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Raw Redux (March 8th, 2010): All About Eve

After last week’s moving tribute to womankind, I was bracing myself for the worst with this week’s show. Surprisingly, the WWE decided to put on a straight wrestling match rather than mold the Divas action to guest GM Criss Angel’s gimmick, and for that I’m grateful. But was the match anything to write home about? Let’s see:

Eve Torres, Gail Kim and Kelly Kelly make their way to the ring for a 6-Diva Tag Team match. I guess it’s been a while since we’ve seen one of those, though I haven’t really missed them.. Already in the ring are Maryse, Alicia Fox, and Katie Lea. Scrimping for time, I guess, but that’s nothing new..

Alicia and Gail start things off, Alicia latching Gail into a belly-to-back hold. Gail gets free and locks Alicia into a side headlock. Alicia tries to lift Gail up and gain the advantage, but Gail whips her to the mat, still holding onto the headlock. Alicia frees herself with a few jabs and whips Gail into the corner, charging. Gail slips through the ropes and the two trade blows before Gail leaps out of the way of a shoulder attack, landing in a straddling position on the back on Alicia’s neck. She tosses Alicia back into the ring, but Alicia regains control and whips again her into the same corner. Again, Gail blocks an attack and climbs the turnbuckle. However, instead of attacking Alicia she hits a charging Katie Lea with a flying clothesline, knocking her off the ring apron.

Gail turns her attention back to Alicia and gets a face full of boot. Alicia goes for the pin, getting a 2-count. She takes Gail to her corner and Maryse, for a moment, motions for Alicia to pound Gail’s head into her boot, but she decides against it, for whatever reason, opting instead to be tagged in. Maryse his a back breaker on Gail and goes for a pin, but Gail kicks out. She slaps Gail on the head, looking more like she’s messing up her hair rather than actually striking her. She then knocks Kelly off of the apron. Maryse gets in Gail’s face and gets slapped, getting a taste of her own medicine. Gail springs to life and tags in Eve.

Eve goes on a string of offense, getting a 2-count on Maryse. A poke in the eyes gives Maryse temporary control, until Eve nails Maryse with a kick off the ropes. She hits her somersault splash and goes for the pin, but Alicia and Katie Lea break it up. Actually, they were slowpokes and Maryse had to kick out before the referee counted 3. Get the lead out, ladies! The two of them grab Eve and slam her onto the turnbuckle. The referee, meanwhile, does nothing to stop this. A blatant 3-on-1 and all you’re gonna do is act surprised? Okay..

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

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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WWE Releases New Diva Video Packages Including Beth, Layla, Melina & Michelle

In an update to this post, there are five new Diva video packages on the WWE.com website dedicated to Beth Phoenix, Layla, Melina, Michelle McCool and finally a video bundling together all of the other Divas. They must feel so appreciated. Anyhoo, check out all the clips below:

 

Beth Phoenix
 

The longest clip of the bunch, Beth’s is nearly two minutes long and concentrates mainly on her awesome Glamazon moments such as smashing Melina against a locker on Raw.

Rest after the cut:

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In Video: WWE Releases Video Packages on Maryse & Mickie James

Following yesterday’s awesome ‘History of the Divas’ clip, WWE has released today two individual video packages: one dedicated to Divas Champ, Maryse and the other to mainstay Mickie James.

WWE has really been doing a great job with all the Diva love on their website in the past couple of days. If only they could put that same attention into their shows.

Watch the packages below:

Mickie after the cut:

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Raw Redux (March 1st, 2010): Welcome to Women’s History Month, Folks

Well, now that we’ve gotten past that pesky Divas Championship Tournament, it’s time to set the division back several years and have a good old fashioned pajama pillow fight. Of course, this is in keeping with this week’s guest GMs, Cheech and Chong, not that their names are synonymous with pajamas or pillow fights. I’m just guessing the Divas sitting in a circle and passing around a bong wouldn’t have been in keeping with their PG rating. But of course, the Divas looking all jailbait-y while bouncing up and down and fighting with pillows is totally PG, right? Shh.. it’s not supposed to make sense.

