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Hit or Miss?: October 5th – 12th

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Welcome to Hit or Miss?! We’ll be examining the week’s news bits and deeming them hits or misses. For instance, did a Diva develop some backstage heat? That’s a miss. What about a Knockout match receiving the highest ratings of the show? That’s a hit. I’ll rate each story by stars (out of 5) – more stars for a hit, less for a miss. Got it? Let’s dive in..

Story #1: Victoria to hang up her boots?
Victoria appeared to be teasing retirement in a recent MySpace blog, saying:

I have been doing my best to lay the Smackdown every Friday night. I hope everyone followed us to MyNetwork. Again, I am very thankful to have had a long and successful WWE career. Although between you and me, I think I have one more championship run left before I hang up the wrestling boots. What do you think?

Is she looking to retire soon? The sudden career reflection seems rather odd. (See the original post.)
Rating:
Hit or Miss?: 1 1/2 star makes it a MISS. Victoria’s clearly near the end of her career, and I doubt she’ll be seeing a big push in her future. However, I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to her just yet, so this news kind of disappoints me. Hopefully she wasn’t hinting at retiring just yet. She’s one of the WWE’s most talented Divas, and she certainly helps in bringing up the newer girls, even if that may make her a glorified jobber. Perhaps she should cut her losses before she tarnishes the legacy she’s built, but I don’t think that time for that has come.

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Story #2: Kelly debunks Playboy rumor.
In another MySpace-created headline, Kelly Kelly claims that rumors of her posing for Playboy are false. She says:

ok so anyways here is the answer to the question people have been asking me..i finally have a chance to set the record straight…im not posing for playboy..nothing against playboy at all but i dont know who is posing for playboy but it wont be me. i just want to concentrate on wrestling right now.

Looks like the leading contender in the Playboy race has dropped out. So, who will grace the next cover? Let the guessing game commence! (See the original post.)
Rating:
Hit or Miss?: 3 stars makes it a HIT. I think it’s smart of her to concentrate on wrestling. Posing for Playboy would give her a push, but we know from experience that those don’t last very long. It’d be to her advantage to try and gain as much respect as she can, and needless to say posing nude isn’t going to do that. Maybe Maryse will take the helm? That’s another girl who is developing well in the ring, but since she’s a heel, a Playboy push could be a little more different (and entertaining) than your standard babyface Playboy push.

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Computer Kelly Kelly Says “No”

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What’s that saying? “This one just blew wide open!” Well that’s exactly what has happened. Everybody thought Kelly Kelly was a dead cert for WWE’s Playboy covergirl in 2009 but the youngest Diva on the roster has quashed rumours that she’ll be posing nude for the magazine. For a girl who had pictures of herself … Read more

Raw Redux – October 6, 2008

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This week on Raw: Beth Phoenix and Santino scored an upset victory over Jamie Noble and Mickie James in a mixed tag match after which things got heated between Layla‘s current and former squeezes. Plus Kelly Kelly picked up a singles victory over Jillian, in a match that was completely overshadowed by the inane ramblings of four grown men trying to act like they’re from the ghetto – while wearing body glitter.

Thoughts & Reactions
This week’s Raw was a letdown on the Diva front and by the time the second Divas bout rolled around, I found myself heading for the ‘mute’ button my remote control because I was frankly getting a headache. Awards for production, WWE will not be getting. Cutting from the actual action to four men standing around hurling abuse at each other like kids on a playground was pathetic and there was just no way the audience could get into the match going on in the ring between Kelly and Jillian. It’s hard to review a match I feel I’ve only seen half of. That said, from what we did see, I’d say Kelly looked as progressive as ever and the match was fine. It wasn’t spectacular nor was it a total wash out, the work was fine and it was nice to see Kelly pick up some steam after losing to Beth Phoenix last week. Her job to Beth had to be done last week to build momentum for Beth vs Candice at No Mercy, but I’m glad WWE is back on the Kelly bandwagon and pushing her because she’s becoming a solid worker and the more opportunities she gets to go out there and gain that experience, the better she will be. Judging No Mercy to last night’s Raw, I would say Candice and Kelly have some similarities – both are competent in the ring, but have their issues with timing and such. Kelly however, has something that Candice doesn’t: ring presence. Though awkward at times, Kelly really seems comfortable in the ring and even though her ring-work may not be on Mickie James level, that comfortability in the ring adds more credibility to Kelly’s wrestling style and I think fans, critics and WWE officials alike are seeing the improvement in Kelly’s work and seeing it as a positive sign. She’s not perfect, but she’s making good headway. Jillian will always be a jobber, but got a decent amount of offense in this match so it wasn’t totally Kelly-dominated as you might expect.

As for the mixed tag match, there’s not much to say as there wasn’t a lot of Diva action in this one. Then again, I think we’ve seen Mickie vs Beth countless times that we don’t need a repeat, we can just close our eyes and envision these two going at it. Coming off a huge week of victories last week, I expected more development for Beth this week, but it became ‘The Santino Show’. Beth is the one who notched up three victories over the course of seven days and was treated little more than background filler, you wouldn’t be able to tell she just came off a successful Women’s Championship match the night before. Speaking of which, WWE darling, Candice was noticeably absent from Raw last night. I find that a little suspect, because considering they want to promote Candice as their ‘top Diva’, you’d think she’d be guaranteed a spot on the show. Is WWE’s enamour wearing off? Are WWE putting their stock in Kelly Kelly instead? I thought Kelly’s win last night was a building block towards challenging Beth for the title. The Beth-Candice feud virtually wrote itself and could have been a focal point of Raw for at least three months but WWE killed any momentum with their ‘poison pen booking’ and totally wore off any excitement to see this feud continue. It seems No Mercy was a blow off match. Which begs the question: What next for Candice?

I guess Layla isn’t going to be a salacious, ‘sex-pot’ (God I hate that word) in the way Lita and Trish were when they turned on Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho respectively. I would’ve expected Layla to slap the taste out of Jamie Noble’s mouth or get somewhat involved in the brawl between he and Regal, but nope. On one hand, it left something to be desired but on the other, it was a nice change. It kind of suggests that regal/noble status Layla is aiming for in her union with Regal, that she won’t get her hands dirty personally – she’ll get her man to do it for her. It’s a nice twist to what we’ve seen in the past, such as the two examples above. I think Layla definitely could play that ‘spoiled girl’ really well, making Regal do her dirty work and not lifting a finger herself.

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Raw Redux – September 29, 2008

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This week on Raw: Beth Phoenix regained focus after an upset loss last week, scoring a win over Kelly Kelly and Candice Michelle with her partner Jillian. Plus in intergender action, the Burchills lost to Mickie James & Jamie Noble while Layla and King William Regal looked on.

