Earlier today, Mickie James dropped by FoxNews.com’s The Strategy Room for a chat and performance. You can watch her performance of ‘Freedom Song’ from album, ‘Strangers & Angels’ below. For a recap of her interview and other performance, click here. Watch the latest video at FOXNews.com
Continuing her promotional spree, Mickie James made a brief appearance on Fox & Friends early this morning. Check it out below: Watch the latest news video at video.foxnews.com It seems like most of Mickie’s appearances have been almost too short. Mickie will next be appearing on The Strategy Room which airs online at 11.45am ET … Read more
Returning TNA Knockout, Angelina Love is the focus of the latest episode of TNA Today, discussing her return from injury. The Knockout makes her Impact return tonight. Watch below:
Watch the latest episode of WSU Uncensored below:
Oh yes! You’ve heard of voguing and there’s even something called the ‘Migraine Skank’ these days, but former Divas Champion Maryse debuted her own dance this past weekend at the Raw house shows. Diva Dirt reader Frank sent these links in. Watch below!
Watch another clip after the cut.
Can anyone think of a name for Maryse’s dance trend?
After a few lackluster weeks of Raw (1, 2) and an entertaining few weeks of WWE Superstars (1, 2), it was inevitable that those two paths would cross, and they have, in the form of both a match made for this Sunday’s Fatal Four-Way PPV and a tag team match tonight.
This Sunday, Eve Torres will be defending her Divas Championship in a fatal four-way against Maryse, Gail Kim, and Alicia Fox. This, in a sense, is converging two parties that are on opposite paths: Eve and Maryse, whose feud is treading serious water, and Gail and Alicia, whose match last week was more entertaining than anything going on in the Divas Championship feud. Likely, this was just becuase of the “fatal four-way” theme of the event, but I’d like ot think that the WWE was impressed with Gail and Alicia’s work and wanted to reward them. If that’s the case, they certainly didn’t show that tonight, as Gail teamed with Eve and Alicia teamed with Maryse for some tag team action:
Before the match can begin, Maryse gets a shove in on Eve and skirts away before she can retaliate. She decides to start the match for her team, though, and gets a leg up on Eve with a series of forearms that back her into the ropes. Once she lets go, Eve kicks her in the stomach and slams her to the mat by her head. She runs the ropes, but Alicia stops her by grabbing a fistful of hair. Eve turns and takes a wild swing at her, but Alicia manages to stay out of reach. The moment Eve turns back around, Maryse nails her with a wild kick, hitting her square in the neck. She attempts a pin, but Eve kicks out at 2.
She tags in Alicia, and they double-team Eve with a face plant. Alicia goes for another pin, but Eve kicks out a 2 again. Alicia hits a suplex that she bridges into a pin, getting a 2-count. Showing considerably more frustration than Maryse, Alicia pounds Eve’s head a bit and jams her knee into the side of it. She has some words (or rather, just a look) with the referee before snapping Eve up in a sleeper hold. She holds onto the move aggressively, practically mounted on Eve’s back. Eve manages to fight out with some wild elbows, but before she can truly free herself Alicia slams her down.
Alicia drags her by the hair to her corner, tagging in Maryse. Alicia holds Eve prone while Maryse lays a kick into her midsection. She grabs Eve by the hair and slams her face to the mat. Apparently, this is enough for her, and she tags Alicia back in, holding Eve up for a kick from Alicia.
Here is the unseen Knockouts match from last week’s episode of TNA Impact. The match was cut from the Spike TV broadcast of the show on Thursday but aired internationally in the UK and Australia. Watch below:
For the first time since becoming Women’s Champion, Layla finally gets herself a singles match on SmackDown, facing off against another Diva that has been impressing of late, Tiffany. On paper, this was an exciting opportunity for both rising Divas to show what they can do in the ring. How did it play out in execution? Watch the match below:
It’s great to see a fresh, new match up on SmackDown especially given the shallow talent pool that the brand has at the moment. We’ve only seen Tiffany in singles action against Michelle thus far, so I have been anticipating these two squaring off for a while.
Lay-Cool are out first with their NXT Rookie, Kaval in tow. As Layla and Michelle McCool take off their hoodies in their signature entrance, they toss it over Kaval’s head as if he were a coat rack. As they approach the ring, Lady McCool has the bottom rope held down for her by Butler Kaval as she enters.
