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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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FCW Watch: AJ Lee and Eve vs Naomi Night and Liviana

Welcome to FCW watch, where we take a look at our future Divas down in Florida Championship Wrestling. On the last edition of FCW Watch, we saw an impressive singles debut from former Orlando Magic dancer, Naomi Night. This week we get yet another debut from Abraham Washington’s better half, Liviana, as she teams up with Naomi Night to face AJ Lee and Raw Diva, Eve. Will Liviana impress us as much as her partner did in her match? Watch the match below and be the judge:

AJ Lee and Eve vs Naomi Night and Liviana

Naomi and Liviana make their way to the ring first, to the tune of a generic Gwen Stefani rip-off. Next out is future Queen of FCW candidate, AJ Lee who introduces her partner Eve.

Eve is set to start things off with Naomi, but Naomi wants a piece of AJ, perhaps to avenge her loss last week. The two lock up and show some of their basic wrestling skills until AJ gets the upper hand, laying Naomi out with a stiff dropkick. AJ Lee stays on the offense, throwing some forearms but Naomi takes control, tossing AJ into the middle rope.

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WWE Axes Survivor Series PPV

WWE will not be promoting another Survivor Series pay per view, Vince McMahon revealed today in an investors conference call. The WWE Chairman called the concept ‘obsolete’ in light of falling buyrates in recent years. The November pay per view will be rebranded beginning this year, putting an end to the 23 year long Thanksgiving … Read more

The “Piggie James” Impact

If you’re a fan of women’s wrestling and more specifically, the WWE Divas, then you are familiar with the “Piggie James” storyline that has graced our television screens in recent weeks. The angle has ignited a lot of discussion and controversy due to the sensitive issue it has been dealing with; a woman’s weight and image. The WWE constantly promotes their women as smart, sexy, and powerful and with those labels come certain expectations. I’m almost positive the girls employed by World Wrestling Entertainment are expected to maintain their appearance at the highest level they possibly can. I’m purely speculating here, but seeing as how the majority of their roster is filled with models, the girls get hired for their looks alone. If want to sit here and nitpick, the male portion of the roster has its fair share of lookers to but that’s not what’s important today. In the entertainment world, looks are everything, and as sad as it is, Mickie James could be considered big for a diva by some people.

Personally, I find it absolutely ridiculous to call Mickie James fat, but the writers over at the ‘E saw a chance for a storyline and they decided to role with it. Week after week we got a chance to see then Women’s Champion, Michelle McCool, and her BFF, Layla, humiliate and taunt Mickie for being “overweight”. Team Laycool (and sometimes Beth Phoenix) made Mickie’s life a living hell until the Royal Rumble when Mickie finally got some much needed and oh so sweet revenge. Laycool got served a nasty little dish of their own medicine and Michelle suffered the ultimate embarrassment of losing her precious title in less than a minute. I thought the end justified the storyline, and overall I thought the angle was brilliant. Lets face it, the WWE just doesn’t care about their divas like they used too. The Diva division has suffered in the post-Trish era. I don’t know if it’s because the WWE just doesn’t care these days, or if it’s because they don’t have the confidence in any of their women like they had Trish. Either way, women haven’t had legit storylines in a long time and their three minute matches have been sloppily put together and terrible to say the least.

Since the draft last April, Smackdown has more than proven itself as the place to be if you’re a diva. The girls on the blue brand are given a little more time and for the most part, better writing. As a diva fan, I didn’t find Piggie James appalling whatsoever. I found it funny, dramatic, annoying, and I enjoyed it. As a woman, I sympathized with Mickie and wanted to punch Michelle McCool and her perfect little self in the face. Us diva fans were FINALLY given a storyline we could get emotionally attached too. We were made to root for Mickie and we were made to hate on LayCool for their terrible actions. All women were given mic time. They were given segments. The storyline had extreme build and that’s something we haven’t seen since the days of Trish and Lita. Our girls were finally given time to shine. I had no idea Michelle was capable of comedy. I had no clue I could ever be made to want Mickie James win a match. I was so excited to see what Beth Phoenix would do and which side she would pick. I even marked out for Maria when she got herself involved and cut the best promo she’s ever done. This simple, childish storyline brought something out of each and every woman involved and it was refreshing to see. Despite the touchy issue it was built on, I think everything worked out well in the end. Us Diva fans were finally given a reason to get excited and emotional.

