Welcome to this week’s edition of Unwrapped! As always, we will be grading all of the new photoshoots (or “eye candy”, as we like to call them) from the week gone by, judging them like so:
You, the reader, will also get the chance to grade the “eye candy” yourself by giving your opinion on each shoot and voting for your favorite out of the whole bunch. Now, dive in!
Brie & Nikki Bella‘s Bella Bowl II
Grade: Bland. This is the second in a series where the Bellas dress up in support of the two teams competing in the Super Bowl. This may be only the second time they’ve done this, but it’s probably the 75th time they’ve done the “sexy sports” thing, so it’s nothing that hasn’t been done over and over. What’s interesting is the cute “trash talking” poses–that’s what these shoots should be like. I’m not digging the football pants and heels combo, nor is the beer hat look very cute. Still, it’s nice to see Brie and Nikki play off each other like they do in a few shots. I’d much prefer a shoot full of that than trying to look sexy while doing the Heisman pose–save that type of originality for every chick competing in the Lingerie Bowl. Gotta say, though, that I’m on Nikki’s side on this one. Geaux Saints!
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Jillian‘s Ripped to Threads
Grade: Sweet. Jillian’s style, despite her colorful and over-the-top personality, has always been on the simple side. There’s nothing wrong with that, though at times I’ve found her ring gear choices to be a bit uninspired. This is the first one I’ve really liked–the blue is really pretty, and the stitched portions are a nice interesting touch that don’t look tacky as they could if done in a less subtle way. Her makeup and hair are gorgeous in an understated way. Similarly, Jillian’s poses in this soot are rather simple, but she looks more natural here than she has in a long time. With such relaxed poses, this shoot almost seems the polar opposite of what we think of when we see Jillian, but I like that. Sure, the poses could stand to be a bit more exciting, but I’ll take anything that’s not a “duck lips” pose. It’s this type of natural feel that I like to see from Divas–funny that it’s coming from one of the most outlandish Divas, in terms of personality.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Read more to see the rest of this week’s photoshoots.
Katie Lea‘s Masquerade
Grade: Bland. Ask and you shall receive, I guess. For what seems like forever we’ve seen the same photoshoot out of Katie Lea, just in slightly adjusted forms. Here, it’s not exactly what I was hoping for, but it’s still a step in a different direction. I’d love to know the context for this, just so I know why she decked out in a full masquerade ball costume. I guess that would make for an interesting gimmick, but I’m willing to bet it was just an idea hatched for this photoshoot. In a stand alone shoot it seems a bit kooky, but she certainly pulls off the mysteriousness. The look isn’t the greatest she could have cooked up for the theme, but when her style is limited to varying shades of dark colors, I guess this is good enough. I suppose you can always count on Katie to deliver the weird, for better or for worse. Here, it’s somewhere in the middle.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Kelly Kelly‘s Vibrant
Grade: Bland. Kelly’s another diva whose ring gear isn’t the most exciting stuff. She hasn’t really developed a signature look for the ring, like others have, and here it kind of looks like she had it made from some extra yards of fabric that Maria left lying around. That said, it’s still cute and kind of fits the “sexy athletic” look she tends to sport, however inconsistent it may be. The tennis shoes get me (and I remember griping about them when she wrestled in this outfit a few weeks ago) because they don’t translate well to a wrestling outfit–it looks like she’s lost her boots. I just feel that her ring style needs a bit of fine-tuning and consistency. The poses pretty much consist of Kelly moving her arms here and there–her face never seems to change. There’s nothing wrong with her face, of course–she’s a gorgeous girl–it just tends to feel like it’s a mannequin posing for the pictures rather than a real live woman when you can’t detect more than one facial expression. Still, Kelly does here what she does best: look cute. I certainly can’t deny that she looks cute.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Maria‘s Just Push Play
Grade: Bland. Always up to throw in something new to photoshoots, Maria’s tossed on a pair of headphones, I guess in a reference to her new musical endeavors. She’s always been one for the over-the-top accessories, but this one seems to be a bit much. It just doesn’t translate well to a photoshoot, and looks a bit silly when she’s pretending to rock out to music or biting (?) the cord. The acid wash jeans and ripped top certainly add to the rock n’ roll theme, though, and I like that it all seems to fit together. I just can’t get behind the headphones, though–it just doesn’t seem to make much sense, sort of feeling like she’s trying to sell us the headphones. It’s just another kooky prop. I just hope the next shoot isn’t her posing with a boom box. I’d hate for her to become the Diva photoshoot equivalent of Carrot Top.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Tiffany’s‘s Take a Bow
Grade: Bland. I tend to feel like Tiffany needs to dial it back a bit in her photoshoots–she sometimes seems a little too jazzed and make the photos look rather fake and put-on. Here, it’s the same story. Some of the poses are quite nice, but others are just too pose-y, if you get what I mean. I prefer it when photoshoots feel natural, and it certainly doesn’t feel that way here. Her look is a simple striped dress, paired with a black bow and some rather pirate-y looking boots. It’s not bad, but it’s not that great either. It’s just a middling look. The photoshoot as a whole feels the same way. It’s not great, but I’m not hating it either. Nothing jumps out at me, and I feel that’s the case in a lot in Tiffany’s photoshoots. A bit more naturalness in her poses would go a long way, I think.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Be sure to grade each photoshoot, vote for your favorite below, and tell us what you think in the comments!
NOTE ON TNA PHOTOSHOOTS – I tend to only cover photoshoots with a decent amount of photos. So if TNA has a new shoot with Tara, but there’s only 3 photos, I’m going to skip it. No hard feelings. But if you see any new, sizable TNA shoots feel free to drop us a tweet and let us know–it’s tough to keep track of their new stuff!
