NXT season three kicks off tonight, but before that, we’re helping you get acquainted with the cast of NXT 3! Today, we look at Maxine, the current General Manager in FCW, who will be paired up with former Divas Champion, Alicia Fox.
Profile
This sassy 24-year old Latina hasn’t got much experience in the ring, but has made her mark in other ways in Florida Championship Wrestling in the past year. Maxine, real name Karlee Perez, made her debut as Candy Girl, managing Sweet Papi Sanchez. Upon leaving Sanchez, Candy Girl became Liviana and she aligned herself with whoever was in power, whether it’s Abraham Washington or Norman Smiley, cementing her reputation as a gold digger. Her ambitious attitude has recently netted her the position of FCW General Manager. Maxine has also made her mark in the ring as well:
Divas Champion, Melina has to be on cloud nine after single-handedly defeating BFF champions, Lay-Cool last week in a tag team match on Raw. What Melina didn’t expect is that she had to defend her title the very week, despite having a unification match at Night of Champions in a few weeks time. Watch below as Melina takes on the woman she defeated for the Divas Championship at SummerSlam, Alicia Fox:
Melina makes her way out to the ring first and poses for the fans in her usual fashion. Out next is her challenger Alicia, who apparently has something to say. Alicia informs Melina that she will not be competing at Night of Champions. Alicia goes on to say that she will become the ‘undefined champion of Divas’. Hey Alicia, ‘Undefined’, ‘Undisputed’ and ‘Unified’ do NOT mean the same thing. I guess we won’t be seeing Ms. Fox on the mic again anytime soon.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Alicia follows up by saying she has more Twitter followers than Melina and Lay-Cool combined. I have no idea how Alicia would know this since she has probably never logged into her Twitter account.
NXT season three kicks off next Tuesday night, but before that, we’re helping you get acquainted with the cast of NXT 3! Today, we look at Jamie Keyes, the former ring announcer for NXT season two, who will be paired up with The Bella Twins. Profile This 25-year old blonde bombshell has had quite a … Read more
NXT season three kicks off next Tuesday night, but before that, we’re helping you get acquainted with the cast of NXT 3! Today, we look at Aksana, who will be paired up with WWE Superstar, Goldust.
Profile
28-year old Aksana, real name Zivile Raudoniene, is a familiar face on the bodybuilding and fitness modeling circuit. The Lithuanian was signed by WWE sometime last year and has recently been hosting ‘The Aksana Show’ on FCW television.
In the spirit of full disclosure, the Diva Dirt team looooves Aksana. As fierce hot messes go, Aksana’s broken English is both highly entertaining and adorable. Regardez:
Obviously, from the clip above you will have learned that Aksana is freakin’ hilarious! “So nice to see you… whatchu gonna say.” Need I say more? Oh, go on then… “Waylish.” “What kind of girls you like.” Aksana’s amazing comedic value paired with Goldust will be gold!
After weeks of little to no direction for the SmackDown Divas, we finally have a storyline — albeit an interpromotional one — with Lay-Cool set to challenge Melina at Night of Champions to unify the Divas and Women’s Championships. If the objective for tonight’s SmackDown segment was to push that match, well, they did a good job. If the objective was for Layla’s commentary to overshadow and seem more important than the match in the ring, well, they also accomplished that too.
Watch below:
In a video that is 5 minutes long, you actually have to skip to the 2 minute mark for the match between Kelly Kelly and Michelle McCool to begin. 3 minutes for the match? Don’t expect a mat classic. However, as I said above, it looks like the match itself is second to the commentary so it’s not as though we’re expecting an in-ring spectacular.
As the bell rings, Kelly begins stomping at Michelle and then hitting a few forearms but before we can even see 10 seconds of action, the camera cuts to Layla at ringside. Granted, being a big fan of Layla’s mic work, I appreciate the opportunity to see her ramble endlessly but come on, there’s a match in the ring!
This week’s episode of TNA Reaction gives viewers the backstory of Tara’s return as ‘Mystery Biker Chick’ and why she aligned herself with Madison Rayne, who seemingly ended her TNA career back in May. Check it out below:
After weeks and weeks of pointless speculation, outlandish theories, and minor spoilers from other Knockouts, Tara finally showed her actual face on TNA television again. Absolute SHOCK reigned supreme in the Impact Zone and I’m sure I wasn’t the only person scratching my head at the dramatic turn of events! The announcers even seemed amazed. I mean hello! Tara is back and she’s helping the woman who ended her career no less! It’s mind boggling. It’s truly baffling. It’s more confusing that a statistical lecture in an 8am psychology class. It’s TNA! And in TNA, things don’t have to make sense!
