Tonight’s Raw, being billed as a 3-hour, “viewer’s choice” show featuring wrestlers from both Raw and Smackdown, was destined to be a little cluttered, given how many elements were in the mix. Unfortunately, very little of that mixture consisted of Divas. In the whole span of three hours, the Divas (all 12 of them) took up about 4 minutes of time. That’s a “needle in a haystack” situation if I’ve ever seen one. But, there’s always hope that they make the most of the little time they were given. Did they? Let’s see..
The stipulation of the Divas match was, like the rest of the matches, determined the fans’ vote. The choices were either: a 6-on-6 Tag Team match, a battle royal, or a champion vs. champion match, which would pit Eve vs. Layla. The fans picked the battle royal, and I’m sure the WWE were glad for that (if the vote wasn’t rigged, which it probably was) because that means MORE DIVAS!!!~~~~~. Nothing can ever go wrong with fitting as many Divas as possible into a 4-minute slot, amiright?:
We start with the 64 12 Divas in the ring, and they all more or less pair off. A double-team by Brie and Nikki Bella sends Rosa Mendes flying out of the ring. Sucks for her, but it’s better than when she practically threw herself out of the ring in the last battle royal. Tiffany is eliminated next, falling from the top turnbuckle while pummeling Michelle McCool. Kelly Kelly gets knocked off the ring apron by Michelle while trading blows with Layla.
Gail Kim and Alicia Fox eliminate each other while tussling on top of the ropes, a modified hurricanrana taking out both the deliverer and the recipient. Michelle and Layla stop a Bella Twins attack on Maryse and eliminate the both of them with tandem dropkicks. Eve attacks Laycool, fighting valiantly and hitting some impressive spots before eliminating the both of them by shoving Layla into Michelle, causing them to slip through the middle rope.
Maryse and Jillian join forces to taken down Eve. Eve, again, fights back against two Divas, kicking at Maryse while Jillian has her up against the ropes (literally). Sadly, gumption isn’t enough to keep her in the match, and Maryse and Jillian irish-whip her through the ropes and out of the ring, eliminating her. Jillian is enthusiastic about being one of the final two, and even gets a double high five from Maryse. This harmony doesn’t last long, however, and Maryse, not liking the idea of being a double winner, kicks Jillian and tosses her roughly out of the ring. She’s the last Diva remaining, winning the battle royal.
I’m disappointed that the fans chose the battle royal, because, in my opinion, a champion vs. champion match would have been much more interesting. It would have been a decent push for both Eve and Layla. However, as it was destined to be, the WWE saw fit to shove every Diva into a 4-minute match. I have to say, though, that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. Yes, there was random, sloppy action around the ring, but certain spots were interesting, like Gail and Alicia’s dual elimination and Eve battling back against two double-teams. Still, the ending confused me. Why push Jillian’s silliness when there’s a great opportunity to put Eve in the final two with Maryse and inject some much-needed fire into their fizzling feud? Clearly, tonight wasn’t meant to advance feuds, but with every week that passes by, Maryse and Eve’s feud is losing more and more heat. They need to act fast, or it will be a lost cause.
Another opportunity for great Diva action was thwarted when fans voted for Hornswoggle and the Great Khali to face the Hart Dynasty instead of the Uso Brothers. This would have set up for an inevitable confrontation at ringside between Natalya and Tamina, but we had to settle for a gag match and a rushed post-match attack. This attack lacked the fire of the last two encounters, but I’ll chalk it up to it being rushed. Hoepfully next week they’ll try something new–I mean, how many times can these teams fight each other without actually fighting each other? Several, apparently. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait much longer to see an extended confrontation between Natalya and Tamina; we all know Eve and Maryse isn’t going to be serving up that kind of intensity any time soon.
