WWE developmental territory, FCW will be launching it’s own Divas Championship for the girls training in the promotion. The announcement of the title was announced at last night’s television taping. The FCW Divas Championship will be decided over the coming weeks. This is definitely a good move as the girls have been competing, up until … Read more
Many fans noticed Vickie Guerrero‘s tribute to her late husband, Eddie at WrestleMania 26, from the flames on her tights to her salute from the top turnbuckle. In a rare out of character moment for the Official SmackDown Consultant, WWE.com posted an article about Vickie’s tribute. Excerpt below: From the top rope Vickie put her … Read more
After a verbal altercation between former ECW General Manager, Tiffany and the First Lady of Straight Edge, Serena, SmackDown’s newest Divas decide to settle things inside of the squared circle. Watch below, as the blue brand beauties lock horns:
Out first is Serena and she’s carrying a very ominous black bag with her but more on that later. Tiffany comes out next and as always is perky and bubbly. As much as Tiffany cheerleader-esque attitude and gestures used to annoy me, I think she’s actually starting to grow on me. Now, if she could just stop nodding her head constantly.
The two start things off with a basic collar and elbow tie-up and Serena almost immediately overwhelms Tiffany and drives her into the turnbuckle. Serena tries to capitalizes but Tiffany takes her down with some sketchy looking armdrags followed by an armbar. Serena quickly gets to a vertical base and hits Tiffany with a knee to the gut followed by a stiff elbow to the face.
Yes, we’re still riding that WrestleMania wave! While the Divas match at WrestleMania caused a frenzy, we may have overlooked some other Diva moments at ‘Mania that were equally, or perhaps more, memorable. On Monday, we reviewed the 10-Diva tag team match and today, we’re going to look at a few points that were perhaps forgotten. Let’s discuss:
Natalya slaps Vince
Doesn’t everyone dream of slapping their boss? Sadly, so few of us get to do it. However, here’s Natalya getting to slap Vince McMahon with all the force in her right arm and gets paid to do so. Let us live vicariously through her! When we saw Natalya come out to the ring at WrestleMania 26, we popped. It was about time that Nattie and her Hart Dynasty cohorts got a little somethin’-somethin’ out of Uncle Bret’s big return, right? Up until now, they’d been over on SmackDown pretty much floundering. Needless to say, Natalya’s presence at ringside was a much welcome surprise. However, when we saw Natalya strike Vince like a pimp who had just been short changed, not only did we pop, but we may have peed a little with excitement. Okay, obviously embellished that last part [that would just be super gross] but you get the gist. Nattie’s slap could perhaps rival that of Daddy’s Little Girl herself, Stephanie McMahon. Methinks a slap-off is in order for WrestleMania 27!
Savannah debuts
Sweet little Savannah! That super smiley face makes me just want to pinch her cheeks… Okay, that’s another story. But anyway, ECW-turned-NXT ring announcer Savannah made her debut at WrestleMania 26 announcing the Money in the Bank ladder match as well as the pre-show 26 man battle royal. Didn’t she do a great job? Though we’d much rather see her wrestle, I’m sure, Savvy is proving to be a little Lilian in the making with her belting voice just oozing with confidence. Her ‘Mania announcing debut may have just been the one match [on television, that is] but still, calling out ten men one after another must be a little daunting for your first big show. And then there’s the super cute that was gushed over in the ‘Mania Style Jury special. Perhaps unintentional, but Savannah looked super cute as she paid what we’d like to think is an homage to the Decade Diva, Lilian Garcia, who razzled and dazzled us with her sparkly dresses at this annual event.
Former WWE Women’s Champion, Candice Michelle is the latest Diva to be added to the Alumni section of WWE.com. It looks as though any hard feeling between the two sides over Candice’s release last June has been set aside. In a way, the release allowed Candice to move onto a new chapter in her life … Read more
SmackDown tapes its first show since WrestleMania tonight. For possible spoilers hit the ‘Show’ link below: Check back later tonight for spoilers for this week’s show.
Diva Dirt correspondent and Beth Phoenix super fan, David aka Mr. Glamazon is on hand at this week’s WrestleMania festivities and will be checking in daily with his experiences in Phoenix. Check back everyday to find out which Divas he’s rubbed shoulders with in Phoenix — complete with exclusive pictures!
Sunday, March 28th (Day 5)
ANOTHER WRESTLEMANIA IN THE BOOKS, AND ANOTHER MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR THE DIVAS
From Bill Simmons’s ESPN.com WrestleMania recap: “I’m skipping over details of the 10-women diva match that just happened; it was excruciating enough live. It ended with the only unattractive woman in the match executing something called “The hog splash.” Say no more.” Sadly this seems to be the reaction of many fans, although that wasn’t nice to say about Vickie; she is not the typical Diva but very sweet and it is a shame she gets ridiculed so much. PS – his recap on ESPN.com is very funny I just hope Matt Striker doesn’t read it. Good golly!
I do have to agree with Bill on this one though. Maybe I am old school. Maybe I am out of touch. Maybe I am just getting old and grumpy. But I just don’t think every WWE Superstar and Diva needs to be shown on WrestleMania. I kind of feel like being on the card should be an award for a year of exceptional work by the WWE performer. When dealing with the Divas, it seems the WWE is more concerned about simply getting the girls on the show versus giving us a WrestleMania caliber match. I do sympathize with the girls in this sense – I respect each and every one of them and if they get a “WrestleMania moment” that they cherish forever, then I think that’s great. But isn’t that what the WrestleMania 25 Battle Royal was for?! (Which was even won by a man, good gracious lets hit the DELETE button on that one…) Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James vs. champion Michelle McCool would have been an exciting, interesting triple threat match that had been teased for 4-5 months (even Beth/Mickie vs. Simply Flawless would have been fine, or a unified title match, or SOMETHING other than a huge (meaningless) tag team match). The tag match got Vickie over but she was ALREADY way over, so what was gained? I looked around and few people really were interested in the match, sadly. I think this was a missed opportunity to deliver a dynamite women’s match because there are stars on this roster. This was WrestleMania, not Bragging Rights. And where is it written that you need to be ON the pay-per-view to collect a big paycheck?!? Take it from someone who was there all week, each and every star from Edge to Slam Master J to Jillian Hall put in a LONG week of public appearances and company commitments…they each earn their money, no doubt! As a viewer I want to see the BEST matches, not the SmackDown roster page.
NOTE – thank you to the staff of Diva Dirt and to all of you that posted after the show – I loved hearing / reading your reactions. Great stuff!
Now, that title may sound like I actually enjoyed the action from last night’s Raw, but anyone who watched the show would know that that just isn’t possible, unless you enjoy watching acute forms of torture. What I mean by the title is that, like last week, we always claim that the WWE’s treatment of the Raw Divas cannot possibly get any worse. I mean, we go from a 1-minute match to a 50-second match and many of us jokingly suggested that the WWE can do better than that–they can get the matches EVEN shorter! Needless to say, they met that challenge head on and delivered a match that somehow, by the grace of Zeus (who, by the way, I picture looking like Liam Neeson dressed in shimmering armor) was even shorter, more pointless, and an even greater waste of talent and time. Like I said, I’ll never underestimate the WWE again!
Now, getting into the specifics, we started the show with what was obviously an omen for how things were going to go. We are told that tonight, in keeping with the theme of the show, which was hosted by Rob Corddry and Clark Duke from “Hot Tub Time Machine”, we would be treated punished with a hot tub “match”. As it turns out, it was more of a hot tub contest, with the winner being the one who stayed in the hot tub the longest. Tiffany, Rosa Mendes, Brie Bella, and Nikki Bella are sporting bikinis and seated in a rather unhygienic looking hot tub with the night’s hosts.
Now, I know as well as you that the punchline is coming from a mile away–unattractive person enters the hot tub and chases the men away. But still, someone suggests that the winner get a shot at the Divas Championship. Great, because that’s just what we need! It’s been about a year since a man won a Divas-only distinction. We’re due, yes? Obviously, that was not meant to be taken seriously because, as you see, we’d then have Mark Henry challenging Maryse, and I don’t think anyone’s holding their breath in anticipation for that. Oh sorry, did I spoil the ending for you? Sorry. Watch the “contest” below and try to enjoy it regardless:
Divas beware, we judge what you wear! Welcome to a special Diva Dirt Style Jury in honor of last Saturday’s Hall of Fame ceremony. The Divas dressed to the nines for the event but who was red carpet worthy and who wasn’t? We have compiled all of the looks and marked them on a scale of 1-10. At the end of the scoring, we work out the combined score for each look and the Diva with the highest combined score is our winner and the Diva with the lowest combined score is our loser.
So, let the proverbial runway show begin!
ALICIA FOX Cryssi: Miss Fierce got it so, so, so wrong on this night. The outfit is horrendous, busy, and I hate the sheer section between her breasts. It’s so tacky and gaudy and I can’t believe Foxy went with this look for the classiest night of the year. Bad, bad decision and bad hair. Nightmares. 2/10 Erin: Someone’s looking to be the show stopper. The faux-mohawk, horse’s mane hairdo isn’t doing it for me, and neither is the tethered pantsuit-looking outfit. It’s certainly gutsy and fitting for her character, I suppose, but I don’t think any Diva should look like 70’s upholstery crossed with a horse 4/10 Melanie: This is a freaking hot mess. From the rowdy hairstyle to the far too busy looking dress, I don’t know quite where to look first. This is a Maria-sized monstrosity, if you ask me. 2/10 Steven: I don’t know what Alicia was thinking when she picked out this dress. All the see-through parts looks really hoochie to me. Also, the hair is awful. It reminds me of a Trojan helmet. 2/10
BETH PHOENIX Cryssi: Almost a wow factor here. The Glamazon looked AMAZING. Her dress was classy with a hint of sexy, and her hair looked gorgeous. I love this dress on Beth and no other diva could have pulled it off. She’s downright fabulous and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. No wonder David was drooling. 9/10 Erin: So sexy! The bustier neckline does wonders for her, and the colors are understated and sexy. It certainly has a lingerie feel to it, but the silhouette keeps it classy. I don’t think Beth has ever looked sexier! 9/10 Melanie: Simply gorgeous. Beth’s figure has never looked better than in this dress. The Glamazon looks so sexy and feminine, she really does look like a million bucks. Her hair is gorgeous and the simplistic acessorizing does wonders for this outfit. Beth looks like a statuesque figure of perfection. 9/10 Steven: I don’t think I have ever seen Beth look so beautiful. From head to toe, Beth is rocking the hell out of this dress. 10/10
Read on for more of this week’s outfits and to see who’s been branded our winner and loser.
Rob Corddry and Clark Duke from this past week’s movie release “Hot Tub Time Machine” host Raw tonight. Check in for all the WrestleMania fallout by watching the show at 9/8 CST on the USA Network. Discuss the show in the comments!
Thankfully, we went into this year’s WrestleMania with rock-bottom expectations for the Divas and thus, you couldn’t exactly be disappointed. For the second year in a row, the Divas match centered around an outlandish character and ‘comedy’ rather than giving the Divas a showcase. It’s not as though this match didn’t have some talented girls in it that could have wrestled for 3-5 minutes which seems to be all the time they had for the girls, instead this became the ‘signature move melee’ that often plagues these multi-Diva tag team matches. Lazy booking to get a cheap pop. The end, with Vickie Guerrero going over with what WWE refers to as the ‘hog splash’ on Kelly Kelly, pretty much echoed what happened last year in the Miss WrestleMania battle royal. Even with fans, critics, the Divas past and present and company officials within WWE scolding last year’s trainwreck, they evidently still haven’t learnt from their mistakes.
