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Friday Night SmackDown

SmackDown Redux (March 12th, 2010): The Blonde and the Brawny

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It’s okay to look — SmackDown has returned to form! Hurrah! After an iffy week with not much going on last week, this week’s show was infinitely better with the blonde babyfaces proving the Divas moniker to be true — they were smart, they were sexy and oh yes, they were powerful! You’d expect little else from the Glamazon Beth Phoenix… but Tiffany? Tiffany?! I was not expecting anything out of the former ECW GM upon reading the spoilers for this week but Tiffany girl, consider my eyes opened. Tiff Tiff shocked the hell out of me with her rather great in-ring debut on SmackDown — perhaps one of the better ones in recent years from the model-types.

This week’s action kicked off with Tiffany backstage with Teddy Long. Vickie Guerrero comes in and tries to put Tiffany in her place but Teddy tells Vickie that Tiff’s here to be a Diva in the women’s division, not a GM. Going all the way back to Tiffany’s first night as GM on ECW, I thought her acting was more convincing here — she’s improved. Still though, and this is probably the same for most of the Divas, she isn’t great.

Next we have Tiffany making her in-ring debut against Michelle McCool as ordered by Guerrero.

McCool makes her entrance first with Vickie now joining the Simply Flawless team and awkwardly taking part in their entrance. Next out is the newest Diva, Tiffany and for a second I had to wonder if I was watching the right show. She seriously looked like something fresh out of Wrestlicious. With that ring attire and music she comes across as a cliched character on TakeDown. It’s hard to take the girl seriously when she looks like that, I really hope she finds a decent ring attire with some pants or shorts soon.

As Tiffany approaches the ring, some nice expressions from Michelle with her looking bored and uninterested in the new Diva. McCool, taking Tiffany lightly, mocks her skirt [thank you!] and tries to intimidate the former ECW GM by shoving her down to the canvas. Tiffany jumps straight back up but McCool again mocks the Diva by taking a time up for some press ups. Tiffany runs at McCool surprising her with her feistiness and throws a few jibes of her own at the Women’s Champ. Michelle walks into a nicely executed atomic drop by Tiffany followed by two impactful clotheslines. Already, I’m impressed. Frankly, I was expecting a flimsy kind of Kelly-esque moveset from Tiffany with less than believable clotheslines but Tiffany’s clotheslines connected and they connected hard. She looked powerful and dominant which is great when you need to choreograph and sell your moves. Perhaps her background in power lifting helps? Tiffany then goes for a low dropkick on Michelle, kind of jumping in the air to execute it. Hmm, it looked a little odd but again, it connected and looked believable which is already the antithesis of some of the ‘model’ girls we see on Raw. Tiffany then kicks Michelle through the ropes and then somewhat surprisingly, jumps right out of the ring herself and goes after the champ some more! Gotta love that aggression.

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SmackDown Redux (March 5th, 2010): Diva Power Struggle

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Who has the upper hand when you pit Beth Phoenix versus Vickie Guerrero? Looks like we’re about to find out. The latest WWE Diva power struggle pits the unlikely ‘Diva’ Guerrero up against the Glamazon and despite their obvious mismatch in terms of wrestling ability, in all other aspects they’re pretty much tit-for-tat. In kayfabe, Guerrero is the authoratative consultant GM for the SmackDown brand — giving her the right to book matches, make decisions and even fire people. Meanwhile the Glamazon is a talent that colours outside of the lines and doesn’t necessarily care about authority. Is she really intimidated by Vickie?

Watch this week’s SmackDown segment below:

New Women’s Champ, Michelle McCool and Layla are backstage thanking Vickie for her help in winning her the belt last week against Mickie James. The duo present Vickie with a ‘Team Flawless’ top and make her a member of the group. However, up sneaks Beth Phoenix who tells Vickie she wants a shot at the title but Vickie says she’ll get a shot when Vickie says so. Power struggle ensues. Beth says Vickie shouldn’t cross her, Vickie says she’s not intimidated by Beth and that Beth shouldn’t cross her either.