Tonight we get underway with a pretty kick ass video package highlighting this feud between Velvet Sky, AngelinaLove, Madison Rayne, and Tara. They show some clips from what I can only assume is TNA Reaction of the women talking, and that leads into a Knockouts Tag Team Match. The theme music for the Beautiful People begins to play and Velvet and Angelina are announced. Instead of those two coming to the ring, however, Madison and the yet to be unmasked Tara ride out from their usual spot. They stand there and wait because eventually, the original BPs do make their way on stage. Angelina and Velvet have coordinated themselves tonight with silver and black ring gear, and Velvet is carrying a riding crop. They do their usual ring entrance, much to the disgust of Madison and Tara, and play to the crowd for a little bit. Madison and Tara cautiously make their way to the ring, but Velvet and Angelina have come for a fight and they cut them off before they make it any further. Angelina beelines for Madison, and Velvet starts laying the smackdown on Tara!
NXT season three kicks off next Tuesday night, but before that, we’re helping you get acquainted with the cast of NXT 3! Today, we look at AJ Lee, who will be paired up with WWE Superstar, Primo.
Profile
23-year old AJ, real name April Jeanette, was signed by WWE last spring. Prior to WWE, she had been working on the independent circuit as Miss April. AJ primarily worked in the New Jersey area for Women Superstars Uncensored where she was one half of the WSU Tag Team Champions at the time of her signing. Since joining WWE developmental, she had been going by the name AJ Lee and is the current Queen of FCW after defeating Serena for the crown on an episode of FCW TV.
Check out some of her work below:
AJ Lee vs Natalya
Defeating five other rookies should be no problem for AJ, as here she is hanging in there move-for-move with perhaps the most talented female wrestler in WWE, Natalya. Yeah, baby!
Former TNA Knockouts Champion, Tara (Lisa Marie Varon), took part in a video interview with ChicagoNow’s Geek To Me blog during Chicago Wizard World a couple of weeks ago. Watch below: Really fun, personable interview with Lisa. She has a great, humorous personality. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of this side … Read more
Last week on Monday Night Raw, BFF co-champs, LayCool told Melina they had an “offer she simply can’t refuse” for the 900th episode of Raw. As promised, LayCool appeared on Raw to inform the Divas Champion of their offer, but not before taking her on in a tag team match. Watch below as LayCool face off against Eve and the Divas Champion, Melina:
We come from commercial to find LayCool already in the ring, checking their reflections in their belts. (Belt? Half-belts?) Out next is the team of Melina and Eve, and LayCool welcome their fellow champ by running that ‘Lady Wawa’ joke even further into the ground. Without much pretense, the bell rings and our match is underway.
Michelle and Melina start off the match for their teams and right off the bat, McCool charge at Melina with a clothesline. Melina evades, and fights back with a flurry of forearms. While Michelle is still flustered, Melina charges Layla in the corner, knocking her to the floor. Unfortunately for Melina, Michelle McCool takes advantage of the distraction and floors her with a belly to belly slam for a near fall.
Before we even begin, I want to apologize for the severe lateness of this article. As I posted on my Twitter (@_trophyWAG), I lost my internet sometime during the morning on Friday and wasn’t able to have it fixed until late yesterday (Monday) afternoon. I’m sure by now the majority of you don’t care what happened on Impact and you certainly don’t want to rehash it, but I can’t leave a half-written piece just sitting around in drafts, haha. Anyway enjoy this shortened, super late Impact Write-Up!
On Thursday’s Impact, the ongoing saga of the Beautiful People continued but this time in the form of an in-ring segment. Angelina Love and Velvet Sky officially came together again and put their past behind them. The reunion celebration was short lived and a massive brawl ended up taking place.
Angelina and Velvet, reunited at last, both came out to the ring together this week in street clothes. They did their vintage Beautiful People entrance and I’m not sure if it’s just me, but boy was it weird to hear them get a face reaction. After a few minutes of posing and whatnot, Angelina took the microphone and the music faded out. She admitted that she has made quite a few mistakes in her life and said that Velvet has as well. But through it all, she honestly felt like the friendship she shared with Velvet was real and in the wrestling business, real friendships were hard to come by. Angelina continued on by saying that when she split from Velvet, and they went their separate ways, she felt like something was missing. Angelina made the assumption that all of us felt the same way and Velvet is quick to agree that she backs up that sentiment. That fans marked. Angelina said that she’s not always a perfect little angel and that when she wants too, she can be a pretty mean bitch. But she wants herself and Velvet to forgive and forget so both of them can move on with their lives. Velvet took the microphone next.
At long last, the FCW Watch has finally returned. With all the action going on in WWE’s farm territory as of late, we decided it was only fitting to get back on the ball when it comes to Florida Championship Wrestling. And what a week to do so! This weekend, FCW’s alpha females, AJ Lee and Naomi Night face off in a crown/titleunification match with the entire Diva roster at ringside. Check out the match below:
First out are the FCW Divas, all decked out in their Sunday best. This is also our first look at new Divas Celeste (now known as Ricki Vaughn) and Christina Crawford (Alicia Fox’s sister). Also at ringside, Aksana, Liviana and Raw Diva Tamina.
Next out is the Queen of FCW, AJ Lee followed by the FCW Divas Champion, Naomi Night (HEEEEEEYYY!!!). The top Divas shoot each other a few glares before the bell rings and the match gets underway. The ladies lock up, but AJ quickly gets the upperhand with a side headlock. Naomi manages to whip AJ Lee off and into the ropes, but is laid out with a shoulder block. AJ hits the ropes, looking to capitalize, but Naomi kips up and counters with her patented Booty Call butt bump for a near fall.
The champ tries to keep the heat on but AJ reverses into a school boy pin with the help of a handful of hair. Not to be outdone, Naomi executes a split-legged backslide followed by a few armdrags for another two count. Naomi tries to follow up with a scoopslam, but AJ wiggles out and into a waistlock, which is quickly reversed by Naomi. The champ tries to roll the queen up, but AJ holds onto the ropes sending Naomi rolling across the ring. Before Naomi can get her wits about her, AJ comes charging and hits a vicious Shining Wizard, but only gets a two count.
A couple of new video interviews have surfaced. The first is Brie and Nikki Bella at San Diego Comic Con earlier this month, and secondly, another red carpet interview with Melina at the SmackDown vs Raw 2011 community event also earlier this month.
Big FCW post for you… we’ve got a fan report, pictures and video footage from Friday’s FCW live event in Fort Myers. Diva Dirt reader Bobby Lea Burchill sent us the following:
Before the show, I got to meet Christina Crawford, Isis the Amazon and Ricki Vaughn (formerly known as Celeste). All three were very nice and friendly, Christina especially. As reported earlier, Isis asked if it was alright before she took pics with fans, but she was nice about it. Ricki looks really good, and she shared the ring announcing duties for the night, not doing a bad job at all. Christina looks almost identical to Alicia, just with a darker color to her hair.
Onto the show, the Divas match was the third match of the show, and it was announced as a tag match. When Ricki introduced the team of Naomi Night & Aksana, I thought they were gonna run around the ring and slap hands, etc… but they came out in full on heel mode. They scowled at fans, refused to slap hands, and posed as they walked around the ring. Not only that, but Night ditched her braids and had purple bangs. And then out came Liviana and AJ Lee, to new music (no more Trinity theme), who were faces. This had me wondering if they really are being groomed for NXT, because AJ has been changed back to a face for the show, and more boldly, Naomi didn’t have her braids, but changed it to a normal hairstyle for Divas.
Anarchy Championship Wrestling has released the following free match online between Athena (soon to be seen at the SHIMMER pre-show, SPARKLE) and SHIMMER and soon to be ROH on HDNet star, Rachel Summerlyn. Check it out below:
There’s really not much to talk about this week in the SmackDown Redux because there wasn’t any Divas action. Sorry Lay-Cool fans! Instead, you can get your fix of those two Monday night on Raw.
Tonight’s episode of SmackDown, however, was Serena‘s final appearance on WWE television. Shortly after this episode was taped last Wednesday, Serena was informed of her release. The news broke this past Monday and quite eerily, it makes Serena’s final moments all the more poignant:
After picking up a win over JTG, CM Punk brings his minions into the ring for a dressing down. Perhaps I’m watching that much more closer since I know that Serena’s been let go, but interestingly, she was the only of the three disciples not to raise her arm in salute to their Straight Edge Savior. Defiant!
