Last night’s Friday Night SmackDown saw something of a wrestling clinic from former Women’s Champion, Gail Kim and former Divas Champion, Michelle McCool. In what has been a hotly-anticipated match ever since Gail signed with WWE, we finally got to see these two Divas go at it and the result wasn’t disappointing at all.
Oh how the times change. It was five years ago, that these two Divas were on opposing teams in a scintilating game of ‘Diva Dodgeball’. Later that year, Gail was released for the likes of Michelle as WWE decided to take their women’s division in a different direction. But now five years later, Michelle has grown into a fine wrestler worthy of facing a talent like Gail.
This match was rough, it was tumble and it was every bit enjoyable. The intensity of the action between these two and the way they used their surroundings was very well done. There were spots in this match that saw Gail revisit her TNA days where there were no limits for the women, we saw a sick thud as Gail hit the ringpost and fell to the outside. And then we saw Michelle’s interpretation of Randy Orton’s punt kick – that vicious knee, which really looked like it hurt.
But when all was said and done, the Gail train continued to pick up steam as she scored a victory over the first ever Divas Champion which should now propel her into getting a title shot at the current Champ, Maryse. It was the right decision on this occasion, but what does that say about the Divas division? Gail gets a clean win over the Divas Champion last week but she rolls up Michelle in a less defined finish this week? It doesn’t look good for Maryse.
Personally, I liked the finish to this match because it doesn’t bury either Diva and I expect that these two will be feuding over that Divas Championship later in the year, so it sets up Michelle as a strong challenger if and when Gail picks up the title.
The match wasn’t without fault, the inspired double-leg jawbreaker that we saw on Maryse last week was botched this week on Michelle. Another something I missed in this match, was Michelle’s big boot which I think she should utilise more often. It looked awesome on Maria last week.
But in all honesty, you can’t fault this match too hard unless you’re a die-hard and nitpick at little things. This match was pay per view caliber, I know that’s not saying a lot considering the Divas matches we’ve seen on PPV but I would be very happy to see this match on an event like WrestleMania with just a few added minutes.
