May 26 2009
Raw Diva Votes 5/25/09
Jillian Hall was the only Raw diva not featured tonight. There were actually two diva matches tonight. That happens now and then, but it is still not a regularity.
The Bellas were featured in a backstage segment with Jack Nicholson, Goldust, and Hornswoggle. If they did not provide two instant faces by being on Raw, I would try to argue that Bie and Nikki can easily be released. The WWE is still showing use for them, however. Twins can still make for some interesting angles, but the WWE is not ready to call on them again yet.
Santino tagged up with a woman he has faced in the past year many times. Santino Marella and Mickie James took on Chavo Guerrero and Beth Phoenix. Rosa was with Beth. No big deal, but I just want to say a quick word about Rosa and her entrance. She has a nice little taunt there when she comes out, but it seems out of place. She was brought in as the obsessed fan of Beth. She is still out with Beth. When they make their entrance, Rosa may benefit more from putting more attention on Beth. Not only may this help the fans give some of that same attention to Beth, but it will keep that angle still going without the WWE necessarily pushing it. That will help Rosa seem more compelling than a sexy shake during her entrance. A subtle move can do so much. As for Mickie and Santino, they were acting like friends in this match. Both are faces. Santino does like the ladies. Mickie tries for her regular entrance, but Santino would like to get his hands on her. Mickie keeps the happy character up. Nice bit to show that they are on the same page, as well as provide a bit of comedy. But I am glad Santino toned down his act overall for this match. It was a short match, which may explain it. The winning side would get to name the stipulation for Santina vs. Vickie at Extreme Rules. That is your Raw diva match for the event. Looking at the diva action of this match, Beth did get her hands on Santino for a brief moment. These two are definitely no longer together. The WWE did build this split up to some degree through having Santina annoy Beth, so I am not going to complain about them dropping the romance angle randomly. Mickie came in the match and got in almost all the offense on Beth, up to when Chavo pulled her off Beth during a pin. This led to the eventual finish of Beth getting distracted by Santino, which allowed Mickie to get a roll up on Beth for the win. Yes, Beth jobbed. Would I say she was absolutely squashed by the speed, quickness, and agility of Mickie James? Not entirely. I said before that this would happen if Beth failed to get over with this Santina angle, especially when another top heel just came into town. Besides that, softening her up a bit may help her before she does get another push. Make the fans want it. On the other side, Mickie’s strong performance was allowed to help keep her still looking strong for the coming title feud. And in the end, had this match been given more time, there would have been time for all four individuals to put more into the match. The actual match, starting bell to ending bell, did not even last two minutes. Mickie James and Santino Marella defeat Beth Phoenix and Chavo Guerrero.
After the match, Vickie Guerrero came out with her crown. Santino announced the match at Extreme Rules would be a hog-pen match. He said amidst more comedy lines, but that is the official match. Santina vs. Vickie and the title of “Miss Wrestlemania” is on the line. I will have more to say about that when I give my thoughts on Extreme Rules later on.
Maryse did indeed defend her Diva’s Championship against Kelly Kelly tonight. The match was actually better than the nightmare I was predicting in my mind. That is not saying much. It was another short match. A lot more show than substance as well. Hair flips from both women. Maryse actually got a reaction from doing it. Kelly’s reaction was better. A few catfighting moments. Maryse hit a backbreaker. Kelly gets Maryse into a corner, does a random flip, then hits her flipping back-elbow spot. Sloppy dropkick. In the end, Maryse gets disqualified for pushing Kelly Kelly into the announce table. Kelly Kelly attacks her after the match. Overall, the match quality was still not as great as it could have been. Too much show, not enough substance. This match actually had slightly more time than the mixed tag match, but Kelly Kelly and Maryse spend too much time showboating. More time should have been spent with some real wrestling. Maryse does retain her title, but not in a fashion I predicted. Kelly Kelly defeats Maryse by DQ. Maryse retains the Diva’s Championship.
I just want to wrap it up by talking about what the aftermath of all this may be for Kelly Kelly, Maryse, and Mickie James. Kelly Kelly won her match. By WWE logic, she is not out of the title picture yet. Maryse and Kelly Kelly may face each other again next week, with Maryse getting the pinfall win. The following week, the WWE will have to start building feuds for the next pay-per-view, so Mickie would have to come in to the picture, if that is where they are still going. The WWE is just extending this feud between Kelly and Maryse until then to fill up the space, and also give Kelly a bit more of the main spotlight. That is my fair analysis from the WWE’s standpoint. Speaking for myself, the WWE dropped the ball. Making Kelly Kelly look strong with a DQ finish is fine to tease a future rematch, but having her attack Maryse after the match was just making her look even stronger. I cannot be the only one thinking that Mickie James was going to run into the ring to get Maryse for the few seconds she was in there alone. Instead, it was Kelly Kelly. I am not complaining because I am a fan of Mickie. As a lover of a good story, Maryse blinded Mickie James last week, costing her a shot at the title, and all that, in my book, should make Mickie James eager for revenge. Instead, she is not even written into this script. She gets placed in another man’s angle, coming out her usual self for the match. She was all smiles. She had to be. Why would she come out angry for a match involving Santino, Beth, and Chavo? As I said, she has been written out of what should be her story this week. Things like this can turn Mickie James stale. You have the potential for a great, personal feud, but the WWE fails to follow through. Are the creative writers that dry on ideas to keep Mickie James in the picture with Maryse for a week or two? Backstage segments are not that hard to set up. Did that special ring intro for the main event tonight really need all that time? Mickie James can show emotion well. Do not let that talent go to waste to the point of being killed off. Hopefully, the WWE will insert Mickie back into the picture with Kelly Kelly and Maryse next week.
