The match, which was literally ONE MINUTE long, was as good as any match could be with such a ridiculous time limit. I give boatloads of credit to Jillian and Gail for making such a joke of a match interesting and fun with what little they were given. Funny, though, that the post-match promo was longer than the match itself. Maryse, get priority? Never!!
The finals for the Divas Championship Tournament are set to (finally) take place in less than two weeks at the Elimination Chamber PPV. Maryse will take on Gail Kim, obviously, and we will at last have some closure for the tournament that was prompted all the way back in December when champion Melina injured her … Read more
NASCAR driver Carl Edwards is hosting Raw tonight live from Louisiana, the home state of the Super Bowl champs. There is no Divas Championship Tournament final scheduled for the show, so expect more build up towards the eventual match (perhaps at the Elimination Chamber PPV on February 21st?) Discuss the show in the comments! EDIT: … Read more
With a new Women’s Champion crowned at the Royal Rumble in Mickie James, it seemed like a new era for the SmackDown Divas division. Not quite. Despite a new champion, we still have the same three-way problem though slightly altered: Beth Phoenix wants the title, Michelle McCool wants the title and Mickie James wants to keep the title. A three-way match between these two had been teased in the early weeks of January but somewhere along the way, the focus shifted back to Mickie and Michelle leading to the Rumble. But now it looks like we’re once again on course for a triple threat scenario. New champion Mickie found out on SmackDown this week that being champ ain’t easy:
Mickie has been Women’s Champion five times now but how many times has she gotten to give a post-win promo? Not many. Already, her fifth run is off to a great start as Mickie gets to do the whole “We did it!” pow-wow that we see from the men. As can be expected from such a paint-by-numbers speech, just as she talks about anyone challenging her to go ahead — she’s interrupted. The Glamazon, Beth Phoenix, fresh from using her feminine wiles~ to eliminate Khali in the Rumble match, is out to boast about doing so. Really, Beth? You’re going to brag how you acted slutty like it’s a good thing? I kid. Kinda. Tangent: I didn’t really comment on the whole Beth-Rumble thing so I’ll do it here. I think it’s great that she was in the Rumble and got a big moment but of course it had to be played out with the most cliched tactic in the world. Somewhere a woman is burning her bra in anger.
Anyhoo, Glamazon says she can take Mickie’s title whenever she wants and as things are about to pop off, out comes Vickie Guerrero. Hey Striker, where are the fat jokes for Vickie? Anyway, Vickie says it’ll be the two of them versus the ‘true number one contender’ Michelle McCool and Layla.
Out come Lay-Cool in cute matching hoodies and for a second there I thought they were gonna emulate the Beautiful People entrance but thankfully, they didn’t bend over and touch their toes. Michelle McCool surprisingly graces the SmackDown ring with her presence this week, her first full-length match on the show it seems in quite some time. And if the prospect of Beth vs Michelle isn’t tantilising, I don’t know what is. Beth shoves Michelle to the mat with great force before picking her up effortlessly and tossing her to the canvas. Beth throws Michelle into the corner and hits her with a butt bump and shoulder blocks. Michelle counters with a low dropkick to Beth’s knee, taking her off her feet and giving McCool some momentum.
Another week, another Raw Divas match on WWE Superstars. This week, we’ve got another tag team match: Eve Torres and Kelly Kelly vs. Alicia Fox and Katie Lea. Can Katie Lea score her first win in quite a while, or will the flashy faces prevail? Watch the match below:
Alicia and Eve start the match with a tie-up, Alicia taking control and turning a side headlock into a hip toss. She holds the headlock on Eve, despite her fight for momentum. Alicia eventually gets to her feet and is shoved away by Eve. Alicia bounces off the ropes and shoulder-blocks and attack by Eve, laying her out. Alicia goes for an attack of her own off the ropes, but is hit with a dropkick from Eve.
Alicia spazzes out a bit (overselling the dropkick much?) while frantically trying to get to her corner to tag in Katie Lea. Katie comes in and locks Eve in a belly-to-back hold that she eventually gets out of, twisting one of Katie’s arms and tagging in Kelly. She then hits Katie with a snapmare by the arm, allowing her and Kelly to hit a doubleteam on her. Kelly goes for he pin, and gets a 1-count. Kelly brings Katie to her feet, but Katie immediately lifts her up (I always call Kelly the “rag doll”, but this is too literal!) and carries her to her corner, smashing her back-first into the turnbuckle.
She goes for an attack but Kelly blocks it, nailing Alicia and then Katie again. Alicia gets another elbow to the face and Kelly dodges a charge from Katie. She hits an arm drag, wrenching Katie’s arm and tagging in Eve. Eve climbs the turnbuckle, hitting a sunset flip onto Katie and rolling her into a pin, getting a 2-count. She hits Katie with a few forearms (or pats to the cheek.. they were so light they might as well have been) before having an irish-whip reversed on her. She comes off the ropes and kicks a crouched Katie, hitting a clothesline and then her somersault splash. She attemps a pin, but the referee checks Katie’s shoulders and she kicks out before he can even get down a 1-count.
Both Divas get to their feet, Katie taking refuge in the corner. Eve advances towards her but is kicked in the face. Katie goes for an attack but Eve hoists her up into a fireman’s carry, falling back and sandwiching Katie onto the mat (my God.. I don’t think I’ve seen that move since the last time I played a wrestling video game, which has been yearsss). She climbs the turnbuckle, prepping for a moonsault, but Alicia shakes the ropes, making her lose her footing. Eve doesn’t fall, though, but climbs back down. She grabs Alicia by the hair, and is pulled over the ropes, Katie Lea shoving her over for the last bit. On the outside, Alicia kicks her before Katie comes out and tosses her back into the ring, slamming her knee on the corner of the ring apron.
We’ve received photos from last night’s SmackDown tapings via Diva Dirt reader C-Ray. They’ve been placed under a spoiler tag, so click ‘show’ to read. Also, reader rico has a whole slew of Diva photos from last night in an album that you can view here. Thanks for the pictures, guys!
AJ Lee & Melina
Aksana & Maryse
