killeroflegends

Beth Phoenix once again got a match against a jobber, Brittany Carter. Brittany was just as weak-looking as last week’s victim. Striker once again tried to add a small story to the match to make it seem like Brittany had a chance. She didn’t. How long will these matches continue? They may help turn Beth face. As I have said many times before, the average pro wrestling fan only appreciates 100% offense. What does Beth Phoenix get to do in these matches? 100% offense. They are keeping Beth looking very strong. And since she is not facing faces the people care about, she should be getting the better end of the deal in terms of getting over. If it needs to be said, Beth Phoenix defeats Brittany Carter.

The main news comes off of a backstage segment with Mickie James, Michelle McCool, and Layla. There will be a tag match at Survivor Series. Team McCool vs. Team Mickie. Large tag matches do not interest me usually. This one, however, still has some time to actually be developed and does seem to have an actual story to it so far. Focusing on the segment itself, Layla and McCool surrounded Mickie and mocked her. They said she had to beg for this match. They said no one likes her backstage because she cried when she had to be traded to Raw. They said they will make her life hell. First, of course none of the divas like her backstage. With Maria gone, Mickie is the only face right now. Those heels are not going to like her. And it seems the writers want to play with the rumors of Mickie crying about going to Smackdown. I would not make too much of that. It would not be the first time the WWE has played with the internet fans. The Miz’s whole feud with Cena focused on that. The romance angle between Mickie and Cena, which reports tried to claim was real, led to segments where they teased that Mickie was sleeping her way to the top. It does not seem like the two really were romantically involved in reality, so of course the promos of her sleeping her way to the top were just made up as well. And in terms of continuity, the present storyline misses the fact that Mickie was already featured in a segment where she was glad to be on Smackdown, just like the romance angle of last year missed the fact that Mickie was already Women’s Champion before the angle even started, so “sleeping her way to the top” did nothing for her at all. Why did I even spend time with this minor issue? Because I know some people are going to think that it is automatically real. Whether it is or not, it was obviously an easy tool the writers saw to make Mickie James look bullied in the segment. If Mickie did cry about going to Smackdown, she had her reasons for it, just like Melina did. But you have to keep in mind that it is an act in the end. Do not automatically buy in to the rumor sites. Going back to the segment, all this arrogance from the two heels served the purpose of trying to break Mickie down. It did not work. She handed it back to both of them, promising to be Women’s Champion again. It is interesting to note that she is still outnumbered out there. If McCool and Layla are going to make things hard for her, she may need help. For some reason, picturing Maria run out to make the save does not seem too credible. Will Beth Phoenix, who is being built up for something, finally turn face? Mickie has been sole face on Smackdown for a month now. It does not make things easy for her or the division.

All Smackdown divas saw time except for Maria, who has not been used for quite a few weeks now. That further makes things lonely for the only credible face diva on this show.

First, there was a match tonight between Beth Phoenix and a local jobber, Jenny Brooks. It has been a while since they had a diva jobber like that get squashed. The small woman got no offense at all and was just smacked around like she had no life in her. Why was Beth in this match and not the diva segment later on? First, they are still building her for a singles push. Having her get involved in what was going on later may complicate what they hoped to do. Second, they were only a small distance from Beth’s hometown. And she definitely had some supporters there. Why not have her look impressive since she could not compete on Raw, which was in Buffalo? Lastly, maybe this match was just a nice diva filler? Beth showed more emotion in this match, which is always good. But how will she continue to work in real matches away from her backyard? A Glam Slam is enough to give Beth her first singles match victory since coming to Smackdown. Beth Phoenix defeats Jenny Brooks.

Vickie Guerrero, dressed as a princess, accompanied her man, Eric Escobar, for his match against Matt Hardy. She once again got mic time. She seems to be doing her manager role pretty well. Sadly, her man took a loss. That does not mean his push is over, but if he does go downhill, what happens to Vickie? Is that when we see a climax to Teddy Long’s storyline about being on probation?

The main diva segment featured four women and Cryme Tyme in a Halloween costume contest. Natalya was a matador. Layla dressed up as the late Michael Jackson. Michelle McCool was a devil. And Mickie James was Elektra. I do not like segments like this as a whole, but they do allow the women to show character and can be used to further feuds, which did happen tonight. Natalya used a red cloth to play the matador bit with Shad as the bull. Layla did what she has been doing even before the WWE, dance. Michelle McCool walked around a bit and tried to dance. The devil dances? She just did not care. Mickie James did a nice little routine with those sai (name of those kind of knives). Natalya and McCool did not get that great of a reaction. Layla, considering who she was dressed as, did get a good reaction. Mickie James gets the reaction to win. Like always, the losers do not like it. Natalya and Layla start getting in Mickie’s face. Natalya inadvertently takes out Layla. Mickie takes out Natalya. McCool gets a kick in to Mickie’s back. She follows up with one to Mickie’s face to daze her. That ends the segment. The feud between Mickie and McCool finally gets physical. How long until they finally face each other in a title match? House shows do not count. Will Beth be tossed into the picture? I like how they are treating the feud so far.