Thoughts & Reactions
After a lackluster few weeks, things were a little better this week but not enough to make me that interested in this week’s Raw. I liked that Beth got an emphatic win this week, regaining her focus towards the Women’s Championship match at No Mercy. Her win killed two birds with one stone: A) it tied in with her ‘mini-feud’ with Kelly, who got a fluke win over her as Beth pinned Kelly and B) it sent a message to Candice ahead of their title match. I didn’t like that they had Beth and Candice start out the match straight away pretty much giving away their pay per view match, shouldn’t you try and keep them apart and have them get in a hot tag? The whole booking for this ‘feud’ has been lackluster, so why start making sense now! The work was fine for most of the match, but I really wasn’t into the first half of it, it just seemed to plod along between Candice and Beth then Candice and Jillian. Candice continues to look uncomfortable in the ring since her comeback, but she has never really had much ring presence if you ask me.

The interesting dynamic of this match was how would Kelly and Candice work together? Sufficiently, I would say. When the match was announced, I didn’t think this duo would work out, you’d need someone like Mickie to lead the tag team, both these Divas are still learning. They worked together well. One thing I observed which I certainly didn’t expect is that Kelly, who has had less opportunity in the ring than her partner, was the ‘Mickie figure’ in this match. The Diva who got the hot tag, fought off both the opponents etc. while Candice did most of the brunt work for most of the match as the ‘weaker Diva’. You would think, considering WWE considers Candice to be their top Diva, she’d be doing the superhero-like hot tag – especially considering the fact that she has a title match this Sunday. However, I think Kelly worked in the role very well and lit up a match that otherwise plodded along, when Kelly tagged in, things picked up in the way that they usually do when Mickie tags in. I would say Kelly has a certain quality about her and I really picked up on this last night, I can see this girl going really far. To me, she seems to be creeping up on Candice and outdoing her in terms of matches, fan response etc. even though Candice is the one WWE wants to push. I can definitely see Kelly continuing to grow and eventually become the top Diva to succeed Trish which is what Candice had been groomed for. Kelly got way bigger pops than Candice, I’m not usually one to go by the crowd, but it was really hard to miss on Raw last night – Candice even got some boos. Not a slight to Candice, but Kelly has more of a likability factor than the former Women’s Champ and is proving to be more well rounded. It’ll be interesting to see how Candice and Kelly’s careers intertwine and mould around each other, to say the least.

As for the intergender tag match, as always good fun. It was great to see Mickie back on Raw, though I’m happy for her to remain in the background and let other Divas get over. If and I mean only if WWE can somehow work her into this storyline with Jamie Noble and Layla, then I’m all for Mickie to come back as a full time character but after the past few months, I think Mickie has run her course and needs to make sporadic appearances and not be burned out completely. I wouldn’t mind seeing a tease of an eventual match between Noble & Mickie vs Regal & Layla. The three different couples on show during this match made me think I was watching some sort of swingers party lol! Layla and Regal looked really good in that throne =)

All in all, not a bad week for Raw. I do like that we got to see more utilisation of all the Divas, very SmackDown-esque but I don’t think Raw has fully redeemed itself in my eyes. We’ll see what happens at No Mercy and going forth.

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Collection Plate: Gail Kim, Molly Holly, Candice & Kelly

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This post is brought to you by our readers! Remember, you can e-mail us news and tip-offs at anytime by e-mailing us at [email protected]. – John sent along the cover of the new issue of Power Slam magazine which features first ever WWE and TNA Women’s Champion, Gail Kim on the cover. I don’t think … Read more

Candice & Beth to Actually Wrestle Tonight

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Tonight’s Raw is set to be the “go home” show for this Sunday’s No Mercy, and with the lack of storyline development in Beth Phoenix & Candice Michelle‘s feud, we’ve been pretty concerned with how they’ll build up this Sunday’s Women’s Championship match. With that in mind, the following match has been announced for Raw … Read more

Raw Redux – September 22, 2008

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This week on Raw: Kelly Kelly manages to defeat Beth Phoenix once again! Thoughts & Reactions Apologies for the late Redux this week, but it’s back to uni and things are about to get crazy again. Anyway, this week’s Raw saw Beth vs Kelly for about the fourth time in 2 months. They’ve had some … Read more

You Can’t See Kelly

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Little miss personality, Kelly Kelly, has a new photoshoot, titled “Crazy for Camo”. Clearly, the title of this shoot had as much effort put into it as Kelly has put into her poses. She’s never been the most vivacious or exciting Diva, but it’s plain boring to she the same faces and poses in every … Read more

YouTube Classics: Kelly vs. Layla (w/ Lena)

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Welcome to the YouTube Classics! With what appears to be the wrestling of Divas action to ECW, this week’s theme will be “Going to Extremes”, showing some memorable moments during ECW’s most recent tenure on the Sc-Fi channel. Today, we have Kelly Kelly vs. Layla (w/ Lena) from a February 12th, 2008 edition of ECW. … Read more

Raw Redux – September 15, 2008

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This week on Raw: Candice Michelle scored a victory over Jillian, then got a cheap shot on Beth Phoenix. Beth then got laid out by Batista. Layla provided the most entertaining promo on Raw. Oh and Kelly Kelly was seen with her ‘special’ friend (and by special we mean retarded), Mike Adamle.

Thoughts & Reactions
Karma’s a bitch! The theme of this week’s Raw Redux was set to be the same as last week’s: shitty booking. Well just moments before I began writing this column, I read that Raw did a dismal 2.6 rating last night and I’d like to be the first to offer my own “hawhaw”. It just goes to show that WWE is making it’s fans tune out with crap, non-sensical booking. A freakin’ toddler could poke holes through some of the nonsense that WWE had our Divas doing last night. First of all, if Beth Phoenix hates Candice so much – if they have such an intense feud – why would Beth simply walk out behind Candice? Why wouldn’t she try and clock Candice from behind with the title or something? And if Candice was so jonesing for a fight with Beth, why would she take a cheap shot and dropkick her as she is getting into the ring? Wasn’t the point that Candice wants to go face-to-face with Beth? Isn’t taking cheap shots heel-like? No Mercy is two weeks away and WWE hasn’t done a damn thing in selling this Women’s Championship match to me. In fact, it seemed WWE went in a completely different angle last night with Beth when they have a title match to promote!

Let’s start with Candice vs Jillian. Candice’s second match back on Raw and I know a lot of people were looking to see how she’d fare, I have to say it was a vast improvement over her return match. The work was much better and there was only one really visible botch to me. That said, I didn’t enjoy this match for a number of reasons. First of all, we all knew Jillian didn’t stand a chance against Candice but to actually have her control most of the match, it’s almost as though WWE was doing some damage control, having Jillian do most of the work so Candice didn’t mess up. What does it say for Candice if WWE is doing this? She has a huge title match in two weeks, WWE cannot hold her hand through her matches and I certainly don’t see any other Divas getting this favourable treatment. Candice got in some spots but it really was Jillian working over Candice for most of the match and we all know Jillian is the biggest jobber there is going, she barely got in a lick of offense against Mickie or Melina earlier this year. WWE definitely tried to protect Candice, contrary to what some of you reading this will try to insinuate, I am not trying to personally slight Candice. I’m just stating it the way I see it, WWE is holding Candice’s hand and one has to wonder how long they can continue to do so. This match was longer than the average Raw Divas match, which would’ve been good if it didn’t feel like the match was stuck on slow-motion. I could’ve aged a year between the time it took to go from one move to the next, Candice was slow. Whether that’s her being cautious coming off an injury, I will leave for you to speculate. Unusually for Raw, the crowd was pretty quiet for most of this match save for Jillian riling them up with her ‘singing’.

Later in the night, we had Beth getting verbally buried by both JBL and Batista, pretty much a slap in the face of the women’s division and I found it really rude and disrespectful to Beth. Sure she’s a heel, sure it’s meant to be ‘entertainment’, but if it had been one of the ‘models’ out there, I highly doubt JBL would insinuate that she was a man as he did to Beth last night with “Mr and Mr Phoenix.” That left a bad taste in my mouth, because it’s a cheap form of entertainment and really is a complete disregard for the huge push WWE has given Beth since becoming the Glamazon. Let’s just undo all that in one night…

Oh Layla, why you sparkle so? A promo from a Diva. An actual Diva promo. And Layla nailed it! Short as it was, Layla oozed confidence and personality and I loved the way she delivered her lines and I honestly think this was the best promo delivered on Raw last night. Yeah, way better than the likes of former World Champions Batista, Randy Orton and JBL. What does that say to you WWE? I really love this storyline and it was my favourite part of Raw. Plus we saw Katie Lea make her Raw return and Paul Burchill has returned from Neverland! I would love to see Layla, Regal, Katie and Paul form some sort of British faction. Layla and Katie could even team up and wrestle in the women’s division, it’d be fabulous! I do hope they name rename Layla, “Queen Layla” soon since Regal is the King of the Ring.

Kelly Kelly continues to appear in useless segments for the second week in a row because WWE can’t find anything better for her to do, but just wanna put her on TV because she’s hot. Bout sums it up. At least she didn’t wrestle because I’d have to call her moves ‘flashy’ and you know that’d expose my blind hate for her… Honestly though, poor Kelly. Bearing the brunt of WWE’s bad booking. Hopefully we’ll see her back next week. Mickie James was on the bench this week too and I think it’s much needed actually, she needs some time away.

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When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be a Diva!

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Be careful what you wish for ’cause you just might get it! Here’s Raw Divas, Candice Michelle and Kelly Kelly standing outside the Coliseum in Rome dressed as though they’re waiting to audition for Pussycat Dolls Present Search for the Next Doll. Sorry to be the one to break it to you girls but that … Read more

Raw Redux – September 8, 2008

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This week on Raw: Beth Phoenix defeated Mickie James in a Women’s Championship rematch and it was revealed that she will now face Candice Michelle for the title at No Mercy. Elsewhere, Layla continued her storyline with Jamie Noble and William Regal. Plus some random appearances from Kelly Kelly!

Thoughts & Reactions
Last night on Raw, WWE showed a) That their Creative Team, between them, haven’t got a brain to share, as they lack logic to the extent where a two year old could poke holes through their booking and b) They fully displayed their bias for Candice Michelle.

Candice comes back one week and the very next week she has a title shot? WWE’s blatant favouritism was on show as they couldn’t even book a simple scenario to suggest that Candice deserves the title shot that she will be receiving at No Mercy. How hard is it to kayfabe, have Candice come out and attack Beth after her match with Mickie James, with the announcers putting over that Candice wants revenge? How hard would it have been to have a #1 Contender’s match between Mickie and Candice with the winner facing the Women’s Champion, Beth Phoenix? Apparently, a match with Candice is a far bigger prize than the title belt, as WWE so gratiously offered the winner of Beth vs Mickie such a “reward.” There is no logic to this booking at all.

Since Candice has come back, in no way have WWE pushed a feud with Beth and it aggravates me to no end, the pathetic booking we see from WWE when it comes to the Divas. This is not a feud. This is just Candice vs Beth, they are not promoting this feud one tiny bit. If they wanted to promote a feud they’d have Candice act all riled up and out for revenge, attacking Beth and really putting this over. But last week, in an unspectacular fashion, they have Candice come out and pin Beth right off the bat. How about booking this so that when the eventual match does happen, it means something? This match means nothing at this point. Considering Candice is WWE’s golden girl, I honestly thought for the first time in a long time, WWE would actually book a half decent feud for Candice’s comeback against Beth. The booking for this match at No Mercy is so far, non-existent. There may as well be no history between Beth and Candice, because that’s the way this thing is being booked. If WWE can’t fucking be bothered to show interest in their own work, why should we care? Honestly, I don’t care. I rolled my eyes through this entire match. The booking is lame, we have no investment in seeing this match because WWE has offered us none.

The match itself, this has to be one of the worst matches Beth and Mickie have put on together. The whole thing was pretty sloppy and awkward to watch. There were some spots that were fun, but on the whole, I think these two have produced better work. This coming from me, who has never really enjoyed the singles matches between Beth and Mickie. I don’t think I have much more to say about this match, we’ve seen it far too many times this past year.

As for the staredown between Beth and Candice, is this WWE’s idea of booking a feud? Coz let me tell you, it was not effective at all. I just felt like, “Move along…” waiting for the camera to cut to backstage or something. Speculate as you will, but I certainly lol’d that Candice didn’t have a match this week on live television. I particularly loved how Candice got her own special director’s chair, yet Layla has to make do for a shitty chair next to The King.

Nice segue there, because we’re moving onto Layla now. And finally, here’s some booking that was exciting – well it wouldn’t take much to top the Divas match. Last month or so, it was teased that William Regal and Layla may be hooking up. On the August 4th edition of Raw, I think Regal was about to say to Layla: “Every King needs a Queen…” when he was interrupted by Jamie Noble. The thought of Queen Layla certainly appealed to me at the time so hopefully, after Layla walked off with Regal last night – it just might happen!

Oh also, Kelly Kelly appeared in one or two useless segments, including one with Mike Adamle as he explained to her why he replaced Punk in the Championship Scramble at Unforgiven. Why would Kelly give a flying fuck? If I was Kelly, I’d be like, “I don’t care. What I want to know is why Candice got a title shot over me when I beat Beth in a singles match and I’ve been working like a bitch for the past two months.” Because let’s face it, Kelly has worked really, really hard since joining Raw and she does have a victory over Beth. Even if she gets a title match on Raw and loses, who cares? The fact is, she deserves it. I love how they try to compensate for pushing Kelly to the back of the division by having her appear in shitty segments.

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Introducing “Hit or Miss?”: August 30th – September 6th

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Introducing yet another new feature to Diva Dirt – Hit or Miss?! We’ll be examining the week’s news bits and deeming them hits or misses. These won’t be storyline-based – we won’t be judging by a character’s progression. Instead, we’ll be looking at the real-life drama. For instance, did a Diva develop some backstage heat? That’s a miss. What about a Knockout match receiving the highest ratings of the show? That’s a hit. I’ll rate each story by stars (out of 5) – more stars for a hit, less for a miss. Got it? Let’s dive in..

Story #1: Candice makes like Superman and “Returns”.
Candice Michelle made her long-awated return to the ring on this past Monday’s RAW, getting the win for her team and getting one-up on Beth Phoenix. However, her in-ring performance was highly debated amongst fans. The ending was even edited to cut out multiple botches. So, was it sloppy work or simply a case of ring rust?
Rating:
Hit or Miss?: 2 stars makes it a MISS. Yes, she was returning after a year away. Yes, she has every excuse to be a little rusty. However, if you saw the unedited footage, you can tell that it was pretty damn sloppy, and there’s no excuse for that kind of work. We can debate the reason for this until the cows come home, but the bottom line was that she wasn’t ready to wrestle on live TV. The WWE should have given her more time to wrestle at house shows to work off the ring rust. Is that her fault? No, but one would think she’d have prepared herself better for her big return. I’m just hoping she’ll put on a much better performance this coming Monday – after all, this one will be live, and that means no editing!

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Story #2: Maria gets all cam-whore for the Fan Nation.
Maria added a few photos to her WWE Fan Nation profile, and the results were nothing more than a few vain pictures that harkens to a 13-year-old girl’s MySpace page. We got the “digitized” photo, the black-and-white hoodie photos, the trout pout, and the “flatttering angle” photos. All in all, it shows that even a WWE Diva has too much time on her hands every now and then. (See the original post.)
Rating:
Hit or Miss?: 1/2 a star makes it a MISS. Really, all this shows is that either Maria has the mentality of your everyday camera whore (meaning they take a billion photos of themselves, not meaning they’re stripping or anything) or she had a serious lapse in judgment. Honestly, looking sexy in photos you obviously took of yourself is best left in high school. Maria, clearly, is long graduated – but is she really? I’m just glad to see that her famous trout-pout is her own move, not the photo director’s. Now I can aim my hate solely on her for unleashing such a horrid facial expression onto WWE.com and beyond.

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Raw Redux – September 1, 2008

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This week on Raw: Candice Michelle made her comeback in six Diva action, scoring the win for her team of Mickie James and Kelly Kelly by pinning Beth Phoenix, whose partners included Katie Lea and Jillian.

Thoughts & Reactions
She’s back and as controversial as ever. No Diva divides fans the way that Candice does and that’s been evident from reading your comments and reviews on Candice’s comeback on Raw last night. As for this blogger, I’m sure you all know Candice wouldn’t exactly make my Christmas card list (if I knew her that is) so I may be biased when I write about her. But hey, that’s what friends blogs are for. Some clever guess work on WWE’s part for having Candice make her miraculous comeback on a taped edition of Raw rather than the live thing, because the editing is causing an uproar among you Diva fans. The match was definitely edited at the end. I guess they knew that it wouldn’t be pretty, either.

Moving away from the wrestling to begin with: I couldn’t help but feel Candice’s comeback was the most contrived piece of television since Jade Goody decided to “redeem herself” by entering the Indian Big Brother house. From the outfit to the bad acting as she went to the top turnbuckle to tears at the end, this wasn’t as much a “comeback” as it was a “blubfest”. We’re supposed to feel sorry for Candice, we’re supposed to root for Candice – but in all honesty, Candice isn’t as likable as WWE would have their fans think. This is evident by the way she divides Internet fans. I can’t help but feel Candice is a contradiction of herself, she tries to come across so profound but then shows up on Raw looking like a dominatrix – one who can’t keep her clothes on, for that matter. If her outfit “defines beauty”, I’d rather be ugly. Then we have the tears after she retreated up the ramp following the match, “Pity me! Pity me!” I hope WWE realises that Candice is not the innocent babyface like Trish or Mickie and trying to have her act like she is will never catch on with the fans, just look at the furore she causes online. PS: I thought Raw was now a PG show?

Anyhoo, onto the match – I really enjoyed the work from our Divas this week. Kelly and Mickie seemed more fired up than usual, Mickie in particular was the most exciting I’ve seen her since her fourth Women’s Championship win – perhaps she’s trying not to be overshadowed by Candice? Kelly continues to improve and she worked well for her short part of the match. Jillian and Mickie shared a great chemistry that I enjoyed thoroughly. As for Katie Lea, I think she works better in a tag team combination than in singles action and that’s odd, if you ask me. Her tag team work was much better than her series of horrible and bland matches with Mickie this past summer. As for our Glamazon, well I certainly didn’t like that they buried Beth straight away against Candice. So much for a “money feud” between these two. They ruined it in a matter of minutes by having them interact at the first instance. I would’ve had Candice pin Jillian or Katie and then have Beth retreat from the ring quickly, avoiding any confrontation between these two – prolonging that eventual match. Obviously, logic isn’t WWE’s strongest suit.

Candice’s in-ring return was a mixed bag, I’ll admit it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be, but it wasn’t great either. There were a few glimmers of excitement (such as that hair-drop thing she hit on Beth from the corner), but for every glimmer there’s a botched headscissor takedown. It seems to me that Candice has even yet to master the basic forearm, perhaps she should concentrate on getting her punches right before moving into anything too showy? As I’ve said with Kelly Kelly, it doesn’t help when you overcompensate for your lack of experience with flashy moves – try and perfect the basics. The end was definitely edited as one moment, Candice was behind Beth and then miraculously in front of her. Candice has a long way to go and I certainly wouldn’t rank her in-ring skills above the Divas Champion, Michelle McCool. That said, Candice isn’t as bad as some fans will suggest. She’s certainly a step ahead of Maria and former Diva, Ashley. To reiterate, thankfully for her and WWE this week’s show was taped but that won’t be the case next week. Hopefully, we can have a more informed judgement next Tuesday.

