Natalya

This week on SmackDown: Maria scored an opportunity of a lifetime in a ‘Las Vegas Pole Match’, she will now face Michelle McCool for the Divas Championship.

Thoughts & Reactions
This week’s SmackDown was a real mixed bag. Here’s the thing: I thought the work from the Divas themselves was just fine, the match in terms of ring work was good but a pole match? Really? Raw has it’s battle royals and I guess SmackDown has now adopted the pole match? It was fine when they did it the first time but three times in one year – I hope this was the last one for the remainder of 2008.

Because of the pole situation, the Divas are restricted in what they can do and the match is always formulaic. We always have girls on the outside, two Divas battling it out on the turnbuckle and such. There’s no real focus on the action. The spotlight in this match was firmly on Maryse, even though she lost the match, I don’t think we’ve seen her dropped from the title picture. Even though the focus seemed to be on Maryse and Maria, I was more focussed on following Natalya and Victoria who were really going at it. Is all not well between the BFFs? There wasn’t even any focus on this from JR, which I found slightly odd, as they are supposed to be best friends but they’re going at it. I doubt WWE will pick up on this, but it could be interesting if WWE broke them up. Maybe it’d be the push Natalya needed to be a title contender? Get away from the goofy character Victoria has become? Maria took a pretty sick bump when Maryse pulled her right off the turnbuckle, kudos to her. I really loved that spot, it seems nearly every week now we’re getting these Divas taking real risks and making the action that much more intense. I love that we have Divas who aren’t the best wrestlers as willing to take risks as the likes of Victoria. Brie Bella also took a hit, going into the ring post. Two very good spots that made this match a little more memorable.

The backstage segment with Michelle and Maria was nicely done if a little odd. Obviously they cut out some stuff, because in the spoilers we had Michelle talking about how she’s a competitor. It seems they cut that – maybe because it did come across as heel-ish as I suspected. Instead, they went the route where Michelle respects Maria. But then here’s where it gets really interesting: That cheek pinch? It came across as slightly bitchy and slightly heel-ish. I do hope it amounts to nothing because if you ask me, Michelle is the top face Diva of SmackDown and fills the role really well. I don’t want her to turn heel. As for Michelle’s promo skills lol, stiff as a board. She may have improved in the ring, but her line delivery (as some have pointed out) was almost robotic. Her accent isn’t the most appealing either.

As for the earlier segment with Maryse and Vickie, I have always said it’s kind of endearing when Maryse messes up when speaking English. I find it cute.

So Maria scores a title shot, so where do we go from here? Everyone thought Maryse had this one down. I think the Maria vs Michelle match will end up taking place next week with Maryse interfering and costing Maria the match, continuing her feud with Michelle. This could end up being a triple threat situation or just a forum for Maryse to upstage Michelle again. We’ll see next week!

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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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