Interesting development here. It seems as though Beth is slotting into that antagonistic role to Vickie that Mickie held until she went away to have her knee surgery. Honestly, I’d hope this will all result in Beth getting a title shot at WrestleMania in a few weeks but I’m not holding my breath. I think the set-up here is exciting as Beth, unlike Mickie, doesn’t come across as a goody-two-shoes type. Beth comes across as a character that marches to the beat of her own drum and doesn’t care about what the GM thinks and that contrasted with Vickie Guerrero should be great to see develop.

Honestly given that it was such a short segment, there’s not much more to analyse. Like I said, I’d like to see this lead to a match at ‘Mania though.

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SmackDown Redux (February 26th, 2010): A Modern Day Diva Screwjob

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Earlier this week, WWE announced that the victim of the ‘original screwjob’, Wendi Richter would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April. Coincidence, then, that in the same week another Diva is the victim of a modern day screwjob. That Diva is Mickie James, a who woman who seemingly had the odds stacked against her this week on SmackDown. See the drama unfold below:

The odds didn’t look good last week, when Vickie Guerrero announced that Mickie would defend her Women’s Championship against Michelle McCool this week with Guerrero serving as guest referee. Factor in Layla at ringside and you had to wonder could Mickie unleash her inner ‘Super Cena’ to overcome the odds? Many, including I, expected Mickie to somehow retain the title. So imagine my shock and awe when I read that McCool had taken the title from James just three weeks after losing it at the Royal Rumble. Vickie Guerrero, who has proven to be quite the thorn in many a Superstar’s life [just ask Edge], can now add Mickie to the list of stars she’s screwed over.

We begin with Guerrero being introduced as the guest referee to a chorus of deafening boos. She’s followed by the challenger, McCool and run-in buddy Layla, sporting new red hoodies. The champion, James is last to enter the arena. Vickie holds up the Women’s Championship before the bout begins in a rather official manner. Nice touch.

As the bell rings, Michelle and Mickie look up before Michelle applies a side headlock to the champion. Mickie throws Michelle against the ropes but she comes back with a shoulder block and knocks the smaller statured James to the canvas. Michelle goes against the ropes again but is met by a dropkick from Mickie followed by a low dropkick. Mickie then paces towards McCool but is met with a kick to gut. McCool throws Mickie into the corner, Mickie this time is the one to hit Michelle with a kick to the gut. Mickie then hits a neckbreaker on Michelle and goes for a pin cover. Convienently, Layla jumps up on the apron and referee Vickie is forced to deal with the intrusion while Mickie in the ring, could have pinned Michelle to retain.

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SmackDown Redux (February 20th, 2010): A Bit of This, A Bit of That

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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.

Next up, we have six person tag team action:

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SmackDown Spoilers: February 19th, 2010

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Spoilers for this Friday’s SmackDown are in. Click ‘show’ to read:

Spoiler
* Teddy Long is shown backstage. He says he will take action against Shawn Michaels for super kicking him on RAW. Mickie James comes in and Vickie Guerrero announces it will be Mickie vs. Michelle McCool next week with Vickie as the referee.

• • •

* Maria, Matt Hardy and The Great Khali vs. The Hart Dynasty is up next. The Dynasty gets the win when Natalya pins Maria. Maria walks up the ramp pissed off with Matt right behind her apologizing.

• • •

* Maria is shown backstage arguing with Matt Hardy about him letting their team down. Michelle McCool and Layla come in and make fun of them. (Source: ImpactWrestling.com)

Thoughts after the cut:

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SmackDown Redux (February 12th, 2010): Going Around in Circles

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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.

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The “Piggie James” Impact

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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.

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SmackDown Spoilers: February 12th, 2010

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Spoilers for this Friday’s SmackDown are in. Click ‘show’ to read:

EDIT: More detailed spoilers have been added.

Spoiler
* Layla and McCool antagonize Mickie James about eating a piece of fruit. McCool suggests that she eats a plate of cottage cheese for the title to fit around her waist, but Layla suggested that Mickie just opts for the Mark Henry belt extender. A frustrated Mickie slapped the plate out of Michelle’s hand and into Vickie Guerrero’s face.

