TNA is taping next week’s episode of Impact tonight. The show will air on six days time on March 15th. Click ‘Show’ to read.
Thoughts after the cut:
Raw Redux (March 8th, 2010): All About Eve
After last week’s moving tribute to womankind, I was bracing myself for the worst with this week’s show. Surprisingly, the WWE decided to put on a straight wrestling match rather than mold the Divas action to guest GM Criss Angel’s gimmick, and for that I’m grateful. But was the match anything to write home about? Let’s see:
Eve Torres, Gail Kim and Kelly Kelly make their way to the ring for a 6-Diva Tag Team match. I guess it’s been a while since we’ve seen one of those, though I haven’t really missed them.. Already in the ring are Maryse, Alicia Fox, and Katie Lea. Scrimping for time, I guess, but that’s nothing new..
Alicia and Gail start things off, Alicia latching Gail into a belly-to-back hold. Gail gets free and locks Alicia into a side headlock. Alicia tries to lift Gail up and gain the advantage, but Gail whips her to the mat, still holding onto the headlock. Alicia frees herself with a few jabs and whips Gail into the corner, charging. Gail slips through the ropes and the two trade blows before Gail leaps out of the way of a shoulder attack, landing in a straddling position on the back on Alicia’s neck. She tosses Alicia back into the ring, but Alicia regains control and whips again her into the same corner. Again, Gail blocks an attack and climbs the turnbuckle. However, instead of attacking Alicia she hits a charging Katie Lea with a flying clothesline, knocking her off the ring apron.
Gail turns her attention back to Alicia and gets a face full of boot. Alicia goes for the pin, getting a 2-count. She takes Gail to her corner and Maryse, for a moment, motions for Alicia to pound Gail’s head into her boot, but she decides against it, for whatever reason, opting instead to be tagged in. Maryse his a back breaker on Gail and goes for a pin, but Gail kicks out. She slaps Gail on the head, looking more like she’s messing up her hair rather than actually striking her. She then knocks Kelly off of the apron. Maryse gets in Gail’s face and gets slapped, getting a taste of her own medicine. Gail springs to life and tags in Eve.
Eve goes on a string of offense, getting a 2-count on Maryse. A poke in the eyes gives Maryse temporary control, until Eve nails Maryse with a kick off the ropes. She hits her somersault splash and goes for the pin, but Alicia and Katie Lea break it up. Actually, they were slowpokes and Maryse had to kick out before the referee counted 3. Get the lead out, ladies! The two of them grab Eve and slam her onto the turnbuckle. The referee, meanwhile, does nothing to stop this. A blatant 3-on-1 and all you’re gonna do is act surprised? Okay..
Impact Write-Up (March 8th, 2010): Congratulations Beautiful People! You Now Have Accessories
Tonight was a historic night for wrestling as round two of the Monday Night Wars kicked off and in grand fashion for both the Divas and Knockouts in my opinion. Both shows featured tag team action but on Impact we got a treat. With Awesome Kong basically done in TNA, the question has remained: “What’s going to happen with the Knockouts Tag Team Championships?” We got our answer and in spectacular fashion. Missing in action Knockouts Taylor Wilde and Sarita returned to television to take on The Beautiful People (Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky) and the team of Angelina Love and Tara in a triple threat tag team match.
Before the match gets underway, we’re told that due to the champions not defending the titles, Hamada and Awesome Kong have been stripped of them. That’s unfortunate for Hamada because she’s an innocent victim in all of this but life goes on and Tenay tells us new champions will be crowned tonight in a triple-threat match. Taylor Wilde and Sarita sort of get an entrance in the fact it’s nearly half over when the camera cuts to the ring area. They’re in terrible matching outfits but the fact they bother to coordinate their outfits give you a sense that they’re a real team. As the inaugural Knockout Tag Champs, it’s been far to long since they’ve actually gotten to perform on a televised show. The audience loves them and they receive a nice reaction as they play to the crowd and pose in the ring. Their posing is short lived because the theme music of the Beautiful People started to play and those three devilish Knockouts walked onto the ramp. They do their usual posing and flirting with each other, before finally getting in the ring and settling down for business. They know what a huge opportunity this is and how winning tonight could solidify this version of the Beautiful People as the real deal. Team number three consists of our Knockouts Champion, Tara, and ex-TBP member Angelina Love. Angelina is basically foaming at the mouth at the chance to get in the ring against her haters and Tara just looks fierce like usual.
