killeroflegends

There seems to be a WWE trade going on. In terms of divas, Raw gains Alicia Fox and Gail Kim. ECW gains Brie and Nikki. Smackdown gains Natalya, with the rest of the Hart Dynasty. WWE.com has the details.

The diva action tonight featured a fatal four-way match to see who will face Maryse at Night of Champions for the Diva’s Championship. Mickie James vs. Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix vs. Rosa. Maryse was on commentary. She talked a bit about The Miz and other things. A little too much away from what was involved in the match, especially with her ignoring Mickie James after the match to still play “Talk To The Hand” with the commentators. Going back to the match itself, it had some good moments. All four women were involved in a submission stack. Beth hit Kelly Kelly with the Glamslam. There were also a few sloppy spots, however. Rosa did not take Mickie’s DDT in the end very well. On the other hand, the match did feature Beth and Rosa going at it a bit, as well as Mickie and Kelly. That is always a little fresh. As I mentioned before, Mickie hit her DDT on Rosa. That gave her the win for the right to face Maryse. It was also nice to see Mickie check on Kelly Kelly after the match. Friendship is still there. Mickie finally will get her official chance to win gold again. History will not be on the line, but still something.

Yes, I am going to be eating my words. The first woman to win the Diva’s Championship has made history again. Michelle McCool defeated Melina tonight at The Bash to become the first to have held both the Women’s Championship and the Diva’s Championship. I did not think it would happen this quickly. I do not think I am the only one.

The match quality itself was fine. Melina made use of some good selling. Both divas had their moments in the match. Alicia Fox did indeed prove instrumental in McCool winning. Michelle McCool wins it with her Faithbreaker.

Melina will get her rematch. What will happen then? A topic for another day. It fails in consideration to the major point that Michelle McCool has made history once again. She could lose her title in a special match on Raw tomorrow, but it would not change the fact that she did make history again. I believe this booking made Melina look somewhat weak. McCool had been looking strong for the past few weeks. She looked strong in the match performance tonight. Melina did get a number of wins since going to Smackdown, but it is like the air started to be let out of the balloon recently. Her momentum just went away. She does have a point on her side that she did not lose cleanly, which saves her a bit of credibility. It seems that too much may be being done to make McCool look like a top heel.

There are a lot of other topics that branch out of this that I know others are discussing or thinking about and I hope to get too as well. Where does this leave Maryse’s feud with Mickie James? Was it even worth it to mention Mickie wanting to make the history McCool already made? Are there similarities between Michelle McCool and Trish Stratus? McCool is the next top pick for the WWE? I said it before, I do not think McCool needed to win it this fast. Nevertheless, she is the new Women’s Champion and has made a giant piece of proud history…again.

After so much time, the match is finally going to happen. For the WWE Women’s Championship, Melina defends against Michelle McCool. More importantly, history is on the line. Fans have been speculating on it before the WWE even started teasing it after the draft sent Melina to Smacdown. If Michelle McCool wins, she will be the first diva to have held both the Diva’s Championship and Women’s Championship. That is what makes this match huge.

Will it happen? What signs are pointing to McCool winning the title? She has been built back up since April. With only very few bumps on the road, including one pinfall loss to Melina in a tag match, she has been on a great roll. She has pinned Melina herself. She has pinned Gail Kim, the second top face on Smackdown in terms of skill in the ring. She has attacked Melina after matches. Those are the facts the fans can see for themselves. What are the deeper questions the WWE will be considering? How long has Melina been Champion? Since January. Five months is not a bad length for a title reign for a diva. Four to six months has been the regular length for the past reigns, excluding the reign of the current Diva’s Champion, who held the title through an injury. It may just be time for the title to change hands on Smackdown. If Michelle McCool still has that supposed pull backstage, she may be pushing to get the title. Is there a chance the WWE lost some love for Melina over her crying around the time of the draft? Without even looking it like that, now may be the time to put it on a heel. Who can a face feud with when there are only two heels available, and one is currently already in the title picture. Imagine scenarios of Batista always getting his title shots. Consider how often Edge is in the title scene or main event at pay-per-views. How would that look on Smackdown for the women? Michelle McCool has a few options to feud with, even Maria or Eve. She was the first to hold the Diva’s Championship. History can belong to her again at The Bash.

