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SmackDown Redux – October 10, 2008

This week on SmackDown: Brie Bella continued her sneaky ways as she scored a victory over Natalya thus remaining undefeated. Meanwhile, Victoria got a big shock from Hornswoggle!

Thoughts & Reactions
An okay week for SmackDown, if a little uninspiring. I was expecting (and looking forward to) the aftermath of Maryse costing Michelle the Champion vs Champion match last week on the All Star Kick-Off, instead these two Divas were nowhere to be seen. Sucks! But I won’t complain too much, because I did enjoy the match between Brie Bella and Natalya. I like both of these Divas and they both seem to have a lot of potential in the WWE.

This match started off shaky and got better as it went on, Brie looked green at the start with an awkward crossbody from the middle turnbuckle. But things did pick up and reminded me how much I missed seeing Natalya in the ring! When I read the spoilers for this week’s show, I thought what on earth are WWE doing by burying Natalya like this? Well it wasn’t like so, I think they did a good job of having Natalya look confused and Brie getting an upset because of this. I really love seeing Natalya in the ring and she seems to bring out the best of lesser workers and I felt this was another example, the match got better and proved to be entertaining at the end. I know many of you don’t like me comparing Natalya to Beth Phoenix, but I think they have similar backgrounds and similar looks. What I love about Natalya is that she really shows fire and intensity in the ring and this was on display on SmackDown, slapping Brie around and taunting her. That’s something we don’t see from Raw’s Beth. Natalya really uses the ring well and knows what she’s doing moreso than most of the Divas in WWE. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think she’s the best women’s wrestler on the roster. That clothesline looked sick! Anyone who can perfect the simplest of moves and make them look so effective is on the right track to becoming a future star.

As for the end with Victoria and Hornswoggle, very entertaining and funny. Plus it threw off the ‘big reveal’, I’m not sure when they’re gonna go for the reveal but hopefully soon! I loved that little wink from Brie (or Nicole?) when she came out of the other side of the ring, kinda cocky! Anyway, a decent outing for the Divas though not completely enthralling.

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Inked: A Study in Diva Tattoos

This week’s WWE.com Diva Dish mentioned Candice Michelle‘s newest tattoo, and this little bit inspired me to investigate which former and current Divas and Knockouts have their own selection of body art. Thus, a blog post was born! Below I’ve listed those I could find:

Angelina Love


TNA’s Angelina Love has four tattoos, all pointing towards an angel fixation. She has:

• an angel on her hip
• her former ring name “Angel” scripted on her arm in Old English style lettering
• an angel on the back of her left shoulder
• the Chinese symbol for “angel” on her lower back, surrounded by a set of wings.

Why so angel-obsessed, Angelina?

“I have always had a fascination with angels. I love how they look, I love their innocence, and I love what they represent.”

• • • • • • • •

Ashley Massaro


Former WWE Diva Ashley has plenty of ink:

• a butterfly on her hip
• two black-and-pink nautical stars above the elbows on the back of her arms (her brother has a matching pair on his arms)
• Chinese lettering down the small of her back
• more Chinese lettering down each side of her torso, reading “Trust No One”
• an illustration of a dragon wrapped around the lettering on the left side of her torso.

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SmackDown Spoilers: October 10, 2008

Spoilers for the Friday night edition of SmackDown, the show’s second on MyNetworkTV are below: EDIT – More details have been added. Brie Bella beat Natalya (w/Victoria). At one point Bella went under the ring and Victoria followed her. When she emerged out came…Hornswoggle! He chased Victoria to the back. Later, Bella went back under … Read more

FCW Watch: Brie Bella & Alicia Fox in Episode 1

WWE’s developmental territory debuted it’s brand new television series on Sunday in Florida. The first episode of Florida Championship Wrestling featured a six person tag team match starring SmackDown’s Brie Bella and former SmackDown star whose current status seems to be up in the air, Alicia Fox. Hopefully, we’ll keep posting the weekly Divas action … Read more

Raw Redux – October 6, 2008

This week on Raw: Beth Phoenix and Santino scored an upset victory over Jamie Noble and Mickie James in a mixed tag match after which things got heated between Layla‘s current and former squeezes. Plus Kelly Kelly picked up a singles victory over Jillian, in a match that was completely overshadowed by the inane ramblings of four grown men trying to act like they’re from the ghetto – while wearing body glitter.