Upon entering the ring, Angelina makes a beeline right for her former friends. Velvet and Madison are quick to get the heck out of dodge but a sluggish Lacey von Erich nearly gets caught in the clutches of a furious blonde Canadian. TBP start screeching at Angelina and Tara, causing an annoying distraction, and that allows Saritaylor to quickly go for a roll-up pin on both. The bell rings but before a count can be made, Angelina and Tara both kick-out. Nice explosive start to the match. Thankfully it doesn’t take long for the chaos to get sorted out and each team of ladies take a corner. Taylor and Tara are the two who officially kick us off. Taylor hits a nice kick to bring Tara down to the mat and she immediately goes for a quick cover. Tara kicks out after a one count but that doesn’t stop Taylor’s effort. She uses the ropes for momentum and goes to leap over Tara, but Tara catches her, holds her for a second, then just brutally drops Taylor down to the mat on her chest. In obvious pain, Taylor makes the tag to her partner. Sarita comes in, ducks a clothesline attempt, and delivers a nice modified neckbreaker to Tara, sending the Champ staggering. Sarita goes flying to the ropes to get momentum for a crossbody and Velvet smartly tags herself in. Sarita is unable to go for the pin on Tara and Velvet takes over.
Donald Trump Puts Over Maria + New ‘Apprentice’ Pictures
Speaking on the upcoming season of The Celebrity Apprentice, magnate Donald Trump put over recently released Diva Maria Kanellis who stars on the show. In an interview with Digital Spy, Trump says that he was ‘selective’ with the stars selected for the new season of the show, turning down ‘six or seven people per spot’. … Read more
Update on The Beautiful People/Tag Titles
A few readers have pointed out that in the champions graphic on the TNAwrestling.com roster page, all three members of The Beautiful People are pictured as Knockouts Tag Team Champions. It looks as though the trio may be defending the belts under ‘Freebird Rule‘, a gimmick that was applied to the legendary tag team The … Read more
The Beautiful People Win Knockouts Tag Titles
TNA crowned new Knockouts Tag Team Champions tonight in the wake of Awesome Kong’s departure from the company. In storyline, Taz and Mike Tenay announced that Kong and partner Hamada had been ‘stripped’ of the belts after failing to defend them in the past 30 days. In actuality, the move is due to Kong coming … Read more
Raw Response: March 8th, 2010
Tonight’s episode of Raw is hosted by the mind freak himself, Criss Angel. Will he convince us last week’s Pajama Pillowfight was just an illusion? Tune in at 9/8ct on USA Network to find out. Discuss the show in the comments!
Impact Feedback: March 8th, 2010
Tonight, TNA Impact moves to Monday nights with a live two hour broadcast. What can we expect from the Knockouts? Tune in at 9/8ct on Spike TV. Discuss the show in the comments!
Possible Spoiler for Tonight’s Live Impact
Click the ‘Show’ link to read:
Trish Stratus Tops WWE.com’s ‘Most Impactful Women’ List
In honour of Women’s History Month, WWE.com has unveiled the 25 Divas they believe to be the ‘Most Impactful Women’ in WWE history and perhaps of little surprise, a certain 7-time Women’s Champion tops the list. Trish Stratus beats competition such as The Fabulous Moolah, Sable and Lita to take the crown. The list is … Read more
Maria Puts Over Several WWE Divas
In a blog on her newly launched official website, now former Diva Maria Kanellis had some positive words about her former co-workers putting over several of the girls. She writes: I will however miss the Divas. They will forever be a part of my story. Mickie giving wrestling her heart, soul and a real teacher … Read more
Weekend House Show Round-Up (March 5th-7th, 2010): Beth Goes Good
As per request, we’ve decided to do a round-up of the weekend house show results for those of you who are interested. Results below: Saturday, March 6th, 2010 Raw Gail Kim & Kelly Kelly def. Alicia Fox & Maryse SmackDown Beth Phoenix and Tiffany def. Layla & Natalya Usual Diva fare; Phoenix and Natalya have … Read more
Update on Roxxi
Reports made the rounds earlier this week that Roxxi was done with TNA after her profile was supposedly removed from the official TNA website. In an update/clarification to those reports which were subsequently credited by us in our post on Friday, it is our realisation that Roxxi — also known as Nikki Roxx — was … Read more
Exclusive: Lizzy Valentine (Wrestlicious’ Kandi Kisses) on TakeDown Premiere, Origins of Kandi Kisses, Working for TNA, Wrestlicious Negativity and More
She made her debut as the lip-synching popstar, Kandi Kisses on the first ever episode of Wrestlicious TakeDown this past week and she’s here to tell us all about it, we catch up with the gorgeous Lizzy Valentine. We get Lizzy’s reaction to the first episode, find out about her character and get her thoughts on some of the negative reaction the show has gotten. We also learn discuss Lizzy’s time in TNA in 2003 as well as her one-night only return last December, plus what was it like working with WWE’s Evan Bourne in Wrestling Society X? Read on for the full interview.
