The bait and switch pulled at the Elimination Chamber PPV led many of us to believe that the WWE had bigger plans for the Divas Championship tournament finals. Perhaps a lengthier feud to build up such an important match? No, as it turns out, because they finally decided to have the match on a regular old ordinary episode of Raw. Watch the match below and see if it was worth all the wait:
It definitely surprised me when the Divas Championship logo passed over the screen. But I think, more than surprise, I felt relief–finally this tournament is over! Maryse makes her entrance, and Gail Kim follows. It is mentioned how badly Maryse treated Gail in their tag team match the night before, but other than that this doesn’t feel like something that has been built up over numerous weeks. It feels more like the beginning of a feud; one that started at the PPV last night. At any rate, I’m glad to see this match finally happening. Let’s get on with it.
Maryse goes for the attack at the start of the match, but Gail slips past her, catching her in a belly-to-back hold. Maryse strikes Gail to get free, but the next blow is missed, and Gail rolls Maryse into a pin. Maryse quickly kicks out. Maryse reversed an irish whip into the corner and charges at Gail, but Gail slips out through the ropes, allowing Maryse to run full on into the turnbuckle. Gail blocks a few attacks from Maryse and leaps back over the ropes, continuing the momentum into a pin attempt. Maryse kicks out at 2.
Gail goes on a string of offense, Maryse beginning to look sluggish. It’s only until Gail tries to bash her head against the turnbuckle that Maryse retaliates. She blocks it with her boot and hits Gail’s head against the target instead. She tosses Gail in over the ropes, but Gail quickly reverses momentum into an attempt at the Eat Defeat, but Maryse holds onto the ropes, blocking the move. She kicks Gail across the face and goes for the pin, getting a 2-count.
On a night that saw a predictable title win, WWE also gave us a rather pleasant surprise last night announcing that Wendi Richter will be just the fourth woman inducted into the Hall of Fame in April. No doubt an extremely classy move by WWE; I know we ride them a lot but this should … Read more
It was announced tonight on Raw that the newest member of the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010 is none other than 2-time Women’s Champion and women’s wrestling legend Wendi Richter. From her famous alliance with Cyndi Lauper to her rivalry with the Fabulous Moolah, Wendi has certainly cemented her place in the wrestling … Read more
Tonight’s Raw will be hosted by singer Jewel and her husband, bull-riding champion Ty Murray. The Divas Championship tournament finals may take place tonight, but you should all know by now to not hold your breath waiting for it! Discuss the show in the comments!
WWE.com caught up with Michelle McCool and Layla following their big tag team win over Raw last night at Elimination Chamber. Watch below: Michelle will challenge Mickie James for the Women’s Championship on Friday’s episode of SmackDown.
The never-ending Divas Championship tournament was stretched yet another day as despite advertising the end of the sucker, we were swerved with an interpromotional tag team bout instead. It all went down at last night’s Elimination Chamber pay per view where Gail Kim and Maryse were due to go one-on-one for the vacated title. After weeks of embarassingly bad handling of this ‘tournament’, we were finally ready to be done with it and crown the new champion — with care so little in supply, as to who won at this point. But things became ‘flawed’, you could say, when Vickie Guerrero announced that as a result of disparaging comments by the Raw Divas against the SmackDown Divas, the two would be forced to team up against Michelle McCool and Layla aka Lay-Cool aka Simply Flawless.
Let’s start right at the beginning though, where moments before their match, we saw a backstage segment between the two would-be challengers:
We see Gail walking backstage, with a perfectly toned tummy I might add [jealous!], as Maryse catches up to her and once again speaks to her in French. We then get the reveal that Gail also speaks French and has understood all the smack that ‘Ryse has been talking about her in recent weeks. She finishes with with an amazing mock hand flip in Maryse’s face which not gonna lie, had me rolling. This was a fun little segment that I really liked; Gail spoke more than she’s spoken in a year on the roster and proved that she has some personality which was really exciting to see. It’s like Maggie Simpson finally talking! The hand flip was a fabulous added touch also. I thought the reveal that Gail speaks French etc. was nicely done and I can’t say that I saw it coming — it seems a little too sophisticated for the Raw writers, who are usually known for lame-duck segments like the Jerry Springer Show on Raw last week, so I was pleasantly surprised. Gail was great here and I want to see more of her talking, she’s got the goods in the ring — she just needs the voice to back it up and get across that personality.