Not really much to say. The Smackdown heels defeated the Raw faces in the divas match. It seemed likely that would happen after Miz won his match. Jericho then led Smackdown to victory in the final match.

The match quality was pretty standard. Kelly Kelly got some time in there to be worked over. There were no great signs of friction among the members of each team. That was a bit of a letdown. Pride in what brand you are on really outshines more interesting personal issues? Well, maybe not for Big Show. In the end, Beth hits her finisher on Melina and pins the Diva’s Champion. Beth Phoenix, Michelle McCool, and Natalya of Smackdown defeat Raw’s Melina, Gail Kim, and Kelly Kelly.

Make note of Beth getting the pin, and not to mention against Melina. That is not an arbitrary decision. The WWE definitely gave Beth that momentum for a reason. How long until she does get that title shot against McCool? Hopefully the WWE can make that feud a lot more interesting than the diva match tonight was built to be and ended up, for me at least.

Before I get into actually talking about the divas, I want to say a few things since today marks one year since I first started this blog. If you do not care about the unnecessarily long speech that is about to follow, skip to the next paragraph for my thoughts on Bragging Rights. In the course of the year, it has been great to see that I actually picked up some regular readers. The fact that I also lost some does not bother me too much. Many readers may have figured out that I do not really do anything special. I do not have contacts in the WWE. I do not make up fancy rumors to cause controversy and bring more readers to my site. I simply provide analysis and speculation. I put a lot of thought into what I do, but it really is just my thoughts and my reasoning in most of the things I write. I also have tried to explain certain aspects of wrestling that many fans may not put much thought into, such as selling. But my main goal has always been to provide support for the female wrestlers in the WWE. The WWE is often times the enemy, but so are wrestling rumor sites and certain female wrestlers who do not do enough to help themselves. I do not bash these news sites in hopes that I break their credibility and gain more readers that way. That is just stupid. I honestly feel that many of these sites make things harder for the women, and also men, of wrestling through their use of possibly false rumors and biased reporting of certain things. I have a bias myself in many things I do here, but I am not trying to be a trusted wrestling news site, I try to work beyond that bias, and I will openly admit my bias and hidden motives, if I have any, more often than not. I honestly do not want to mislead anyone. I will make mistakes at times with what I say, but I like to think that I tried not to. In addition to thanking all my regular readers, I like to thank anyone who leaves respectful comments. I like replying to fans who put serious thought into it. I once got a comment from someone who basically criticized wrestling fans for taking this stuff so seriously as to write and read blogs about it. Pro wrestling is not real. Yeah, the storylines are as fake as what you may see in a play. The moves are not actually meant to injure anyone, so you can compare it to the ballet, circus, or any other physical performance done to entertain. That is what pro wrestling is. That is real. The injuries suffered outside of storylines, those are real. The effort and talent of these individuals, that is real. The mistreatment some may face, that is real. And just like people dissect movies, books, TV shows, and a lot of other things meant for entertainment, I see no reason to be ashamed of writing this blog. It sounds like I take this too seriously, but regular readers know that I try not to make my writing too bland and serious. I like being sarcastic, I like mocking myself, and I try to write in a style that seems more like a casual dialogue, not a textbook. I put effort into what I do here and hope readers will pick something up, which is also one of the reasons I repeat myself. Taking something seriously, yet also trying to make it somewhat interesting for an audience? Definitely not two different concepts. It is something I see in one of my favorite divas. I think it is a great quality. To wrap it up, and I promise not to give this same speech if this blog lasts for another year, I have been a wrestling fan for 11 years now and I have enjoyed writing long before even that. For someone like me, who can dream of one day being a published writer, it has been a great experience to write this blog. I look forward to continuing it until the day the WWE finally kills my enthusiasm in female wrestling.

Bragging Rights will feature a 6-diva tag match between three Raw faces and three Smackdown heels. Diva’s Champion Melina, Kelly Kelly, and Gail Kim take on Women’s Champion Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, and Natalya. It is great that a diva match is getting on the card. It is also great that many of the divas who do not see much pay-per-view time are getting a shot. Even the choice of participants does not bother me so much. Almost all are credible wrestlers. Kelly Kelly, the least experienced, got a chance to open some eyes in her match with Gail Kim a few days ago. In that respect, this match seems set.