It’s promo time now. The duo make Kaval hold their belts before addressing the crowd. Lay-Cool mock the crowd, yadda, yadda. Oh hey, Michelle’s parents are in the crowd. Kelly’s mom is too, but apparently she’s not important enough to be shown on camera. Oops. More mocking the crowd.
Tiffany Tiffany is out next with her own personal manager for the night, Kelly Kelly — they are dubbed the Blondetourage by Matt Striker.
The match kicks off with Layla delivering a hefty slap across Tiffany’s face but the rookie Diva fights back with some vicious forearms. We’re already off to a nice, aggressive start! Tiffany tries to whip Layla into the corner, but she reverses — Tiffany manages to catch herself in the corner and hoists herself up using the ropes with her legs now on Layla’s shoulders. Layla grabs her legs and throws them over the top rope and Tiffany lands on her feet on the apron. Layla screams at Tiffany and grabs her by the head but Tiffany fights back with another forearm and a shoulder block through the ropes. Tiffany tries to climb the ropes but Layla delivers a beautiful kick as Tiffany takes a bump to the apron.
Last week’s episode of WWE Superstars gave us two solid Divas matches, one of them being one of the best Divas matches (in my opinion) so far this year. That match featured Gail Kim, and this week we’re treated to another Kim showing. This time, she’s taking on Alicia Fox:
The Divas start with a tie-up, and Alicia gains control, locking Gail into a side headlock. She quickly brings it to the mat, flipping Gail to the ground while keeping the hold locked. Alicia gets back to her feet and Gail fights free, but it stopped in her tracks when Alicia yanks her to the mat by her hair. Alicia goes for a pin and Gail kicks out rather quickly. She latches on another side headlock, but Gail soon pushes her against the ropes, shoving her across the ring and freeing herself. On the return, however, Alicia knocks her down with sheer momentum.
Alicia makes a move for the ropes, but Gail grabs a leg, stopping her short and causing her to land face-first on the mat. Gail quickly bridges over Alicia for a pin, but she kicks out. After a few blows dealt to Alicia, Gail goes for another pin, but the result is the same. Alicia manages to reverse an irish-whip from Gail, sending her into the corner. She eats boot when she tries to attack Gail, and is subsequently sent flying with a hurricanrana. Alicia, with her long legs, is sent all the way to the other side of the ring and is practically hanging out of it. Gail stops Alicia from mounting a return attack, keeping her against the ropes.
Alicia uses the ropes as a refuge for a moment, darting away from am attack by Gail but turning right into a body splash. She manages to catch Gail, though, and rams her into the corner. She suplexes Gail and bridges into a pin, getting a 2-count. Frustrated, she starts to play a little dirty with Gail, ramming her hair against the mat and grabbing some hair. She hits a body slam and takes a moment to pose a bit for the crowd, looking quite confident as she winks and sends out an air kiss.
Gail takes advantage of this self-distraction, battling back and going for a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Alicia manages to stop her momentum, though, and hoists Gail up, slamming her down into a backbreaker.
As debuted this past week on Monday Night Raw, here is the new, official entrance video for Lay-Cool:
Erm, really? The Knockouts Championship is being defended on… the Internet? Whatever, TNA’s logic gives me a headache. But nonetheless, here’s the match between Madison Rayne and infrequently seen former Knockouts Champion, Taylor Wilde.
Despite the video logging in at 4 minutes and 40 seconds, the entrances alone shave off two minutes which means we are in store for an epicly short, Raw-esque two [and some change] minute match.
Madison Rayne begins by taunting Wilde but the former Knockouts Champion ain’t backing down, shoving Rayne for her jibes. Rayne comes at Taylor with a forearm but she very impressively counters into a pin predicament but Rayne kicks out. Rayne runs at Taylor but is hit with a drop-toe-hold and again, Taylor rolls up Madison trying to put her away quickly. Well, it is a championship match [on YouTube].
After a kickout, Wilde quickly hits the ropes and charges down Rayne before doing her Beautiful People-esque gyration for the crowd. She again tries to pin Madison but to no avail. Wilde tries to whip Rayne into the corner but the champion reverses, sending Wilde into the corner but she manages to catch herself and jump onto the middle rope and hits a nice crossbody on Madison. Another pin attempt.
Tonight’s Raw, being billed as a 3-hour, “viewer’s choice” show featuring wrestlers from both Raw and Smackdown, was destined to be a little cluttered, given how many elements were in the mix. Unfortunately, very little of that mixture consisted of Divas. In the whole span of three hours, the Divas (all 12 of them) took up about 4 minutes of time. That’s a “needle in a haystack” situation if I’ve ever seen one. But, there’s always hope that they make the most of the little time they were given. Did they? Let’s see..