• • •

Mickie makes her way to the ring to go one on with Layla but before the match could get off to a good start, Vickie cut in with her “Excuse Me”. Vickie made it a handicap match, and McCool who was not dressed to compete took her belt off her jeans and took her shoes off to fight barefoot. There was a blooper midway through the match when Layla broke up a pin fall with a kick as her tights fell off (think HHH mooning Vince when DX reunited in 06). She hurriedly pulled her pants up. McCool wins the match with a Faith Breaker.

• • •

* Matt Hardy and Khali defeated The Hart Dynasty. Matt was very over like always here, and before the match started he introduced his Valentine, Maria who came out to the biggest Diva pop of the night. Matt worker the majority of the match, and the finish came when Natalya tried to cheat. Maria Lou Thesz presses Natalya on the outside while Matt rolls up Kidd for the win. After the match Khali, Singh, Matt, and Maria pose together, and once up the ramp Matt and Maria stopped to do the old Hardy/V1 combo pose together. (Source: PWInsider.com)

Thoughts after the cut:

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SmackDown Redux (February 5th, 2010) – New Champion, Same Drama

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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.

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SmackDown Spoilers: February 5th, 2010

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Spoilers for this Friday’s SmackDown are in. Click ‘show’ to read:

EDIT: Spoilers with more detail have been added, thanks to Diva Dirt reader C-Ray:

Spoiler
Mickie came out to a pretty good pop. She thanked the fans, and said “We did it” and things about being real. Beth came out to a decent pop as well. They exchanged words about facing each other for the Women’s Title, anytime, anywhere. Then Vickie came out saying Excuse me, and I swear to God, they booed the sh*t out of her! I’ve never seen ANY female get that kind of heel heat before in my life! To be honest, the only people throughout the entire taping that were even close to heel heat were Chris Jericho and CM Punk, and that’s just by a strand of hair! Vickie was cutting a promo and making the match, but I couldn’t understand half of what she was saying. The booing was that loud and that intense. Oh yeah, the match was Mickie and Beth vs Michelle and Layla.

• • •

Michelle and Layla both came out with matching hoodies that said Piggie James. I think. They took them off near the entranceway.

• • •

Michelle and Beth started off, and Michelle was getting womanhandled by Beth for the most part, Beth tagged in Mickie and she worked on Michelle for a little while, and then Beth knocked Mickie out, Michelle was shocked and then smiled, and Beth did too (kinda in a somewhat lesbian way) before Beth planted Michelle as well. She walked off with Michelle crawling to Layla, going to try to take care of Mickie, but that didn’t work out as Mickie surprised Layla with a rollup for the win. Michelle was irate, and Beth and Mickie had a staredown from the ring and entrance way.

Thoughts after the cut:

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Weekly Serena Watch (Week 1): Rolling with DX

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SmackDown newcomer, Serena may have been conspicuously missing from the SmackDown Redux yesterday but we felt that the Redux should solely concentrate on Diva storylines, but that’s not to say we don’t want to see what our favourite bald Diva’s up to! ‘Weekly Serena Watch‘, not to be confused with the previous ‘Weekly Savannah Watch’, … Read more

SmackDown Redux (January 29th, 2010) – The Joke’s Over, Folks

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For the past few months, the storyline on SmackDown has centered around Mickie James‘ weight with the Diva being taunted and called ‘Piggie James’. WWE even went as far as to create a graphic like the old Looney Tunes cartoons saying, “That’s all, folks” — a line reused by Michelle McCool on this week’s SmackDown. What became evident on this week’s SmackDown is that the joke is wearing thin and to WWE, I say: “The joke’s over, folks.”

Women’s Champion Michelle McCool discusses the huge favour she did for the fans by running Mickie James off SmackDown last week — complete with replays! Michelle then challenges any of the girls to face her right then and there for the Women’s Championship in lieu of her Royal Rumble match with Mickie. James’ music hits but instead of Mickie, out comes Layla in a fat suit wearing a similar outfit to Mickie’s signature ring attire — complete with hat! Cue a ‘hell to the no’ look on the face of the viewer but the anger soon subsides as Layla begins jiggling around on stage and as offensive as I found it, I couldn’t help but giggle at Layla’s delivery which had some humour in it.

Layla as ‘Piggie James’ makes her way down the ramp before getting on the microphone claiming she didn’t get enough food last week. It was mean but funny. Layla then gets into the ring challenging Michelle for the belt, Layla runs at Michelle in the corner who moves out of the way and trips Layla before pinning her for the win.