The show opened this year more positively than last year with Vickie and company getting a backstage promo which eventually featured cameos from Jillian and an injured Melina, the first time she’s appeared on WWE TV in 2010. I can’t recall the last time, if ever, that the Divas got to cut a promo at WrestleMania but I liked that they were given some extra attention this year. I absolutely loved the facial expressions from Alicia and Maryse in the background as Jillian was singing and my eyes were totally focused on those two. It was really lovely to see Melina get to be part of ‘Mania — I had an inkling she would somehow make a cameo because Candice did last year while she was injured. There was a nice reaction when she popped up on screen too, so nice to know she hasn’t been forgotten. Let’s not even discuss Mae Young…
Next up, it was time for the Divas bout. Watch below:
First of all, out comes Team Vickie to Michelle McCool‘s music. I’m one of those people that finds entrances interesting as I believe it tells you what WWE thinks of its Divas — who the current flavour is etc. Seeing the Divas come out to McCool’s music and seeing her front and center in the lineup was no surprise. Usually, the Diva who is announced last is the one that is the ‘star’ of the team; her being announced last as the Women’s Champ, taking precedent over the Divas Champ Maryse, was again no surprise but I still found it interesting. We know WWE loves Maryse but in the long run, McCool really is becoming top dog for the Divas roster entirely. Next out are the babyfaces and anyone who listened to the After Show last night will know that I was bewildered that the babyface team came out to Eve Torres‘ music. I know she’s the current flavour of the month over on Raw but going by the fact that Beth Phoenix was the one that was front and center and announced last, which are my two tell-tale signs, why did they come out to Eve’s music? Surely they should’ve come out to Beth’s music? Nit-picking, I know and it’s hardly a big deal but still, this kind of stuff interests me and in this case, baffles me.
Read the recap of last night’s Apprentice below courtesy of our friends at Maria Kanellis Online. Be sure to head over there for pictures and videos. Maria was the focus at the beginning of this week’s show when she met up with Jon Paul, a very special Make A Wish kid. Maria surprised him with … Read more
Tonight at WrestleMania, 10 Divas will be showcased at the grandest stage of them all. The team of Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly & Mickie James will take on the team of Women’s Champion Michelle McCool, Divas Champion Maryse, Alicia Fox, Layla and Vickie Guerrero. Who will come out on top? The … Read more
For the past two weeks you have been voting for your favourite Divas match in WrestleMania history. We have counted over 5,000 votes and now it’s time to reveal the winner.
Will it be Jazz vs Trish vs Victoria from WrestleMania 19 or will it be Mickie vs Trish from WrestleMania 22?
Diva Dirt correspondent and Beth Phoenix super fan, David aka Mr. Glamazon is on hand at this week’s WrestleMania festivities and will be checking in daily with his experiences in Phoenix. Check back everyday to find out which Divas he’s rubbed shoulders with in Phoenix — complete with exclusive pictures!
Saturday, March 27th (Day 4)
A HALL OF FAME NIGHT AND A HALL OF FAME DRESS
I tried. I really did. I tried to report the events of WrestleMania in an unbiased way. I think I have done a decent job, at least until Beth picked out the most incredible dress ever for the Hall of Fame ceremony last night. Stunning. Classy. The dress itself will go into the WWE HOF in 5 years. Our favorite Glamazon was radiant and people who met her at the Fan Axxess session later that night couldn’t believe how magnificent she looked. I know this was Wendi Richter’s night, but as a self-professed Beth mark, this dress was the highlight of the trip. I may never be the same.
My friend and I enjoyed the HOF ceremony last night and… wait, who am I kidding. Other than Wendi, Bob Uecker and Stu Hart it was a snoozefest. I’m pretty sure most people didn’t even know who Bob Uecker was judging by the comments I heard (although Jamie & I are big baseball fans so we liked him). His inductor was Dick Ebersol – a GIANT in the TV business – so that was cool to see him. He told a story about Vince, Jesse the Body, and himself flying to Arizona in 1987 to convince Mr. Baseball to host WM3. Good stuff.