Next up, we have the Divas Championship match turned tag team match:
As the Divas make their entrances, the bell rings and Maryse and Gail face off, we are interrupted by SmackDown’s ‘official consultant’, Vickie Guerrero. Guerrero calls out the Raw Divas for their ‘disparaging comments’ about the SmackDown Divas and interestingly calls herself a Diva, which hasn’t been said about her int he past. Guerrero says as the only Diva with authority in the building — yeah doesn’t make sense to us either — she’s postponing the Divas Title match in favour of a tag team match between Raw and SmackDown. Out come Michelle and Layla for this last minute bout…
SHIMMER has announced that they have secured four Joshi stars to compete at their April tapings in a co-signed deal with Jersey All Pro Wrestling. Read the press release below:
Management of both SHIMMER – WOMEN ATHLETES and the JERSEY ALL PRO WRESTLING WOMEN’S DIVISION are proud to announce the addition of four of the top young female professional wrestlers from Japan to our upcoming live events.
Freelance star AYUMI KURIHARA, as well as S-Ovation Co. Ltd. talents HIROYO MATSUMOTO, MISAKI OHATA, and TOMOKA NAKAGAWA will make their United States debuts on events promoted by both SHIMMER and JAPW during the month of April 2010.
These four joshi puroresu athletes will participate in SHIMMER’s Vols. 29-32 tapings on Saturday, April 10th and Sunday, April 11th at the Berwyn Eagles Club, 6309 26th Street, in Berwyn, IL. Bell time on 4/10 is 2pm, and bell time on 4/11 is 1pm. Visit www.SHIMMERwrestling.com for tickets. General admission seating is still available for both days, and a handful of front row tickets still remain for the Sunday, 4/11 event.
They will then head to the east coast to be a part of JERSEY ALL PRO WRESTLING’s card on Saturday, April 17th at The Golden Door Charter School, 180 9th Street, in Jersey City, NJ. Bell time is 7:30pm. Visit www.JAPW.net for further details on the event and ticket information during the coming weeks.
All four women have been a part of S-Ovation’s IBUKI events during recent years, under the guidance of Mariko Yoshida. Additionally, they have also competed on events promoted by companies such as NEO, OZ Academy, JWP, and Sendai Girls’ Pro-Wrestling.
For pictures of the four and more info, follow the cut:
Her antics last night only added to the monstrous heat that Vickie Guerrero draws from WWE audiences. Up until now, she hadn’t really incurred the [kayfabe] wrath of Diva fans but in the past few weeks, we’ve seen Vickie try on a new hat. No longer content with making the Superstars’ lives that much more … Read more
The scheduled Divas Championship match between Gail Kim and Maryse tonight was ‘postponed’ by SmackDown consultant, Vickie Guerrero. Guerrero changed the match to an interpromotional tag team match with the two rivals facing Michelle McCool and Layla as a result of Maryse’s ‘disparaging comments’ against the SmackDown Divas in recent weeks. Maryse showed her true … Read more
Tonight, we crown a new Divas Champion after the title has been vacated for the past two months. Who will it be? Gail Kim or Maryse? The Diva Dirt writers weigh in: Cryssi: Last time we did this, I sat there and listed all the reasons why I thought Maryse would win, and then picked … Read more
New developmental signee, Sarona Snuka — daughter of ‘Superfly’ Jimmy Snuka — will make her debut in FCW on March 19th. Sarona has previously worked for WXW and was trained under Afa the Wild Samoan.
While the February pay per view spot as of tonight is known as Elimination Chamber, for the past 9 years it has belonged to a little pay per view called ‘No Way Out’. As one of the least Diva-friendly pay per views, the event has been host to only one and a half Divas matches over the years. But thankfully, one of those matches just happens to be this one — a match that helped make a name out of Trish Stratus and showed that she wasn’t just a pretty face. This match continues to be remembered as one of the most memorable Divas matches to this day. The other match, Jamie Noble vs Nidia in 2003, not so much.