The underlying Mickie bullying continues and after last week’s humiliation it was hard to top that this week. I think WWE did such an amazing job last week in making Mickie relatable to the audience and then not to even have her on the show this week was ridiculous. They had an opportunity to capitalise on the way they used her last week and blew it. A quick backstage promo saying she would be at the Rumble and she would prove herself there would have done the trick, I mean how hard could a quick segment like that be? Instead what we got was more childish humour that makes you not care about the angle. Instead of making it seem like a true storyline, as it came across last week, with us wanting to root for Mickie — what WWE has done has made fans roll their eyes and want the childish drama to be over. There’s only so many shenanigans that you can pull off before they start to wear thin and this one did wear thin on the audience.

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SmackDown Spoilers: January 29th, 2010

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Check below for spoilers for Friday’s show by clicking the ‘+’ to read:

SmackDown - January 29th, 2010
* Michelle McCool interview. She says she is going to send Piggy James back to the barnyard for good, etc. Then ends by say Mickie went wee, wee, wee all the way home. Michelle issues an ope challenge to the locker room. Mickie James’ music hits and Layla comes out in a fat suit with a pig nose dressed like Mickie James.

• • •

* Michelle McCool vs. Layla (dressed as Piggy James). Layla slowly chases McCool around the outside of the ring, back in and goes for a splash. McCool pins her for the win. The crowd lets them hear it with “boring” chants. (Source: WrestlingNewsWorld.com)

Thoughts after the cut:

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SmackDown Redux (January 22nd, 2010): Seminal Moment for SmackDown

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It’s official: this is where women’s wrestling is at. SmackDown, in my humble estimation, is now the premiere series to be watching if you are looking for women’s wrestling on your televisual boxes. That was never more evident than tonight’s episode, where despite not even having a match, SmackDown proved that it is the show that everyone should be watching. Compelling storylines, well written characters and great performances — it’s hard not to do double-take. This is WWE, right? Despite the recent years of fluff and disappointment, WWE have delivered perhaps one of their strongest Divas storylines in quite some time and this week’s show is a seminal moment in what I expect will be a turning of the tide. There’s nothing Diva-y about this week’s SmackDown, to spin the old line used by WCW — this is where the big girls play.

Beginning this week’s Divas action, we saw the debut of Serena Mancini in what may go down as one of the most memorable debuts in Diva history.

PART 1

PART 2

Serena appears as a fan jumping the barricade during another scintilating straight edge promo from CM Punk, claiming she needs him. He says she knows he needs him. Honestly, the initial dialogue was as cheesy as a Twilight movie and I was expecting Punk to throw in a “You are my life now” at some point. That said, it did get better and Punk is golden at his whole shtick. We see Serena willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and denounce her life of addiction etc. and has her shaved head in the name of her saviour, Punk.

All in all, I think this was a good segment and Serena played the cult-like psycho very well. It’ll be interesting to see how she’s used from here with her bald head. I hope this works out for her, it’s a great sacrifice to make but she’s in the big leagues now. I hope she didn’t sacrifice this just to be the glorified bald manager for Punk’s Straight Edge Society. The setup of that group doesn’t really suggest to me that it’ll have a typical manager/wrestler dynamic ala Hart Dynasty. I expect we’ll see Serena actually getting nitty-gritty and I look forward to it. Perhaps she herself could target a Diva and try to ‘help’ them?

Next up, Mickie’s ‘going away’ party:

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SmackDown Spoilers: January 22nd, 2010

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Check below for spoilers for Friday’s show by clicking the ‘+’ to read:

SmackDown - January 22nd, 2010
* CM Punk and Luke Gallows come out saved another fan. This time it is a hyper fan named Serena (Mia from FCW) and Punk shaves her long hair off till she is completely bald!!!