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SmackDown Spoilers: February 12th, 2010

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

EDIT: More detailed spoilers have been added.

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

• • •

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

• • •

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

Thoughts after the cut:

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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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Maryse vs. Gail Set for Elimination Chamber PPV

The finals for the Divas Championship Tournament are set to (finally) take place in less than two weeks at the Elimination Chamber PPV. Maryse will take on Gail Kim, obviously, and we will at last have some closure for the tournament that was prompted all the way back in December when champion Melina injured her … Read more

Raw Response: February 8th, 2010

NASCAR driver Carl Edwards is hosting Raw tonight live from Louisiana, the home state of the Super Bowl champs. There is no Divas Championship Tournament final scheduled for the show, so expect more build up towards the eventual match (perhaps at the Elimination Chamber PPV on February 21st?) Discuss the show in the comments! EDIT: … Read more

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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Raw Redux Does WWE Superstars (Feb. 4th, 2010): An Unfamiliar Sight

Another week, another Raw Divas match on WWE Superstars. This week, we’ve got another tag team match: Eve Torres and Kelly Kelly vs. Alicia Fox and Katie Lea. Can Katie Lea score her first win in quite a while, or will the flashy faces prevail? Watch the match below:

Alicia and Eve start the match with a tie-up, Alicia taking control and turning a side headlock into a hip toss. She holds the headlock on Eve, despite her fight for momentum. Alicia eventually gets to her feet and is shoved away by Eve. Alicia bounces off the ropes and shoulder-blocks and attack by Eve, laying her out. Alicia goes for an attack of her own off the ropes, but is hit with a dropkick from Eve.

Alicia spazzes out a bit (overselling the dropkick much?) while frantically trying to get to her corner to tag in Katie Lea. Katie comes in and locks Eve in a belly-to-back hold that she eventually gets out of, twisting one of Katie’s arms and tagging in Kelly. She then hits Katie with a snapmare by the arm, allowing her and Kelly to hit a doubleteam on her. Kelly goes for he pin, and gets a 1-count. Kelly brings Katie to her feet, but Katie immediately lifts her up (I always call Kelly the “rag doll”, but this is too literal!) and carries her to her corner, smashing her back-first into the turnbuckle.

She goes for an attack but Kelly blocks it, nailing Alicia and then Katie again. Alicia gets another elbow to the face and Kelly dodges a charge from Katie. She hits an arm drag, wrenching Katie’s arm and tagging in Eve. Eve climbs the turnbuckle, hitting a sunset flip onto Katie and rolling her into a pin, getting a 2-count. She hits Katie with a few forearms (or pats to the cheek.. they were so light they might as well have been) before having an irish-whip reversed on her. She comes off the ropes and kicks a crouched Katie, hitting a clothesline and then her somersault splash. She attemps a pin, but the referee checks Katie’s shoulders and she kicks out before he can even get down a 1-count.

Both Divas get to their feet, Katie taking refuge in the corner. Eve advances towards her but is kicked in the face. Katie goes for an attack but Eve hoists her up into a fireman’s carry, falling back and sandwiching Katie onto the mat (my God.. I don’t think I’ve seen that move since the last time I played a wrestling video game, which has been yearsss). She climbs the turnbuckle, prepping for a moonsault, but Alicia shakes the ropes, making her lose her footing. Eve doesn’t fall, though, but climbs back down. She grabs Alicia by the hair, and is pulled over the ropes, Katie Lea shoving her over for the last bit. On the outside, Alicia kicks her before Katie comes out and tosses her back into the ring, slamming her knee on the corner of the ring apron.

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Jazz Added to WWE Alumni

In a nice surprise, WWE.com has added former Diva and Women’s Champion Jazz to their Alumni section. Looks like the bitch is back… on good terms with WWE [even though they did release her twice]. The WWE Alumni page is usually reserved for past stars who are still on good terms with WWE and is … Read more

SmackDown Spoilers: February 5th, 2010

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

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

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

• • •

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

• • •

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

Thoughts after the cut:

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FCW Watch: AJ Lee vs. Naomi Night

Welcome to another edition of our FCW Watch, where we take a look at matches taking place in the WWE’s top developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling. Today, we have a match from the January 31st show: AJ Lee vs. Naomi Night. Watch the match below:

Before either of those Divas can make their entrances, the Queen of FCW Mia Mancini makes her way to the ring, wearing a pretty unconvincing wig a beautiful 100% real head of hair. She is here, as always, to survey the competition for her crown. Naomi Night is up next, making her singles debut (you may remember her being signed in August of last year). AJ Lee is out next, and the match begins.