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One Year On, Comparing Candice

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It’s been nearly one year since Candice Michelle went down with an injury, but tonight she makes her return… her mini-comeback at WrestleMania time doesn’t count. Last year, Candice was praised by WWE, the fans and critics alike on her improvements, she was rewarded with the Women’s Championship and at the end of the year … Read more

Raw Redux – August 25, 2008

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This week on Raw: Kelly Kelly upsets the Glamazon and Women’s Champion, Beth Phoenix in singles action.

Thoughts & Reactions
This is the victory that will have many fans divided. More conservative fans will argue that there is no way Kelly, the inexperienced “blonde bimbo” deserves a victory over not only Beth Phoenix, but the Women’s Champion. Meanwhile, others would argue that Kelly has vastly improved and does deserve to gain some steam and deserves one of her first victories as part of the Raw roster. What side does Raw Redux fall in? The latter. When I first read Beth and Kelly would be facing off for the third time in the past six weeks, I initially rolled my eyes. We’d seen this match twice before and I thought this would go the same way as those two matches, with Beth easily beating Kelly. Instead, we got something different and unexpected – Kelly beating the Glamazon. And you know what? I’m all for it.

This wasn’t exactly a clean victory with Beth being somewhat distracted by Santino, so it’s not like Kelly totally outpowered Beth. Kelly has worked really hard over the past six months on both Raw and SmackDown, becoming pretty competent in the ring. When Kelly first moved to Raw, I feared that she’d hardly get any TV time and like Maria and Ashley before her, barely improve in the ring hindering all the development she made on SmackDown and ECW. Instead, Kelly has been a pretty prominent part of the Raw roster, wrestling on a regular basis. However, instead of receiving a huge push like Candice or Trish Stratus, Kelly has been used as enhancement talent to help put over the likes of Mickie James and Beth. So I think it’s about time she finally got a little confidence shown in her by management, with a victory and she got that on Raw. I’m not saying Kelly is championship material, but I wouldn’t mind seeing WWE build off this win and give Kelly a title shot against Beth next week or at Unforgiven even as sort of an “interim mini-feud.” By that I mean this would be a transitional mini-feud for Beth until Candice comes back, it’s fresher than seeing yet another Beth vs Mickie rematch at Unforgiven right? And because this is just an interim match, obviously, Kelly wouldn’t win the title. It’s just something fresh to tide us over until a real feud is booked.

As for the match, I’ve said and I’ve said it again, Kelly and Beth have shown so much chemistry in the ring together in their previous matches. Chemistry that I never expected to see from these two Divas, but yet again, I felt they delivered a really solid match. This match wasn’t as “flashy” with Kelly pulling off all these big moves like in their last match, which is one of the things I liked about it. Perhaps Kelly has learnt to be more subtle utilising these big moves, using them more sparsely so they look really good. If you do the same flashy moves in every single match, I think they lose their excitement. Good work from both Divas.

I like that WWE laid off Mickie this week too, she really needs to be repackaged or something. So who was waiting with baited breath to see Gail Kim turn up on Raw? I’m glad they didn’t rush into things and have her debut last night. Actually, I don’t think she’s even signed a contract yet.

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Raw Redux – August 11, 2008

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This week on Raw: The build-up towards SummerSlam saw a fun match between Mickie James and Santino. Beth Phoenix once again destroyed Kelly Kelly too.

Thoughts & Reactions
I was really sceptical last week when WWE put the kibosh on ongoing storylines – Mickie vs Katie Lea and Paul Burchill vs Kofi Kingston – and opted to work towards a Winner Take All match at SummerSlam. But judging by this week’s follow-up, the build-up has been fun and really made me excited for this Sunday’s pay per view. It seems, WWE put more effort into the booking this week than they ever did with the Women’s Championship feud between Mickie and Katie. In one night, they manage to have a strong build-up towards a pay per view match and I don’t know about you, but I’m now looking forward to what could be a unique match at SummerSlam.

While the thought of Mickie vs Beth for the umpteenth time does nothing for me, making this a Winner Take All intergender tag match adds some new flare to an otherwise beaten horse. Not to mention, the new comedy double act of Santino and Beth should add some humour into this match at SummerSlam. Will Mickie finally give up the title? A lot of fans are speculating, even the critics, that Beth will take the Intercontinental Championship and make Santino carry the Women’s Championship – as absurd as that sounds, it also adds some importance to the Women’s Championship and the Divas. Two things I’m all for!

Back to the broadcast, Beth and Kelly had a so-so match compared to their encounter a few weeks. I had worried that Kelly would become just another Maria or Ashley on Raw but nope, she’s working on a regular basis and that’s nice to see. Despite some sloppiness in the ring, Kelly is working hard and I have to admire that. Even though she’s jobbing out in most of her matches, just being on screen and being on matches on a regular basis put Kelly a notch up from Maria or Ashley during their tenures on Raw. A few weeks ago, Kelly and Beth shared an intense chemistry in the ring – that was kinda lost this week, but the match was fine though nothing compared to their match last month. I liked the end segment with Santino wanting Beth to hit another move on Kelly.

As for Mickie vs Santino, well when Santino was cutting his promo if you didn’t clock on he was talking about a match with Mickie and not Kofi – make sure you take the slow bus when school starts up again, won’t cha? I would have liked to see Mickie be more aggressive and really wow the crowd the same way Beth did in her return match with Santino last month, there wasn’t that “Oh my god, Mickie’s totally beating up Santino” element that made you both want to cheer for her and laugh at the same time. Santino going over was the right thing to do, giving the challengers the momentum going into SummerSlam. The danger now is though, the champions will pick up the win at the pay per view. I think it’s a wise move to put the titles on Beth and Santino. All around, it was a passable Raw that did it’s job – pushing Sunday’s match.

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Raw Redux – August 04, 2008

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This week on Raw: Mickie James defeated Katie Lea once again, only to be attacked by Beth Phoenix. Layla and Kelly Kelly also made appearances.

Thoughts & Reactions
If WWE were a man, he’d be a premature ejaculator. When it comes to the ladies, WWE likes to rush into things with little to no impact and last night might have been the single most “blink and you’ll miss it” moment in Diva history. As my good friend *cough* Heidi Klum would say, one day you’re in and the next you’re out. That’s exactly what happened on Raw as Katie was out and Beth was in, in a matter of seconds. Say goodbye to the long drawn programme that has taken place between Katie and Mickie over the past couple of months and say hello to a tag team match at SummerSlam between Kofi Kingston and Mickie  taking on Beth and Santino.

