A contact in the ‘E has been reading your comments and in an e-mail last night, insisted that Mickie James‘ loss on Monday night was not seen as a punishment for last week. They continue that the Divas Champ didn’t see it as such either. This all stems from Mickie’s surprise loss to Alicia Fox … Read more
We’re again bringing you a special edition of Unwrapped, where we cover multi-Diva shoots in a miniaturized version of our regular “unwrappings”, focusing on the looks and ensembles our Divas have put together. This time, we’re taking a look at the “Raw Boxing” photoshoot, where the Divas who took part in Raw’s boxing-themed tag team match show off their Everlast gear. Click here to see the full photoshoot.
Alicia Fox Grade: Sweet. I can’t help but think of two things when I see Alicia’s gear: Captain America and the Harlem Globetrotters. Both are a good thing–they’re iconic! The stars and stripes are cute and kitschy enough to catch your eye, but not in a ultra-girly and cheesy way. She kind of looks like she’s set to fight in that old “Mike Tyson Punch-Out!” video game.
Beth Phoenix Grade: Sweet. OMG, Beth actually gets to take part in a themed match! Beth doesn’t disappoint, either, actually adhering to the theme and looking more like an actual boxer than any of the other Divas. The gold and red Everlast gear looks sexy, not sleazy, and it doesn’t look like a Halloween costume gone wrong like one I have a feeling I’ll be seeing on a particular Diva still to come..
Gail Kim Grade: Sweet. It’s pretty simple, but the little silver shorts are cute. She also uses pink, but not overwhelmingly like she needed to reinforce the fact that she’s a woman. “I gotta say, though, the “Boxer Girl” on her top looks like it says “Boner Girl” on first glance. Good thing or bad thing? Judge for yourselves.. :P
Follow the cut to see the rest of the Divas in the photoshoot.
What do you buy a man who has it all? Nothing. You just let him hog Raw for most of the show. On a night where everything else played second fiddle to Vince McMahon’s birthday celebrations, there wasn’t much in the way of anything groundbreaking or storyling progression. In fact, judging by the pinfall last … Read more
– “Mayweather Melee,” say that three times real fast. – Kelly ‘Kendra Wilkinson’ Kelly seems right at home in sports gear. – At least this time she has an excuse for wearing sneakers in a match. – Beth Phoenix’s pigtails… bless. – Is it just me or does Mickie James look hotter in boxing gear … Read more
We’re bringing you a special edition of Unwrapped, covering the recent multi-Diva shoot, titled “City of Angels”. I won’t be judging them too closely, as there’s only about 2 photos per Diva, so I’ll just focus on their looks. Click here to see the full photoshoot.
Alicia Fox Grade: Sweet. I know some people don’t like rompers, but I happen to love them if they’re done right. And in this case, Alicia does do it right. The colors and stripes are cute, and her hair looks great. Maybe in less flattering poses the loose-fitting romper would look more like a potato sack, but from what I can see, I dig it.
Brie & Nikki Bella Grade: Bland. I’m not one to bound these two together as a package deal, but they’re wearing the same thing, so there ya go. I think it’s pretty cheesy to wear the EXACT.SAME.THING., but I guess that’s the WWE’s doing. In keeping with that, I guess they go for a more boring look, figuring that if you see it twice, it’ll look more interesting. Nope, not this time. They don’t look bad, but I’m not really a fan of the “Price is Right” mentality in dressing.
Gail Kim Grade: Sweet. It’s tough to go wrong with a little black dress, and Gail wears it well, spicing it up with a wide belt and some cute pigtails. It’s pretty simple, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
Follow the cut to see the rest of the Divas in the photoshoot.
As part of the big SummerSlam promotion, the WWE Divas got the spotlight on MSN.com with Michelle McCool, Mickie James and Gail Kim dishing on aspects of their career. Plus there’s even HQ promo pictures of most of the Divas [sorry Bella fans]! Let’s start with perhaps the most interesting news, our readers have long … Read more
In order to consolidate our Eye Candy coverage, we’ve developed a brand new feature: Unwrapped! We’ll take all the new photoshoots from the week and grade (or “brand”) each based on the following criteria:
• Appearance(hair, clothes, makeup.. you get the drift)
• Poses(are they versatile or just glorified statues?)
