Saturday, January 11, 2025

Looks Like Eve’s Been On Safari This Whole Time

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I think, by now, it’s become pretty obvious that Eve isn’t a top-tier Diva. So, needless to say, I’ve run out of things to say about her in these “Eye Candy” posts. I think I’ll just stick to the shoot.. This one’s titled “Black Gold”, though I think a far more suitable name would’ve been “Going on Safari”, because she’s in the classic “safari” garb – animal print, earth tones, cargo.. I really don’t like the whole look. It’s just not grabbing my attention. Eh, the whole photoshoot is pretty dull in itself. Excuse me.. I think I need to take a nap.

[poll=150]

Comeback Queen or Party Crasher?

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The Divasphere is a-buzzin’, will Candice make her comeback tonight on Raw? And if so, how do we feel about it. Yay or nay? Vote below and sound off, as always, in the comments!

[poll=149]

Systematic Breakdown of SummerSlam

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History was made at the 2008 edition of SummerSlam. Not only was the Women’s Championship defended for the first time in nearly a decade, but for the first time in the event’s 21 year history – the title changed hands at a SummerSlam. And what a match to make history in, because in my humblest opinion, the Winner Take All match stole the show from the all the hotly tipped matches on the undercard. For all four stars involved, they should be proud because this was one hell of a match, fun and fast paced with a historic title change to boot. While the Internet is rumbling today about the Hell in a Cell match and the first ever encounter between Batista and John Cena, this intergender match is definitely third in the rankings, beating out both the World Heavyweight and WWE Championship matches. Beth Phoenix and Mickie James have just cemented their places as the two top Divas in WWE today.

Like I said, the pace of this match was so fun and fast paced with Mickie and Beth really bringing their A-game. Given the multiple encounters they have had in the past, I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing them square off again but they really did the business at SummerSlam last night, seemingly working more cohesively than ever before. I really have to hand it to them, because their past matches have done nothing to excite me but I was definitely into all of the action in this match.

I would have loved to see more interaction between the females and the males, I mean come on, we’ve got Beth and Mickie in the ring not Kelly Kelly and Layla. These two Divas can mix it up with the men, I wish WWE’d gone just that extra mile and given us some of that intergender action. And hey, if Mickie’s amazing DDT on Santino was anything to go by, I think the women wrestling the men would have only enhanced what was a fantastic match. Speaking of that DDT, what a moment that was – the execution of that DDT by Mickie, wow!

Beth Phoenix picks up the victory with the Glam Slam on Mickie, I was expecting a little more of a controversial finish i.e. Santino pinning Mickie but at the same time, I think this was a nice moment. I guess Beth pinning Mickie finally closes that chapter and ends this feud. I certainly feel we’ve come full circle and Beth pinning Mickie symbolises that. I’m expecting Candice to show up on Raw tonight, so I’m glad that they had that closure in the Beth-Mickie feud that has occupied our screens on and off since Candice was injured.

I was hoping Beth would take the Intercontinental Championship, but I think WWE put the kibosh on that by having Lilian announce Beth as the Women’s Champ and Santino as the IC Champ. I guess they read the rumours and speculation on the Internet and wanted to solidify that wouldn’t happen by having Lilian announce the winners the way she did.

If you haven’t seen SummerSlam, I advise you to watch this match however which way you want, but just get it done!

Michelle Shows Her Dark Side

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Michelle McCool didn’t defend her Divas Championship last night, but she’s still holding dominance over the SmackDown Divas division. Her latest photoshoot, “Black & Blonde”, shows the other side of her “top Diva” status, as she’s shown she can pose with the best of them. She’s never been the most innovative in her photoshoots, but she still looks quite pretty in her simplicity. I can’t say I’m feeling the top – it’s a bit too “club hopper” for my taste – but the head-to-toe black scheme suits her blonde hair, and that’s why I quite like this shoot.

Now, if only she could get rid of that hideous Divas Title – give it a overhaul or something. I mentioned this in the Summerslam Live Blog last night, but it honestly looks like an accessory that comes free with a “Magical Fairytale” Barbie doll. Blegh.

