It’s that time of year again! WWE pays visit to all of our fighting men and women of the armed forces, and puts on a bonus two hour program for everyone to enjoy. This year TTTT is being held in an actual arena as opposed to the fresh open air of years past. We witnessed Divas Champion, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, and the Bella Twins (Brie & Nikki) team up for an 8-Diva tag team match against the group of Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, Alicia Fox, and making her return to the WWE ring, Extra co-host and best-selling author, Maria Menounos! Lately, Beth and Maria have engaged in quite the Twitter war, but who can put their money with their mouth is? Let’s check out that match, as well as some extra Diva related segments.
After a video package showing the Bella Twins visiting the U.S. military academy, we head to the arena as the devious duo make their tag team entrance together in a pair of “Bella Boot Camp” shirts. Up next, we have the Divas of Doom, who pretty much kill me with the addition of tissue boxes to their entrance. Seriously, I don’t know who thought of that, but kudos because it’s an awesome touch! As the two of them enter the ring, Kelly, Eve, and Alicia Fox all come out together. (I guess not everyone can get their own entrances.) Rounding out their group comes Extra’s Maria Menounos, who you may remember back in 2009 facing off with Beth in a six Diva tag team match.
The four of them all make it to the ring, as Natalya and Beth offer some tissues to their opponents. Nikki and Eve remain in the ring, but Eve instead decides to tag in Maria Menounos to kick things off. Nikki applies a waist lock to her rookie opponent, before transitioning it into a headlock takeover. Maria fights out of it and executes a headlock takeover of her own! She then tags back out to Eve, as Nikki scurries to the other side of the ring to tag in Brie. Brie charges, but Eve ducks a clothesline and plants her in the stomach with a kick. A snapmare follows up, followed by a devastating kick to the jaw.
With Brie in position, Eve proceeds to set up for it… and yes! Pop, pop, pop, she goes with some booty action, before flipping over with her patented standing Torresault for a near fall until Natalya distracts Eve. Brie attacks from behind and makes the tag into the Divas Champion, who takes it to Eve with some kicks and slaps. Eve tries to kick her in the stomach, but Beth catches her foot. Eve hobbles for a bit, before leaping up with a sick enziguiri and tagging in Kelly Kelly. Kelly heads to the top rope and soars with a nice Lou Thesz Press. She ducks a clothesline and executes her whirlybird headscissors, to the BEST facial expression ever by Maria Menounos. Beth is face-planted into the top turnbuckle, as Kelly capitalizes with a bulldog until Nikki breaks it up.
Alicia Fox then charges in with a clothesline, until Brie dropkicks Alicia so hard, she may have lost some hair on the way down. Eve Torres runs back in and proceeds to throw Brie from the ring, but Natalya blindsides Eve and tosses her as well. Eve manages to hold on long enough to sweep Natalya outside the ring, as Maria Menounos blind tags herself in and goes for Beth. Beth grabs Maria and asks if she knows who she is, before shoving the Extra co-host into the turnbuckle. Phoenix charges forward, but Maria leaps up with a sunset flip and the SHOCK victory over the Divas Champion! Her group celebrates the stunning win, as Beth and Natalya seem downright insulted!
Also, as surprising as it may seem for those of you who haven’t been checking out Superstars lately, Rosa Mendes has found herself busy as of late, managing the new team of Primo and Epico. Check out the two of them as they square off with Air Boom in a non-title match below!
Thoughts: Is it weird to say that this has been my favorite Divas match in a while? Granted, it’s been the only Divas match in recent memory to exceed around fifty seconds in length, I thought it was fun. I was pretty impressed to see Maria Menounos actually working a match as opposed to doing a few spots, and it seems like she’s actually grasping wrestling. I didn’t mind her pinning Beth considering it was through a roll up, and the two had been going at it on Twitter for some time, although I can see why people would see that to be a bit skeptical. I just think that with Tribute to the Troops, they are there to put on a show for the men and women of the army, and storylines aren’t really an issue. I don’t think Beth loses credibility from it or anything.
Also, Rosa, Epico, and Primo are becoming one of my “must watch” segments of the week. Whether they’re on Superstars, SmackDown, or Tribute to the Troops (they are on all three this week so WATCH) they fit together so well, and actually look like a group. I feel like this has really given Rosa some needed air time, and she could be brilliant if they give her the microphone one week or something. I hope these two eventually win the Tag Team Titles because they have got some great matches ahead of them.
