You know that Beyonce song where she’s talking all about deja vu? That’s what I experienced when I first saw new ECW Diva, Courtney Taylor‘s – real name Beverly Mullins’ – photoshoot for WWE.com. Girlfriend is giving off serious Stacy Keibler vibes.
Now now, that ain’t necessarily a bad thing — the Keib was 42 inches of luscious blonde goddess and I think Courtney is just as pretty. It would be eerily uncanny if they had Courtney & Kelly Kelly do a photoshoot together as an homage to Stacy and gal pal, Torrie Wilson.
Watch out for Erin’s review of Courtney’s photoshoot in Sunday’s Unwrapped. Until then, check out Taylor’s new WWE.com profile by clicking here.
Some handheld camera footage of the Divas battle royal from last Sunday’s SummerSlam pay per view was discovered on YouTube. It’s only 40 seconds but better than nothing, right? Watch below:
Last time on SmackDown:Michelle made her return, sitting at ringside as Melina & Maria defeated Layla & Natalya. No physicality form Michelle other than a shove onto the keister by Melina.
This week: Will Michelle step up into a more physical role, or is she still sidelined? Will the WWE even acknowledge her injury? Will Maria grace us with another mind-blowing in-ring performance? Let’s dive in and see!
This week’s Diva action starts off much like it has in the past few weeks (the “Michelle-less weeks”, as I like to call them). Even though Michelle’s back and we have an actual wrestling storyline to promote, Maria is still having problems with Dolph, the part-time wrestler, part-time C-Grade porn star. Melina mentions something about “going around in circles”, and I think that describes this storyline pretty well–it’s like a dog chasing its tail, always with some sliver of a harebrained goal, but never quite reaching it. But even the dog gives up eventually, so we’ll have to wait and see if this actually plays out.
Okay, enough with the mixed metaphors. Maria seems pretty frustrated with Melina, asking her why she can’t just be happy for her. Maybe because, with this Dolph thing, you’re fixing to drive into a brick wall? Maybe Melina should just say “Bon voyage!” and send you on your way. Melina explains that she saw Dolph with another woman after SummerSlam. (Are you sure he wasn’t just looking into a mirror? Dude’s pretty feminine-looking.) Maria pulls out the old “Mean Girls” argument, telling Melina that she’s probably just jealous of her. Melina tells her she’s sorry and splits, just as Dolph comes up. He tells Maria that the woman he was with was his sister. (OMG, maybe she looks exactly like him but with a longer blonde wig. I’d pay to see that.) Maria believes it, of course, and we’re set for another few weeks of captivating drama. UNTIL NEXT WEEK, on “The Young & the Shitty Wrestlers”.
Watch the segment below, then skip to 4:40 to see the subsequent match:
Now that we’ve got the backstage portion of the show out of the way, we have an actual match to get to (Please excuse the male match in between on the video–don’t they know that all male matches are glorified piss breaks? They’re not even real wrestlers!) Michelle has made her way to the ring and she’s on crutches! Shit. She takes the microphone and explains that due to Melina’s brutal attack last week, she’s got an injured knee. What a coincidence! She says she’s not medically cleared to wrestle and shouldn’t even be standing on it (Probably shouldn’t be wearing sky-high heels either.. Just sayin’.) She says that Melina ruined the night. Thanks a lot, Melina! God, what a bitch!
But seriously, Michelle’s mic work is definitely improving–she works the crowd, and plays the arrogant heel role pretty well. All she needs to work on is her lack of inflection due to her strong southern accent. She goes on to introduce Melina’s opponent for the night, whom she describes as a dear friend: Layla! As she makes her entrance, Todd describes her as Michelle’s “understudy” of sorts, and I have to admit that she’s not a terrible replacement–you could certainly do worse. Melina comes to the ring, and we can start the mach. They start with a tie-up, which Melina dominates into a pin attempt. No cigar, and Layla takes the advantage, tweaking Melina’s arm and kicking her in the gut for good measure, keeping a tight hold on the arm. Melina breaks free with a kick of her own, delivers an irish-whip that is reversed into the corner, and meets a charging Layla with two feet to the face. (Whoa, did the WWE pipe in that reaction? Damn.) Melina takes Layla down with a leap from the top rope, and sells her left ankle, which always seems to be giving her trouble.
