Last week, Pro Wrestling Illustrated released it’s second annual Female 50, a list of the ‘top’ women wrestlers of today. Similar to last year’s list, this year’s Female 50 was met with praise by some but criticism by most. The Female 50 is ranked by popularity, skill, and merit, yet there’s still a few girls on there that has us fans scratching our heads. Is Rosa Mendes really more skilled than say, Alicia Fox? Is Madison Rayne more popular than Natalya? Is Mickie James really the ‘Queen of the Hill’?
As Stew Allen accurately points out on the Women of Wrestling Podcast, “Women’s wrestling is a niche within a niche.” While this is true, I have noticed that women’s wrestling fans tend to be a lot more outspoken and hard to please than your run-of-the-mill wrestling fan. That being the case, how can you put together a list such as this one and still please everyone?
In order to expose and possibly repair the flaws in the Female 50, we really need to look at the actual structure of said list. According to Dan Murphy, one of the men behind this year’s list, several factors went into compiling the 50 names that made the list: “Work rate, promotional push, talent, marketability and other criteria.” Murphy also notes that the list received input from some ‘respected women in the industry’.
One of these women that he’s referring to is Missy Hyatt. Not to take anything away from Missy, but she wasn’t really a wrestler, was she? Maybe someone with more of a hand in the wrestling aspect of the industry would have been a better choice to give feedback on the list. Women like Jazz, Jacqueline and Molly Holly are seasoned veterans, who have a firm grasp of all aspects of the industry and are, quite frankly altogether more credible than Missy Hyatt. I really think that someone of their experience could have helped PWI trim some of the fat off of that list and add some substance.
Add Divas Champion, Mickie James to the injured list along with Kelly Kelly. Rumours had been circulating that Mickie had ruptured one of her implants last weekend, this has now been confirmed by PWInsider. They report she is due to have them fixed soon. Though not a serious ‘injury’ per se, both the Divas and … Read more
Check your local weather forecast for flying pigs, folks! We’ve seen the occasional ‘two Divas matches in one night’ on SmackDown, more common we see two Knockouts matches on any given episode of Impact but Raw? Raw?! Following last week’s Vince birthday debacle, this week it was the Divas Champion’s birthday. I wonder what she wished for… Better yet, neither match was a three minute wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am affair either! Cloudy with a chance of Divas.
First up was a six Diva battle royal to determine who faced the birthday girl, Mickie James, later on in the night. Rather than the standard clusterf*ck we usually see, they did a good job of getting the dead weight out of the ring early and letting the ‘wrestler girls’ do what they do best.
First, the entrance — so the Divas finally get their own entrances for one of these battle royals and Gail Kim decides: “Oh no, not me… I want to be ~suppressed~ by this turgid Diva lifestyle. I have been taken away from my beloved Knockouts and have to work here just for the money. But I shan’t enjoy it! Woe is me.” So what does a girl do? She hijacks Kelly Kelly‘s entrance. It definitely looked like a miscue to me, I guess she accidentally walked out and realised she made a mistake because Kelly didn’t even see her behind her, Gail had to tap her on the shoulder. And you’ll even notice a pause from announcer, Lilian Garcia, possibly because she was surprised to see Gail come out with Kelly. “Introducing first…” Pause. “Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim.” Also interesting to note that Beth Phoenix, arguably the top heel on Raw came out second while Alicia Fox came out last. The last spot is usually reserved for the top Divas/Superstars. Maybe Gail was supposed to come out after Alicia?
Anyway that over with, let’s skip to the match: We kick off with three different matches going on at once, Beth-Kelly, Gail-Rosa, Alicia-Jillian. Kind of hard to keep track of all of this. I noticed Rosa attempting to hit some awful looking slaps Gail’s way, before being pushed into the Glamazon. Despite being her former protege, Beth is having none of that — and Rosa & her weave go flying over the top rope. After this, we see some work between Gail and Beth which is always an enticing prospect, while Kelly hits a few forearms to Jillian and Alicia. Ms Fierce kicks Kelly in the stomach and delivers a really nice ace kick, delivered much better than the one on Mickie last week. Unfortunately our girl Foxy isn’t long for this match as she’s next eliminated by Gail Kim. She’s followed by Kelly, who’s dropped out of the ring by Beth who picks her up almost as if she’s cradling a baby. In the ring, Gail and Jillian ‘hit it off’, you could say, with Jillian launching Gail into the turnbuckle, Gail moves out of the way and Jillian eats ring post. Beth attacks next, but Gail manages to fight back and has Beth against the ropes, she falls out of the ring but manages to hold on thankfully for her. Beth teeters off the apron, I like this, it reminds me of those Royal Rumble matches when people are trying to eliminate the Big Show for example and the ‘big man’ kinda teases he’s about to fall. I guess Beth is our Diva equivalent of that.
Now it’s time for what I felt was some good work between Gail Kim and veteran, Jillian. They do a little exchange, which Gail gets the best of, tossing Jillian out of the ring but again — she hangs on this time. Gail tries to finish the job, but gets tossed out herself by Jillian before sliding back in through Jilly’s legs and almost going for a rollup, err… Anyway then she misses another crossbody but good news folks! She doesn’t knock herself loopy this time. Risky move going for it in the first place though, Gail. Jillian goes for a handspring elbow but meets Gail’s knees, Jillian stumbles to the canvas and crawls around like a retarded cat. Jillian grabs hold of Gail trying to throw her over the top rope, but Gail fights back, leading into a really awkward, awful looking hurricanrana that turned into a butt bump. I don’t even…
Did Michael Cole really just call Gail ‘dead weight’? Jillian tosses Gail over the top but in HBK-esque fashion, Gail skins the cat as they say [I don’t know why]. Another amazing observation from the amazing Michael Cole: “Jillian surprised that Gail’s still alive.” That is just… wow. Gail uses her legs to hit a legscissors on Jillian who falls out of the ring… finally! Unfortunately for Gail, Beth is still in this thing and with a stiff kick, eliminates Gail and takes the win!
Good battle royal, I felt. I enjoyed the work between Jillian and Gail minus a few glaring awkward moments.
A contact in the ‘E has been reading your comments and in an e-mail last night, insisted that Mickie James‘ loss on Monday night was not seen as a punishment for last week. They continue that the Divas Champ didn’t see it as such either. This all stems from Mickie’s surprise loss to Alicia Fox … Read more
We’re again bringing you a special edition of Unwrapped, where we cover multi-Diva shoots in a miniaturized version of our regular “unwrappings”, focusing on the looks and ensembles our Divas have put together. This time, we’re taking a look at the “Raw Boxing” photoshoot, where the Divas who took part in Raw’s boxing-themed tag team match show off their Everlast gear. Click here to see the full photoshoot.
Alicia Fox Grade: Sweet. I can’t help but think of two things when I see Alicia’s gear: Captain America and the Harlem Globetrotters. Both are a good thing–they’re iconic! The stars and stripes are cute and kitschy enough to catch your eye, but not in a ultra-girly and cheesy way. She kind of looks like she’s set to fight in that old “Mike Tyson Punch-Out!” video game.
Beth Phoenix Grade: Sweet. OMG, Beth actually gets to take part in a themed match! Beth doesn’t disappoint, either, actually adhering to the theme and looking more like an actual boxer than any of the other Divas. The gold and red Everlast gear looks sexy, not sleazy, and it doesn’t look like a Halloween costume gone wrong like one I have a feeling I’ll be seeing on a particular Diva still to come..
Gail Kim Grade: Sweet. It’s pretty simple, but the little silver shorts are cute. She also uses pink, but not overwhelmingly like she needed to reinforce the fact that she’s a woman. “I gotta say, though, the “Boxer Girl” on her top looks like it says “Boner Girl” on first glance. Good thing or bad thing? Judge for yourselves.. :P
Follow the cut to see the rest of the Divas in the photoshoot.
What do you buy a man who has it all? Nothing. You just let him hog Raw for most of the show. On a night where everything else played second fiddle to Vince McMahon’s birthday celebrations, there wasn’t much in the way of anything groundbreaking or storyling progression. In fact, judging by the pinfall last … Read more
– “Mayweather Melee,” say that three times real fast. – Kelly ‘Kendra Wilkinson’ Kelly seems right at home in sports gear. – At least this time she has an excuse for wearing sneakers in a match. – Beth Phoenix’s pigtails… bless. – Is it just me or does Mickie James look hotter in boxing gear … Read more
We’re bringing you a special edition of Unwrapped, covering the recent multi-Diva shoot, titled “City of Angels”. I won’t be judging them too closely, as there’s only about 2 photos per Diva, so I’ll just focus on their looks. Click here to see the full photoshoot.
Alicia Fox Grade: Sweet. I know some people don’t like rompers, but I happen to love them if they’re done right. And in this case, Alicia does do it right. The colors and stripes are cute, and her hair looks great. Maybe in less flattering poses the loose-fitting romper would look more like a potato sack, but from what I can see, I dig it.
Brie & Nikki Bella Grade: Bland. I’m not one to bound these two together as a package deal, but they’re wearing the same thing, so there ya go. I think it’s pretty cheesy to wear the EXACT.SAME.THING., but I guess that’s the WWE’s doing. In keeping with that, I guess they go for a more boring look, figuring that if you see it twice, it’ll look more interesting. Nope, not this time. They don’t look bad, but I’m not really a fan of the “Price is Right” mentality in dressing.
Gail Kim Grade: Sweet. It’s tough to go wrong with a little black dress, and Gail wears it well, spicing it up with a wide belt and some cute pigtails. It’s pretty simple, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
Follow the cut to see the rest of the Divas in the photoshoot.
As part of the big SummerSlam promotion, the WWE Divas got the spotlight on MSN.com with Michelle McCool, Mickie James and Gail Kim dishing on aspects of their career. Plus there’s even HQ promo pictures of most of the Divas [sorry Bella fans]! Let’s start with perhaps the most interesting news, our readers have long … Read more
In order to consolidate our Eye Candy coverage, we’ve developed a brand new feature: Unwrapped! We’ll take all the new photoshoots from the week and grade (or “brand”) each based on the following criteria:
• Appearance(hair, clothes, makeup.. you get the drift)
• Poses(are they versatile or just glorified statues?)
• Uniqueness(have we seen this photoshoot a billion times before?) Grading scale: Sweet (Great)/Bland (Iffy)/Sour (Awful)
Gail Kim‘s Full Force Gail Appearance: Gail’s wearing what looks like knee-high boots and a loose-fitting striped dress. I love stripes, so the dress is right up my alley. It’s rather simple and just hangs there, but on Gail’s tiny frame, it’s enough so that she doesn’t need to spice it up with anything else. In a few of the photos, she’s made cute makeshift pigtails in her hair, and in the rest just lets it hang loose. This is the definition of a simple look–a dress that catches your eye but doesn’t overwhelm, light makeup, relaxed hair, and no jewelry. Poses: I really like the look, but the poses kind of let me down. They’re uninspired and lack that extra something to give this shoot some excitement. Show some personality, Gail! You’re not posing for a JC Penny catalog. Uniqueness: Gail keeps it simple in a way few Divas do, and I like it. But aside from that, the shoot doesn’t really “pop”. Grade: Bland. As much as I like the look, the poses drag the shoot down and make it much more dull than it should be. If she showed a bit more personality and excitement, this shoot would definitely be a sweet one.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Follow the cut to see the rest of this week’s photoshoots.
Peep even more pictures from Friday night’s SummerSlam Kick Off event in LA, featuring more closeup looks of Melina, Mickie James and Tiffany as well as some of the other girls. So I have decided that Mickie looks gorgeous, I’m actually taken aback that she is probably the best looking Diva of the night. Meanwhile, … Read more
Our favourites Divas from all three brands were present on the red carpet last night in LA for the SummerSlam Kick Off Party. The Divas and WWE Superstars rubbed shoulders with D-List celebs like Mini-Me and that girl who never gets to sing from the Pussycat Dolls. For the most part it seems the Divas … Read more
On the same day as our 50 Sexiest Divas reveal, Pro Wrestling Illustrated has revealed the woman who ranks #1 on it’s second annual PWI Female 50. That honour goes to current reigning Divas Champion, Mickie James dethroning last year’s #1, Awesome Kong. The Female 50 is an equivalent to the celebrated PWI 500 which … Read more
The first two Divas to appear in this year’s edition of WWE’s flagship Smackdown vs Raw series has been revealed. Current and former Divas Champions, Mickie James and Maryse were revealed today to be in the game. The appearance marks Maryse’s first in a WWE video game. It is expected that the Divas Championship will … Read more
We’ve already mentioned that the Divas were supposed to be on the SummerSlam card for this Sunday. Now we know which matches were going to be booked. There was, if you’ll believe it, actually meant to be two Divas matches on the card and both were scrapped. SmackDown’s Melina vs Michelle McCool was originally booked … Read more
Rumours around the ‘net are coming in thick and fast, with one suggesting that Mickie James was chewed out last night at Raw for reacting unprofessionally following her match last night — an obvious reference to the sour look on the Divas Champ’s face. But that’s not all, apparently the higher-ups were not too happy … Read more
A much anticipated match ended with a death stare. Caused riot on the Internet. And possibly had the worst botched finish for any match featuring women of this caliber. Rivalling the horrible finish to the Mickie James-Trish Stratus match at WrestleMania 22, they can’t just edit this one off the DVD and act like it never happened, because there won’t be a DVD. And try as they already have to eliminate the evidence [click here], we all know what went down last night and there is no way to spin it — the ending was horrible. Watch what will soon become ‘the infamous’ Gail Kim vs Mickie James match below:
Honestly, as some may expect me to do, I don’t want to blame anyone for what happened. Yes, the finish was awful but I actually enjoyed the match until that point. In fact, I told Erin right after it happened: “Just watch, after that finish no one will remember the match or talk about the match, it’ll be all about the finish.” And lo-and-behold, I do believe I was right. The whole match, I feel, is getting painted with the same brush stroke as the finish. Whether you enjoyed the match is down to your own personal opinion but I was liking where it was going.