Thoughts & Reactions
This week’s Raw was a letdown on the Diva front and by the time the second Divas bout rolled around, I found myself heading for the ‘mute’ button my remote control because I was frankly getting a headache. Awards for production, WWE will not be getting. Cutting from the actual action to four men standing around hurling abuse at each other like kids on a playground was pathetic and there was just no way the audience could get into the match going on in the ring between Kelly and Jillian. It’s hard to review a match I feel I’ve only seen half of. That said, from what we did see, I’d say Kelly looked as progressive as ever and the match was fine. It wasn’t spectacular nor was it a total wash out, the work was fine and it was nice to see Kelly pick up some steam after losing to Beth Phoenix last week. Her job to Beth had to be done last week to build momentum for Beth vs Candice at No Mercy, but I’m glad WWE is back on the Kelly bandwagon and pushing her because she’s becoming a solid worker and the more opportunities she gets to go out there and gain that experience, the better she will be. Judging No Mercy to last night’s Raw, I would say Candice and Kelly have some similarities – both are competent in the ring, but have their issues with timing and such. Kelly however, has something that Candice doesn’t: ring presence. Though awkward at times, Kelly really seems comfortable in the ring and even though her ring-work may not be on Mickie James level, that comfortability in the ring adds more credibility to Kelly’s wrestling style and I think fans, critics and WWE officials alike are seeing the improvement in Kelly’s work and seeing it as a positive sign. She’s not perfect, but she’s making good headway. Jillian will always be a jobber, but got a decent amount of offense in this match so it wasn’t totally Kelly-dominated as you might expect.

As for the mixed tag match, there’s not much to say as there wasn’t a lot of Diva action in this one. Then again, I think we’ve seen Mickie vs Beth countless times that we don’t need a repeat, we can just close our eyes and envision these two going at it. Coming off a huge week of victories last week, I expected more development for Beth this week, but it became ‘The Santino Show’. Beth is the one who notched up three victories over the course of seven days and was treated little more than background filler, you wouldn’t be able to tell she just came off a successful Women’s Championship match the night before. Speaking of which, WWE darling, Candice was noticeably absent from Raw last night. I find that a little suspect, because considering they want to promote Candice as their ‘top Diva’, you’d think she’d be guaranteed a spot on the show. Is WWE’s enamour wearing off? Are WWE putting their stock in Kelly Kelly instead? I thought Kelly’s win last night was a building block towards challenging Beth for the title. The Beth-Candice feud virtually wrote itself and could have been a focal point of Raw for at least three months but WWE killed any momentum with their ‘poison pen booking’ and totally wore off any excitement to see this feud continue. It seems No Mercy was a blow off match. Which begs the question: What next for Candice?

I guess Layla isn’t going to be a salacious, ‘sex-pot’ (God I hate that word) in the way Lita and Trish were when they turned on Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho respectively. I would’ve expected Layla to slap the taste out of Jamie Noble’s mouth or get somewhat involved in the brawl between he and Regal, but nope. On one hand, it left something to be desired but on the other, it was a nice change. It kind of suggests that regal/noble status Layla is aiming for in her union with Regal, that she won’t get her hands dirty personally – she’ll get her man to do it for her. It’s a nice twist to what we’ve seen in the past, such as the two examples above. I think Layla definitely could play that ‘spoiled girl’ really well, making Regal do her dirty work and not lifting a finger herself.

