Hello everybody and welcome to a delayed Raw Redux (blame Santa!). It’s me, Jack, here covering for Cryssi this week and if like me, you hadn’t caught up on the WWE’s festive activities, then now is your chance! Monday Night Raw delivered some nice little Diva stocking fillers this week; we got an eight Diva Santa’s Little Helper tag match pitting Alicia Fox, Kaitlyn, Layla and Natalya against Aksana, Divas Champion Eve Torres, Rosa Mendes and Tamina Snuka, and a brigade of backstage segments featuring AJ Lee and her new boy-toy, Dolph Ziggler. I promise there’ll not be a turkey in sight, so without further ado, allow me to deliver the presents!
In case you haven’t had enough of Divas dressing up in holiday costumes after WWE TLC, up first this week is the eight Diva Santa’s Little Helper tag team match. With Eve losing out to Kaitlyn just last week, will lightning strike twice or will the Divas Champ break some hearts? Let’s have a look!
We first see the entrance of our nice Divas as the theme of the insatiable Layla booms through the speakers. If Lay’s theme is anything to go by, she’ll be using her gift receipts this year to get some things she actually wants! Layla is dressed in traditional Christmas colors, while Natalya is donning Hart pink, Alicia is doing her best rein-Diva impression and Kaitlyn is… well… Ash Ketchum from Pokémon meets an elf! Out next are the naughty Divas and all the girls are wearing their best red and white, although Tamina obviously didn’t get the memo as she’s showing off her best Grinch wear!
The action starts with Nattie and Aksana locking up. Natalya applies a waist-lock before going for a schoolgirl roll-up. The former wife of Goldust then whips the Dungeon Diva into the corner, but the momentum shifts again and Natalya goes for another pin attempt complete with a lovely bridge. After a near-fall, Alicia Fox is tagged in and spanks her foreign foe on the tush! Aksana is whipped across the ropes and A-Fox leapfrogs her so that Nattie can hit her with a sick clothesline – ouch! Foxy then delivers a dropkick and just as it looks like she’s on a roll, Aksana averts danger and makes Alicia whack her leg off the turnbuckle. Following a hair-grab takeover, Aksana then does what can only be described as a sexy snail impression before mocking Alicia while grasping her jaw.
Tamina enters the fray next following a tag and bounces the giblets out of Alicia with a series of headbutts. The daughter of Jimmy Snuka then applies a hangman’s style hair-pull but Alicia flips out and hits another dropkick. With the Grinch flat on her back, Alicia tags in Layla and she goes wild. Following a flurry of offense, the Little English Muffin delivers a booty pop to the face before dancing her way into a Samoan Drop from Tamina. Tamina kicks at Layla before scoring a two count and then tags in Rosa Mendes.
The Freakin’ Costa Rican bashes Layla with a clothesline before applying a submission by delving her knees in Layla’s back and crossing her foes arms around her neck. Rosa then adapts the move into a Camel Clutch style before Layla breaks out. The last ever Women’s Champion tries to make a tag, but Rosa thwarts her attempt. Divas Champion Eve now enters the bout and begins to assault Layla for a short while. Just when Eve thinks she’s in control, here comes Kaitlyn.
The Hybrid Diva managed to reach out and make the hot tag and she goes to work on her bitter enemy. After laying some blows to Eve, she goes for a cover, which is broken up by Rosa. The manager of Primo and Epico throws Kaitlyn to the outside, but when she turns around, Nattie’s ready and waiting and locks in a Sharpshooter. Watch out Natalya! BAM! Tamina hits The Great Khali’s lover with a massive superkick but not before Alicia Fox can deliver one of her own – a ferociously fierce Scissor Kick to Tamina! It’s a finisher frenzy as Alicia is then hit with a Divo Drop by Aksana. Layla’s next to jump into the spotlight as she crossbodys Aksana. Eve returns to the action and hits Layla with a bicycle-like kick. But wait Eve, Kaitlyn is behind you! “Oh no she isn’t?” OH YES she is! Kaitlyn hoists her foe up and does lightning strike twice? Yes, it does. The NXT Season 3 winner hits her patented gut-buster and gets the win over Eve for the second straight week!
Following that, we also have a series of segments featuring former Raw General Manager AJ Lee and Mr Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler. Get your sick bags at the ready as whether you’ve ate too much or not over the festive period, you’ll be retching after seeing the nauseating passion between AJ and Dolph!
Thoughts: Firstly, I’ll discuss the match and although it wasn’t an instant classic, it was a really nice treat to toast the holiday season. While cliched, I particularly enjoyed the ending to the match with most girls hitting a finisher because a lot of the time, we don’t get to see them due to so many roll-up victories! It was also great to see that WWE is continuing to give Kaitlyn momentum and is actually building a program between her and Eve. Many fans are speculating that Kaitlyn will win the Divas Title at the 20th Anniversary of Raw next month as it takes places in Kaitlyn’s hometown, yet that will have to be seen to be believed for me.
As for AJ, it’s always cool to see any Diva get mic time and of course, it’s AJ Lee we’re talking about, so it’s always going to be a main eventer that she is interacting with! Whilst the intense snogging is a bit much at times, AJ performed really well in the time she had, and hey, who knew she was so good at writing stories? Whilst AJ’s book had a happy ending, will Cray-J’s 2012 end on a high note? Only time will tell!
