New SmackDown Diva, Kelly Kelly proved lucky on her debut on the brand this week, teaming with new Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix against Team Lay-Cool. The young Diva who was drafted to the blue brand during Monday’s WWE Draft was firmly in the spotlight picking up the victory over Layla. Watch below:
With Michelle McCool and Layla already in the ring, out comes the new WWE Women’s Champion and boy, is it good to see her with that belt! Next we get a special announcement before Kelly comes out with Tony Chimel announcing the newest Diva on the SmackDown roster. Hmm, pretty sure there was no such announcement last year when Melina arrived and she was Women’s Champ. It was however, a nice touch that made you feel like Kelly coming to SmackDown is a big deal — in the words of Kristin Astara, “Fake it till you make it.” Even though we all know Kelly isn’t the best worker, it’s nice to see that WWE cares enough about a Diva to kind of make them a bigger deal than they are and make them feel special.
Kelly kicks things off against an extremely fresh opponent in Michelle McCool. I can’t think of a time when I’ve ever seen these two wrestle even in one of those inter-brand tag matches so this seemed fresh and new which is the whole point of the Draft. McCool immediately side-steps Kelly, wrapping her arms around her from behind and drives her into the turnbuckles before hitting her with a back elbow and stomping into her. Michelle then pushes Kelly taunting her, saying “Come on.” Kelly does, shoving McCool right back. McCool does not take kindly to this and knees Kelly in the midsection. Michelle whips Kelly against the ropes, Kelly comes back with her tilt-a-whirl headscissors complete with scream on the former Women’s Champ — Michelle sells this really well. Kelly then hits a clothesline and runs at Michelle hitting her with a hurricanrana. Didn’t we just see a headscissors? Regardless, it gets a big pop. Kelly now goes for a pin but McCool kicks out.
Michelle kicks Kelly and throws her into the corner but Kelly manages to climb the ropes and wraps her legs around McCool’s head, possibly for another headscissors. Michelle however, throws her over the top rope onto the apron. Michelle screams: “This is my show, Kelly!” K2 fights back with a shoulder block through the ropes before jumping off the apron to hit an interfering Layla with a clothesline. However, just as she thinks she’s got things under control — Vickie Guerrero barges her down to the canvas, not dissimilar to the same tactic used against Tiffany in her first SmackDown match. Michelle now jumps to the outside, grabbing Kelly by the hair while saying, “Aw, poor Kelly” before driving her into the barricade on the outside.
Michelle then rolls Kelly into the ring for a pin but Kelly kicks out. Kelly tries to make it to her corner and tag out to an impatient Glamazon but is isolated by Michelle. Michelle picks up Kelly in a powerbomb position but Kelly hits a few forearms and then manages to take down McCool with another hurricanrana. She begins crawling to her corner but is stopped by Michelle. The two Divas get to their feet, Michelle holds one of Kelly’s legs and Kelly attempts to free herself by slapping Michelle. That doesn’t work so she goes for an enzuigiri which doesn’t even look like it connected. Michelle kicks Kelly, keeping her down and tags out to Layla now.
Layla runs at Kelly, hitting her with a double axe-handle, keeping her down on the canvas. Layla grabs Kelly by the head before throwing her back down to the mat and choking her with her foot. Layla then goes for a leg drop but Kelly rolls out of the way and tags in a fresh Beth Phoenix.
The Glamazon storms the ring, running straight at Michelle McCool, trying to knock her off the apron. She then throws Layla into the corner. Layla runs at Beth and is hit with an axe-handle followed by a back elbow. Beth then hits her with a headbutt before picking Layla up for a powerslam. Layla wriggles free and dropkicks Beth from behind as Beth falls into the corner. Layla runs at her but is met with a back elbow as Beth takes to the middle ropes for a great clothesline. Beth tells Layla to get up and then hooks her into Glam Slam position but McCool comes into the ring, Beth shoves Layla into McCool before kicking her rival out of the ring through the bottom rope.
Beth then hits a slingshot suplex on Layla, bouncing her off the top rope. She then tags in new SmackDown Diva, Kelly, giving her the floor on her first night to take the win. Kelly hits her K2 legdrop on Layla for the win. Not her best K2.
The blonde babyfaces celebrate post-match with Kelly victorious on her SmackDown debut while Beth can say that she is the new Women’s Champ. Life goes on without Mickie James…
This was a decent match and it was nice to see Kelly and Michelle work together because it’s something we haven’t seen before but quite frankly, if this match is any indication of what’s to come, I see myself getting bored quite quickly. I give Kelly her props — she is popular and in that respect, WWE made a wise choice in replacing the extremely popular Mickie James with someone of equal popularity. But as an in-ring worker, she doesn’t excite me. It seems she will be wrestling more on the SmackDown brand but as seen in this match, her moveset is extremely limited. Two hurricanranas and similar move in the headscissors. Kelly is someone who is content with the moves she can do, and she does them well, but I don’t see her growing as a performer. I hope she proves me wrong and she steps up in the coming weeks and months against Lay-Cool, but right now I’m not convinced.
Again, I feel bad for Tiffany and the fans that had begun to get behind Tiffany because she was showing her potential and I feel there’s a lot of growth for her make as a wrestler if given an opportunity. She is an interesting character also in that she’s not afraid to look ‘unpretty’ in the ring, she’s a beautiful girl but she gets into the ring with her game-face on and don’t let that silly skirt fool you. I’d really love to see a feud between her and Layla brew to complement the Michelle/Beth stuff. However, it seems Kelly is now the focal point.
Another thing that I didn’t like was the feeling of a ‘comedown’ from the high that was Sunday’s Women’s Title match. It just felt like, “Here’s the Women’s Champ… but oh wait, here’s our new Diva.” Which one is more important? It seemed like Kelly was here tonight. There should have been something more for Beth as champion — perhaps a backstage segment or an in-ring promo. This would have been exactly the same as if Michelle was champion.
I guess there’s no clear direction of what’s going to happen next and this is the part where SmackDown struggles. What do you do after the title switch? When Melina lost the Women’s Title to Michelle last year, the feud went on and on and began to drag. It seemed like Michelle and Mickie were still going at it when Mickie won the belt earlier this year but her staph infection prevented that from continuing. I’d like to see some middle ground between those two situations. Have a rematch but don’t let it drag too far on. In the meanwhile, hopefully they begin prepping someone in the background that can eventually challenge for the title — perhaps Serena.
