Get this week’s Diva news rounded up… with commentary! This week we discuss Psych, Samurai Girl and the week in TV!
Victory accomplished
At TNA’s Victory Road, new Knockout Women’s Champion Taylor Wilde held onto her title, defeating Awesome Kong. Meanwhile, Gail Kim beat Angelina Love in a match that saw interference from ODB and Velvet Sky.
Doug: I was almost sure Taylor would hang onto her title, and luckily, she did! It’s nice to have a little mix up from time to time. Kong was champion for a while, so I saw it fit for Taylor to retain. As for Gail vs. Angelina, I was surprised that Gail had won. If any of you have been paying attention to houseshow reports, Angelina Love and Velvet Sky have been on a serious loosing streak. I figures this would be TNA’s chance to push Angelina as not only an athlete, but a strong leader of “The Beautiful People”.
Erin: I’m glad Taylor held onto the title – let’s just hope she gets a decent run and gets a chance to get the fans’ support behind her. I kind of wish Gail had lost, just to show some weakness or add interest to her character, since she’s always winning all the time. Angelina Love deserves a big push, too, so jobbing her to Gail probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
Melanie: I actually enjoyed the Kong-Taylor match, but not the Gail-Angelina match. Gail wins another one, she’s getting a feel of unbeatable John Cena or Triple H. Her character is in danger of becoming boring and stale, I would have had Love go over here. There’s so much more room for storyline exploration if Gail isn’t built up as this invincible babyface, so far Gail has won most of these matches that any future match and rivalry loses steam.
More after the cut:
Show a little skin?
In the first full week of Summer Skin, WWE.com posted features on Mickie James, Michelle McCool and Candice Michelle. In week two, we have so far seen Kelly Kelly and Jillian.
Doug: I was a little disappointed by the “Summer Skin’s” this year. I was hoping for something better than the annual magazine, ehh! The photoshoots were pretty dull for the most part. A lot of the Divas weren’t even posing in the shots. Though there were some good shoots, it wasn’t anything spectacular. Anyone could admit, it was less that entertaining for the most part.
Erin: It’s all so dull. I mean, what’s the point of doing it if all you get from it is a few WWE.com photos? The fun of these annual shoots were the great tropical scenery and fun, candid moments you got on the DVD. Now they might as well be standing in front of a prop sunset in bikinis from Wal-Mart. Yuck.
Melanie: This whole thing has been lacklustre to be honest, I mean what’s the big deal about a few pictures and a couple of articles? This seems to be an alternative to the old annual DVDs but these features capture none of that as Erin says, the fun and candidness of it. The pictures so far have been somewhat horrific, with Mickie James as the only exception for a decent photoshoot. All of these Divas have lacked the fun and intrigue of those annual DVDs because we got to hear stories about how the Divas in those days picked their bikinis and fun, candid moments such as all the Divas together on the beach. *Sigh* this is Diet Coke compared to the days of Trish, Torrie, Stacy and Lita on the beach!
Televisual Divas
Two Divas – one former, one current – look set to take over your TVs in the near future. Mickie James is guest-starring in a future episode of USA Network’s “Psych”, while Stacy Keibler has been making the rounds at the TCA panel and the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con to promote her new ABC Family series “Samurai Girl”.
Doug: I think it’s great to see our Divas, past and present, making rounds outside their “territory”. I’ve never seen Psych, but I’ll definitely watch it when it’s on. We are all used to Mickie’s lackluster performances on WWE T.V., so it’ll be interesting to see how things go on an actual television show. As for Stacy’s show, it sounds realy cheesy to me, but I’ve heard that it should be a hit. I’ve never been a fan of ABC shows, so I guess you’d have to have seen them to know what a “hit” is on that network. Hopefully it’ll be something good. I think having Stacy doing work after her WWE career will prompt other retired/fired Divas and Superstars to pursue other careers.
Erin: I know nothing about Stacy’s show, although it sounds kinda iffy. It would be nice for her to have some sort of outside success, since she hasn’t done much outside of Dancing With the Stars. Somehow, though, I don’t see an ABC Family show catapulting her to stardom. As for Mickie, that could be pretty entertaining, since that show’s pretty damn funny, and Mickie can be a good actress when she’s not trying to play too straight. I’ll be keeping an eye out for both.
Melanie: I’ll be keeping an eye out for both shows, Stacy’s show could really go either way. ABC Family has created some good new shows recently such as Greek and Kyle XY, so this show could be another hit for them. Meanwhile, Mickie’s guest appearance will be pretty interesting considering we haven’t really seen her do anything outside of WWE in the same way as the other Divas.
Ready for a Knockout?
TNA unveiled the cover of it’s new Knockout DVD, ‘Knocked Out’ this week. The cover will feature Christy Hemme.
Doug: Now, I’m a fan of Christy, but why the hell is she on the cover? I mean, what has she really done for the company this past year? She’s only been a valet (well, she has wrestled this year, but only twice on my count.) They shouls put someone more fit to put on the cover, such as Gail Kim, or “The Beautiful People”.
Erin: What an unflaterring cover. It wasn’t a good representation of Christy or TNA. She looked like some greasy biker chick. People see wrestling as trashy as it is – we don’t need to further the stereotype. And TNA was supposed to be ahead of the Diva curve, weren’t they? ;P
Melanie: Christy is not a wise choice, if you ask me. She’s hardly TNA’s top Knockout, she rarely gets any television time. I would much rather see Gail Kim, Karen Angle or the Beautiful People – perhaps even multiple Knockouts in a collage.
Television Thoughts
Monday Night Raw
Over on Raw, things seem to be stalling in a possible Women’s Championship feud as Mickie James defeated Katie Lea pretty easily, but the focus was soon shifted towards the men, as Paul Burchill attacked Mickie and Kofi Kingston came in for the save. Beth Phoenix, however, showed that the Divas don’t always have to be second to the men as she defeated Santino and effectively humiliated the Italian “stallion.”
Doug: I thought was okay this past week. Nothing special. I’m wondering “why?”, though. I mean, it can’t be because of the draft, because Raw only lost Maria. It just seems to get more and more dull. Beth vs. Santino was pretty well done. I mean, any woman who can pick up a 200 + pound guy is pretty impressive anyway.
Erin: I’m bummed that the Katie/Mickie feud has seemed to already have fizzled out. They drop things way too quickly, and that feud could have developed into something. Hopefully I’m wrong, and the clean win didn’t really squash Katie’s chances. Beth was awesome in her segment with Santino. I’m glad, too, that she doesn’t appear to be going face. She can stay heel and kick Santino’s ass without becoming a hokey face. That’s perfect, IMO!
Melanie: I actually loved all the Diva action on Raw, I thought Katie-Mickie was far better than their match at Night of Champions. Meanwhile, Beth-Santino was one of those moments that is very rare – something that truly takes the fans by surprise and we can totally get into!
Friday Night SmackDown
On SmackDown, the entire show revolved around the reception following Edge and Vickie’s off-screen wedding. The Divas gathered for Vickie’s “tossing of the boquet”, but a brawl broke out between Michelle and Natalya. Cherry managed to catch the boquet after order was restored. However, the night didn’t get much better for Cherry, as she subsequently lost to Natalya and Vickie in consecutive matches.
Doug: I actually enjoyed SmackDown this week, and I have no idea why. I just thought it was comical. This type of event seem to be more on Raw’s level. I honestly think SmackDown is already WWE’s top show. As I posted above, Raw has been dull lately. The Divas match was bad, but when Vickie screamed “My Turn!”, and pinned Cherry, I was laughing. Michelles’ attack on Natalya was pathetic! It was totally in-necessary. It seems like WWE thinks this is a good transition into the “Bash”, but it was just stupid. It now makes Michelle seem, well, pathetic going into her match tonight.
Erin: I think it may build Cherry’s underdgo character a bit to lose to a non-wrestler like Vickie. It’s not like Vickie out-wrestled her or something. Michelle’s random attack on Natalya was god for laughs, but it didn’t make much sense. Why’d she wait until that moment to jump her when she was standing next to her for so long? Er.. It’s things like that that make me wonder if the WWE plans ahead for ANYTHING.
Melanie: Not the best build-up for SmackDown going into the most important Divas match the brand has ever held, tonight at the Bash. I don’t like the idea of burying Cherry, underdog or not, in a matter of two minutes.