Speaking of sense, it’s fantastic that the WWE is starting off Women’s History Month with a sufficiently degrading match. Nothing like celebrating the accomplishments and advancement of women like making them boner-fodder for Cheech and Chong. And it’s only March 1st, people! There’s a whole month left! I can only hope a water balloon fight is next.

Watch the “match” below:

Guest GMs Cheech and Chong come to the ring, make a few jokes about how high they are, and introduce the Divas. The babyfaces come first, with Kelly Kelly leading out Gail Kim and Eve Torres. Next, appropriately, they introduce the heels as “the.. other ones!”. The other ones (also known as Maryse [I wouldn’t bring the Divas Title out for this shitfest either, girl], Alicia Fox, and Jillian) make their way to the ring. I kinda of appreciate how serious Alicia looks. With something as silly and degrading as this, it kind of takes the sting out to see the heels show how “over” this they are. Cheech and Chong seat themselves in recliners at ringside.

Maryse takes a long moment to pose for the crowd, and the rest of the Divas gang up on her. Soon this alliance breaks down and Jillian just decides to clothesline everyone. I admire her tenacity–while everyone else looks silly fighting with down feathers, she just decides to mow everyone over. She then pounds every Diva with a pillow and belts out a celebratory high note. Kelly stuffs her pillow in her face to stop the sound and hits a sloppy looking K2–bare feet don’t provide the best traction, after all. She goes for the pin, but Jillian kicks out at 2.

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

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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Raw Redux (Feb. 22nd, 2010) – What Took You So Long?

The bait and switch pulled at the Elimination Chamber PPV led many of us to believe that the WWE had bigger plans for the Divas Championship tournament finals. Perhaps a lengthier feud to build up such an important match? No, as it turns out, because they finally decided to have the match on a regular old ordinary episode of Raw. Watch the match below and see if it was worth all the wait:

It definitely surprised me when the Divas Championship logo passed over the screen. But I think, more than surprise, I felt relief–finally this tournament is over! Maryse makes her entrance, and Gail Kim follows. It is mentioned how badly Maryse treated Gail in their tag team match the night before, but other than that this doesn’t feel like something that has been built up over numerous weeks. It feels more like the beginning of a feud; one that started at the PPV last night. At any rate, I’m glad to see this match finally happening. Let’s get on with it.

Maryse goes for the attack at the start of the match, but Gail slips past her, catching her in a belly-to-back hold. Maryse strikes Gail to get free, but the next blow is missed, and Gail rolls Maryse into a pin. Maryse quickly kicks out. Maryse reversed an irish whip into the corner and charges at Gail, but Gail slips out through the ropes, allowing Maryse to run full on into the turnbuckle. Gail blocks a few attacks from Maryse and leaps back over the ropes, continuing the momentum into a pin attempt. Maryse kicks out at 2.

Gail goes on a string of offense, Maryse beginning to look sluggish. It’s only until Gail tries to bash her head against the turnbuckle that Maryse retaliates. She blocks it with her boot and hits Gail’s head against the target instead. She tosses Gail in over the ropes, but Gail quickly reverses momentum into an attempt at the Eat Defeat, but Maryse holds onto the ropes, blocking the move. She kicks Gail across the face and goes for the pin, getting a 2-count.

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Elimination Chamber in Review: Longest. Tournament. EVER.

The never-ending Divas Championship tournament was stretched yet another day as despite advertising the end of the sucker, we were swerved with an interpromotional tag team bout instead. It all went down at last night’s Elimination Chamber pay per view where Gail Kim and Maryse were due to go one-on-one for the vacated title. After weeks of embarassingly bad handling of this ‘tournament’, we were finally ready to be done with it and crown the new champion — with care so little in supply, as to who won at this point. But things became ‘flawed’, you could say, when Vickie Guerrero announced that as a result of disparaging comments by the Raw Divas against the SmackDown Divas, the two would be forced to team up against Michelle McCool and Layla aka Lay-Cool aka Simply Flawless.

