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Hit or Miss?: September 21st – 27th

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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: Ashley’s gone, but not in every sense..
The upcoming video game release, “RAW vs. SmackDown 2009”, has announced many of its roster, the most surprising of which being Ashley Massaro, whom we all know was released from the WWE some time ago.. Hm.. I wonder how the *current* Divas who are MIA on this game feel about this? (Click for more info.)
Rating:
Hit or Miss?: 1 star makes it a MISS. I’m aware that they plan these video games out verrrryyy far in advance, but it is pretty ironic that when roster space is pretty limited on these games, one of the precious spots will be taken by a Diva who is not only no longer with the company, but also left a bitter taste in many a fan’s mouth. I always think it’s kind of cool to see a Diva all digitized an whatnot, but Ashley looks absolutely atrocious in the game. Seriously – look at the photo above – those makers did her no favors.

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Story #2: TNA “Knocked Out” gets.. knocked out.
TNA recently released its “Knocked Out” DVD, solely dedicated to its Knockouts. It featured interviews with each Knockouts, as well as behind-the-scenes looks at photoshoots and stories of their respective paths to TNA. Diva Dirt reviewed the DVD, and it didn’t exactly pass with flying colors.. The main complaint was that TNA seemed to be more concerned with elevating their Knockouts above the Divas – it came across as arrogant and cocky. That, paired with empty and less-than-inspired chapters on each Knockout made us wonder if the DVD was even necessary. (See the original post.)
Rating:
Hit or Miss?: 1 & 1/2 a star makes it a MISS. I appreciate that TNA is looking to push the Knockout brand by releasing this DVD, but I think they should have rounded up some better content. Constant comparisons to “other women wrestlers” does nothing to help theme in fact, it hinders their growth as a separate entity. If I wanted to watch boring character profiles and exhausting self-congratulations, I’d watch the Emmys, thanks..

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ECW Does SmackDown Redux – September 23, 2008

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The show may change but the Divas stay the same! Welcome to a very special “extreme” edition of SmackDown Redux – ECW Does SmackDown Redux that is! Last night on ECW, Divas Champion Michelle McCool tasted defeat for the first time at the hands of Maryse.

Thoughts & Reactions
For the first time in months, Divas action came to ECW last night! I don’t understand WWE’s logic, is there idea of ‘fresh’ having the same match from last week’s SmackDown but just on a different show? I can’t say I’m complaining too much because the Divas who can do no wrong, Maryse and Michelle McCool did something that Spider-Man or Pirates of the Caribbean could never do – create a perfect trilogy. It’s usually the threequels that let let a trilogy down but not this one! Once again, Michelle and Maryse delivered a great match full of intensity and fire. Would I say it was as good as their match last Friday on SmackDown? No, but let’s face it, that’s a hard one to top! Both girls really did try though and I watched this match with a smile on my face and when it ended, I loved and respected both of them that much more.

This match was more about Maryse playing the aggressor and she was fantastic. We keep saying it, but for someone who’s been wrestling for such a short time, she has not only the moves but the heel mannerisms down to a tee! Maryse has fantastic ring presence as a heel, she knows how to play the crowd and knows how to work her opponent and I have to say, she brings a lot of fire out in Michelle that we’ve never seen before. Many complain about Michelle’s lack of personality and such but if you watch this match, I thought Michelle responded incredibly well to Maryse and these two share an insane chemistry. There’s something almost charming about Michelle taking more of a backseat and jobbing for most of the match, if you’re a face champion, it’s good to look vulnerable to your opponent and then win where it counts – a title match.

To trackback, when you heard this was a non-title match didn’t you just know Maryse was going to win? It’s a good move though, as this sets up Maryse as having earned another title shot against Michelle. In fact, I can actually see Maryse going over Michelle and winning the title in the near future. At this point, I don’t care if we see Michelle vs Maryse every week as long as the calibre is the same as this and their past matches. Great stuff!

Oh and I nearly forgot to mention: the commentary for this match was fantastic. I don’t watch ECW so I never realised how good Matt Striker is, he and JR really put over the Divas and the in-ring action rather than going off on tangents like Raw. Giving focus and attention to what we’re watching really adds to the experience, I really loved the commentary and it definitely added to my viewing.

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SmackDown Redux – September 19, 2008

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This week on SmackDown: Michelle McCool toppled Maryse once more in a Divas Championship rematch. Brie Bella and Maria ran into Natalya and Victoria. And even Eve Torres teased she wanted in on the action!

