As most will know by now, next week’s edition of Raw will be a three hour special dedicated to the WWE Slammy Awards. In a possible spoiler for the category of ‘Diva of the Year’, a WWE.com promo package shows four Divas — likely the four nominees for the award. If last year is anything … Read more
Gail Kim may have had a disappointing year upon her WWE return but perhaps the standout of her time is this little gem from the television series for WWE’s farm territory, FCW. Gail takes on former SHIMMER standout and current Queen of FCW, Mia Mancini. Watch below: This is a definite step up from Mia’s … Read more
Spoilers for this week’s Impact taping are below! The show airs December 10th on Spike. Click the ‘+’ to read:
Thoughts after the cut:
Tonight’s Raw is hosted by eccentric entrepreneur and the Dallas Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban. Discuss tonight’s show in the comments below! If you have a Twitter account, feel free to tweet us your feedback on the show–we’ll be retweeting the best ones!!
TNA Knockout, Tara — real name Lisa Marie Varon — is supposedly in the midst of pitching her own reality show to American television networks. Word seems to have gotten out courtesy of fellow Diva alumna, Torrie Wilson, who wished Tara luck on shopping her show via Twitter. So what do we think? Is the … Read more
A gaggle of Divas were flown to Iraq last week for the annual Tribute to the Troops. The Divas attending included Alicia Fox, the Bella Twins, Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly and Layla. Something tells me there was a reason why this group were picked — eye candy for the troops! Check out pictures of the … Read more
TNA Knockout, Lacey Von Erich has announced her engagement on her Facebook page. Speaking on Umaga’s passing and her engagement, Lacey writes: “Umaga RIP, he was an awesome guy on the tour, I’m so upset he’s gone. I just got engaged last night, so happy, bitter sweet days. He’ll be missed.” Say what you will … Read more
Over the past week, we’ve received thousands of votes in the first round of our Woman of the Decade poll. Today, we narrow 16 women down to just eight as the field narrows. Based on your votes, in our first vote count of the competition, we have cut the eight lowest polling women. That means … Read more
Coming off the heels of two successful title defenses against AJ Lee and Savannah, FCW queen Mia Mancini takes on ECW General Manager Tiffany in a non-title match. Watch below: To be honest, I wasn’t impressed with this match. In fact, I haven’t been very impressed with Mia since her FCW debut. Her new heel … Read more
Recently departed Diva, Lilian Garcia has joined a slew of celebrities to take part in the NOH8 campaign petitioning against anti-gay marriage laws. By doing so, the Decade Diva is the first wrestling personality to shoot for the campaign which has attracted Hollywod stars including the Kardashians and Perez Hilton. Okay, maybe not the best … Read more
FCW’s new Queen, Mia Mancini has had an impressive showing over the past few episodes of the company’s television series, and in the latest leaked episode she takes on ECW’s Savannah. Watch below: Compared to their first match which I wasn’t a big fan of, this go around, the work is far more solid and … Read more
Still ever popular with the wrestling crowd, former WWE Diva, Stacy Keibler recently won the title of Baltimore’s Biggest Celebrity and as a thank you, took questions from her fans on Twitter. Among the wrestling related questions, Stacy reveals that her favourite current WWE Diva is [shock horror], good friend Gail Kim. Read a selection … Read more
Reports suggest that Raw’s Alicia Fox may be injured with a dislocated shoulder. The injury took place last weekend and one site reports that Fox will miss two-three weeks of in-ring action. Hopefully we’ll know more soon, please consider this as unconfirmed. If true however, get well soon Alicia!
This week on Impact, ODB gives Tara a panic attack, Dixie Carter spills the beans, Kristal lays down the law, Lauren gets woman-handled a la Mi Pi Sexy, and Jeff Jarrett tells TNA to kiss his ass! Meanwhile, Tazz responds with a sturdy “WHO?” to the mention of Lacey Von Erich. The Tiffany Guide to Impact: sharing the same sentiments with TNA’s road agents since 2009.
While that pretty much summarizes last night’s episode in a nutshell, TNA still manages to squeeze in a 5-minute Knockouts bout in the 3/4 hour. Hamada vs. Sarita takes center stage in this installment.
Hamada and Sarita lock up, and Hamada grabs Sarita from behind. She takes Sarita over successfully the first time, tries for a second, but Sarita lands on her feet. Sarita leads Hamada into an arm drag. However, Hamada ducks a clothesline and flips Sarita into an arm drag of her own. Sarita reiterates the exchange with yet another arm drag, and both Knockouts go for a dropkick. Hamada and Sarita both kip up, and in typical Knockout fashion, they have a stand-off.