The two Divas face off in the middle of the ring, and Naomi uses her hair as a unique alternative to the “talk to the hand” move, whipping it in AJ’s face. AJ takes her down in response, pounding on her before being pulled off by the referee. AJ remains dominant through most of the beginning of the match, using her acrobatic moves to get in a few pin attempts on Naomi. One in particular I liked was the arm drag counter into the rolling pin. For a newcomer to the ring, Naomi can take the moves–which require a lot of capability on her part–pretty well.

AJ attempts a hurricanrana from the corner, but Naomi tosses her to the apron, knocking her head against the exposed ring post. Following that, her offense mainly consists of a few kicks and a sit-down maneuver onto AJ’s back. She goes for an unsuccessful pin attempt and then locks AJ into a submission, a knee in her back and her arms stretched backwards. AJ fights free and goes to attack Naomi off the ropes, but Naomi slides under her and between her legs, showing some impressive athleticism–think her background as an Orlando Magic dancer has something to do with it?

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Raw Response: February 1st, 2010

Tonight’s Raw guest GM is Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. Also, tune in for the finals of the Divas Championship tournament, pitting Maryse vs. Gail Kim (read our predictions here). Discuss the show in the comments! EDIT: Since the match (which I’m 99.9% sure was actually scheduled for the show) didn’t take place, use the … Read more

Royal Rumble in Review: Sweet Revenge & A Rumble Match Treat

Week after week, we have witnessed Michelle McCool and Layla crack about 10,000 jokes, all with the same punchline: Mickie is fat. As lamented as this “Piggie James” storyline has been here at Diva Dirt, with its fat jokes and barnyard humor, it has been given one of the biggest buildups in recent Diva memory, and it was reasonable to think that they would cap off this pretty silly storyline with a decent enough match, at least to make the juvenile booking somewhat worth it. After all, their match at TLC was pretty damn good. Let’s see if Mickie and Michelle were able to transcend the “Mean Girls” cliches and mature a bit:

Michelle comes out to the ring, microphone in hand, and explains to the crowd that Mickie was a no-show tonight. “Where oh where has my piggie gone?”, she laments. She figures Mickie is forfeiting. Layla shows up in her fat suit, doing the same Mickie impression she did last Friday. She doesn’t get very far, though, before the real Mickie emerges and attacks her. She tosses FatSuitLayla into the barricade, as Michelle looks horrified. Did she really think Mickie was a no-show? Would that be why they left her off SmackDown last week–to fool Michelle into thinking Mickie went into hiding? That’s the only reason I can think of why Layla would come prancing down to the ring in a fat suit not once, but twice, and not even watch her back.

Mickie gets into the ring, and the match starts. FatSuitLayla isn’t quite done sticking her plastic pig nose into Mickie’s business, though, and climbs up the apron to distract her. It works for a split second, and Michelle charges with her boot but Mickie dodges, replaying a similar collision from TLC: Michelle accidentally delivers a big boot to Layla and lays out her backup. Michelle turns around right into a kick from Mickie, who plants her with the Mickie T. One 3-count later, and we have a new Women’s Champion!

FatSuitLayla comes into to check on her fallen friend, and Mickie hits her with a kick that lands her smack dab on top of Michelle. Meanwhile, several babyface Divas (Maria, Gail, Kelly, Eve, and the Bellas) come to the ring with a rather large cake in tow. Similar to what Laycool and Beth did to Mickie a week before, the Divas prop up Michelle and Layla as Mickie plants the giant cake in both their faces, the other Divas smearing it in. Michelle and Layla do a good job of acting horrified and look pretty damn hilarious blinded by yellow cake and icing while pitching a fit. Mickie celebrates with her newly-won title and smears some more icing in their faces, tasting it for good measure. All the good girls make their exit as the bad girls wallow in their “just desserts” (it’s okay, you can boo.. it was a pretty awful joke).

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Divas Title Match on Raw

Fresh from crowning a new Women’s Champion, WWE will crown a new Divas Champion tonight as Gail Kim and Maryse compete in the finals of the Divas Championship tournament tonight on Raw. The Divas Title was vacated one month ago when former champion, Melina suffered an injury at a house show.