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The Five to Watch 2010: Britani Knight

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Welcome to The Five to Watch 2010! Diva Dirt is always on the look-out for bright, young talent breaking into the scene in women’s wrestling. Always with a finger on the pulse of up and coming talent, over the next week, we will bring to you the five talents we that we feel could be breakout stars in the future. Meet the Class of 2010…

BRITANI KNIGHT

Who is she?
At the age of 18 years old, Britani Knight is the best female grappler in Europe. Hailing from Norwich and the legendary Knight Wrestling Dynasty (including father “Rowdy” Ricky Knight, mother Sweet Saraya and brothers Zebra Kid & Zak Zodiac), Britani has already chalked up five years of experience around the halls of the UK and more recently mainland Europe. Trained out of the Knight family-run WAW Training Academy, Britani has cut her teeth wrestling for promotions such as WAW, HEW, Premier Promotions, RDW, Pro-Wrestling EVE, All Star Wrestling, NWF (Norway), BCC (Belgium), GSW (Germany), DPW (Denmark) amongst others.

Her story so far…
It’s hard to look at the composed and talented Britani Knight in 2010 and reconcile the fact that she only just turned 18 years old over the summer. Of course, as noted, it’s five years since the fresh-faced Britani made her debut as one half of the popular tag team “The Norfolk Dolls” with friend Melodi. When ‘Dolls’ partner Melodi retired, Britani found herself thrust into the singles ranks, where she has excelled ever since. Early matches with both her mother Saraya and generation rival Jetta helped her gain experience in this transitional period, but it was in 2009 that the pieces started to fall into place that turned the young Miss Knight into a bonafide star in her own right. A vicious turn on her mother allowed Britani to step out of her family’s long shadow and establish herself as the de-facto undisputed British Ladies Champion by capturing consecutive singles titles in HEW, WAW, RDW & RQW.

Britani vs Wesna Busic (Part 1)

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Raw Redux (September 20th, 2010): Layla’s Flawless Victory

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In what I’ll assume is an attempt to make up for the total lack of Divas action on last week’s Raw, WWE booked TWO Divas matches this week. First up, Melina invokes her rematch clause after losing to Michelle McCool at Night of Champions, but this time she has to take on the other half of Lay-Cool: Layla. Check out the match below:

Out first is Layla, accompanied by Michelle and both are sporting shiny, new Divas Championship belts. (I wonder who has the replica. Hmm…) Melina comes out next and she looks like she’s all business. As she does her usual entrance, Michelle joins the commentary booth and informs us that she and Layla are both Unified Diva Champions. She also lets us in on the plan between her and Layla at Night of Champions that fooled everyone into thinking LayCool was on the outs.

The referee signals for the bell and Layla immediately goes on the attack, charging straight for Melina. Unfortunately for Layla, she charges straight into a few vicious forearms, courtesy of Melina. Melina continues the assault with few punches to the midsection, but Layla pushes her away in an attempt to gain the advantage over the former champion. Melina keeps the heat on Layla, knocking her to the mat with a strike to the back and laying her out with a modified curbstomp.

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Diva Dirt Meets Manami Toyota: Full Report and Q&A Highlights

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This past weekend US based women’s wrestling fans had a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet me.. err, I mean see Manami Toyota perform for the first time on American soil when she wrestled a weekend of shows for CHIKARA. Despite having seen SHIMMER only a weekend before, I knew I had to experience the woman widely known as ‘The Greatest Women’s Wrestler of All Time’ for myself. I also wanted to give my adoring fans a chance to admire me for themselves. I am as generous as I am humble…

Apparently, many others felt the same way, as the show not only sold out but the venue was also filled wall to wall with standing room spectators AND according to ringside gossip which I was, of course, privy to, 200+ fans were turned away at the door. Fellow wrestlers ‘The Rate Tank’ Kellie Skater and ‘Bonesaw’ Jessie Brooke felt it a necessity to attend this show and both told me that it was a dream come true to see Manami Toyota wrestle in person.

Following the event, Manami Toyota signed autographs in the lobby. Knowing that the demand for a moment with the living legend would be of epic proportions (Diva Dirt fan John Hyperion and I even met one fan who flew out from Japan to see Manami wrestle in America), CHIKARA provided the entire bar area for Toyota’s signing, which lasted close to an hour. During this time I had the privledge of meeting and speaking with Yolanda Jerigan, owner and founder of GIMICK$, a t-shirt line that is very over with the wrestlers themselves (she designed the ‘I Love Heels’ shirts featured in that infamous Awesome Kong/Alissa Flash photo). Ms. Jerigan is also a designer of wrestling fashions (ring gear) and designed the gear Sara Del Rey wore in the main event that night. While Ms. Jerigan had every reason to sit back and allow me to praise her talents and beg for free fierce fashions (which I would still like please), she instead chose to tell me how much she loved Diva Dirt, how her company checks it everyday and how she views us as THE Women’s wrestling website. The success of this site continues to amaze me and is in large part thanks to the loyal readers who allow the staff to experience moments like these.

