Greetings readers! If you were expecting an upbeat, sunshine and rainbows type of redux then you definitely came to the wrong place. TLC hasn’t even started yet and I’m already over it. That’s pretty bad, right? I think it has a lot to do with the fact I absolutely hate Christmas and the match I’m going to have to watch is a Santa’s Little Helper Battle Royal. Maybe it’s due to the fact my life is completely in shambles right now and my hormones are all over the place? Whatever the case is, I’m irritated and watching a Bridezillas marathon. At this rate, with my biological clock ticking, I’ll never even get a chance to be a Bridezilla. I’ll never be a bride. I’ll never have a baby. I’ll never write a best selling novel. I’ll never cheat on my husband with Prince Dawlf. My life is falling apart right before my eyes.
And the saddest part of this entire opening is the fact I’m so miserable when I have absolutely no reason to be.
I want to take this time to push my problems aside, wrestling aside, and everything else aside and look at something that’s completely serious. On Friday, one of the greatest tragedies this country has ever seen took place in Newtown, Connecticut. Innocent children and a few brave teachers lost their lives in a disgusting act of violence. When things like that happen, it really opens your eyes to what’s really important in life. No place is safe and every day could be your last. You never know. No matter what is going on in your life, and no matter how bad you truly think you have it, there is always someone out there who is in a worse position than you. Those parents, friends, and families of the victims will never get their loved one back and that is so incredibly sad to me I feel like crying as I type this. Their holiday season will never be the same and I can only hope and pray that one day they heal from this and try to move on, while always keeping their loved one alive in their hearts. Rest in peace to those precious angels and those brave teachers and faculty members that lost their lives. God bless each and every one of you.
It’s amazing how quickly life can change.
All that aside, and I do appreciate having this sort of outlet to get things off my chest, let’s focus on the match and TLC.
In addition to the battle royal, a few Slammy Awards were revealed. Thanks to Naomi and Cameron, Bodus Clay took home Dancer of the Year (robbing Rosa Mendes in the process) and the precious Diva of the Year Slammy went to…
Drum roll please!
CONGRATULATIONS AJ!!! It’s quite hard to argue against AJ for Diva of the Year. She’s probably had one of the greatest Diva years of all time. There’s a great argument in there for Eve as well, but overall, she hasn’t been pushed as much as AJ. I’m very happy that for once, the Slammy went to the right person.
The Battle Royal is next, with Eve Torres providing commentary. She’s also in ring gear, which means the winner of the match will face her later on tonight for the championship. Participating in this match are the following Divas; Kaitlyn, Naomi, Cameron, Layla, Tamina, Rosa, Aksana, Natalya, and Alicia Fox. As all of you saw in the Diva Dirt predictions, Naomi seems to be the popular choice for winner. Let’s see how this all shakes out.
Oh my God. I really can’t believe Naomi just won thing. I’m literally sitting here and shaking my head. Of all possible scenarios, that’s the one the WWE goes with. Geez. We’ll come back to this.
There were a few notable highlights in the match. Rosa was eliminated first which surprises no one. Naomi and Cameron had some nice double team moves, and it was surprising to see Natalya and Tamina work together for a couple of seconds. Eve didn’t sparkle on commentary as much as she usually does, but when it came down to Kaitlyn versus Naomi, I loved how she got up to watch the action. Naomi’s toe-touch leap over Kaitlyn was brilliant and beautiful, and Eve affecting the end of the match doesn’t surprise me. It was her knock to Kaitlyn’s kisser that cost the powerful blond another chance to capture the Divas Championship. Naomi finally gets her chance to shine in competition.
Ho hum.
I believe that Naomi absolutely needs to be a wrestler instead of some background dancer, but I don’t think she should have won this battle royal. Most fans who don’t know NXT or FCW exist think Naomi is just some random dancer. It doesn’t make sense for her to all of a sudden be thrown into a match, let alone win a battle royal for number one contendership. I see a lot of confused people and rightfully so. If they were going to let both Naomi and Cameron wrestle, then they should have eased them into those roles. It’s just senseless booking to have this happen at this particular moment.
That’s probably going to piss a lot of you off, but hey, it’s only my opinion. I’m not bashing Naomi. Anyone with half a brain (or access to the Internet) knows that she is one of the most gifted Divas on the roster. She’s unique, different, athletic, beautiful… I could go on. But she’s not been given any chance to show us what she has except this particul battle royal. That’s why it just doesn’t make sense to have her win it. I have no doubt that she’s going to put on one hell of a match with Eve. If it’s given a decent amount of time, it could be the best televised match of the year.
But that doesn’t stop it from being absolutely, one-hundred percent pointless.
