As with last week, Beth Phoenix faced a local talent at last night’s SmackDown taping [to air this Friday]. This week, Beth faces 22-year-old Brooke Carter from Long Island, New York. Carter also wrestles as Brittney Savage and worked the taping as ‘Brittney Carter’. As noted by some readers, Carter held Women Superstars Uncensored’s tag … Read more
Former WWE Diva and ECW original, Dawn Marie celebrates her 39th birthday today but instead of receiving gifts, she’s giving them! In an exclusive for her former boss, Paul Heyman’s website Heyman Hustle, Dawn sheds her clothes for a saucy new photoshoot. Rather daring for a mom of two, right? However, Dawn has nothing to … Read more
This week’s guest GMs Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne spoofed Sharon’s popular reality show “America’s Got Talent”, opening the door for any a misfit WWE toy to come out and embarrass themselves. This, of course, is right up Jillian‘s alley, so she of course showed up to croon a song for the judges, the results of which are below:
Jillian, with Chavo by her side, sang a duet of Ozzy Osbourne and Lita Ford’s “Close My Eyes Forever”. Before they could get very far the judges hit the buzzer, Ozzy saying that he was going to re-title the song “Close My Ears Forever”. Upset, Jillian told Sharon that she had always been jealous of Lita Ford. In response, Sharon told her to come to the ring (but in much more flowery a way).
As she and Chavo walked to the ring, Jillian began to sing a song by someone she deemed a “true rock icon”, belting out Britney Spears’s “Ooops, I Did it Again”. She gets in Sharon’s face, and gets a slap across the face in response. Jillian cowers in the corner as Chavo gets his due too–a chop to the head by Khali.
The segment played to Jillian’s strengths, namely making a bit of a fool of herself. But hey, no other Diva could do it quite like her, and she’s pretty funny in a shameless way. It must sting to be relegated to the goof-off spot after being in a feud for the Diva Championship just a week ago, but at least if she has to be slapped she’s getting slapped by Sharon Osbourne–it could be a helluva lot worse.
Directly following these shenanigans we have a Divas battle royal for the #1 contendership to the Divas Championship. We have Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, the Bella Twins, Gail Kim, and Alicia Fox all in the ring. Eliminations, of course, can occur by any means, even by sliding under the bottom rope. That’s Divas battle royals for ya..
Tonight’s Raw is hosted by Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne! What kind of craziness will their presence bring to Raw? And what will the Divas get up to — or not get up to — this week? Discuss the show as it happens!
Spoilers for this week’s Impact are now out, courtesy of our TNA tapings correspondent Camden! The show airs November 5th on Spike. Click the ‘+’ to read:
Note: When using our news/spoilers please provide the appropriate credit i.e. a text link back to this page.
Three weeks. Three botch-filled matches. Is it time to take this one out back and shoot it in the head? The prospect of Jillian versus Melina for the Divas Championship is mark-out material on paper; these two Divas have worked up the ranks together and until now, have never had a full-on feud for a … Read more
This week on the Roundtable: Candice Michelle’s announcement, Lacey’s response to Sunny, Mickie James’ music career pursuit, Eve’s storyline with The Miz, Amy Henning in WWE and more. Plus your questions answered in the Mailbag and TV Talk! To listen to the Roundtable directly on the website, just click on the play button below. You … Read more
Controversial TNA Knockout, Lacey Von Erich has responded for the first time to scathing comments made about her by former WWE Diva, Sunny [Tammy Sytch]. Last month, the former Diva launched a tirade against Von Erich through her Facebook page, making overly personal comments about the Beautiful People star. In an interview with WrestlingInc.com, Lacey … Read more
In order to consolidate our Eye Candy coverage, we’ve developed a new feature: Unwrapped! We’ll take all the new photoshoots from the week and grade (or “brand”) each based on the following criteria:
• Appearance(hair, clothes, makeup.. you get the drift)
• Poses(are they versatile or just glorified statues?)