* Michelle McCool and Layla make fun of Mickie James with a buffet of food. Maria interferes and calls them morons. Mickie comes out and says Michelle and Layla think they are great but really they are nothing. She points at the audience and says this is what real women look like. She says Michelle will never run her off Smackdown. Michelle says the WWE fans get to watch Animal Planet and WWE at the same time when Mickie is on TV. Catfight ensues. Beth Phoenix runs in and helps Michelle and Layla. They shove a ‘Piggie’ cake into Mickie’s face and dump punch on her. Actually a great segment, believe it or not! (Source: PWInsider)

Thoughts after the cut:

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SmackDown Redux (January 15th, 2010) – Michelle’s Going in for the Kill

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The Lost-like wheel of fortune stops on Michelle McCool this week, continuing the analogy that each week a different Diva is the main focus of the SmackDown storyline. The Women’s Champion, who recently celebrated 200 days with the gold, threw her hat into the race to prove just who the most dominant Diva is on … Read more

Detailed SmackDown Spoilers for 1/15

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Diva Dirt reader Kristy sent in her own account of the action from last night’s SmackDown taping. The show airs on Friday. Click the ‘+’ to read:

SmackDown - January 15, 2010
Divas match was a short bout. Mickie James vs. Beth in a singles match with an interference by Michelle & Layla. Beth was pretty dominant throughout the match. The match never ended as Beth left up the ramp & then let LayCool come in to do their “business.” Michelle was lifting up her nose taunting Mickie (calling her a pig) and finished off with the Faith Breaker. All ladies looked great though. :)

Side note: Someone in the crowd yelled out “Let’s go fat-so!” (Something along these lines). It was pretty clearly heard but I’m not sure if it will be on the taping. Poor Mickie :(

Thoughts after the cut:

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SmackDown Redux (January 8th, 2010) – Layla’s Time to Shine

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She may not be the priority in the three-way feud between Beth Phoenix, Michelle McCool and Mickie James but this week on SmackDown, Layla proved to be the dark horse in this storyline — the glue, if you will, that has held this feud together and that was never more apparent than it was on tonight’s show. Her fantastic acting, comedy chops and hard work in the ring have made her the perfect go-to girl for much of this feud. It’s not Michelle McCool that’s getting in the ring on a weekly basis and wrestling Mickie James and Beth Phoenix — it’s Layla. And if you ask me, it’s the teaming of Michelle and Layla that has helped the Women’s Champion break out of her box and show more charisma and personality than she has in the past several years. She may be treated like a jobber in WWE but watching her work this week, it became obvious to me that without her, this feud wouldn’t have worked half as well as it has and she deserves credit for it.

A few weeks ago, I likened the ongoing SmackDown storyline as a little bit like Lost — each week, the story seems to center around a certain character with the events unfolding from their point of view. We have had Mickie James and Beth Phoenix take starring roles in previous weeks and it seems this week was Layla’s turn.

It all begins backstage…

Once again we have a backstage segment with ‘Piggie James’ jokes, this time Team Lay-Cool unveil a pig trough for Mickie. Lame. Layla cutely gets some lettuce in her mouth with Michelle flicking it away. I’m particularly liking the underlying situation with Michelle and Layla with the latter playing the Gretchen Wieners to Michelle’s Regina George; Michelle, the leader of the group, kind of deflects everything onto Layla [“I think you annoyed her”]. It could play into an interesting feud should Michelle and Layla ever split up.

Next we have Beth vs Layla:

Beth makes her entrance first followed by a somewhat hesitant Layla, who by the way looks a lot like Halle Berry in Catwoman in that attire. Somewhat new fact about Layla — she’s Moroccan and fluent in Arabic, thanks Matt Striker! I love Layla selling her being afraid from the outset, wary of Beth Phoenix as she makes her entrance and does her signature pose on the ring ropes. All too often these girls have little psychology when it comes to stuff like that, they’ll come down to the ring all smiley-faced and happy as usual even though they have a big match ahead of them. Granted, this isn’t exactly a huge Michelle-Mickie type grudge match, but it’s nice to give that vibe of Layla being afraid of Beth and it paints Beth in a great light as well.

Even as the match is about to start, Layla tries to call out to Michelle on the outside of the ring to help her and begs Beth not to go through with the match. Nice touch. Layla extends her hand for a handshake but Beth grabs it and uses it to shoulder-block Lay to the canvas. Beth then hoists Layla over her shoulder, again Layla is screaming for her life in great comedic fashion. Beth circles the spot dizzying Layla before dropping her front-first.

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