On last week’s installment on Monday Night Raw, Melina lost her rematch against Layla, leaving the #1 Contender spot wide open for the newly formed Unified Divas Championship. You know that means, right? BATTLE ROYAL! Watch below as Melina, Gail Kim, The Bella Twins, Eve, Natalya, Tamina, Alicia Fox and Jillian compete to determine who will be the next Diva to face Lay-Cool for their Divas Championship:
We return from commercial to find all the Divas already in the ring. (All the Raw Divas, that is. Sorry Kelly and Rosa. Better luck next time!). Before the referee can signal for the bell, Lay-Cool’s music hits and they make their way down the ramp in matching hoodies/dresses. Once they settled in, the bells rings and match is underway.
Within the first few seconds of the match, it quickly breaks down into a mess of flailing limbs, as is the norm when it comes to these sorts of matches. Tamina goes straight for her rival, Natalya, but Natalya is saved by former champion Melina. Melina clings to the back of the formidable Samoan beauty, but is quick thrown down to the mat. Tamina picks Melina up and tosses her over the top rope for a shocking first elimination.
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.
As we all know, WWE plans to unify the WWE Women’s Championship and the WWE Divas Championship, in a lumberjill match at Night of Champions. With that huge match less than a week away, you’d think there’d be some kind of for it, right? Wrong.
In lieu of an actual match, we were treated to a song and dance contest featuring Eve Torres and Maryse on last night’s Raw, courtesy of the Raw Roulette wheel and it was… interesting to say the least. Check it out below:
First out to the ring is the team of Maryse and Ted DiBiase, and I must say Maryse looks great. I can tell already that her gear is gonna be the best part of this ‘match’ Next out are Eve and R-Truth, who are at a clear advantage in this contest. Justin Roberts takes the time to announce the rules to both teams: Each team must pick a member to dance and a member to sing and the winner will be chosen by the WWE Universe.
Diva Dirt reader, Jay, attended the Raw brand house show in Arecibo, Puerto Rico today. Check out his report below: Ted DiBiase (with Maryse) vs Goldust Ted and Maryse generated a lot of heat. Maryse was in her bitchy type of personality and she stole Ted and Goldust’s spotlight as she ripped up a “You … Read more
Last week on Monday Night Raw, BFF co-champs, LayCool told Melina they had an “offer she simply can’t refuse” for the 900th episode of Raw. As promised, LayCool appeared on Raw to inform the Divas Champion of their offer, but not before taking her on in a tag team match. Watch below as LayCool face off against Eve and the Divas Champion, Melina:
We come from commercial to find LayCool already in the ring, checking their reflections in their belts. (Belt? Half-belts?) Out next is the team of Melina and Eve, and LayCool welcome their fellow champ by running that ‘Lady Wawa’ joke even further into the ground. Without much pretense, the bell rings and our match is underway.
Michelle and Melina start off the match for their teams and right off the bat, McCool charge at Melina with a clothesline. Melina evades, and fights back with a flurry of forearms. While Michelle is still flustered, Melina charges Layla in the corner, knocking her to the floor. Unfortunately for Melina, Michelle McCool takes advantage of the distraction and floors her with a belly to belly slam for a near fall.
Here’s some more pictures of Eve Torres and Michelle McCool in SmackDown vs Raw 2011 in a handy video: Eve and Michelle were the first two Divas revealed to be part of the game last week. Meanwhile, in an interview at a promotional event for the video game, Melina pretty much confirmed that she’ll be … Read more
Former Divas Champion, Eve Torres came out on top in the first ever WWE live event to take place on Chinese soil. She defeated fellow former Divas Champ, Alicia Fox during the 90 minute ‘Shanghai SmackDown’ which took place for free at the Expo 2010 Shanghai. That makes the pair the first Divas to compete … Read more
As we all know, Melina picked up a huge win last Sunday at SummerSlam over Alicia Fox to win the Divas Championship, but her moment was ruined by the BFF champs, Lay-Cool. Will Melina get her revenge on the Flawless Ones? Will Alicia get a chance to redeem herself and win back the Divas Title? Will Melina come to the ring as a Vegas showgirl again? No. None of that happens. Instead we get a 6 Diva tag match pitting the team of Melina, Gail Kim and Eve Torres against Alicia Fox, Maryse and Jillian. Check out the match below:
Out first are the babyfaces and I must say, they look like a rag-tag group of super heroines. but I like it for some reason. Next, we have the heels, led to the ring by Alicia, who gets right in Melina’s face. This lead to a bit of a scuffle between the two teams. The referee finally gets control of the situation and signals for the opening bell.
Gail and Maryse start the match off for their respective teams. In her usual arrogant manner, Maryse shoves Gail, before narrowly dogding a bitchslap to the face. Maryse charge but is quickly taken down by a drop toe hold. Gail follows up by slamming Maryse’s face into the canvas repeatedly. Maryse tries to get back into the game by reversing an Irish Whip but Gail using the ropes to hit a springboard crossbody. Gail ties Maryse up it the Tree of Woe and tags in the Divas champion, Melina. Gail grabs the still incapacitated Maryse by the hair and Melina leapfrogs over her partner, coming down hard on Maryse’s mid-section.
The WWE is in LA and what better way to celebrate than throwing a true Hollywood-style party complete with D-list guests? That’s exactly what WWE did last night to celebrate SummerSlam this Sunday. Granted, Alcide from True Blood is rising in popularity but the rest of the red carpet walkers ranged from ‘Unrecognisable Face A’ … Read more
After an exceptional 6 Diva tag match and a huge return by Melina last week, Diva fans were waiting with bated breath to see what was in store between the returning Melina and Divas champion Alicia Fox. WWE decided to give us a treat this week in the form of Melina vs Alicia in a non-title bout. Unfortunately for us, the action didn’t quite live up to the hype. Check it out below:
First out is Melina, who is looking great, followed by Alicia Fox, who is looking rather… interesting. The two alpha females stare each other down before the referee starts the match. Melina goes for a lockup, but Alicia scoops her up and powers her into the corner. After a fierce elbow, Alicia flings Melina across the ring by her hair. While Melina is getting her wits about her, Alicia kicks her in the gut, forcing her to retreat to the apron. Alicia tries to follow up, but Melina lands a shoulder block and slides between the champ’s legs, pulling Alicia down over her knees for a unique backbreaker and a near fall.
Before Alicia can get back to a vertical base, Melina starts wailing on Alicia with strikes to the back. Alicia tries to get back into the mix with a clothesline, but Melina dodges with a matrix move, followed by a snapmere driver and a flying faceplant. Alicia retreats to the outside to regain her composure, but doesn’t get the chance, as Melina is hot on her tail. Melina charges around the ring to bring Alicia in the hard way, but is laid out by a vicious clothesline.
Last week, Alicia Fox managed to overcome The Bella Twins switcheroo and pull out yet another win. She even took out her buddy Jillian afterwards, proving that no one is safe from the ‘Foxy One’s’ wrath. This week, Alicia teamed up with Jillian and Tamina to face off against the team of Eve Torres, Gail Kim and Natalya with a very special appearance by a certain A-List Diva. Check out the match below:
We start off the match with the face team already in the ring, posing to the crowd. Next the heels make their way to the ring and to be honest, Jillian doesn’t look too thrilled to be teaming with Alicia after last week. More on that later. The referee rings the bell and the match is underway with Jillian and Gail kicking things off for their respective teams.
The two Divas lock up and jockey for position, with Jillian getting the upper-hand, taking Gail down with a handful of hair and laying in with some stiff right hands. The non-melodious siren follows up with a hair beel for a two count. Frustrated, Jillian pulls Gail up by the hair and drives her head into her knee repeatedly, followed by a backbreaker for another near fall. Jillian drags Gail over to her corner and takes a moment to stare down her partner Alicia before tagging her in. Guess who’s still bitter?
Diva Dirt’s own Jennifer recently shared a great story:
In an interview I had a few weeks ago, we were asked, ‘If money was no question, and if you didn’t have to work for your livelihood, what would you do?’ My hand shot up. I was honest; I said, ‘I’d wrestle.’ The whole room erupted into laughter. The interviewer said, ‘Really?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I would love to wrestle.’ She thought I was the most interesting person in that interview, hah. I make no apologies – I’ll admit I’m a wrestling fan and if the conversation goes farther I admit my real passion is for women’s wrestling. If folks aren’t mature enough to handle that, then sucks for them. They don’t know what they’re missing.
I love this story for several reasons. First of all, I love people’s passions. I don’t care if you love the Civil War, collecting bottle caps, or writing poetry. I am interested in hearing more about it. I like seeing someone’s eyes light up when they talk about something they care about. I love how Jennifer didn’t worry about the reaction in the room. That’s the great thing about believing in something, about having a true passion. You feel it inside of you and that’s all that matters. I also love this story because it made me think, “Jesh, how would I truly answer that question?” What would I truly love to do with my life?
Well for starters, I know I wasn’t born to be a project manager. The job is fine, I work with nice people, and I enjoy business travel, but I don’t jump out of bed every day and mark out because I get to generate project plans. When I was a kid I saw the movie JAWS and wanted to be a marine biologist, but now I’m afraid of the ocean. Plus I don’t really want to be in a small boat all the time…I like my TiVo too much. So I’m glad I didn’t follow through with that. The truth is that I’ve always kind of known what I wanted to be when I “grew up”. I was born to be a booker. I was born to script professional wrestling. I never figured out how to pursue this dream, but I started to feel this way the night I saw my first match, October 1985 at the Hershey Park Arena. The next thing I know I am buying my first Big John Studd action figure and I’ve been booking ever since. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the actual matches, but I have always been more interested in putting together the card, of building the excitement of an entire show from one match to the next. I think I’m pretty good at it too, because ever since 1985 I have been putting asses in seats.
After losing yet another title match at Money in the Bank, Eve Torres is set out to redeem herself against former Divas champion, Maryse. Check out the match below:
Out first is Eve in her orange and gold gear from Money in the Bank. Unlike my colleagues, I really like this color on her. The gold is a bit much, but I think she looks great. Next out is Maryse, who is being accompanied my Ted Dibiase. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Ted DiBiase is bland as all get out and Maryse is really outshining him in this pairing. I’m actually having trouble distinguish which of them is the eye candy here.
Before the match starts, Maryse removes her expensive jewelry (Why did you wear it to the ring in the first place?) and gets in Eve’s face in her usual arrogant fashion. Apparently, Eve isn’t in the mood for Maryse attitude tonight, so she piefaces her to kick things off. Eve tries to capitalize but is taken down by a kick to the gut and a slap to the face. Maryse then kicks Eve towards the ropes and chokes her out from behind.
While Maryse is pummeling poor Eve, Ted makes sure to let the commentary team and that Maryse is NOT a golddigger (very convincing) and that this is also a #1 contender’s match. Good to know… halfway into the match. *Sigh*
Former Divas Champion, Eve Torres is this year’s featured Diva on the Super Big Gulp cups at 7-Eleven, following in the footsteps of Kelly Kelly. You can get your WWE-themed cups from 7-Eleven stores in the US now. I don’t know why you’d want to, though.
Both the Divas Championship and Women’s Championship are on the line tonight. Who will make bank? The Diva Dirt team weigh in:
Divas Championship: Alicia Fox vs Eve Torres
Cryssi: This match is weird to me because honestly, it shouldn’t even be happening. Eve did nothing to deserve this title shot, and the reasoning behind the booking of this is just stupid. The only bright side to this is that it’s given us an unprecedented two diva matches on the same pay-per-view. That’s not happened since Night of Champions, when they’re REQUIRED to give us two diva matches. Alicia and Eve have proven that they don’t exactly equal magic in the ring. Eve is boring and needs to find a personality before she is given the belt again. As far as Alicia goes, it would be ridiculous for the WWE to take the title from her at this point because she’s actually bringing something to it that we haven’t seen since Maryse’s first run with the thing. I beliEVE in Alicia Fox as Diva’s Champion and I’m counting on the WWE to do the right thing tonight and keep that championship on her. Get it done, Foxy.
David: Tonight’s “Money in the Bank” PPV is a big opportunity for the Raw Divas. Eve gets a rematch with Divas Champion Alicia Fox as mandated by AOL (“You’ve Got Mail!”) and I’m hopeful the WWE gives these girls enough time to showcase their in-ring talents. I have enjoyed watching both of them lately and, although I’m not sure I love the “Alicia injury” angle, I think there has been decent build for this match. With Maryse out of the title picture for the moment, this is an important opportunity for both girls to show that the next generation of Divas can be counted on under the bright lights. I expect Alicia Fox to retain the title in a match that hopefully ends with her monster axe kick (a move that deserves its own “don’t try this at home” PSA) and not a soft continuation of the “injured” champion storyline.
Erin: Alicia’s being painted as the cowardly heel as of late, and with this match Eve seems to be getting Alicia right where she wants her. But to me, for Eve to “get” Alicia so soon would be to run to the payoff way too quickly. In my opinion, Alicia’s still got plenty of steam in her title reign, despite the WWE booking her weakly, and there’s no real reason for Eve to win the title back so soon. Let Alicia Fox have some more fun with it.
Speaking to SLAM Wrestling, former Divas Champion Eve Torres passed along some interesting comments on NXT. She says: “When they told all of us about the idea of NXT, for the Divas that was our first question — will there be women on the show?” she says. “[There’s] a lot of value that could add … Read more
Raw’s sly Diva, Alicia Fox picked a picked up a win that can only be called controversial last week when she defended her title against Eve Torres. Obviously, Eve has unfinished business with the champ, as she finds her way to commentary for Alicia’s non-title match with Gail Kim this week. Check out the match below:
We start with Eve already at ringside, posing and waving to the fans (One of her favorite pastimes, along with salsa dancing.) She joined Lawler and Cole on commentary as the Divas Champion makes her to the ring.
Alicia is clad in a brand new piñata skirt, this time in red and I must say, it’s an improvement over her last two even if it still looks like she raided a Party City store to make it. While Alicia struts her stuff in the ring and taunts Eve, they show a replay of last week’s match and how Alicia picked up the win.
Out next is her opponent, Gail Kim, who is looking phenomenal tonight. Gail does the usual babyface posing for the crowd before stepping in the ring to face the champ. The referee rings the bell and the match is underway.
Divas Champion, Alicia Fox will defend the belt against Eve Torres this Sunday at Money in the Bank. This match is in addition to the Women’s Title bout between Kelly Kelly and Layla, bringing our Divas tally to two matches this Sunday!
Note from Melanie: Erin and I are excited to promote Steven to the regular position of Raw columnist. We hope you’ll enjoy his Raw Redux, as with Erin’s, every Tuesday. Congrats to Steven!
After losing her Divas Title in controversial fashion two weeks ago at Fatal 4-Way, Eve Torres finally got her chance to cash in her rematch clause on this week’s Raw. But before that we’re treated to back to back promos from Tamina (and those atypical Samoans) and the Divas Champion, Alicia Fox.
Tamina basically busts some knowledge on Josh Mathews (and the rest of us at home), helping him figure out which Uso twin is which. While Tamina may be the strongest on the mic in her stable, I always get the feeling that she’s trying too hard. I know she’s trying to be the super tough heel Diva, but it can come off a bit forced at times. Hopefully, this will improve as she gets more comfortable on the mic.
On the other hand, I thought Alicia came off great in her promo. She pretty much gets on Josh’s case about not interviewing her, despite her being the new champion. She then lets all the viewers know that her win at Fatal 4-Way was no fluke and she’ll prove it in the ring with Eve. She then struts off to the ring as we go to commercial break.
By letting Alicia cut this promo, WWE is giving the audience a sense of Alicia as a character and judging by the heat she was getting during her rant, I’d say it’s working.
Alicia Fox‘s Divas Championship reign got off to a mostly underwhelming start, being saddled with a random mixed tag match right off the bat. This week, we see another tag team match, but thankfully it makes a bit more sense, as Alicia teams with Maryse against Eve Torres and Gail Kim. Watch the match below:
Maryse and Alicia enter together (I’m sure having to come out to Alicia’s music makes Maryse cheery), followed by Gail and Eve making a tandem entrance. Eve and Alicia start off the match, Alicia wasting no time, charging over and kicking Eve in the midsection. Two two trade blows until Eve is whipped into the ropes and takes down Alicia with a sunset flip on the return. Alicia halts her momentum, though, and sits on Eve into a pin, but Eve blocks it, and Alicia satisfies herself with a knee to the face. She sends Eve into the corner and nails her with a high knee and, after taunting the crowd a bit, hits her with a snapmare and attempts a pin, which Eve kicks out of at 2.
She brings Eve to her corner and, after an exchange of attitudes, Maryse tags in. They stare at each other warily and make it pretty clear that them teaming together doesn’t mean they’rre suddenly BFFs. I prefer that kind of heel interaction, because it just further sells their nasty attitudes if even kindred spirits can’t get along. Maryse kicks Eve and pulls her head back by the hair, tugging a bit before slamming her head first on the mat. She tries for a (extremely, extremely delayed) pin, which Eve of course kicks out of. Maryse pulls her up and rams her head into her corner’s turnbuckle, tagging Alicia back in.
Maryse holds Eve up for a kick from Alicia, and that seems to be the extent of their teamwork. She exits the ring and Alicia takes over. Alicia whips Eve into the corner and goes for another high kick, but Eve moves, causing Alicia to tangle herself in the corner while she tags in Gail. Gail comes in gangbusters, nailing Alicia with a flurry of offense punctuated by a frankensteiner. Alicia reverses an Irish whip into the ropes and seems prepped to flip Gail into a backbreaker, but Gail reverses it into a splash. She covers Alicia, who kicks out at 2.
Last night’s Fatal 4-Way PPV left open a lot of possibilities. The mission of tonight’s Raw was to pick that up and run with it. But unfortunately (if we’re sticking to the running metaphors), they pretty much stumbled just out of the gate. They just didn’t keep the excitement going. What did they actually do? Well, good thing you asked..
The first thing we learned about the post-F4W Raw landscape is that Maryse is now managing Ted Dibiase, effectively replaced Virgil. Watch their adventures below:
They seem to have good chemistry, and while it may be seen as a demotion for Maryse to go from being in the thick of a Divas Championship feud to merely managing, it’s good to see that the WWE is still thinking of things for her to do. She wasn’t going to be at the forefront forever, so it’s great to know that she won’t just be sitting on the sidelines twiddling her thumbs until her number gets called again. Plus, this can help put to use what many fans deem to be her greatest asset–her personality. We’ll see if it goes anywhere interesting, but for now, it’s got potential.
Later, Natalya and the Harts were interviewed by Josh Matthews.
Four Divas, each with a 25% chance of winning, will battle tonight for the Divas Championship. Who will come out on top? The Diva Dirt team weigh in:
Cryssi: Believe it or not, I’ve spent all day pondering this very decision. Something tells me that this match could end up getting a nice chunk of time and with that in mind, we have many possible scenarios. My heart is telling me to pick Maryse to win, and honestly she’s the one I want. Maryse is a star when she has the title and she deserves a great reign to make up for her hellish second one. Eve as champion was a nice experiment for the WWE but one that has been a total epic fail. She will probably end up retaining and to be honest, that sucks. She’s generic champion at best, and I’m just not feeling it. Let’s watch her chase the title for awhile. And when I say chase, I mean really chase. No defeating the champ and then winning the title in the next match. She needs to build her character and make people give a damn about her. As far as the other two women in the match go, call me crazy but Gail Kim as champion doesn’t appeal to me either. She did nothing for me as Women’s Champion or Knockouts Champion, and I highly doubt I’ll care if she’s Divas Champion. Gail Kim has no personality and even though it’s not entirely her fault, she shouldn’t win the title. Soooo that leaves Alicia Fox. Does she deserve the title? Well, she deserves it about as much as the rest of them. So who do I pick? Alicia Fox via a pin on Gail Kim. That way golden girl Eve looks good. Maryse looks good. Gail Kim gains more sympathy and fans get angry. And we finally have a champ with a personality who isn’t Maryse and the WWE can hopefully build the division into something other than a joke.
David: I’m excited because this is the third WWE PPV in a row to feature a good Divas match. Seems like a step in the right direction for the division. Normally I don’t like Fatal 4-Way matches because it is too easy for the champion to lose the title, but I am happy to see Alicia and Gail included here because their feud has been a bright spot on Monday nights. I would love to see Gail win the Divas Title because I think she is the best worker, but I think Maryse is going to steal the title. The other 3 girls will do the heavy lifting but ultimately Maryse will score a cheap pin and get the glory.
After a few lackluster weeks of Raw (1, 2) and an entertaining few weeks of WWE Superstars (1, 2), it was inevitable that those two paths would cross, and they have, in the form of both a match made for this Sunday’s Fatal Four-Way PPV and a tag team match tonight.
This Sunday, Eve Torres will be defending her Divas Championship in a fatal four-way against Maryse, Gail Kim, and Alicia Fox. This, in a sense, is converging two parties that are on opposite paths: Eve and Maryse, whose feud is treading serious water, and Gail and Alicia, whose match last week was more entertaining than anything going on in the Divas Championship feud. Likely, this was just becuase of the “fatal four-way” theme of the event, but I’d like ot think that the WWE was impressed with Gail and Alicia’s work and wanted to reward them. If that’s the case, they certainly didn’t show that tonight, as Gail teamed with Eve and Alicia teamed with Maryse for some tag team action:
Before the match can begin, Maryse gets a shove in on Eve and skirts away before she can retaliate. She decides to start the match for her team, though, and gets a leg up on Eve with a series of forearms that back her into the ropes. Once she lets go, Eve kicks her in the stomach and slams her to the mat by her head. She runs the ropes, but Alicia stops her by grabbing a fistful of hair. Eve turns and takes a wild swing at her, but Alicia manages to stay out of reach. The moment Eve turns back around, Maryse nails her with a wild kick, hitting her square in the neck. She attempts a pin, but Eve kicks out at 2.
She tags in Alicia, and they double-team Eve with a face plant. Alicia goes for another pin, but Eve kicks out a 2 again. Alicia hits a suplex that she bridges into a pin, getting a 2-count. Showing considerably more frustration than Maryse, Alicia pounds Eve’s head a bit and jams her knee into the side of it. She has some words (or rather, just a look) with the referee before snapping Eve up in a sleeper hold. She holds onto the move aggressively, practically mounted on Eve’s back. Eve manages to fight out with some wild elbows, but before she can truly free herself Alicia slams her down.
Alicia drags her by the hair to her corner, tagging in Maryse. Alicia holds Eve prone while Maryse lays a kick into her midsection. She grabs Eve by the hair and slams her face to the mat. Apparently, this is enough for her, and she tags Alicia back in, holding Eve up for a kick from Alicia.
Divas Champion, Eve Torres will defend the title in a four-way match this Sunday at the new Fatal 4-Way pay per view, it has been announced. Torres will face off against Alicia Fox, Gail Kim and Maryse at the event. With only four matches announced so far, cross your fingers for a Layla/Michelle/Kelly/Tiffany match to … Read more
Really nice article on WWE.com at the moment, honoring the recent successes of two former Diva Search winners: Eve Torres and Layla. The article charts the two Divas’ growth from their Diva Search wins to present day, where they are the Divas Champion and Women’s Champion, respectively.
A few bites below from each Diva:
Layla
* “I think just within the last year or year and a half, I feel like my growth is noticeable to everybody,” Layla admitted. “I mean, it’s noticeable to me, and I’m my worst critic, but other people are bringing it to my attention. I feel like that’s a huge improvement. I feel like a totally different person.”
* “I feel like I can express myself in a very funny, entertaining way,” the Women’s Champion said. “If you ask people backstage what I’m really like, they’ll probably tell you that I am probably the prankster, the jokester. But I enjoy every single minute.
“I feel like my entertainment value has gone up, way up. Now maybe I can say I’m entertaining and you don’t want to change the channel when I come on. Or you just want to hate me … and I know you guys really love me.”
I totally, 100% agree with Layla’s comments. Since moving to SmackDown in the Draft last year, Layla’s work rate has improved ten-fold to the point where I think she is a solid worker and has a lot of passion in the ring. Meanwhile, her character has developed and she has honed herself to be one of the most entertaining Divas in the WWE — if not the most entertaining. Her humour is spot on and it’s her little quips in her promos that really make me laugh.
I’ve always seen something in Layla and I’ve always been a supporter of hers, I’m very proud to see her with the Women’s Title. In a year or so, she could be one of the few ‘total packages’ in the women’s division: ring work, great promos, wit, personality and charisma.
Tonight’s Raw, being billed as a 3-hour, “viewer’s choice” show featuring wrestlers from both Raw and Smackdown, was destined to be a little cluttered, given how many elements were in the mix. Unfortunately, very little of that mixture consisted of Divas. In the whole span of three hours, the Divas (all 12 of them) took up about 4 minutes of time. That’s a “needle in a haystack” situation if I’ve ever seen one. But, there’s always hope that they make the most of the little time they were given. Did they? Let’s see..
The stipulation of the Divas match was, like the rest of the matches, determined the fans’ vote. The choices were either: a 6-on-6 Tag Team match, a battle royal, or a champion vs. champion match, which would pit Eve vs. Layla. The fans picked the battle royal, and I’m sure the WWE were glad for that (if the vote wasn’t rigged, which it probably was) because that means MORE DIVAS!!!~~~~~. Nothing can ever go wrong with fitting as many Divas as possible into a 4-minute slot, amiright?:
We start with the 64 12 Divas in the ring, and they all more or less pair off. A double-team by Brie and Nikki Bella sends Rosa Mendes flying out of the ring. Sucks for her, but it’s better than when she practically threw herself out of the ring in the last battle royal. Tiffany is eliminated next, falling from the top turnbuckle while pummeling Michelle McCool. Kelly Kelly gets knocked off the ring apron by Michelle while trading blows with Layla.
Gail Kim and Alicia Fox eliminate each other while tussling on top of the ropes, a modified hurricanrana taking out both the deliverer and the recipient. Michelle and Layla stop a Bella Twins attack on Maryse and eliminate the both of them with tandem dropkicks. Eve attacks Laycool, fighting valiantly and hitting some impressive spots before eliminating the both of them by shoving Layla into Michelle, causing them to slip through the middle rope.