[poll=148]

Interview: Torrie’s First Post-WWE Tell-All

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Diva Dirt is proud to announce today, that we have engaged in a partnership agreement with the Wrestling Hotseat, the hottest ticket in town to exclusive interviews with wrestling stars from the past, present and future! Our new partnership will allow us to share exclusive audio interviews featuring some of your favourite Diva names, directly on Diva Dirt.

Joining host, W.D. Hatfield last week was none other than my home girl, Miss Torrie Wilson! Listen as Torrie talks about who she keeps in touch with at the E, what she’s currently up to, her appearance on Project Runway and more.

[audio:hotseattorrie.mp3]
Run Time: 20:07

For more fantastic audio interviews be sure to visit the Wrestling Hotseat, where you can listen to interviews with the likes of Dawn Marie, Missy Hyatt and loads of male stars too. And all for free! Joining W.D. this week is former WWE Diva and TNA Knockout, Jackie Gayda Haas. We will have that interview up later in the week!

This post was brought to you by

YouTube Classics: Beth Phoenix vs. Victoria

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Welcome to the YouTube Classics! With Beth Phoenix‘s Women’s Title victory at Summerslam, our theme this week will be “The Age of the Glamazon”, showing some of Beth Phoenix’s greatest moments. Today, we have Beth Phoenix vs. Victoria from the June 13th, 2006 RAW. Beth had Trish Stratus in her corner, while Victoria had Mickie James in hers. This match marked the end of Beth’s first WWE tenure, with her jaw being broken in the course of the match. That injury sent her to the sidelines until her return (this time as a heel) in 2007:

Beth Phoenix Captures Women’s Championship

The age of the Glamazon begins once again… or should that be the age of Glamorella?! Beth Phoenix and Santino have re-captured the Women’s and Intercontinental Championships respectively, at SummerSlam. Beth pinned Mickie James after hitting her with the Glam Slam.

So Beth is once again the Women’s Champion. Yay or nay? Sound off in the comments!

Diva Dirt’s SummerSlam Tip Sheet

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It’s time for the biggest party of the summer tonight! And for the first time in nearly a decade, the Women’s Championship is on the line as champion Mickie James teams up with Intercontinental Champion, Kofi Kingston to take on Beth Phoenix and Santino with both titles on the line! Check out predictions below!

Erin: Since it seems like Santino & Beth have the upper hand, I can’t help but think Mickie & Kofi are going to win this one. There hasn’t been that long of a buildup, and I can’t see Mickie dropping the title that quickly after feuding with Katie for much longer and managing to hold on to the title. As for Kofi dropping his title, I don’t see that being that huge of a deal. He’s destined to be a pretty big star, so losing the belt, and instead chasing the heelish Santino could build his profile a bit more. But still, I can’t see it happening this early. I know they didn’t allow themselves that much time for buildup, but it still seems like it would be a rushed job to turn over both titles like that. Plus, if Santino and Beth were to lose, it would only add to their dysfunctional relationship. Let them still be sort of at odds with each other, and let that pairing grow before crowning them both champions. I’m definitely envisioning the two faces being triumphant – this is the 2nd biggest PPV of the year so far, so I wouldn’t put it past the WWE to stick more of a feel-good ending on it.

Melanie: I think this is the opportune time to cash in on the progress Santino and Beth have been making as characters and give them the titles. As champions, they will fun and exciting and I fully expect them to get the win tonight. There’s been a lot of speculation that Beth will take the IC title and Santino the Women’s Championship, if so, I think this could be fun! However, if they book this more seriously and have Beth as Women’s Champion – that certainly leads to the return of Candice Michelle with whom Beth has some unresolved issues. Either way, I expect a fun comedic match but with great in-ring work. Let’s not forget, this is an intergender match and both Beth and Mickie are fine wrestlers, I’d certainly love to see Beth and Kofi lock it up or even Santino and Mickie. Beth and Santino get the win, but who’ll carry which title remains to be seen.

SmackDown Redux – August 15, 2008

This week on SmackDown: Natalya and Maryse were victorious over Maria and Michelle McCool, with Natalya scoring the win once again.

Thoughts & Reactions

After last week’s Olympic fiasco, I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s SmackDown match and it really did accomplish a few things… some intentionally and some not. 1) Natalya is still the most dominant Diva on SmackDown and is still being booked strongly as Michelle’s challenger for the Divas Championship. 2) Maryse really came into her own this week, showing all the signs of a truly believable heel. 3) Michelle really displayed her in-ring skills this week, proving just why she is the Divas Champ. As for Maria, well I guess we have yet to solve that problem.