This week on Impact initiated the first week of the Knockouts tag team tournament, as well as the anticipated debut of Hamada.
Traci Brooks and Sharmell, looking pretty snazzy in their matching MEM wear, hype up their impending encounter with Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed. Sharmell ever-so-graciously describes Awesome Kong as “elephant-like” in her endeavor to talk a big game. Say what you will about Sharmell’s “work-rate,” but she sure makes up in charisma what she lacks in ring ability.
At the start of the competition, Impact makes up for their lack of gratuitous shots of Velvet’s ass this week with some upclose shots of Traci’s… enhancements. Giggidy giggidy goo!
Traci dodges Kong and makes a quick tag to Sharmell. Kong tags out, and Sharmell takes the attitude to Raisha. Raisha pushes Sharmell down, who tags out. Raisha takes the fight to Traci and Irish whips her into the corner and hits her with a flying clothesline. Raisha follows up with a scoop slam and an elbow drop. Traci kicks out at two. Raisha takes Traci down with a suplex. Traci overcomes Raisha and whips her into Sharmell’s corner. Sharmell grabs hold of Raisha, but pays for her over-zealousness. Traci subsidizes on the distraction with a clothesline and a cover. When Raisha kicks out, Traci attempts to strangle her and choke her against the ropes. Traci takes a running start and then lands on Raisha mercilessly agains the ring ropes. Traci quickly goes for the cover, but Raisha kicks out at 2. Traci attempts to drag her opponent to the opposing corner, but Raisha powers out. She then retreats to her own corner and tags in Awesome Kong.
Kong takes Traci down with a series of clotheslines and smashes her in the corner. Kong sets her up for the Awesome Bomb, but Traci manages to scurry away. She runs the ropes, only to be tackled again with full force. Kong drags Traci into position, goes up the second rope, and dive-splashes all near 300 pounds of awesome on top of her with the Awesome Press. What surely would turn into a victory for Kong’s team, is interrupted by Sharmell who would prefer not to see her team lose in vain. While Kong is preoccupied with Sharmell, Raisha makes the blind tag and covers Traci for the 3-count. Once again, there seems to be trouble on the horizon looming between Kong and her sidekick. Looks like Raisha/Melissa won’t be doing double duty for much longer. Nonetheless, Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed are slotted for the second round of the tag team tournament.
Yes, Audio Bulletins are back! For those unaware, our ‘Audio Bulletins’ are our version of an elite hotline or whatever but you don’t have to pay for ’em! Good deal, right?
It’s been a long time since we’ve done one of these but I thought I’d run down my thoughts on SHIMMER Vol. 23, which I just finished watching this week.
I forgot to add another valid point but I’ll write it out: The DVD runs for over three hours and includes an awesome bonus match between MsChif and Saral Del Rey from an ROH pay per view. Given the price tag, I don’t know how that isn’t value for money!
Purchase SHIMMER Volume 23 by clicking here. You can also buy the most recent release, Volume 24, by clicking here. In the checkout type in the promo code: “bigten” for a 10% discount.
Mere minutes after making her U.S. television debut on TNA Impact, news has just broken that Ayako Hamada will be making her SHIMMER debut this November. This was confirmed on the new SHIMMER Twitter page.
Hamada joins a long list of TNA Knockouts to pull double duty for both promotions. After seeing Hamada’s debut match on Impact, I have to say I’m excited to see what she will bring to the SHIMMER roster. Needless to say, I will definitely be picking up those volumes when they hit the market.
I’m especially interested in who will be Hamada’s first SHIMMER opponent will be. Personally, I’m rooting for Cheerleader Melissa or Awesome Kong. Dream match!
