Spoilers for this Friday’s episode of SmackDown are below:
More detailed spoilers have been added.
Thoughts after the cut:
Friday Night SmackDown
SmackDown Redux (April 16th, 2010): Michelle & Mickie Are Simply Flawless
Women’s Champion, Michelle McCool and her now former rival, Mickie James dusted off their heated feud for one more outing this week on an edition of SmackDown from London. And the result was perhaps one of the best Divas matches on TV so far this year. It’s no secret that Michelle has rarely wrestled a singles match on SmackDown in the past few months but I guess an international TV taping is a good a reason as any. Watch below:
So, Mickie is back from her little hiatus due to injury and she’s back in the ring with the woman who took the Women’s Championship from her back in February. Despite having surgery and everything, Mickie was on fine form as she skipped and hopped to the ring for her match followed by McCool with Layla and Vickie Guerrero in tow.
The former Women’s Champion gives McCool a little sly wink as she steps onto the ring apron for her signature pose, suggesting that she has not forgotten any of the animosity between them. As the bell rings and the match begins, the two Divas lock up but it’s Michelle who gets the better of the exchange, using her leverage to hit sort of an overhead throw on her. The arrogant champion then segues into press ups which become one-legged press ups, as Layla and Vickie cheer her on. Much to her surprise though, Mickie drops down opposite her and struts her stuff too leading to a nice showdown. Michelle looks surprised and confused as she says, “I didn’t know she could do that” to the crowd. Best to keep your eyes on your opponent Michelle, as James hit a great low dropkick on the champ and goes for the pin but no three count. Mickie goes for another pin attempt, this time sweeping the legs and jumping into a bridge but Michelle kicks out yet again.
In Video: Fan Footage from This Week’s SmackDown
WWE taped this week’s edition of SmackDown last night in London, England and Diva Dirt reader, Adam filmed footage of the Divas match. Click the ‘Show’ link to see:
SmackDown Spoilers: April 16th, 2010
Spoilers for this Friday’s episode of SmackDown, taped in London, are below:
SmackDown Redux (April 2nd, 2010): Is This a Rerun?
With WrestleMania and those pesky Raw Divas getting in the way of actual storyline progression for SmackDown just when it was getting good, it seems as though the writers of the blue brand have pressed the ‘reset’ button. Watching this week’s show, you’d be forgiven if you feel like you’re watching a rerun, because that’s exactly what it felt like. If you skip this week’s show, which obviously you aren’t because you’re reading this, you’d honestly not be missing anything because everything is as it was two weeks ago — even the match. There was nothing new to learn coming out this week’s show: Beth Phoenix still wants the Women’s Championship, Vickie Guerrero still has heat on her and Tiffany is still that young Diva opening our eyes to her surprisingly good in-ring ability.
In fact, the only new thing piece of information to take from this week’s show is that Vickie’s version of the frog splash is now the ‘Cougar Splash’ (Rarr!). Must-know information, I’m sure. Watch the backstage scene below:
Next up, it’s time for this week’s Divas match which is exactly the same match as two weeks ago. Funny how SmackDown only has four active Divas in the women’s division right now while Raw has like 11 and uses them for one minute each week. Can the Draft hurry up?
Watch the match below:
So for three out of three matches on television, Tiffany is wearing the same ring attire. Girlfriend is just begging for jokes about not washing her clothes and/or smelling.
McCool and Tiffany start things out with a lock-up and the Women’s Champion backs Tiffany into the corner and pushes her. She then boasts to Layla & Vickie in her corner but as she turns around, she finds a peeved Tiffany who hits her with a drop toe hold and an atomic drop. Tiffany tries to irish whip McCool into the corner, McCool reverses but she can’t move Tiffany so she instead goes for a kick to the gut. Michelle agin goes for an irish whip into the corner but Tiffany reverses and hits a one-legged variation of the monkey flip. Michelle lands in the corner and Tiffany runs at her to presumably hit a real monkey flip this time but Michelle manages to toss Tiffany who lands on her front pretty hard. Ouch!
SmackDown Spoilers: April 2nd, 2010
Spoilers for this Friday’s SmackDown are in. Click ‘show’ to read:
More detailed spoilers have been added.
Thoughts after the cut:
Possible SmackDown Taping Spoiler
SmackDown tapes its first show since WrestleMania tonight. For possible spoilers hit the ‘Show’ link below: Check back later tonight for spoilers for this week’s show.
SmackDown Redux (March 26th, 2010): No Vickie, Excuse Us!