Last week, I was full of hope and optimism… that was lost the second Mike Adamle announced there would be three title defences on Raw. I immediately knew we’d get Katie vs Mickie on Raw instead of at SummerSlam. My hope was deflated as I knew that we wouldn’t get the build-up I had so excitedly written about last week, instead we would get another lackluster match relegated to Raw. Did WWE not learn a few weeks ago how stale and boring this match was? They really needed the next few weeks to get fans interested again and pay us off at SummerSlam, after last week they incited some excitement in us fans but this week instead of continuing that booking, like any premature ejaculator… they peaked too soon. It was far too soon for this rematch and did nothing for either Diva, especially Katie Lea. We’ve been saying for weeks now, what is the point of a rematch unless Katie finally wins the title? I thought even though it’s not SummerSlam like I had hoped, they could redeem themselves by giving Katie the title. Instead, we got Mickie defeating Katie for the third straight time, which leaves one to wonder… what is the point? What point does it serve to have Mickie go over each and every time? Honestly, they continue to book the programme but have Katie lose every time, that’s not a storyline, that’s a waste of time. But to be honest, I don’t think last night’s match was worthy of a title change at all… it was a dark night in the career of Mickie James and to a lesser extent, Katie Lea. This was one of the worst matches I’ve seen two experienced wrestlers compete in, in quite some time. The whole match was uncomfortable and plodded along. Katie is continuously unexciting in the ring, given the push she has received and the skills she has – why is her wrestling so bland?! This match was really awkward to watch.

Match Ratings: PASS / FAIL
Comments: Third time lucky? No chance!

Next up we have Beth Phoenix officially in the title race again, attacking Mickie after the match. Am I the only one to let out a really big groan? The last thing I want to see is Beth vs Mickie again! Their feud was less than stellar the first time round but if they share more chemistry in the ring than Katie and Mickie obviously had, I guess I can learn to deal. I’m not too excited for the SummerSlam tag team match, but I would prefer it to a singles match between the two.

Layla also appeared on Raw, doing what she does best… dancing the night away! Is it just me or was William Regal about to say, “Every King needs a Queen” when he was interrupted by Jamie Noble?! Could you imagine Queen Layla?! Eek, if only he had been able to finish the sentence =(

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Could Kelly Kelly Be More Brown?

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Talk about blending in! Raw’s Kelly Kelly seems almost naked in her latest photoshoot at WWE.com, Shining For You, because it’s hard to tell where her skin tone ends and her outfit begins. Is Kelly taking cues from newly minted A-Lister, Robert Downey Jr who “blacked up” for his role in upcoming comedy, Tropic Thunder? … Read more

Raw Redux – July 28, 2008

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I apologise once again for the delay with the Redux, there must be something in the water! I would do something like blame it on that darn earthquake in LA but alas, I live in London…

This week on Raw: Beth Phoenix and Santino continued their odd couple act, managing to beat Kelly Kelly in the process. Jillian made her Raw return in a competetive match with Mickie James, who was then attacked by the vicious Katie Lea. Oh and Layla too!

Thoughts & Reactions
Someone call it. It’s a record… all our Raw Divas managed to get some screen time this week. Perhaps there’s something in the water over at WWE too, because this is unprecedented. A far cry from the days of Ashley and Maria, all our girls were on the show and played a useful role on the programme. From the comedy routine with Beth and Santino, to Mickie’s victory over Jillian and then beatdown from Katie and Layla’s ongoing plot with Jamie – it seems Raw really has turned a corner and for the better. Where to start? The Women’s Championship, methinks! Last week, I gave Katie Lea an open challenge to excite me and boy did she ever! Here’s exactly what I wrote:

To tell you the truth, the Mickie-Katie feud has waned in recent weeks and I’m just not that excited to see another match between these two unless Katie pulls off the big one and becomes the Women’s Champion. I don’t really see this rematch as SummerSlam worthy unless the title were to change hands. The mixed tag was on par with the mixed tag team match we saw a month or so back with Mr Kennedy in Kofi Kingston’s place, both of these matches were good. But it did leave me wondering “What will they do next?” Because like I say, I feel this feud has lost it’s steam. And I hate to say that because I have been championing this feud and hoping it would really take off, but as of yet we’ve not seen anything too exciting happen between Katie and Mickie. Katie is a very capable wrestler, but as the weeks pass I’m beginning to wonder what flare she has in the ring – because so far, she has been pretty average. I would love to see Katie more confident in the ring and really show us a move set that sets her apart from the other Divas, Beth Phoenix and Mickie James have their unique signature moves that they can turn to in every match but Katie so far, has only displayed the basic moves. Katie, I dare you to excite me in the ring! Come on, I know you have it in you…

A week later, I think there’s someone on WWE Creative that’s clued into Diva Dirt. Not only did they inject some life and passion into this stale feud, they made me want to see a rematch between these two. Katie finally it took to the next level in her devillish ways, attacking Mickie and blowing her daddy a kiss in the process. I felt this was a really cool touch, I love the addition of Mickie’s dad being at ringside and the little blowing of the kiss; it makes this more personal and raw (no pun intended) – hopefully Mickie’s dad will continue to pop up between now and SummerSlam when I believe, this match will take place. I asked last week, “What will they do next?” And this week, they planted the seeds to what could be a really intense feud leading to SummerSlam. Having Mickie’s dad involved, they could really push the buttons on this feud – this is something we rarely see happen in the women’s division where Divas automatically have to be jealous of each other to ignite a feud. In my head, this could be great… maybe have Katie and Paul Burchill attack her dad next week in the ring, maybe even have Paul hold Mickie and make her watch while Katie slaps him around. From there, you could have Mickie go a little bit psycho (an ode to her old character) and really take the fight to Katie. If they follow up on this, we have ourselves a great match at SummerSlam. Katie showed a lot of flare and personality in this segment and really did excite me… now please let that translate into your match with Mickie. As I wrote last week, you cannot have this rematch once again only for Katie to lose. Katie has to finally go over and become Women’s Champion. The next few weeks will be pivotal to see if she’s really worth the title or not, because so far her matches have been simply average. The right storyline combined with the perfect match at SummerSlam and Katie as champion, is not so far fetched. Since my plea was answered last week, it couldn’t hurt to plead once again right? WWE, I dare you to follow up on this feud in the correct manner (i.e. as written above).