What does Melina have going for her? How about the fact that she does not have the momentum going into the big match? As I always look at when I give a prediction, the person with the momentum usually ends up losing. Does not always happen, but has happened frequently in the past. Also look at how Melina has been treated throughout the entire feud. If she has been made to look like a loser the entire time, she would surely have to win at the big match. Otherwise, she ends up losing a bit of credibility and news sites will be talking about her being in the doghouse and getting buried. As I mentioned before, Melina has not been looking too bad herself in this feud. She did pin McCool herself. She beat Alicia Fox. However, she also took a loss to Layla. She got beaten down by McCool and just laid there while McCool talked about making history. All that has to make her itching to win. In terms of booking, it may mean that she will shut Michelle McCool up this Sunday.

I expect the match quality to be good and solid. No fancy ring psychology or reasons to waste time here. The face is focused on defending her title. The heel wants it. However, Alicia Fox will be there. I was wrong about Rosa getting involved at the Royal Rumble match between Beth and Melina, but the WWE seems to be pushing Alicia into this picture. Her involvement will either successfully lead to McCool winning or inadvertently cause the loss. To get right to it, I believe Melina will retain the title here. Many diva title feuds have the Champion retain the first time, but lose the second. Night of Champions may be the place to have McCool win it. She has just been looking too strong recently. Besides that, I just have doubts about the WWE letting a heel make history before a face. Yes, heel Chris Jericho was the first Undisputed Champion. Face McCool, however, was the first Diva’s Champion. It can go either way. Maybe it is the Mickie James fan in me that is manipulating my heart, but I just cannot see it. If McCool still has her pull, and if she wants it, it may be going to her. The feud between Mickie James and Maryse can carry on using the idea that Maryse fears Mickie James and needs to overcome her, while Mickie still wants to be Diva’s Champion. I do not think that would be a fair way to have the race. It would be more interesting to have both women going to make that history competing against each other, as well as the respective Champions, as they race into Night of Champions. Something special may be worked out there. Again, I’m placing my money on Melina retaining.

Smackdown featured Michelle McCool and Alicia Fox taking on Melina and Gail Kim this week. This same match happened a few weeks ago, with Melina pinning McCool herself after hitting her finisher. This time around, Michelle McCool was the one who got the pinfall. She pinned Gail Kim. That gives her the momentum going into The Bash in a few days. I will say more on that next time. Tonight’s match itself was pretty good. It was given some time to allow all four women to get involved, and it helps that all are sound enough to handle themselves in the ring. Melina sold a kick to the mouth for a good amount of time. Gail Kim looked pretty good. McCool pinned her after hitting her own finisher.

Without spoiling much of what will happen on Smackdown, this has been a prolific week for Vince McMahon. Raw no longer has Donald Trump as an owner. Raw is still without a GM. Vince will be on Smackdown. What about ECW? Is he not going to shake things up for the woman meant to be only the interim GM, Tiffany?

This inquiry comes from mainly curiosity. I am not saying Tiffany is a horrible GM. That is another issue. I just see this as the WWE making an allowance for a pretty face. Wrestling should be first for the women they hire. When is Tiffany going to get serious matches in the WWE? She won one huge tag match on Raw months ago. Nothing since. A lack of a face for Katie Lea and Natalya to face is not benefiting them. I have said all this before.

Why not bring a bit of controversy to ECW? The show is too short, true. It pretty much features the same thing every week. Diva action, in and out of the ring, can help shake things up. Vince McMahon’s presence can definitely do that as well.

As announced this past Friday evening on WWE.com, World Wrestling Entertainment released former Women’s Champion Candice Michelle (Candice Michelle Beckman-Ehrlich), 30, from her contract. Her sudden release from WWE wasn’t seen as a surprise internally.

It is believed that Michelle’s less than stellar appearance at the television tapings in Los Angeles a few weeks ago ultimately sealed her fate with company officials. She had not been seen since WrestleMania, but when she arrived at the shows in Los Angeles, she didn’t look “Diva like,” and there were those who felt she was ready to leave the company and move on. As it turns out, WWE beat her to the punch by releasing her a few weeks later.

She told officials she was just about ready to return from her latest injury, but they gave very little leeway because she is a woman and there is a weight issue. The impression on her was always that she wasn’t someone with a naturally thin body, and that she had to work very hard to look the way she did, and when you get older, fighting those genetics gets much harder. In a company where the women are primarily there for their looks, some felt she didn’t have that look anymore, so they decided to let her go.