My main problem is the build for this match. What build? The huge Survivor Series diva match last year got more of a build than this. There has been no storyline tension between the Raw and Smackdown divas really. The Diva Bowl was mainly tension between faces and heels, and that really did not focus on the six women in the Bragging Rights match at all. They had Gail Kim take on Kelly Kelly, but they are on the same team. The only real tension circling this match has been between Mickie James and Michelle McCool over whether Mickie would get on Team Smackdown. There has also been tension between McCool an Beth Phoenix, but that is more over McCool’s title, not what is going on at Bragging Rights. Melina has been busy with Jillian. Natalya has not really been in the picture for this match at all. She is more involved in the tag match featuring the men. The build for the match between Miz and Morrison has definitely been better than for the diva match.

Which team do I think will win? Obviously, it also depends on who wins between Miz/Morrison. The same show will not win both of these matches. That kills some of the anticipation for the big tag match. However, that will mean that either both matches will be won by heels or both by faces. But that is not as out of the question as one show sweeping both matches. This is actually a tricky one to figure out. Both Miz and Morrison are looking good going into their mach, so it is not easy to figure out the winner there and just assume the other show wins the diva match. Raw may seem to have some momentum going in, since Melina defeated Jillian on Raw. Then again, the heels on Smackdown have not really done anything at all since after the diva trade. Just segments that did not really do much for this match. Team Smackdown did not really do much for last year’s Survivor Series match either. They lost. However, I just have a feeling Smackdown may win this match. I am not going to be betting on that.

The last thing I want to mention concerns the fact that it is Raw faces taking on Smackdown heels. I recently wrote about Raw having too many faces and Smackdown having too many heels. Could the WWE plan a turn or two with this match? At least show signs of it? Gail Kim and Kelly Kelly had that match recently. How about furthering some tension between them? Everyone has noticed the title issues between McCool and Beth. Will Beth cost McCool the match, furthering her chances of turning face? I doubt either Natalya or Melina are changing. It would be nice if the WWE did not let this arrangement go to waste.

All Smackdown divas saw time, except for Maria. Even Mae Young was involved in a backstage segment.

First of all, the teams for the huge Raw vs. Smackdown match between the guys has changed a bit. The Smackdown team, except for Kane and Jericho, are all replaced. Why does that matter for the divas? Escobar, managed by Vickie Guerrero is out. The Harts, with Natalya, are in. Natalya said a line or two between the segments she was a part of. Vickie, of course, got some mic time. She seems to be enjoying her heel role a bit. Would it not have been wiser to have Natalya involved in a segment about the diva match? She is in the match, right?

Another backstage segment involved Mickie James, Mae Young, Michelle McCool, and Beth Phoenix. While Mickie and Mae were talking, McCool came in to basically mock Mickie James for not making it into the pay-per-view match. Mickie played it off as McCool being afraid Mickie would outshine her. She also expressed her own desire of holding gold again. After she left, Beth walked in, thanked McCool for having her be on the team for Bragging Rights, but once again voiced her desire to be Women’s Champion. Could a triple threat be forming? I heard some people saying Beth was acting like a face here. I disagree. All that was clear in the segment was that she had title goals for herself. McCool and Maryse also had similar tension when both were heels and a title was in the picture. If the WWE actually thinks having Beth act simply as she is now will help turn her face, they need to raise the heat a bit. I do not see why the fans would have any real reason to get behind Beth Phoenix right now. In the end of the segment, McCool gets a nice slap from Mae Young.

The match tonight featured Mickie James taking on Layla. Although it was a short match, but still longer than what Raw provided this week, it was a solid and good match. Mickie showed some great agility, like she has many times in her WWE run. Layla was solid and worked well with Mickie. What was the purpose of this match? Would it not have made more sense to have Mickie lose to one of the heels in the match at Bragging Rights to give them momentum? How about Mickie/Maria jobbing? The WWE gave Mickie James this match for a reason. They do not hate her as much as some people may think. They gave Mickie the chance to look good tonight. They served Layla to her. This match was not about making Layla look credible for a future push or putting on the kind of quality of a match you would expect in a title match, which Jillian/Melina did not provide this week. This was about trying to give Mickie a chance to still shine. And I can tell that Mickie did not want to waste this match. As I said before, she did some good spots. I can also tell that she did not want to rush this match to cause any major slips. And I think she should be proud of the results. In the end, Mickie wins it with her kick finisher. Make note of that. She knows Layla cannot take the DDT, unless Layla has managed to learn how without my knowing. I often made the same point when Layla took on Melina. What finisher did Melina often use? Layla, as solid as she has become, is still not at the level of the truly experienced divas. She cannot do certain things. That not only holds her back, it holds her opponent back. It is one of the reasons I would never recommend Layla, or divas like her, for serious title feuds or reigns. They still deserve respect for their improvement and good use, but they may frequently be holding major talent back in more ways than one. Mickie James defeats Layla in her first televised match since joining Smackdown.