I don’t want to scrutinize either Diva or suggest it was either of their fault. The finish was horrible but it was a freak accident & shouldn’t be a reflection on either of their in-ring ability. It definitely looked as though Gail hit her head and was out of it following the crossbody and as one can expect, was in no fit state to continue the match. She was out of it. For that, I applaud her for finishing the match and I applaud Mickie for attempting to improvise the finish.
So because I like to indulge myself in time-wasting, I thought I would do another round of random observations from last night’s Raw: – Did we transport to WrestleMania 22? – And if we did, they can’t edit that out on the DVD because there won’t be one! – But they did try and edit … Read more
Divas Champion, Mickie James has given a fantastic interview with NZPWI, talking indepth about the current Divas roster as well as her classic feud with Trish and much more. Highlights below:
When asked about the current focus on actual wrestling matches amongst the Divas, it seems as though Mickie shares much of the same opinion as we fans as well as other women in the industry today:
I think that it’s like… huh… the thing is, the worst thing in the world is to watch bad wrestling. You know? So they can be the most beautiful women in the world, but if they can’t wrestle then it means nothing. They go out there, and it’s just like… ugh. Like, it’ll turn the biggest wrestling fan away, it’ll make them change the channel. So it’s important, I think… that’s why we’ve really worked hard with the girls to be the best that they can be. You don’t have to be the best in the world, just be the best that you can be. And everybody’s stepped up their game, and everybody’s working hard and everybody’s continuously trying to get better and better. Until, you know… and that’s important, because if you truly love what you do, you would want to be the best that you can be. And I think that’s important, and I think that’s what we’re really looking for now, it’s not just the pretty face. Like, those are a dime a dozen. We can have a million pretty faces but if you don’t have a genuine love and a genuine passion for what you do, then it shows, it shines through, and the people see it, it shines through on camera, it shines through in your work and everything, so I think that that’s what’s changing. People that have come in, now, like you always know the people that truly love what they do, and people that are just there… because. I think that even the casual fan can see that on TV. And that’s what we’re trying to really get rid of, because everybody goes out there and they work and they pour their heart and soul, and there’s nothing worse than someone that doesn’t care.
I thought this was a really interesting quote from arguably the top Diva in WWE right now. Considering that in just the last week we’ve heard the same thing from JR & off the record, one of the ex-Divas we speak to regularly, echoed both of their sentiments. Steven also argued similar points in yesterday’s Saturday Supplement. I think it goes to show that the feeling is unanimous amongst the girls themselves, people in the industry like JR and the fans. It’s time that WWE looked beyond pretty faces and put more effort into highlighting their talents. To be utterly fair to them, right now we have Gail Kim and Melina making good progress on their respective shows. Let’s keep it up!
You can read the whole interview or even listen to the audio of it, by clicking here.
The Divas got the main event last night… though calm down, it’s not that auspicious because the show was WWE Superstars. Plus they had to share it with the men, so even less auspicious. All in all, Divas Champion Mickie James and Rosa Mendes came off as an afterthought [now there’s a shock] to their male counterparts.
Regardez:
That Rosa Mendes, quite the hellion, isn’t she? Girl, if you don’t have the moves to back yourself up, please don’t step to the Divas Champion. But she did! There was a nice exchange to kick off the match, with Carlito and Kofi Kingston pulling apart the two Divas. And as you can see in the image above, Rosa shoots a scowl that would make a serpent blush.
