In this week’s From the Vault, we’re going back to a more recent event. On the evening of March 5th, 2007, Mickie James challenged Melina for the Women’s Championship, but it wasn’t any ordinary match. It was Falls Count Anywhere, and with a rivalry as physical and as vicious as the one between these two, things got ugly, fast. Ashley Massaro was appointed as the special guest ring announcer for the match, which was a promotion tactic for her upcoming Playboy cover.
Shall we?
Ashley heads to the ring first, her playboy cover on full display in front of the tron as her music plays. Now I know this isn’t really the place to divulge opinions or say what I think about it buuuuut… never understood the playboy thing. Never. Also was never really an Ashley fan.
She does a pretty good job with the announcing though, which kind of makes me wish she’d stuck to just that. But then she couldn’t hold a candle to lovely Lilian, could she? I’m going to move on before I get sidetracked.
Ashley introduces Mickie first, and she skips down to the ring. This, of course, was before Mickie started wearing her custom ring gears – which I much preferred. I never liked the skirts and tops combo. I prefer proper ring gear, because it’s so much easier to take the girls seriously. That said, I’ve always loved Mickie to bits and she’s always been good in the ring. But yeah. The random skirts and tops combos needed to go and I’m glad they did.
There’s a replay from two weeks ago, where Mickie was champion at the time and defending against Melina. A hurricanrana gone wrong saw Melina steal the win, and that’s what led to this rematch.
The current women’s champ Melina heads on out next with her ever-wonderful swagger and her paprazzi running around the place. She looks up at Ashley’s playboy cover with a distasteful look. Oh, Melina. She was best as a heel and should have stayed that way, I think. It was a nice change when they switched it up and had her chasing Beth for the title, but she was a face for too long and then she got injured a couple of times and never really got a chance to go full on heel again. Not even when she came back to face the Undefined Divas Champion, Alicia Fox, and put her in her place.
According to good ole’ JR, this was the first time the Women’s championship was to be decided in a Falls Count Anywhere match. JR’s not led me astray before, so I’m inclined to believe him.
Before Melina even enters the ring, Mickie catches her with a dropkick and sends the champion to the outside. Mickie doesn’t want to waste any time – she just wants her title back. She goes right for the pin and gets a one before Melina manages to kick out and turn the tables. She drives Mickie into the barricade, and then takes off running to the back! But Mickie’s not down for long, and quickly goes right after her.
Melina throws a trash can in Mickie’s path but it doesn’t do much good as the two women fight over a table. Mickie goes for another quick pin and gets another one count. I don’t think Melina knows what’s hit her. She tries to run again but Mickie’s in hot pursuit and throws her right into a door. Melina escapes through the door, which happens to lead to the women’s lockeroom, after a hard shot to Mickie’s abdomen.
The two of them continue to brawl as Mickie drives Melina right into Torrie Wilson. Oops. Maria‘s sitting on the sofa looking a bit flabbergasted, but she soon gets up and out of the way as Mickie tosses Melina over the sofa and into the wall. Mickie is just womanhandling Melina in this match, and she gets another two count. Maria, for whatever reason, tries to get involved but Melina makes quick work of her. Mickie goes back after Melina and has the upperhand, until Victoria shows up and restrains her!
Melina’s able to get in a cheap shot with that, but Torrie Wilson and a can of hairspray save the day as she takes out Victoria. Mickie and Melina continue to go after one another in what comes off as a bit of a clusterduck. Candice Michelle appears then, in a towel of course, and tells them to get the hell out. Melina rips the towel off her to shut her up and the camera cuts out quickly. When it cuts back, Melina has the towel stuck over Mickie’s head. The camera cuts out again, and we’re watching a blank screen as screams and shouts echo over it. Sounds intense.
We’re back on the titantron and Mickie and Melina roll down the ramp together, trying to get shots in here and there. Melina gets the upperhand with a kick to the head, then sweeps Mickie’s legs out from under her so she hits the ramp face first. Melina gets back to the ring and Mickie follows, but receives some hard kicks for her effort.
Melina takes it to Mickie now, slamming her face first into the mat. She trash talks Mickie, which seems to spur the challenger on, and she comes back with right hands. She then repays the favour and slams Melina face first into the mat. This is some physical stuff! Mickie throws Melina around like a rag doll, and follows it up with a beautiful fisherman’s hook suplex into a pin. Another two count!
Melina tries hard to get away and climbs the turnbuckle, but Mickie slams her head down into the ring post. Ouch. Mickie hits some right hands and there’s shades of their match two weeks ago when Mickie lost the title. Mickie attempts a hurricanrana and…
…Melina escapes it yet again! Mickie takes a nasty tumble from the top rope, landing on her neck, and it’s enough to put the challenger away for the night. Melina gets the pin, the three count and retains her title. Ashley is none too pleased about having to announce it, but does so anyway as all good professionals do.
Melina’s not happy with her, though, and struts her way to the outside where Ashley is holding her title belt. Ashley’s reluctant to give it up at first, and when Melina starts trash talking her, she shoves the champ and knocks her on her ass. I’m sure that didn’t sit well at all with Melina.
Ashley heads into the ring to check on her friend Mickie, who can barely stand up on her own. That bump knocked her silly.
Quite the eventful match, if a little sloppy at time, but it’s hard not to be when you literally have free reign over the rules and what you can do. I’ve always loved Mickie and I enjoy her matches with Melina because they always tell a story. These two women, in the ring at least, rarely got along and that made for good entertainment. They weren’t afraid to get really physical with one another, and this match proved that.
Later on, Torrie Wilson accompanied her beau, Carlito, to the ring for his MITB qualifying match against Ric Flair:
I completely forgot that Torrie Wilson was ever with Carlito. The Great Khali interrupts the match about halfway through, and throws Carlito clear out of the ring. Torrie rushes over to check on him.
Lastly, Melina made another appearance later in the night as MNM made their way out to confront the champ John Cena, alongside Edge:
That’s all for this week, folks. Until next week, ciao! x