Thoughts & Reactions
Last night’s Friday Night SmackDown proved exactly what I’ve been saying about the SmackDown women’s division for so long now… it’s superior. For months I’ve touted that SmackDown provides the best Divas entertainment of the week, fun matches, likable Divas, great chemistry and last night’s show, to me, was a seminal episode. For those who don’t know what seminal means:

highly original and influencing the development of future events: a seminal artist; seminal ideas.

That’s exactly what I felt about last night’s Divas action on SmackDown. The Divas Championship match between Michelle McCool and Maryse was a seminal moment in SmackDown’s Diva history. That match tore it down! I really enjoyed their work at Unforgiven and when I first read the spoilers, I thought “How are they gonna top that?” but they did in a huge way. I loved the Unforgiven match and I loved this match, I want to say it was better than Unforgiven and in many ways it was, but both matches were very different and focussed on different things. I guess if it came down to it, I would say last night’s match was better but the two matches were very different: Unforgiven was more about telling a story, having in-ring psychology whereas this match was more fast paced and action packed. It depends on what you like to see in the ring in deciding which you preferred. The SmackDown match was incredibly action packed, so much fun to watch and the work was incredible. I’m sure they edited some stuff, but in all you can’t fake great ring presence and you can’t fake comfortability in the ring – these two are no Victoria or Mickie James – but they exuded ring presence and comfortability, which cannot be edited into a show.

Seeing how well Maryse and Michelle used their surroundings (the ring, the ring ropes), it made me feel as though I was watching a match between two veterans. Both of these Divas worked so hard and the work was fantastic. There were several great spots in this match and I was honestly blown away, just when I thought they’d let down, they got even better. The match was given a great length, had many different spots and felt like ‘must see television’. I love that Michelle is using the ‘Wings of Love’ again, it’s a great move and a nice fitting end to this match. Would I have Maryse and Michelle continue to feud? No. Michelle has two victories over Maryse now, I think it’s time to move on. I honestly think these two are 2-for-2 in their singles matches and I wouldn’t want them to ruin the great work they’ve had together by having loads more singles matches together. If and when Part 3 takes place, I would want it to mean something like Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong. I felt really proud watching this match, as though my allegiance to the SmackDown women’s division was rewarded.

Later in the evening, we got Eve Torres teasing that she too, could be making her in-ring debut in a segment with Vickie Guerrero and the Big Show. How do I feel about this? The more the merrier! If she is decent in the ring, why not? I’m excited to see her wrestle if and when she makes her in-ring debut.

The backstage segment between the four other Divas was another display of fine work, this time not of in-ring ability, but promo ability. Seems as though newbie, Brie Bella is just as good at cutting promos as she is in the ring. As for Maria, I think after posing for Playboy, she needs to drop the ditzy gimmick and it seemed she tried to go back to that on SmackDown. It doesn’t really work, if you ask me. She needs to find a new niche. Natalya and Victoria were entertaining as ever and I love that this segment actually promoted a match for next week. Will Nicole finally be revealed?

If you ask me, this week’s Divas action was fantastic and perhaps I am being biased, but it proved to me just why I look forward more to Friday nights than Monday nights.

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Owning Up: McSlutHoBag & Frenchie Who Can’t Wrestle

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We here at Diva Dirt have long been accused of favoring certain Divas and shamelessly bashing others – look around in any post and you’ll witness the outrage. We have defended our opinions countless times with logic and reasoning, but the time has come to face the ugly truth – we are biased. Yes, it’s true. We specifically target your favorite Diva, pointing out faults that don’t exist and ignoring their countless glorious attributes. Whoever she is, you can bet your ass that we’re reading your mind and are determined to make her a martyr for our enjoyment. If you like Candice, we say she botches. You like Maria? She dresses like a tranny clown. What about Mickie? She’s a slut who takes nasty photos. Kelly Kelly? Her moves are too ~flashy~. Yes, yes.. No one is safe from our reign of terror. Well, that is, except for Melina and Torrie. You know, because they’re our favorites. They could fart and we’d dub it the greatest fart ever unleashed on the world. Why is that? Because we bash, we discriminate. We’re biased. You caught us red handed!

With that out of the way, we’re ushering in a new feature to Diva Dirt – Owning Up. We’ll be giving you, the readers, what you want. We’ll be taking your comments and applying them to our own viewpoints, using the same techniques many of you use to judge what we do and what the Divas do. It’s unmitigated bashing! At least now you can bitch with some basis.. WARNING: Markyness ahead. We will see what we want to see and interpret things the way we see fit. If it’s not true, so what? We bash all the time, remember? This shouldn’t be any different..

