This week’s SmackDown saw the continuation of the ‘Glamazon Squash Tour’, with Beth Phoenix facing New Jersey local, Brittany Carter. Meanwhile, Layla and Michelle McCool developed a fun new gimmick of sorts, which I liken to the evil stepsisters from Cinderella. Does that make Mickie James, Cinderella? If so, despite scare tactics from McCool & Layla, Mickie shall go to the ball that is Survivor Series in three weeks time. We learned that we’re going to see a good old fashioned elimination match on November 21st with McCool and James as team captains of opposing teams.
Let’s check out all the action, beginning with Beth:
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So one week after decimating Jenny Brooks, Beth gets a new toy to play with and from the outset, it’s surely obvious that this one will go the same way as last week’s bout, right? Beth’s opponent is a slighty over-tanned Brittany Carter aka WSU’s Brooke Carter aka Brittney Savage.
The Glamazon gets physical from the outset, hoisting the smaller visitor over her shoulder and driving her into the corner. Welcome to the big leagues! Just in case that wasn’t enough, Beth repeats the same move in the opposing corner and Brittany may wanna stop by the gynae to check her womb is still intact. Beth applies what looks like a Von Erich-esque claw [much more effectively than Lacey, I might add] before backing up at the referee’s request. Beth then hits a a running butt-bump a la former WWE Superstar, Umaga. Hey Brittany, may wanna add a plastic surgeon to that ‘medical to-do list’ for your nose.
Before Carter can get to her feet, she is picked up by Phoenix who then slams her over her knee, not once but twice. The Glamazon then grabs Carter by her hair, seemingly dragging the poor girl around the ring by her roots — no ‘weavedrobe malfunctions’ here unlike TNA. Beth picks up Brittany over her shoulder in a dominator position and spins her around before wrenching her and then dropping her to the canvas like litter. Carter drops face first, adding further insult to that nose.
Phoenix wraps up her tour date this week by picking up Brittany for a Glam Slam, which much like last week is elongated with Beth coming across like a fierce lionness flaunting her prey as she lets the whole audience get a look-see. And again like last week, she takes a moment to compose herself before pinning her opponent.
Following the same simple formula as last week, Beth is made to look strong in a one-sided affair. The danger with this is that I am almost 90% certain Diva fans will begin complaining already about it being predictable. I dare say, some have a shorter attention span than the average fan. WWE, for that reason, perhaps needs to be careful about how much longer they follow this formula before giving Beth a more suitable opponent, i.e. Layla before working up to Michelle McCool and/or Mickie James. The purpose of these squash matches is to re-establish Beth and they are a doing a good job so far of having her come across as a big bad take-no-nonsense heel. The general idea of these squash matches with Superstars like Sheamus and Umaga before him, is to create hype around a Superstar and make them look menacing and make the fans care about that character in that sense. Given that the average fan cares little about the Divas roster, it surprises me then that that same effort is going into Beth; I hope it pays off and the fans begin showing some sort of reaction towards her i.e. deafening boos.
Anyway, follow the cut for the backstage segment:
Backstage, a rather dapper looking Mickie James [minus the Pat Butcher earrings] runs into Layla and Michelle McCool with Layla channeling her inner-Jillian and bursting into song. Loves it! Michelle & Layla then begin cornering Mickie with Michelle carrying the conversation and Layla just passing snide comments. I thought this was a pretty funny segment with Layla & McCool getting their acting on the same page and delivering a fun performance; as I wrote earlier it seemed like the two evil stepsisters from Cinderella and in this case, that is a compliment. Layla did a great job and it wasn’t just Jillian’s singing she was channeling, but her whacky comedy too. I hope we get to see more of Layla & Michelle doing this sort of stuff, she looked like an equal to Michelle as opposed to a subordinate of, that ‘henchmen’ shtick has been done to death and this was different I guess.