You were on the premiere of Wrestlicious TakeDown this past Monday, how was it like doing that performance scene?
“I was so happy that I was on the first episode. Actually, like a few years ago, I was also on the first episode of Wrestling Society X so I was like, ‘Oh look at that, I’m on the first episode again’. I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from my friends about the show, they all thought it was funny and they liked my segment. I had a lot of fun doing that part, playing the role of Kandi Kisses. I’ve known Johnny C [Wrestlicious producer] for a long time. Like, about six years ago we shot a pilot for CRUSH, it never got picked up but I’ve known him for all this time and he’s always known that I was a big fan of Britney Spears so he kind of developed the character for me which was kind of cool.”
We talked a little bit about your friends’ reaction to your character, how did your fans react?
“For the most part, I’ve gotten pretty good feedback from people. I mean, people of course are gonna be negative about it and say, ‘Oh it’s not real wrestling, it’s making a joke out of women’s wrestling’ but Wrestlicious is not trying to be WWE, it’s not trying to be TNA, it’s its own show and its own product so it is what it is.”
There’s been some negativity towards the show. Have you run into any of this in particular?
“Well, my regular friends outside of the wrestling business, just like my friends from like the gym or just my normal friends that I hang out with and family members, they all see it as just a TV show. So they look at it and they think it’s funny and they like it for what it is. On the other hand, like my friends that are in the wrestling industry, they don’t like it. I think they’re being a little close-minded, they’re not thinking about it like the way it’s supposed to be. It’s supposed to be a funny show, it’s supposed to be an action-comedy. It’s not supposed to be a serious wrestling show like TNA or WWE, so people in the industry are kind of like, ‘Oh, it’s making fun of women’s wrestling blah blah…’ but I don’t think it’s really making fun of women’s wrestling. A lot of the characters, their stories are goofy but you know what, they’re characters and we all liked playing our characters. The girls on the show, for the most part, were really, really good wrestlers and you’ll get to see that if you keep on watching it.”
Definitely, a lot of the girls work for SHIMMER and we talk a lot on the site about how great the wrestling is there so I’m sure the wrestling will be on-point as the season goes on…
“Yeah definitely! All of us girls were impressed with each other. We were all watching each other’s matches and we were like ‘wow’. Even the girls who weren’t wrestlers on the indies or anything like that, some of the newer girls that may have been just trained for the show, even they did a really good job too. They worked hard and they did the best they could and everything ended up being okay. For the most part, the matches were really, really good so you’ll definitely be seeing some awesome matches.”
How did you feel just before the show went on the air. Were you nervous? Excited?
“I was really excited because I’d been wanting to see it for a long time and I’d been reading stuff about it on the Internet and everything. But I was a little bit nervous too because my character’s a little bit silly and I didn’t actually wrestle on the show, I was just doing a performance and lip-synching so I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I hope I don’t look too silly’. But I was really excited for it. Everyone has fun at Wrestlicious and I just really, really wanted to see it.”
Unwrapped: Eye Candy for the Week of March 1st, 2010
Welcome to this week’s edition of Unwrapped! As always, we will be grading all of the new photoshoots (or “eye candy”, as we like to call them) from the week gone by, judging them like so:
Sweet (Great) • Bland (Iffy) • Sour (Awful)
You, the reader, will also get the chance to grade the “eye candy” yourself by giving your opinion on each shoot and voting for your favorite out of the whole bunch. Now, dive in!