Just like I did previously with the Gail Kim/Kelly Kelly match, I want to look at how certain news sites give the report for this match. They say Mickie got the “message” from her move to Smackdown? Really? What message would that be? Not to accidentally take a bump that makes you incapable of finishing the match properly (Gail Kim)? Not to sell the Tornado DDT in an awkward way that causes the person executing it to get criticism (Alicia Fox)? Not to bounce into the way of your opponent when she is trying a counter in the same area (Jillian)? Not to be horrible (Rosa)? I have already gone over each of these cases before. Accidents happen. Working with inexperienced women can make you look bad no matter how hard you try. I am not saying Mickie James never makes mistakes. She is human. But you cannot be quick to say some of these spots going wrong are automatically her fault. Going back to my point, that little editorial statement just implies that Mickie James has such a poor work ethic that she has to get punished before she will work well. That logic fails. Remember the Diva Bowl? Not only did Mickie dominate and win, she looked impressive in terms of what offense she did do. It looked like she got the “message” then. I can say the same thing for the match where the divas wore boxing gear. I can give a lot of examples over the past few months where Mickie has worked fine coming off criticism for something. She continues to try. And the thing is, as solid as her match with Layla was, I know Mickie James can do better than that. I know she was limited by time. I know she was limited by who her opponent was. I know she was trying to look impressive and not rush any potentially bad spots. As I said before, no bad spots did happen. But is that how the people who wrote that “message” thing intend for Mickie to work? In fear? Not pushing herself? Always taking an extra step out of her game to make sure her opponent is ready? That would mean having less faith in who she works with. Sooner or later, it would become clear that she is holding herself back. Then again, having faith in the abilities of women like Rosa has only gotten her criticism. And people actually think Mickie James has an easy career in the WWE?

I also want to comment on something a fan who was at the event had to say about Mickie’s match. She talked about it being a good match and Mickie and Layla having good chemistry. I have already given my thoughts on the match and why it was good. But the fan also commented that Mickie did her handstand counter and she did not see her botch it for the first time in a long time. After reading that, and before seeing the match myself, I assumed the spot in question was Mickie’s one-handed handstand counter she does to escape an armbar. Mickie has never done that exact counter on Raw since August. And then, it was a bit sloppy. In her match with Gail Kim, Gail did not hold Mickie’s arm securely out of Mickie’s way. Mickie stumbled over it. As I have said before, Youtube is your friend. Watch the spot yourself. I am not making things up. And that is Mickie’s fault? Could you imagine how horrible the move would look if the person holding Mickie’s hand stumbled and got her head caught in between Mickie’s legs as she flipped? And that botch would be Mickie’s fault too? And in between now and that match, Mickie also executed that same counter at Hell in a Cell against Alicia Fox. Came off fine there. As it turned out, the counter in question was not even that. It was a two-handed flip after Layla dropped down in front of Mickie. That is not even the same exact spot as when Mickie countered the monkey flip from Jillian recently. Mickie was taking more momentum tossing her to the side, and also had Jillian’s head bouncing in her way. This spot with Layla did not have Mickie getting tossed in the middle of a move. Layla was not rolling in the way of Mickie’s hand. Mickie has not done a counter like that exact spot in a long time. Someone with a better memory than mine had to point out the last time she even did that spot. Long time ago. So where does the credibility in that fan’s statement stand? Mickie has not done that exact spot in a long time. The statement does not show knowledge of how the move is executed. It does not look at the finer points involved in individual cases. But that is how criticism grows. Fans do not look at the full picture. When these fans work for news sites or post on credible sites, their opinion is treated with some value and people start agreeing and watching to criticize any and every move a wrestler makes. And people think Mickie James will actually have an easy time ever shaking this off?

I apologize for turning this into a Mickie James rant, but it will be my last one for a while. I just had to bring my point up again about wrestling sites sometimes making things only worse for talent that do try their best. I had to make a point about fans who do not look at the full picture, but yet they are still able to spread negativity faster than anything positive sometimes. Mickie James and Layla did put on a fine match, but if Mickie is not able to shake off this stigma that some fans, many of whom still want to find something in this match to criticize, the fans will soon have something else to criticize.

I spoke about the ratio problem on Raw a few days ago, but Smackdown does have its own problem. The heels outnumber the faces. Maria and Mickie James are the faces. In terms of experience and wrestling credibility, you only have Mickie James. The heels are Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, and Layla. If you turn just one of those heels, everything balances back out to what you had before the diva trade. But who should turn?

Layla? She has a vital role. She is a heel jobber. Because she is lacking much experience anyway, using her for this role is a great option. If she should turn face, who becomes the jobber? Natalya? Aside from the fact that serious wrestling fans will be crying about that, she seems busy with Hart Dynasty matters most of the time. And even if you should turn someone face out of this list, it should be a credible wrestler to give Mickie better support and take the spotlight when the time comes. That is not Layla. Leave her where she is.