Officiating this match, you may have noticed, is the same referee that does all the Divas matches [including this week’s Raw and SmackDown]. He really should just get a t-shirt that reads “Official Diva Mascot.”
Anyhoo, after some wrestling between Carlito & Kofi that I skipped through, we get a tag from Carlito to Rosa which means Mickie has to come in too. The Divas Champ wastes no time, throwing Rosa over the top rope, the rookie lands awkwardly. Mickie gets things off to a good start, with a clothesline then a double forearm on Mendes. The Latina however fights back with a knee to the gut, Mickie hits a baseball slide and snapmares Rosa. A nice front dropkick by Mickie.
Rosa gets to her feet and hits an awkward looking elbow to Mickie’s face, followed by a double axehandle and a shimmy. Yes, a shimmy.
A few exchanges between the two as Rosa has Mickie on the canvas and locks in a headlock. Mickie begins to mount fan support and counters the sleeper. Rosa throws Mickie into the corner, Mickie uses her leg to stop herself from eating turnbuckle, turns back and we have a head-on collision. Rosa quickly tags out to Carlito and that’s pretty much your lot, save for the standard catfight near the end.
So what have we learnt from this week’s show? Not a lot. Not too much Divas action in there so I left feeling a little ‘eh’. Not to mention the prospect of Rosa vs Mickie isn’t all too exciting, let’s be honest. Rosa still needs to work on her timing & her selling, she tends to land awkwardly and I fear one day she may hurt herself.
If you’re feeling as underwhelmed as I, there’s a fun yet random Melanie observation after the cut:
It’s the old age tale of the WWE women’s division — ‘creative amnesia’. You know, that thing where they do something and then don’t follow it up the next week & go in a whole new direction and expect us to forget everything we saw the week before? Or if we’re lucky, they’ll expect us … Read more
Diva Dirt reader, @OohOui on Twitter attended the Raw house show last night in White Plains, NY and passed along the following live videos of the Divas match. It was the team of Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly and Mickie James in a winning effort against Alicia Fox, Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendes.
I’m sure you’ve all heard of your ‘five a day’, but Diva Dirt is here to provide you with your ‘five a week’ in our Weekly 5. Join us every Sunday as we take a look back at the week gone by and highlight our top 5 moments of the week.
RAW IS GAIL?
There has been a lot of talk this week about a Gail Kim heel turn and as a Diva Dirt favourite, we are extremely excited about the possibility in the coming weeks on Raw. It looks as though Maryse’s loss [to injury] could be Gail’s gain; as WWE teased tension between Gail and new Divas Champion, Mickie James on Raw.
It’s a staple of tabloid magazines: hard hitting, investigative & highly entertaining! Best & Worst Dressed lists can make or break careers in Hollywood and for a site with ‘Dirt’ in the title, it’s only fitting we take this time tested feature & apply it to our Divas! Each week we’ll bring you the best and worst looks from the week gone by, it’s pretty simple right?
Key: School-like grading scheme
It wasn’t a great week for Diva/Knockout fashion this past week. So I guess I’m clutching at straws with my ‘Best’ picks for the week, but congrats to Melina, Gail Kim and Michelle McCool anyway.
Big pay per view match usually means new attire for our Divas, as we saw at Night of Champions when Melina wore what I think was a new variation of her usual ring-wear. The maroon coloured tights are a nice addition to her wardrobe which ranges the rainbow already. C
As for Raw Diva, Gail Kim, her usual off-the-shoulder tops and shorts were back this week in silver. Again not out of the norm for G-Kim but I liked it in silver. C
Last but finally not least is Michelle McCool, who busted out a new colour much like Melina for their PPV match. Michelle is one of those girls that not every colour suits, so the colour choice could have gone wrong here… but thankfully, it didn’t. I would go as far as to say this is probably Michelle’s most flattering variation yet, green seems to suit her exquisitely. B-
Mickie James in “Golden Girl” Diva Dirt’s dishing up your regular serving of Eye Candy! View the photoshoot we’ve “hung” on our wall, read our critique, vote, and last but not least – sound off in the comments. The Look: Mickie’s hiding behind what looks like a locker, so we don’t really get a good … Read more
Last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw saw a changing of the guard, as Mickie James made her first appearance as the new Divas Champion. Also factor in that the former Divas Champ, Maryse is now on the injured list and you have a fresh new outlook for the Raw Divas division. In just 5 … Read more
