Those lucky effin’ FCW fans! At last night’s taping for the Florida based developmental camp, a lucky few fans got to experience a dream team. Powerhouses Beth Phoenix and Natalya teamed up in the main event to take on new SmackDown arrivals, the Bella Twins. This I have to see!
And in the main event too? How very futuristic of FCW, doubt it’d translate to WWE though.
Welcome to the YouTube Classics! With the recent-breaking news of Gail Kim‘s sudden TNA departure and imminent return to the WWE, our theme this week will be “Gail Storm”, reminding you of Gail’s most memorable WWE moments during her previous tenure with the company. Today, we have Gail vs. Trish vs. Lita vs. Victoria in a Fatal Four-Way Women’s Title match from Bad Blood 2004. With such big names in the match – Victoria as the Women’s Champion; Lita and Trish at each other’s throats – it seemed as though Gail may be overshadowed, but you can guarantee she’d get her fair share of licks in:
Can you hear the “Star-Spangled Banner” playing in the background? We’ve gone political! Following our post on Candice Michelle‘s appearance at the Democratic National Convention, we’ve received an e-mail from the lovely Jackie on behalf of AT&T regarding the Rock the Vote movement. She’s provided us with a few photos featuring Candice and Batista in Denver in front of the Rock the Vote bus, along with some interesting information regarding the Rock the Vote cause and how they, along with AT&T, are reaching out to young and prospective voters leading up to election day this November.
Check out the photos of Candice below, and click here to see all of the photos of the “Rock the Vote” bus. Obviously, for more info regarding Rock the Vote, visit RockTheVote.com.
As you can see, Candice and Batista are in front of what has been dubbed the “Rock the Vote Mobile Election Vehicle”. Wondering what that is? Here’s some more info, courtesy of Jackie:
The RtV Mobile Election Vehicle, launching in partnership with AT&T, will be stationed at Youth HQ right outside the convention center. Vehicle features include:
· A PSA Recording Booth where visitors record their very own PSA/Rock the Vote message to share with friends online or via video text messaging (MMS)
· Two Voter Registration Bays with computer stations where young people can register to vote
· A Mobile Music Bay where concert-goers can download RTV-related content to their mobile device and sign up for an AT&T RTV text message short-code, RTVOTE (788683), to automatically receive voter registration and Election Day reminders, polls, political quizzes, celebrity messages, and mobilization alerts
· A Framerz Bay where guests can use a tethered camera phone to take photos with an RTV celebrity, presidential candidate or political icon
· A Convention Karaoke contest where political pundits and politicians are paired with Rock stars to sing (potentially bad) karaoke to urge young people to get out and vote.
Please please please at least look over the information we’ve provided, and if you are American, get involved! Don’t make me come after you with a steel chair. I swear, I’ll get Jillian Hall to warble a few patriotic tunes for you all.. This election is extremely important, as you obviously know – I don’t have to tell you that. To get more information on this great cause, including how to get involved with this election just by using your cell phone, read more.
Wow. Talk about hot news tips! More of you have e-mailed into let us know about this rumour than I’ve eaten Skittles today! According to one report former Knockouts Champion, Awesome Kong could follow Gail Kim by leaving TNA and joining WWE. Apparently, Kong signed a one year contract with TNA that is expected to expire in October and WWE is planning to put in an offer for the monster.
Initially when I read this, I rolled my eyes – and rightfully so. One person that I spoke to says that the chances of Kong winding up in WWE are highly unlikely and I tend to agree. Should Kong’s contract expire, given Gail’s departure, I’m sure TNA would try and keep Kong on their books. Furthermore, last year Kong admitted that she’d received offers from both WWE and TNA and obviously opted for the latter. One must wonder though, since WWE had already offered Kong an opportunity, just what did they have in mind for her? She is definitely a departure from the norm in WWE. Anyhoo, I would expect Kong will continue to terrorise the rest of Knockouts, October and beyond. But it is an interesting prospect, Kong in WWE…
WWE.com is on a purple kick, because Katie Lea‘s sporting the color in her new photoshoot, “Purple Reign”. She looks very “American Gladiator” here, posing in her ring gear and having no shortage of intimidating faces. It’s definitely her schtick to do the grimaces and hand poses, but maybe she could lighten up on them a bit, unless she’s going for some Xena Warrior Princess gimmick..
Seems as though the theme for this year’s Unforgiven is “scramble matches”, hypothetically, if you had the choice of a Women’s Championship or Divas Championship scramble match, which would you rather see?
From Raw, we have the Women’s Championship scramble match featuring champion Beth Phoenix, Jillian, Katie Lea, Kelly Kelly and Mickie James. Meanwhile from SmackDown, Divas Champion Michelle McCool defending against Maria, Maryse, Natalya and Victoria. Vote below!
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Word has it that Gail Kim has already signed a contract with the WWE. Since news broke last week, I haven’t been able to confirm if she had signed yet or not, until now – apparently she has. Gail has reportedly signed a three-year contract worth an estimated $400-500k a year. That would put Gail on par with Trish Stratus during her tenure with the company.
EDIT: According to one report, TNA’s offer to Gail is said to be less than a $100,000 a year. And that was their top Knockout, sheesh imagine what Rhaka Khan must make…
Candice Michelle, along with fellow WWE-ers Shelton Benjamin & Josh Mathews appeared Monday at the Democratic National Convention as part of WWE’s long-running “SmackDown Your Vote!” campagin. They posed for photos with the likes of CNN reporter Jessica Yellin, news anchorwoman Katie Couric, and comedian Mo Rocca. The trio will be there until August 31st. Shawn Michaels, Mr. Kennedy, & Mickie James will be attending the Republican National Convention from September 1st through the 4th.
I have to admire the WWE’s political efforts, as they do have a certain audience that – young or old – need to get involved politically. Check out the photos below and if you’re an American and are eligible to vote, do it!! To learn more about WWE’s “SmackDown Your Vote” effort, click here.
Michelle McCool must be taking tips from that Audrina girl from The Hills, because in this photoshot, “Pretty Purple”, it’s quite obvious that she’s going for a more mysterious look by way of looking anywhere *but* at the camera. I can’t say she achieved this, because she looks more bewildered than sly. That Ed Hardy-ripoff of a dress ain’t too great either.. But hey, maybe she was just dressing to match the Diva’s Title. It’s the same icky shade of purple and makes me cringe just as much..
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Welcome to the YouTube Classics! With the recent-breaking news of Gail Kim‘s sudden TNA departure and imminent return to the WWE, our theme this week will be “Gail Storm”, reminding you of Gail’s most memorable WWE moments during her previous tenure with the company. Today, we have Gail vs. Lita from the June 7th, 2004 RAW. By now, Gail was the number one contender to the Women’s Championship and was set to face Victoria for that title. Here she was facing Lita who, with Kane tormenting her, certainly had other things on her mind. These two had a pretty good match, which we all know is rare on RAW due to the time constraints that are often placed on the Divas:
Methinks this one is going to get messier than Paul McCartney and Heather Mills. So much for an amicable split, huh? At Monday night’s Impact taping, TNA took aim at the dearly departed Gail Kim just one week after her shock exit from the company. Last week, we were told that TNA and Gail parted on the best of terms and the door would be left open – turns out TNA is not so happy after all.
At Monday’s taping, TNA filmed a backstage segment with new Knockouts leader, Traci Brooks entering Jim Cornette’s office with Cornette talking to Traci about laying down the law with the Knockouts. Traci said something to the effect of “replacing top stars once they had become stale” and that she had some work to do with that. This footage was shown on the titantron to the crowd in attendance and will be aired this Thursday on Impact.