Now, on to this week’s SmackDown match between Michelle McCool and Maryse. Actually, I prefer to amend Michelle’s surname to a more apt title – “McSlutHoBag” – because, you know, she sleeps with The Undertaker, and there’s no way in hell she’d be where she is today if she wasn’t screwing one of the WWE’s legends. Maryse is French, so obviously she can’t speak well. I can’t understand her! She sounds soooo stupid with that French accent – how can anyone take her seriously? Ugh.. I know, women should be seen and not heard. Never a truer statement in this case..

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Watch: SmackDown, September 19th 2008

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Every week, we have comments with people discussing the weekly SmackDown Divas matches on YouTube before they air on television. Usually, we wait till the SmackDown Redux to discuss the matches but we’ve decided that each week, we will post the matches from the show right here every Friday for you to watch and discuss. … Read more

SmackDown Redux – September 12, 2008

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This week on SmackDown: Michelle McCool and team mates, Brie Bella and Maria picked up a pin fall victory over Maryse, Natalya and Victoria in six Diva action.

Thoughts & Reactions
A few weeks ago when I said Natalya is being treated as the new Victoria, boy was I right. Despite all the hype surrounding her arrival and an initial push, Natalya has been pushed behind Maryse and Victoria behind Natalya. There was a time when during entrances, the heel Divas would come out to Natalya’s music and she’d be the centre Diva with Victoria and Maryse on either side of her – it’s evident that Maryse is now being pushed as the top Diva on SmackDown. As beautiful and talented as she may be, there is no stronger heel on among the SmackDown Divas – hell, there isn’t a stronger heel among any of the WWE Divas – than Natalya. Natalya excels at every part of the Diva package; she’s hot, has a great entrance, is comfortable on the microphone, oozes confidence and above all else – is an amazing wrestler. Natalya’s skills not only undermine most of the Divas, but most of the men too. I dare say, Natalya has been a more effective heel than Beth Phoenix in her short time in the company. It’s sad to see her being pushed aside, WWE doesn’t know what it’s missing.

After seeing Brie so impressive in the ring against Victoria, it was time to truly bring her into the ‘Diva fold’, by having her team up with Michelle and Maria. Not only did she team up with them, but scored the win for her team. Since Brie joined SmackDown, she seemed to fit like hand to glove and I am really enjoying the gimmick WWE is doing. It’s not very often the Divas get a gimmick or an actual storyline, so Brie is definitely one of the luckier Divas of the pack. Against Victoria, she had two great matches and I think it’s a definite admission to Victoria’s extraordinary in-ring ability because this week, against Maryse, Brie faltered. Both of these Divas are still learning and growing, so putting them in the ring together isn’t effective. The work between these two felt sloppy, whereas Brie seemed to work great with Victoria and performed a great monkey flip on Natalya. Perhaps Brie needs to be led in her matches?

Michelle and Natalya have great chemistry and I love seeing them in the ring together (minus that awful Great American Bash match), I liked their start to the match. Michelle seems really polished in the ring and has ring presence and to me, that’s what sets her apart and makes her the best wrestler to come out of the Diva Search. I think Erin pointed out something about how it looks odd when Michelle does the “big boot”, personally I love it. It’s such an un-Diva thing to do which is why it stands out to me, not to mention Michelle has the height to pull it off.

As for our Maria? She wanted to pull off a few complicated moves this week, but Maria has yet to work the basics. Maria really should concentrate on those first and not try to mask her lack of basic wrestling skills by pulling off flashy moves. It didn’t work for Kelly Kelly and it doesn’t work for Maria. Maria’s timing is slow, I felt like I was waiting ages for her to pull off an inside cradle on Natalya.

Here’s a thought: How about one of these days, when Brie and Nicole switch places, Nicole actually wrestles for a little bit before getting the win? I’d love to see Brie and Nicole switch mid-match, so Nicole can wrestle a bit too. Maybe they chose Brie to run the angle because she’s a better worker? We’ll see. I don’t know why Michelle’s music played at the end, it’s usually the person who got the pin fall whose music plays. Decent effort by all, I liked the match.

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Systematic Breakdown of Unforgiven

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The first ever Divas Championship match at Unforgiven – and the first ever Divas Championship title defence – is in the books. The All American Girl, Michelle McCool retained her title against the French-Canadian hottie who just happened to dress like Iron Man, Maryse. What’s the verdict? I’d say it was positive. In SmackDown’s second pay per view outing, the stars aligned for our Divas at Unforgiven, making up for the lack of time and excitement at Great American Bash when Michelle first won her title by defeating Natalya. This time around, the two Divas involved really worked it out, using their surroundings well to make a fun match up, plus they were afforded more time than the Divas are usually given on pay per view. The result was a good match from the SmackDown blondes – if a lot sloppy at times.