Let’s start right at the beginning though, where moments before their match, we saw a backstage segment between the two would-be challengers:

We see Gail walking backstage, with a perfectly toned tummy I might add [jealous!], as Maryse catches up to her and once again speaks to her in French. We then get the reveal that Gail also speaks French and has understood all the smack that ‘Ryse has been talking about her in recent weeks. She finishes with with an amazing mock hand flip in Maryse’s face which not gonna lie, had me rolling. This was a fun little segment that I really liked; Gail spoke more than she’s spoken in a year on the roster and proved that she has some personality which was really exciting to see. It’s like Maggie Simpson finally talking! The hand flip was a fabulous added touch also. I thought the reveal that Gail speaks French etc. was nicely done and I can’t say that I saw it coming — it seems a little too sophisticated for the Raw writers, who are usually known for lame-duck segments like the Jerry Springer Show on Raw last week, so I was pleasantly surprised. Gail was great here and I want to see more of her talking, she’s got the goods in the ring — she just needs the voice to back it up and get across that personality.

Next up, we have the Divas Championship match turned tag team match:

As the Divas make their entrances, the bell rings and Maryse and Gail face off, we are interrupted by SmackDown’s ‘official consultant’, Vickie Guerrero. Guerrero calls out the Raw Divas for their ‘disparaging comments’ about the SmackDown Divas and interestingly calls herself a Diva, which hasn’t been said about her int he past. Guerrero says as the only Diva with authority in the building — yeah doesn’t make sense to us either — she’s postponing the Divas Title match in favour of a tag team match between Raw and SmackDown. Out come Michelle and Layla for this last minute bout…

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No Way Out Flashback: Stephanie McMahon vs Trish Stratus (2001)

While the February pay per view spot as of tonight is known as Elimination Chamber, for the past 9 years it has belonged to a little pay per view called ‘No Way Out’. As one of the least Diva-friendly pay per views, the event has been host to only one and a half Divas matches over the years. But thankfully, one of those matches just happens to be this one — a match that helped make a name out of Trish Stratus and showed that she wasn’t just a pretty face. This match continues to be remembered as one of the most memorable Divas matches to this day. The other match, Jamie Noble vs Nidia in 2003, not so much.

Relive this bout:

Follow the cut for part two:

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

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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Raw Redux Does WWE Superstars (Feb. 18th, 2010): Last Ditch Effort

Any sort of buildup to this Sunday’s Divas Championship match was noticeably absent from Monday’s Raw, but never fear! The WWE hasn’t completely forgotten about this match, for this week on WWE Superstars, Gail Kim tries to build some momentum going into the big match in taking on Katie Lea. Watch the match below:

Katie Lea takes control out of the tie-up, twisting Gail’s arm behind her back. Gail gets out of the hold by hitting a snapmare, then rolls Katie into a crucifix pin. Katie kicks out, and Gail takes her down again with an arm drag, holding onto the arm and twisting it behind her head. Katie gets free by catching Gail in a leg scissors, but Gail slips free pretty quickly, rolling Katie into a pin for a 2-count.

Katie reverses an irish whip, sending Gail into the corner. Katie charges but misses her mark when Gail slips out through the ropes. She then sends a shoulder into Katie’s midsection, flipping over her back-to-back and attempting a roll-up. Katie hangs onto the ropes, though, and Gail goes flying without her. Running in for the attack, Gail is redirected shoulder-first into the ring post. She hangs there for a while and Katie has to drag her out from between the ropes to roll her into a pin. Gail kicks out at 2.

Katie lays a few boots into Gail before latching her into an arm submission identical to the one Gail hooked her in at the beginning of the match, right down to the same arm. I like that–it tells a bit of a story. Still, we might end up with two competitors with bum left arms by the end of the match. Yikes. Michael Cole says that Katie Lea is working on Gail’s right shoulder, the shoulder that hit the ring post, but it’s actually the opposite. Oh well. Might as well take out both arms, I suppose.