The stipulation of the Divas match was, like the rest of the matches, determined the fans’ vote. The choices were either: a 6-on-6 Tag Team match, a battle royal, or a champion vs. champion match, which would pit Eve vs. Layla. The fans picked the battle royal, and I’m sure the WWE were glad for that (if the vote wasn’t rigged, which it probably was) because that means MORE DIVAS!!!~~~~~. Nothing can ever go wrong with fitting as many Divas as possible into a 4-minute slot, amiright?:
We start with the 64 12 Divas in the ring, and they all more or less pair off. A double-team by Brie and Nikki Bella sends Rosa Mendes flying out of the ring. Sucks for her, but it’s better than when she practically threw herself out of the ring in the last battle royal. Tiffany is eliminated next, falling from the top turnbuckle while pummeling Michelle McCool. Kelly Kelly gets knocked off the ring apron by Michelle while trading blows with Layla.
Gail Kim and Alicia Fox eliminate each other while tussling on top of the ropes, a modified hurricanrana taking out both the deliverer and the recipient. Michelle and Layla stop a Bella Twins attack on Maryse and eliminate the both of them with tandem dropkicks. Eve attacks Laycool, fighting valiantly and hitting some impressive spots before eliminating the both of them by shoving Layla into Michelle, causing them to slip through the middle rope.
Delve into the archives with Diva Dirt‘s YouTube Classics and remind yourself of a time you may have forgotten or never seen before. Every now and again, we’ll bring you archive footage from a time gone by that we think deserves some spotlight! Today on YouTube Classics: Not exactly a ‘classic’ moment but it’s something … Read more
It looks as though we have our next Divas feud on SmackDown as Team Lay-Cool scouted Kelly Kelly during her match tonight with Rosa Mendes. The co-Women’s Champions, Layla and Michelle McCool, watched on as K2 faced off against fellow her Raw import. Upon seeing spoilers for this week’s show, I have to admit, I wasn’t optimistic for a Kelly vs Rosa match — both seem so limited in the ring — so how did it all come together? Regardez:
Latina Rosa is the first out for her first match since the match that saw Beth Phoenix injured a few weeks ago. She’s followed by Miss Kelly who is having, not just a good hair day, but a great one, it seems.
The two Divas start things out with a lock-up but it’s Rosa who gets the better of the exchange with a knee to Kelly’s stomach. Mendes whips K2 into the corner but Kelly manages to gain momentum and stop herself, as Rosa comes charging at her, she uses the momentum to jump over Rosa and into a backflip. Kelly then charges at Rosa to hit a neckbreaker and pin attempt but Rosa kicks out.
Just as Kelly begins controlling the match, out come the co-Women’s Champions to the entrance ramp. Layla mocks Kelly by holding her nose, playing into the whole ‘Smelly Kelly’ thing and Michelle waves at Kelly sarcastically. Meanwhile from behind, Mendes grabs Kelly by the hair and smashes her against the canvas. Rosa kicks Kelly and goes for a pin of her own but Kelly kicks out this time.
Raw — by Erin
We start off the show with some Raw action, pitting Gail Kim against the woman she defeated on this show back in April, Jillian:
The match starts with a tie-up, Jillian backing Gail into a corner. she kicks her in the midsection and takes a moment to flaunt before turning back, but Gail slips out of her reach and flips over her, rolling her into a quick pin attempt, which earns her only a 1-count. Jillian, frustrated, gets to her feet quickly and slams Gail to the mat by the back of her head. She goes for a pin of her own, and Gail kicks out at 1.
Jillian whips Gail into the ropes, but on the return Gail turns the tables, latching onto Jillian’s midsection with her legs and rolling her forward into another pin attempt. Jillian kicks out. Gail goes on a rush of offense, nailing Jillian in the corner and then hitting a free-standing monkey flip. She dropkicks Jillian one last time, with sends her out of the ring. Jillian stumbles about outside, catching a breather. Unfortunately for her, Gail latches onto her neck with her legs, slipping through the ropes and hitting a hurricanrana outside the ring. Wow! I don’t think I’ve seen that done before. It’s creative, but doesn’t look as deliberate as it could have. To take full advantage of Gail’s moves, I think it’s vital to keep that unpredictable feeling in her matches and so far, this match has delivered that very nicely.
