Week In Review For Women's Wrestling #27

And it's the final week of 2011 to review. The year has been eventful and given us plenty to be happy about as well as more than enough reasons to throw things at our TVs and scream with rage. But since I've become a regular watcher of it, I've decided to add an entry for FCW into things as well. Let's see how the year ended for the ladies in each company.

Raw - Eve & Zack Ryder vs Tyson Kidd & Natalya:
Holy hell, Tyson has hair now? For a moment I thought The Miz had robbed his trunks. Anyway a mixed tag is fresh enough and Eve's theme song is actually growing on me. Funnily enough I made a joke months ago about Eve getting with Zack Ryder so really you can give me the credit for this awesome pairing. The Divas didn't do much in this match but the offence from Eve was solid. Natalya didn't really do much which is annoying. If you're only going to be in the ring for two minutes then you should give yourself a big move to do that will make the match memorable. The double Broski Boot was a nice touch. I'm presuming Beth isn't on TV because the swelling on her face hasn't gone down yet. It's annoying but WWE does do short build ups better than long ones so I'm sure if she was on TV we wouldn't have gotten much. The segment with Kelly Kelly was funny and I'm surprised the Bellas got to cut an actual promo. At least all the girls got on the show. 5/10

NXT Watch:
Aksana on NXT now? I hope she gets to have a match soon enough. Maxine must be loving all of this as she's managed to snag more screentime and attention in one episode than most Divas get in a month. I prefer her with Johnny Curtis since he's a lot more entertaining than Derrick Bateman. Once again annoyed there wasn't a match this week but hopefully we can see some more in the new year.

Impact - Knockouts Segment:
I'd love to see a talk show hosted by Madison Rayne and Vickie Guerrero because that would be pure gold in terms of entertainment. It was awesome to see Sting step in and overrule her like that because her reaction was priceless. However I'm annoyed that TNA have boxed themselves into a corner with their booking since they're having Tara and Brooke feuding with her but Gail is currently in a feud with Mickie for the singles belt meaning they can't have a proper match for the titles without Gail doing double duty. Just another reason why giving Gail both titles was a bad idea. Segment rating: 7/10

Eric Young & ODB vs Magnus & Samoa Joe:
I knew they would get too far in the tournament though I really hope they keep the two of them together because they do make an entertaining pair. ODB didn't do much in the match but it was a bit more entertaining than what she did last week. 6/10

Mickie James vs Gail Kim* (Knockouts Championship):
While I am happy the Knockouts got to the main event of Impact, I do wish they could have given this a bit more hype. With Trish/Lita and even Mickie/Tara there was a long running feud and the girls were on TV every week to hype it up. Here however they just used a main event match as a building block to another one at the next PPV when it really should be the other way around. That being said, the match was a bit better than the PPV one. Mickie has slowly upped her game in recent months and become a bit more exciting in the ring. Gail also seems to have properly adjusted to working as a heel because this is the best match she's had since she returned. However we all know that the two of them are capable of much better. I guess that's good if they're getting a third match at Genesis. I'm not ready for another Mickie title reign so give Gail a clean win over her and move on to someone else...how about Velvet? She's someone who deserves a proper push way more than Mickie. 7/10

FCW - Raquel Diaz Promo:
She's certainly much better on the mic than she is the ring right now but that will change with more training. Obviously now she's Queen she should be featured in more matches and that will help her to improve in the ring. She showed promise in the match where she won the crown so I'm looking forward to the eventual match with Audrey Marie. She's certainly got as much charisma as her mother anyway.