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In Video: Alissa Flash Wants to See You Slam

Do you think you can slam? Well, first you’re going to have to impress a certain Future Legend. Alissa Flash has been wowing crowds for over a decade and is going to be a tough critic to impress as one of the four superstar judges on So You Think You Can Slam. Watch below as … Read more

In Video: Rosa Mendes & Tiffany Go Hardcore for ECW Finale

In shades of the original ECW, Rosa Mendes and Tiffany managed to draw a fabulous ‘E-C-Dub’ chant on the final episode of ECW last night. ECW GM Tiffany seemingly decided “what the heck, it’s the last night” and attacked one of her ’employees’, Rosa, after she and Zack Ryder interfered in the ECW Championship main … Read more

Raw Redux (Feb. 15th, 2010) – The Mystery of the Missing Divas Championship Tournament

If last week’s Raw was lacking in terms of build-up to the Divas Championship Tournament finals, this week was downright moronic. With Maryse and Gail Kim‘s long-delayed match still set for this Sunday’s Elimination Chamber PPV, one would be safe to assume that there would be at least some build up for it on the last Raw before the show. Just a little? Maybe even merely acknowledging it? Well, keep your hopes at ground level, kids, because the WWE disappointment machine was on full power this week:

Guest GM Jerry Springer comes to the ring for a special show entitled “WWE Superstars’ Most Intimate Relationship Secrets Revealed”. If you’ve ever seen Springer’s show, you know that it only features the trashiest of the trashy (think topless midget fights), so this was never destined to be flattering for any individual involved. Springer introduces Kelly Kelly, whose secret is that she’s pregnant! Yep, she must be early along, because we all know nothing says pregnant like washboard abs and a belly-baring top. She tells Jerry that she doesn’t know who the father is, in a move more akin to Maury Povich’s show than Springer. But whatever, just go with it. All you need to know is that Kelly is the village bicycle.

She brings out the first possible father, Santino. He calls Jerry Maury and details the situation that he thinks got Kelly knocked up. Kelly then tells him that she needed someone else to “finish the job”. It’s at this moment that I wonder what happened to the WWE’s PG aspirations. I guess they go out the window when someone like Springer’s on the show. Still, I’d be pissed if I were a parent who brought my kid to the show.

She says she needed someone with more experience, and this prompts Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler to be brought into the mix. A few dry heaves later, Brie and Nikki Bella come out with a revelation of their own. They say they saw someone else with Kelly, and Nikki breaks in to announce that Brie is a man. They catfight, Springer style. After the fight is broken up, the next possible baby daddy is brought out, and Chris Masters enters. In response to this, Eve Torres comes busting in with her best impression of a Springer guest, trash talking Kelly for “stealing her man” and fighting with her. She then reveals to Chris that she had cheated on him with the Great Khali, who comes to the ring and embraces her. The craziness simmers down, and Jerry reads the results of the paternity test, revealing the father of Kelly’s 3-day old fetus. Science has come a long way, eh?

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FCW Watch: AJ Lee vs Serena Mancini (Queen of FCW Match)


Welcome to this week’s edition of FCW Watch. In the last month or so, rookie sensation AJ Lee has taken on all comers and shot to the top of the FCW Diva totem pole. However, she has one last obstacle to overcome: Queen of FCW and Smackdown Diva, Serena Mancini. The last time these two met in singles action the result was less than impressive. Can they put on a decent match this time around? Watch below as the ‘Pocket Rocket’ takes on the First Lady of The Straight Edge Society for the crown:

First out is the challenger AJ Lee, who is perky as always. AJ’s ability to get the crowd behind her is a great quality to have and will definitely benefit her when she makes the jump to the main roster. Out next is the Champion Serena, sporting some new gear (Finally!). The newly converted Serena removes her trademark Fedora to revealed that freshly shaven head we’ve all come to love (or hate) in the past month on Smackdown.

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Impact Write-Up (February 11th, 2010): Here’s To You, LVE

(** author’s note: To all the readers, I apologize profusely for this going up so late! My work schedule was nothing but mornings this week and it completely threw me through a loop! Hopefully the read is well worth the wait =D)

For the past few weeks, Impact has turned into the Beautiful People show and this week was no exception. As usual, Lacey Von Erich, Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky, and ex-member Angelina Love took center stage. Joining them this week was special guest star, Knockout’s Champion Tara. What did the fabulous fivesome have up their sleeves for us this week? Click the video below to watch or just continue reading if you can’t be bothered.