While Maria may be the weak link, the other three Divas really showed a lot of progression and I found myself enjoying this match thoroughly. Seriously, I never ever thought I’d ever like Maryse, but she has grown on me so much and she continues to prove what a fantastic asset she is to SmackDown. I never thought I’d say that, Maryse is slowly becoming a “one to watch” among the WWE Divas, she’s developed at an exponential rate and this week was so much fun to watch with her little heel-ish poses. Maryse is coming into her own, sure she has a long way to go but I am really impressed with our Frenchie so far!

Natalya, ever the trouper, carried this match despite Maria’s slowness and has really been booked strongly over the past couple of weeks. Last week, she rolled up Maria and this week Michelle, proving to us that WWE isn’t done with the Michelle-Natalya programme, but can they please hurry up and give us a rematch or some sort of singles development? I think they’ve been booking all this tag matches of late as a vehicle to get both Maria and Michelle on screen because God forbid we have two Diva segments. While Maria and Maryse seem to be developing a feud, I am still awaiting some sort of development from the Great American Bash – sure Natalya’s won a couple of matches, but there has been no storyline development between Michelle and Natalya.

Meanwhile, I was so impressed with Michelle last night. Michelle has her detractors, but I urge them to watch last night’s match – I know that they will try and fault her anyway, but Michelle really delivered the goods on SmackDown and was a lot of fun in the ring. From the moment she was tagged in, the whole pace of the match sped up and her and Natalya seemed to work really well together. Michelle was just on fire! A lot of great fast paced action between these two and even Maryse a lil bit. Despite a slow start (thanks to Maria) this was a decent match and I appreciated the work of Maryse, Michelle and Natalya.

Weekend Analysis: Katie Throws Away Opportunity

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With weekends being unanimous for slow news, I thought we’d start something new with a “weekend analysis” where we make the news, by analysing some of our Divas. This week, I’m kicking off with Katie Lea who after a decent push failed to meet viewer expectations.

It seems when the opportunity knocked at Katie’s door, she just wasn’t home because Katie received a big push for the Women’s Championship this summer and a programme with Mickie James. Despite an impressive start on Raw with her “brother” Paul Burchill, Katie’s first singles feud failed to break her away and make her a Diva star. Katie showed a lot of potential when she joined Raw, with great microphone skills and an impressive wrestling resume but when she stepped into the ring with Mickie, there was little to no flare in Katie’s moveset. Katie is very awkward in the ring and pretty bland, if you ask me. Despite a golden opportunity – literally – Lea failed to connect with the fans and failed to set us alight with her in-ring skills.

Compared to the talented wrestlers who’ve passed through WWE’s doors before her, Katie got cut a real break. She got the opportunity to break away and become a legitimate wrestler in the women’s division when the likes of Jillian are stuck with stupid gimmicks. For some reason WWE likes to have the non-wrestlers pushed as wrestlers and the talented ones stuck in gimmick-mode. But Katie, like so few before her (Mickie, Melina, Beth Phoenix) had an opportunity to wrestle and she blew it. It aggravates me that Katie received this opportunity but didn’t take the ball and run with it because the likes of Trinity, who was a very enigmatic wrestler in TNA, was stuck in an eye candy role on ECW during her time with WWE, when she could have added some passion and fire to the women’s division and even be a future Women’s Champion.

So far, Katie has shown she is fantastic on the mic and has a great character but in the ring, she’s a letdown.

Cherry Released

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Well, I guess it was inevitable that we’d lose at least one Diva… unfortunately it was a Diva that has been heavily part of SmackDown over the past six months. Cherry has been cut from the roster, I guess simply because she’s not a cookie-cutter bimbo. This has to be seen as a complete surprise, considering how much Cherry has appeared on television and even been booked in programmes of her own (with Maryse) despite not fitting the Diva mould. Cherry had a unique look and I guess in WWE’s eyes, that’s a bad thing when it comes to Divas.