• Uniqueness(have we seen this photoshoot a billion times before?) Grading scale: Sweet (Great)/Bland (Iffy)/Sour (Awful)
Gail Kim‘s Full Force Gail Appearance: Gail’s wearing what looks like knee-high boots and a loose-fitting striped dress. I love stripes, so the dress is right up my alley. It’s rather simple and just hangs there, but on Gail’s tiny frame, it’s enough so that she doesn’t need to spice it up with anything else. In a few of the photos, she’s made cute makeshift pigtails in her hair, and in the rest just lets it hang loose. This is the definition of a simple look–a dress that catches your eye but doesn’t overwhelm, light makeup, relaxed hair, and no jewelry. Poses: I really like the look, but the poses kind of let me down. They’re uninspired and lack that extra something to give this shoot some excitement. Show some personality, Gail! You’re not posing for a JC Penny catalog. Uniqueness: Gail keeps it simple in a way few Divas do, and I like it. But aside from that, the shoot doesn’t really “pop”. Grade: Bland. As much as I like the look, the poses drag the shoot down and make it much more dull than it should be. If she showed a bit more personality and excitement, this shoot would definitely be a sweet one.
• Click to see the rest of the photoshoot.
Follow the cut to see the rest of this week’s photoshoots.
Peep even more pictures from Friday night’s SummerSlam Kick Off event in LA, featuring more closeup looks of Melina, Mickie James and Tiffany as well as some of the other girls. So I have decided that Mickie looks gorgeous, I’m actually taken aback that she is probably the best looking Diva of the night. Meanwhile, … Read more
Our favourites Divas from all three brands were present on the red carpet last night in LA for the SummerSlam Kick Off Party. The Divas and WWE Superstars rubbed shoulders with D-List celebs like Mini-Me and that girl who never gets to sing from the Pussycat Dolls. For the most part it seems the Divas … Read more
On the same day as our 50 Sexiest Divas reveal, Pro Wrestling Illustrated has revealed the woman who ranks #1 on it’s second annual PWI Female 50. That honour goes to current reigning Divas Champion, Mickie James dethroning last year’s #1, Awesome Kong. The Female 50 is an equivalent to the celebrated PWI 500 which … Read more
The first two Divas to appear in this year’s edition of WWE’s flagship Smackdown vs Raw series has been revealed. Current and former Divas Champions, Mickie James and Maryse were revealed today to be in the game. The appearance marks Maryse’s first in a WWE video game. It is expected that the Divas Championship will … Read more
We’ve already mentioned that the Divas were supposed to be on the SummerSlam card for this Sunday. Now we know which matches were going to be booked. There was, if you’ll believe it, actually meant to be two Divas matches on the card and both were scrapped. SmackDown’s Melina vs Michelle McCool was originally booked … Read more
Rumours around the ‘net are coming in thick and fast, with one suggesting that Mickie James was chewed out last night at Raw for reacting unprofessionally following her match last night — an obvious reference to the sour look on the Divas Champ’s face. But that’s not all, apparently the higher-ups were not too happy … Read more
A much anticipated match ended with a death stare. Caused riot on the Internet. And possibly had the worst botched finish for any match featuring women of this caliber. Rivalling the horrible finish to the Mickie James-Trish Stratus match at WrestleMania 22, they can’t just edit this one off the DVD and act like it never happened, because there won’t be a DVD. And try as they already have to eliminate the evidence [click here], we all know what went down last night and there is no way to spin it — the ending was horrible. Watch what will soon become ‘the infamous’ Gail Kim vs Mickie James match below:
Honestly, as some may expect me to do, I don’t want to blame anyone for what happened. Yes, the finish was awful but I actually enjoyed the match until that point. In fact, I told Erin right after it happened: “Just watch, after that finish no one will remember the match or talk about the match, it’ll be all about the finish.” And lo-and-behold, I do believe I was right. The whole match, I feel, is getting painted with the same brush stroke as the finish. Whether you enjoyed the match is down to your own personal opinion but I was liking where it was going.
I don’t want to scrutinize either Diva or suggest it was either of their fault. The finish was horrible but it was a freak accident & shouldn’t be a reflection on either of their in-ring ability. It definitely looked as though Gail hit her head and was out of it following the crossbody and as one can expect, was in no fit state to continue the match. She was out of it. For that, I applaud her for finishing the match and I applaud Mickie for attempting to improvise the finish.
So because I like to indulge myself in time-wasting, I thought I would do another round of random observations from last night’s Raw: – Did we transport to WrestleMania 22? – And if we did, they can’t edit that out on the DVD because there won’t be one! – But they did try and edit … Read more
Divas Champion, Mickie James has given a fantastic interview with NZPWI, talking indepth about the current Divas roster as well as her classic feud with Trish and much more. Highlights below:
When asked about the current focus on actual wrestling matches amongst the Divas, it seems as though Mickie shares much of the same opinion as we fans as well as other women in the industry today:
I think that it’s like… huh… the thing is, the worst thing in the world is to watch bad wrestling. You know? So they can be the most beautiful women in the world, but if they can’t wrestle then it means nothing. They go out there, and it’s just like… ugh. Like, it’ll turn the biggest wrestling fan away, it’ll make them change the channel. So it’s important, I think… that’s why we’ve really worked hard with the girls to be the best that they can be. You don’t have to be the best in the world, just be the best that you can be. And everybody’s stepped up their game, and everybody’s working hard and everybody’s continuously trying to get better and better. Until, you know… and that’s important, because if you truly love what you do, you would want to be the best that you can be. And I think that’s important, and I think that’s what we’re really looking for now, it’s not just the pretty face. Like, those are a dime a dozen. We can have a million pretty faces but if you don’t have a genuine love and a genuine passion for what you do, then it shows, it shines through, and the people see it, it shines through on camera, it shines through in your work and everything, so I think that that’s what’s changing. People that have come in, now, like you always know the people that truly love what they do, and people that are just there… because. I think that even the casual fan can see that on TV. And that’s what we’re trying to really get rid of, because everybody goes out there and they work and they pour their heart and soul, and there’s nothing worse than someone that doesn’t care.
I thought this was a really interesting quote from arguably the top Diva in WWE right now. Considering that in just the last week we’ve heard the same thing from JR & off the record, one of the ex-Divas we speak to regularly, echoed both of their sentiments. Steven also argued similar points in yesterday’s Saturday Supplement. I think it goes to show that the feeling is unanimous amongst the girls themselves, people in the industry like JR and the fans. It’s time that WWE looked beyond pretty faces and put more effort into highlighting their talents. To be utterly fair to them, right now we have Gail Kim and Melina making good progress on their respective shows. Let’s keep it up!
You can read the whole interview or even listen to the audio of it, by clicking here.
The Divas got the main event last night… though calm down, it’s not that auspicious because the show was WWE Superstars. Plus they had to share it with the men, so even less auspicious. All in all, Divas Champion Mickie James and Rosa Mendes came off as an afterthought [now there’s a shock] to their male counterparts.
Regardez:
That Rosa Mendes, quite the hellion, isn’t she? Girl, if you don’t have the moves to back yourself up, please don’t step to the Divas Champion. But she did! There was a nice exchange to kick off the match, with Carlito and Kofi Kingston pulling apart the two Divas. And as you can see in the image above, Rosa shoots a scowl that would make a serpent blush.
Officiating this match, you may have noticed, is the same referee that does all the Divas matches [including this week’s Raw and SmackDown]. He really should just get a t-shirt that reads “Official Diva Mascot.”
Anyhoo, after some wrestling between Carlito & Kofi that I skipped through, we get a tag from Carlito to Rosa which means Mickie has to come in too. The Divas Champ wastes no time, throwing Rosa over the top rope, the rookie lands awkwardly. Mickie gets things off to a good start, with a clothesline then a double forearm on Mendes. The Latina however fights back with a knee to the gut, Mickie hits a baseball slide and snapmares Rosa. A nice front dropkick by Mickie.
Rosa gets to her feet and hits an awkward looking elbow to Mickie’s face, followed by a double axehandle and a shimmy. Yes, a shimmy.
A few exchanges between the two as Rosa has Mickie on the canvas and locks in a headlock. Mickie begins to mount fan support and counters the sleeper. Rosa throws Mickie into the corner, Mickie uses her leg to stop herself from eating turnbuckle, turns back and we have a head-on collision. Rosa quickly tags out to Carlito and that’s pretty much your lot, save for the standard catfight near the end.
So what have we learnt from this week’s show? Not a lot. Not too much Divas action in there so I left feeling a little ‘eh’. Not to mention the prospect of Rosa vs Mickie isn’t all too exciting, let’s be honest. Rosa still needs to work on her timing & her selling, she tends to land awkwardly and I fear one day she may hurt herself.
If you’re feeling as underwhelmed as I, there’s a fun yet random Melanie observation after the cut:
It’s the old age tale of the WWE women’s division — ‘creative amnesia’. You know, that thing where they do something and then don’t follow it up the next week & go in a whole new direction and expect us to forget everything we saw the week before? Or if we’re lucky, they’ll expect us … Read more
Diva Dirt reader, @OohOui on Twitter attended the Raw house show last night in White Plains, NY and passed along the following live videos of the Divas match. It was the team of Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly and Mickie James in a winning effort against Alicia Fox, Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendes.
I’m sure you’ve all heard of your ‘five a day’, but Diva Dirt is here to provide you with your ‘five a week’ in our Weekly 5. Join us every Sunday as we take a look back at the week gone by and highlight our top 5 moments of the week.
RAW IS GAIL?
There has been a lot of talk this week about a Gail Kim heel turn and as a Diva Dirt favourite, we are extremely excited about the possibility in the coming weeks on Raw. It looks as though Maryse’s loss [to injury] could be Gail’s gain; as WWE teased tension between Gail and new Divas Champion, Mickie James on Raw.
It’s a staple of tabloid magazines: hard hitting, investigative & highly entertaining! Best & Worst Dressed lists can make or break careers in Hollywood and for a site with ‘Dirt’ in the title, it’s only fitting we take this time tested feature & apply it to our Divas! Each week we’ll bring you the best and worst looks from the week gone by, it’s pretty simple right?
Key: School-like grading scheme
It wasn’t a great week for Diva/Knockout fashion this past week. So I guess I’m clutching at straws with my ‘Best’ picks for the week, but congrats to Melina, Gail Kim and Michelle McCool anyway.
Big pay per view match usually means new attire for our Divas, as we saw at Night of Champions when Melina wore what I think was a new variation of her usual ring-wear. The maroon coloured tights are a nice addition to her wardrobe which ranges the rainbow already. C
As for Raw Diva, Gail Kim, her usual off-the-shoulder tops and shorts were back this week in silver. Again not out of the norm for G-Kim but I liked it in silver. C
Last but finally not least is Michelle McCool, who busted out a new colour much like Melina for their PPV match. Michelle is one of those girls that not every colour suits, so the colour choice could have gone wrong here… but thankfully, it didn’t. I would go as far as to say this is probably Michelle’s most flattering variation yet, green seems to suit her exquisitely. B-
Mickie James in “Golden Girl” Diva Dirt’s dishing up your regular serving of Eye Candy! View the photoshoot we’ve “hung” on our wall, read our critique, vote, and last but not least – sound off in the comments. The Look: Mickie’s hiding behind what looks like a locker, so we don’t really get a good … Read more
Last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw saw a changing of the guard, as Mickie James made her first appearance as the new Divas Champion. Also factor in that the former Divas Champ, Maryse is now on the injured list and you have a fresh new outlook for the Raw Divas division. In just 5 … Read more
It definitely looks like as though the seeds for a feud were planted last night, as moments after her team’s win in a six Diva tag match, new Divas Champ Mickie James played up tension between her and partner Gail Kim in a WWE Universe live chat. Mickie says: Well I kinda had it under … Read more
WWE’s Night of Champions 2009 is in the books and with the dust settled, we have a new Divas Champion but the same Women’s Champion. Mickie James defeated Maryse to become the third title holder of the Divas title, while Michelle McCool retained over Melina.