Beth Phoenix‘s Saucy Secretary
Grade: Sour. Has Beth Phoenix traded in the life of a WWE Diva to be someone’s secretary? Sure looks like it. And if her super short skirt is anything to go by, she may be an Ali Larter in ‘Obsessed’ type secretary — though I’m sure she’d have no problem taking care of Beyonce. Honestly though, I don’t know why Beth so often opts to dress like she’s heading off for a day at the office and it’s not a flattering look on her. It ages her, makes her a little bit frumpy and isn’t the wardrobe of a Glamazon. The poses are the standard hands-on-hips shots that offer little diversity also.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Kelly Kelly‘s Just Dance
Grade: Sweet. Despite looking far too tanned for my liking, Kelly is dressed in cute, sexy, young club wear and looks like she’s ready to go dance the night away. Kelly fits her skinny jeans effortlessly and the the sequined top works on her too. Meanwhile, I really like Kelly with her hair up like this, it gives her more of a fashionable look than her usual hair-down look. The poses aren’t offering too much variety but I think Kelly manages to salvage it with her pearly whites. I particularly love the image we’ve used in the graphic — it looks a little more artsy than the standard Diva catalogue poses.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Read more to see the rest of this week’s photoshoots.
Stephanie McMahon Pregnant
Congratulations are in order for Stephanie McMahon and husband, Triple H. The couple are expecting their third child as confirmed by Stephanie’s mother, Linda via Twitter. It had been speculated on various sites that Stephanie was pregnant after she appeared at a rally event for her mom last week. Linda confirmed the pregnancy on her … Read more
Melina Updates Fans on ACL Injury
Former Divas & Women’s Champion, Melina has officially started tweeting today and updated fans on her injury. The Diva was hurt at a December house show when she tore her ACL in the ring in a freak accident. On her Twitter page, Melina writes: My knee is doing well. Still in pain. Still can’t do … Read more
Reader Poll: Favourite Match/Moment from Week of March 1st
Pajamas, Wrestlicious and leather belts… it’s been a week of gimmicks for all of the Divas, Knockouts and whatever you wanna call the Wrestlicious stars. Vote in the poll below for your favourite match or moment from this week:
Report: Recently Signed Playboy Model Already Gone
A former Playboy model who was signed to a developmental contract last year is said to have already been dropped by the company. LordsofPain.net reports there was talk at the FCW taping this past Thursday of Jillian Beyor, whose signing we reported last November, being released. The 24 year old was crowned Playboy’s Model of … Read more
Gail Kim Says She Wasn’t Injured on Raw
With rumours suggesting that Gail Kim was hurt during the Pajama Pillowfight match on Raw, the Diva posted on her official forum declaring that she’s doing just fine. Read below: I’m mainly writing a message because I’m getting concerned emails about an injury? I am not injured. I don’t know where that came from. Oh … Read more
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.
Impact Write-Up (March 4th, 2010): Approved Change of Pace
This week on Impact we were treated to a slight change of pace. Instead of more Tara/Daffney build-up we got a video package, backstage fight, and in-ring segment all featuring the Beautiful People and Miss Angelina Love. Ever since Angelina made her return to TNA, the Beautiful People have gone after full force and this week was no different. The backstage beatdown was pretty intense but what happened in the ring was even better. Lets get down to business.
Skip to 4:46
The video package starts to play and it highlights everything that has happened between Angelina and TBP so far. We’ve already seen the highlights of all these incidents so they’re not really worth reviewing. Once the highlight reel is over, we’re told that earlier in the evening, Angelina Love was in a photoshoot that was interrupted by the Beautiful People. The Canadian Knockout starts swinging as soon as Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Erich arrive on the scene. Madison gets knocked back thanks to a stiff looking shot to her face and Lacey suffers the same fate. An official tries to hold Madison back but she shoves him to the ground and goes after Angelina. The two-on-one situation eventually overtakes Angelina and she’s forced into submission. Madison and Lacey beat the hell out of Angelina and throw her into a random steel barricade that is sitting backstage. Lacey grabs Angelina’s arm and pulls her through the railing, trapping her and leaving her as an easy piece of prey for Velvet Sky who finally gets in on this.