All I have to say to this news is *like The Joker in The Dark Knight* ha ha ha… ha ha ha ha. Let’s face it, we all know if Gail said she wanted to come back to TNA, Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett would sign her in an instant, shoot her top of the division and give her the Knockout Championship within a month. Fact. As Ashlee Simpson would say, it’s a bittersweet world but I doubt Gail is losing any sleep, in fact, I’m sure she’s being comforted by all the extra 0’s in her bank account from her new WWE deal.
And no, it’s not Gail Kim. Sorry for the spoilers but new arrivals are big news… Bri Bella will be making her debut this Friday night on SmackDown in a match against Victoria. Bri is one half of the Bella Twins down in FCW with her sister Nicole. I’m just hazarding a guess, but I would expect that Nicole will join SmackDown also, with her debut not too far behind. What do you think of the latest addition (possibly additions) to the blue brand?
While new Divas are exciting, I’ve never seen these girls in the ring to judge their skills. However, I don’t know how I feel about two new Divas coming in and pushing Alicia Fox, who’s already been pushed so far out of the limelight, even further.
EDIT: According to WrestleScoop.com, both Bri and Nicole Bella will debut this week on SmackDown! One set of spoilers states that at some point during the match, Bri went under the ring and re-emerged. One would assume Bri switched places with Nicole, who finished the match with Victoria. I like this angle, hopefully they keep going for a while before being revealed.
This week’s SmackDown spoilers are below, highlight to read:
– WWE Divas champ Michelle McCool got into it with Maryse backstage.
– Maryse & Nattie Neidhart defeated Michelle McCool & Maria when Maryse DDT’d Maria for the pin. The heels then laid out McCool.
– Brie Bella debuted, defeating Victoria with a rollup.
Over the past year or so, Kim Kardashian and the WWE seem to keep bumping into each other like that annoying ex who just won’t go away. The girl with the most talked about booty since J.Lo was in attendance at WrestleMania 24 back in April and she and Carmen Electra will be seen spoofing the WWE Divas in Disaster Movie – which just so happens to drop this weekend. Well how’s about another coinkidink to add to the list huh?
Turns out K-Dash’s boyfriend, NFL star, Reggie Bush tapped SmackDown Diva, Eve‘s ass first. Apparently, the two used to date in college. Gentlemen, which lady would you prefer to back up on you? Kim or Eve?
Maria must be crazy about accessories, because she’s practically drowning in them in her knew photoshoot, “Hat’s the Ticket”. All of it looks pretty tacky, IMO. I mean, a chain-covered fedora? And sheesh, it’s studs and stars galore! All of this begs the question: if Maria were to produce a clothing line (which she has claimed to be one of her goals on many occasions), would it be any good? I’ve never been a fan of her personal style, so I’m not sure how that would turn out.. Tell me: would you wear something from Maria’s (possible) clothing line? Sound off in the comments!
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This week on Raw: Kelly Kelly upsets the Glamazon and Women’s Champion, Beth Phoenix in singles action.
Thoughts & Reactions
This is the victory that will have many fans divided. More conservative fans will argue that there is no way Kelly, the inexperienced “blonde bimbo” deserves a victory over not only Beth Phoenix, but the Women’s Champion. Meanwhile, others would argue that Kelly has vastly improved and does deserve to gain some steam and deserves one of her first victories as part of the Raw roster. What side does Raw Redux fall in? The latter. When I first read Beth and Kelly would be facing off for the third time in the past six weeks, I initially rolled my eyes. We’d seen this match twice before and I thought this would go the same way as those two matches, with Beth easily beating Kelly. Instead, we got something different and unexpected – Kelly beating the Glamazon. And you know what? I’m all for it.