Natalya? She is a member of a heel stable. Maybe if the whole group turned face, it may work. But have her turn alone? Why? An angle that puts a lot of attention on Natalya would have to be done to have her break away from her two guys and turn face, and that may help her get more widely over, but I doubt that would happen. The WWE may feel that the two men need a valet. And they may not be too willing to push Natalya too much anyway. If you have not noticed, she does not have the typical diva look either.

Beth Phoenix? If they are already teasing tension between McCool and Beth, something may give right there. Then again, McCool had tension with basically every heel diva when she turned last year. They were trying to set her up as a huge, independent heel. They definitely were not thinking about killing her face character, which was not that popular anyway, but wanted her over as a heel badly. Back to Beth, will this be a repeat of Maryse/McCool? These two heels, once McCool fully turned heel, had tension. No one turned face out of it. For Beth to turn face, the fans would have to actually rally behind her against McCool. I doubt the fans will care enough. McCool will have to bring her heel character at its best, not playing a coward to Beth’s size. Beth will have to show a bit of weakness, either in the ring or in terms of behavior, to give McCool that edge. Although Beth has finally been showing more emotion as of late, I doubt she can pull this off. I doubt the WWE would want to ruin her character like that. How else could she viably turn face? There were rumors that she was supposed to turn face out of her angle with Santino (in drag). I shot those rumors down, and nothing came out of that for her anyway. It was too obvious that Santino would be the one turning. If the WWE honestly thought otherwise, which I doubt, they are more idiotic than I usually think of them. But this is not about Beth’s past failed rumored and actual attempted face turns, this is about the current. And I still think it would not work. Then again, does it really need to?

That leaves the Women’s Champion, Michelle McCool. She was not over enough as a face for the WWE last year. As a heel, Vickie Guerrero can get more heat than her just by walking to the ring. Would it even matter if they turned her face again? Because of the dominant character the WWE has created for Beth, it may be easier for them to create a scenario for the fans to try to rally behind McCool against Beth. However, I doubt that is where they are going. Too many segments are still treating McCool as a true heel. If she did turn, that would leave Beth as top heel. That does not seem like something the WWE may be against doing. That would also leave McCool as top face. She does not have the years in the business or titles Mickie James has, but I strongly believe that the WWE will not have McCool just play a sidekick’s role for long. In the end, I do not see McCool turning just yet either.

After running through all the possibilities, I pretty much came up with no answer. Layla is needed as a jobber. Natalya is involved in a stable that requires her to be heel. Beth may not make a great face. McCool will not be outshined. Nevertheless, McCool or Beth seem like the best choices. The tension is already there. All I know is, someone seriously needs to turn. If not that, debut some face divas, who can wrestle, on Smackdown soon.

Mickie James cannot go on like this for long. She will have to carry the most of the work with only Maria alongside her. She has been overworked since her title push on Raw. Her job was to make the new divas look good and bring some credibility to the butterfly title. You can see yourself how stressful it can be to work with Rosa in the ring. But she did keep it together for as long as she could. She got no good angles to help her work a bit more outside the ring. And with no credible option to take her place so she can get non-title angles now, the stress will only get worse. There is no Gail Kim to provide credible back up. People will complain even more of always seeing Mickie James getting used on Smackdown. Does the WWE realize this? Is that why they created this situation? And what happens should she get injured seriously? Maria becomes top face? They do a rushed job to turn Beth or McCool face? They send Gail over to Smackdown? After the draft last year, Mickie was left as as sole face on Raw for a while. There were rumors of her getting injured during this time, but she worked through it, if the report was true. Kelly Kelly was moved to Raw to add a new face there. You can still see the problem. Mickie James has proven that she is a worker and has a body to take bumps, but the WWE cannot continuously take advantage of that with proper reward. No, giving her a title and expecting her to do magic with less-experienced divas is not a proper reward. She needs interesting angles to keep her character fresh and ease her a bit from working in the ring. She needs to be moved up the card. She does not need to win every match, I will never say that. Mickie knows this as well. And I can see what may happen should Mickie get seriously injured in the present state of Smackdown. The majority of the fans may blame her for causing trouble for the WWE. They may say it is her own fault for being sloppy, and the rest of the same old record they have been playing. She will get even more needless heat. And things will not be better if McCool turns face. Mickie may never get out from her shadow. She still may end up as a sidekick without angles. Mickie James needs to get out of this cycle of title pushes and nothing good at all. But with no other options for credible face divas, the job gets harder.

Almost all the Raw divas saw time tonight, except Alicia. The divas match for Bragging Rights was also announced. And there were no Smackdown divas used tonight? This match is already getting poor build, much like the huge tag match at Survivor Series last year. There was also a diva match taped for Superstars. That may be an interesting match. I will say no more on it now.