Caylee Turner & Ivelisse Velez vs Cameron Lynn & Kaitlyn:
The FCW Face/Heel Revolving Door continues though I think I prefer Cameron as a heel and Caylee as a face. As an aside note the new ring announcer they have is pretty good - his voice doesn't irritate me like Justin Roberts. We didn't see that much of Ivelisse in the match as all she really did was sell for the faces but she did a good job. In fact she and Kaitlyn seemed to work pretty well together and I'm excited to eventually see the two of them in a possible singles match. Caylee was solid enough with her offence, if a little shaky. Things did fall apart a little towards the end with Cameron flailing about and not really selling the Code Breaker but I know how hard it is to sell a move like that so with more training she'll be fine. I liked the X-Factor to Cameron as the two got a great height on it. My eyes actually followed their journey as they went up and down. Though I wish the trainers would stop getting all the Divas to use an X-Factor as a finisher. 6/10

Smackdown - Alicia Fox & Kaitlyn vs Tamina & Natalya:
When I read the spoilers they said it was a bad 30-second match. I was expecting something awful but it was better than what I was expecting anyway. So Kaitlyn is still a face and she's just not teaming with AJ anymore. Not sure how I feel about it though I'm sure we'll eventually get more clarification in the next few weeks if they plan to follow up on Kaitlyn walking out on her. It was still a short match but fairly entertaining nonetheless. Both Tamina and Kaitlyn looked comfortable out there, like they knew what they were doing and Natalya of course was pulling double duty this week. The end was a bit confusing but watching it back it looks like Nattie collided with the turnbuckle so that's why she was crouching down. I have actually missed Alicia's scissors kick. The segment afterwards in the spoilers made it sound like Tamina turned face but watching it actually happen, it doesn't look like a face turn. Natalya didn't provoke her at all and she came off looking somewhat sympathetic. Perhaps this losing streak is meant to be leading towards a potential face turn for her? It's really too early to split DoD up just yet so let's hope both Natalya and Tamina remain heels for now and they sort out Alicia's push before they get wrapped up in other storylines. 6/10

Week In Review For Women's Wrestling #26

So we're winding down the days until the new year with the second-last Raw, NXT, Smackdown and Impact of 2011. Also we have the final WWE PPV of the year, not to mention the fallout from Karen Jarrett being fired over in TNA. Shall we begin?

TLC - Beth Phoenix* vs Kelly Kelly (Divas' Championship):
I was expecting a last-minute Divas' title match to be added but like everyone else I thought it would be Alicia challenging Beth instead. However I'm happy it was Kelly because that means we can get a bit more build up for Beth and Alicia's title match. Kelly also never got her proper rematch and it didn't come out of nowhere since she did get a pinfall win over Beth two weeks ago. It's officially 4-0 for the two of them as they have appeared on PPV four times this year and put on solid and entertaining matches at each outing. And what's more is that each time they've delivered new and entertaining spots in each match. Kelly's facecrusher off the apron was a good start to the match and all her offence was solid. Beth dominated well enough though you could blatantly hear her calling spots for about 50 seconds. Maybe they found out they still had some time to fill so they added that in on the fly? Oh well the rest of the match made up for that, though Kelly's screaming was a little too intense. Though she has worked on sounding like she's actually in pain as opposed to having an orgasm. The closing moments of the match were heart-stopping but I loved that finish. It showed that Kelly has used that to beat Beth before but she's ready for it this time. Using the Alley-Oop to finish it was a nice touch and it's always good to see a match that doesn't end with the Glam Slam. Beth gets another clean title win and she's now got three title defences, all on PPV. Her reign has been good on paper even if the TV segments aren't exactly utilising her full potential. 7/10

Raw - Beth Phoenix vs Alicia Fox:
Finally the Fox's hunt begins. Didn't you just know straight away when you saw Alicia on the screen that it was going to be a non-title match and that she was going to win? I guess this is the one time I won't complain about having a super-short match on Raw so as not to give anything away for their eventual title match. That being said the lack of time clearly affected them here. They went for a good spot with Alicia reversing the slingshot suplex into the inverted DDT but it didn't work quite the way it was supposed to. If the Divas are only going to be allotted this amount of time each week then it is probably wiser to put them in segments or promos instead of matches. Hopefully Beth can put on as good a match with Alicia as she was able to do with Eve and Kelly. 2/10

NXT - Kaitlyn vs Maxine:
Thank the wrestling Gods Kaitlyn is still a face. I know she's been advertised as a heel at future house shows but that means nothing right now. Although I would like to see the Chick Busters officially work out their differences on screen to fix the little hole we have. I'm a little annoyed with the time the matches on NXT have been getting lately, I mean this is almost like Raw time. The match was still fine at the length it was at and Kaitlyn and Maxine once again showed how far they've come from the trainwreck of a match last year. Maxine has been on a bit of a losing streak but with Derrick Bateman distracting her then it's not too bad. Please Kaitlyn stay on the side of good. 6/10

Impact - Tara vs Miss Tessmacher:
Madison Rayne is officially God. At least she knows she can fall back on something if she decides to retire from wrestling because she rocked the mic in the ring. She was hilarious during the whole match and I couldn't get enough of her antics. I wouldn't mind seeing a proper Tara/Brooke match in the future though I'm happy they didn't split up as they should stay together for a long time. I'd like them to develop this further and feud properly with Madison and Gail to win back their belts, hopefully downgrading Gail's recent God Mode Sue role. This was really entertaining and we did see some good wrestling from the girls as well. Segment rating: 7.5/10

ODB & Eric Young vs Shannon Moore & Anarchia:
I officially love this pairing. The "business meeting" segment was pure gold and they don't even need to have these two wrestle at every week if they just put them in more segments. The match didn't have a lot of ODB action but still pretty funny with Eric Young's theatrics. ODB's scoop slam didn't look too good but everything else was fun to watch. Not much else to say except gimme more! 5/10

TLC 2011 In Review

Well it's the third annual edition of the Tables, Ladders and Chairs PPV and also the final PPV of the year. WWE normally like to end things with a bang as over the years we've seen DX finally winning Tag Team gold, Sheamus getting the upset and winning his first title, the rise of John Morrison, Divas getting physical and high spots galore. With the dust now settled, I can safely say WWE did go out on a high note this year with one of their best PPV offerings of 2011.

1) Dolph Ziggler* vs Zack Ryder (United States Championship):
They couldn't have picked a better match to open the show. It was almost insane how hot the crowd were for Ryder and how over he is now. This past year has really been something for him as he has become a true star in front of our eyes, going from the Youtube site to the actual TV screens. The match was miles better than the one at Vengeance mostly because it was longer but there was a certain proper hype to it. At Vengeance you knew Ryder wasn't going to get the win but here there was that unpredictability. Dolph continues to show how good he is at what he does as he demonstrated amazing charisma in this match not to mention five star athleticism. I actually loved that spot with all the elbow drops. It's the new Three Amigos anyway. Ryder is not the best worker but has a strong character and brought his A-game. That Frankensteiner was probably my favourite move because I never expected him to pull out something like it. I honestly thought it was over a bit too soon but on the second watch it felt more fleshed out. 7.5/10

I liked the angle they had Booker T and Cody Rhodes in that night. It gives Rhodes more notoriety and screen time. I think Alicia Fox's hair is getting brighter.

2) Air Boom* vs Epico & Primo (WWE Tag Team Championships):
I was surprised neither of the Tag champs were put in some kind of ladder match given the theme of this PPV but what we got was more than fine. Evan Bourne has truly been missed on PPV and showed he hasn't been sitting on the couch doing nothing during his absence. This was a surprisingly good tag team match if a little rushed into execution. I mean it wasn't even announced properly before the show. In that case it is good the champs retained and judging from Raw it looks like they're going to feud a bit longer. It was surprising to see the faces controlling so much of the match and I felt they were getting a bit too much offence in early on but eventually the heels got to do their thing isolating Evan and getting plenty of offence of their own in. The spot throwing Evan out of the ring was really cool though it was a bit weird to see just him getting worked on in the match. In the last few title matches between them they've both taken turns getting worked on but here Evan was the definite Ricky Morton partner. Kofi's hot tag was energetic as always and the closing moments were exciting enough. Another good title match and the titles defended successfully again which builds them up. I'm excited to see the rematch. As an aside, thank the lord someone finally made Rosa Mendes a valet. She's doing pretty well and anything that prevents her wrestling is fine with me. 8/10

The Hornswoggle segments get kind of pointless now that he can talk. Funnily enough he was more entertaining as a mute. Who knew we'd get double sided race humour on a PG show?

3) Wade Barrett vs Randy Orton (Tables Match):
I wasn't sure if I wanted to see this one considering how hit and miss Tables matches normally are but thankfully WWE kept the ball rolling and gave us a third solid match in a row. Not as fun as the first two but still pretty entertaining. They brawled for a good bit and they did that well. Some of the spots were very creative and this was much more inventive than some of the more recent singles Tables matches we've seen like Orton/Miz and Kofi/Sheamus. I was kept entertained anyway. What was best about it was that you never got the feeling they were just padding things out to fill their time (like happened with a certain ladder match later on). I nearly marked out when I saw Barrett going for Wasteland into the table but thankfully we got that on Raw last night. I was expecting Orton to win and I'm not that bothered about it. Winning a tables match doesn't necessarily equal a burial and Barrett is still getting some kind of big heel push. He's actually one of my picks to win the Royal Rumble. 7/10

Brie does actually have a point since whenever they play different roles she's always the face and Nikki the heel. These two are much more entertaining in these segments as bitchy heels. Jack Swagger seems to have taken speaking classes because his lines didn't sound so bored this time. Or maybe Sheamus just toned down his charisma to make him look better.

4) Beth Phoenix* vs Kelly Kelly (Divas' Championship):
I was expecting a Divas' title match to be added last minute but I thought it would be Alicia getting the shot. However this works fine as well since Kelly never got her rematch and it looks like they'll make an effort to build Alicia an actual feud for the title. This was on par with their other 3 PPV matches and was quite impressive for a last minute addition and one that wasn't as long as the previous 3. True Beth calling the spots in the middle was just bad but they're only human I guess. Kelly's spots looked really good like that facecrusher off the apron and it is good that with four PPV matches they can still deliver some new stuff. The closing moments were nearly heart stopping making everyone think Kelly was going to win the title back. But I like that it didn't end with the Glam Slam and Beth's Alley Oop gave her a bit of variety. And that's now three clean title defences for her without help from Natalya or dirty tactics. She and Kelly have both gotten respectable title reigns thus far. 7/10

The amount of gay subtext between The Miz and Alberto Del Rio is a little unnerving.

I repeat what I said about the Booker T/Cody Rhodes angle.

5) Triple H vs Kevin Nash (Sledgehammer/Ladder Match):
I was genuinely shocked that this wasn't the last match on the card but relieved all the same. I was preparing myself for a massive trainwreck a la Judgement Day 2003 but thankfully it didn't quite get to that. In fact I was really enjoying the opening brawl and I was impressed with how these two older guys could really go. There's life in these old(er) dogs yet. The ladder submission holds were excellent to watch and there were a good few other hard-hitting spots there as well. However like many of Triple H's matches these days, it ran for too long. It could have had a good five minutes shaved off it at least because towards the second half of the match, they slowed down and it was obvious they were padding things out to fill their time. I was really confused with the ending and the rules seemed almost TNA-esque - win by pinning your opponent after hitting him with a sledgehammer retrieved above the ring? Doesn't the pin make the whole point of the ladder match unnecessary? Just getting the sledgehammer should have been enough to end the match and that botched Pedigree was another nail in the coffin. And Nash is injured again. Let this be his retirement match as it's a fine enough note to go out on. 6/10

Johnny's voice is almost unnatural. Can anyone really listen to themselves talk like that?

6) Jack Swagger vs Sheamus:
Exactly how many PPVs has it been this year that Sheamus has been randomly added to the card at the last minute? True this time it was officially announced and booked on the show itself but still give the guy something to work with. However this was still a really great match and these two really brought out the best in each other. I compare Sheamus's work now to his runs as the top heel champion and it's almost like a different person out there. I thought he was fine as a heel, not great but could get the job done and never in a million years thought he'd be able to play a face. And who would have thought he'd be such a natural at it. I was never a Sheamus fan before but he has now shown off so much charisma and athleticism in the ring that I'm starting to get behind him. Swagger of course got to show off as well, though he didn't go to the heights we've seen him at before. The chemistry was definitely there and I was entertained. As much as I'm enjoying the rise of Sheamus I'd like to see Swagger get a PPV win just once. 7/10

7) Mark Henry* vs Big Show (Chairs Match; World Heavyweight Championship):
I was of course not excited for this match at all despite liking both of these guys. Giving them steel chairs to use was a pretty good idea since they made this a bit more exciting than their match at Survivor Series. I was surprised at how short it was but since Mark Henry is injured then it's a valid enough reason. His title reign was relatively interesting but I was honestly ready for a new champion. Big Show got the win and I was happy for him. But of course it doesn't end there...5.5/10

I wasn't expecting this but the crowd were on their feet and it was a great feel-good moment. Seeing Daniel Bryan waving the belt in Michael Cole's face was pure gold. I get the feeling they'll turn Big Show heel and have him carry on with whatever plans they had for Mark Henry. Can't say I'm too thrilled about this as I don't think anyone would care if Big Show turned heel *again*.

8) Cody Rhodes* vs Booker T (Intercontinental Championship):
I loved the sneaky way WWE got to make this an upper card match. It was a gutsy move because this spot normally does have a piss-break match or segment in between main events but with the WHC match being so short then it's a different story. While not as exciting as the US title match or Sheamus/Swagger this one was still pretty solid. I wasn't expecting that much but I enjoyed what I saw and I'm thoroughly enjoying Cody Rhodes's push right now. He's another of the guys who became a star in front of our eyes and I'm enjoying his run as IC Champ. It's funny how people never thought he'd make it but yet here he is one of the best heels in the company. I hope Booker T doesn't properly get back into the ring now because I actually like his commentary and think that's a better niche for him right now. The end sequence was a bit slow and it was a little strange to see the kick end it. I was expecting Cross Rhodes or something like that. Almost a little anti-climactic. 6.5/10

9) CM Punk* vs The Miz vs Alberto Del Rio (TLC Match; WWE Championship):
I'm truly amazed. This must be the first time in I don't know how many years that the main event of a PPV has not involved John Cena, Triple H or Randy Orton. In fact, I'm shocked Cena wasn't on the card at all. I think this was a test on WWE's part to see if a PPV could work without those guys in the main event and, in my opinion, it worked just fine and it was a good move. True we have seen more variety in the title picture with newer faces feuding for the belt but it's still been those guys in non-title related storylines as the main event, taking more importance than the actual title. But here the title was the most important thing on the card and got the final match. These three delivered an entertaining TLC match that was a lot better than the one we saw at the show last year. The alliance between Miz and Del Rio was expected but them turning on each other was fun to watch as well. The spots with the handcuffs were a little unorthodox but I'll take them with a grain of salt. I give massive props to Ricardo Rodriguez for taking that massive bump as it was a great moment. I also loved Del Rio's weapon-assisted submission holds. Not much else to say about the match except it was hugely entertaining and it was awesome to see Punk come out on top again. 8/10

The Tough Enough 14 - Where Are They Now?

It's been nearly six months since Tough Enough wrapped up and Andy Leavine was crowned the winner. I think it's time to take a look at the 14 contestants who were on the show and see who's doing what, who got to WWE, who's still wrestling and if there was any major drama along the way. The results may surprise you.

Andy Leavine:

Of course the big news broke back in August that Big Andy had been suspended for violating WWE's wellness program, a big shock especially considering on the show Andy promoted himself as being straight edge and wanting to do right by his family. Well his suspension is over as he has been reportedly training in FCW and was added to their roster under the name "Kevin Hackman" in October. Jim Ross actually recently answered questions about whether or not Andy would be getting called up soon. He said it was doubtful and that Big Andy  had a lot of work to do. Personally I think that if he ever does debut properly on WWE TV he'll likely get repackaged and his history on Tough Enough will be ignored since any momentum he would have had since winning the show is long gone by now. Personally I also don't see him as a valuable asset to the company and I get the feeling he'll be added to the future endeavours list before the next season premieres.

Luke Robinson:

The runner up was one of the favourites to win the show from the start though many doubted WWE would sign him due to his overly large ego. It seems the many had it right as Luke has yet to be signed by WWE and dropped off the radar since the show wrapped. He finally resurfaced in September where he returned to action at IHW Wrestling and has supposedly been wrestling regularly for the last couple of months. There is still no talk of signing him. From what I've seen he is very gifted in the ring, is in good shape and has a ton of charisma so it's actually surprising he hasn't at least gotten a try-out. I'm guessing his ego and his history of wrestling for that gay porn league is likely what's keeping them from signing him. Guess we won't be seeing the much anticipated staredown with Randy Orton any time soon.

Jeremiah Riggs:

Jeremiah was another of the contestants thought to be looked on keenly by WWE management after his strong performance on the show. Personally he was in great shape but his main problem was just being too reckless in the ring but something that could easily be fixed with the proper training. He indeed got a tryout at FCW back in August and the officials supposedly loved his personality but thought he was average in the ring and had a bad attitude and was eventually told he would not be offered a developmental contract. In an interview a few weeks after this he verbally buried WWE and said all their developmental guys were all the same, boring and bland not to mention scared of failure. He praised Bill DeMott for his training on Tough Enough and was happy for him to get a job as a WWE scout but revealed that the job has supposedly gone to his head. That I can easily believe as from what I saw on the show, Bill DeMott was a good wrestler but an awful teacher. I guess we definitely won't be seeing Jeremiah in WWE after that interview but I suppose anything can happen. He's actually still getting offers to wrestle and do MMA so we'll see if he keeps at it.

Christina Crawford:

The final female on the show had originally spent 8 months in FCW and had to be released from her contract to take part. Well after the show wrapped she was re-signed with WWE and popped back up in FCW. Her wrestling name is Caylee Turner and she seems to zig zag between working face and heel at different shows but on TV they seem to be settling on her working face. I definitely saw something in Christina when she was on the show and from watching her matches in FCW, she's definitely a girl who gets it. She is improving nicely down there and I feel confident that she will eventually get called up to the main roster. Who knows, maybe she and her sister will become a tag team?

AJ Kirsch:

This guy was my second pick to win the show after Matt got eliminated but I'll be the first to admit he fell short in a lot of the contests. I finally saw a glimmer of hope with his final promo but it looks like WWE hasn't taken much notice of him. He actually did work a match for WWE Superstars a few months back under the name "Aaron James" (which according to him is not what AJ stands for) where he got squashed by Brodus Clay. Besides that he has returned to his roots at APW and you should definitely take note of his matches. It is surprising considering he made hardly any impact on the show but he has a load of charisma and he is a great heel. Here's one of the contestants I want to get signed by WWE because he does have a lot to offer. Here's his Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/iamajkirsch

Martin Casaus:

Here is another big favourite who almost definitely would have won the show had he not fractured his ankle towards the end, no offence to Andy but he was definitely in a right place right time scenario. Apparently Martin co-owns a wrestling promotion UCW-Zero in his hometown of Salt Lake City. His ankle has now healed fully and from his return match in August he had no ring rust whatsoever. He hasn't yet been contacted by WWE which is very surprising to me considering how much he impressed when he was on the show. But I would think that they might eventually offer him a tryout at least some time in the new year. Oh and a side note, the third skill challenge he won on the show was actually on his 26th birthday.