Source: Rajah, Wrestling Observer Newsletter, PWInsider.com

There you have what the news sites want to say about Candice Michelle’s release. As was the case with Trish Stratus not attending Wrestlemania this year, you can never fully put your faith in these reports. In an interview, Trish denied much of the rumors these sites posted. Whether you could accept Trish’s own explanation is another issue that I will not go into here. Recent reports concerning a female wrestler and a deceased wrestler having an affair years ago caused great controversy as well. I have my own doubts with what I read up there. I think there are holes in the argument. Nevertheless, for the sake of discussion, I am still going to look at the main claim made.

It is all about the looks. I would have liked to believe otherwise in my optimistic mind. Then again, I know better. Did Candice Michelle have a weight issue? I have seen some supposedly recent pics of her in wrestling attire. Yes, she did not look like the typical diva shape. If anyone wants to see these pics, you can find it on your own. I am not going to bury or humiliate Candice further on here. But in my eyes, she was not hired as a wrestler. She was hired for her looks. I am not saying that it is right to fire her just because of a bit of weight gain. This is where I think there are holes in the report’s reasoning. I would like to think the WWE did not base their decision solely on looks alone as well. Candice Michelle suffered numerous injuries in less than two years. She put on a very sloppy performance in 2008, at a time when the WWE was ready to push her heavily again. If you are not in great shape, there is the possibility that you may fail to perform in the ring as well as others. You can become a danger to them and yourself. It goes beyond just taking WWE bikini photoshoots, which that report I cited makes it seem as the only thing that matters.

If you survey the current list of WWE women, there are those who do not look “Diva like”. I will not name anyone. Typically, however, these women who are lacking the look are the ones who were not hired as models, but as wrestlers. I hate how the WWE tries to turn models into wrestlers and wrestlers into models, but that is another story. I do not need to mention how certain of these women lacking that stereotypical look have fans who view them as hotter than the generic models the WWE may push out. Moreover, just because these women lack the look does not mean they cannot bring it in the ring in a great way. That is why they are there. If they ever lose that drive, their careers in the WWE may very well be over.

When Cherry was released last year, I seem to recall talk about weight being the issue. When Tyson Tomko was on the road to his official return in the WWE, weight was once again brought up by some news sites as to why the WWE dropped him again. However, with Cherry, and in my honest opinion, she was not as amazing in the ring as many other women at the time. She lacked the look in the eyes of the WWE, had the skill, but not enough in terms of quality, and just did not have enough support. With Tomko, he was wrestling through an injury in the try-out match the WWE gave him. It is not easy to stay in shape with an injury. And, if it needs to be said, it is not easy to wrestle your absolute best through an injury.

Candice’s situation is not absolutely unheard of. I do not like how reports may make it seem like releasing her was based on her looks alone. I honestly believe there is more to it than that. In any case, Candice is free to get her life back in order. If she really wants to still be a part of wrestling, she better understand the road she is taking. She still deserves some respect.

What I am going to talk about here is probably obvious to many, and they can appreciate what is going on, but I still see some fans not understanding this feud between Mickie James and Maryse. They see Mickie James and Maryse near each other every week and nothing really happening between the two, to these fans at least. Although the Diva’s Championship is involved, this is not a typical “You have title, Me want title” feud. That is the basic structure of McCool’s feud with Melina. Yes, there is the added bonus of McCool having the chance to make history if she wins the Women’s title, but the feud has still been pretty much simple. I am going to talk about the structure of this Raw diva feud and look at how it has progressed so far.

This feud is driven by the fact that Maryse has been unable to defeat Mickie James. As I said before, house shows and being eliminated in a Survivor Series match, yet still not losing the match, do not count in saying that Maryse has in fact beaten Mickie James for this angle. The singles match these two had months ago on Raw and the tag match that came the next week were vital in starting the interesting aspect of the feud. Mickie came out pinning Maryse both times. That started all the supposed doubt about Maryse being able to beat Mickie James. From then on, Maryse has tried to stay clear of Mickie James.

That leads to the battle royal to decide who will face Maryse for the title. Maryse, sitting at ringside, sprayed something in Mickie’s eyes, costing her the match. Kelly Kelly won. That sends the message that Maryse would rather not face Mickie James, as well as getting a bit of payback for the two losses. Kelly Kelly is placed in the feud. Without sidetracking to what this meant for Kelly Kelly, which I have mentioned before, this allowed Maryse to put a barrier between her title and Mickie James, although it was short term. Kelly Kelly got two shots, but Maryse walked out Diva’s Champion each time.