First of all, Brie and Nikki Bella, along with Eve, were involved in backstage segments with Snoop Dogg. All they do is smile and look pretty. They show no unique or interesting character at all. And according to rumors, Vince McMahon loves the Bellas because of segments like this? That is so disgustingly sexist. And now Eve is on Raw to join their ranks? Just do a generic modeling job? And you wonder how rumors of female wrestlers getting frustrated pop up? You wonder how some of them actually get fed up and tease retirement just to pop up somewhere else months later? Anyway, Jillian also pops in to do her singing act and talk about getting a rematch. Vince loves women who humiliate themselves too? No shock there. Hornswoggle and Chavo also get involved in backstage segments, as well as Santino, but it will be the former two that will pop up again later.

Jillian Hall got her rematch against Melina tonight for the Diva’s Championship. Let me just say this, if the “punishment” for Mickie James is to escape the show that is focusing more on models, jokes, and guest host nonsense, I am glad she is being punished. Just like last week, the match had  to share a segment with guest host matters. Not only that, Jillian came out with Chavo for some help. That prompted Hornswoggle to get involved, and later Snoop Dogg. Let me step back, I think there was actually a match in between all this. The match was not even as good Mickie vs. Jillian tried to be. It was not meant to be. It did not have the title match feel. Having Chavo out hurt that a lot. There were very few spots at all. Jillian hits one move, goes for the pin, and goes frantic when that one move cannot put away Melina so early in the match. Jillian goes for her cartwheel into the corner. Melina manages a counter by getting her in a headscissors. A solid counter, just not one I found too intriguing. She follows up with her splits finisher and it is over. I know a lot of fans out there actually thought Melina would bring a fresh atmosphere to the Raw diva division. You can switch Mickie with Melina, but if the structure of what the WWE is doing does not change, you are not changing much at all. Melina defeats Jillian to retain the Diva’s Championship.

The show is not over yet. After Snoop Dogg took care of Chavo, the face divas, except Melina, came out to dance in the ring to his new song. Hornswoggle was there as well. Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly, the Bellas, and Eve. So all the trade did for Raw was bring over a few more back up dancers? Just make all these faces even more generic? They are all party girls? I do not predict good things for the Raw diva division. Things may not get too much better, in some respect, when Maryse returns.

Vickie Guerrero was also used on Raw to support the huge tag match between the men. Her presence there was not really necessary beyond to get the Smackdown team further heat and show she still has somewhat of a position of power in the WWE. Will it be long before she is GM again?

The match announced for Bragging Rights is Melina, Gail Kim, and Kelly Kelly vs. Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, and Natalya. Three Raw faces take on three Smackdown heels. I will say more when I preview the match later this week, but let me just say that I am glad they did not have the typical Champion vs. Champion match. McCool vs. Melina has been overdone.

Before I actually talk about the brief segment on Smackdown involving the two new Smackdown divas and Michelle McCool, I want to note something else about McCool and Melina. Does it not seem like the whole purpose of Melina going to Smackdown months ago was just to drop the title to McCool so she could make history? That is all Melina did. She feuded with McCool. She had a few matches with Layla here and there, but mostly either to further the feud with McCool or to fill up space while McCool was out with the injury. Melina had a brief role in Melina’s romance angle, which is left even more meaningless now. She never feuded with Natalya. Once the feud between Melina and McCool was blown off in a title match not too long ago, she was set to go to Raw. I know it is a given to say that a purpose of sending Melina to Smackdown months ago was to get McCool the title, but I did not think that would end up becoming pretty much her only purpose.

With the top face off Smackdown, they needed someone to take her spot. McCool met her on Smackdown. In a backstage segment, Jericho, McCool, and Teddy Long were discussing Bragging Rights and the Raw vs. Smackdown matches. There will definitely be a diva match. McCool was hyping herself up, but Mickie James walked in. She is the top face diva of the brand now. She talked about her own qualifications to represent Smackdown. Since they are having matches to decide who will face who in the huge tag match, they may have a match to decide which divas will face each other. Then again, Champion vs. Champion seems likely. Miz and Morrison are facing each other autmatically. If there is a match between Mickie and McCool next week for the spot, McCool will probably win.

On her way out, McCool met Beth Phoenix. Beth expressed her desire in regaining the Women’s Championship. That would be interesting, heel vs. heel. Would Beth turn face? Smackdown can use more face divas. But will it be Beth? I have my doubts. Will it be McCool? Again, have my doubts. I think they really should have thought about this trade better.

There was a diva trade this week that sent seven women to new homes. The composition of the shows has really changed. In my opinion, horribly. I will get to that later.