The final SmackDown before WrestleMania promised a Beth Phoenix vs Vickie Guerrero match, but anyone could see a mile away that it wouldn’t be a straight one-on-one match. Last week I predicted that Vickie would likely change it to a 3-on-1 match with her teaming up with Lay-Cool but oh no, that wasn’t enough — Raw’s Maryse and Alicia Fox were tacked on too. Why? God knows. I get that it’s all in the name of WrestleMania, as the Divas will have a last minute multi-Diva tag match but there’s been no reasons given as to why the various Divas of Raw and SmackDown are coming together and fighting. And frankly, it’d be a waste trying to figure out why.
The big story however was not WrestleMania, which wasn’t even mentioned on the show. Instead that match was quietly announced on the WWE website, and I do mean quietly! Not even a slide in that flash player thing on the homepage, it was literally just tacked onto the ‘Mania page where only those who were looking to find it, would find it. Doesn’t instill a lot of confidence about this match, does it? Anyway, I digress…
The big story was the continuation of a rather fun feud on SmackDown where Beth Phoenix once again, looked golden and Vickie Guerrero, well we saw a little too much of her. Watch below:
So as explained earlier, before the match begins Vickie announces that it will now be a 5-on-1 match. Despite the switcheroo, Beth shows no signs of being intimidated and can’t wait for Layla to get in the ring to start things out. Beth extends her hand to bump knuckles with Layla [really?] but as Layla comes closer, she nails her with a forearm. Layla tries to tag out but is dragged across the ring by Phoenix and cue some funny screams from Lay-Lay. Layla begins fighting back with some forearms and again, some beautiful kicks. She then tries to hightail it to her corner but Beth grabs her in mid-air. “Michellllllle… Please help me!” Gotta love this girl!
Beth runs into the corner with Layla and begins stomping into her but is dragged away by the referee and somehow, she herself falls straight on her butt. As Beth exchanges insults with the other Divas on the apron, Layla mounts a comeback and hits Beth in the jaw with an elbow. She then tries to jump on Beth who picks her up and hoists her in the air in gorilla press slam position. Meanwhile from the outside, Michelle tags Layla and hits Beth in the back of the head. Beth uses Layla as a human weapon as it were, using her to hit Michelle off the apron before dropping her to the canvas.
SmackDown Discussion Post: March 26th, 2010
As viewers in the US and Canada are able to see this week’s pre-WrestleMania SmackDown before fans internationally the Redux will be delayed until this week’s Divas match appears online. However for those watching on TV, be sure to discuss the Beth Phoenix vs Vickie Guerrero match in the comments!
In Video: Funny Live Footage from Tonight’s SmackDown
Fan footage from tonight’s SmackDown has popped up on YouTube and let’s just say, it’s worth spoiling your appetite before you watch the full show on MyNetworkTV tonight! Watch the fan footage in the spoiler tags: Also a quick note on this week’s SmackDown Redux. The show usually finds its way online before it airs … Read more
SmackDown Spoilers: March 26th, 2010
WWE taped this week’s episode of SmackDown tonight after a live Raw. The show will air on Friday. Check spoilers below: EDIT: Additional spoilers have been added.
SmackDown Redux (March 19th, 2010): Glamazon’s Quest for Gold Continues
The Glamazon, Beth Phoenix inched ever closer to the coveted Women’s Championship on this week’s Friday Night SmackDown as she delivered an all-mighty Glam Slam on the current champ, Michelle McCool. The Glamazon’s mega momentum was overshadowed, however, by a post-match announcement for next week’s show. Watch below:
This week’s Divas action saw the aforementioned Phoenix and McCool in tag team action; Phoenix teamed with the newcomer Tiffany and McCool with her Simply Flawless team mate, Layla. ‘Flawless’, known for subjecting Mickie James to rather painful ‘Piggie James’ jibes, unveiled their latest campaign this week against Beth Phoenix with t-shirts reading ‘Glam-a-Man?’ Stay classy, WWE.
We kick off the match with Phoenix and Layla. Layla attempts to fight the powerful Glamazon with some kicks to the legs but Beth picks her up with great ease, hoisting her in the air for an airplane spin and drops her back down to the canvas. This leads to a really funny moment with Layla, who is easily the best comedienne among the Divas, trying to make a tag to her tag team partner [“Ohhhh Michellllllllle”] only to find out that she’s in the wrong corner. As she gathers her surroundings, she walks right into a clothesline from Phoenix who then tags out to Tiffany.