Okay next up, we have a segment that just about everyone loved… Beth Phoenix and Santino teaming up against Kelly Kelly and the returning D-Lo Brown. Not much to write home about was this match, it was fine for what it was – to set up a comedy act between Beth and Santino. I don’t know where this is going but it adds a nice dynamic to the Glamazon. Great work from both Divas involved. Speaking of, great work from Mickie and Jillian later in the night – compared to their singles match a few weeks ago, this was a lot more competetive and back and forth with Jillian looking really good in the ring. It was surprising to see Jillian get as much offense as she did, but this was a really good match.

Match Ratings: PASS / FAIL
Comments: Both matches were fine.

Last but not least, Layla continues her storyline with Jamie Noble. I don’t think WWE even knows what they’re doing here, I really like the idea of Layla and Kofi Kingston so I was happy to see them in the ring together… make it happen, WWE!

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Raw Redux – July 21, 2008

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This week on Raw: Beth Phoenix decimated Kelly Kelly before locking lips with Santino. Meanwhile, Katie Lea and Mickie James continued their feud with a mixed tag team match everyone saw coming.

Thoughts & Reactions
It is with great pain that I write this week’s Raw Redux, because for the first time ever – I feel as though I don’t have much to write. Last night’s Raw wasn’t neither bad nor good, it was just average. There was a sufficient use of the Divas, which I applaud – they kept that going from last week’s all time high of Diva usage; but I felt this week’s show wasn’t much to write home about and that’s not to say it was at all bad.

The mixed tag team match, I saw coming a mile off and it was just fine. To tell you the truth, the Mickie-Katie feud has waned in recent weeks and I’m just not that excited to see another match between these two unless Katie pulls off the big one and becomes the Women’s Champion. I don’t really see this rematch as SummerSlam worthy unless the title were to change hands. The mixed tag was on par with the mixed tag team match we saw a month or so back with Mr Kennedy in Kofi Kingston’s place, both of these matches were good. But it did leave me wondering “What will they do next?” Because like I say, I feel this feud has lost it’s steam. And I hate to say that because I have been championing this feud and hoping it would really take off, but as of yet we’ve not seen anything too exciting happen between Katie and Mickie. Katie is a very capable wrestler, but as the weeks pass I’m beginning to wonder what flare she has in the ring – because so far, she has been pretty average. I would love to see Katie more confident in the ring and really show us a move set that sets her apart from the other Divas, Beth Phoenix and Mickie James have their unique signature moves that they can turn to in every match but Katie so far, has only displayed the basic moves. Katie, I dare you to excite me in the ring! Come on, I know you have it in you…

The second (well actually it aired earlier) match on Raw was Beth Phoenix taking on Kelly Kelly, I was left a little disappointed because I had hoped Santino would come down to the ring but as the night progressed, we did get to see that storyline be addressed. This match was again, just fine… actually, it was a little more than just fine. Kelly and Beth shared some chemistry in the ring and that’s something I wasn’t expecting, Kelly worked well with Beth – again, something I wasn’t expecting. If anything can be said for this match, it’s that it was very vocal. I almost felt embarassed watching because it really did sound like a barrage of orgasms from Kelly more so than Beth. Fun match, I loved the high impact face plant that Beth used to finish Kelly off (hence why I used it in the image above), hopefully she’ll retire the boring suplex thing and use this more often.

Continuing on the Beth front, she turned up later for Santino’s match and a part of me figured out where this was going but that was surpressed by the thoughts of, “WWE wouldn’t actually do this, would they?” Lo and behold, they did! I have to say, Beth and Santino straddling each other with Beth screaming “Get off me!” just seemed awkward, I guess that was the desired effect but it felt awkward as in the acting was bad. I wonder where they’ll go with this? It seems the sour Glamazon is sweetening up a little, and I don’t like it! I would have prefered to have seen Santino challenge Beth to a rematch and see these two feud rather than go for a love story. This seemed a little like Stockholm Syndrome, I wonder if that’s how they’ll play it out? I can totally see the Glamazon being the bunny boiler girlfriend, that could be fun to watch!

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Raw Redux – July 14, 2008

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This week on Raw: Katie Lea got another shot at Mickie James, Beth Phoenix returned to Raw in sensationalistic fashion and Kelly Kelly and Layla got some airtime too!

Thoughts & Reactions
The verdict is in… I am pleased to report I absolutely loved Raw last night! Last week in Redux, I wrote:

Raw’s women’s division is a holding pattern right now, I do think Creative will finally turn their attention to the Divas after the post-Draft honeymoon period is over. Right now they’re working so diligently on making the rest of the product “must see”, the Divas aren’t their top priority.

Well it seems like the honeymoon is over and Creative have finally turned their attention to Raw. And boy, have they! Not only did they finally step up their game with the women’s division but they went one further – they booked the Divas so strongly, making them really part of the Raw mythos. Having them integrate with the Superstars gives a real sense of importance to our beloved Divas and shows that they too can be a pivotal part of Raw rather than just throwing a couple of Divas out there to fill the ‘Diva match quota’ for the week. From top to bottom, I thought this week’s Raw was fantastic and it’s really made the show ‘must watch’ television again. Since the Draft, all the focus has been on the rest of the show that the Divas were only used to fill a quota, that was my only grievance with Raw. However this week, the whole show was solid.

The big, big story coming out of Raw was the fantastic re-introduction of the Glamazon, Beth Phoenix! Beth really was dealt a blow when Melina was injured as it meant WWE had to throw away all their plans for this feud and resulted in Beth not appearing on Raw in a month. After Melina was injured, I was even left wondering just how WWE could bring Beth back at this point; it seemed the only option was to have her challenge Mickie and that’s something I don’t think any of us want to see again anytime soon. Instead, last night, WWE found a fun, interesting and truly creative way to bring back Beth Phoenix and it worked a treat! If you didn’t jump out of your chair or scream out loud when Beth’s music hit last night on Raw, you got issues! The crowd was not at all expecting Beth to rock up and damn, did she receive a hell of a pop or what?! Just when you thought there was no one left to beat Santino, out comes a Diva and not just any Diva at that! I don’t know where they’re going with this but it was interesting while it lasted. It was something new and interesting and you could tell the crowd was so into it, because it was so fresh to the current WWE product. Of course, we’ve seen Chyna come and go but in this day and age, this was something new and I think that’s why we all got so into it. Great job by WWE!

It will be interesting to see where this goes; I don’t think Beth will now become a face as some have suggested. I just don’t think Diva-wise, she could be a face but I would love to see her continue to work with Santino, maybe make this into a short feud while the Mickie-Katie programme is going on or until Candice is ready to come back. Beth is in a unique position, we loved seeing her against Santino last night but we’re designed to hate her when she’s wrestling Candice and Mickie; this could be cool. I think in this programme with Santino (if they follow through) she could be a face but when it comes to the Divas, she just has to be a heel! Hopefully they have her continue to work with Santino, it could be fun – maybe have him demand a rematch next week! This will keep Beth booked up until she’s ready to engage in a programme with another Diva. Even if it was a one off, it was fantastic.

