May 05 2009
Raw Diva Notes 5/4/09
Do not shed too many tears for Beth Phoenix and Rosa, the only two divas not to get time tonight. Santino hyped a tag match including Santina and Kelly for this week’s Superstars. Expect to see the two heel divas around then. All other Raw divas got time.
Even though this is diva notes for Raw, I want to say a few things about William Regal. It has only been a day since I talked about him so much, and now the WWE brings him out to start a feud with MVP. Beyond that strange coincidence, I want to note that he had something interesting to say while on commentary. He commented on being left out of the Raw intro. He is not the only one. Mickie James is still missing. The WWE would only leave off those individuals that they feel are not over enough to deserve to be in the intro. Jobbers get left off. Putting Jillian Hall on there now would be a sign of respect, indicating that they may want to start building her up seriously again. Leaving off an over diva like Mickie James is just another sign of disrespect. It is an attempt to further bury her. William Regal and Mickie James. Something tells me that I will have more to say about both in the coming weeks.
The Bella sisters had a brief backstage segment with MVP. Waste of time. The segment was only meant to give them time. Quality over quantity. It is not the amount of time you stick these women with, but what you let them do in that time.
In a slight step up from that segment, Santino and Kelly had a brief backstage segment to hype the match on Superstars I already mentioned. At least this segment had more of a purpose. Santino did his comedy act at the expense of Vickie Guerrero and a match gets hype. In my honest opinion, Kelly Kelly needs to step her charisma up much more. Smiling and acting pretty is not enough. Real charisma is so much more than that.
On a note of charisma, Jillian Hall got a sing-off against Festus on Raw. Smackdown gets a dance-off, so Raw retaliates with a sing-off. I can pretty much repeat everything I said about the dance-off a few days ago, but I will let it pass. I will only say that, unlike the dance-off, which can be used to push a future feud for Layla and Eve, this segment does nothing for Jillian but give her a chance to push her gimmick for cheap entertainment. It is not as good as wrestling a real match, but it is better than what the two sets of divas I already spoke of had to do. Jillian gets a bit of the spotlight. She has a lot more charisma than Kelly Kelly. It is the kind of charisma tied to a gimmick. If the WWE decided to end her gimmick or stop giving her promo time, I do not see Jillian being very effective in the least. Despite that, I do believe there is a type of charisma not tied down to gimmicks or being given mic time. Simple actions can speak louder than words. I have gotten sidetracked by a rant on charisma, but that was the key that made Jillian Hall useful here, and Kelly Kelly lacking something, in my opinion, in the previous segment.
Vickie Guerrero did her usual GM duties. She actually seems to be playing her role somewhat unbiasedly. She did have another segment with Big Show, but their romance has been sidelined in exchange for professionalism. It may be more entertaining to have her character officially be either heel or face. Fans may get confused as to whether they should boo or cheer this woman. Then again, Vickie can get heat with her mere presence.
What is the big news of the night? Mickie James is back in the title picture. The diva match was Mickie James vs. Maryse, Diva’s Championship not on the line. The WWE started building Mickie back up slightly months ago, and now the top credible face diva on Raw, the only real option to put on a serious feud with Maryse, will soon get her title shot. Why do I say that? Mickie defeated Maryse tonight. That is a clear sign of what is to come in terms of feuds. Looking at the match itself, Jared, that Subway guy, did the ring introductions. Nothing more to say as to his importance. The match quality was solid. No botches. No spots of terrible sloppiness. Solid. Was it amazing? No. It was another short match. I am not going to criticize Maryse for the sake of criticizing Maryse, I am not that kind of fan and I do not deserve anyone to value my word if I was, but she really did not impress me with her first singles match on Raw as a member of this brand. Way too much showboating. I have said this before, I am a fan of good ring psychology, Maryse does have a powerful one, but it takes away from the match quality, does not get a great reaction from the fans, does not make the opponent look good or involve them in the act most of the time, does not give anything beyond the “I’m hot!” message, and she relies on it way too much in some matches. Much of her offense in that match looked very weak. I did not enjoy seeing Mickie James have to act like the rest hold Maryse had her in was really devastating. Maryse barely put any great effort into it. Big Show did a better job with Cena tonight. You cannot blame Mickie James for this, as she was doing her best to make Maryse look good. It is like Shane McMahon’s “air punches” on Orton a few months ago. Most of the shots missed, but Orton sold them like they were killer. Back to Maryse, she could have done a lot better with that spot and one or two others. Mickie James got in some usual solid offense. She attacked Maryse right from her first pose, which is a good way to get the opponent involved in the ring psychology. Too bad Maryse still pushed it too much in the place of real action. It killed time in the match. Mickie wins with her DDT. Then Mickie utilized a bit of her own ring psychology. It did not interfere with the match, which already ended. It sent a message to Maryse and all the fans watching. It was not too extravagant or flashy. Mickie simply motioned around her waist with her hands. She is coming for that title, Maryse. Mickie James defeats Diva’s Champion Maryse.