All in all, I think the work was strong, there was a lot of movement and a lot of story told in this match with Maryse going after Michelle’s leg and such. Neither Michelle or Maryse are at Mickie James or Beth Phoenix level so I definitely expected some sloppiness, but I think these two overcame the odds and by the time the final bell rang, they delivered a good match. The action was fast paced which I did not expect from these two, they both showed a lot of athleticism and I think it’s a true testament to how SmackDown has developed. Anyone who reads my Raw or SmackDown Redux, knows that I think it’s great when the Divas go on the outside and get a little rough and this was Raw calibre right here. Given they are not the most experienced Divas on the roster, I think it was great that they took the risk and Maryse throwing Michelle over the barricade and then Michelle clotheslining Maryse jumping off the barricade. I don’t think I’ve seen the Divas really do that, sure they brawl on the outside and stuff but this took it to the next level.

The second half of the match told more of a story, which I appreciated, with Maryse working on Michelle’s knee and her more on the offensive. We’re used to see Michelle dominating matches, so it was a nice change of pace and we got to see some great work from Maryse. I knew from the outset that Michelle would win, but I feel both Divas got some equal time to show off their moves and even though Maryse lost, she got to work it out. As I was talking about in the live blog last night, seems as though Michelle has changed her “Wings of Love” from an Awesome Kong “Implant Buster” to a simple front suplex, it doesn’t look as good or as effective.

It could have used a little more crowd injection, I don’t think they were into the match. I have a feeling because not as many people watch SmackDown as Raw, maybe the audience isn’t as familiar with the SmackDown Divas? Or maybe they just straight up don’t like what they saw? But in all, I enjoyed the match and the work from both Divas.

Watch the match & see the photos after the cut:

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Diva Dirt’s Unforgiven Tip Sheet

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Tonight at Unforgiven, Michelle McCool defends her Divas Championship for the very first time against Maryse. It’ll be a SmackDown affair to remember. Who’ll come out on top? We’ll be live blogging throughout the show tonight live, so join us at 7:45pm Eastern (12:45am UK) for that! But now read our predictions on tonight’s outcome: … Read more

SmackDown Redux – September 5, 2008

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This week on SmackDown: the #1 Contender for the Divas Championship, Maryse was on a high roll on her way to Unforgiven with a win over Maria. Following the match, Maryse and the champ herself, Michelle McCool had an almighty staredown at the top of the rampway. Next up, Brie Bella once again scored an impressive victory over Victoria… or did she?

Thoughts & Reactions
Did not see it coming. What am I referring to? The match between Maryse and Maria on SmackDown last night. Given the two Divas involved, I wasn’t expecting a match of this calibre – okay it wasn’t exactly Beth Phoenix vs Melina, but honestly, I thought Maryse and Maria delivered a very good match on Friday’s show. I didn’t have high hopes for this match, neither of these two Divas is that great in the ring, despite Maryse really improving – she is still not of the calibre of Michelle or Natalya but the two girls really carried this match well. As to be expected, there was some awkwardness but I honestly think both Divas gave a valiant effort and this match really exceeded my expectations.

I liked that, first of all, we got to see these two Divas who were less experienced than our veterans go on the outside and really make it work. It’s nice to see both Maria and Maryse willing to take bumps and take risks on the outside of the ring, it added a nice feel to the match too. Some of you think that I seem to hate Maria, but I don’t, she’s usually just not very good in the ring. Who knew that she’d really pull it out of the bag in a match with Maryse of all people? Her hurricanrana, in my estimation, was exactly spot on. Great work, honestly, I’ve seen the veteran Mickie James pull off some bad hurricanranas and she’s a four time Women’s Champion. This is the first time I’ve seen Maria do it and it was perfection. It looks like Maryse watched Brie Bella’s match last week and took some tips, she tried to make her moves look more interesting by finding fun ways to execute them. As for her DDT at the end, I love the way she executes it, that hair flip thing looks hot and her DDT is executed perfectly. Again to make a contrast, half the time Lita’s DDTs looked pretty sloppy but Maryse’s was nice and neat.

I loved the staredown between Michelle and Maryse and I’m genuinely excited for their match on pay per view tomorrow night, it could be pretty good. Then again I did say that about Michelle vs Natalya at the Great American Bash and that match was a letdown.