I’ve said this before, and i’ll say it again, great blog.
When i’ve had the time, i’ve gone through and read all your older blogs, they’re fantastic. Not only are they unbiased, but they’re well justified.
Anyway, i’d just like to throw out a few thoughts on Raw myself in reply to this blog.
Maryse vs Kelly was awful, and though it was better than i thought it would be, the match was inconsistant, and lacked Wrestling. The fact both Divas needed to flip their hair to get a reaction is also pretty pathetic. Kelly seems to becoming more and more lazy in the ring as weeks go by, sure she seems determined to improve, but her dropkick was terrible. People proclaim she’s trying, and maybe she is, but the fact is her improvement seems to be going in reverse. I’ve yet to see one Kelly match where she doesn’t mess up. My idea here is that WWE turned PG, they needed something to do with her, and they stuck her in training. As harsh as this may be, she seems like a girl pretending to play Wrestler, and what bothers me most is how she gets put on over the likes of Mickie.
Mickie is clearly they’re most over Diva, yet they insist on pushing Kelly over her. Am i the only one who thinks that’s stupid? Are they really that determined to shove a half trained gymnast down our throats? Kellys fans claim she is ‘Hot, Young, Marketable, Flashy’, and that is why she should get pushed and put over Mickie. If my memory serves correct, Mickie is just as ‘flashly’, she’s ‘hot’, and she may be 29, but does that matter? The Womens Division in Raw just seems extremely confusing, one week they’re pushing Mickie, and the next they’re pushing Kelly, it doesn’t make sense. Maryse blinds Mickie, yet Mickie is fine and dandy to not do anything about it? WWE is a company i’ll never understand.
A few years ago they had Trish Stratus, and they found a girl, even better than Trish, just as beautiful, and even more skilled in the ring. She had more charisma, better mic skills, and was near enough perfection, her name was Mickie James. Since Trish left, they’ve been trying to create another Diva like her, but they kept getting Stacys. Mickie was and still is the most popular girl on their roster by far, however for some off reason, they don’t care. Mickie has been compared to the Kane of the WWE, and this is far from true. I’ll never understand the antics of the IWC, however, i can see Mickie taking that Divas title eventually, and taking it with pride.
I can’t tollerate Kelly in the ring, the fact her attitude to fans is horrible is one thing, it’s that fake smile she puts on week after week. WWE can keep trying to manipulate the fans that Kelly is this typical blonde girl who does ‘flashy’ moves, but really she isn’t. I don’t care for Kelly, and the polls at Cyber Sunday pretty much screamed ‘We want Mickie’. The fans are tired of generic blondes, they want something unique, why do you think the likes of Jeff Hardy, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels are so over? They offer something different to the fans, just like Mickie.
I’m tired of hearing Kelly can be just as over as Mickie, aswell as the other comparions from individual fans. Kelly is not the next Mickie James, nor will she ever be. As harsh as i maybe about Kelly, it fustrates me how Mickie gets buried for her. Mickies choice or not, WWE need to wise up here and do something. Mickie might not like Kelly, but she’s beautiful, shes not just hot, shes pretty. She could wake up in sweats and still look gorgeous. She can have different looks, some which are cute, and some which are stunning. Her in ring skills are unique, she’s not afraid to take bumps. Melina was shipped to Smackdown, yet Mickie still dangles on Raw, being pushed one minute, thrown into random Tag Matches the next. It’s a shame, i can only hope WWE creative start living up to their name and do something.
Thank you. I try to be unbiased and fair as I can honestly be without denying my own feelings. If I do make an error in judgment, I like to think I can make up for it and admit other possibilities. But that is something else.
Kelly Kelly does indeed have her fans. All those reasons you brought up for why fans want her to be pushed are also on the lips of Maryse fans. They are two of a kind. Not identical, but they have much in common.
To simply speak for myself, I find Mickie hot. She is not as young as Kelly Kelly, but she is not as old as certain other female wrestlers either. She still has a youthful energy to her. She can be marketable if used correctly. Flashy? I guess it depends on the sense of the word, but I do not find Mickie as coming off as sexually flashy. I am sure she can play the role, but it is not her regular character when she goes out there to perform. I guess I can say she is flashy in an energetic sense.
But if the WWE keeps working at it smartly, the popularity may certainly shift away from Mickie James. She will always have certain qualities that make her unique in my book, so it will be very difficult for any other female wrestler to impress me as much as her, but overness cannot be taken for granted. It may not last.