Jillian gets her revenge pretty quickly, though, pushing Gail so that she nails the ring apron face-first. She slips back into the ring and lounges a bit while Gail tries to shake away the cartoon birds flying around her head. She manages to get back inside the ring before the referee counts her out, but Jillian doesn’t give her a moment to recover, as she’s on her instantly, kicking her and slamming her face into the mat. She tries for a pin, but Gail kicks out at 2. Focusing on Gail’s loopy head, Jillian props her up against her knee, pulling her by her hair and knocking the back of her head against it. She lets go eventually but stays on Gail’s case, whipping her into the corner. Gail can barely stay vertical, though, and slams into the turnbuckle and falls back to the mat. Jillian senses Gail’s weariness and goes for yet another pin, getting only 2 again.
Here’s the footage that aired last night as co-Women’s Champions, Layla and Michelle McCool were announced as the first ever female Pros on WWE NXT. They introduce their Rookie, the former Low Ki, Kaval: NXT season two begins next Tuesday at 10pm on Syfy.
Just in case you are looking for an extra dose of Diva Dirt, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve joined social network/micro-blogging site, Tumblr! Tumblr is rising in popularity and we expect it’ll soon join the ranks of Twitter, Facebook et al, so we thought we’d get ahead of the curve and join now before … Read more
Last week’s Raw gave me a sense that the Divas Championship feud was on the decline, quality-wise, but I was hopeful that it was a one-week thing and the WWE would again devote the same attention to the feud that they had for the past few weeks. Unfortunately, it looks like they’re headed in that same southward direction, as this week we were given the type of match that completely exposes the lack of creavity on the part of the WWE booking staff: the mixed tag team match. And not only that, it was a mixed tag team match in which the parings made little sense: Eve teamed with Santino to take on the dynamic duo of… Maryse and William Regal? Did I miss a week of buildup that would connect these four people together? No? Okay, I’ll just go with it:
Before the match can begin, Santino tries to butter up Vladamir Kozlov, even putting up Eve for barter. She’s not into the idea. Anyways, with the bargaining over, Maryse and Eve start out the match, Maryse getting the first blow when she knees Eve in the stomach. She whip Eve into the ropes, but Eve turns the tables, rolling over Maryse’s back and hitting a dropkick. This is enough for Maryse, apparently, and she tags in William Regal. This brings Eve out and Santino in.
The men wrestle for a bit until Regal locks Santino into a crossface maneuver. Eve come in and breaks the hold in a move that’s uncharacteristic, but interesting. Babyfaces are often so one-dimensional, so it’s nice to see her break the rules a bit. Maryse, playing the vengeful babyface in this scenario, comes in and attacks Eve, and the two tussle. The referee is distracted by this, allowing Kozlov to come in, swerve Regal, and chokeslam him. Maryse, for some reason, leaves with him, and Eve and Santino get the win.
Photographer Paul Buceta has a preview clip of a new photoshoot he did with two-time Divas Champion, Maryse, which I’m assuming is for her official website. Check it out below: Maryse is also due to launch her own make-up line this fall.
Here’s the latest trailer for WWE Diva Gail Kim‘s starring role in Ninja’s Creed, previously known as Royal Kill. As mentioned, the film will finally see the light of day — some five years after being filmed — via DVD release from Lionsgate. The DVD will be released on July 20th.
Maria Kanellis says that SmackDown is where ‘careers go to die’, well if that’s the case — a whole division has been swallowed up by the Grim Reaper! It’s no secret that the blue side has been hurting between Beth Phoenix’s injury and the release of Mickie James. Drafting Kelly Kelly to SmackDown also proved … Read more
You’ve already seen a teaser trailer for her YouShoot interview but Maria Kanellis has more to say and its every bit as juicy! The Internet is buzzing today over comments made by Maria in this here shoot interview, ‘Diva Diaries’ from Highspots.com. Find out why… Kanellis has some choice words about a certain Diva, as … Read more
Watch the second episode of WSU’s Uncensored series below:
After the underwhelming Divas Championship match at Over the Limit, I was hopeful that the following Raw would pick things back up and continue the Divas Championship feud down the more unique path we’ve been enjoying these past few weeks (exhibits , B, and C. Not so, folks, because it seems that we’re back in “piss break” territory. Of course, all could turn around next week, but a week’s stay in “piss break” territory still leaves you smelling of.. well, you know. Putting it in more eloquent terms, instead of continuing with the more unique ways of building this feud between Maryse and Eve Torres, the WWE decided to book them in a tag team match, effectively packing their feud together with the one between Alicia Fox and Gail Kim. That’s one 2-for-1 sale I’m not happy about. Watch the match below:
Gail and Alicia start things off. Gail goes for a tie-up but Alicia has a better idea, booting Gail in the stomach. She blasts her wit ha forearm before irish-whipping her into the corner. When she attacks, though, she gets a face full of elbow, setting Gail up to hit a top-rope hurricanrana (How long has it been since we’ve seen one of those??). Alicia flops around, sans equilibrium, finding a corner to lean against. Gail stays on the attack, hitting her hit-and-slip move. While on the apron, Maryse tries to sneak an attack, but Gail kicks her in the stomach. Gail stops another attack from Alicia, burying her shoulder into her midsection and vaulting over the ropes into a sunset flip pin attempt. However, she can’t even roll Alicia onto her shoulders, and Fox takes the momentum, holding onto the ropes. Maryse takes this opportunity to tag in, and as Gail rolls Alicia back into a pin, Maryse slips in and kicks Gail square in the back. This of course, breaks the non-pin.
