Friday Night SmackDown

Some years after their time as dance partners as well as a near year-long feud on ECW, Kelly Kelly and Layla had a high school reunion moment this week on SmackDown. The two Divas squared off and showed each other, as well as the fans, just how far they have come from the days of the uncoordinated [coughKELLYcough] dance troupe.

But before we get to the match, we have a backstage segment with Lay-Cool and Rosa Mendes:

“The Joker called… he wants his make up.” No Layla, not a good one. *Tumbleweed* Nonetheless, this segment made me laugh and yes, I even felt a little sad for poor Rosa who broke down into tears after Lay-Cool teased her. I think it just goes to show the strength of Lay-Cool as characters: not only are they bitchy to the babyfaces, but the heels too. As for the ‘real talk’, real talk indeed. Rosa does need more training and she has yet to win a match. How ironic. But to her credit, the tears made me go ‘aww’. Nicely acted. I think it’d be interesting to see her want to exact revenge on Lay-Cool but still be a heel.

Also, just a couple of quick notes: I loved Michelle’s rolling of the R’s. So funny! And I loved her digging her little fingers into Kaval’s face and him not looking the least bit amused. Bless him. So adorable! I’m loving Lay-Kav-Ool.

Read more

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.

Read more

After getting our first glimpse of the new set-up with the Women’s Championship on Raw this past Monday, we got a full explanation on this week’s SmackDown. Team Lay-Cool have decided to share the Women’s Title despite Layla being the one to pick up the victory during last week’s match-up. Ring announcer Tony Chimel was quick to point out that Layla and Michelle McCool are the ‘self professed’ co-Women’s Champions — which, for the record books, means that only Layla is ‘legally’ recognised as Women’s Champ. Watch below:

Confusing as it may be, it’s a pretty cool gimmick to have Lay-Cool acting as though they are co-Women’s Champions. It’s not been done before with either the Women’s or Divas belts, so it’s somewhat refreshing and creative. This sets up lots of possibilities i.e. handicap matches against the likes of Kelly Kelly or Tiffany if they were to receive title shots; or perhaps us never not knowing which Diva may defend the belt and also, perhaps even a Lay-Cool sized implosion. But for the here and now, I guess they’re establishing this new gimmick and we can’t expect any storyline progression just yet.

This week, Lay-Cool once again faced off against Kelly Kelly and Tiffany. Layla and Kelly kick things off with a lock-up which turns into a side headlock by Layla. Kelly whips Layla against the ropes but she manages to counter with a quick counter pin which looked very impressive. Layla begins wrenching Kelly’s arm but K2 fights back with a forearm and then hits a springboard armdrag using the ropes. Kelly kicks Layla and whips her into the corner, Layla manages to stop herself and uses the turnbuckle to jump over Kelly and wrap her legs around Kelly’s head. However, Kelly then tosses her over the top rope, hitting her with a few forearms and then kicks her off the apron. Kelly now on the outside of the ropes is met by McCool who she also kicks off the apron.

Read more