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Systematic Breakdown of No Mercy

The history books for the 2008 edition of No Mercy will read exactly like the 2007 edition: Beth Phoenix def. Candice Michelle. The Glamazon retained the title against the former Women’s Champion and her longtime rival. I’ll be completely honest (when am I not?), this feud hasn’t interested me in the slightest bit and I … Read more

Watch: No Mercy 2008

Below is the Women’s Championship match from last night’s No Mercy pay per view between Beth Phoenix and Candice Michelle. BETH PHOENIX VS CANDICE MICHELLE – WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP • Check back later today for our monthly “Systematic Breakdown of…”

Diva Dirt’s No Mercy Tip Sheet

In an exact rematch from the same pay per view last year, Beth Phoenix meets Candice Michelle for the Women’s Championship tonight at No Mercy. It was at this event one year ago when the Glamazon first captured the title. Will history repeat itself with Beth walking out the champion? Our bloggers predict… Erin: With … Read more

SmackDown Redux – October 3, 2008

This week on SmackDown: On the big premiere on MyNetwork TV, the Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix upstaged SmackDown’s own, Michelle McCool in a battle of the champions. Meanwhile, the rest of the WWE Divas observed from ringside as lumberjacks.

Thoughts & Reactions
As expected, the Glamazon picked up a victory over the Divas Champion. I’m in two minds about this: On one hand, it’s far more believable to have Beth go over Michelle but on the other hand, what good does it do in the long run for Michelle? SmackDown is her brand, after all and not Beth’s. I think SmackDown’s creative team did a good job in solving that problem and thus, I have no issue with Beth going over. As I wrote, it was to be expected and I think it was the right finish. Yes, SmackDown is Michelle’s show and while Beth gets to go back to Raw, Michelle must carry on in front of the MyNet audience having lost on the first night – I think the writing was strong enough in that we had an interference from Michelle’s rival, Maryse to blame for her loss. Nice set up to continue this feud and introduce it to the MyNet audience.

As for the match itself, I wasn’t sold one bit. I was really looking forward to this match, but I just felt the work was awkward and these two didn’t have any real chemistry. I love both Divas, but Michelle in particular let me down on SmackDown. I just felt she was awkward in the ring, wholly unexciting and frankly, I expected more from her. She seemed to veer towards kicks, arm locks… blah blah. None of the exciting, fast paced action we’re used to seeing from the Divas Champion. Honestly, I felt the match was sloppy. The finish was pretty strong however, not exactly making up for the poor match, but it was a good finish. The Glam Slam looked pretty sick and was an effective end to the match.

Let us not forgot the Divas on the outside of the ring! Oh the poor, unexpecting MyNet audience! I don’t know why the WWE Divas insist on looking like hookers, honestly, when they came out it looked like a hooker parade. I just wish these girls would dress decently, because it’s all their own doing honestly. It was almost as though the Divas who are less ‘slutty’ tried to slut it up to hang in there with the ‘models’, Jesus, Natalya looked like she couldn’t even walk in those stupid heels. Did they get the wrong memo? They dressed as if they were hitting up a night club (or a street corner), not dressed to act as lumberjacks for a women’s wrestling match. I think Layla is the only one who looked decent. As for the lumberjack brawl lol, all I really recall is loads of bad weaves flashing across the screen. Oh and I’m pretty certain I saw someone’s shoe come off! And apparently Lena‘s a heel… Who cares?

A lot of people brought up the fact that this match did nothing to put over Candice vs Beth and was more about Maryse vs Michelle. Actually, I’m all for it. This is SmackDown not Raw, I liked that the focus was on SmackDown’s Divas feud and building up that for the coming weeks. Sure, Candice and Beth have a Women’s Championship match at No Mercy, but it’s not their show and if Raw’s shitty creative team cannot fundamentally provide some decent booking for this ‘feud’, why should SmackDown’s writers put it over? I felt the glances from Candice to Beth after the match were sufficient. I’m excited to see where Maryse vs Michelle goes next, Maryse really is proving to be a big ole thorn in Michelle’s side and there’s so many ways they can go with this!

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Watch: Champion vs Champion Lumberjack Match

This week’s Friday Night SmackDown is an All Star Kick-Off to celebrate the show’s move to MyNetwork TV. Check out the inaugural Divas match on MyNet between Divas Champion, Michelle McCool and Women’s Champion, Beth Phoenix – with all the WWE Divas at ringside as lumberjacks! Remember, check back tomorrow for the SmackDown Redux. BETH … Read more

Raw Redux – September 29, 2008

This week on Raw: Beth Phoenix regained focus after an upset loss last week, scoring a win over Kelly Kelly and Candice Michelle with her partner Jillian. Plus in intergender action, the Burchills lost to Mickie James & Jamie Noble while Layla and King William Regal looked on.