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Beth Phoenix, Mickie James Comment on Retirement of Women’s Championship

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Two former WWE Women’s Champions, Beth Phoenix and Mickie James took to their Twitter pages last night to comment on WWE’s decision to retire the historic 50+ year old Women’s Championship. Beth, a three-time champion, wrote: It saddens me to see the historic Women’s Title moved into retirement, but I am so grateful to have … Read more

Raw Response: September 20th, 2010

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Get your Monday night Divas fix by tuning in to Raw tonight at 9pm ET on the USA Network. Be sure to tune in to the Post-Raw Show LIVE at 11pm ET following Raw! Discuss the show in the comments!

WWE Retires Women’s Championship

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As seen tonight on Raw, WWE has officially retired the 50+ year old Women’s Championship. Going forward, the Divas Championship will be the sole belt for the women’s division and is currently being referred to as the Unified Divas Championship. If the recent re-naming of the Unified Tag Team Championship to simply the WWE Tag … Read more

Raw Spoilers for Tonight

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If you can’t wait another 20 minutes for the show to go on air, spoilers for tonight’s Raw below. The show was taped earlier as WWE is taping two episodes tonight, including next week’s Raw in a cost-cutting measure regarding the October 1st live episode of SmackDown.

The Five to Watch 2010: Athena

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Welcome to The Five to Watch 2010! Diva Dirt is always on the look-out for bright, young talent breaking into the scene in women’s wrestling. Always with a finger on the pulse of up and coming talent, over the next week, we will bring to you the five talents we that we feel could be breakout stars in the future. Meet the Class of 2010…

ATHENA

Who is she?
22-year old Athena has been making quite a name for herself in the past few years. Working mostly out of the Texas area, Athena has quickly become one of the fastest rising stars on the independent scene. Trained by Skandor Akbar, a veteran in the business, Athena has the ring skills to back up her cocky (and sometimes immature) attitude. Although she only has three years under her belt as a pro, Athena has proven she can mix it up with some of the best in the business. Most notably, Athena took on MsChif in the first round of Anarchy Championship Wrestling’s 2010 American Joshi Queen of Queens tournament in a surprisingly even match.

Her story so far…
Since making her pro wrestling debut three years ago, Athena has had some very impressive matches against the likes of Malia Hosaka, Jessica James and MsChif. She also managed to defeat Rachel Summerlyn earlier this year for the ACW American Joshi Title but lost it back to her two weeks later. Speaking of championships, Athena (under the name Trouble) is also the current Women’s Champion in PWA, which is run by former WWE Superstar, Booker T. Athena made her debut at SHIMMER Women Athletes last week and despite being announced as a pre-show talent, was featured on three of the four volumes taped, impressing many in the process. No doubt, Athena will be part of future SHIMMER shows, bringing her to an even wider audience.

Athena vs Jessica James

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Chyna Health Update

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In an update to the report posted earlier, TMZ is now reporting that former WWE Diva, Chyna overmedicated herself on Benadryl last night in order to help her get to sleep. A source close to Chyna cites that she took 4-5 times the normal amount and woke up this morning unable to walk and was … Read more

WWE Night of Champions in Review: Michelle Unifies The Titles But What About Layla?

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Despite the horrible build-up, pointless Lay-Cool fighting over who would face Melina, and the lack of a Divas Champion on Raw, the Night of Champions unification match for the Divas and Women’s Championships took place anyway. On SmackDown, we witnessed Michelle McCool pull the wool over Layla’s eyes in order to get herself into this match with Melina for the opportunity to unify the titles. Layla left SmackDown in a furious rage and vowed that on Sunday, Michelle would stand alone. All of us knew better but for the majority, the outcome wasn’t what we expected. Take a look at how all the drama unfolded.

Seeing as how the match is being contested under Lumberjill rules, all the WWE Divas (including a pissy looking Layla) make their way out to the ring first. There are a crap ton of fashion mistakes going on tonight but the Bella Twins certainly look nice, as does Maryse. The Lumberjills get settled around the ring and Michelle’s theme music begins to play. She walks out with both halves of the Women’s Championship and she’s rocking some fierce new red gear. Unfortunately, she gets absolutely no reaction from the crowd during her entrance. Michelle poses with the belt and then Melina’s music hits. She waltzs out to an absolutely massive pop and sadly, she is not in new ring gear. She gets on the apron of the ring and sinks down into her sexy split, and that’s when Michelle decides to attack. Melina hops up just in the nick of time and Michelle ends up on the mat.

