In what you could consider a partial rematch of last week’s Superstars match, Gail Kim is again taking on Jillian, this time in a Mixed Tag Team match–Gail pairing with Primo and Jillian with Chavo Guerrero. Watch the match below:
Primo and Chavo start out the match. Primo dominates Chavo until some dirty tricks put Guerrero in control. Jillian even gets a few boots on Primo while the referee’s back is turned. Primo eventually regains control, prompting Chavo to go running to his momma Jillian, grabbing a hold of her midsection. As unorthodox as it is, this counts as a tag, and Jillian enters the ring. Before Primo tags her in (and he really doesn’t need to, I guess), Jillian charges, and he dodges, and she eats Gail’s fist.
Gail blasts into the ring, going on a roll of offense, irish-whipping Jillian into the corner, hitting a flying clothesline. She backs up and goes for a two-fer, but Jillian moves, and she ends up between the ropes and wrapped around the turnbuckle. Gail gathers herself, though, and ducks a blow by Jillian, hitting one of her own and climbing the turnbuckle. Chavo distracts her, however, and Jillian causes her to lose her footing. Gail crotches herself on the top rope, and Jillian tosses her from there to the mat. She goes for the pin, earning a 2-count.
Frustrated, Jillian goes a bit unhinged, grabbing Gail by the head and slamming the back of hit repeatedly against her knee. The hold quickly is reduced into a blatant hair pull. She eventually lets go and goes for the pin again, still getting only 2. She picks Gail up and tosses her by the hair like she’s a ragdoll, which probably isn’t far off from her actual weight–no insult intended, she’s just so tiny! Jillian then just stands on Gail’s face–hey, if it gets the job done, why not? The referee scolds her, and she relents. I like how Jillian is showing a blatant disregard for the rules. There’s not even a hint of integrity to her wrestling, and I like that kind of honesty in a heel.
Jillian slams Gail into the corner and drives a few well-placed knees into her midsection. She brings Gail to the ropes, whipping her to the other side, but Gail hangs on, attempting a kick when Jillian advances on her. Jillian catches her foot, however, and drags her hopping to the center of the ring, taking her down with a clothesline. She taunts the crowd before going for her cartwheel splash, which Gail blocks with her knees. Both Divas try to regroup, crawling to their respective corners and tagging in their teammates.
The Primo/Chavo action commences until Chavo attempts a pin, which Gail breaks up. I’m surprised to see a Diva do that, let alone a babyface Diva. It’s a little thing, but still pretty cool– it shows how dedicated she is to the match. Jillian comes charging and Gail telegraphs it, allowing her to continue her charge right out of the ring. Chavo sneaks up behind Gail and she seems intimidated by him (boo!), backing into a corner. She tries to run away (boo!), but Chavo catches her, grabbing her by the arm. This allows Gail to hit her Eat Defeat finisher (yay!), if a little off the mark, and Primo punctuates the move with a roll-up, pinning Chavo for the win.
The match, like most Mixed Tag matches, featured minimal Diva action, but Gail and Jillian seem to have decent chemistry. They still didn’t get to reach anywhere near their potential together, like last week’s slightly disappointing singles match, but I did like Jillian’s blatant cheating against Gail–perhaps showing some resentment for Gail eliminating her from the Divas Championship Tournament last week? If there’s anything that can help her escape blandness in the ring (and singing in between moves ain’t gonna do it), it could be just a nasty and bratty disregard for the rules. Cheat at every turn, use every second of that 5-count–just use your heel-ness to your full advantage, Jillian! Show us that there’s more to you than silliness.
I also liked that Gail managed to hit the finishing move, setting up for the pin. They bent the rules of the Mixed Tag match (which I think are lame–it would be much more interesting to see some Superstar/Diva in-ring interaction, if only for a few moments before one tags out) by letting Gail, in a sense, put Chavo down for the 3-count. It was creative, and makes what could have been just another Mixed Tag match a little more memorable. I still prefer to see Diva singles matches for Superstars–it allows the Divas to have longer matches and show off their full potential better than Raw’s constricted time space ever will. A Mixed Tag match every now and then doesn’t hurt, but I’d love if it would become a weekly thing for Superstars to feature a singles Divas match featuring either Raw, SmackDown, or ECW Divas, switching it up week by week. I know they’d appreciate the extra breathing room–fans too.