First, the big trade was Melina moving to Raw. She showed up the same night to add more momentum to this trade by winning the Diva’s Championship. That caused the controversial switch from Mickie James to Jillian to Melina. Melina becomes the new top face of the show. There is one thing my paranoid mind wants to add. It is interesting how there were rumors earlier this year that Melina was unhappy about leaving Raw. Those turned into rumors about her being unhappy to be away from John Morrison. And rumors came up about her backstage attitude again at least once. As usual, I do not trust the majority of these reports, unless cited by a credible source, such as an interview. But now that Melina is back on Raw, why are these rumor sites not vomiting up reports about that being due to her unhappiness on Smackdown? Why are these sites making it seem like the whole trade was done to punish Mickie James? I have seen other fans make similar comments about Melina. Triple H spent more time on Smackdown than she did. Interestingly enough, Triple H left Raw with gold, and then returned the next year with gold. Melina left Raw with gold, and then returned to win gold straight away. Draw your own conclusions. I just find it interesting, I am not going to try to imply anything about it.

The next big move, announced right on Raw, was Beth Phoenix to Smackdown. She has been on Raw her entire WWE career. Many would say that the Diva’s Championship would look stupid on her. Matter of opinion, but she is now on the brand where the “real” title is. And the fact that they did announce her move specifically on Raw shows that she is still supported by the WWE. Beth fans really need to stop crying. Beth is not dead yet. She may even be feuding for the title very soon.

Mickie James, right after losing her title, gets drafted to Smackdown. She does not get a rematch. She does not get to continue her feud with Maryse. However, she had to be moved. How can Mickie and Melina coexist on the same show? Raw has two popular faces treated as credible wrestlers? Smackdown is left with…..Maria? Surely, they could have sent Kelly Kelly there instead of Mickie, right? That would have made for some good matches on Smackdown. Fact is, Mickie James is now the top face on Smackdown. A lot of rumors are saying it was all a punishment for Mickie’s weight, sloppy matches, frustration, and whatever else. I did not really want to revisit it, but since a reader recently left me a comment basically treating the rumor as fact, kind of an insult after I spent time trying to explain that Mickie James is not usually the one to blame for the sloppy spots in recent months, I may be talking about Mickie James a lot more in coming days. Mickie James had been on Raw for four years, longer than any of the current divas. She finally gets traded, which was rumoured to suppose to happen last year. In my opinion, it is a great move. Smackdown’s diva division is sometimes treated with a bit more respect than on Raw. The least experienced heel is Layla, but even she has stepped up. Hopefully, Mickie can finally shake the bad luck she has been having.

Speaking of bad luck, as I mentioned yesterday, a lot of it was found in her matches with Rosa Mendes. Rosa could not hold up her end too often, which led to Mickie James taking the heat. But Rosa has a nice reward now. She is on ECW. That is sarcasm. It was the smartest move to get her away from real wrestling. Just like taking her away from Beth illustrates, the WWE knows that Rosa is not good. Many rumor sites treated that as a punishment for Beth, and for the last time (probably not really the last time), I stand by the idea that it is now even clearer that it was for Beth’s own good. It amazes me how the WWE did Beth that favor, but continuously made Mickie work directly against Rosa. Mickie James is not FCW. She can only try to help get the woman over and looking good, she cannot perform for her. Point is, Rosa has fallen from grace. One of the last great diva storylines on Raw was Rosa’s debut. That got killed off in a matter of months. Looking back, I am sorry I wished they treated her debut better. They never should have rushed her so fast. I am glad they killed it. I have no high hopes for her on ECW. She is one step closer to release.

Staying on ECW, they lost the Bellas to Raw. I do not know where to begin. In one year, they go from Smackdown to Raw to ECW to Raw. Obviously, they will be used better on Raw. They might as well be on Raw, since they were constantly showing up there anyway. Good to see them staying together too.

The final trade was Smackdown’s Eve going to Raw. No real complaints. They were not building a feud between her and McCool anyway, which I wanted, so she can get another slow build on Raw.

Now I am going to explain why I do not like this trade. The ratios are just horrible. Just mentioning ECW, they lose two divas and gain one who may be on her way out sooner or later. I will not even say more.

On Raw, they lose Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, and Rosa Mendes. They gain Melina and Eve. Unless someone turns heel, Melina, Eve, Gail Kim, the Bellas, and Kelly Kelly are the faces. Jillian and Alicia Fox are the healthy heels. Maryse will return soon. Six faces and three heels? Two of the faces have good enough experience in the ring. One heel has that right now. That is right, until Maryse returns, Jillian is the top heel, apparently. That is another reason why they had to give her the title for at least a while. Without that, who is the leader between Alicia and Jillian? Jillian has the experience, but Alicia has probably pinned more people since coming to Raw than Jillian has all year. Plus Jillian has a gimmick that makes her a joke. For Jillian to be taken seriously for the brief role as top heel she may have, she needed credibility fast. Mickie James jobbing to her as she did was meant to do that. As I mentioned before, even though Jillian’s feet were on the ropes, Mickie sold the finish strongly enough to make Jillian look good. How long will it last, if that is where the WWE even goes? At least until Maryse returns. But I really do not expect to see that many great matches out of this set up. And why does it seem so glamour-orientated? Melina and Eve, the new divas, have that going for them. Kelly Kelly is about looks. Maryse is obviously in the same league. Alicia Fox is there somewhat. The Bellas were used on Raw as models. And Jillian is singing Lady Gaga now?