Overall, it was a pretty decent battle royal. Normally I try and erase them from my mind because they’re so awful but I didn’t mind this one. The stupid Christmas costumes got on my nerves, but meh. I’m truly a Grinch this time of year, not to mention just miserable anyway. The action was nice, it was given more time than I thought, and other than the confusing outcome, I guess I can’t complain. At least we’re going to get something new and different. Not my fault I’m not that excited.
Order of Elimination:
1: Rosa Mendes
2: Cameron
3: Alicia Fox
4: Aksana
5: Layla
6: Natalya
7: Tamina
8: Kaitlyn
Holy crap… why oh why does this Divas match have to happen now?
In case you’re not watching live, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reins, Kane, Daniel Bryan, and Roidback just put on one hell of a show. Holy crap. It’s so wrong that Naomi and Eve have to follow this.
Short match given the two girls that were competing in it, but not surprising when they have to waste our lives with 3MB and two stupid face turns for two brilliant heels. Nonetheless, the match itself was pretty hit or miss. It had good spots, and it had a botch, and a lackluster ending. I think it came off as rushed, a bit sloppy in pieces, but I do appreciate how it was put together. It gave Naomi a chance to show off just a little bit of what she could potentially bring to the Divas division should she finally be given a chance to go full-time. She had some ring rust, that was plain as day, but she’s already so far ahead of most of her peers that it almost doesn’t matter.
Eve didn’t have the chemistry with Naomi that I was hoping she would have, but I think if there’s ever a chance for another encounter it will be much better. I think they were so focused on showing off Naomi, that things just didn’t gel like it needed it too. Like I alluded to earlier, Naomi needs to be eased into the role of a wrestler, not given a huge win and a title match. I’m just glad she didn’t win the championship. It would have been terrible to give her a championship just like that. As far as the ending goes, eh. Naomi kind of had a slip up and Eve won cleanly, which doesn’t really leave anything open, does it?
Out of the two, I would have to say that I preferred the battle royal to the actual title match. I liked seeing Kaitlyn and Naomi face off again. It brought me back to the glory days of NXT and it was a lot of fun. There’s not much else I have to say.
To top all of that off, we get an AJ sighting.
AJ’s in her John Cena gear and she seems really excited for whatever reason. It’s probably because she’s the new Diva of the Year, heck yeah! Either way, it’s just a little exchange between cute, adorable, giggly AJ and SuperMan Cena. He tells her not to thank him yet… thank him after he takes what Prince Dawlf holds so near and dear.
It better not happen. That’s all I have to say.
That segment, no doubt, leads me to believe that AJ is going to have some sort of role in the main event, and sure enough, turns out I was right.
I know you people love how I constantly switch back and forth between past and present tense…
First let me say what an amazing match between Prince Dawlf and Superman. They both came off looking like a million bucks and I thought I was going to die when Cena lifted Dawlf and the ladder up at the same time. Geez. When Queen Vickie Guerrero came out to rescue our beloved Prince Dawlf, my heart skipped a beat. We all knew SAWDOTY AJ wouldn’t be far behind. As Vickie readied herself to hit Superman with a steel chair, AJ came running out. Queen Vickie tried to take AJ’s head off with said chair, but AJ dodged and got the better of our Queen.
The catfight was sloppy, but who cares? AJ mimicking Cena was cute, but when is she not adorable? I certainly thought she was the most precious person ever when she pushed John Cena and that ladder over. Prince Dawlf kept his beloved briefcase and I can go to sleep knowing that the wrestling side of me is heaving a sigh of relief.
TLC was a great pay-per-view and a nice way to cap off the shows for 2012. We still have Raw, SmackDown, and Tribute to the Troops, but you guys know what I mean. It’s definitely been an interesting year, Diva-wise, for the company. So many hits, but so many more misses. I’m so fascinated to see who will emerge as Eve’s next contender. I’m curious to see if they’re going to regulate Naomi back to a dancer, or have her break away from Cameron and Brodus having seen what she can do? Will Kaitlyn get a chance to shine come 2013? And what is going to be AJ’s next move? There’s a lot of questions. There’s not many answer. That’s a good thing.
Another good thing is every one who stops in and reads these reduxes. Speaking for all of us, we work hard on what we do, and speaking just for myself, I’m grateful that people even read what I write. I’m also thankful for everyone who has stuck with me, for this site, and for everyone involved with it. I’m not that much of a Grinch that I can’t be thankful for what I have. As I said in the opening, no amount of heart break and personal pain can stack up to what other people around the world are dealing with. I might not celebrate it, but I hope every one of you have a Merry Christmas and a beautiful New Year. And for those of you who celebrate other things, I wish all of you the best for your holiday seasons.
Take care. Until next time… Cryssi out!