This wasn’t exactly a clean victory with Beth being somewhat distracted by Santino, so it’s not like Kelly totally outpowered Beth. Kelly has worked really hard over the past six months on both Raw and SmackDown, becoming pretty competent in the ring. When Kelly first moved to Raw, I feared that she’d hardly get any TV time and like Maria and Ashley before her, barely improve in the ring hindering all the development she made on SmackDown and ECW. Instead, Kelly has been a pretty prominent part of the Raw roster, wrestling on a regular basis. However, instead of receiving a huge push like Candice or Trish Stratus, Kelly has been used as enhancement talent to help put over the likes of Mickie James and Beth. So I think it’s about time she finally got a little confidence shown in her by management, with a victory and she got that on Raw. I’m not saying Kelly is championship material, but I wouldn’t mind seeing WWE build off this win and give Kelly a title shot against Beth next week or at Unforgiven even as sort of an “interim mini-feud.” By that I mean this would be a transitional mini-feud for Beth until Candice comes back, it’s fresher than seeing yet another Beth vs Mickie rematch at Unforgiven right? And because this is just an interim match, obviously, Kelly wouldn’t win the title. It’s just something fresh to tide us over until a real feud is booked.
As for the match, I’ve said and I’ve said it again, Kelly and Beth have shown so much chemistry in the ring together in their previous matches. Chemistry that I never expected to see from these two Divas, but yet again, I felt they delivered a really solid match. This match wasn’t as “flashy” with Kelly pulling off all these big moves like in their last match, which is one of the things I liked about it. Perhaps Kelly has learnt to be more subtle utilising these big moves, using them more sparsely so they look really good. If you do the same flashy moves in every single match, I think they lose their excitement. Good work from both Divas.
I like that WWE laid off Mickie this week too, she really needs to be repackaged or something. So who was waiting with baited breath to see Gail Kim turn up on Raw? I’m glad they didn’t rush into things and have her debut last night. Actually, I don’t think she’s even signed a contract yet.
It seems as though TNA is trying to overcompensate for Gail Kim‘s departure this week, by frantically pushing all of the remaining Knockouts on the show, with a record three women’s matches! Spoilers below, highlight to read:
– Awesome Kong defeated Josie, billed from Memphis, TN. Josie was one of the women from the Slammiversary 2008 Kong challenge. ODB attacked Kong until the referees pulled her off.
– The Beautiful People defeated TNA Knockout champ Taylor Wilde & Roxxi after Velvet shot hairspray in Roxxi’s eyes. Kip James paperbags Roxxi and they threaten to cut Wilde’s hair but Rhino hits the ring for the save.
– ODB defeated Raisha Saied. ODB pulled off Saied’s mask (backstage) so we didn’t get to see her face. ODB showed off the mask but was attacked by Kong and laid out.
The combination of bright yellow, orange skin, and platinum blonde hair usually makes me think of one of those cheap “boutiques” in the mall (or an Oompa Loompa), but as much as I want to hate this shoot, Maryse manages to pull it off. All of those factors, combined with a dress that hangs unflatteringly and a Hello Kitty-esque pendant makes that nothing short of a miracle. You could attribute it to her ability to make photoshoots interesting – I mean, she manages to look like a complete natural even when it looks like she’s posing inside a shipping crate! If this shoot were a sum of its parts, it’d be a big “Nay!” from me, but Maryse has somehow made it decent. Damn!
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You know that phrase, “What would the neighbours say?” Well in the wrestling biz, it’s more like “What would Jim Ross say?” It seems good ole JR weighs in on just about anything and everything which is why I waited with baited breath to read what he’d write about the shocking Gail Kim saga that unfolded last week. Well we can finally breathe because his response is here…
I have always thought that Gail Kim was talented and wrote when she left the WWE a couple of years ago that I thought she should have stayed. She has improved her in ring work and her interview skills over the past couple of years and if she does officially return to the WWE I feel she will ease right into the mix with the other Divas. Her exotic look and her overall skill set should lend to her marketability.
No direct allusions to TNA… interesting, if Jim knows one thing – it’s not to piss off the boss. Like Gail, he knows what it’s like to be sent home and brought back by the E.