Maryse lays another boot into Gail before going for a pin of her own. Gail kicks out at 2. She hoists her up into a backbreaker and toys around with her a bit before Gail kicks her away. Gail moves to tag in Eve, and Maryse tries to stop this, but Eve ducks out of the way of her haymaker, hitting a right hand of her own before finally getting tagged in. Eve goes on a string of offense (a clothesline here, and dropkick there, and a neckbreaker for good measure) before trying for the pin. Maryse kicks out at 2, but before she can pop up to her feet Eve kicks her back down, leaping over her and hitting a standing moonsault. She goes for the pin again, but Alicia break it up.
This brings in Gail, and with the referee distracted by her, Alicia boots Eve right in the face. This allows Maryse to set up the French Kiss, hit it, and get the pin.
You probably saw the commercials for Over the Limit, featuring fast-moving race cars juxtaposed with various wrestling footage. Of course, this was meant to send the message that this event will be chock-a-block with intense, non-stop action. But as we’ve learned many, many times before, commercials lie (What, you mean there isn’t a giant white rabbit looking to steal my Trix cereal?), and this Pay-Per-View as a whole proved that, and the Divas Championship match between Eve Torres and Maryse, as it turns out, wasn’t much different. Watch the match below and see if you agree:
The Divas start the match face-to-face, talking a little trash. Maryse tosses up her hand and Eve slaps it away. Maryse kicks her in the knee, and the action begins. Maryse tosses Eve into the corner, her shoulder hitting the exposed ringpost. She lays a few boots into Eve before going for an early pin, getting only a 1-count. She slams Eve face-first into the mat and continues to horse around with her, going for a Camel Clutch. Eve fights out at first, but Maryse eventually pummels her enough to lock it in.
Maryse gets into a standing position and Eve elbows her a bit before being let go, eating mat in the process. Maryse bends Eve’s back against the second rope, yanking her by the hair. The referee makes her let go, but Maryse then takes advantage of Eve’s prone position by knocking her through the ropes and out of the ring. Maryse stalks Eve to the corner and preps for a kick, but Eve moves at the last second, leaving Maryse’s foot to make contact with the steel pole. She screams and tries to get away, but Eve catches her and tosses her back into the ring. Maryse misses a clothesline and Eve goes on a tear of offense, stopped by a slap from Maryse.
Eve reverses and irish-whip and slams Maryse to the mat, setting her up for a well-executed standing moonsault. She goes for the pin, Maryse kicks out at 2. Eve goes for another pin following a sunset flip, but Maryse kicks out again, punctuating it with two boots directly to Eve’s face. Maryse goes for a pin of her own (And the crowd goes wild.. Gee, I wonder if it has to do with the position of it?) but Eve kicks out. This pisses Maryse off, and she yells at the referee to do his job (Meaning cheat at your job and count faster, I guess?). She becomes a bit unhinged and shows signs of a more interesting character than the “me sexy, you not” thing she’s been working with for so long. I’m not saying she needs to become a full-on basket case, but they could show her slowly losing a bit of her sanity in her desire to regain her title. Just a thought..
I’ve never really been sold on movies/DVDs solely based on trailers — until now. Check out this must watch teaser trailer for Maria Kanellis‘ YouShoot interview: So much hilarity that it’s hard to pick but I’d go with the Jillian Hall name badge. “Really?!” The DVD will be released via Kayfabe Commentaries on June 15th.