Maryse Makes a Few Valid Points

The other day, I inadvertently linked Maria and Maryse, but today it looks like a feud may be a-brewin’ between these two Divas. WWE.com’s lastest Diva Dish featured a few quotes by Maryse, and while it’s obviously all in character, it’s funny to see her point out a few things that I may feel as well:

“Obviously she never planned to break my nose because she has no athleticism. I’m not scared of Maria at all. I think she’s just a funny joke,” Maryse said.

“And she says I’m not smart. Well, I’m not the one who showed up there in a winter outfit. Honestly, we don’t ski in the summer. We play tennis, we don’t ski.”

Maryse also shared her views on Maria’s fashion sense. Maria is a budding fashion designer who often totes her sewing machine to live events to work on her infamous hoodies and in-ring gear.

“The best designers are French – we all know that. That’s a fact, I’m not inventing anything. She talks about fashion all the time and that she’s really good at it, but she has no clue what she’s talking about. If you look at the way she dresses, it’s unfortunately so cheesy,” Maryse said.

“When I look at her, I see somebody who tries and thinks that she’s got it, but she doesn’t know. That’s the funniest part for me. She thinks she’s good, but she’s not, actually. And us French people all know that. It makes me laugh every time!”

So, in a hypothetical feud, which Diva would you root for, SmackDown’s newest acquisition or her French counterpart?
[poll=146]

Katie Lea Sure Isn’t Feeling “Summer”y

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Katie Lea may have been ousted out of a possible Summerslam match, but that doesn’t mean she’s completely disappeared. Her latest photoshoot, “Tough Love”, is simple yet effective. She looks gorgeous, and her black ensemble is sexy without looking trashy. This photoshoot isn’t my main concern, though.. I wonder if it was the smart move to substitute Beth Phoenix & Santino in for her & Paul Burchill. What do you think – do you prefer the WWE’s newest “odd couple” or the most sinister siblings? Sound off in the comments!

[poll=145]

YouTube Classics: Trish/Ashley vs. Candice/Maria

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Welcome to the YouTube Classics! Coinciding with the opening of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, this week’s theme will be “WWE Goes Global”, featuring matches in international settings. Today, we have Trish Stratus & Ashley vs. Candice Michelle & Maria from the December 19th, 2005 “Tribute to the Troops” event. Recently, the WWE has initiated a tradition in which they make a yearly trip oversees to perform for U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East. Every year the event – aired on or around Christmas – both produces good buzz for the comapny and generates morale for the U.S. troops:

Maria & Maryse Show Their True Colors

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It’s time to play photoshoot catch-up. I missed yesterday’s bath of photos, so I’m condensing two posts into one. Here, we have two SmackDown Divas playing a bit of color theory – Maria‘s rocking the blue in her “Blue Beauty” photoshoot, and Maryse is surrounded by sunny yellow in “Ray of Light”. Both girls look fabulous, but I looooveee that shade of yellow in Maryse’s photoshoot. Did I ever tell you my favorite Power Ranger was the yellow ranger? No? Well, maybe that’s why I have this long-running bias towards yellow. Anywayyyysss… Tell me what you think: are you feeling Maria’s blue or are you more entranced by Maryse’s yellow? Photoshoot-wise, I have to give the edge to Maryse – that girl can take fantastic photos.


[poll=143]
[poll=144]

Raw Redux – August 11, 2008

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This week on Raw: The build-up towards SummerSlam saw a fun match between Mickie James and Santino. Beth Phoenix once again destroyed Kelly Kelly too.

Thoughts & Reactions
I was really sceptical last week when WWE put the kibosh on ongoing storylines – Mickie vs Katie Lea and Paul Burchill vs Kofi Kingston – and opted to work towards a Winner Take All match at SummerSlam. But judging by this week’s follow-up, the build-up has been fun and really made me excited for this Sunday’s pay per view. It seems, WWE put more effort into the booking this week than they ever did with the Women’s Championship feud between Mickie and Katie. In one night, they manage to have a strong build-up towards a pay per view match and I don’t know about you, but I’m now looking forward to what could be a unique match at SummerSlam.

While the thought of Mickie vs Beth for the umpteenth time does nothing for me, making this a Winner Take All intergender tag match adds some new flare to an otherwise beaten horse. Not to mention, the new comedy double act of Santino and Beth should add some humour into this match at SummerSlam. Will Mickie finally give up the title? A lot of fans are speculating, even the critics, that Beth will take the Intercontinental Championship and make Santino carry the Women’s Championship – as absurd as that sounds, it also adds some importance to the Women’s Championship and the Divas. Two things I’m all for!

Back to the broadcast, Beth and Kelly had a so-so match compared to their encounter a few weeks. I had worried that Kelly would become just another Maria or Ashley on Raw but nope, she’s working on a regular basis and that’s nice to see. Despite some sloppiness in the ring, Kelly is working hard and I have to admire that. Even though she’s jobbing out in most of her matches, just being on screen and being on matches on a regular basis put Kelly a notch up from Maria or Ashley during their tenures on Raw. A few weeks ago, Kelly and Beth shared an intense chemistry in the ring – that was kinda lost this week, but the match was fine though nothing compared to their match last month. I liked the end segment with Santino wanting Beth to hit another move on Kelly.

As for Mickie vs Santino, well when Santino was cutting his promo if you didn’t clock on he was talking about a match with Mickie and not Kofi – make sure you take the slow bus when school starts up again, won’t cha? I would have liked to see Mickie be more aggressive and really wow the crowd the same way Beth did in her return match with Santino last month, there wasn’t that “Oh my god, Mickie’s totally beating up Santino” element that made you both want to cheer for her and laugh at the same time. Santino going over was the right thing to do, giving the challengers the momentum going into SummerSlam. The danger now is though, the champions will pick up the win at the pay per view. I think it’s a wise move to put the titles on Beth and Santino. All around, it was a passable Raw that did it’s job – pushing Sunday’s match.

Michelle Spikes, Victoria Splits

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The Summer Olympics are in full swing, and Michelle McCool and Victoria are the last to show off their Olympic threads. Michelle’s a volleyball player, and though in my 8+ years of volleyball experience I never saw a uniform like that, she looks like she means business. Victoria’s gymnast getup looks ultra cheap.. What, no sparkly leotard? Well, at least the USA’s Women’s Gymnastics team took home the Silver last night..


[poll=141]
[poll=142]

50 Sexiest Divas: A Few Clues

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Diva Dirt‘s first annual 50 Sexiest Divas list will be revealed on Monday, but we can give you a few clues about how the final list is shaping up. Bear in mind that counting is still ongoing but so far we can reveal:

– There are at least three former Women’s Champions in the top ten
– Two redheads in the top twenty
– Only one TNA Knockout in the top ten thus far
– The top spot is currently being battled for by a blonde and a brunette

The full list will be revealed right here on Diva Dirt on Monday, so stay tuned!

SmackDown Spoilers – August 15, 2008

Highlight below for this week’s SmackDown spoilers!

Natalya & Maryse def. Michelle & Maria. Natalya got the pin over Michelle.

Candice is “On the Point”

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Candice may or may not be on her way to SmackDown, but she’s still heating up WWE.com with new photoshoots. This one, “On the Point”, is one of the better ones of her recent batch. I’m still not liking her new hair-do (the reddish-purpleish color makes it look like a wig), but I like this shoot. She’s kept the poses simple, and though her jewelry is over the top (I like it, though.. The neutral colors keep it from being too much), her facial expressions aren’t. This is how I like my Candice: sexy but relatively simple.

[poll=139]

YouTube Classics: The Kat vs. Terri at Insurrextion

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Welcome to the YouTube Classics! Coinciding with the opening of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, this week’s theme will be “WWE Goes Global”, featuring matches in international settings. Today, we have The Kat vs. Terri in an arm wrestling match from the 2000 Insurrextion PPV. Insurrextion, until recently, had been the WWE’s yearly UK-only PPV, taping and airing only in the United Kingdom. At times, this was cause for excuse to get a little more risky in content when compared to their Stateside affairs:

Paparazzo Makes Maryse Cry

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Rising SmackDown Diva, Maryse, may have been wowing the crowds in her mixed tag match that also featured Eve at WWE’s SummerFest this weekend – but after the event, our French-Canadian hottie got a grim taste of what it is to be a celebrity. Reports out of the event state that a paparazzo was seen getting in Maryse’s face with his camera, making her run away and hiding behind a corner. Maryse returned, visibly in tears. Read one fan’s account below, courtesy of PWInsider:

I was standing just inside the lobby of the hotel having a conversation with Maryse telling her about my friend Jared in hopes she would take a picture with him. (I met her last year so I wasn’t interested). In the middle of our conversation, as she was starting for the door to come out and take a picture with Jared, this paparazzi guys comes into the hotel and shoved his video camera in Maryse’s face causing her to grab her bag and run around the corner. At this point the WWE PR people went haywire.