More eerily, when Punk bellows: “Be better or be gone,” he’s pretty much looking at Serena. ‘Be gone’? Well, that she certainly did do. I expect that they’ll explain next week that Serena caved and couldn’t handle it anymore — if they explain her absence at all.
This week on TNA Reaction, we go behind the scenes of the awesome in-ring confrontation between the original Beautiful People and Madison Rayne and Mystery Biker Chick. Plus, see those controversial comments first hand… Skip to the 03:30 minute mark As in previous weeks, I’m really enjoying this show and the behind the scenes look … Read more
A lot of us, myself included, were skeptical that the WWE could follow up their best NXT episode of the season with something amazing this week. And low and behold, those of us who were skeptical were right. NXT was nothing more than a lackluster show tonight and unfortunately, that meant all of us got the shaft when it came to Laykavool awesomeness. Maybe the WWE is simply saving all their cards for a jam packed season finale next week?
NXT kicked off with Jamie Keyes introducing the WWE pros. Laycool come out in their Flawless hoodies, with MichelleMcCool in skintight jeans and Layla in small little shorts. MVP, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, and Zach Ryder are there in attendance as well. The remaining pros are still on tour seeing as how this episode was taped last week. The rookies come out next and it’s insane to me that it’s down to the final three. Kaval, Alex Riley, and Michael McGillicutty walk out and join Matt Striker in the ring. He introduces them as the final three and asks them how it feels to be in the finals of NXT. McGillicutty goes first.
Michael begins his speech by acknowledging the WWE Universe. He says he has the greatest job in the world and how these have been the greatest days of his life. He gives a shout out to Kofi, for helping him along the way, and Michael says that performing in the same ring as his father has made his entire journey worth it.
Last week, Jillian managed to score her first win in almost a year, pinning Eve in a 6 Diva tag match. As a reward for her hard earned win, WWE decided to give her a shot at the Divas Championship against Melina on this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw. Will The Shrill Songstress be able to pull out the win over The Paparazzi Princess? Check out the match below and find out:
We come to ring after commercial to find Jillian in the ring with her ever-present headset. She lets everyone in attendance know that she’s about to become Divas Champion once again, before torturing serenading us all with her own rendition of “Not Afraid” by Eminem, prompting Michael Cole to start singing as well. Kill me now… Fortunately for us, Melina’s music hits, cutting Jillian’s performance short. Melina makes her way to the ring in her usual extravagant fashion and the referee rings the bell, signaling the start of the match.
The two start off with a lock-up with Jillian getting the upperhand and pushing Melina to ropes, forcing a break. Surprisingly, Jillian breaks clean but goes right back on the attack with a stiff forearm. Jillian tries to follow up but is stopped in her tracks by a headscissor/heel kick combo from the champion. Melina tries to keep the heat on Jillian with a kick to the gut but is caught and pulled down into a painful looking split. Jillian goes to kick Melina in the back, but the A-List Diva ducks the attempt and lands a kick of her own, sending Jillian across the ring and into the ropes.
WSU has released the following video of Angel Orsini discussing her new ‘All Guts No Glory’ Championship that she introduced to the company on August 6th. Watch below:
It’s the “Better Late than Never” edition of our Lucha Libre USA write-up! Two weeks ago, we saw the emergence of Amazing Kong, rising from the waters of Tokyo Bay…err…I mean, making her return to television. This week we have a rematch: it will be Mini Park & Amazing Kong taking on The Fabulous Chi Chi and Tigresa Caliente. Can the Tigress bury her fangs into her opponent? Or will Kong triumph again? Watch below!
Out first is The Fabulous Chi Chi (sporting a pink bikini top and white skirt bottom…can I call him Skirt Chi Chi now? Also a red boa and hot pink wig & boots. Hot!) and Tigresa Caliente (wearing the same tiger-striped outfit & mask as last week – LOVE it! Especially the mask!). The duo look supremely confident as they enter the ring. Out next is Mini Park, then Amazing Kong. Stoic looking as ever, her glare as she enters the ring is enough to send Chi Chi and Tigresa scurrying to the outside. We go to break before the match begins.
Back from commercial and we’re starting off with Mini Park vs Chi Chi. They mix it up for a minute or two before Tigresa enters the ring (without a tag, much like last time) and forearms Park in the back. She gets him in a full nelson but before Chi Chi can take advantage, Park kicks Chi Chi, then elbows Tigresa in the face! Chi Chi whips Park off the ropes, laying down infront of him but Park jumps over him, Tigresa jumps over Park, then jumps over him AGAIN on the rebound, and she dodges the springboard moonsault attempt – only to be nailed by a dropkick from Park! Chi Chi has exited the ring but at this point re-enters to battle Park. Tigresa wisely rolls to the outside as the two rumble on the inside.