Melina goes after her but both women end up in the ring. Michelle scrambles to the ropes and Melina stands tall and proud. Melina sheds her fur vest and the bell rings. The match is on. Both girls lock up and begin to jockey for position. Michelle forces Melina back into the corner, but Melina whips it around. Michelle forces her foe to the ground and both roll around before tumbling out of the ring. They finally break the hold and both girls get to their feet. Several Lumberjills stand around and wait for their cue, but Michelle diverts their attention by slapping Rosa across the face and getting in the ring. None of the Lumberjills bother to attack Melina and she slides back into the ring after kicking Michelle in the stomach. She then throws her down by the hair and starts throwing forearms. Melina throws herself into the ropes and attempts what looks like a hurricanrana, but it doesn’t work out. Instead she lands on her feet and Kaval kicks (hee hee) Michelle to the ground. Melina goes back at Michelle but the co-Women’s Champion is able to fend her off. They both block a kick from each other and end up in the corner.

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In Video: Mickie James vs ODB at WWC

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Puerto Rico’s WWC promotion has released a full length match between former Diva, Mickie James and former Knockout, ODB via YouTube. Check it out below: This is the third Mickie match in the past couple of weeks that has been released for free, and ODB has a certain name value too, so this is a … Read more

Results & Video from ChickFight Match at PWR (Alissa Flash vs Princess Sugey)

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San Francisco-based promotion, ChickFight returned to action last night with a featured contest at Pro Wrestling Revolution. The event took place at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds and saw Alissa Flash (Cheerleader Melissa) challenge Princess Sugey for the PWR Women’s Championship in a losing effort. Check out a clip of the match below:

New Name for Divas Title, Layla Makes History Too…

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WWE.com is referring to the newly unified Divas and Women’s Championship solely as the ‘Unified Divas Championship’. It looks like the new unified championship will carry on the lineage of the Divas Championship which was launched in 2008, as Michelle McCool is listed as the new champion on the WWE.com title history for that belt. … Read more

PPV Predictions: WWE Night of Champions 2010

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History will be made tonight when the Divas and Women’s Championships are unified at Night of Champions. Who will walk away as the first ever unified champion when Melina faces Michelle McCool? Our predictions below…

Cryssi: As I stated in my SmackDown Redux, I’m not buying for one second that Lay-Cool are actually fighting. This is little rift between the two is nothing more than a cheap ploy to throw the Divas Champion off her game. They want to get inside Melina’s head and lull her into a false sense of security going into Sunday night. Melina is gonna come out all smiles and ready to face Michelle for the right to become the first ever unified champion of the Divas division. Michelle and Melina are going to square, get ready to fight, and all of a sudden Layla is gunna waltz out, Kaval and Vickie Guerrero in tow, and announce that the match is now a triple threat since she is the rightful Women’s Champion. Lay-Cool are gonna act like they’re pissed and BAM! Melina is gonna become the victim of an instant double team. The Divas Champ is gonna fight valiantly but in the end she’s going to come up just a little short. Or is she? NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND! Lay-Cool’s plan is going to backfire. Layla will end up being the one pinned. Michelle will have a mental breakdown and blame Layla for losing their title. And Melina, bless her heart, is going to lift both of those belts sky high and share her tears with the entire WWE Universe. Kodak moment.

David: I’m not thrilled that the WWE is unifying the Women’s and Divas Titles, but I am looking forward to seeing Melina and Michelle McCool wrestle at Night of Champions. These two rarely disappoint in the ring, and when you combine their skills with the other storyline elements (the title unification, tension in Lay-Cool, and the lumberjacks) the WWE really should deliver an interesting match. I am hopeful that after the title is unified the WWE will devote more time to booking interesting storylines that don’t just center on the championship belt. I think a Melina loss Sunday night would be confusing because she has been pushed so strongly since her return, so I think Melina will unify the title and LayCool will become even more divided.

Erin: I never thought the WWE would take the title off of Melina so soon, but this match gives me some doubts. Michelle is clearly the WWE’s golden girl, as she’s held a title (co-champ or otherwise) for what seems like forever. Part of me thinks they’ll reward Michelle with the unified championship based on that history. Also, the fact that the champ will have to travel between Raw and SmackDown makes me think the WWE sees this as an opportunity for more Lay-Cool now that their NXT duties are done. I’m picking Michelle to win and become the unified champion.

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