Before the match begins, we’re treated to an interview with Angelina and Tara. Right off the bat, Christy brings up the past history between the two former rivals and Angelina is quick with a rebuttal. She flat out admits that she didn’t care for Tara when she (Tara) first arrived in TNA. Tara takes it in stride and Angelina continues on by saying the past is the past. She brings up last week and the amazing match the two women had, then gets disgusted because of how the Beautiful People interfered. Tara mumbles “welcome to my world” but Angelina brushes it off. She says that last week she and Tara had each others’ backs and that this week it would be no different.

Christy, who’s been nodding along all this time, turns her attention to Tara and asks her if there’s a special plan to take care of the Beautiful People tonight. Tara says something along the lines of “…the plan for tonight is quite simple. It’s going to get Ugly.” A confident Angelina takes the microphone, puts on her serious face, and adds “…real ugly.” Great promo by both.

After the interview, the terrible ring entrance by the Beautiful People takes place. I’m all about flashy entrances, but they completely kill me (and not in a good way). Madison and Velvet having matching outfits is completely adorable and I really like Lacey’s boots. Angelina walks out to the ring next wearing something slightly trashy but what else is new? The girl does the trash look well and manages to make it not look disgusting like it would on most people. Finally, Tara comes to the ring. All I can do is pray for no wardrobe malfunction this week. It takes a little longer than necessary to get everyone settled but when they finally do, Velvet bravely offers to being the match against Tara. It takes all of two seconds for Tara to tag in Angelina and once that happens, Velvet is off and running. She wants absolutely nothing to do with Angelina and I don’t blame her. Angelina is one fierce mamacita and Velvet stands no chance against her!

Velvet seems to be heading towards the ramp and Angelina continues to stalk her. When Velvet sees she has nowhere to go reality sinks in. She’s totally stuck. Angelina is almost to her when Lacey comes up from behind. This doesn’t faze Angelina because she slaps the stew out of her replacement. Angelina climbs back on the apron where Madison is waiting to confront her. Needless to say Angelina doesn’t care what Madison has to say because Madison Rayne gets a boot to the gut for her efforts. While all that goes on, Velvet gets back in the ring and she starts attacking Angelina. She gets her former bestie down on the mat and begins to work her over, gaining the clear upperhand. A small “You Can’t Wrestle” chant breaks out while Velvet is offense but if she actually cares, she doesn’t show it. She happily chokes Angelina Love with the woman’s own hair. When Velvet tires of the choking, she gets Angelina in a position to whip her into the ropes. I kid you not, someone from the crowd screams “TAG IN LACEY” but that doesn’t happen… yet. (Dun, dun, duuuunnnn!)  Velvet whips Angelina across the ring, but it does her no good. Angelina knows what’s coming and attempts to go on offense. Velvet anticipates this, falls flat on her backside, and rolls out of the ring.

Velvet wants none of what Angelina’s got, and that’s fine with the Canadian. She turns her attention to Madison and starts picking on her. The pastel blue attired member of TBP is pulled into the ring by her blonde and pink locks, and is forced to eat a face full of turnbuckle as a punishment. Angelina tags in Tara and the Knockout’s Champion gets her first taste of action in the match! Tara sunset flips in, goes for the cover on Madison, but only gets a two count. Madison gets up but is taken down twice with arm drags. She’s taken down again with a suplex and Tara rolls her over into a guillotine-like move. Tara does a great job of bullying Madison around the ring with various little moves and eventually Madison has to get out of the ring. Velvet and Lacey jump down from the apron and start to comfort their fellow BP member. The Beautiful People receive no sympathy for Tara and Angelina. Angelina gets into the ring with Tara and the two women bounce off the ropes and come flying at the backs of the BP with dropkicks. All three members go flying into the guardrail and I’ll let you guess which one took that bump awkwardly. Tara and Angelina celebrate their dominance as the match fades to a commercial break.