Thoughts & Reactions
After a lackluster few weeks, things were a little better this week but not enough to make me that interested in this week’s Raw. I liked that Beth got an emphatic win this week, regaining her focus towards the Women’s Championship match at No Mercy. Her win killed two birds with one stone: A) it tied in with her ‘mini-feud’ with Kelly, who got a fluke win over her as Beth pinned Kelly and B) it sent a message to Candice ahead of their title match. I didn’t like that they had Beth and Candice start out the match straight away pretty much giving away their pay per view match, shouldn’t you try and keep them apart and have them get in a hot tag? The whole booking for this ‘feud’ has been lackluster, so why start making sense now! The work was fine for most of the match, but I really wasn’t into the first half of it, it just seemed to plod along between Candice and Beth then Candice and Jillian. Candice continues to look uncomfortable in the ring since her comeback, but she has never really had much ring presence if you ask me.

The interesting dynamic of this match was how would Kelly and Candice work together? Sufficiently, I would say. When the match was announced, I didn’t think this duo would work out, you’d need someone like Mickie to lead the tag team, both these Divas are still learning. They worked together well. One thing I observed which I certainly didn’t expect is that Kelly, who has had less opportunity in the ring than her partner, was the ‘Mickie figure’ in this match. The Diva who got the hot tag, fought off both the opponents etc. while Candice did most of the brunt work for most of the match as the ‘weaker Diva’. You would think, considering WWE considers Candice to be their top Diva, she’d be doing the superhero-like hot tag – especially considering the fact that she has a title match this Sunday. However, I think Kelly worked in the role very well and lit up a match that otherwise plodded along, when Kelly tagged in, things picked up in the way that they usually do when Mickie tags in. I would say Kelly has a certain quality about her and I really picked up on this last night, I can see this girl going really far. To me, she seems to be creeping up on Candice and outdoing her in terms of matches, fan response etc. even though Candice is the one WWE wants to push. I can definitely see Kelly continuing to grow and eventually become the top Diva to succeed Trish which is what Candice had been groomed for. Kelly got way bigger pops than Candice, I’m not usually one to go by the crowd, but it was really hard to miss on Raw last night – Candice even got some boos. Not a slight to Candice, but Kelly has more of a likability factor than the former Women’s Champ and is proving to be more well rounded. It’ll be interesting to see how Candice and Kelly’s careers intertwine and mould around each other, to say the least.

As for the intergender tag match, as always good fun. It was great to see Mickie back on Raw, though I’m happy for her to remain in the background and let other Divas get over. If and I mean only if WWE can somehow work her into this storyline with Jamie Noble and Layla, then I’m all for Mickie to come back as a full time character but after the past few months, I think Mickie has run her course and needs to make sporadic appearances and not be burned out completely. I wouldn’t mind seeing a tease of an eventual match between Noble & Mickie vs Regal & Layla. The three different couples on show during this match made me think I was watching some sort of swingers party lol! Layla and Regal looked really good in that throne =)

All in all, not a bad week for Raw. I do like that we got to see more utilisation of all the Divas, very SmackDown-esque but I don’t think Raw has fully redeemed itself in my eyes. We’ll see what happens at No Mercy and going forth.

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Champion vs Champion Becomes Jumberjack Match

WWE.com has changed it’s match description for the Champion vs Champion match between Beth Phoenix and Michelle McCool to a Lumberjack Match, with all the other WWE Divas surrounding the ring. The match takes place this Friday night on the SmackDown All Star Kick-Off on MyNetworkTV. Should be pretty cool, but what do you think … Read more

Candice & Beth to Actually Wrestle Tonight

Tonight’s Raw is set to be the “go home” show for this Sunday’s No Mercy, and with the lack of storyline development in Beth Phoenix & Candice Michelle‘s feud, we’ve been pretty concerned with how they’ll build up this Sunday’s Women’s Championship match. With that in mind, the following match has been announced for Raw … Read more