In the opening contest of Raw, we had a rematch from Night of Champions with Mickie vs Katie. I thought this match was a lot better than their match at the pay per view, i got into it and I really wanted to see Katie pick up the win. If Katie and Paul are meant to be heels, wouldn’t it be logical to have Paul try to interfere? Instead, we had a post-match assault which worked well. I like that they are keeping the feud between Mickie and Katie going, even if we have had a two week gap (some things never change)! But yeah, this was great and then the interaction during the Intercontinental Championship match only set this feud up further, I definitely see them continuing to feud for a while with another title match on the cards! I’m suspecting a mixed tag match next week, as I wrote before – having the Divas get involved in storylines with the Superstars really gives them a sense of importance on the show. I’m all for it!

After we got Katie vs Mickie and Beth beating Santino, we got a shot of Kelly freakin’ Kelly! My first thought was “Oh my god, more Divas? This is too good to be true!” and it was unfortunately. Seems like they teased another Divas match simply as a ploy to get Kelly some screentime and further push that Raw has a new, improved flavour with 100% unpredictability. I would have loved another Divas match though! Well I guess what we got later was just as good… Layla! The backstage segment with Jamie Noble and Layla was nicely done, I hope they don’t pair them up though but at least it got Layla on TV!

Overall, I was very pleased with all the appearances of the Divas that we got! I really hope they keep this momentum going into next week, don’t let us down now!

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Who Should Challenge Mickie?

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SmackDown’s women’s division is heating up, in fact they’ve usurped the pay per view position usually held by Raw’s Women’s Championship as at the Great American Bash, Michelle McCool and Natalya will do battle for the all new Divas Championship. Meanwhile over on Raw, things seem to have sizzled out since Night of Champions, when … Read more

DK Drops Divas

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Looks like the Divas’ “bad girl” antics will be confined to the ring! It seems girl group, Danity Kane have dropped Divas Kelly Kelly, Layla, Maria, Melina and Mickie James from their latest video “Bad Girl”, their incredibly hot second single from the equally hot “Welcome to the Dollhouse” album. We reported back in May … Read more

Raw Redux – July 07, 2008

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This week on Raw: Divas tag team action when Women’s Champion Mickie James teamed up with Raw’s newest Diva, Kelly Kelly to take on Jillian and Raw’s other newest Diva, Layla.

Thoughts & Reactions
“Raw stuck on bore.” Says it all really. While I am thoroughly enjoying Raw post-Draft, the women’s division – not so much. The quality of the product as a whole has shot up since the Draft show two weeks ago but it seems that all the emphasis on the other aspects of the show have led to a loss in quality and less attentiveness to the women’s division on Creative’s behalf. Last week’s Raw match between Mickie and Jillian was simply average and this week was more of the same – the Divas were only utilised to fill the weekly “Diva quota”, no storyline advancement here nor anything too interesting.

There is quite a lot to talk about this week though, first up is Kelly Kelly jumping from ECW to Raw. I believe this is solely due to the lack of faces on Raw at the moment, I guess it’s a wise move to make bringing in another face but why not call up a developmental Diva? I think that would have been much wiser, because let’s face it – moving someone two weeks after the Draft who wasn’t even drafted in the first place calls the point of the Draft into question! I much prefer Kelly as part of SmackDown, I think she was really developing and coming along great. This is a Diva that needs to be nurtured, I think she does have the potential to become the next Trish Stratus but she needs to be nurtured and cannot be thrown into impossible situations too soon. WWE rushed into giving Trish and Candice huge pushes but I had hoped they’d do things right with Kelly, only move her to Raw when she was truly ready. Alas, she is not. The perils of live television – all your flaws are exposed and Kelly was sloppy on Raw and it couldn’t be edited out. Kelly is best suited to SmackDown right now, where she can continue to grow. I had a little idea of my own for Kelly, I think she’s come a long way and I’m 90% certain she will be our 2009 Playboy covergirl; Kelly could be the first Diva to actually be worthy of a Playboy push. It’s a long time between now and WrestleMania, Kelly could have grown a lot more on SmackDown and then possibly challenge Natalya at WrestleMania for the Divas Championship and win. Unfortunately that won’t be happening now, still could but doubt it. Instead, Kelly is thrown into an environment I don’t think she’s ready for and I fear she will go the same way as Maria and Ashley before her, not improve anymore and be just another waste. Maria has potential but being on Raw for so long, she wasn’t able to realise it. Kelly has a lot of potential still but being on Raw hinders that, it’s not exactly a great environment for developing wrestlers. I did quite like the whole explanation for her moving to Raw, the line “We have contracts?” can be interpreted as, “We’re not bothered to think of a logical explanation.”

The other focus is Jillian. Are they just delivering us average matches to fill a Diva quota or are they actually planning on pushing Jillian? Because using her on Raw for two weeks in a row is something that seldom occurs. I do believe it’s the former, I don’t think WWE is putting any attention into the Raw women’s division and is simply filling a quota. There’s no big push for Jillian and in fact, while she is getting on TV more, it’s for the wrong reasons rather than the right reasons. Let’sface it, WWE doesn’t care about Jillian and will never really give her character a refresher or give her a chance to be a top Diva. She is a laughing stock.

As for the match, it was average again. Sloppy in-ring work for Kelly, not much else that’s memorable. All the focus was on Kelly that they nearly forgot that Layla, too is new to Raw. Poor Layla, she had finally escaped from underneath Kelly’s shadow only to have the shadow follow her. Layla was unceremoniously ignored on Raw, she didn’t even get any ring time. Even Michael Cole forgot to mention that she was new on Raw too after the “explaining” of Kelly’s move from ECW, Cole added that Layla joined Raw during the Supplemental Draft merely as an afterthought.

Raw’s women’s division is a holding pattern right now, I do think Creative will finally turn their attention to the Divas after the post-Draft honeymoon period is over. Right now they’re working so diligently on making the rest of the product “must see”, the Divas aren’t their top priority. Whatever happened to the Katie-Mickie feud? Where is Beth Phoenix? Is there any use asking? Poor Beth is probably on the shelf until WWE find something to do with her since Melina’s injured, kudos to them for not just giving us “Mickie-Beth: To Infinity and Beyond”, which would have been the easy option given there’s only a handful of Divas on Raw right now.

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