Who do you want to see Hamada face in her SHIMMER debut? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Second Round
– Winner of Brooks/Sharmell vs Kong/Saeed vs Winner of Wilde/Sarita & Daffney/Alissa
– Winner of TBP vs Rayne/??? vs Winner of Hamada/Bolt vs Tara/Hemme
TNA will announce on tonight’s episode of Impact that the Knockouts Championship will be decided in a match between ODBand Cody Deaner at September’s No Surrender pay per view.
TNA’s er, General Manager(?) Mick Foley will seize the title until the pay per view on September 20th.
In our biggest interview yet, former WWE Diva legend,Torrie Wilson takes the Diva Dirthot seat. In this interview, Torrie discusses her run on NBC’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! as well as her thoughts on WrestleMania, the Divas and Women’s Championships, Playboy and much more!
It’s been two months since you left the jungle, how has your life changed? Torrie: Still the same life. Just being recognized more, that’s it!
There was some competition between you and Lou in the challenges, you beat him in a few and he beat you in a few. If you had to come second to anyone, are you glad it was him? Torrie: Lou and I were close in a lot of the challenges but Sanjaya, John Salley and Patti [Blagojevich] were good competitors as well and I would have been okay with getting second to any of them.
Speidi were the big camp villains. In the very first episode, you clashed with them over the dry shampoo & Spencer said some pretty nasty things. What was it like being in the camp with them and did you ever feel the urge to use some wrestling moves on Spencer? Torrie: They were a handful to say the least but they are okay people. I see good in them. Thankfully, I didn’t really care what they thought of me so Spencer’s harsh words didn’t mean much. It would’ve hurt more coming from someone I respected more on a personal level. And yes! I almost hip tossed him into the river but kept my calm!
Have you seen any of the footage back and been shocked? Janice lying about the Granola bar comes to mind! Torrie: I haven’t seen much of the footage but did see the first or second episode where Heidi questioned my faith and it did bother me. I knew Janice took the granola bar but seeing it will make me wanna hunt her down!
You noted that you’ve become a vegetarian since leaving the jungle, how did that come about? Torrie: I have become semi-vegetarian. I cut out most meat but do still eat a small amount of turkey and chicken here and there. John Salley taught me a lot about the vegetarian and vegan lifestyle and I took lots of mental notes! I also felt great after not eating meat for 30 days, so I figured something must be right!
Since the show, I’m sure you’ve received a lot of offers. What are you doing next? We know you’ve got the fitness DVDs coming up! Torrie:I am working on a few things but never like to talk about it until it’s actually happening! Things in Hollywood can change at the drop of a hat, I will keep you posted though!
We received word that solves the ‘familiar face’ mystery Jeremy Borash tweeted about last night. We’re told that former Knockout, Roxxi aka Nikki Roxx, is set to return to TNA.
I don’t know about you but Roxxi sure does fit the bill of a familiar face that “you probably wouldn’t expect.”
Furthermore, I’ve confirmed that at least one other reliable source has been told & is reporting the same thing.
So who would Roxxi team up with in the tournament? My vote goes to Daffney, if they turn her back into the Voodoo Queen.
The Wrestling Observer has revealed that the timing of the newly formed Knockouts Tag Team Championship is not a coincidence, as it’s being launched with Jeff Jarrett out of power.
Jarrett reportedly was a firm believer of only having three titles in TNA before launching the Knockouts and Legends titles. The additional set of belts brings the count to six. For some crazy reason *cough* Jarrett felt that ‘the more belts you have, the less important they are’. Pshaw!
Perhaps most interestingly, if you like bullets to the brain: ODB and Cody Deaner may form a team in the tag team tournament to crown the first champions. The reason? Comedic relief.
They just keep hitting them out of the ballpark, don’t they? My anti-Dixie Carter list keeps growing. Cue Tyra-esque, “We were rooting for you.”
