Congratulations to Eve Torres on becoming the new WWE Divas Champion on an edition of Raw taped in London, England earlier tonight. Eve’s title win makes some history as she becomes the first Diva Search winner to win a championship. Torres defeated Maryse, a two time Divas Champ, for the belt.
Tonight’s Raw guest host, David Hasselhoff posted the following on his Twitter page: Raw tonight Diva triple Match !!! It’s possible that Hasselhoff may just be confused or it could be that there is a triple threat match on Raw tonight in addition to the Divas Championship bout between Eve and Maryse. If so, I’m … Read more
Eve Torres and Maryse will battle for the Divas Championship on a special episode of Raw in London, baby! The show will be taped later today but before we get spoilers through, let’s find out who you think will win. Vote below!
Welcome to Diva NXT, our very own virtual competition to find out which FCW girl you’d like to see breakout and become the next WWE Diva. We have considered all of the girls on the current FCW roster that aren’t already on WWE television and every week, you will have the opportunity to vote for the girl you think should advance to the next week. Each week, we’ll reveal the rankings [similar to the Pros’ Poll] and the person who polls last each week will be cut. We will continue until just one girl is left standing — the girl you believe should be WWE’s next Diva.
Votes cast: 1,433
WEEK 1 RANKINGS
1. AJ Lee
2. Courtney Taylor
3. Naomi Night
4. Jemma Palmer
5. Aksana
6. Tamina
7. Jamie Keyes
8. Liviana
As a result of polling last in Week 1, Liviana has been cut from the competition. Also, due to Courtney Taylor’s release, she has also been cut. That means we are down to just six girls — who will be cut next week? Vote now!
The SmackDown Divas this week were relegated to WWE Superstars for reasons that I can’t quite fathom. For one, the WWE Women’s Champion Michelle McCool has been a huge staple of the show for the past couple of years and also, Vickie Guerrero is another big selling point. Seems odd that they’d move the Divas segment from SmackDown to Superstars when such key players are involved. I guess we needed more time on SmackDown for the dissolution of Cryme Tyme, who coincidentally, spend more time on WWE Superstars than most. Nonetheless, this segment felt exactly like it would on SmackDown — it was given plenty of time and the Divas were given promos which is somewhat unusual for this show. So while I am a little confused as to why it wasn’t on the main show, it works just as well.
This week, the gear was turned up on the whole ‘Glam-a-man’ situation as Simply Flawless, lead by Michelle McCool, made their way down to the ring and out-and-out called Beth Phoenix a man. They had been planting the seeds for this direction prior to WrestleMania with the ‘Glam-a-man?’ t-shirts but as I mentioned last week in the Redux, it looks as though they are pressing ‘restart’ on this feud due to the yearly obstacle that is ‘Mania, which hinders rather than helps the Divas storylines as they have to be put on the show en masse with the Raw Divas also. Watch this week’s segment below:
First up on the mic is the heat magnet herself, Vickie Guerrero who then introduces us to the Women’s Champion, McCool who informs us that Beth Phoenix is a man. Great. More of WWE’s immature ‘potty humour’. The fat jokes with Mickie were just the start I take it. It’s a shame that every Diva feud must boil down to such elementary, vain things such as who’s sexier, who’s fatter, who looks manly etc. It just portrays the Divas as being high school bitches and not the intelligent women we know they are. Michelle McCool is in fact a very intelligent woman and dumbing her down with this character just seems silly to me. I could buy her as being a cold, calculating, meticulous heel who uses her brains instead of her brawn but that would be far too complicated to script apparently. Instead, the Divas must be dumbed down and enforce stereotypes. It’s evident that WWE doesn’t actually believe the Divas are smart as they would like us to believe with their ‘Smart, Sexy & Powerful’ slogan. Anyway, I digress. The acting here is pretty standard fare for Lay-Cool but they do it well, particularly Layla.
Vickie Guerrero announces that as a result of the new information that ‘Beth is a man’ she will have an intergender match against Layla. Out comes a super pissed off Beth Phoenix who avoids her regular entrance and marches to the ring with authority — nice touch. It sells that she’s annoyed and has no time for the happy, smiley Glamazon pose at the top of the ramp.
I know we have all been super curious to see what Sarona Snuka aka Tamina can do in the ring given that her daddy is a Hall of Famer. Check out footage below of Tamina in a six-Diva match at an FCW event last month. Skip to 04:14 Obviously, not the best example of her … Read more
Former ECW backstage interviewer and FCW Diva, Courtney Taylor could be gone from the WWE after her profile was removed from the official FCW website late last night. Taylor had been called up to the main roster last summer before losing the position to Savannah after deciding to take up vacation days that she had … Read more
Last week’s Raw brought a level of disappointment that made me vow to never again underestimate the WWE’s ability to undervalue the Divas. So, maybe that’s why I’m not as disappointed by Raw as I normally would be. Sure, the match this week was based on a lame and degrading idea, but at this point I’m not expecting anything better.