For those who couldn’t stay up late to watch last night’s free stream of matches presented by Japan’s S-Ovation Co. Ltd., you can catch the replay below. The two matches on offer were: 1. Toshie Uematsu vs. Misaki Ohata 2. Aja Kong & Kagetsu vs. Tomoka Nakagawa & Hiroyo Matsumoto
This week’s SmackDown saw the WWE television in-ring debut of one Serena, a Diva who has been much buzzed about ever since she was signed to a developmental contract last year. Why? Because Serena, prior to WWE, was one of the most talented young things on the independent circuit and shot to the top of the card in SHIMMER. The time has finally arrived for Serena to step into the WWE ring in a mixed tag also featuring Kelly Kelly.
As background context to this segment, in an earlier backstage scene, Luke Gallows and Serena were told by their stable leader CM Punk that if they didn’t win tonight, they would be kicked out of the Straight Edge Society. Would Serena and Luke go the way of the dodo and er, Darren Young from Monday night? Let’s find out…
Serena is billed as having trained hard over the past few months under the tutelage of Punk. We’re to believe that she has no previous wrestling experience and is a beginner in the ring.
Say what you will about the Big Show’s in ring work (*cough*), but for Kelly to be teamed up with one of the SmackDown brand’s top stars is a big deal and a huge coup for her. After all, the most that the Raw Divas can muster up is teaming with the Superstars roster.
We kick things off with Show and Gallows but Gallows quickly tags out to Serena which means it’s Diva time! Kelly goes to lock up with Serena but get a kick to the stomach and an elbow across her back. Serena picks up Kelly and begins screaming in her face but K2 uses her legs to kick free of Serena’s hold and hits her with a couple of really flimsy looking forearms. (Need some work on that K2). Kelly whips Serena into the corner, riles up the crowd and goes for her handspring elbow. Serena, meanwhile, sees the move coming and clubs her opponent over the back, knocking her to the ground.
On last week’s Impact, the entire world witnessed Angelina Love win yet another TNA Knockouts Championship. The response to her historic victory was pretty underwhelming and rightfully so. Madison Rayne had been doing a phenomenal job as champion and why the title was taken from her we’ll never know. Seeing Angelina as champion brings nothing to the division that wasn’t there before but that’s just the state of wrestling these days. What’s done is done and there’s no use in questioning it anymore. It’s a brand new week and on this week’s Impact, we were treated to a Knockouts Championship rematch featuring Angelina and Madison.
Before the match go underway, we were treated to backstage promo featuring Angelina and Christy Hemme. Christy told all of us that tonight Madison was evoking her rematch clause and that there was a good chance that she wouldn’t be alone. Angelina said that with Madison it was never a fair fight because she was scared. Angelina reminded us of the last time she was Knockouts Champion. She complained that she had to literally give the belt back to Madison because the former title holder threw a little hissy fit. Angelina went on to say that Madison would only get the title back if she pried it from the champ’s cold, dead hands. Then she teased that she would have her own back-up with her tonight.
The challenger, the aforementioned Madison was the first Knockout to make her way to the ring tonight. She didn’t enter in the usual, Beautiful People fashion either. She rode out to the ring on the back of a motorcycle driven by Tara Mystery Woman. Madison was in a foul mood upon entering the ring and she started screaming at everyone in site. She jawed with a few fans and then turned her PMS rage to Earl Hebner. Eventually, Angelina’s music began to play and the Knockouts Champion made her way to the ring. She paused at the end of the entrance ramp and waited for the music of her back-up to start playing. A few seconds later, the Beautiful People theme started to play again and a delicious looking Velvet Sky made her way out. Madison flipped out upon seeing Velvet and she demanded that Mystery Woman get out of the ring and go take care of business. Mystery Woman made a beeline for Angelina, and Madison and Velvet headed for one another.
New Divas Champion, Melina was part of the SmackDown vs Raw 2011 ‘Community Event’ earlier this week in LA and was interviewed on the red carpet by GamerLive.tv. Find out what she had to say below: Really cute interview. I guess we can pretty much deduce from this interview that Melina will join Eve Torres … Read more