Oh I nearly forgot to mention that backstage promo between Maryse and Maria before the match. Lol, “You seem in the hurry”, says our Maryse. “You’re not going in the ring wearing this, don’t you?” Honestly, I’m not trying to make fun of Maryse, in fact, I find her little mess-ups to be really cute. Obviously, not having English as her first language is a barrier for Maryse, but I thought these little mistakes were really endearing and made me go “aww.” As for Maria’s promo skills, I have to say you wouldn’t be able to tell she’s a face. Now that she’s ditched the ditzy character, in her promos she comes across really bratty and bitchy.

Anyhoo, we got even more Divas action this week and after their great match last week, I really doubted if Brie and Victoria could pull off a match of the same calibre. I’m sad to report that it wasn’t as good last week but it was still good. Victoria controlled the match much more this week, so we didn’t really get to see Brie’s impressive moveset but I felt the match really built up Brie as the underdog rising star and I appreciated the work from both Divas. I noticed this week, the announcers are dropping hints to the switcheroo business as though we’re slowly but surely uncovering the truth that Brie is switching places with Nicole. JR’s commentary certainly insinuated so, I just want this to be a slow burner. I don’t want the reveal to happen too soon because I think there’s a lot of life in this storyline that could carry on for a good few months. Again in this match, we had less experienced newbie taking risks by jumping off the ring apron onto Victoria on the outside.

Honestly, both the matches this week were a great watch and miles ahead of the six Diva tag on Raw. These SmackDown girls are really working it out!

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Michelle vs. Maryse Announced for Unforgiven

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Just as we suspected, WWE.com has announced that Michelle McCool will be defending her Divas Championship against Maryse this Sunday at Unforgiven. This will mark her first title defense thus far: At Unforgiven, proud Divas Champion Michelle McCool will risk the gold she has tirelessly fought for against the cunning Maryse in a match of … Read more

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

SmackDown Redux – August 29, 2008

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This week: Maryse put herself forward as the top heel on SmackDown, as she and Natalya defeated Michelle McCool and Maria. The match ended in a big brawl between the Divas Champ and the French hottie. Meanwhile, Brie Bella made her debut beating Victoria… but there’s more to this story than just that.

Thoughts & Reactions
Okay, this week’s SmackDown Redux may read more like a rant so brace yourselves. As much as I’ve grown to love Maryse, how the hell did we go from Maria vs Maryse and Michelle vs Natalya to Maryse hijacking the Divas Championship title shot from Natalya?! I thought the tag team feud was about furthering Michelle/Natalya and Maryse’s supposed feud with Maria. Instead, we now have set up Maryse as the new title contender for Michelle McCool – and in the process, Maryse is now the top heel on SmackDown? This week’s episode really felt as though they were phasing out Natalya, who has been the biggest heel among the SmackDown Divas and pushing Maryse and this pisses me off. WWE has built up Natalya so strongly and in the course of two hours, they switch their game plan and now this division apparently hinges on Maryse who is a weaker wrestler and a weaker character than the thrid-generation Diva.

This week it seemed as though Natalya was being made to look like the new Victoria, in which case, what does that say about Victoria? Natalya was only on SmackDown to make up the odds for her team and to be the “hired muscle”, make no mistake, this match was all about putting over Maryse. I just don’t get it and after this match, I was left very frustrated and pissed off. Maryse has unfinished business with Maria and now she’s going after Michelle too?! Oh sure, let’s just give her two feuds. I don’t know what Natalya has done to piss off management or creative but after last night’s SmackDown, it seems that the third-generation Diva is on the outs. And I am not happy. The new direction seems to be Maryse as the new top heel. No offence to her, because I do like her work, she has improved so much and I’ve become a fan – but she is no Natalya. Maryse is fine as a secondary heel (sort of like the Melina to Beth Phoenix earlier this year), but I think it’s far too soon to break Maryse out as the top heel especially when you have someone as over and as capable as Natalya. NOT HAPPY.

As for the match, the work was good and I enjoyed both the match and the very impressive scuffle after the match. Michelle really went after Maryse after the match, did you see? I thought she was throwing some real stiff shots, it looked really real and looked so good on screen, so kudos to both Divas. To touch upon the segment that preceded the match, well let’s just say, Maryse spluttered her lines. Understandable for someone who’s first language is not English but if that’s the case, WWE shouldn’t be putting her in a position to cut promos.