TNA’s Madison Rayne has revealed that one of her role models is the 7-time WWE Women’s Champion, Trish Stratus. Speaking in an interview with TNAwrestling.com, she says: I loved her for so many reasons. She was beautiful, strong, and athletic and she was always a great role model for aspiring women wrestlers. She had a … Read more
This week saw less wrestling and more bit parts for our Divas. Meanwhile, TNA saw the start of a possible new feud between Daffney and Tara. It’s time vote on your favourite match or moment from this week! Last week’s results: You voted the handicap match between Angelina Love & Tara vs The Beautiful People … Read more
After concentrating on a single storyline for the past few months, this week’s SmackDown felt more in line with the mixed bag that we once saw on SmackDown pre-Diva Trade. There was a little bit of this mixed with a little bit of that and it just felt like WWE were trying to accomplish all too much with the Divas without any real substance to it ala a time when we had Michelle/Melina, Maria/Ziggler and Maria/Melina. It may seem cool to indulge in all of the Divas but after growing accustomed to a single storyline developing over weeks with plenty of effort, it feels like a step back to me.
First of all this week, we have new Women’s Champion Mickie James backstage with Vickie Guerrero apologising for last week’s incident:
Mickie comes into the office to apologise to GM consultant, Guerrero over the splatting incident last week but Vickie isn’t so accepting. She tells Mickie that she’ll face Michelle McCool next week, defending her Women’s Championship and the catch is that Vickie will be special guest referee. As I’ve been mentioning in the past couple of weeks, I really love the use of Vickie in the Divas storylines because she’s a woman herself and is in power, so it’d make sense for her to have a vested interest. It’s also interesting to have a storyline where the heel GM kind of exerts her authority over one of the talents and kind of makes their life hell — if done right, this could be a fun Diva version of Stone Cold vs Vince McMahon. My only fear would be that Vickie overshadows a ‘real’ Divas storyline. I could totally see them going for a gimmick match of Mickie vs Vickie at WrestleMania. While a step up from Santina last year, it would once again cheat us out of our desire to have a competitive, great Divas match on that big event and this year it seemed we were so close with the Mickie/Beth/Michelle storyline.
Speaking of which, once again Beth is noticeably absent from SmackDown despite being part of a big angle at the Royal Rumble and then being part of a big moment in the storyline the week after. I don’t know if there’s a bigger backstage thing going on here but I don’t know what else could explain them dropping the ball like this. There really is no excuse to just stop what was great development for Beth. Such a waste.
Any sort of buildup to this Sunday’s Divas Championship match was noticeably absent from Monday’s Raw, but never fear! The WWE hasn’t completely forgotten about this match, for this week on WWE Superstars, Gail Kim tries to build some momentum going into the big match in taking on Katie Lea. Watch the match below:
Katie Lea takes control out of the tie-up, twisting Gail’s arm behind her back. Gail gets out of the hold by hitting a snapmare, then rolls Katie into a crucifix pin. Katie kicks out, and Gail takes her down again with an arm drag, holding onto the arm and twisting it behind her head. Katie gets free by catching Gail in a leg scissors, but Gail slips free pretty quickly, rolling Katie into a pin for a 2-count.
Katie reverses an irish whip, sending Gail into the corner. Katie charges but misses her mark when Gail slips out through the ropes. She then sends a shoulder into Katie’s midsection, flipping over her back-to-back and attempting a roll-up. Katie hangs onto the ropes, though, and Gail goes flying without her. Running in for the attack, Gail is redirected shoulder-first into the ring post. She hangs there for a while and Katie has to drag her out from between the ropes to roll her into a pin. Gail kicks out at 2.
Katie lays a few boots into Gail before latching her into an arm submission identical to the one Gail hooked her in at the beginning of the match, right down to the same arm. I like that–it tells a bit of a story. Still, we might end up with two competitors with bum left arms by the end of the match. Yikes. Michael Cole says that Katie Lea is working on Gail’s right shoulder, the shoulder that hit the ring post, but it’s actually the opposite. Oh well. Might as well take out both arms, I suppose.