Is it just me or is Maria the most gullible WWE Diva in history? No, I’m not knocking her… I mean the way she’s scripted. Maria the character hasn’t had much luck in the man stakes, has she? Current beau, Dolph Ziggler is your typical bad boy, the one that all your friends warn you away from and you don’t listen. Oh Maria, if only you had learned from the countless teen soaps…
Let’s look at her man history: Thankfully, unlike countless Divas before her, Maria hasn’t been entangled with Vince McMahon… yet. However her first ‘love affair’, if you could call it that was with one John Cena. Not much happened there, it was kind of a ‘dine and dash’ situation; he kissed her one week and then acted like she didn’t exist the next. Let us reminisce on that ~magical kiss~
Perhaps it was the cold shoulder from the former WWE Champion that led her astray to her future boyfriends…
Let’s surmise; former boyfriend Santino, somewhere between dating and Maria and Beth Phoenix, decided to become a cross dresser. Current boyfriend, Ziggler, was a male cheerleader. Boy, does she know how to pick ’em or what?
For the first time since having Kurt Angle arrested two weeks ago, Knockout Rhaka Khan – real name Trenesha Biggers – has spoken to WPXI about what happened between her and Angle, as well as how TNA responded.
Biggers says that since filing the protective order against Angle, TNA shockingly said they had been ‘forced’ to choose between the two:
“I was told that by filing the PFA I was forcing them to choose between the two of us,” Biggers said of her employer. “I knew that when I filed it. I knew there was no way I was probably going to be able to work there anymore.”
With her TNA status up in the air, she talks about whether she could work with Angle regardless of TNA’s decision to side with him:
“I’ve forgiven so many times for what he’s done to me, and I’ve been around him and been fine, but now, he’s gone and slandered me. In the wrestling ring, you got to be able to trust the person you’re working with and know that they’re not going to hurt you.”
TNA’s stance to the whole situation is just wrong to me. Khan has had a bad reputation in the TNA lockerroom for some time but when it comes to something serious as this, I don’t think either party’s side should be chosen until things are settled in a court of law. By continuing to allow Angle to work and be their Heavyweight Champion, they have obviously taken his side. Khan could be lying, as is suspected in the TNA lockerroom, but until it’s proven in court both she and Angle should be benched. Once again this proves that wrestling is a man’s world and companies are willing to overlook their so-called top stars’ behaviour and if it involves a female worker, she’s the one that becomes expendable. This reminds me of the Debra-Stone Cold situation.
ECW’s Bella Twins have called Lilian Garcia the ‘mother hen’ of the Divas roster in a comment to The Sun.
“Lilian Garcia is truly amazing. She has been a very special friend to us.
“When we joined the company she really smartened us up, gave us a lot of great advice and took us under her wing.”
“She is a real soldier backstage and keeps all the other Divas in line. She is totally like mother hen.”
The Decade Diva is set to leave WWE shortly. Check out our top ten Lilian moments in honour of Lilian’s 10th anniversary with WWE, which passed on Sunday at SummerSlam.
Have you ever thought that a certain Diva resembled another celebrity out there? Ever done double-take while watching a movie or TV show and thought “Hang on, isn’t that so-and-so?” Well we certainly have! Diva Dirt’s Dead Ringers aims to seek out our Divas celeb dopplegangers and highlight them here, for you to vote whether there’s a passing resemblance or not! Also feel free to suggest your own dead ringers by e-mailing us at [email protected].
The Diva: Diva Search winner & ‘Most Stylish’ Diva, Layla. The Celeb: 33-year old Marsha Thomason, who has previously appeared in TV shows such as Las Vegas, Lost and is currently seen on Make It or Break It.
With a similar skin complexion & similar hair, it was an uncanny likeness when I first saw Marsha as Naomi on Lost. And the likeness didn’t stop there — when Marsha spoke, she revealed her British accent. Unlike Layla though, Marsha is from Manchester and has more of a northern accent mixed with an American accent that she seems to have adopted. Meanwhile Layla has a mixed London-American accent.
Is Marsha a dead ringer for Layla? Vote below:
[poll id=”409″]
PS: Feel free to recommend your own dead ringers by e-mail or comment.