Welcome to the YouTube Classics! With the recent-breaking news of Gail Kim‘s sudden TNA departure and imminent return to the WWE, our theme this week will be “Gail Storm”, reminding you of Gail’s most memorable WWE moments during her previous tenure with the company. Today, we have Gail vs. Trish vs. Victoria vs. Jazz vs. Molly Holly vs. Jacqueline vs. Ivory in a Women’s Championship Battle Royal from the June 30th, 2003 RAW. This was Gail’s big WWE debut, and she surprised everyone by pulling off quite the upset:
It’s time to get serious for a moment, as we have the sad task of reporting that one of our favourite Divas, Layla‘s mother has passed away. Last week, Layla wrote on her MySpace asking fans not to believe rumours that she’s been released, not that I had heard such rumours. It was later revealed that Layla had been granted time off for family issues. Well Layla’s best friend confirmed today that Layla’s mother has passed away and I’m assuming that the 2006 Diva Search winner is back home, right where this post is being written, in London.
This is Renida. Lay’s best friend. She has been experiencing a huge loss in her life right now. Her mother passed away unexpectedly and she’s been out of the country dealing with everything. I wanted you all to be aware of what is going on and send out as much positive energy and prayer to help her get through this difficult time in her life. The WWE has really helpful and understanding with her taking a little time off right now but she will definitely be back in full force before September. This is the reason she hasn’t been on my space lately. If any one of you have experienced losing someone in your life who meant a lot, you know how she’s feeling and that it takes time to heal. I spoke to Lay today and she’s being strong for the rest of her fam, she also gave me the ok to write something to her fans letting you know what’s going on with her. She loves you and she thanks all of you for your support.
Diva Dirt would like to extend our condolences to Layla and her family. We love you girly!
Diva Dirt‘s Weekend Analysis is hotter than the Sunday newspapers… free DVDs included! This is the feature we aim to analyse our favourite and not so favourite Divas as well as the current news stories. This week, we ride the gravy train that is Gail Kim‘s TNA departure!
Keeping up to date with this news story has been one of my top priorities this week, which shows A) that I have little to no life and B) that this is major, major news. The turnaround between the announcement of Gail leaving TNA and the announcement she would be re-joining WWE has to set a world record. No one in history has jumped ship that quickly, surely? My esteemed colleague *cough* Erin thinks that this fast turnaround suggests that Gail has been considering the jump to WWE for some time, allowing this to take place so quickly. Gail has words with WWE officials, Gail is offered a contract, Gail waits for her TNA contract to expire and immediately signs with WWE. Sounds like a logical story. However, other reports suggest that Gail held out for TNA to match or better WWE’s financial offer (which is assumed to be a significant amount) and when they couldn’t give her the money she wanted, she took the more lucrative opportunity. This, in my eyes, does not make Gail a “bitch” or “traitor”, this my friends, is simply business.
I’ve made my feelings real clear on the site this week, I love that Gail is coming back to the WWE because she was one of my favourite Divas during her 18 month tenure and she would go onto become my favourite Knockout. Gail really put the TNA Knockouts division on the map with Awesome Kong and accomplished so much in just under a year with her fellow Knockouts. I would say in the last year, Gail has come full circle in TNA and I think in the past few months, without a lucrative storyline she began to wane in the same way Mickie James has in WWE. After being involved in a huge storyline with Kong, Gail lost the title and the lack of singles storylines for her over the past few months have left her a little stale. Even without the storylines, she was winning all her matches like Mickie, but with no real character development, I think Gail had eased into a Mickie type role in TNA. She was their top Knockout but not really that exciting anymore, TNA failed to book Gail strongly as a title contender or give her a feud in the meantime. Creatively, it’s said that Gail had no problems with how she was used in TNA, but my take is that she had come full circle in TNA and perhaps leaving the company was for the best.
