This week’s Friday Night SmackDown sees a return match from a few weeks ago, as Melina faced off against Alicia Fox with Michelle McCool in her corner. With just 9 days to go until these two Divas face off at The Bash, McCool made a point to turn up the heat with a pay per view match now secure. Watch below:
The Divas kept it short & sweet on SmackDown this week, the bell-to-bell action wasn’t like the norm but even with a shortened match, the SmackDown Divas utilised their time perfectly. With a match at The Bash in the bag, it was on like Donkey Kong for Michelle McCool as this feud just went from ‘simmering’ to ‘boiling’ with a PPV match on the horizon.
I’m going to go on record and say it: Alicia Fox is in my estimation, the best ‘non-wrestler’ Diva in the roster right now. And by that I mean, she’s the best wrestler of the girls right now who came from a ‘model’ background or a Diva Search background. That group however, doesn’t include Michelle McCool, who to me has graduated to ‘wrestler’ status. You may agree with me or you may not but I honestly think watching Alicia Fox is like watching a star in the making & I think she exceeds the Divas Champion, Maryse too. Yes, I went there and I 100% believe that and stand by it, so test me if you will in the comments. I truly hope Alicia gets the nurturing she deserves and the opportunities in future that she deserves to elevate her to become a top Diva; I fear that they won’t truly tap into her potential because she’s not on the Beth/Melina/Mickie/Michelle level of talent & because she’s not the cookie cutter Diva like Maryse or Kelly Kelly. Right now though, the SmackDown writers are using her pretty well and one can only hope they cut her the breaks she deserves in future.
Unlike their previous exchange, Alicia was the more dominant in this match and she worked very well with the Women’s Champion. Starting off with that lockup into a hair smash, Alicia set the tone and continued it throughout the match. Melina however, did manage to get in a few of her patented moves like the ‘MaTrish’ into the overhead kick. But it was Alicia who ultimately controlled the match, countering Melina’s headscissors attempt into a very nice backbreaker & then going into that awesome submission move where we got to see Melina’s flexibility on show. Melina definitely uses that to her advantage as she is able to sell moves even more and make them look even more devastating by contorting her whole body, as we’ve seen in matches with Beth Phoenix and she used her flexibility here to give the less tenured Alicia a bit of a rub.
Out of the submission move and I really liked the way these two used the ropes for that chokehold and the way Melina did her ‘MaTrish’ across the middle rope and countered Alicia. It’s only a small spot but I think it changes things up some.
Melina then sets up the finish, which looked a bit odd. She starts out by going for a Gail Kim-esque submission move, Alicia tries to counter into a spinebuster but Melina ultimately hits her Last Call for the win, which was executed nicely.
Post match, things heat up for Melina and Michelle McCool as this feud gets taken to the next level ahead of their match at The Bash. Like Raw’s Mickie-Maryse feud, this feud had been ‘simmering’ with no pay-off match in sight, but with a match now booked, the writers have cranked things up. I really liked Michelle’s attack on Melina, that running knee into the announce table just looked sick! It looked awesome when she did it on Eve back in January and it looked awesome here on Melina.
Michelle then takes the mic, a department where she isn’t overly qualified, but in my opinion she delivered one of, if not her best promos to date. I think it was very effective and obviously Michelle has improved.
Overall, I really enjoyed this week’s stuff and I’m so excited for The Bash and that was definitely the objective here – to get fans excited.
EDIT: There was also a backstage segment with Eve, Layla and Maria. Following last night’s match on Superstars, it looks like the trio are now friends — effectively turning Layla face. What a load of crap!