Watch: SmackDown, September 26th 2008

Every week, we have comments with people discussing the weekly SmackDown Divas matches on YouTube before they air on television. Usually, we wait till the SmackDown Redux to discuss the matches but we’ve decided that each week, we will post the matches from the show right here every Friday for you to watch and discuss. … Read more

Champion vs Champion Announced

WWE.com has announced a match between Divas Champion, Michelle McCool and Women’s Champion, Beth Phoenix for it’s SmackDown All-Star Kick Off next Friday! The match will be part of SmackDown’s first ever broadcast on MyNetworkTV on October 3rd. Divas Champion Michelle McCool has seen her star rise since becoming the first-ever Divas Champion in WWE … Read more

ECW Does SmackDown Redux – September 23, 2008

The show may change but the Divas stay the same! Welcome to a very special “extreme” edition of SmackDown Redux – ECW Does SmackDown Redux that is! Last night on ECW, Divas Champion Michelle McCool tasted defeat for the first time at the hands of Maryse.

Thoughts & Reactions
For the first time in months, Divas action came to ECW last night! I don’t understand WWE’s logic, is there idea of ‘fresh’ having the same match from last week’s SmackDown but just on a different show? I can’t say I’m complaining too much because the Divas who can do no wrong, Maryse and Michelle McCool did something that Spider-Man or Pirates of the Caribbean could never do – create a perfect trilogy. It’s usually the threequels that let let a trilogy down but not this one! Once again, Michelle and Maryse delivered a great match full of intensity and fire. Would I say it was as good as their match last Friday on SmackDown? No, but let’s face it, that’s a hard one to top! Both girls really did try though and I watched this match with a smile on my face and when it ended, I loved and respected both of them that much more.

This match was more about Maryse playing the aggressor and she was fantastic. We keep saying it, but for someone who’s been wrestling for such a short time, she has not only the moves but the heel mannerisms down to a tee! Maryse has fantastic ring presence as a heel, she knows how to play the crowd and knows how to work her opponent and I have to say, she brings a lot of fire out in Michelle that we’ve never seen before. Many complain about Michelle’s lack of personality and such but if you watch this match, I thought Michelle responded incredibly well to Maryse and these two share an insane chemistry. There’s something almost charming about Michelle taking more of a backseat and jobbing for most of the match, if you’re a face champion, it’s good to look vulnerable to your opponent and then win where it counts – a title match.

To trackback, when you heard this was a non-title match didn’t you just know Maryse was going to win? It’s a good move though, as this sets up Maryse as having earned another title shot against Michelle. In fact, I can actually see Maryse going over Michelle and winning the title in the near future. At this point, I don’t care if we see Michelle vs Maryse every week as long as the calibre is the same as this and their past matches. Great stuff!

Oh and I nearly forgot to mention: the commentary for this match was fantastic. I don’t watch ECW so I never realised how good Matt Striker is, he and JR really put over the Divas and the in-ring action rather than going off on tangents like Raw. Giving focus and attention to what we’re watching really adds to the experience, I really loved the commentary and it definitely added to my viewing.

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Raw Redux – September 22, 2008

This week on Raw: Kelly Kelly manages to defeat Beth Phoenix once again! Thoughts & Reactions Apologies for the late Redux this week, but it’s back to uni and things are about to get crazy again. Anyway, this week’s Raw saw Beth vs Kelly for about the fourth time in 2 months. They’ve had some … Read more

SmackDown Redux – September 19, 2008

This week on SmackDown: Michelle McCool toppled Maryse once more in a Divas Championship rematch. Brie Bella and Maria ran into Natalya and Victoria. And even Eve Torres teased she wanted in on the action!

Thoughts & Reactions
Last night’s Friday Night SmackDown proved exactly what I’ve been saying about the SmackDown women’s division for so long now… it’s superior. For months I’ve touted that SmackDown provides the best Divas entertainment of the week, fun matches, likable Divas, great chemistry and last night’s show, to me, was a seminal episode. For those who don’t know what seminal means:

highly original and influencing the development of future events: a seminal artist; seminal ideas.

