Jun 23 2009
Raw Diva Notes 6/22/09
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?
Nice blog.
I was estatic to see Mickie hit a lovely Super Kick, just when people say she’s ‘repetative’ in the ring (which she isn’t), she pulls out another finisher. My main problem at the moment is some people calling Mickie James boring, and i’d like to know your thoughts. People say Mickie is just like every other generic Diva, since she turned face years ago, she should have developed her own personality, and right now she’s plain Vanilla. I can’t be the only one who disagrees, because Mickie is far from generic, shes bouncy, perky and isn’t a 5″7 blonde with a huge chest and fake tan, shes beautiful and is her own in the ring. And there are many similarities between her character in TNA/ROH and WWE; she’s enthusiastic, wants to win and always gives it her all. Boring? Far from.
I anticipated that people would complain about Mickie James being generic a long time ago. I wrote about that a few weeks ago. WWE’s new motto for the divas is helping in conforming them all to seem the same. Looking at how the WWE is treating her, in terms of gimmick and opportunities to show her own personality, Mickie James is a generic face. Thing is, there are generic faces like Eve and Kelly Kelly who just cannot measure up to Mickie’s character and charisma. I am not even talking about wrestling skill. Like I honestly believe in, it is not the action, but how it is acted. It is not the gimmick, even if you are generic, it is how the person portrays it. It is usually easy to seem charismatic and showcase what charisma you have when you have a gimmick. When you are generic, it becomes so much harder. No promo time makes it harder. Promo time where you are expected to act a way you are not comfortable with does not help. What I mean is that the WWE is not making it easy for Mickie James to play the character she may like to play, yet she still remains over through her own charisma. No gimmick is needed. She does have her own personality. Maryse has that arrogant sexy gimmick going on, but that gets her no heat. A gimmick like that should get at least some approval from the men in the crowd, but she is still not getting much most of the time. It is as if some view her as more “plain Vanilla” than Mickie James. And some fans may be blinded by Mickie’s psycho run. If she isn’t that, she’s boring. But Mickie still has that energetic charisma that made her entertaining then. People may not realize that. It does not help that not only is the gimmick gone, the WWE does not give Mickie very entertaining angles or promo time. She is expected to act serious and as a threat for Maryse to overcome right now. That will not help her seem as funny as she did in 2006. To put it simply, I would say the WWE is putting Mickie in a spot to seem generic, but Mickie does have her own charisma that saves her from being forgotten.