So I woke up this morninMg and wondered, “Did last night really happen?” A brief moment later, after rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I realised no, I wasn’t in some parallel universe or WWE’s beloved Bizzaro World. Last night did happen. Jillian the Jobber really did win a major championship. Melina really did return to Raw. Mickie James really did get traded to SmackDown. On top of all that, Raw ‘guest correspondent’, Maria Menounos got in the ring and wrestled — and looked better than the real Maria!
Watch the craziness unfold, all over again:
Divas Championship Matches
So apparently title opportunities are no longer earned as Jillian, who has a larger loss record than Paris Hilton has sexual conquests, is handed a title shot. For the record, I absolutely hate title shots that are just handed out. But after Kelly, Mickie, Beth, Gail & even Alicia Fox were given Divas Title shots on Raw this year, it only seems right that Jillian gets one too, right?
Honestly, though as short as it was, I enjoyed the work between Jillian and Mickie. Jillian proves here just what a great worker she is, able to have a nice, kind of fast paced exchange with Mickie. We start with a lockup which goes into a headlock, Mickie throws Jillian against the ropes and goes for a hip toss but Jillian nicely counters into a monkey flip. Mickie sells it oddly, which is covered up as a ‘counter’, getting on her feet & charges at Jillian with a Thesz press. Mickie with a dropkick & pin attempt. She then sets up the tornado DDT but Jillian counters and goes for her facebuster, but Mickie manages to block it and goes for a flip into a pin. Mickie kicks Jillian and throws her into the corner, Mickie launches at Jillian, she ducks and Mickie ends up climbing the ropes. Jillian hits a powerbomb, goes for a pin using the ropes for a leg-up and gets the win. Jillian is the new Divas Champion!
Incredibly short, but I enjoyed the little work that we did see and would’ve liked it to be a little longer. These two work well together and are able to go from one move to another seamlessly without the awkward moments that usually linger in Mickie matches. Good effort, I’d say. Rushed finish which is explained by what’s to come…
So Jillian celebrates her title win with a rendition of my favourite Lady Gaga song, ‘Paparazzi’ and messes up the lyrics. [Yes, I paid attention!] Nancy O’Dell, who sounds kind of annoying if you ask me, interrupts and announces that Jillian will defend the title right now against Raw’s newest acquisition, Melina!
This here, was PRICELESS. Jillian realises what we all realise: her title reign is about to be cut incredibly short. Her acting here was pure genius, the facial expressions, the amazing way she clinged onto the belt as the match was about to start. “It’s mine! Please, it’s mine…” The comedic acting was perfection! And the way her head kinda sank when Justin Roberts took the belt, a little “Aww” moment. Seriously, the acting here was so good.
So it’s time for Melina vs Jillian, and you just knew this was going to be short as hell. Melina almost instantly goes for the leg-split drop but it’s botched by Jillian, who goes down too early. Melina doesn’t quite know what to do but mounts Jillian, I guess they were having a little impromptu pow-wow here with Melina telling her to go into another finish. The set up into the Last Call was a little awkward, though understandable due to it being impromptu. Melina hits it and becomes the Divas Champion.
I really appreciate the work ethic here, yes the match was so short and incredibly botched but the fact Melina showed a cool, collectedness and an ability to think on the spot proves just why I think she should be WWE’s new top Diva. Showing initiative and opting to go for a second finish rather than pinning her on a botched leg-spit drop was a good move. In comparison, Mickie in that match with Gail… A world of difference. Melina showed initiative and handled the situation and it was nicely done given the unfortunate circumstance.
I also want to point attention to Melina’s reaction after the match. This girl is really sweet in real life and very emotional at times and that often comes across on TV too. Melina and Jillian are really great friends and you have to think that it was bittersweet for her to pin her friend, who I’m sure she would want to be champion too. After pinning her, she sort of looked at Jillian a little sadly, and again looked down at her sort of “I’m sorry” as her hand was being raised. At the end of the clip, you’ll also see her saying “I’m sorry,” more in character this time, but still not consistent with her role as a babyface. If you’d just won the title, you’d be flaunting it in your opponent’s face. For Melina, I think her some of her real personality & her real emotional nature came across and I thought it was really sweet. Looking at some of the comments being made towards Melina, I don’t know how one can be pissed off at or ‘hate’ someone who doesn’t even make the decisions; it’s as though the girl booked herself to be the champion.
More after the cut: