Maryse

This week on SmackDown: The Divas once again battled it out in a “Golden Dreams Match” to determine Natalya’s opponent for the Divas Championship, which was ultimately won by Michelle McCool. Meanwhile, Vickie Guerrero gave an showstopping performance with Edge.

Thoughts & Reactions
In a July the Fourth episode of SmackDown, the metaphorical fireworks were let off! Finally we got some development in the Divas Championship saga after the title was jilted from the Night of Champions card, Michelle McCool won a second “Golden Dreams Match” to face Natalya for the title in future. And in all honesty, were you actually expecting anyone other than Michelle to win this one? So now what we have all assumed over the past few weeks will become a reality – Michelle vs Natalya for the gold, I can’t wait! But as for last night’s deciding match, I felt this was very well put together and much better than the first “Golden Dreams” which was won by Natalya last month. This match seemed to be more choreographed with all the individuals involved given some time to shine, I guess the fact there were fewer Divas in this match helped. The match was far more memorable and worked really well on the whole.

It’s interesting to note that Michelle, while she won the match, was more or less being thrown out of the ring for the majority of the match. The real in-ring work was done by the likes of Maryse and Kelly Kelly, Michelle seemed to take more of a backseat – which was kinda cool. I guess because we all pretty much knew Michelle would win, they created a twist by having her not as dominant and letting the other Divas do the spots where they climb the pole and stuff. More interesting was all the face-on-face action, I believe Michelle knocked her best friend, Cherry off the ring apron and later was seen with Kelly on the outside. Again, this creates a cool feeling and shows how much these Divas want that title!

My favourite spot of the match, somewhat harkens back to Kelly Kelly’s insane bump a few weeks back – when Victoria hit the ring apron mouth first. It looked pretty real and was an “ouch moment” in itself. I couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction afterwards with the “Oh my God.” Victoria’s BFF, Natalya was on commentary for this bout sporting her hot new auburn hair colour. Natalya seemed a little on edge however, a little nervous but seemed to carry herself sufficiently enough. I think there is a danger of Natalya sounding too personable on commentary and also in her blogs at WWE Fan Nation, as she is meant to be a heel. I personally don’t mind it, I think she comes across a genuinely nice person through her blogs but there is a character to uphold.

We don’t usually cover Vickie in the Redux, but this week I felt as though Vickie gave a pretty powerful performance on SmackDown. Not that i’m calling for her to win an Oscar or anything, but her backstage segments with Edge she really came across believable and there was an intensity in her acting. However the final scene with her screaming the building down? Not so much.

PS, Maria will be coming soon to SmackDown. I think I said everything there is to say in an earlier post, but anyway I think they should run these commercials for a week or so longer and then have her debut.

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This week on SmackDown: A blockbuster six Diva tag team match saw Cherry, Kelly Kelly and Michelle McCool face off against Maryse, Natalya and Victoria.

Thoughts & Reactions
This week’s Friday Night SmackDown left me in no doubt that the blue brand is slowly edging in on Raw to co-hold the title as WWE’s top show. And SmackDown’s women’s division possibly had it’s best outing yet last night, in what I think was the single most polished match that the growing division has showcased since it’s inception. I thoroughly enjoyed this match and the work was simply superb, all these Divas worked so cohesively and all the Divas got time to shine. What a fitting match for a night that marked a new era for SmackDown; WWE really went all out during this year’s Draft to establish SmackDown as a top brand to co-headline with Raw. Finally, they have realised that they can’t afford to hold SmackDown down in favour of Raw, finally they realise that both shows need to make bank in order to succeed. Last night, I thought the six Diva tag match was a seminal match for the show and division going forward.

I really don’t have anything bad to say about this match, there wasn’t any obvious botching, all the Divas worked hard and made this a fun, competetive match. On Raw, we’re so used to seeing one Diva be dominant in the ring during tag matches but in this match, all the Divas got ring-time and it really put over all the Divas and that’s a great thing. Natalya and Michelle really went at it and just whet my appetite even more for a singles match, Natalya is so impressive in the ring and I loved her submission hold on Michelle. WWE has really held out on this singles match, I hope they deliver big time when it finally goes down – either have it as a main event of SmackDown or on pay per view.

The other Divas were great too, major props to Kelly Kelly, I was really impressed with her on SmackDown. She showed such confidence in the ring, more than she has ever shown before and really pulled out of the bag, some great moves. In her previous matches with Victoria, the Vicious Vixen had pretty much carried her through the match; however their portion in this match, Kelly was doing a lot more of the work. She really has come a long way! “Cherry Cherry” (haha) and Maryse were fine too, though they didn’t wrestle as much as the others. Victoria, as always, was a consummate professional.

Since JR was drafted to SmackDown, I have been looking forward all week to hearing he and Mick Foley call a Divas match for SmackDown and they didn’t disappoint. I cannot wait for JR to call the eventual moment when the first ever Divas Champion is crowned. That will really make history.

All in all, this was one of the best matches SmackDown has put on in recent months and that’s a bold statement because they really have been on fine form. How will Maria factor into the division when she makes her debut (I’m assuming) next week? It’ll be interesting to see how she fits in, I would love to see a feud with her and Victoria to start out with.

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