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

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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In Video: Alissa Flash’s First Post-TNA Match + New Offer for All Readers

Last weekend, Alissa Flash made her first post-TNA appearance at a Pro Wrestling Revolution event facing off against renowned international star Lady Apache for the newly formed PWR Women’s Championship. Though she didn’t become the first champion, the match received extremely strong reviews. The match is now available to download via our sister site ClickWrestle … Read more

Raw Redux (February 8th, 2010) – An Afterthought

For weeks we’ve been following the Divas Championship tournament, with all its stops and starts. Two weeks ago we finally made the match-up for the finals, but getting to that match has been harder than it seems. Many of us want the WWE to just get it over with, as it’s been obvious from the start that Maryse will be walking away with the title. Thus, it’s been some acute form of torture to see the WWE stretch this thing out as long as possible. This week was no different, and on top of it we got some bad good news: the finals will be taking place in less than two weeks at the Elimination Chamber PPV. Until then, we’ve got two Raws to fill, and you better believe it that the WWE will give it as little build up as possible:

See? We’ve been treated to a random match between Gail Kim and Jillian, which kind of sneaks up on us because no one was given an entrance, and the match wasn’t even announced. Hey, they’ve gotta free up time for all the Shawn Michaels angst and John Cena beatdown replays! Maryse, of course, is on commentary, making this impending finals match-up even more of a laughing stock. You’d think the WWE would get that doing it this way makes it look like Maryse is the champion, scouting her challenger in Gail. I’m sure they notice, but just don’t give a shit.

In the ring, Gail and Jillian start with a tie-up, Jillian taking control and backing Gail up against the ropes. Gail slips through the ropes, falling to the outside. Jillian tosses her back into the ring and goes for a pin, getting a 1-count. She whips Gail into the corner and gets an elbow to the face when she goes for an attack. Gail climbs to the top of the turnbuckle, but Jillian sweeps her feet and knocks her all the way to the mat. Another pin, another 1-count.

Meanwhile, on commentary, Maryse talks about how much more sophisticated Raw Divas are in contrast to what’s been going on on SmackDown with Mickie James. Complain about the fat jokes all you want, Maryse, but at least they’re given more than 3 minutes of screen time. Maybe the Raw Divas should start having food fights.. Jillian pounds Gail’s head onto the mat and hoists her up, but Gail slips free, hitting the Eat Defeat. She pins Jillian for the win.

The match, which was literally ONE MINUTE long, was as good as any match could be with such a ridiculous time limit. I give boatloads of credit to Jillian and Gail for making such a joke of a match interesting and fun with what little they were given. Funny, though, that the post-match promo was longer than the match itself. Maryse, get priority? Never!!

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Sarita & Taylor Wilde vs OBD & Traci Brooks

Thanks to Melanie’s expert eye, we have a treat for Knockout fans this week. TNA’s exclusive web match for this week features former Knockout Tag Team Champions, Taylor Wilde and Sarita, battling against the Original Knockout, Traci Brooks, and former Knockout Champion, ODB!

The oddball, yet fun combination of the normal Traci Brooks and the ridiculous ODB make their way out to the ring first. As usual, ODB is hyper as hell and Traci seems pretty pumped to be actually wrestling for a change. They get into the ring and there’s some disturbing groping going on, but we’ll let that go. Afterall, it is an ODB match and she’s usually disturbing enough for everyone on the TNA roster. The former champions are out next and their ring entrance is unique to say the least. It’s actually kind of sexy seeing if like to watch two women touch a lot and then stare at one another in the eyes. Their matching outfits are cute to say the least and Traci imitating them is really fun to watch. Taylor and Traci get us started off.

Traci is quick to try the offensive side of things but Taylor puts a stop to that pretty quickly. A single leg takedown has Traci down, but she gets back up. Taylor tries an armdrag, but the buxom brunette recovers from that and scoops the smaller Taylor up on her shoulders. Traci appeared to be going for some type of slam, but Taylor manages to block it, roll down to the ground, and scramble to her feet. She chest chops Traci, then blocks a punch, before wretching Ms. Brooks’ arm back and going for a tag to Sarita.