A contact in the ‘E has been reading your comments and in an e-mail last night, insisted that Mickie James‘ loss on Monday night was not seen as a punishment for last week. They continue that the Divas Champ didn’t see it as such either.
This all stems from Mickie’s surprise loss to Alicia Fox on Raw, in the six Diva ‘boxing match’ after her unsavoury expression last week on Raw following that match with Gail Kim.
Meanwhile, it has come to light that most of the show had to be reworked due to Floyd Mayweather’s troubles with the law. Raw Roulette plans were scrapped due to Mayweather telling management he would be late, ultimately he turned up an hour into the show. This is just me speculating but I’m guessing with the re-works they didn’t put much effort into the Divas’ finish, which is not uncommon.
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. This time, we’re taking a look at the “Raw Boxing” photoshoot, where the Divas who took part in Raw’s boxing-themed tag team match show off their Everlast gear. Click here to see the full photoshoot.
Alicia Fox Grade: Sweet. I can’t help but think of two things when I see Alicia’s gear: Captain America and the Harlem Globetrotters. Both are a good thing–they’re iconic! The stars and stripes are cute and kitschy enough to catch your eye, but not in a ultra-girly and cheesy way. She kind of looks like she’s set to fight in that old “Mike Tyson Punch-Out!” video game.
Beth Phoenix Grade: Sweet. OMG, Beth actually gets to take part in a themed match! Beth doesn’t disappoint, either, actually adhering to the theme and looking more like an actual boxer than any of the other Divas. The gold and red Everlast gear looks sexy, not sleazy, and it doesn’t look like a Halloween costume gone wrong like one I have a feeling I’ll be seeing on a particular Diva still to come..
Gail Kim Grade: Sweet. It’s pretty simple, but the little silver shorts are cute. She also uses pink, but not overwhelmingly like she needed to reinforce the fact that she’s a woman. “I gotta say, though, the “Boxer Girl” on her top looks like it says “Boner Girl” on first glance. Good thing or bad thing? Judge for yourselves.. :P
Follow the cut to see the rest of the Divas in the photoshoot.
Fresh off the heels of Vol. 23, SHIMMER Vol.24 hits the market today! Notable matches include: ‘Pink Lady’ Jessie McKay making her singles debut,Nicole Matthews vs Daizee Haze in a rematch from Vol.23, with a no time limit stipulation and main eventing the card, Sara Del Rey and Amazing (Awesome) Kong vs SHIMMER Champion MsChif and Cheerleader Melissa. Head on over to rohwrestling.com to pick up your copy and see the full match listing after the cut:
We are extremely excited to announce a new addition to the Diva Dirt team — former WWE Diva and SHIMMER alumna, Krissy Vaine! Krissy is perhaps best known for her work with Amber O’Neal in Team Blondage, who competed on the first two SHIMMER volumes.
Krissy was called up to SmackDown in September 2007, when she attacked Torrie Wilson after one of her final matches with Victoria. Unfortunately, two weeks after debuting on the brand, Krissy requested her release.
Already a huge fan of Diva Dirt, Krissy brings a brand new dynamic to our team and will be debuting her weekly feature very soon.
As well as that, she will be joining us on a special episode of the Diva Dirt Roundtable when we move to our new Monday slot next week. In the special episode, Krissy will reveal for the first time, the uncensored story behind her leaving WWE and working with Diva legends like Torrie and Victoria.
Please join us in welcoming Krissy to our team!