That’s exactly what I felt about last night’s Divas action on SmackDown. The Divas Championship match between Michelle McCool and Maryse was a seminal moment in SmackDown’s Diva history. That match tore it down! I really enjoyed their work at Unforgiven and when I first read the spoilers, I thought “How are they gonna top that?” but they did in a huge way. I loved the Unforgiven match and I loved this match, I want to say it was better than Unforgiven and in many ways it was, but both matches were very different and focussed on different things. I guess if it came down to it, I would say last night’s match was better but the two matches were very different: Unforgiven was more about telling a story, having in-ring psychology whereas this match was more fast paced and action packed. It depends on what you like to see in the ring in deciding which you preferred. The SmackDown match was incredibly action packed, so much fun to watch and the work was incredible. I’m sure they edited some stuff, but in all you can’t fake great ring presence and you can’t fake comfortability in the ring – these two are no Victoria or Mickie James – but they exuded ring presence and comfortability, which cannot be edited into a show.

Seeing how well Maryse and Michelle used their surroundings (the ring, the ring ropes), it made me feel as though I was watching a match between two veterans. Both of these Divas worked so hard and the work was fantastic. There were several great spots in this match and I was honestly blown away, just when I thought they’d let down, they got even better. The match was given a great length, had many different spots and felt like ‘must see television’. I love that Michelle is using the ‘Wings of Love’ again, it’s a great move and a nice fitting end to this match. Would I have Maryse and Michelle continue to feud? No. Michelle has two victories over Maryse now, I think it’s time to move on. I honestly think these two are 2-for-2 in their singles matches and I wouldn’t want them to ruin the great work they’ve had together by having loads more singles matches together. If and when Part 3 takes place, I would want it to mean something like Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong. I felt really proud watching this match, as though my allegiance to the SmackDown women’s division was rewarded.

Later in the evening, we got Eve Torres teasing that she too, could be making her in-ring debut in a segment with Vickie Guerrero and the Big Show. How do I feel about this? The more the merrier! If she is decent in the ring, why not? I’m excited to see her wrestle if and when she makes her in-ring debut.

The backstage segment between the four other Divas was another display of fine work, this time not of in-ring ability, but promo ability. Seems as though newbie, Brie Bella is just as good at cutting promos as she is in the ring. As for Maria, I think after posing for Playboy, she needs to drop the ditzy gimmick and it seemed she tried to go back to that on SmackDown. It doesn’t really work, if you ask me. She needs to find a new niche. Natalya and Victoria were entertaining as ever and I love that this segment actually promoted a match for next week. Will Nicole finally be revealed?

If you ask me, this week’s Divas action was fantastic and perhaps I am being biased, but it proved to me just why I look forward more to Friday nights than Monday nights.

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Watch: SmackDown, September 19th 2008

Every week, we have comments with people discussing the weekly SmackDown Divas matches on YouTube before they air on television. Usually, we wait till the SmackDown Redux to discuss the matches but we’ve decided that each week, we will post the matches from the show right here every Friday for you to watch and discuss. … Read more

Divas Reveal ‘Magic Secrets’

In extra anticipation of SmackDown’s move to MyNetworkTV next month, the network is creating some synergy between WWE and one of it’s new shows Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed. The series is a reboot of the classic 90’s series that aired on FOX (or Sky 1 if you live in the UK) and featured the … Read more

Raw Redux – September 15, 2008

This week on Raw: Candice Michelle scored a victory over Jillian, then got a cheap shot on Beth Phoenix. Beth then got laid out by Batista. Layla provided the most entertaining promo on Raw. Oh and Kelly Kelly was seen with her ‘special’ friend (and by special we mean retarded), Mike Adamle.