SmackDown columnist, Erin looks back at the Women’s Championship bout:
With barely a mention going into the PPV, I didn’t have much hope for Melina and Michelle’s match to really deliver. It’s not that I don’t have faith in either woman to pull off a good match, it’s just that the buildup sucked. Will they exceed expectations? Let us see:
Just as Melina goes to make her signature entrance, Michelle baseball slides into her, knocking her off the apron. Melina takes a sick spill, and the match is off to an interesting start. It certainly got the crowd’s attention. I like that Michelle was the aggressor, instead of playing the cowardly heel they seem intent on portraying her as. Granted, attacking Melina when she’s so vulnerable isn’t exactly a brave move, but it still showed plenty of fire. Once she finally makes it to the ring, Melina tackles Michelle, pummeling her for a bit before letting up. Michelle tries to strike back, but Melina does the Ma-Trish move (Ma-Lina move?) to avert the blow, taking Michelle down with an arm drag and then holding her in an arm bar. She doesn’t settle for a rest hold, elbowing Michelle in the face and irish-whipping her into the corner. Melina runs up to the corner, jumping onto the second rope and doing her reverse kicks, nailing Michelle in her face and stomach. She covers a lot of area before relenting, adding one more frontal kick for good measure before Michelle bails out of the ring.
But Melina won’t have any of that, grabbing Michelle by the hair and dragging her back in. I’ve mentioned this plenty of times before, but I love it when babyfaces aren’t passive and go after their opponent as fiercely as the heels do. Apparently, Michelle feels like playing keep-away, shoving Melina and making another break for it. Melina runs after her again, this time keeping her in the ring. Michelle pulls the classic heel move of calling time out, begging for a break. Melina seems to honor this for a moment, that is before dropkicking Michelle in the face. So much for good sportsmanship, eh? Melina keeps her momentum, bouncing off the ropes and performing a modified hurricanrana, landing on her feet instead and kicking Michelle in the gut. JR calls her “agile and hostile”, which is a pretty accurate description, I’d say.
Michelle ends up on the ropes in what I call the “taking the 619” position. Melina looks to knee her in the back of the head, but Michelle ducks out of the way, letting Melina’s own momentum send her flying through the ropes and out of the ring. Now she’s the aggressor, following Melina to the outside and pounding her against the barricade. She tosses Melina back into the ring, trying for a pin twice in a row (what, maybe 2nd time’s the charm?), but only getting near falls. Frustrated, she latches onto Melina’s leg, twisting her into a modified Boston Crab. Melina’s extreme flexibility and pained screams help sell the move, and she really an truly looks like she’s in agony. She almost looks like she’s going to pass out, half-heartedly reaching for the ropes that are a mile away. Michael Cole is so impressed by this that he diverts into the requisite “Michelle was a school teacher” mention. I wonder if there’s a single person left on Earth that doesn’t know her former line of work. I think the Divas need to fill out bio sheets, just so the announcers have some new things to talk about..
Anywho, back to the match. Melina advances towards the ropes, letting out an ear-piercing scream. Michelle lounges back before finally letting go, kicking the rope out of Melina’s grasp. She bends a standing Melina between the top and second ropes, pulling her back, pendulum-style, and letting her snap forward, smacking into the top rope. It seems like Michelle and Melina really collaborated on this match, coming up with unique ways to use Melina’s flexibility to their advantage. It adds another level to the match, and allows Michelle to look like a ring technician who truly deserves the belt she holds. Melina eventually falls off the apron, once again on the outside. Melina takes refuge on the barricade, and Michelle looks to duplicate her attacks earlier in the match, coming at her with a kick. Melina moves, and Michelle’s suddenly straddling the barricade. The fans let out a massive “ohhhhhh!”, as the move looks pretty damn painful.
Melina joins Michelle on the security wall, climbing onto it and nailing Michelle in the head. She advances to her feet, pulling Michelle up with her. The two fight for momentum, looking shaky, before Michelle latches onto Melina and performs a modified DDT, pounding her head into the barricade and landing on her feet. Melina’s out cold on the outside as Michelle gets back into the ring, stopping the referee’s count. (Was he even counting? They were out a helluva lot longer than 10 seconds.) The camera pans in for a fantastically evil closeup on Michelle’s face. Her crouched pose looks a bit Undertaker-esque, no? Sorry, didn’t mean to open that cans of worms..