So Gail is going to be a WWE Diva once more, earlier I wrote that this is just business but let’s look at the other side of the coin. Even if it is just business, will Gail – for all the money it’s thought WWE is willing to pay her – be able to have the same excitement and appreciation of her job in WWE? Compared to the fast paced Knockouts division, Gail won’t have the opportunity to go all out in the ring and hell, she may not even appear on TV for weeks at a time. If her decision is purely financial, can and will Gail Kim be as appreciative of the WWE fans? In the entertainment business, you have to have passion and drive. Gail’s new WWE deal will be for a “significant amount”, but has she thought about the other aspects? I should hope Gail doesn’t expect to just turn up at TV tapings, do her job and go home. There’s a lot of fan interaction for wrestlers and we know that Gail loved her job in TNA, but can she bring that same enthusiasm to her new job in WWE. Will she want to sign autographs for the WWE fans? Will she care about her work in the ring?
Even though I am a fan and I’m really excited about Gail coming back to the big time, these doubts have crossed my mind. When WWE released Gail in 2004 they said it was because they were going in a different direction with the women’s division, this was the truth. However here and now, in 2008, WWE has a renewed focus on women’s wrestling and here and now, in 2008, it seems WWE wants a great female wrestler like Gail to add to that focus. Or is this simply pot shot at TNA? Time will tell if Gail and the WWE are a good fit, here’s hoping they are!
This week on SmackDown: Natalya and Maria faced off in the opener of this week’s show. Maria got the win via DQ after being attacked by Natalyta and Maryse before Michelle McCool made the save.
Thoughts & Reactions
Upon reading this week’s spoilers, I felt an initial surprise – the result was something new and different. But in execution, I felt this week’s SmackDown was the same old, same old and not very good. This week, the real question was what could the experienced favourite Natalya pull out of the inexperienced and somewhat annoying Maria? Well the answer was, a little. While I’m never really impressed with Maria, this week was an improvement on the past few weeks proving what an uber-Diva Natalya is.
The third generation Diva continues to exert her unique prowess in the ring, bringing in-ring psychology into the mix while trying to stumble from one move to the next, carrying the Playboy covergirl. I liked the whole deal with Natalya going after Maria’s knee. This was a surprisingly long match – I’m used to quickies from the Divas, but the length really helped Natalya and Maria get their story across.
If Maryse is interfering, why would her entrance music play? I didn’t really like the end, I felt this could be a good match if they had a clean win. Instead we have the involvement of Maryse and Michelle and the end, as usual over the past month on SmackDown, felt unresolved. No storyline continuations, just matches with undefined endings. I mean where is this all going? Are we just going to have a random combination of matches every week? Can they not just announce a Maria vs Maryse match for next week or something? Can they not just give Natalya her rematch already? Why do we need to go around in circles every freakin’ week? The booking leaves a lot to be desired.
Overall, the match was okay but the end I wasn’t keen on.
Style Showdown is back with avengeance! This is the contest where we put our favourite Divas and Knockouts up against each other, not in the ring, but in a battle of who looks better!
This week, we’ve taken two dearly departed Divas/Knockouts in Cherry, who was just released from WWE and Gail Kim, who recently left TNA. Which girl looks sexier? Vote now!
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Since we’ve been on a Gail Kim hype the past couple of days, why not continue? Diva Dirt has taken the liberty to cap and upload Gail’s final match for TNA Wrestling and talk about goin’ out all guns blazing! It’s fitting that Gail’s final match for TNA is with the woman with whom she put the Knockouts division on the map – Awesome Kong. At the time this episode was taped, I doubt TNA knew Gail was on her way out, but by chance they gave us a really fitting end. Not only did Gail face Kong, they delivered one hell of a match for old time’s sake!
Now that Gail’s becoming two times a Diva, I doubt we’ll see her taking insane bumps like we see in this match, kendo stick shots and all so relish this for all it’s worth. I thoroughly enjoyed this match and hope you do too.
PS: It’s a shame that Gail won’t be able to finish her storyline with “sister” Katie Kim, because for an amateur Katie shows some real acting chops during this match. Hopefully TNA will keep her around, she’s really good!
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. Katie Lea in a Ladder match from an edition of OVW television. These two Diva are currently on the heel side of things on RAW, but they were hardly on the same side in one of OVW’s most innovative matches:
