What I am going to talk about is based on how the diva feud on Smackdown has progressed in recent weeks. For the sake of the discussion, I am not counting what happened at the Smackdown tapings tonight yet. I will talk about that in relation to my overall views after Smackdown airs.

Michelle McCool has the Women’s Championship. Mickie James and Beth Phoenix have recently been on her track for the title. However, there is much more to this story than a title. Unlike many Raw matches for the Divas Championship in recent months, this Smackdown feud actually has more of a storyline to it. I have spent a lot of time talking about what the storyline is meant to do between McCool and Mickie. Now that a third element is here, Beth Phoenix, it is time to revisit what may be going on. Just entertainment? Maybe. There are two ways I want to approach each of these women. What is being done to keep them looking interesting? What is being done to keep them looking strong? Looking strong and looking interesting, not necessarily the same thing.

How is McCool looking interesting? Besides from having the attention on her by having the title other women want on Smackdown, she plays the bully in the storyline with Mickie James. She has a sidekick, Layla, to help her look even better. It is McCool’s job to get over as a top heel. She needs heat. That is why she is being pushed as such a villain in this storyline. There are definitely fans who automatically side with the villain(ess). McCool does not need to play nice and still gets to look good. You can also bring up all the honors the WWE brings up to make McCool look interesting, but I do not need to touch those.

How is McCool still looking strong in this feud? Here, step away from the storyline elements. How is she being booked? It is true that she has not had that many televised matches. However, she does not get pinned often. She has a sidekick to lose momentum for her. That keeps McCool looking strong. And do not forget that she is still Women’s Champion. She retained her title against Mickie James last month. That keeps her strong over Mickie James. Keep in mind that McCool does not need to wrestle and win every week on Smackdown. As I said before, the storyline purpose is what is meant to get her over as a heel, not a basement full of wins.

How is Beth Phoenix looking interesting? How about the fact that she is playing the role of a tweener? Is she face or heel? Who will she side with? Who will she attack? Can you see how a tweener can be a very interesting character? There is definitely potential there. McCool/Layla inadvertently mocked Beth Phoenix once. They cost her a match last week. She has reason to attack them. Mickie James is in the way of Beth winning the Women’s Championship. That is why Beth would attack her. Besides, Beth’s character revolves around her being better than everyone.

How is Beth being kept looking strong? It is 2007 all over again. Since coming to Smackdown, she has not been defeated by pinfall in a televised match unless by a roll up. She is still allowed to look very impressive in most of her matches. Remember how many people she eliminated at Survivor Series last year? More than any other heel. She is still getting wins here and there. That is more than you can say for McCool. Again, what is more important here is pushing Beth as a tweener. Make her look interesting. She is not that over as a heel either. What kind of face can she make? Tease it slowly through this storyline.

How is Mickie James looking interesting? Here is where I do not seem to be clicking it all together. She has been involved in this storyline before Beth Phoenix. She has been the chief victim for McCool/Layla. Is that all? She is interesting in that she is the victim? Everyone loves a victim? In terms of the storyline, Mickie James is needed to help make McCool’s bullying look effective. She represents the face side, which is one of the options for tweener Beth. Will Beth eventually side with Mickie James, or go back to teaming with the heels? She cannot be tweener forever. See how easily I went off-topic to talking about Beth? I am supposed to be talking about how Mickie James is meant to be interesting in this storyline. It seems so easy to say that she is just there to help the other two with their parts. Nothing wrong with using the divas to help each other, but what do McCool and Beth do to make Mickie interesting? Make her cry? Make her get all frustrated to get revenge, but never really get it? Leave her laid out? Mickie looks interesting by playing video games with Maria? That helps the storyline? Really? I believe not. Thus far, Mickie James has not been able to exact any real revenge against McCool at all. I will not even go into my preference for a creative revenge over a typical conclusion of having Mickie win the title from McCool. No revenge. She just swings through the emotions the WWE expects of her. And now she has Beth Phoenix to deal with?

How is Mickie James looking strong? Wins. She has not won every match since coming to Smackdown, but the WWE has booked her to win most. I am sick of her winning so much too. There is no wrestler I want to see win all the time. Besides, Mickie can have so much momentum going into a title match, but then she will lose that title match. That happened last month. She does not get the win when it counts the most. Nevertheless, the wins are what keep her strong. Michelle McCool wins when it counts the most. Beth Phoenix is allowed to look dominant in her performances. These are not always exactly the case for Mickie. When Mickie does look strong in the ring, it is usually based from the emotion and frustration McCool is causing. How would it look for Mickie to get that fire and just lose regularly? I already brought up how the storyline is giving Mickie the short end of the stick so far, but then they want to just book her poorly too? Would there be any face with momentum? I will not discuss whether all the wins are meant as appeasement to either Mickie or the fans for that humiliating angle they created to make McCool look like a bully. I have already said how some fans were not happy with it. But how would it look for Mickie to get humiliated like that and then be treated as a loser in terms of how many wins she gets? The WWE has even had her lose when interference was around. They do not want to kill her credibility too much too fast. For the sake of the storyline, how she wins or loses may mean more than the actual win or loss at times.

All the women in this triangle are being made to look strong and credible somehow. Michelle McCool gets to hold onto the title and lose rarely, or even compete for that matter. Beth Phoenix is allowed to show that same dominance she was pushed with in 2007, taking losses rarely, then only by roll up, and still dominating strongly. Mickie James gets solid wins and no real clean losses. I would rather they make her look better in terms of the storyline than just hand her so many wins. Again, some have a storyline reason. Her win against Beth last week due to the help of McCool’s mistake was a good way to give Beth reason to attack everyone, including Mickie. However, that was for Beth’s storyline benefit. Mickie has only looked humiliated and frustrated in this storyline. She is not looking as interesting as Beth Phoenix, the tweener, or Michelle McCool, the bully. How is the victim, Mickie James, going to come out of this? Retired? I would say that the storyline calls for her getting some kind of revenge in the end, and it does have potential to be very climactic if done right, but if Mickie James is getting all the wins, I cannot see how the WWE will allow her to win the Women’s Championship just like that. I am not calling for Mickie James to job endlessly and cleanly. McCool has a sidekick to take losses for her in tag matches. Mickie can go back to losing by McCool/Layla’s interference, which gives her more reason to keep the feud going and get the fans interested in what she will do. The WWE needs to make Mickie James look real intersting again.

When the whole angle started, what made it interesting for me was to see how Mickie would get her revenge. All the WWE did was give her a bunch of wins, have her fly through emotions, and then not win the Women’s Championship. I really wanted something more creative than that. Now Beth Phoenix has been added to form a triangle. All the attention now seems to be on what Beth will do. Why would interest still be on Mickie in this triangle? She may still be kept looking strong, but if the WWE did not do enough to give her a creative part in this storyline, how likely is it that they will do it now that Beth is here with her own reason to get creative attention? Mickie is left as the victim of McCool/Layla’s jokes. She is not getting to do anything good about it. To make up for having her be the weak link in terms of interest, to make up for making her a target for humiliation, they still try to keep her looking strong? More better come out of this than a title reign. That is Mickie’s reward for her part in getting other women over? How about taking her to a new level? How about rewarding the fans by letting Mickie James be a source of real interest again? Don’t forget to respect your tools.

After all the weeks of talk between wrestling fans, I honestly feel disappointed with the WWE’s effort in Raw. Seemed pretty standard in a lot of ways. That is a discussion for another place. In diva news, there will be a diva tournament to find a new Divas Champion. It is officially off Melina. Eight women will be involved in this tournament. One would assume that would involve all of the remaining Raw divas. One match was featured on Raw, as well as one taped for Superstars.

Maryse, the main heel diva on Raw, took on Brie Bella. Nothing new for me to say in this match. No outstanding wrestling really. The match did have some moments. Finish saw the twins switch places. Maryse saw it, kicked Nikki, and hit the DDT for the win. She advances. Ending made Maryse look like a smart heel? She seems the favorite to win the title, but I am glad that the WWE is spreading things out a bit through a tournament. They should really use this time to assess Maryse. I am still not convinced that she really deserves the title back. In any case, Maryse defeats Brie (Nikki) Bella.

After the match, Miz came out and did a short promo on Maryse. They are pushing the romance angle again. This time, however, the ball is in Maryse’s court to prove herself for Miz. So Maryse gets a romance angle and a serious push for a wrestling title? These are definitely two separate things. The feud Mickie James has with Michelle McCool is directly connected with her title hunt. Maryse can have a romance angle without a title push. Look at Eve/Masters. Maryse can have a title push without a romance angle. McCool does not need a romance angle with Batista going on, while her title feuds still continue. The WWE is really trying with Maryse still.

It has been a while since I dedicated one session to Paul Burchill and Katie Lea. They have definitely been around. They did not drop out of ECW without a fight. Paul and Katie can still be seen at house shows and dark matches. Nevertheless, they are still homeless. With the recent injury of Melina, many Katie Lea fans have been quick to say that now is the time for Katie Lea to be pushed. I want to put the focus on that.

What if Kate Lea, as the heel she is now, goes to Raw and surprisingly wins the Diva’s Championship? I am always bringing up the lack of heels on Raw. Even though Melina, a face, is injured, she will return one day to bring that great imbalance back, unless traded in a few months. Besides Maryse, all the heels are pretty much jobbers and/or inexperienced. Maryse herself is not that experienced. Before I break down into saying exactly how the WWE women’s division sucks, let me just say that Katie Lea can be a credible wrestler getting the title. Just an opinion. Of course, that would mean depushing Maryse from her spot rather quickly. That happened to her in 2008 against Michelle McCool. Maryse still ended up with the title in the end, however. It is possible for Katie Lea and Maryse to coexist somehow.

There is another option. Turn Katie face. Have her pick up where Melina left off. Have her feud with Maryse. Maryse will still have her title reign, but a credible wrestler gets another chance to get over with the fans through a title push of her own. However, then you run into the problem of what to do when Melina does return to Raw. Even more faces outnumbering heels now. It would be best to send Melina to Smackdown, or maybe even Katie Lea. The draft is always useful for that.

Paul Burchill will probably follow his sister. The pairing can make for some good intergender feuds. I talk about that a lot. Cena/Mickie. Miz/Maryse. Masters/Eve. Swagger/Eve. When was the last time we actually saw a good intergender feud? One without comedy? One drawn to a strong finish? Instead of just being a valet for his sister, Paul Burchill can enter the midcard to one day be U.S. Champ. Miz cannot hold it forever.

I spoke about what it would be like for the Hart Dynasty to benefit from Bret’s return, particularly Natalya getting the Diva’s Championship. A main problem I see there, which I do not see for Katie Lea, is that Natalya and her guys have a show. I would honestly rather Natalya wait for her shot at the Women’s Championship on Smackdown. I still see Raw as a joke. Not that I am wishing anything bad on Katie and Paul, but they have no show right now. This can be a way to find them a show in an interesting way. Katie makes a huge impact. Moreover, she has a gimmick to her. Her character may fit right in with Raw, until they decide to kill it. If she is going to be treated as a real top face/heel of the women’s division, which is not automatically the same as getting a title run, they may just suppress that gimmick. Natalya or Katie Lea?

In the end, I already hear rumors of what the WWE has planned. They may possible have Maryse get the title, then have her run through opponents. She can help build Eve up a bit. They may just be waiting for Melina’s return, so you then have the epic feud between them. I doubt they will treat Maryse’s title run like they did the last one Mickie James had, and the current one Melina was having for the first few weeks. Maryse is the star to be built up. Can Katie Lea fit in anywhere in the plan?

They have been teasing the return for Bret Hart for a few weeks. Nice how they then have a segment on Raw in which Vince acts like it is not going to happen. Shawn Michaels had to be the hero to get the decision pushed across. Then again, the message he sent was rather cryptic. What is going to happen? You have to tune in to the WWE on Monday to find out. Forget the rest of that other wrestling show on that night!

The Hart Dynasty got to squash some jobbers on Smackdown to hype the return of Bret. Except for a loss to DX here and there, the guys have been looking very good recently. Natalya did put Maria in the sharpshooter. That was meant to be a move to hype Bret’s return even more.

What are the odds that DH Smith, Tyson Kidd, and Natalya will be on Raw? They should. Bret Hart will have power for at least one night. In theory, the WWE can use that to give the young stable a huge push. The tag titles are already supposed to be on the line, so why not insert the Hart Dynasty in the match. The Diva’s Championship has an injured holder. Natalya can be put right into the title chase. Does not seem too likely. The tag titles can be defended on any show, so it would not be too much of a stretch to get them on Smith and Kidd. The Diva’s Championship belongs on Raw. Moreover, Maryse, a heel, seems to already be right in the hunt for the title. Another heel, and one from a different show even, winning it may just seem too awkward.

Point is, Shawn’s words on Raw were obviously meant to make people wonder what will happen with Bret when he hosts. How will Shawn and Bret interact? What about Vince? However, can good things still happen to Bret’s Smackdown representatives? I know that is not what Shawn had in mind. It seems morel likely for the guys than for Natalya. But does Bret’s return mean that the Hart Dynasty is promised a push? Does that include Natalya?

This is another one of those times where I have to fly through what I would like to say. Tired. I will definitely get back to certain things in the near future. All women got used. Vickie got to exercise her power. Natalya put Maria in Bret Hart’s vintage submission. Need a reminder on who the guest host is for the coming Raw?

The match featured Mickie James taking on Beth Phoenix. Very short match. Use what I said yesterday about Alicia vs. Melina to figure out what I have to say about that. Typical match you would expect to see in a short time. Looking good until McCool accidentally cost her the match. Mickie rolls her up. Beth back to losing only that way again. McCool/Layla attack Mickie. Beth gets her payback on them for costing her the match. She teases a face turn, but then lays out Mickie James as well with a Glam Slam. Beth is left looking strong over both faces and heels. It is called being a tweener. She can go either way. So many other similar angles I can compare it to, but I think I can leave it there for now. They are nurturing those seeds for a triple-threat feud. Mickie James defeats Beth Phoenix.

Obviously, this match between Melina and Alicia was taped before Melina was recently injured. I would have talked about this match in relation to what it meant for Melina’s feud with Maryse, but since things do not look good for that feud, I will just talk about the match as is. Before I do, let me still mention that Eve came out with Chris Masters for his match on the show. That furthers the angle along.

Melina vs. Alicia Fox on Superstars was a lot better than their title match on Raw many weeks ago. Why? I bring it up a lot, but time given to a match is so important in how well the match may turn out. This match was given about five minutes. Compared to how long the best matches involving the men last, this does not seem like much. But compared to the typical diva match, every added minute counts for a lot. Obviously, the Diva’s Championship was not on the line. Why waste a title defense on Superstars? The match had some good technical skills being showcased early on. Alicia then played the sneaky heel, trying to walk away from the match. Melina went back and got her, but fell into a trap when Alicia was ready for her. For the serious fans, that took out a few seconds from the match. In terms of adding more of a story to what is going on, which makes things more interesting, it was worth it. The match then broke down to your usual spots. Alicia had Melina in a few submissions. Melina battles back into it. She finally wins with the LA Call, or whatever you want to call it. It was the finisher that is not the splits. Very good match. Melina defeats Alicia Fox.

 And A Happy New Year To All!

Is the Diva’s Championship cursed? Maybe it is just the luck of being the top face diva over on Raw. In any case, there has been not much in terms of new news concerning Melina’s recent injury. It appears to be issues with her knee. Some say it may be a torn ACL. If it really is something like that, Melina can be missing a few months at the least. Hopefully, it will be revealed to be something less serious. Nevertheless, I am going to speculate on what would happen in the worst case scenario. What if the injury is serious enough to require Melina to give up the title and step down as top face diva on Raw?

Obviously, Melina dropping out does not mean Maryse drops out of her feud for the title. Who will she be facing instead? May she get the title sooner? The WWE, if the injury is serious enough that they cannot have Melina give up the title in a kayfabe manner, can always have a new Diva’s Champion crowned in a typical battle royal. This can be a quick way to get the title on Maryse, who can then defend it against other faces on Raw. The WWE can also decide to put it on another face in the battle royal, then having Maryse feud with her. Remember when Rey Mysterio was feuding with Dolph Ziggler over the Intercontinetal Championship? When Rey got suspended, the title went to another face, who then feuded with Ziggler for the title. Sadly, after a million tries against both Mysterio and John Morrison, Ziggler never got his title reign. Another heel was on the rise. I do not believe that will happen with Maryse. She is that heel on the rise. I still feel she is getting the title sooner or later.

What about the issue of who will take Melina’s spot as top face? Whether Maryse gets the title or not, she cannot take the spot. She is meant to be the top heel now. Thankfully, Raw had a surplus of faces anyway. Cutting to the chase, they should make Gail Kim the top face. No other face has her experience. Eve may look impressive and show promise, but do not jump up to give her too much praise too fast, or too big a push either. I do not believe Kelly Kelly can take the spot. Do not even bring up Brie and Nikki. They have not given Gail much momentum at all for months, so giving her a huge push so fast may not work out too well with the fans. Remember how she debuted in the WWE? That is why it may be better to get the title on Maryse first, who already has some momentum to her, while you slowly start building Gail up.

If you are going to utilize a battle royal, why not involve divas from all brands? I do believe there is a pay-per-view coming up with that kind of theme. A diva battle royal can fit right in. Although I typically hate them, this will be one for a good purpose. They have had battle royals to crown new Champions before, so that idea for the Diva’s Championship may even add some prestige to it. Besides, I doubt they will have a man in drag win the title. Just like Kurt Angle pulled a shocker by jumping to Smackdown to win a battle royal to become World’s Heavyweight Champion a few years back, a diva from Smackdown or ECW (not really ECW), can do the same thing. It may even be Katie Lea, who is homeless in terms of what brand she is on. It would be a big way to debut her back on Raw. You also have the issue of how the fans will view her as the top face so fast.

The worst decision the WWE can make, if Melina will need over a month to heal properly, is to keep the title on her. No offense to Melina fans. Maryse was out for a long time due to her injury last year, they kept the title on her. McCool, although she did return in terms of an on-screen role, was still out of action for many weeks. I am not too upset about them keeping the title on her, since she had already beaten Melina twice in title matches by that time, and she was really not feuding with anyone else. It is not like the WWE would take the title off her anyway. Mickie James, when it was reported that she was injured, only missed one week of not being used at all. There were only two weeks of her not competing at all on Raw between her match before the injury reports and her next televised match. Obviously, no reason to take the title from her. If Melina may possibly miss as much time as Maryse did, they have to get the title off her. They probably will. McCool and Maryse are both the women the WWE is currently intent on pushing. Why would they let Melina’s injury get in Maryse’s way in this title feud? They did not care enough to keep the feud between Maryse and Mickie, so why would they wait to keep it between Maryse and Melina? They have been treating Melina in the same style as they did Mickie James. When Melina does eventually return, they can give her back her title feud.

It is a shame about what happened to Melina. Seems like pure bad luck. So many other issues can branch off this. Should they end having two separate divisions? The WWE obviously is in a tough spot as to how to replace Melina, should she need much time off. Having two separate divisions does not seem to be fostering the talent very well. Will they play off the injury as Maryse having something to do with it? From what I read, it does not seem to be the case, but the WWE may play on the idea that Maryse was involved in the match to push how dangerous she is. Just some ideas to think about. Until more develops, that is where I leave it.

-The fear is Melina suffered a torn ACL tonight during the Raw house show this evening. She’s currently undergoing an examination to diagnose the severity of her injury.

According to PWInsider.com, the early belief is that WWE Diva Melina suffered a torn ACL during her injury incident at the special Tuesday WWE RAW house show last night. Melina is currently undergoing an examination to diagnose the extent of her injuries.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/article/update-on-melinas-injury-torn-acl-more-details-93497

Seems legit. I’ll definitely say more when more is known.

I started reviewing 2009 with the Women’s Champion, so why not have it end with the Diva’s Champion? Melina is the only diva to win both of the previously mentioned titles in the same year. Besides that piece of history, what has this year been like for her?

Going into 2009, Melina was in the middle of her feud with Beth Phoenix for the Women’s Championship. Whether it be on the first try or somewhere down the road, it was obvious that Melina would be winning the title back. Candice Michelle had fallen. Kelly Kelly was not ready for it. Mickie James just came off a reign from beating Beth. Melina was the only fresh choice left. At the Royal Rumble, Melina did indeed defeat Beth for the title. She went on to defend the title against Beth on Raw twice. Sticking to this, what was expected of Melina here? She was not really being pushed to make Beth look great. Beth already had her hands full with Santino and Rosa Mendes, which was meant to get her over in a different way than ring dominance. Melina was meant to get herself over as a top face. That is what was expected of her. She had been the main heel at times, but never was she the main face of a brand. The WWE depushed Mickie James heavily to just give Melina the spotlight, with her own sidekick, Kelly Kelly. Was Melina successful in meeting the WWE’s expectations on her? Decide for yourself.

Melina also had a brief scuffle with Maryse, the Diva’s Champion. This was done to help hype the tension going into the huge battle royal at Wrestlemania. Aside from that, Melina was lightly being pushed aside now as Mickie James was given back some momentum. Without going much into this again, since I spoke about it when looking at Mickie’s year recently, let me just say that it was obvious that one of the top faces on Raw would be moving.

Melina went to Smackdown, with her title of course. She immediately entered a feud with Michelle McCool. The feud was pretty linear. McCool wants title, she gets title. Before and after it all, Melina had some matches with the likes of Alicia Fox and Layla. After McCool did suffer an injury, Melina found herself involved in Maria’s romance angle. Since nothing really came of that for Melina, I would say it was pretty meaningless. What did Melina really accomplish on Smackdown? What was she supposed to accomplish? Honestly, I do not believe Melina, as an individual, was meant to even accomplish anything over there. Melina, as a holder of a title, was the one meant to do something. She simply had to go over there to drop the title to McCool. The distinction I am making may not be easy to understand. I am saying that anyone could have gone over to Smackdown with the title. Anyone could have dropped it to McCool. The whole point of the feud was McCool making history. Melina did not bring anything to the table but the title. What did she bring to give McCool an added rub? What did the WWE expect Melina to do? Simply hand the title over. Did Melina do anything else of note after that? Not really. How about before? Nope. Once she lost twice in televised rematches, what was really left for her to do?

Coincidentally, this is when the WWE sends her back to Raw. Mickie James takes Melina’s spot on Smackdown. Melina wins the Diva’s Championship on the same night she returns. In addition to making the piece of history I mentioned before, she becomes the third woman to have won both titles. However, similar to Mickie James, Melina soon runs into the glorious luck of having to work with divas like Jillian and Alicia in 2-minute matches, getting no real feuds, and little, if any, time to talk. I am sure Melina would have liked to have to push Rosa Mendes to a 2-star match too. Rumors said that Melina was moved to Raw because she was to be the top face diva of the whole WWE. To me, the fact that her feud with McCool was running stale had something to do with the move, as well as there being not much else to do with her there. Mickie James had also run through all the credible opponents on Raw too. Maryse was not ready to be back yet. How do you kill time? Have Melina get the title and run through the same opponents without much build to the feuds.

When Maryse did return, Melina finally got to talk again. The WWE really was holding out for Maryse’s return. From the time Maryse left to her return, there were over six Diva’s Championship televised defenses. That covers about four months. Since Maryse returned, the title is no longer being defended as much. They are finally building a feud again. I know I am going off the true topic, and I probably will come back to this idea of how Melina has done nothing but take Mickie’s place again. Point is, Melina is in the midst of her feud with Maryse as the year closes.

What do I want to see from Melina in 2010? Since it seems likely that Maryse will take the title, Melina first has to get her rematch. After Maryse does retain, I would like to see Gail Kim or Eve feud with Maryse next. Raw has a ton of face divas. I do not believe that the WWE has built Melina up to a point where she must always be in the title picture. Once some fresh names have held the title, Melina can get back in the hunt. Until then, turn her heel? Not a lot of good heels over there. But who is left as the top face? Gail Kim? Whatever happens, it would be nice for them to push Melina in another direction.

Did Melina have a great year? Sure, she won both titles in 2009. Sure, she was never really depushed at all this year. She started the year going after the Women’s Championship. She ends with the Diva’s Championship. In between, for the few months she did not hold a title, she was still the main face of Smackdown. However, just like I said you had to look beyond Mickie’s solid win-loss difference to see why she was getting the wins and the story around it, you have to do the same for Melina here. Aside from the first few months of the year, in which Melina was expected to become a top face, she has pretty much been used as a tool. She feuded with Michelle McCool to simply give her the title. Nothing Melina did on Smackdown really did anything that great for her. I do not believe she was even used in a way to give anyone a good rub. She was simply meant to help McCool make history, job to her again a few times, and just hang around trivially. When she moved to Raw, she was basically just taking Mickie’s spot as holding things down until Maryse returned. Melina’s character was not allowed to shine. She just ran through opponents in poorly-designed feuds, if you can even see them as feuds. I will still say it was a good year for Melina, but it just seems that the WWE cared more about getting heels over than allowing Melina to actually shine.

All the divas saw time tonight except for Melina and Alicia Fox. Expect some diva action on Superstars this week.

The Bellas, Eve, and Gail Kim were all involved in meaningless segments with the guest host, Timbaland. Jillian Hall did her singing thing. Hornswoggle shut her up. I do find it interesting that The Miz brought up Maryse in one of the many segments. I hope they continue to develop that.

The match featured Maryse taking on Kelly Kelly. Was this even a surprise? The match was not too bad. A lot of catfighting tactics at certain spots. When you have women not too experienced in actual wrestling, you can expect that. This match was actually a bit more competitive than Maryse’s match with Gail. Of course, that match featured a little more smooth aggression from Gail, since she got to dominate. The main thing to keep an eye on in this match is whether Maryse brought a good performance on her part. Kelly Kelly was just meant to make her look good tonight. Maryse did fine. A few slow spots here and there. Timing could have been better, but that is really no big deal. I would still like to see a longer wrestling match from her. No tag matches. No 99% opponent and 1% Maryse. No catfighting taking up too much time. If she has the ability that impressed the WWE enough to give her that first title reign, I want to see it again. As I said before, Maryse, and Kelly Kelly for that matter, did not do too horribly tonight. However, I still believe Maryse needs to bring it more before she gets back her title. I am sure the WWE does not think like me. They saw that there were no serious botches and probably feel she is ready for the Diva’s Championship. A lack of botches does not mean that Maryse is performing at the level of a Champion. Maryse defeats Kelly Kelly. Surprised?

After the match, Maryse got some mic time. Just like the good old days back when she was first on Raw. The point of her promo? To hype how beautiful she is and how she will get the title back from Melina. In terms of the words, that was the point. Beneath the skin, she was hyping her gimmick again through her behavior. That is where charisma lies. She was speaking her French again. I am sure the news sites will be reporting on what she said. She was laughing for no good reason for a while. She has either been reading Vickie Guerrero’s notes on being a heel or she wants to look psychotic. I sometimes get the idea that the WWE wants to go in that psycho direction with her. The commentators have brought up the depression excuse to explain her absence. They sometimes question her mental stability. They were actually creating the idea that Maryse is a dangerous threat tonight. She really is not, but I can imagine Melina having to weaken herself to try to put that idea over. Point is, her words send a message to Melina to further this feud, but her behaviour and execution of her promo sends a message meant to further her own character to get over. Oh, and after the promo, Maryse kicked Kelly Kelly. Why not leave with a heel tactic?