Do you think you can slam? Well, first you’re going to have to impress a certain Future Legend. Alissa Flash has been wowing crowds for over a decade and is going to be a tough critic to impress as one of the four superstar judges on So You Think You Can Slam. Watch below as … Read more
It’s no secret that the majority of us have a love/hate relationship with TNA and all things about it. It’s easy to bash the company and it’s management, and to be honest, it’s one of my hobbies these days it seems. It’s not that I do it intentionally, because I don’t. I really want to like TNA and I want to seem them push the envelope and elevate their product towards the top so they can compete with the WWE and force the ‘E to raise its quality. Sometimes I think it’s wishful thinking, but nonetheless here I am with another Impact Write-Up and this week it’s going to be a pretty happy one. The TNA love came into play tonight when the company finally gave us some diversity and featured *gasp* Daffney. With the whole Beautiful People/Angelina Love soap opera we’ve watched play out over the past few weeks, Daffney was seemingly one of the forgotten Knockouts who got stuck playing second fiddle to the pretty people of the company. On this week’s Impact, she took on Knockouts Champion, Tara!
Daffney is the first competitor to make her way to the ring for this non-title match up. Taz makes a comment about how nice it is to see zombie-hot Daffney and I totally agree with him. Daffney has one of the better female characters in all of wrestling right now and she has years and years of experience behind her as well. With the exception of the hat she’s wearing, her outfit is totally fabulous. I absolutely love it. She looks amazing. Tara is out next and she looks cute tonight as well. Her body is completely ripped and she can pull off the beanie, T-shirt, and little shorts look so well. Tara has certainly started looking better as she’s gotten older which is a true testament to her amazing workout routine and the fact TNA has seemingly given her a new lease on life.
The match begins with both women jockeying for position. Daffney forces Tara back against the ropes and takes a wild swing at her, but the crafty champion ducks and just totally floors Daffney with a huge right hand. Daffney hits the mat but she gets up, so Tara hits her again, and then a third time! Daffney doesn’t let this stop her, and she gets up once again. This time Tara slams her foot into Daffney’s gut, doubling over the gothic beauty. She shows off her strength and hoists Daffney onto her shoulders, then hits a nice looking slam. Tara goes for the cover and gets a two count. Tara’s not really happy about that and she lifts Daffney up and goes to work on the other woman’s arm. Daffney defends against this and hits Tara with a knee to the stomach, then a huge uppercut. Tara staggers back against the ropes, get chest chopped, and when Daffney goes for the whip, Tara is able to reverse it and send Daffney across the ring. Daffney bounces off the ropes, ducks a clothesline, and comes flying back at Tara. Tara is ready for this and lifts Daffney up, back body dropping her with ease.
Daffney grips her lower back in pain and Tara starts to rally the crowd behind her. How does she do this? By being a diva of course and ripping her shirt off! At least there’s another top under her wrestling shirt this week, so we’re not subjected to any wardrobe malfunctions. Daffney has been recovering in a corner throughout all this and when Tara goes after her, Daffney unleashes a spinning heel kick that no doubt catches the Californian off guard. Tara goes down like a ton of bricks but Daffney is to hurt to go at her right away. Tara manages to slowly get to her feet and Daffney has enough instincts to go after her and make her stay down. This seems to give Daffney a bit of a second wind and she suddenly starts to remember why she’s such a sadistic you know what! She repeatedly snapmares Tara to the mat using only the woman’s hair (… and for you tender headed people out there that’s pretty cringe worthy). To make matters worse, Daffney has began taunting Tara and the referee for that matter, and she kicks Tara right in the chest. Daffney continues kicking the crap out of her opponent and finally just pushes her right out of the ring.
Tonight on Impact, Knockouts Champion Tara takes on Daffney in a non-title match. Tune in at 9PM EST on Spike to see it all go down, and check out the spoilers for the show if you’re so inclined. Discuss all the action in the comments!
We are extremely excited to announce the launch of a brand new fan interactive competition here at Diva Dirt. We are always looking to think of fun, innovative new ways to entertain our readers and so it’s our great pleasure to introducethe first ever So You Think You Can Slam!
We are embarking on a worldwide web search to find the best smack talkin’ slam champion in all the land! You’ve seen your favourite wrestlers cut promos and perhaps you’ve thought, “I can do that!” Well now is your chance. We want you to put on your roleplaying hat and upload a video of you cutting a WrestleMania-sized promo to YouTube. Be daring, be bold, be unique!