I’m sure most of you have heard the saying “all dressed up and nowhere to go”, which means, in a fashion, that you’re prepared for something that’s not going to happen. This applies pretty well in this case, as Diva fans, the gluttons for punishment that they are, are continuously hoping for the best. They’re prepared for something interesting, exciting, or at the very least respectable. But if you look at the last few months of booking for the Raw Divas, you would know that it’s not going to happen–at least not anytime soon. Unless they take a hard left turn, it’ll be a while until we’re treated to something that demonstrates that the Raw bookers have an ounce of respect for the Divas. Until then, we’ll be treated to matches like the one that took place tonight. Don’t get me wrong–it wasn’t a trainwreck, but the whole idea of it speaks volumes about the respect (or lack thereof) that the Divas receive. It was close to being a perfectly acceptable match, but one addition, one finishing touch, threw it out of whack. That “touch” was totally unnecessary, and served to pretty much ruin the match for me.
The match in question was a “Dressed to Impress” battle royal, in which the winner would earn a shot at Maryse‘s Divas Championship. That’s a great idea, because we all know that the only thing that could top the awkwardness of a battle royal is a battle royal where the competitors have to wear dresses. Why were they wearing dresses! Why, to fit in with this week’s GM of course! Who is he? I don’t know, but who gives a shit, right? I say bring on the hot mess!
We’re joined at ringside by Maryse, who takes her spot at the commentary table. Surprisingly, each Diva gets her own entrance, which I assume is an effort to show off their fancy dresses. I can’t say I like any of them very much, but I don’t blame them for not pulling out the good duds–you wouldn’t want to risk ruining them when you’re tossed over the top rope. Anywho, we’re joined by Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox, Gail Kim, Rosa Mendes, Jillian, Katie Lea Burchill, Brie and Nikki Bella, and Eve Torres. Maryse trashes all of their looks, but puts special effort into dogging Eve. It’s not secret that she’s going to win this match; she gets the last entrance, a stare down with Maryse, and special emphasis on commentary. If that doesn’t allow you to telegraph Eve’s win from a mile away, you’re just not paying close enough attention.
The match starts and the Divas break off into pairs, all except Rosa, who charges at the Bellas and pretty much jumps out of the ring. It’s a messy exchange, but the Bellas eventually complete what’s left of her journey and heave her over the ropes and out of the ring. Rosa is eliminated. Soon after, Brie and Nikki are eliminated, with Katie Lea and Alicia doing the honors. Brie & Nikki Bella are eliminated.
NXT rookie David Otunga is hosting Raw, an honor he earned by winning a battle royal last week. Will he bring along celebrity finance Jennifer Hudson? Find out by watching the show at 9/8 CST on the USA Network. Discuss the show in the comments!
Recap of last night’s episode below, courtesy of our friends at Maria Kanellis Online. Please head over there for more including pictures and videos from the show! This week started off with Mr. Trump asking everyone back to the boardroom after Darryl’s departure. He asked the teams to pick their project managers now, instead of … Read more
With WrestleMania and those pesky Raw Divas getting in the way of actual storyline progression for SmackDown just when it was getting good, it seems as though the writers of the blue brand have pressed the ‘reset’ button. Watching this week’s show, you’d be forgiven if you feel like you’re watching a rerun, because that’s exactly what it felt like. If you skip this week’s show, which obviously you aren’t because you’re reading this, you’d honestly not be missing anything because everything is as it was two weeks ago — even the match. There was nothing new to learn coming out this week’s show: Beth Phoenix still wants the Women’s Championship, Vickie Guerrero still has heat on her and Tiffany is still that young Diva opening our eyes to her surprisingly good in-ring ability.
In fact, the only new thing piece of information to take from this week’s show is that Vickie’s version of the frog splash is now the ‘Cougar Splash’ (Rarr!). Must-know information, I’m sure. Watch the backstage scene below:
Next up, it’s time for this week’s Divas match which is exactly the same match as two weeks ago. Funny how SmackDown only has four active Divas in the women’s division right now while Raw has like 11 and uses them for one minute each week. Can the Draft hurry up?
Watch the match below:
So for three out of three matches on television, Tiffany is wearing the same ring attire. Girlfriend is just begging for jokes about not washing her clothes and/or smelling.
McCool and Tiffany start things out with a lock-up and the Women’s Champion backs Tiffany into the corner and pushes her. She then boasts to Layla & Vickie in her corner but as she turns around, she finds a peeved Tiffany who hits her with a drop toe hold and an atomic drop. Tiffany tries to irish whip McCool into the corner, McCool reverses but she can’t move Tiffany so she instead goes for a kick to the gut. Michelle agin goes for an irish whip into the corner but Tiffany reverses and hits a one-legged variation of the monkey flip. Michelle lands in the corner and Tiffany runs at her to presumably hit a real monkey flip this time but Michelle manages to toss Tiffany who lands on her front pretty hard. Ouch!
We’re starting out very own virtual NXT competition to find out which FCW girl you’d like to see breakout and become the next WWE Diva. We have considered all of the girls on the current FCW roster that aren’t already on WWE television and every week, you will have the opportunity to vote for the girl you think should advance to the next week.
Each week, we’ll reveal the rankings [similar to the Pros’ Poll] and the person who polls last each week will be cut. We will continue until just one girl is left standing — the girl you believe should be WWE’s next Diva.
Sounds simple enough, right? Vote below for Week 1:
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!
PART 1 