When Velvet shows up she has a hot pink belt in her hands. She starts screaming at Angelina like some kind of psycho and then begins whipping her. It’s pretty intense segment. Lacey tries to calm Velvet down and tells her “that’s enough” but Vel Vel’s not having that. She marches behind the barricade, gets right in Lacey’s face, and screams at her that “it’s only enough when I say it’s enough.” A meek Lacey can do nothing but agree with Velvet and Velvet gets in one last good, hard lick. She slams the belt down and declares “now it’s enough” and she stalks off in a fit of rage. Madison and Lacey gulp and stare at each other quickly before leaving the beaten Angelina down on the ground and hurrying off after their teammate.
FCW Double Dip: February 21 & 28, 2010
Okay, so I admit I’ve been a little lax with my FCW coverage as of late. My bad. Fortunately, I have not one but two FCW Diva matches for your enjoyment this week! First up, Aksana takes on Naomi Night in her FCW in-ring debut. Watch the match below:
First out is Naomi, who is sporting some very unique in-ring attire. Hell, who am I kidding? What the hell is she wearing? I’m all for being creative and unique, but that outfit is just kicking my ass! Maybe it’s the neon green leggings or the purple zebra print bra or maybe even those 1990 Poetic Justice braids, but Naomi’s look is doing nothing for me. WWE, it’s time for a makeover. Aksana comes next and is as perky as can be, which get a laugh-worthy look of disgust from her opponent.
The ladies lock up and exhibit some decent chain wrestling, but the momentum is cut short when Aksana comes in a little late on a dropkick. Naomi uses this to her advantage, immediately going for a clothesline for a two count. Naomi goes straight into a headlock, keeping Aksana grounded, but gets distracted by the ref, which allows Aksana to get back to a vertical base.
Roxxi Gone from TNA
Add another Knockout to the list of departures. Roxxi, who made a brief return to the company in December, is done with TNA reports PWInsider and ProWrestling.net. Both sites report that Roxxi was not under contract, rather paid per appearance. It looks as though TNA has no plans to bring her back now that she … Read more
ROH Recap (March 1, 2010): Beware of The Death Rey
After a few months of absence, women’s wrestling as made it’s return to Ring of Honor! This week’s match pitted former SHIMMER Champion Sara Del Rey against current SHIMMER Tag Team Champion Portia Perez. Watch below as these two SHIMMER mainstays bring in March with a bang:
Out first is Portia, who is playing the babyface role in this match. At first, the image of Portia slapping fives with the fans kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I mean, she is one of the most hated heels in SHIMMER after all. Even though Del Rey is the bigger heel in this instance, I would have liked Perez to still keep her heel persona, if only to keep some consistency between SHIMMER and ROH.
Sara Del Rey hits the ring next accompanied by… um… well, I don’t really who he is to be honest. I’m sure his name was mentioned a time or two, but let’s be honest: We’re not watching this match for him, are we? The ladies adhere to ROH’s Code of Honor and shake hands, but as soon as the bell sounds Del Rey goes on the attack, forcing her smaller opponent into the corner and taking her to the mat with forearm strikes and a few stomps for good measure. Referee Bryce Remsburg tries to pull Del Rey off of the pint-sized Portia, but Sara is having none of that.
While Del Rey is busy with the ref, Portia takes the opportunity to roll Sara up with a schoolboy for a two count. Portia tries to get of the offensive but is laid out by another vicious forearm. Del Rey tries for a wheelbarrow but Perez reverses it for another near fall and pays for it with a kick to the head. Sara keeps on her opponent, pulling her up by the hair and tying her up in the ropes. Del Rey proceeds to level Portia with some nasty (in a good way) kicks to the chest folowed by a snap suplex for a two count.
Think You’ve Seen It All? Think Again!
It’s been a week of new products for women’s wrestling this week with the premiere of Wrestlicious TakeDown on Monday. That product itself was somewhat controversial with some of our readers but just when you think you’ve seen it all, here’s something else to make you ponder. TNA’s Eric Bischoff filmed a pilot for his … Read more