Hello there, and after a short delay due to Hurricane Isaac, we bring forth to you your Raw Redux. It was a solid week for the Divas, as Layla squared off against Natalya in preparation for her upcoming challenge with #1 Contender, Kaitlyn. Other than that, we also got a pretty insane(ly awesome) segment between Queen Diva, Vickie Guerrero and General Manager, AJ Lee that is sure to spark a fire under both of them for the future. Alright, let’s get underway!
We head to the ring as Natalya stands posing in the corner. Following the entrance of her opponent, our Divas Champion, Layla; the Queen Diva, Vickie Guerrero informs us all to excuse her as she steps out as well. Vickie informs us that she has a special announcement to make once the match is over. The bell rings, as Layla and Nattie lock up… sort of, as Natalya takes her down right away and they exchange holds. Natalya shoves her back and kicks her in the face, as Layla breaks a pin attempt. Layla with a bridging roll up for another two count, before scoring with the corner crossbody.
Layla attempts a wrist lock, but Nattie holds onto the ropes. After pulling her opponent off, Layla breaks out in some dancing yet again and buttbutt’s (if that’s a word) Natalya out of the ring. The champion tries to slide out, but Natalya traps her in the ring apron and takes the advantage. She goes for the Sharpshooter, but Layla kicks her out. Nonetheless, Natalya continues the dominance and attempts a suplex, but Layla counters into a Small Package for a two count. Once up, she scores with her new “Bombshell” roundhouse kick finisher for the win.
Soon after, Vickie Guerrero basically kicks Layla out of the ring, as our fun loving Divas Champion obliges with Vickie’s “be gone” mentality. The Queen Diva then goes on to run down what a horrible job our GM, AJ Lee is doing, especially the stipulation last week where Dolph Ziggler could have lost his Money in the Bank contract. She dubs this a misuse of power, and “completely unfair!” Vickie claims no one has the guts to speak up to AJ… except for her, so she begs the Board of Directors to put Raw back in her hands! After calling AJ a mentally deranged child, our GM’s music hits to a tremendous ovation, as she skips out in her finest business suit. She circles the ring and then steps inside, where she notions to be handed the microphone. As Vickie does so, AJ proceeds to slap her across the face and pounce on her! Catfight! AJ pulls no punches as they brawl around the ring until Vickie manages to slide out and scurry up the ramp to the back! AJ is left in the ring making her wonderful crazy chick faces as the crowd chants “YES! YES! YES!” in support of her!
Thoughts: What an interesting night! In terms of the match, I thought Layla and Natalya did fine together, but they were definitely overshadowed by Vickie being there so it kind of took away from what they were trying to do. I’m not personally a fan of Layla dancing in her matches, but I don’t blame her at all because she’s not given any time to show personality so she’s trying to incorporate something different which I can appreciate. As always, I love Layla and Natalya’s chemistry, but it can’t compare to their Superstars showing a few weeks ago (obviously due to the time). Speaking of time though, I’m again happy with what we got in terms of the time allotted. Singles matches on Raw don’t need to be 10 minutes for me to be into them, and to be honest, unless it’s someone the crowd connects to, singles matches that go a long time can feel very slow. Two to three minutes for a singles match on Raw, diva wise, is fine by me because it doesn’t feel that short when you’re watching it.
Now, Vickie and AJ completely owned it out there. I always felt like you can accomplish more in a segment than a match when it comes to the Divas, and I think that was sort of proven tonight. The crowd reception to AJ was stellar, and pitting her against one of the most over heels is only going to further it. I would absolutely love an AJ/Vickie feud, sort of like when Stephanie feuded with Sable during her reign as GM. Obviously this will be different because it would be for the role of authority and not Vince’s daughter vs. Vince’s mistress (one of my absolute favorite storylines ever btw), but I think using AJ and Vickie against one another could definitely bring the crowds into Divas if you then use them with other females when it’s over. They aren’t dropping the ball with AJ like they did Eve, which is phenomenal because as much as I loved the Summer storyline with Punk, Bryan, Kane, and her, that thought always ran through by head of if she would be on the backburner in a few months. Thankfully, that’s not the case and I hope to see more of the GM vs. the Queen Diva in the future!