On Smackdown, they lose Eve and Melina, but gain Mickie James and Beth Phoenix. They gain two women hired for serious wrestling ability and lose the Paparazzi Princess and a model learning to wrestle? It may be that they are really trying to stack Smackdown as a serious place for women’s wrestling. Why would that be a punishment for Mickie James? Then again, there is one huge problem. Who are the faces? Mickie James and Maria? Unless someone turns face, who are the heels? Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, and Layla? You have one experienced face. Almost all the heels are experienced. In terms of number and experience, you once again have a mismatch. Although, it seems they may tease some tension between Beth and McCool over the Women’s Championship. If that happens, someone, probably Beth, may turn face. They seriously need another credible face. With the way the Smackdown diva roster is composed, I would not be surprised if they debut some of their experienced women in FCW there.

Looking at the whole picture, I think it is a mess. Obviously, the WWE were in trouble in that it will not be around six months until the Draft, but many diva feuds had been exhausted. People were tired of seeing Beth take on Mickie on Raw, although you now get to see it on Smackdown!  Melina vs. McCool has happened too many times. The only persons getting title shots since the 2009 Draft were McCool and Melina. No one else was being built up. Mickie James having to work with the inexperienced Rosa was not doing her any favors. There were no fresh title feuds on Raw. The WWE were building them up poorly and just letting them go to waste. They switched their top two faces around. Rumors are saying that Mickie James is frustrated about being traded and how it went down. I will say more on that another day, but keep in mind that rumors said almost the same exact thing for Melina. Just like I said for her, these rumors are pretty much crap most of the time. Beyond that switch, the others should bring fesh feuds and matches, although the ratios are a huge problem. How long until feuds run stale again? In any case, at least Rosa is away from anything major. 

For months now, I have been giving some praise to the romance angle between Maria and Dolph Ziggler. On a show with few divas, a Women’s Champion that got injured recently, and rather stale feuds, this angle provided something for a diva who is not a great wrestler, the very Women’s Champion during her injury, and a few other assorted divas to build on their character. In a way, that is what professional wrestling is about. Wrestling skill and character. The romance angle took a bad turn last week. Ziggler pretty much broke it off.

Of course, just because the two may drift away from this point, that does not mean that the segment from last week cannot have residual effects in coming storylines. Maria and Melina had a small amount of friction at certain points. There can be a reconciliation for that. I doubt any face diva is turning heel from this. It would be interesting if Maria did turn on Melina, should Melina try to say she was right about Ziggler all along, but I still have my doubts. Ziggler, if the WWE still feels he needs a diva to add to his character, can now possibly move on to a heel diva. McCool? I doubt it. Maybe Layla?

Why did the WWE decide to send the storyline into this direction? I am not a writer for the WWE. If I had to guess, I would say they no longer had fresh ideas to push it on a minor stage, and did not want to continue with minor teases every week. They may want to push Ziggler with a more serious, linear feud. No angles on the side. They may want the women’s division to now focus mainly on McCool again, especially now that she is wrestling again. And with Smackdown vs. Raw always coming up this time of year, there may be even less space for Smackdown to really push Maria’s romance angle. Could it be that fans lost interest? With so few interactions between Ziggler and Maria in such a long time, I would not be surprised. And the segments that were featuring Maria and assorted divas, although I can see purpose on them and enjoyed analyzing them as a writer, may simply be seen as stupid in the eyes of some fans. Do not necessarily blame the wrestlers/actors, but the writers and officials. I would not be surprised if all this was the reasoning behind the Mickie/Cena angle ending last year.

I am glad, however, that this romance angle got an actual finish, unlike Mickie/Cena. Maybe it is because Maria is face and Ziggler heel? Still, they could have just as easily phased it out by not having any segments or mention of them anymore. The segment in which Ziggler breaks up with Maria can be used as a good enough point to end it, yet it still has some possibilities to branch elsewhere. That is good. I also find it interesting that Ziggler does not look too much like an evil heel in breaking up with Maria. Yes, he tried to cheat in the match, but Maria inadvertently ruined his match. It is not like he turned on her for no reason or beat her down. Randy Orton breaking up with Stacy Keibler, even though he had a reason in his own mind, was more of a heelish act, in my eyes anyway. And where does it all leave Maria now?