Welcome to a very special SUPER SmackDown Redux! This week, the Divas of Doom (Natalya and Beth Phoenix) take on the team of Alicia Fox and the Divas Champion, Kelly Kelly in tag team action (with Aksana as ring announcer!). Can DOD back up their words and put Kelly and Alicia in their places or will the champ come out on top once again? Check out the match below:
Out first are the Divas of Doom, looking stoic as usual. While Nattie is in her usual pink and black attire, Beth is sporting a darker, more subdued version of her SummerSlam gear and it looks pretty good. Kelly and the newly babyfaced Alicia Fox are out next, playing to the crowd. Is it just me or are Alicia’s face mannerisms nearly identical to her heel ones? Ahem. Anyhoo…
Both teams take their places and the official signals for the bell, kicking off our tag team match for the night. Kelly and Natalya start the match for their respective teams with a lockup. Natalya muscles Kelly into the corner, prompting the referee to call for the break. While Nattie is distracted, Kelly slaps her across the face, which only upsets her. Nattie goes for a clothesline, but Kelly dodges and takes her down with a Thesz Press, followed by a few punches.
After a stiff forearm, Kelly attempts to whip Nattie across the ring, but it gets reversed. Kelly goes for a headscissors out of the corner, but Natalya catches her and drops her flat out her face, turning the tide of the match. With the champion dazed, Natalya drags her to her corner and tags in the Glamazon.
The Divas of Doom keep the heat on Kelly Kelly, flattening her with a double team shoulder block for a near fall. Frustrated, Beth Phoenix throws Kelly onto the second rope and starts pounding on her. The referee manages to pull her away, which gives Natalya a chance to land a cheap kick to the face of the champion, allowing Beth to get another near fall.
Kelly tries to fight out of the grasp of the Glamazon, but Beth quickly puts an end to that and lifts Kelly up for a slam. Fortunately for Kelly, she manages to escapes and makes the hot tag to the fresh Alicia Fox.
Beth tries to cut Alicia off at the pass with a clothesline, but Alicia blocks it and sends her reeling with a forearm. Taking full advantage of Phoenix rare moment of weakness, Alicia heads to the top rope and lands a high crossbody. Beth tries to slow Fox’s momentum by reversing her Irish Whip, but Alicia leaps to the second rope and land a (slightly awkward) back elbow, taking Beth off of her feet once again.
With Beth incapacitated, Alicia knocks Natalya off of the apron, before taking landing a high kick to the head of Beth Phoenix. Alicia launches herself off of the ropes, looking to finish Phoenix off with a scissor kick, but gets blasted with a double axe-handle to the chest. Wasting no time, Beth lifts Alicia off of the mat and lays her out with a Glam Slam, picking up the win for her team.
Pretty good match for the Divas on this week’s SmackDown. I really thought Kelly did a good job as the babyface in peril. She took the brunt of the offense from Beth and Nattie and didn’t need to resort to her typical moveset, which is a refreshing change of pace. I thought things got a bit awkward and sloppy when Alicia hit the ring, but I’ll chalk it up to her adjusting to a different moveset as a babyface for now.
As always, Beth and Nattie were great in the ring, but as characters I feel like they’re slowly but surely becoming all sizzle, but no steak. If the Divas of Doom are going to be a dominant force in the Divas division, they need to do something big. Standing on the ramp clapping and the occasional vignette just isn’t cutting it anymore.
With only three weeks left until Night of Champions, I hope WWE can really give us some real direction and development in this DOD/Kelly feud. While I can’t speak for everyone, this rivalry has gone from a raging fire to fizzling flame in a matter of weeks. Let’s hope things make a change for the better in the coming weeks.