Tiffany hits a really nice crossbody from the middle turnbuckle and goes for a pin but Layla kicks out. She then hits Lay with a rather weak elbow but then hits another one which looks much better. Tiffany then goes for a suplex which to me, looked a little slow and Layla landed awkwardly rather than nice and flat. Another near fall.
In Video: Fan Footage of This Week’s SmackDown Match
A fan at last night’s SmackDown taping filmed the Divas match — naughty, naughty! But for those of you who can’t wait till Friday can watch it below. I’ve placed it in the spoiler tags. Click ‘Show’ to see:
SmackDown Spoilers: March 19th, 2010
Spoilers for this week’s episode of SmackDown are below. Click ‘show’ to read:
SmackDown Redux (March 12th, 2010): The Blonde and the Brawny
It’s okay to look — SmackDown has returned to form! Hurrah! After an iffy week with not much going on last week, this week’s show was infinitely better with the blonde babyfaces proving the Divas moniker to be true — they were smart, they were sexy and oh yes, they were powerful! You’d expect little else from the Glamazon Beth Phoenix… but Tiffany? Tiffany?! I was not expecting anything out of the former ECW GM upon reading the spoilers for this week but Tiffany girl, consider my eyes opened. Tiff Tiff shocked the hell out of me with her rather great in-ring debut on SmackDown — perhaps one of the better ones in recent years from the model-types.
This week’s action kicked off with Tiffany backstage with Teddy Long. Vickie Guerrero comes in and tries to put Tiffany in her place but Teddy tells Vickie that Tiff’s here to be a Diva in the women’s division, not a GM. Going all the way back to Tiffany’s first night as GM on ECW, I thought her acting was more convincing here — she’s improved. Still though, and this is probably the same for most of the Divas, she isn’t great.
Next we have Tiffany making her in-ring debut against Michelle McCool as ordered by Guerrero.
McCool makes her entrance first with Vickie now joining the Simply Flawless team and awkwardly taking part in their entrance. Next out is the newest Diva, Tiffany and for a second I had to wonder if I was watching the right show. She seriously looked like something fresh out of Wrestlicious. With that ring attire and music she comes across as a cliched character on TakeDown. It’s hard to take the girl seriously when she looks like that, I really hope she finds a decent ring attire with some pants or shorts soon.
As Tiffany approaches the ring, some nice expressions from Michelle with her looking bored and uninterested in the new Diva. McCool, taking Tiffany lightly, mocks her skirt [thank you!] and tries to intimidate the former ECW GM by shoving her down to the canvas. Tiffany jumps straight back up but McCool again mocks the Diva by taking a time up for some press ups. Tiffany runs at McCool surprising her with her feistiness and throws a few jibes of her own at the Women’s Champ. Michelle walks into a nicely executed atomic drop by Tiffany followed by two impactful clotheslines. Already, I’m impressed. Frankly, I was expecting a flimsy kind of Kelly-esque moveset from Tiffany with less than believable clotheslines but Tiffany’s clotheslines connected and they connected hard. She looked powerful and dominant which is great when you need to choreograph and sell your moves. Perhaps her background in power lifting helps? Tiffany then goes for a low dropkick on Michelle, kind of jumping in the air to execute it. Hmm, it looked a little odd but again, it connected and looked believable which is already the antithesis of some of the ‘model’ girls we see on Raw. Tiffany then kicks Michelle through the ropes and then somewhat surprisingly, jumps right out of the ring herself and goes after the champ some more! Gotta love that aggression.
SmackDown Spoilers: March 12th, 2010
Below are spoilers for this week’s episode of SmackDown. The show airs on Friday. Click the ‘Show’ link to see:
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.
ECW Diva Moves to SmackDown
Meet Maria’s replacement… In a minor spoiler from last night’s SmackDown taping, former ECW GM Tiffany made her debut for the brand. Tiffany’s SmackDown debut airs on Friday.
SmackDown Spoilers: March 5th, 2010
Spoilers for this Friday’s SmackDown are in. Click ‘show’ to read:
Thoughts after the cut:
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.
SmackDown Spoilers: February 26th, 2010
Click ‘show’ below to view spoilers for this Friday’s edition of SmackDown:
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:
ECW Diva Heading to SmackDown
With ECW singing it’s final swansong last night [unless it’s resurrected and bastardised again], the three Divas of the show are now set to be moved around. We have learned that the current plan is for Savannah to be part of the SmackDown roster. As reported earlier in the month, Savannah played a role at … Read more
SmackDown Spoilers: February 19th, 2010
Spoilers for this Friday’s SmackDown are in. Click ‘show’ to read:
Thoughts after the cut:
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.
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.