In one of those shots, Mickie James was on commentary. Mickie James did at least accomplish one thing while she was out there. She set herself up as the one Maryse has to overcome. She gave Maryse a bit of respect for being Diva’s Champion. However, she also stressed the fact that she had pinned her twice. She also mentioned that Maryse cost Mickie the battle royal because she is afraid to face her. That point was visualized that same night when Mickie got in the ring while Maryse was attacking Kelly Kelly. Maryse just backed out of the picture.

Similar instances of Maryse backing away from a Mickie James willing to go at it happened more than once. In many of Maryse’s backstage segments with The Miz, the subject of Maryse’s cowardice towards Mickie James has been brought up. Michael Cole is always talking about the possibility of Maryse fearing Mickie James, as well as Mickie wanting to win the title and making the same piece of history Michelle McCool is seeking to accomplish this Sunday. Still, the overall idea is that Mickie James, although she wants the title, is not the one with something to prove. Maryse is. That is why Mickie has frequently been the one stepping aside and giving Maryse the chance to fight her, especially in the past two weeks. I have already noted how poor booking ruined the emotion Mickie would have showed in wanting to get revenge for Maryse costing her the battle royal (Mickie was not allowed to be involved in the direct storyline for that one week), but Mickie came back two weeks after Maryse cost her that much with a little fire to get her hands on Maryse.

This week’s Raw featured Mickie once again fired up to get Maryse, even frequently having difficulty taking her eyes off her. That is a bit of a contrast to the Mickie who was giving Maryse the space to come at her and prove she can take her. In the progression of the feud, that is a sign that Mickie James has gotten tired of Maryse running and talking big on the way out. With her blood really starting to boil again, she will be refocusing on getting the title. Nevertheless, Maryse still has her cowardly role to play.

In addition to making this feud a little less linear than many title feuds for the women, this structure serves the purpose of prolonging the feud. Why is that important? The title feuds on the two shows got started at about the same time. Problem is, the WWE was not going to fit two diva matches on one pay-per-view card. McCool vs. Melina had to get there first, or that was the thinking of the WWE anyway. They chose to officially make McCool top contender many weeks ago. They could have made Mickie top contender with the battle royal, but that would ruin some of the interesting swerves and deeper story the feud did have so far. In addition, in terms of event planning, they did not want to do it at Extreme Rules or The Bash. Having a throw-away match on Raw would not be right either. McCool vs. Melina is not happening on Smackdown on a Friday, is it? They had to prolong the Raw feud so the Smackdown title match could happen at a big event. Things did work out somewhat on Raw. Maryse still ended up defending her title, but not in a match where grand history may have been made. Maryse got to show some character in building her as a heel. Mickie gets to show some emotion as well. The stage may be set for Night of Champions.

To the people who are unhappy that Maryse and Mickie have a feud which does not have them interacting, they are very much interacting. Aside from the obvious instances where they wrestled each other early on, they have been interacting through actual acting. Maryse plays the coward. Mickie has played the one giving Maryse space to prove herself, only for Maryse to back down. Mickie has also played the pugnacious fighter wanting to get her hands on Maryse, only for Maryse to back down, a little bit quicker this time. That sets up the deepness of this feud. I like intricate feuds. This is not the greatest feud involving the divas as main workers, but it is better than many, from a storyline aspect, not necessarily actual wrestling. This is not about Mickie wanting the title and wanting to make history. More importantly, this is about Maryse having to overcome Mickie James. That is what the issue is in many of her backstage segments, the story told in many of her matches, and even the message Mickie James gave while on commentary. Can Maryse do it? Or will Mickie win the title straight away?

Maria, Eve, and Kelly Kelly got to be valets for Trump tonight. More importantly, in a backstage segment, Donald Trump fired Santina Marella. Through television magic, Santino came into the shot a second after “she” left. He was not fired, but his “sister” was. Trump no longer owns Raw, but I do hope this is the end of Santina. Would Vince McMahon have any reason to hire “her” back in terms of storyline? May that be the end of “Miss Wrestlemania” Santina Marella.

The diva action featured Mickie James and the Bella Twins taking on Maryse, Beth Phoenix, and Rosa. Interesting placement of this match on a night of no commercials. It was pretty much in between important segments. Was this many fans’ bathroom break? Regardless, pretty good match. Mickie started out against Rosa. Mickie kept her attention focused 25% on Rosa and 75% on Maryse before starting the action, as she did again later when Beth Phoenix tagged in. This shows a nice movement in this feud. I will get to that very soon on another day. I do not want to be that repetitive. I do find it interesting how Beth Phoenix motioned for Mickie James to focus on her. When Beth Phoenix was defending the Women’s Championship against Mickie last year, Beth was completely absorbed with Candice Michelle at ringside in what should have been a pre-match focus between challenger and champion. Beth made Mickie look completely insignificant, and in a title match. Mickie could not signal for Beth to focus on her like Beth did to Mickie tonight. It would have ruined Candice and Beth’s moment for one thing. More importantly, it was not the story meant to be told in that match. Mickie James was never meant to interject herself between Candice and Beth with that match. The commentators never noted that Beth may be underestimating Mickie. Tonight, this piece of ring psychology was picked up by the commentators. Everyone involved knew that the story was about Mickie wanting to get her hands on Maryse. Rosa and Beth were actually meant to somewhat come in between that. Maryse refused to take the tag when Mickie James was still in the ring. Stepping away from talking about the ring psychology and story being told in this match, Beth Phoenix got a strong showing from this match, as well as the twins. Mickie hit some nice moves. The finish saw Maryse once again avoid getting near Mickie. Rosa tried to take advantage, but Mickie hit a very nice superkick to take the win. Mickie James and the Bella Twins defeat Rosa, Diva’s Champion Maryse, and Beth Phoenix.

Once again, Miz and Maryse had a backstage segment. In terms of “kayfabe” (storyline world), they are not an item yet. Aside from more French, Maryse sent the message that Miz needed to do more to impress her. A victory over John Cena at The Bash can definitely do that, while also serving to easily prolong the feud. Why do I want to see this feud prolonged? It would make it easier for Maryse and Miz to take on Mickie and Cena in a tag match. The romance angle does not need to be revived, but it did fail to propel Mickie James to a higher level in 2008. Cena and Mickie never tagged up. They never interacted in a serious way outside of backstage segments, after that initial segment in the ring involving William Regal. The WWE did not allow Cena to give Mickie James a good enough rub in 2008. Will they do it in 2009?

I have spoken about the problem on Smackdown concerning there being more face divas than heel divas. With Candice recently released, that would have brought the ratio to 4 to 3. Still not a balance, but better. A handshake on Superstars and certain friendly segment with face divas on Smackdown may mean that Layla is turning face.

If this is where the WWE is going, it only worsens the imbalance again. Michelle McCool and Alicia Fox will be the only heels. Melina, Gail Kim, Eve, Layla, and Maria would be the faces. This would not be the first time Michelle McCool has seen a scenario like this. When Maryse got injured shortly after winning the title she still holds today, McCool was left carrying the diva action each week on Smackdown, but she was not so outnumbered as she is now.

As I noted a few days ago, I hope this is some kind of angle or swerve. They can really add some depth to this feud between Layla and Eve if they have Layla try to manipulate Maria or ruin Eve in some other way. If Layla is acting as a face, she can be in a better position to get revenge on Eve for two straight losses to her in singles action. I have complained that Smackdown has fallen a little flat on good storylines, although they are pushing the women to perform better. If they pull of an angle similar to the one I am outlining, it would be great.

In the end, if they choose to run with Layla as a face, it would not be the most random turn ever. A respect motive could work as a slight build. For some reason, I just do not buy it. Angela Fong is on the road with WWE now. She better show up on Smackdown. She better be heel. Unless the WWE plans to turn Gail Kim heel or someone else, the two heels will have to carry a lot.

With the shocker of Candice Michelle being released recently, some may not care about Michelle McCool getting her title shot against Melina. It will happen at The Bash next week. After so many weeks of McCool being the top contender, and even move weeks spent building her back up, the date is set.

I will say more about what may happen with this match next week, but I do want to note one other thing. I missed focusing on Smackdown yesterday, since Candice’s release topped that for the day. A lot happened that I will get to in days to come. Among them, Melina defeated Alicia Fox once again. After the match, Michelle McCool got the better of Melina and sent the message that she did want to become the first woman to hold the Women’s and Diva Championships. That statement from McCool herself just makes it even more official that this will be an honor the WWE will attach to the name who accomplishes it. They gave her the opportunity to stress that there was more than just a title on the line. History is on the line.