• Uniqueness(have we seen this photoshoot a billion times before?) Grading scale: Sweet (Great)/Bland (Iffy)/Sour (Awful)
Jillian‘s Seven Year Itch Appearance: This is obviously a Halloween-themed shoot, as Jillian’s wearing the famous white dress that Marilyn Monroe wore in “The Seven Year Itch”, along with the iconic Marilyn hairstyle and her signature beauty mark. I can’t say that Jillian wears it as well as Marilyn did, but it’s an amusing costume. I still prefer her electric guitar costume, though. Uniqueness: Everyone and their mother has “paid tribute” to Marilyn, and this is one of her most famous images, so it’s not anything that hasn’t been seen a million times. Grade: Bland. It’s cute for a Halloween shoot, but other than that, it’s just another Marilyn Monroe impression, and it’s not even a very good one at that.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Michelle McCool‘s Linked Up Appearance: A gray racerback top and black pants–both shredded in some way– are nice, but don’t look that great together. Her hair is something odd, too, but I can’t explain it. The chain seems random too, and kind of looks like she stole it off of a bicycle. None of it seems to go together well, even though they’re all shooting for a “tough” look. Poses: Michelle seems intent on selling her heel persona through serious glares at the camera, and not much else. They don’t look intimidating at all–more like she’s tired. Uniqueness: Michelle hasn’t altered her poses much, even though her “tough girl” glares need some work. Grade: Bland. Even though she’s wearing ripped clothing and sporting an actual chain, it comes off as incredibly boring.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Rosa‘s Fringe Benefits Appearance: A simple black top and matching fringed skirt aren’t very adventurous, but the sheer portion of the top and fringe at the bottom of the skirt make it just interesting enough, and the shoes are extraordinary. She takes what could be a bland all-black ensemble and takes it to the next level. Poses: Rosa tosses a few smiles our way, which is an improvement from her usual stony, serious faces. She chooses a nice variety of poses that still keep a relaxed mood, but are far from dull. Uniqueness: Rosa’s smiling! That’s breaking news, folks. Grade: Sweet. The whole shoot is simple, yet *just* interesting enough. Rosa shows that you don’t have to go all out to make a photoshoot sexy.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Read more to see the rest of this week’s photoshoots and vote for your favorite.
Recently signed FCW talent, Trinity McCray has been renamed in the developmental territory. She is now going by the name of Naomi Knight. McCray made her in-ring debut for FCW television at this past week’s taping. The name name is seemingly a play on Naomi Campbell; I wonder if WWE has a name book filled … Read more
Former WWE Diva, Candice Michelle has announced that she is pregnant! Writing on her official website, Candice reveals: I am very excited to be entering a new chapter in my life. I am Pregnant! Smile and a wink ;)! My due date is in May! I was so excited when I found out I wanted … Read more
November 1st is here and with just two months left of 2009, we are extremely pleased to announce the launch of our second annual Diva Dirt Year-End Awards! Last year, Beth Phoenix took the award for ‘Diva of the Year’ while The Beautiful People [Angelina Love & Velvet Sky] were crowned ‘Knockouts of the Year’. … Read more
– Mickie James’ country music career
– Candice Michelle in TNA
– Eve and The Miz?
– Amy Hennig in WWE?
– Courtney Taylor removed from WWE.com
– Michael Hayes’ support of Beth Phoenix
If you’d like to add your comments & ask a question for the Mailbag, reply with the following:
Name:
Do you think Mickie will leave WWE for her music career?:
Ideas for Candice in TNA?:
Should Eve be used as a wrestler?:
Would Amy Hennig make a good Diva?:
Question for Melanie/Erin/Steven/Tiffany (delete as applicable):
Make sure your comment for each topic is no longer than one sentence. Any longer and it will be overlooked.
Announcement: Tomorrow, we’ll be debuting a brand new weekly audio — the Post-Raw Roundtable. This will go online every Monday night after Raw. If you’d like us to read out your Raw thoughts, please tweet them to us at @divadirt.
To take part in the reader survey for each of the topics follow the cut!
We’re again bringing you a special edition of Unwrapped, where we cover multi-Diva shoots in a miniaturized version of our regular “unwrappings”, focusing on the looks and ensembles our Divas have put together. Today, as it is Halloween, our “Eye Candy” will be the kind associated with jack-o-lanterns and bags of sweets. We are looking at the 3-part “Scream Queens” photoshoot, in which the Divas show off their Halloween costumes. Click the following links to see the full photoshoots: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
Alicia Fox Costume: Vampire Creativity (on a scale of 1-10): 7. A vampire is one of the most cliche Halloween costumes, sure, but I like that she put some effort into it, wearing a cape and fangs and not being too concerned with looking sexy. Her poses are cool too, and make what could be a rather bland costume pretty exciting. Bonus points for looking a like an old school vampire, too. Grade: Sweet. She looks cute and the extra thought put into it–not just plastic fangs and lingerie–makes it interesting.