This guy had already supposedly gotten into another of the diva’s face earlier in the day and now he was out of control. He was ordered off of the property and the police were called. He refused to stop recording and leave. He even went as far as to make the remarks that why doesn’t she come out and take a picture with this guy in the wheelchair. The WWE people made it very clear that she wanted to, but he needed to turn off the camera first. He refused saying it was his right and asked why doesn’t she just come out.

The WWE people repeatedly asked him to just let her come out and take care of this fan but he got rude and distasteful. At some point Maryse did come out, crying by now, jumped in her limo and left. The paparazzi literally chased the limo down the street. When it stopped at the Stop sign, they stood in front of the limo snapping pictures.

Coincidence or Fate?

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Is it merely a coincidence that Ashley Massaro‘s first public appearance since her WWE release will be at a strip club? Or is it fate giving us another LOL-worthy moment? Either way, Ashley will be part of a barrage of former Playboy models who will be appearing at “The Scene” in Commack, Long Island, NY this Wednesday.

One liners at the ready folks!

Tammy Sytch Turns Down the Classiest Show on TV

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Looks like Tammy Sytch hasn’t let herself hit rock bottom like other ex-wrestling stars have (*cough* Chyna *cough*). The lady formerly known as Sunny wrote on her MySpace blog (which you can view here) that she recently turned down an offer to appear on Season 3 of VH1’s reality show Rock of Love:

I got a phone call from the casting directors of Rock of Love 3– they want me on it, but I politely turned them down..lol.

For those unaware (and pretty damn lucky, IMO), Rock of Love stars Bret Michaels (pictured above), lead singer of the band Posion, and chronicles his quest to find his lady love. Needless to say, since the show is in its third season, he hasn’t had much luck. The women on the show aren’t the classiest bunch, obviously, so it’s nice to know that Tammy won’t be sullying the Sunny name by appearing on that glorified STD convention. You know my feelings on the show, but what do you think? Would you have liked to see Tammy on Rock of Love?

[poll=138]

Candice Feelin’ a Lil’ Blue?

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With Candice‘s return seemingly imminent, there seems to be a spanner thrown in the works…

The above is advertising for SmackDown’s move from the CW to MyNetworkTV in the fall and prominently features the former Women’s Champion. Will Candice be making her re-emergence on Friday nights? While I’m not a Candice fan by any means, I think this would be a huge blow to Raw as they will lose yet another face. Not to mention, this will overcrowd SmackDown’s already steady and growing division. With Michelle McCool and Maria at the forefront of SmackDown, there’s hardly room for Candice too! WWE is already showing signs of booking Maria at the expense of Michelle, what will become of the Divas Champion if Candice jumps too? Meanwhile over on Raw, Candice’s return could surely take the edge off of Mickie James‘ current stale run as Women’s Champion and top babyface. Candice has a built-in return angle with Beth Phoenix too, let’s not forget.

Your Inner Fangirl is Showing, Beth..

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Beth Phoenix seems to be in a “Dark Knight” mood, as she’s again posing with a bit of a Batman theme. This time, in a photoshoot titled “The Two Faces of Beth Phoenix” (which I’m calling “Two-Face” because I know that’s what they’re going for anyways), she’s posing as both a black-suited figure reminiscent of Christian Bale’s caped crusader and a green-and-purple grinning maniac in the vein of Heath Ledger’s celebrated Joker persona. I think it’s pretty cool and inventive, and I can’t blame Beth a bit for letting her fangirl out – I’m pretty crazy about Hulk and Spider-Man, and Melanie loves her some Superman, so we can’t exactly fault her for it! But where’s Two-Face, Beth? Perhaps a charred face would’ve been too much for WWE.com viewers. :P

[poll=137]