Plus check out a few videos of Krissy in action after the cut:
What do you buy a man who has it all? Nothing. You just let him hog Raw for most of the show. On a night where everything else played second fiddle to Vince McMahon’s birthday celebrations, there wasn’t much in the way of anything groundbreaking or storyling progression. In fact, judging by the pinfall last night, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just did a cointoss to decide who gets to pin who. Now, I love my Alicia Fox but that was some random sh*t last night. I’m sure it took all of their collective energy to write the scintilating Vince segment that they didn’t have time to actually put any effort into anything else. Luckily for a girl like me, I can now boast that Alicia has a victory over the Divas Champion, Mickie James. Yay! Watch below:
You’re forgiven if you overlooked the actual wrestling due to the nature of the match, ‘Mayweather Melee’… really? The distracting outfits and gloves certainly didn’t help. But nonetheless, I’m going to attempt to talk about the match with a straight face:
We actually got off to a pretty good start with Melanie’s favourite Raw Diva, Gail Kim putting last week behind her as she battles Beth Phoenix… but all goes downhill when Gail almost instantly tags in Kelly Kelly. Last week, we confirmed that Kelly is indeed a spot monkey, so what does a spot monkey do? Spots! A hurricanrana, then a leg scissors using the corner for help but Beth catches her into a backbreaker. Honestly, I have no problem with Kelly’s spots in a match like this. There’s limited time and six girls, you gotta get your signature moves out of the way, so in that sense it works. But last week was just not on, Kelly Kelly… we were all rooting for you!
Beth drives Kelly into her corner before tagging out to Rosa Mendes‘s weave [Diva Dirt meme in the making!]. Rosa hits Kelly a few times before Kelly comes back with some decent looking forearms for a change followed by the Torrie Wilson clothesline, nicely sold by Rosa.
Rosa tags in Alicia, Kelly tags Mickie. Alicia runs to Mickie’s corner before she can even get in the ring, but the Divas Champ fights back. Mickie delivers some awesome looking lefts and rights to Foxy, who hits the mat. Really nicely done. She knocks Beth & Rosa off the apron before hitting Alicia with a neckbreaker. She takes a second to pause and adjust her skirt — why were one if you know it’s gonna hike up and you’re going to need to pull it back down? Yeah.
Mickie goes for a pin, Beth breaks it up and gets a missile dropkick from Gail for her efforts. And from one dropkick to another, Kelly hits an awful dropkick to Rosa who’s weave then falls to the outside.
In the ring, Lou Thesz press by Mickie and then some weird looking hair pulling… I don’t even… Anyway, Alicia throws Mickie into the ringpost before hitting a Booker T-licious scissors kick. You could tell she was waiting for Mickie to get into position and was ready to hit it seconds ago, but when she finally did, it didn’t look pretty at all. Alicia gets the win and Melanie marks out.
All in all, I think it was a throwaway edition of Raw, especially for the Divas. I would love to see this lead to something more substantial for Alicia but it likely won’t. If it does, it’ll be an extremely welcome surprise but I don’t know, I just don’t think it means much. Hopefully we’ll go back to actual storylines next week, but I’m not even holding my breath. Blah Raw, great win for my girl though.
Due to college schedules, we have moved the Diva Dirt Roundtable to Mondays beginning next week. That does mean there won’t be one this week unfortunately, but we’ll be back with a fresh new episode next Monday.
We’ve got something interesting lined up, so check back for that possibly later today.
The discussion posts will now be posted every Saturday, so you have the weekend to add your comments.
Our brand new audio show, Melanie’s Mailbag will replace the Roundtable on Thursdays beginning this week. If you have a question for me, you can submit it here.
– “Mayweather Melee,” say that three times real fast.
– Kelly ‘Kendra Wilkinson’ Kelly seems right at home in sports gear.
– At least this time she has an excuse for wearing sneakers in a match.
– Beth Phoenix‘s pigtails… bless.
– Is it just me or does Mickie James look hotter in boxing gear than in her usual stuff? Wardrobe change!
– Rosa’s weave was on display last night or what?
– Weave is not supposed to look better on the horse that it came from.
– Gurl, I am still getting over that weave…
– Are those kickboxing gloves? Er…
– Beth Phoenix finally gets to take part in one of these ‘Diva’ matches and she looks fierce.
– Speaking of fierce, Alicia girl, why you been hiding your Beyonce thighs? Work it!
Mere minutes after making her U.S. television debut on TNA Impact, news has just broken that 