As for the Brie-Victoria match, I already talked briefly about this yesterday but it doesn’t hurt to talk some more! Again, Brie was very impressive in her debut match. As I wrote yesterday, it seems that these inexperienced workers tend to try and pull off flashy moves (see Kelly Kelly) to compensate for their lack of knowledge. But Brie didn’t exactly go that route, her moves were pretty basic, she just found a new, innovative spin on them and that made her a lot of fun to watch. Like Melina, she is fun to watch in the ring and I thoroughly enjoyed her first effort. One match in and she is already a far superior worker to some of the girls who’ve been in the WWE and have been wrestling way longer than her such as Maria. I remind you, Brie has only been wrestling for one year down in FCW. We got a brief appearance from Brie’s sister Nicole after Brie went under the ring. You can spot the difference like so: During the match, Brie wore a belt. After “returning” from under the ring, no belt. Two very good matches, however the booking for the second was far better than the first.

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Hello, Kitty!

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The combination of bright yellow, orange skin, and platinum blonde hair usually makes me think of one of those cheap “boutiques” in the mall (or an Oompa Loompa), but as much as I want to hate this shoot, Maryse manages to pull it off. All of those factors, combined with a dress that hangs unflatteringly … Read more

SmackDown Redux – August 22, 2008

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This week on SmackDown: Natalya and Maria faced off in the opener of this week’s show. Maria got the win via DQ after being attacked by Natalyta and Maryse before Michelle McCool made the save.

Thoughts & Reactions
Upon reading this week’s spoilers, I felt an initial surprise – the result was something new and different. But in execution, I felt this week’s SmackDown was the same old, same old and not very good. This week, the real question was what could the experienced favourite Natalya pull out of the inexperienced and somewhat annoying Maria? Well the answer was, a little. While I’m never really impressed with Maria, this week was an improvement on the past few weeks proving what an uber-Diva Natalya is.

The third generation Diva continues to exert her unique prowess in the ring, bringing in-ring psychology into the mix while trying to stumble from one move to the next, carrying the Playboy covergirl. I liked the whole deal with Natalya going after Maria’s knee. This was a surprisingly long match – I’m used to quickies from the Divas, but the length really helped Natalya and Maria get their story across.

If Maryse is interfering, why would her entrance music play? I didn’t really like the end, I felt this could be a good match if they had a clean win. Instead we have the involvement of Maryse and Michelle and the end, as usual over the past month on SmackDown, felt unresolved. No storyline continuations, just matches with undefined endings. I mean where is this all going? Are we just going to have a random combination of matches every week? Can they not just announce a Maria vs Maryse match for next week or something? Can they not just give Natalya her rematch already? Why do we need to go around in circles every freakin’ week? The booking leaves a lot to be desired.

Overall, the match was okay but the end I wasn’t keen on.

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SmackDown Redux – August 15, 2008

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This week on SmackDown: Natalya and Maryse were victorious over Maria and Michelle McCool, with Natalya scoring the win once again.

Thoughts & Reactions

After last week’s Olympic fiasco, I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s SmackDown match and it really did accomplish a few things… some intentionally and some not. 1) Natalya is still the most dominant Diva on SmackDown and is still being booked strongly as Michelle’s challenger for the Divas Championship. 2) Maryse really came into her own this week, showing all the signs of a truly believable heel. 3) Michelle really displayed her in-ring skills this week, proving just why she is the Divas Champ. As for Maria, well I guess we have yet to solve that problem.

While Maria may be the weak link, the other three Divas really showed a lot of progression and I found myself enjoying this match thoroughly. Seriously, I never ever thought I’d ever like Maryse, but she has grown on me so much and she continues to prove what a fantastic asset she is to SmackDown. I never thought I’d say that, Maryse is slowly becoming a “one to watch” among the WWE Divas, she’s developed at an exponential rate and this week was so much fun to watch with her little heel-ish poses. Maryse is coming into her own, sure she has a long way to go but I am really impressed with our Frenchie so far!

Natalya, ever the trouper, carried this match despite Maria’s slowness and has really been booked strongly over the past couple of weeks. Last week, she rolled up Maria and this week Michelle, proving to us that WWE isn’t done with the Michelle-Natalya programme, but can they please hurry up and give us a rematch or some sort of singles development? I think they’ve been booking all this tag matches of late as a vehicle to get both Maria and Michelle on screen because God forbid we have two Diva segments. While Maria and Maryse seem to be developing a feud, I am still awaiting some sort of development from the Great American Bash – sure Natalya’s won a couple of matches, but there has been no storyline development between Michelle and Natalya.

Meanwhile, I was so impressed with Michelle last night. Michelle has her detractors, but I urge them to watch last night’s match – I know that they will try and fault her anyway, but Michelle really delivered the goods on SmackDown and was a lot of fun in the ring. From the moment she was tagged in, the whole pace of the match sped up and her and Natalya seemed to work really well together. Michelle was just on fire! A lot of great fast paced action between these two and even Maryse a lil bit. Despite a slow start (thanks to Maria) this was a decent match and I appreciated the work of Maryse, Michelle and Natalya.

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Maria & Maryse Show Their True Colors

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It’s time to play photoshoot catch-up. I missed yesterday’s bath of photos, so I’m condensing two posts into one. Here, we have two SmackDown Divas playing a bit of color theory – Maria‘s rocking the blue in her “Blue Beauty” photoshoot, and Maryse is surrounded by sunny yellow in “Ray of Light”. Both girls look … Read more

Paparazzo Makes Maryse Cry

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Rising SmackDown Diva, Maryse, may have been wowing the crowds in her mixed tag match that also featured Eve at WWE’s SummerFest this weekend – but after the event, our French-Canadian hottie got a grim taste of what it is to be a celebrity. Reports out of the event state that a paparazzo was seen … Read more

Olympics Fever Keeps on Spreading

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It’s Cherry and Maryse‘s turn to sport their “Summer Olympics” looks. Cherry looks like she would’ve been right at home back during WrestleMania when Melina, Eve, and others posed in their boxing best in preparation of the Mayweather/Big Show bout. She looks cute, even sans-gloves, but why so orange, Cherry? Don’t force me to make … Read more

Watch: Eve & Maryse at SummerFest

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Yesterday at WWE’s SummerFest, SmackDown Divas, Eve Torres and Maryse were on opposing teams when Eve teamed up with Jimmy Wang Yang and Maryse with Carlito. This was Eve’s first major wrestling appearance for WWE and although we didn’t see much of her, she seemed to fare well against Maryse. Check it out below:

SmackDown Redux – July 25, 2008

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I apologise for the belated SmackDown Redux, but this weekend just happened to be the most sweltering hot weekend we’ve had in the UK this year, needless to say I didn’t really feel like parking up at the computer much!

Last week on SmackDown: Michelle McCool made her first appearance as Divas Champion, defeating Maryse. Meanwhile, Maria is coming next week!

Thoughts & Reactions
So after all the hype and anticipation, we crowned the new Divas Champion – except, it was pretty much an afterthought on SmackDown. It seemed like business as usual for the women’s division, Michelle makes quick work of her opponent and that’s your lot. I was expecting way more fanfare than we received, I thought a crowning ceremony of some sort would be a nice touch but nope. In my brain I had concocted the whole scenario, Michelle has a crowning ceremony only to be interrupted by Natalya – setting up a rematch between the two. Instead, no sign of Natalya. An unspectacular start to Michelle’s run as Divas Champion.

Now, I may sound like I’m dissing – well I kinda am, but I’m also not: I really enjoyed the Divas match on SmackDown and felt these two worked really well together. Maryse, who was by all accounts, useless for the better part of two years has impressed many of us a lot in the past few months. She had a really good week, a gorgeous photoshoot coinciding with a good match-up even though she ultimately lost. What a difference a few months can make! Up until April, Maryse was catching checks for nothing and now, she’s actually proven to be quite the asset for the SmackDown roster. Michelle too, was great, it really shows her evolution as a wrestler as she’s now able to carry less experienced Divas through a match as opposed to being the one being led.

Back to the match, some good work and some sloppiness. Taking the action to the outside always gets some kudos points from me, it’s something we don’t really see with the Divas but have done quite a fair bit on SmackDown this year. Maryse throwing Michelle into the ring apron showed some aggressiveness on her part and that’s always a good thing. Things got a little sloppier for the finish however, was there supposed to be something spectacular about Michelle’s backflip – was she meant to elbow Maryse or something? It looked a little odd that both Divas were just standing there and then the roll into the heel hook felt uncomfortable.

Match Rating: PASS / FAIL
Comments: Ultimately, a fine match that we can overlook the sloppy spots.

Also on the broadcast, we found out that Maria is finally coming to SmackDown next week. I’ve read reports that WWE wants to make Maria’s debut a big deal and I think they’re going the right way about it. I like that they kept her debut until after the Divas Championship match at the Bash. How will they introduce Maria? It’ll be interesting! A few possible scenarios could be having her get involved with Victoria, like I have hoped for on the site for the past few weeks! Or they could even have Vickie introduce Maria as an opponent to punish Alicia Fox, that way we gain two wrestlers! I’m not sure how Maria will fit into SmackDown, because both Raw and SmackDown right now are really about Divas who can wrestle on a regular basis and put on good matches – that’s something we haven’t seen Maria do. Maria hasn’t really ever been in a regular wrestling role, so I think it will be a shellshock when she’s on the show with all the girls. Sure she’s a big name, but I take Maryse as an example – in three months she’s become a wrestler. It’ll be hard for WWE to push Maria as a wrestler but I hope they can do it. Maria adds some name value to the SmackDown women’s division and could definitely share the top Diva role with Michelle.

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Style Showdown: SmackDown Gets Dressed Up

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Welcome to Style Showdown, a new feature to cure weekends of slow news! In Style Showdown, we take two Diva rivals from the past or present and put them in a battle of a different kind – in a battle of “Who looks better!” Previously on Style Showdown: Great American Bash opponents Michelle and Natalya … Read more

SmackDown Redux – July 18, 2008

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This week on SmackDown: The Divas celebrated Vickie Guerrero‘s wedding by attempting to catch her bouquet. Michelle McCool attacked Natalya, Cherry caught the bouquet and was then beaten by both Natalya and Vickie herself.

Thoughts & Reactions
On paper, I was kinda looking forward to the Divas action on this week’s SmackDown. On screen, I was bitterly disappointed by how things played out. When I read the spoilers that Michelle attacked Natalya during Vickie’s bouquet throwing, I thought this could be a fun way of selling their match this Sunday at the Great American Bash – instead the spot felt uneasy to watch and rather lame. As all the Divas stood together on the outside of the ring, did Michelle not notice that Natalya was standing next to her the entire time until the camera was on her? It looked really stupid when Michelle was happy-go-lucky, waving to the crowd one minute and then the next, she turns and sees Natalya who has evidently been standing next to her through the length of the segment. This just came across as unrealistic and silly, not the way I would have these Divas leave things before their big night at the Bash.

Elsewhere, poor Cherry got to job twice in two minutes – three whole minutes less than the 5 minutes I first predicted in this week’s Diva Dirt Sheet. When I initially read the spoilers, it said something of the lines of “Natalya absolutely killed Cherry”, getting my hopes up for a competetive match in which Natalya really showed some of her great ring presence. Instead, Natalya’s beat down of Cherry consisted of a hair pull and hitting her with a bouquet of flowers before locking in the Sharpshooter. In all, the whole segment lasted less than 3 minutes and that was it – our fill of the Divas for the week. I was lenient on SmackDown last week for it’s shortened use of the Divas, but at least that match and it’s aftermath helped sell the Bash this Sunday. Honestly, I didn’t feel as though this was a segment to write home about and it certainly didn’t help push the first ever Divas Championship match!

Possibly the saving grace of this segment was the other Vicki – Victoria, a welcome return to SmackDown for the Vicious Vixen who displayed her large personality as always. I’m not ashamed to admit that I laughed at Victoria waving her arms around, gotta love this girl! And on another plus note, the Divas did look rather elegant in their gowns though I am not a fan of wrestling in dresses.

Despite being a hellish heel, Vickie Guerrero (as WWE has pointed out on SmackDown) has shown some streaks of brilliance with introducing the Divas Championship and towards the Divas, she’s always been very friendly as “mothersome.” This was a cool aspect to Vickie’s character because the rest of the time she’s a bitch we love to hate, Vickie really makes it seem like she loves and more importantly, respects the Divas on SmackDown and is “friends” with them, even though they may not be friends with each other. I don’t know about you, but I like this quality because it gives SmackDown’s women’s division some importance, some meaning because they can tie it into the GM. Of course, that was somewhat tainted on SmackDown when Vickie virtually pinned Cherry in a matter of seconds, but the interaction beforehand was pretty cool.

Fast forward to the final segment of SmackDown and gosh darnit, what many have speculated would happen, has happened. Edge made his move on wedding planner, Alicia Fox, though I have to say the video footage was really stiff and badly acted. Nonetheless, this gives Alicia some prominence and I cannot wait to see her folded into the mix as it were, in future weeks – hopefully she’ll be joining the women’s division very soon! Let’s not forget, Alicia’s not the only new Diva – I fully expect Maria to make her SmackDown debut next week, I’m glad they have held her off until after the Bash because it puts the spotlight on Michelle vs Natalya.

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