This week saw the return of the Glamazon Beth Phoenix to action — but it wasn’t on Raw. Instead, Beth took her Divas Title to Superstars to face off against Brie Bella.
How will Beth do in her first televised match of 2012? Let’s find out…
After we get past the entrances, it’s time for the bell to finally ring as Brie’s sister Nikki (Nikki B, forevs!) looks on rather deviously. Perhaps a sign that this won’t exactly be a one-on-one match?
Brie rather confidently steps up to Beth, shoving her, but the Divas Champ exerts her size and strength advantage by shoving Brie back and the former Divas Champ falls to the mat. Not a good look, B!
Brie tries to run to her sister but Beth is hot on her tail with a clothesline, back elbow and atomic drop combo, followed by a side slam and pin attempt. Brie manages to kick out but this only agitates the Glamazon more as she whips Brie into the corner and charges at her with the full force of her weight. Brie is then caught up over the middle rope as Beth tries to go for a running leg drop using the ropes but as we expected, Brie’s sister Nikki comes out to play, moving Brie and thus Beth ends up catching the hard cable ropes.
With Beth now hurt, Brie seizes the opportunity, taking her down from behind, stomping on her and then choking her out with her leg. Brie now has Beth over the middle rope and chokes her some more until the referee breaks things up. Meanwhile, Nikki plays cheerleader on the outside. Brie with a pin attempt but no, ma’am, that is not enough to put away the Divas Champ.
Brie goes for a stomp, but Beth catches her boot, pushing her back and Brie lands on her back. Beth on the offense now but Brie manages to hit a stealthy neckbreaker to take the Divas Champ back down to the canvas, much to the approval of Nikki. Another pin attempt and another kick out by Beth.
Brie now applies a chin-lock submission but Beth manages to get to her feet slowly but surely, picks up Brie and rams her into the turnbuckles. Beth with a slingshot suplex next, and now we know what it’s time for… Glam Slam! Beth positions Brie into Glam Slam position but Nikki tries to provide a distraction by jumping up on to the ring apron. Beth wisely uses Brie as a human battering ram, pushing her in Nikki’s direction resulting in the latter falling to the floor outside. Beth locks in the Glam Slam hold again and this time hits it perfectly for the win.
Thoughts: Kind of your standard match. Nothing stood out too much, but it wasn’t bad either.
I guess the question is, what’s next for Beth? As I mentioned during the Tamina/Natalya match last week, it seems like WWE has dropped the whole Divas of Doom thing and Beth and Natalya are back to being solos, so what does Beth do next? She’s pretty much faced everyone at this point from Kelly, to Eve, to Alicia, to the Bella Twins. Could they put Tamina up against her next? There aren’t many girls to choose from. I’d like to see AJ be given a “reward” for doing so well in the Big Show/Daniel Bryan angle and get a storyline with Beth, perhaps?
With Divas action on Superstars for the past few weeks, maybe they should just move the division over there? They certainly get more time than they would on Raw. I’d like to see them incorporate storylines and backstage segments into the show.