Bret Hart was cool, K2 and Eve looked stellar as the stage escorts, and Ted DiBiase told us we could all be bought and had money fall from the ceiling (sadly not enough to refund our ticket price). Otherwise the stories lacked any real passion and after the energy of Stone Cold’s induction last year this was pretty bland.
Diva Dirt reader Tommy sent the following report on his experiences at Axxess: I spent the majority of my Saturday at WWE Axxess sessions 1 and 3. A vast number of Divas made appearances throughout the day and I first met Natalya. She was extremely sweet and was truly happy to be there with all … Read more
Diva Dirt reader, Rob Pagano sent along the following report from yesterday’s Axxess festivities: I got last minute tickets to this. The WWE changed things up at the last minute. Apart from Vickie none of the Divas who were announced actually appeared. The Divas who did signings or photos between 8am and 10:00 were Vickie, … Read more
WWE.com have posted edited clips of some of tonight’s Hall of Fame inductions including Wendi Richter‘s speech. The former Women’s Champion was inducted earlier tonight by fellow Hall of Famer, Roddy Piper. This isn’t her full speech, which I guess will only be available on the WrestleMania 26 DVD but it gives you a fair … Read more
Tonight, WWE will induct former Women’s Champion, Wendi Richter into the WWE Hall of Fame. Wendi will become just the fourth woman to receive this prestigious honour. We will have live updates from inside the Dodge Theater courtesy of correspondent, David. Stay tuned throughout the night for updates. * Wendi Richter is being inducted now … Read more
Diva Dirt correspondent and Beth Phoenix super fan, David aka Mr. Glamazon is on hand at this week’s WrestleMania festivities and will be checking in daily with his experiences in Phoenix. Check back everyday to find out which Divas he’s rubbed shoulders with in Phoenix — complete with exclusive pictures!
Friday, March 26th (Day 3)
STAYING MCCOOL IN ARIZONA
WWE Axxess continued on Friday, March 26th at the Phoenix Convention Center and most of the WWE Universe came to see the feature star of the night, the Undertaker. ‘Taker came out to his usual entrance and cut a 5 minute promo about the “Streak vs. Career” match and then turned around and walked (slowly) to the back. It was a little disappointing… all the other stars took questions from the fans and seemed to enjoy the interaction. Undertaker came out and did his usual routine and then left. Guess it was time to rest in peace. I will say the crowd was a split, there were plenty of HBK fans there chanting his name.
I wanted to add something I forgot to mention yesterday – during the Hart Dynasty vs. Cryme Tyme match at Axxess on Thursday, Natalya worked the crowd hard and played the heel perfectly. Everything from taunting the fans to threatening announcer Justin Roberts to selling the defeat, Natalya showed great energy and reminded everybody again that she is a solid worker with a great future. Kudos Nattie! (This was similar to a house show I attended with my family in November 2009… Natalya stole the show outside the ring).
Back to Friday’s Axxess, Michelle McCool, Mickie James, Vickie Guerrero, Katie Lea Burchill, and Jillian Hall made appearances. It was nice to see Mickie! She looked happy and healthy, although I guess the question still remains whether she can work on Sunday night (even though the program shows them on the card). Mickie fans should feel good, she looks to be on the road to recovery! My buddy and I were checking out Mickie’s legs quite a bit, strictly looking for signs of her surgery/recovery, umm… and for no other reason. OK, let’s just move on.
WrestleMania isn’t just the grandest stage of them all for wrestling — it’s also the one time of year when Superstars and Divas put that extra mile into creating show-stopping ring attire. WrestleMania for ring attire is like the red carpet at the Oscars, this is the one outfit that you must get right because it will be etched in the annals in history forever! So, being the style hounds that we are, we’ve delved into the history books to bring you some of the best and worst looks from WrestleManias past!