Melina stirs on the outside, climbing back onto the apron. Michelle looks to use the baseball slide trick again to knock Melina off, but she telegraphs it, hoisting herself up by the ropes and letting Michelle taste the ringside mat this time. Melina sells her exhaustion, taking the moment to lay back on the apron. In a match with this much physicality, it’s so important for the girls to sell the damage they’ve received and keep continuity, and Michelle and Melina are doing this to a T. Michelle gets back up, back on the attack, but Melina catches her head with her legs, holding Michelle captive and pounding her head onto the apron. That’s certainly an inventive counter if I’ve ever seen one. She keeps Michelle contained for a few more moments before sending her back to the floor, kicking her in the gut. As Michelle gets back to her feet, so does Melina, and she comes flying at Michelle, screaming like a wild animal and doing a modified version of her spinning facebuster, both women landing on the hard mat outside.
The crowd seems pretty into this, what with all the out-of-the-ring action and amped up physicality. I have to say, if this doesn’t get them interested in a Divas match, I don’t know what will. The ladies are putting out all the stops, and it’s great to see the fans appreciating it to a degree. Melina is slow to her feet, but eventually grabs Michelle and sends her back into the ring. Michelle kicks Melina, sending her flying before she can continue her attack. Both women lethargically move about the ring, the physicality of the match taking its toll. Michelle takes her time going after Melina and pays for it, a scissors take down sending her into the ropes like before. Melina bounces of the ropes and knees her in the back of the head, performing the move successfully this time. She gores Michelle into the corner a few times as JR dubs the match “as physically intense as any Divas contest we’ve seen in a long time.” Took the words right out of my mouth.. er, fingers.
Melina sets Michelle into the corner, laying her across the second rope and jumping up, kneeing her in the stomach. The crowd is really reacting to these moves, and seem to be as into this match as any Divas match we’ve seen recently. Kind of ironic for a match with little-to-no buildup. Melina nails Michelle with a reverse spin kick, going for a pin but only getting a 2-count. Melina shows her frustration, looking to irish-whip Michelle into the corner, but Michelle reverses it, latching Melina into a belly-to-belly hold, finishing with a suplex. She gets a near fall, and spears Melina into the corner, turning away for a moment and paying for it, as Melina latches into her with her legs, chopping her in the head. She stays on the turnbuckle, hitting Michelle with a flying take down into a pin. Michelle reverses the pin into one of her own, bending Melina seemingly in half as the referee makes the three count. And with that, the match is over.
Melina looks on in disbelief, and Michelle looks like she can’t quite believe it herself. Both are absolutely wiped, looking like they just completed a marathon. The match, though clocking in at around 7 minutes, certainly felt like a marathon. The girls gave it their all, demonstrating that the Divas can put out all the stops at a PPV just like the guys. The fans were all the way into it, reacting to the big moves and moving with the emotions and tide of the match. This is everything a Diva fan wants – big moves, intense physicality, telling a story with the match, and great fan reactions. The end may seem like a cop out to some, but it just adds to the unpredictability to the match – no one thought the match would end so quickly, and it’s great to keep the fans guessing. It also adds to Michelle’s heel persona, almost as if she cheated the fans out of a spectacular climax. I loved it, personally, but to each their own.
As Michelle left the ring, Melina gave her a look that tells us that this feud is far from over, and I can’t help but love it. These girls have showed with this match that even though they’ve been feuding for quite some time, there’s no burn-out in sight. If they can keep delivering this type of intensity, I don’t care if this feud goes well into Christmas. A long-burning feud has shades of old school wrestling to it, and I don’t see problem with taking a cue from the ladies of the past and extending a feud as long as it’s still hot. And hell, if you don’t think this feud’s hot, you need to check your mental thermometer or something..
Melanie’s review of the Divas Championship match after the cut:
In her post-match interview last night, new Divas Champion Mickie James called out Michelle McCool for the comments she made on Friday Night SmackDown, saying she was better than Moolah and Trish Stratus, to name a couple. It seems as though a Mickie vs Michelle match could be on the cards: While this could be … Read more
Alicia Fox
Beth Phoenix
Gail Kim