Readying themselves back into the match-up, the ladies link hands. Hamada breaks the hold with a kick to the midsection and a series of chops and headbutts to Sarita. Hamada runs the ropes, ducks Sarita’s knee, goes for a leg feed Enzuigiri but misses. A couple kicks to her opponent later, Sarita runs the ropes and utilizes this momentum to hop onto Hamada’s shoulders. This leads into an impressive hurricanrana. Sarita powers up, however Hamada quickly recovers and catches her with a superkick. Hamada covers Sarita, and Sarita barely gets the shoulder up at 2.
Always the risk taker, Hamada sails to the top rope and plants Sarita with a front dropkick. Transitioning this into a pinning position, it only results in another near-fall. Unperturbed by this close call, Hamada picks Sarita up by the hair and drags her into position for the Hamada Driver. Sarita is quick to counter into a victory roll, which surprisingly only renders a 2-count. Not to be outdone, Sarita swiftly grounds Hamada with a float-over DDT. Hooking Hamada’s leg, she goes for the cover again, but Hamada gets the shoulder up in time.
Here, the match takes an interesting turn as Sarita rolls Hamada into a rather complex (though aesthetically effective) submission maneuver. The hold doesn’t quite sustain Hamada, who maneuvers into a modified crucifix pin but only generates a 2-count for her troubles.
Consequently, Sarita staggers to her feet only to succumb to two nasty-looking spinning kicks to the side of the head. Hamada takes a brief moment to signal her signature driver, which she bestows upon Sarita for the 3-count and the win.
It was only a matter of time until the golden girls of the TNA Knockouts division would cross paths. While Sarita and Hamada have both managed nearly spotless records on Impact, this ménage à quatre (also involving Alissa Flash and Taylor Wilde) comes to a head with Hamada coming out on top. Hamada is quickly climbing the ladder in terms of Knockout stardom, and it will only be a matter of time before this winning streak calls for something extra. Hopefully, TNA will have something new and exciting in store for the incredibly talented Hamada. As far as Sarita and Taylor Wilde go… at least they can now bond over the fact that they have both been laid out by one of the greatest.
Next, Tara guest stars on “Trash Talk with ODB.” The Knockouts Champion and the #1 Contender come to blows, and a few interesting sentiments are exchanged.
Congratulations are in order for the Divas of SmackDown as I can positively say that this week’s episode was the best Divas action that I’ve seen in quite some time. From the #1 Contenders Match featuring three of the most talented women in the WWE, actual storyline set up afterwards and the return of a Diva — WWE managed to pack a lot into 10 minutes [which is pretty long for a Divas segment on TV] but it all came across as being important. Watch the action below:
On paper, the triple threat match between Beth Phoenix, Mickie James and Natalya seemed full-proof and it was. The work between all three Divas was fantastic, particularly the interaction between the power houses of WWE’s women’s division — Phoenix and Natalya. The way the pair cleared the ring of Mickie James in the early going and then fought among themselves was a great touch. Natalya is probably one of the most talented Divas to ever step foot into the WWE but hasn’t received the same opportunities as Phoenix or James. If we didn’t have spoilers prior, Natalya would be the one I would be rooting for — and to be completely honest, even though I knew the outcome, I still kind of did hope for her to win!
Some beautiful spots in this match including Mickie’s hurricanrana on Natalya, and Natalya’s discus clothesline on Mickie. But perhaps the most impressive is Beth’s effortless Glam Slam on a woman that equals her in stature. A fantastic spot.
The end sees Mickie James dropkick Beth out of the ring and ‘steal’ the victory. I really liked Mickie’s placement in this match, she couldn’t conceivably be considered as physical as Beth or Natalya, so they used her as a scrappy underdog fighting against the larger Divas.
Meanwhile, the real greatness in this match was the work between Beth and Natalya. I’d absolutely love to see a secondary between these two as a result of this week’s show, in addition to Michelle-Mickie. With Beth squashing Divas left, right and center, here she got an opponent that can step toe-to-toe with her and have a knock-down fight with. Perhaps market Natalya as almost an equal to Beth and see which Diva comes out on top.
Former TNA Knockout, Sojo Bolt has spoken for the first time on her release from the company on her MySpace page. Bolt — real name Josie Bynum — thanked several members of the TNA family including her fellow Knockouts for her time there. Read below: I wanted to wait a while before addressing my departure … Read more
Tonight on Impact: – Hamada vs Sarita Tune in at 9 pm EST on Spike and discuss all the Knockouts action here as the show airs! Click here to view spoilers for the show. (Tonight’s match was filmed as part of another set of tapings).
The Beautiful People’s Madison Rayne is supposedly receiving great reviews from TNA’s road agents, with the feeling that she is improving rapidly — moreso than any other Knockout, reports the Wrestling Observer. On the other hand, they are not too fond of Lacey Von Erich. It’s definitely nice to see Madison getting the recognition she … Read more
TNA Knockout, Kristal Lashley may soon be turning heel to play a ‘wrestling snob’ reports the Wrestling Observer. Kristal, the wife of Bobby Lashley, debuted at October’s Bound for Glory pay per view and up until now has been playing the sweet wife of the former ECW Champion. Read the details below: It’s not confirmed … Read more
The Beautiful People’s Velvet Sky shows off her comedic talents as the ‘host’ of an exclusive webisode commercial for ShopTNA.com. There’s also a cameo from former Knockouts Champ, Tara. Check it out below:
As 2009 winds to a close, so does the first decade of noughties. Over the past ten years, we’ve seen women come and ago in the big two [WWE and TNA]; they’ve captured titles, they’ve fought blood, sweat and tears and they’ve earned our respect. So as the decade, as well as the year, comes to a close, we are pleased to announce the first ever Woman of the Decade Award to be voted for by you.
The Diva Dirt team has shortlisted 16 women who have competed for either WWE or TNA over the past ten years, who we feel have made the biggest impact. Criteria includes title wins, fanbase, work in the ring, mainstream success and more. These 16 women, we feel, have defined the WWE women’s division and TNA Knockouts division for some part of this decade.
Over the next four weeks, their fate is in your hands — 16 women will be cut down to just one when we crown our winner on January 1st. Every week for the next four weeks, we’re going to be cutting half of the women until one is left standing. We begin with 16, cut that down to 8, then 4, then 2 and then crown our winner.
Find out who they are and how to vote after the cut:
We’ve compared the WWE Diva to comic book heroes before (Exhibit A & Exhibit B), but it looks like the WWE is taking a step towards making that comparison a reality. The Bleeding Cool comic book blog is reporting that the WWE is teaming up with Titan Publishing to roll out a comic book line … Read more
It’s December 1st and that means voting has commenced on the 2009 Year-End Awards here at Diva Dirt! In exactly one month’s time, you will have crowned your Diva of the Year, Knockout of the Year, Match of the Year — and all the other categories in between! This is truly the people’s awards, we … Read more
Following Maryse‘s turkey-costumed return, fans came to a general consensus that it was pretty disappointing. But with this week came the opportunity to add some legitimacy to this blossoming feud. Would Maryse deliver, or would she–like the turkey she disguised herself as–not even get off the ground?
We begin the night with an entrance by Melina and Gail Kim. The feed cuts to Maryse and Jillian walking backstage, only to be stopped by Josh Matthews, asking Maryse what provoked her to attack Melina last week:
She explained her motives as this: Melina was holding her Divas title (not that Mickie held the title long before Melina and actually won it from Maryse in the first place) and provided a Trojan Horse, which for Melina turned out to be the turkey. I don’t want to go all history nerd and explain the many ways in which that makes no sense, but really.. I know the common usage of the Trojan Horse metaphor is with a “any trick that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place”, in reference to the tale of the Greeks hiding inside of a giant horse that they left outside the gates of Troy, which when brought inside the gates (as a victory trophy) allowed them to overtake the city at night and win what has been a 10-year siege. But is the WWE ring really considered a securely protected place? Maybe the fact that Melina let the Gobbledy Gooker stand behind her qualifies as that, but that’s stretching it quite a bit. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t accepting the Trojan Horse (and ignoring the warnings of others) a sign of vanity? They believed that the Greeks were surrendering and accepted their “victory trophy” without suspicion, and were ambushed and slaughtered for doing so. I doubt Maryse was preyinf on Melina’s vanity with her scheme.
Either way you look at it, Maryse’s metaphor oversold the thing to a ridiculous level. It actually managed to make it look even more stupid, as she (AKA the WWE’s writers) tried to sell it as some mastermind’s trick. However, when the trick involves one party dressing up in a Gobbledy Gooker suit, I think trying to make it look like any sort of “master plan” is more foolish than the idea itself.
But enough of that. Maryse says “gobble gobble” to Josh (which I guess serves as a goodbye), which Jillian sings in repetition, and the two head to the ring. Melina and Gail’s reaction to this says it all, mouthing “wow” to each other a few times. As Maryse and Jillian make their entrance, Michael Cole recaps how Maryse lost the Divas Championship at Night of Champions and–rumor has it–when into a state of depression following her loss. What a crappy excuse.. I mean, is it really that hard to just say she got injured–which she actually did? All that does is perpetuate the stereotype of the “fragile woman”. Though, Maryse’s character is approximately 99% vanity, so such a blow to her ago could probably crush her in such a way. But still, around 5 months on the shelf due to depression? That’s treating pretty lightly what in real life is a big deal–a serious mental illness. But I guess, as we’ve seen several times already this night, analyzing the WWE’s motives is a lost cause.
I really need to stop sidetracking this thing. Let’s get on to the match.
Tonight’s Raw is hosted by actor Verne Troyer of Austin Powers fame. Discuss tonight’s show in the comments below! If you have a Twitter account, feel free to tweet us your feedback on the show–we’ll be retweeting the best ones!!