The amazing Sarita slingshots in and immediately goes to work. Her offense is pretty spectactular. In fact, it’s so spectactular that Traci can’t handle it and stumbles to her corner, right into ODB’s waiting arms. The ex-champion makes the tag and I’m guessing Traci was pretty relieved to get away from Sarita is just ready to explode on the opposition. As soon as ODB makes her way inside, Sarita takes her down with a drop-toe hold, which leaves ODB withering in pain and gripping her left breast in agony. Sarita applies a nice little two and a half Nelson, floats over into a pin, but she only manages to score a one count. An overwhelmed ODB gets up and finds herself up against the ropes. She muscles Sarita against them and sends her across to the other side. Sarita charges at ODB, who goes for a clothesline, only to have Sarita duck and hit the other side. Traci grabs two handfuls of Sarita’s hair, but Sarita fights her off and sends her to the floor outside the ring. The distraction is enough to allow ODB to gather herself and when Sarita turns around, ODB nails her with a Thesz Press and starts punching her in the side of the head.

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

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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Impact Write-Up (Feb. 4th, 2010): Tara and Angelina Do Work

This week for the Impact Write-Up, I’m going to try something different. Instead of the usual match review with my comments thrown in there, I’m going to do just a plain review of the actual match itself and what led up to it, then at the end I’m going to list the things I enjoyed about Impact, and the things I didn’t. I hope this column turns out a lot neater and more informative than my two previous ones.

The Knockout portion of Impact started with an interview from both champion and later on, the challenger. Both put over the match and touched on issues that were impacting them at the moment, no pun intended. Angelina Love had a great line during hers; it was something along the lines of “I taught the Beautiful People everything they know, but I didn’t teach them everything I know.” Perhaps that foreshadows something to come?

After patiently waiting all night for the match, it finally rolls around as the main event of the evening. A video package starts us off highlighting Angelina’s ongoing feud with the Beautiful People. That leads into Angelina’s ring entrance and she’s looking pretty amazing tonight, in my opinion. She plays to the crowd, who clearly love her, and gets in the ring looking confident and relaxed about this match-up. Tara comes out second, with her championship strapped around her waist and her spider with her, of course! The match gets underway after the referee lets us know this match is indeed a championship bout. The two old rivals and new frenemies lock up and start jostling back and forth for position. Tara gets Angelina in a headlock and takes her down to the mat. She doesn’t let up on this but Angelina uses her strength to muscle Tara into a pinning position, but she barely gets a two count. The two women start moving around on the mat and Angelina gets Tara in a headscissors. What follows is a nice little series of wrestling between these two talented women. Tara rolls out of the headscissors and flips over Angelina, going for the pin. She gets a two count before Angelina bridges up. A few reversals happen and then Angelina executes a backslide and gets a two count before Tara wiggles out of it. The two women continue to actually wrestle before we’re interrupted by a far too long commercial break.

The match returns and we’re treated to even more chain wrestling from Angelina and Tara. Angelina takes the advantage for the most part of this, but Tara does a cutesy cartwheel thing and gets her upperhand back. It doesn’t last long before Angelina gets Tara into a pinning position and gets another two count. After Tara kicks out, Angelina gets her up and forces the Californian to eat a face full of turnbuckle. The blonde Canadian attempts to make Tara eat the opposite one, but the crafty Tara reverses it and Angelina finds herself in a world of hurt. Tara whips Angelina into the corner and charges, but Angelina lifts up and then rolls down Tara! She rolls her up for a pin but only gets yet another two count. Tara quickly gets up and gets Angelina in position for a nice sidewalk slam. She now tries to get a pin but Angelina powers out after a two count. Angelina is slow to get up and she’s gripping her lower back, but when she does make it to her feet she throws a few shots at Tara’s face then sends her into the ropes. She misses a kick and Tara catches her. She sets Angelina up for the Widow’s Peak but the crafty Angelina slides down and gets Tara in a pinning position. Tara rolls out of it and gets her entire body weight on top of Angelina, pinning her flat to the mat. Tara finally… FINALLY gets the W in a most amazing match-up.

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