The Best
Beth Phoenix, WrestleMania 25
Just last year, the Glamazon certainly looked dramatic in all the right ways for the Miss WrestleMania battle royal in her silver Glamasuit complete with a cape. This had a Roman gladiator feel to it that fits perfectly with Beth. Too bad that given the nature of the awful match she wore it in, we barely got to see Beth’s outfit on the show but it was definitely a striking look for Beth. Perhaps she could get away with wearing it two years in a row tomorrow night? After all, no one really got a good look at it last year and it seems like such a waste! I mean, we’d be pissed. However, Beth can seek comfort in the fact that we consider it to be Glam Slam-ingly breathtaking.
Chyna, WrestleMania 17
Not to sound offensive but Chyna was never really known for her femininity during her time with WWE. Often seen in black and built like one of the guys, Chyna’s venture into the women’s division in 2001 saw a more feminine side to the 9th Wonder of the World. For WrestleMania 17, Chyna ditched the black and went with a captivating purple ensemble and even accesorized! Not dissimilar to Beth’s headband above, Chyna sported some funky headgear too and even a choker around her neck. This was not the hard-faced, braid-wearing Diva we had met several years prior. Chyna looked great and had a picture perfect moment that night when she added another accessory to her outfit — the Women’s Championship.
The final SmackDown before WrestleMania promised a Beth Phoenix vs Vickie Guerrero match, but anyone could see a mile away that it wouldn’t be a straight one-on-one match. Last week I predicted that Vickie would likely change it to a 3-on-1 match with her teaming up with Lay-Cool but oh no, that wasn’t enough — Raw’s Maryse and Alicia Fox were tacked on too. Why? God knows. I get that it’s all in the name of WrestleMania, as the Divas will have a last minute multi-Diva tag match but there’s been no reasons given as to why the various Divas of Raw and SmackDown are coming together and fighting. And frankly, it’d be a waste trying to figure out why.
The big story however was not WrestleMania, which wasn’t even mentioned on the show. Instead that match was quietly announced on the WWE website, and I do mean quietly! Not even a slide in that flash player thing on the homepage, it was literally just tacked onto the ‘Mania page where only those who were looking to find it, would find it. Doesn’t instill a lot of confidence about this match, does it? Anyway, I digress…
The big story was the continuation of a rather fun feud on SmackDown where Beth Phoenix once again, looked golden and Vickie Guerrero, well we saw a little too much of her. Watch below:
So as explained earlier, before the match begins Vickie announces that it will now be a 5-on-1 match. Despite the switcheroo, Beth shows no signs of being intimidated and can’t wait for Layla to get in the ring to start things out. Beth extends her hand to bump knuckles with Layla [really?] but as Layla comes closer, she nails her with a forearm. Layla tries to tag out but is dragged across the ring by Phoenix and cue some funny screams from Lay-Lay. Layla begins fighting back with some forearms and again, some beautiful kicks. She then tries to hightail it to her corner but Beth grabs her in mid-air. “Michellllllle… Please help me!” Gotta love this girl!
Beth runs into the corner with Layla and begins stomping into her but is dragged away by the referee and somehow, she herself falls straight on her butt. As Beth exchanges insults with the other Divas on the apron, Layla mounts a comeback and hits Beth in the jaw with an elbow. She then tries to jump on Beth who picks her up and hoists her in the air in gorilla press slam position. Meanwhile from the outside, Michelle tags Layla and hits Beth in the back of the head. Beth uses Layla as a human weapon as it were, using her to hit Michelle off the apron before dropping her to the canvas.
Over the next few days, in the lead up to this Sunday’s big WrestleMania 26 event, we’ll be taking a look back at some of the memorable moments in WrestleMania history that involved the WWE Divas. Each of the Diva Dirt team have picked a moment that they loved to share with you all. Today, … Read more
Five time WWE Women’s Champion, Mickie James performed last night at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville in Phoenix and a whole band of fellow Divas showed up to lend support. James performed her debut single ‘Are You With Me’ as well as other tracks from her album, ‘Strangers & Angels’. Divas that were there to support Mickie … Read more
PART 1 
Beth Phoenix, WrestleMania 25
Chyna, WrestleMania 17