Your videos will be judged by a panel of superstar judges that will decide who goes through to the public vote in the next round. Only 8 videos can make it through to the public vote and then we hand over the reins to you. You will decide the winner of SYTYCS, who will walk away with a grand prize courtesy of ClickWrestle.com and the title of So You Think You Can Slam champion. Plus we also have prizes for our runner-up and all of the top 8 so there’s even more reason to get involved!
Six Divas locked up in the elimination chamber? Pigs would fly sooner, right? But that hasn’t stop SmackDown Diva Layla from expressing her desire to see the Divas lock up in the lethal cage match. Layla told NZPWI: * Yes, I definitely think we should see the Divas in an elimination [chamber] match and I … Read more
With ECW singing it’s final swansong last night [unless it’s resurrected and bastardised again], the three Divas of the show are now set to be moved around. We have learned that the current plan is for Savannah to be part of the SmackDown roster. As reported earlier in the month, Savannah played a role at … Read more
Congratulations are in order for former WWE Diva/TNA Knockout, Sharmell and husband Booker T as she is expected the couple’s first children. Yes, children! Sharmell is pregnant with twins reports Mike Aldren of the Wrestling Globe Newsletter. Sharmell and Booker left TNA last year. Our best wishes to the couple!
WWE has announced the pro and rookie duos for it’s new series, WWE NXT to debut next Tuesday but quite unsurprisingly, it doesn’t seem this ‘season’ will feature any Divas. Boo! The show will feature ‘WWE Pros’ teaming up with ‘Rookies’ as their mentors throughout the series. So we decided to come up with our own pro/rookie team suggestions for NXT. WWE, please feel free to steal and put them into practice.
AJ Lee & Melina
Pro: Melina. Three-time Women’s Champion, one time Divas Champion, Diva of the Year 2009 in Diva Dirt Year-End Awards. Rookie: AJ Lee. Queen of FCW, former WSU Tag Team Champion.
Perhaps the most obvious pairing for WWE NXT would be to put FCW’s ‘Pocket Rocket’, the young and talented AJ Lee with Melina. Lee has long been a fan of Melina and looks up to the former Women’s Champ so it’d a dream come true for her to one day be on the same roster as the A-List Diva. But how about going one step further and having Melina mentor AJ on NXT? Melina is known for her fire and passion which comes through in the ring, but outside of the ring she’s just as easily able to play the smiley babyface and the bitchy heel. No doubt, she’d have some invaluable lessons to share with Lee who is already well on her way to one day becoming a WWE Women’s Champion! She’s already the Queen of FCW and the standout female wrestler there with Serena now called up. Melina is sweet and good-natured and would be a positive role model to Lee who I think should play a babyface. She has a great likable quality to her just like Melina.
Aksana & Maryse
Pro: Maryse. Former Divas Champion. Best Heel in Diva Dirt Year-End Awards. Rookie: Aksana. Former world renowned fitness model.
Aksana — known in the fitness world by her real name of Zivile Raudoniene — it seems was hired following the success of Maryse in the Divas division. Both are voluptuous blondes and both have a foreign sexiness to them. Aksana could play the bitchy heel role like her mentor, Maryse in NXT — trying to psych out the other girls and make sure that she stops at nothing for success. With Maryse’s help, Aksana could be the ‘villain’ of the reality-like show. But then again, Maryse being the attention-loving Diva that she is, why would she want more competition on the main roster? This could be an interesting dynamic with Maryse sabotaging Aksana along the way and the pair clashing would make for great drama.
Each week, we’re going to trawl through the archives at ClickWrestle to bring you one featured women’s bout that we think you should all check out! Don’t forget, all Diva Dirt readers now receive an exclusive 10% off offer on all matches at ClickWrestle so be sure to use it! This week, we have two … Read more
In shades of the original ECW, Rosa Mendes and Tiffany managed to draw a fabulous ‘E-C-Dub’ chant on the final episode of ECW last night. ECW GM Tiffany seemingly decided “what the heck, it’s the last night” and attacked one of her ’employees’, Rosa, after she and Zack Ryder interfered in the ECW Championship main … Read more
AJ Lee & Melina
Aksana & Maryse