Last night’s Raw from Liverpool, England seemed to work on paper, but in execution, fell flat. A nice break from the standard two minute tag team matches, last night’s Raw instead featured an in-ring segment positioned around Kelly Kelly‘s unveiling of her new Maxim magazine cover. With the Divas rarely getting mic time, this segment could have advanced the storyline, pushing the upcoming Eve vs Beth title match or setting something up for Survivor Series, instead it didn’t really accomplish anything. Well, it made this writer yearn for LayCool, but that’s about it.
Let’s watch:
We see Kelly Kelly with a huge grin on her face walking to the ringside area, and she has good reason for the smile — she’s on the cover of Maxim! As Jerry Lawler introduces her as his “favorite Diva” (hmm, we’re sensing a pattern: The Kat, Trish, Kelly), Kelly comes out to a big applause from the crowd. (Fashion sidebar: I’m not feeling Kelly’s dress.)
Kelly begins giving us an Oscar speech about growing up in front of the WWE Universe and having her ups and downs. That’s great, Kelly, but this isn’t a retirement speech. You’ve still got plenty of years ahead of you. Just show us the cover!
Of course, you can’t have such a joyous moment for one Diva without another crashing the party. In fact, make that two, as out come Beth Phoenix and Natalya taunting little Kelly and calling her a Barbie doll. Kelly’s comeback? “I wouldn’t interrupt you if you were on the cover of National Geographic”. Womp womp.
Beth says that Kelly being on a magazine cover is a false impression of what it takes to be a Diva. “A WWE Diva is more than just a pretty face and a bucketful of perkiness”. Beth and Natalya attempt to corner Kelly and tell her it’s “cry time”. However, before they can lay a hand on K2, out come Eve and Alicia Fox (Fashion sidebar: Alicia looks fierce), making the save, as the Divas of Doom flee the ring.
Alicia & Eve tell Kelly that this is her moment, not Beth and Natalya’s, unveiling her cover for all to see.
Thoughts: Two words: Not impressed. I’m not impressed by the direction that WWE has taken Beth and Natalya, having them come across as a LayCool tribute act, mocking Kelly as they came down the ramp. I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy it. Layla and Michelle McCool were great at what they did because they had the snobby heel routine down pat. Beth and Natalya are not snobby heels. They are physically intimidating, break-a-b*tch-if-she-looks-at-you-wrong heels. At least they should be. The theatrics that WWE had Beth and Natalya do as they came down the ramp fell flat, if you ask me. I just don’t believe that this is the direction these characters should be going in. I much preferred the second half of Beth’s promo, talking about how magazines covers etc. give a false representation of what a Diva should be. It felt more “true” to their characters.
Comparing this to the Christy Hemme Playboy unveiling in 2005, this segment lacked. Trish Stratus had the charm and flair to really put a verbal hurting on Christy (as well as a physical one), but neither Natalya or Beth are Trish on the microphone. That’s not a knock on them, because the Divas can’t get better unless they’re given more mic time to improve, but it just didn’t have that wit to it in the same way as Trish had, nor did it tick the “annoyingly heel-ish and snobby” box like LayCool.
I would have liked to see Beth cut the second half of that promo, and then have them physically intimidate Kelly, perhaps put her in that stretch submission until Alicia and Eve made the save.
I love Beth and Natalya, but WWE seems to be missing the boat on what these characters should be.
And what about Eve’s title shot? No mention of it at all last night. They could’ve done something with Eve and Beth to tease their title match, such as Eve & Alicia making the save, and then Eve and Beth having some sort of altercation.
Cryssi will be back next week, but for this week… Melanie out!