Beth Phoenix Costume: Nurse Creativity (on a scale of 1-10): 1. Talk about cliche–what’s a more cheesy “sexy” costume than a nurse? Frankly, I expected better from Beth, but she seems content to pose in a skanky costume suggestively holding a stethoscope. Come on Beth, I didn’t think you were that uncreative. Grade: Sour. This looks so strange on Beth. It’s just not “like” her, if you get my drift, and this is not an instance where that would be a good thing.
Brie & Nikki Bella Costume: Belly dancers Creativity (on a scale of 1-10): 4. The sexy “belly dancer” costume is pretty cliche, especially in so scantily clad a fashion. But hey, it’s kind of cool, what with all the veils and such. There’s more to it than other “sexy” costumes. Grade: Bland. It’s not original by any means, but they certainly look cute. There’s just so much potential with twin costumes, and they sort of dropped the ball on this one.
Read on to see the rest of the Divas’ costumes and vote for your favorite.
We’re baaack! You may remember us offering costume advice last year to Divas participating in the now-defunct Cyber Sunday Halloween costume contest. Well, we’re extending that tradition this year, extending the love to TNA’s Knockouts as well. We’ll offer costume possibilities to nearly every Diva and Knockout over 3 installments, all leading up to Halloween night. Get your popcorn ready! (Check out part 1 here, and part 2 here.)
Awesome Kong Costume: Tinkerbell Why?: 364 days of the year, Kong is an intimidating, destructive force that barely ever cracks a smile. For her Halloween costume, why not go in the complete opposite direction? Tinkerbell, Peter Pan’s fairy companion, is pretty much everything Kong isn’t–dainty, sparkly, girly–but she still can be pretty spiteful when crossed. I guess they’re more alike than I thought! I think it’d be hilarious to see Kong poke fun at her serious image (and we know she doesn’t take herself too seriously–just look at her Twitter page) by putting on the green dress, wings, and slippers, sprinkling pixie dust with her magic wand wherever she goes. Get the look: Check out this website to see a variety of full Tinkerbell costumes.
Eve Torres Costume: Sally Jupiter from “Watchmen” Why?: Eve has a classic look about her, evidenced by some of the retro looks she sports from time to time. Considering all of that, a perfect costume for her would be that of 50’s-era Sally Jupiter–aka Silk Spectre, crime fighter from the “Watchmen” graphic novel and movie adaptation of the same name that was released earlier this year. Sally’s hot and she knows it, but that doesn’t keep her from stopping all kinds of evil-doers. She eventually gave birth to the second Silk Spectre, who eventually picks up where her mother left off, but not nearly with the same sense of style. Get the look: Try this this costume, even though the wig’s not red. You’ll need to find your own boots and hosiery, though.
Gail Kim Costume: Max from “Where the Wild Things Are” Why?: In the book and movie, Max is a little boy who escapes into his imagination, voyaging to an island that inhabits large, wild creatures. With how Gail has been disappointingly treated since her return the WWE, one could suggest that a little escapism is in order for Gail. I mean, after losing to Kelly Kelly, wouldn’t you want to escape? (I’m kidding of course.. Maybe.) Gail would look adorable in Max’s wolf suit, needless to say. Of course, she would need Max’s crown too–what is a king without a crown? Get the look: Splurge on an adult-sized costume. But at that price, you might end up wearing it year-round like Max.
(IMAGE CREDIT: Angel Williams) Original Beautiful People members, Angelina Love and Velvet Sky reunited last week at a Live Pro Wrestling event in Franklin Square, New York. Angelina — real name Angel Williams — accompanied Velvet to the ring in a match that she was originally booked for. The date would have been Williams’ first … Read more
Key: Hot; this was well done. Tepid; this was middle of the road. Cold; this was miserable.
Diva Dirt prides itself on original content, which is why we have totally jacked a fabulous idea from Alan Carr — the topical barometer! Every week, we’ll be looking at the highs and lows and finding out where they rank on our topical barometer. What’s hot? What’s tepid? What’s cold?
Raw vs SmackDown Divas Tag Team Match, Bragging Rights
SmackDown Divas, Beth Phoenix, Michelle McCool and Natalya scored a big win for their brand at Bragging Rights when they pinned the Raw team to help SmackDown become Bragging Rights champions. Beth Phoenix was particularly instrumental, pinning Divas Champion for the win. Verdict:Hot. Not many casual WWE fans [not Diva fans] are willing to give credit where it’s due when it comes to the women’s division but the six Divas involved in the Bragging Rights match last Sunday proved that there is talent in the division and their matches aren’t total botch-fests. This match was given a decent length and had the opportunity to tell a good story with each of the Divas getting time to shine and show the audience their skills. Another good pay per view outing.
Melina & Santino vs Jillian & Chavo Guerrero, Monday Night Raw
Divas Champion, Melina teamed up with Santino to take on recent rival, Jillian and her seemingly new BBF, Chavo Guerrero. The match ended within minutes, as Hornswoggle came out to the ring for more side-splitting hilarity… Verdict:Cold. It seems the Divas division on Raw has been brushed with the same stroke as Hornswoggle, Chavo & Santino — filler comedy skits. The booking here was just pitiful and the Divas involved didn’t help themselves one bit by botching every exchange in their portion of the match. For two veteran Divas, this is highly embarassing.
Alicia Fox vs Kelly Kelly, WWE Superstars
Divas action continued on WWE Superstars this week, with last week’s victor Kelly Kelly facing Alicia Fox this week. Though she defeated Gail Kim the week prior, she was no match for A-Fox who pinned her with the axe kick. Verdict:Tepid. Compared to their fellow Raw Divas’ appearance on Monday night, Alicia and Kelly should be awarded. Not nearly as bad as Melina & Jillian’s work together on Raw, but compared to the week prior [Gail vs Kelly], this match lacked a certain something. Still enjoyable but perhaps a little forgettable. Decent effort from both, however.
Our friends at SHIMMER have announced another money-off sale at rohwrestling.com, which means fans can get up to 40% off SHIMMER DVDs! If you haven’t already checked out SHIMMER, now is a perfect time to do so! BLACK FRIDAY COMES EARLY- SAVE 35%-40% OFF YOUR NEXT ORDER!!! Start your holiday shopping now!!! You can now … Read more
Women’s Champion, Michelle McCool should be a shoe-in to raise some major cash next week, when she appears on ‘Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?’. The former school teacher will be appearing on the show, which airs in syndication, next week for ‘WWE Week’ along with The Miz, John Morrison, MVP and The Big … Read more
The fans in attendance at SmackDown voted Mickie James as the winner of the SmackDown Divas Halloween Costume Contest. But what do you think? Did Mickie deserve the win or would you have picked someone else? Based on the looks above & the little ‘performances’ each Diva gave, who would you have picked to win? … Read more
Note: As a result of the ‘Diva Dirt Trade’, the SmackDown Redux is now written by Melanie! Like Mickie James, I have left behind Raw after two years of the Raw Redux but left it in the very capable hands of Erin. You can read Erin’s Raw Redux every Tuesday here at Diva Dirt.
In the words of Comic Book Guy: “Worst. Costume. Contest. Ever.” Much second hand embarassment was felt for the four Divas involved; from the unflattering costume choices [that’s you Mickie!] to the ‘white people dancing’ [thanks Michelle!], this one didn’t look too hot.
However earlier in the night, we kicked things off on a much brighter note when the Glamazon, Beth Phoenix made her in-ring debut as a SmackDown Diva in a squash match. This to me was the perfect set-up. Since her debut in 2007 [let’s ignore the original debut], Beth has been pushed as the monster heel of the women’s division; the powerful and dominant Glamazon. In the past year, it’s safe to say she’s waned a little as a character as a result of poor booking but all that seems to be changing thanks to the move to SmackDown. Usually with these monster heel types, they’ll have squash matches for weeks on end against the ‘jobber of the week’, we’ve seen it with the likes of The Great Khali, Umaga, Mike Knox and most recently, Sheamus on ECW. I think it’s really intriguing for a Diva to be given similar treatment and really have that time to be put over as a ‘big bad monster’. This almost re-introduces Beth, putting out of mind what she’s been doing on Raw lately, and sort of starting from scratch. So it would Beth Phoenix versus local jobber known as Jenny Brooks, who it’s explained has some history with Beth:
Fresh from defeating Melina to take a win for Team SmackDown at Bragging Rights, Beth gets her first match on SmackDown. We kick off with Beth throwing Jenny to the mat and laying in some kicks & punches and then literally, kicking Brooks out of the ring. That definitely looked impressive.
Beth then drags Brooks back into the ring by her hair and then picks her up for a standing suplex, hoisting Jenny into the air for a good 30 seconds or so. This is something we’ve seen before in Beth’s arsenal and really is a sight to see, so it’s nice to see that it’s dusted off here. Beth then picks up Brooks by the neck and slams her over her knee, before just throwing her into the corner like a rag doll. Jenny then tries to fight back but is thrown against the ropes by Beth and then gets hit with an axehandle across the head. The end is here for the visiting Brooks as Beth sets up an epic looking Glam Slam, once again just holding that position as with the suplex, and as you’ll see she does a 360 on the spot so all the fans in attendance can see her sheer dominance which is a very nice touch, and then slams her down. Beth then takes a moment to adjust herself, looking composed and not in a rush, before pinning Brooks with ease.
I really enjoyed this. Like I said, it almost re-introduces Beth and her dominance with the use of the elongated standing suplex and Glam Slam, using Beth as a spectacle almost. She really came across great here as a non-chalant bad ass heel. The little touches like taking her time before pinning her opponent, while just a small touch, added that much more to atmosphere and I really like that. I hope they can keep this up and continue to have Beth booked strongly & break the mould of what it means to be a Diva today; as mentioned earlier, Diva squash matches are unthinkable but for that to be used as a storyline device for Beth shows some progression. Good segment.
After the cut, the Divas Halloween Costume Contest:
The identity of Beth Phoenix‘s opponent, Jenny Brooks, on SmackDown this week is Canadian wrestler Athanasia Alexopoulus aka She Nay Nay. She Nay Nay has previously worked in OVW, the former WWE developmental territory and is said to be an aspiring WWE Diva. Earlier this week, it had been speculated by PWInsider that the local … Read more
This week on Superstars, Kelly Kelly makes her second appearance in as many weeks, taking on Alicia Fox. Will this week’s match be as entertaining as last week’s bout? Let us see:
They start with a tie-up, Alicia roughing Kelly up to gain control and wrench her arm into an arm bar. Keeping the hold locked, she slams Kelly by her hair to the mat, crouching to get the best angle on the hold. Kelly hops up, but Alicia won’t let go, wrapping it even tighter. Kelly seeks refuge in the corner, climbing the turnbuckle, hopping down butt-first onto the top rope, flipping backwards and tossing Alicia across the ring with an arm drag. Not gonna lie, that was pretty impressive..
Alicia is stunned, but manages to beat Kelly to the punch, whipping her into the opposite corner. Kelly stops herself on the turnbuckle, though, pushing herself backwards and over Alicia. She does a back tuck to keep momentum, then meeting Alicia with a dropkick when she charges towards her. Kelly goes for the pin, but is unsuccessful.
Both get to their feet at the same time, trading blows until Kelly runs the ropes, going for an attack that Alicia telegraphs, hoisting Kelly up and into a backbreaker. Alicia goes for a pin, but gets a 2-count. Not satisfied (and obviously feeling that Kelly will change her mind and stay down), she goes for another pin, but gets the same result. She circles her prey before grabbing her by the hair and planting a knee into her back, wrenching her by the neck.
With Kelly’s struggle, the move does a 180, Alicia shifting to her feet but keeping the knee firmly in place. Kelly slowly gets to her feet, but before she can counter, Alicia scoops her up. Kelly scoots over Alicia’s shoulder though, rolling her up into a pin attempt that Alicia kicks out of. Damn, the way Alicia reacted to that counter made me think it was a botch. Just good selling, though. Alicia is obviously pissed off by this, delivering a blow to Kelly’s face and taking her time, pacing the ring and taunting the crowd. This elicits a decent reaction, but I’m not sure if that’s more due to Alicia’s heel spark or Kelly’s success as a babyface.
Tonight on WWE Superstars, Alicia Fox takes on Kelly Kelly in a Raw Divas match! Then at 9pm on Impact, Alissa Flash vs Tara on Impact. Discuss both shows in this post.
Raw vs SmackDown Divas Tag Team Match, Bragging Rights
Melina & Santino vs Jillian & Chavo Guerrero, Monday Night Raw
Alicia Fox vs Kelly Kelly, WWE Superstars