Thoughts & Reactions
Karma’s a bitch! The theme of this week’s Raw Redux was set to be the same as last week’s: shitty booking. Well just moments before I began writing this column, I read that Raw did a dismal 2.6 rating last night and I’d like to be the first to offer my own “hawhaw”. It just goes to show that WWE is making it’s fans tune out with crap, non-sensical booking. A freakin’ toddler could poke holes through some of the nonsense that WWE had our Divas doing last night. First of all, if Beth Phoenix hates Candice so much – if they have such an intense feud – why would Beth simply walk out behind Candice? Why wouldn’t she try and clock Candice from behind with the title or something? And if Candice was so jonesing for a fight with Beth, why would she take a cheap shot and dropkick her as she is getting into the ring? Wasn’t the point that Candice wants to go face-to-face with Beth? Isn’t taking cheap shots heel-like? No Mercy is two weeks away and WWE hasn’t done a damn thing in selling this Women’s Championship match to me. In fact, it seemed WWE went in a completely different angle last night with Beth when they have a title match to promote!

Let’s start with Candice vs Jillian. Candice’s second match back on Raw and I know a lot of people were looking to see how she’d fare, I have to say it was a vast improvement over her return match. The work was much better and there was only one really visible botch to me. That said, I didn’t enjoy this match for a number of reasons. First of all, we all knew Jillian didn’t stand a chance against Candice but to actually have her control most of the match, it’s almost as though WWE was doing some damage control, having Jillian do most of the work so Candice didn’t mess up. What does it say for Candice if WWE is doing this? She has a huge title match in two weeks, WWE cannot hold her hand through her matches and I certainly don’t see any other Divas getting this favourable treatment. Candice got in some spots but it really was Jillian working over Candice for most of the match and we all know Jillian is the biggest jobber there is going, she barely got in a lick of offense against Mickie or Melina earlier this year. WWE definitely tried to protect Candice, contrary to what some of you reading this will try to insinuate, I am not trying to personally slight Candice. I’m just stating it the way I see it, WWE is holding Candice’s hand and one has to wonder how long they can continue to do so. This match was longer than the average Raw Divas match, which would’ve been good if it didn’t feel like the match was stuck on slow-motion. I could’ve aged a year between the time it took to go from one move to the next, Candice was slow. Whether that’s her being cautious coming off an injury, I will leave for you to speculate. Unusually for Raw, the crowd was pretty quiet for most of this match save for Jillian riling them up with her ‘singing’.

Later in the night, we had Beth getting verbally buried by both JBL and Batista, pretty much a slap in the face of the women’s division and I found it really rude and disrespectful to Beth. Sure she’s a heel, sure it’s meant to be ‘entertainment’, but if it had been one of the ‘models’ out there, I highly doubt JBL would insinuate that she was a man as he did to Beth last night with “Mr and Mr Phoenix.” That left a bad taste in my mouth, because it’s a cheap form of entertainment and really is a complete disregard for the huge push WWE has given Beth since becoming the Glamazon. Let’s just undo all that in one night…

Oh Layla, why you sparkle so? A promo from a Diva. An actual Diva promo. And Layla nailed it! Short as it was, Layla oozed confidence and personality and I loved the way she delivered her lines and I honestly think this was the best promo delivered on Raw last night. Yeah, way better than the likes of former World Champions Batista, Randy Orton and JBL. What does that say to you WWE? I really love this storyline and it was my favourite part of Raw. Plus we saw Katie Lea make her Raw return and Paul Burchill has returned from Neverland! I would love to see Layla, Regal, Katie and Paul form some sort of British faction. Layla and Katie could even team up and wrestle in the women’s division, it’d be fabulous! I do hope they name rename Layla, “Queen Layla” soon since Regal is the King of the Ring.

Kelly Kelly continues to appear in useless segments for the second week in a row because WWE can’t find anything better for her to do, but just wanna put her on TV because she’s hot. Bout sums it up. At least she didn’t wrestle because I’d have to call her moves ‘flashy’ and you know that’d expose my blind hate for her… Honestly though, poor Kelly. Bearing the brunt of WWE’s bad booking. Hopefully we’ll see her back next week. Mickie James was on the bench this week too and I think it’s much needed actually, she needs some time away.

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Women’s & Divas Champions Collide!

According to e-mails I received from a few readers, there will be a series of champion vs champion matches taking place on SmackDown’s debut show on MyNetworkTV on October 3rd. WWE aired a promo package on Raw last night to that affect, though I didn’t see it because I don’t live in the States. If … Read more