Ivelisse Velez:

Here's another contestant who was forced to leave the show due to injury. When being eliminated Ivelisse had some harsh words for Christina and gave a pretty bitchy departure interview. However in an interview a few months later Evey admitted she was upset and wished she had been a bit more professional at the time. She's said that she and Christina are on fine terms now. As the most experienced woman on the show (six years on the indies) it was thought that she would eventually get looked at by the company when her injury healed. Indeed she was given a tryout with them along with her boyfriend and was actually caught on camera backstage at Raw. A few weeks ago the news broke out that she has indeed been signed by WWE and has already begun competing at FCW shows. Her first match on TV will air on December 18th and will also feature two other fellow contestants.

Eric Watts:

Personally I found Eric to be one of the biggest letdowns on the show and I'm amazed he made it as far as he did, which is a shame considering he has the handicapped brother at home and could have made for a nice heartwarming ending to the show. He has since spoke up that he has improved his conditioning and physique since leaving and he returned to the indies in September. According to him, he's still in contact with Bill DeMott and Stone Cold and goes to them whenever he has questions about training. He aims to go and wrestle in Japan someday. I was critical of Eric on the show but if he's working hard to improve then good for him because he could have potential. From interviews he seems very respectful and professional, and an attitude like that will help him out in the long run as opposed to someone like Luke who just walks around with his nose in the air. In a little bit of useless trivia, he and AJ have remained good friends since the show ended.

Ryan Howe:

Old Skidmarks is just full of surprises as fans of the show might be shocked to find out that he's actually a bouncer and spent time in Ohio Valley Wrestling before he was on TV. He returned to the ring pretty soon after he got eliminated from the show and has even wrestled Cowboy Bob Orton. I doubt anyone is surprised that he hasn't been contacted by WWE thus far though in interviews he has said he felt that the type of over the top character he was playing in the ring was strong enough though WWE was shying away from it at the time and that's why he was cut. According to him, being on the show has increased the amount of bookings he's been getting on the indie circuit and the prices have gone up. Despite being treated like a dog on the show he's been very respectful when talking about the trainers, even Bill DeMott and his blatant favouritism. So while he's not getting to WWE, he's certainly flourishing on the indies.

Rimah Fakih:

Well of course she is no longer Miss USA as the tiara was handed over a few months ago to the next one. The trainers all agreed that while she couldn't have lasted on the show, she had the passion and the drive to become a professional wrestler. She actually revealed in an interview that she fractured one of her ribs while training with Bill but kept it quiet for the show. Back in September a fan asked her about her future with WWE and she replied that they didn't seem interested in her but in an interview a couple of weeks ago she revealed she'd been in talks with Triple H though we haven't heard anything yet. In other news she got a DUI at the start of the month and, though she tried to deny it on Twitter, it's since been confirmed that it was definitely her. I wonder if she would get signed eventually because I do think she could bring a lot to the table but I guess the New Year will give us more info.

Mickael Zaki:

Another contestant who didn't really wow anyone much on the show despite having a unique enough look and being in good shape. He hasn't really seemed to have done much of anything since getting eliminated from the show and I guess it's safe to say WWE aren't that interested in him. He's actually a pretty entertaining person to follow on Twitter and people will be interested to know that, after his rather demeaning comments in the first episode, he was seen praising Ariane and congratulating her on her progress which will make more sense when you read about her below. No news on whether or not he plans to join the cast of Jersey Shore.

Michelle Deighton:

Miss 11 Years who was the only contestant to voluntarily leave the show. Just to give you some clarification, she started wrestling 11 years before she was on the show but gave it up after five years to do modelling for another six. So anyone who's been out of the game for six years is bound to be a little rusty trying to start back up again. Though people will wonder why she didn't at least brush up on her basics before coming on the show. It seems she and her husband Johnny Fairplay have separated and she has retained custody of their young daughter Piper, who Michelle quit the show to spend more time with. She hasn't seemed to have stuck with wrestling and indeed the other contestants have spoken up about her negative attitude on the show, her supposedly applying for other reality shows at the time as well. I guess she decided wrestling wasn't for her and went back to being a model/mother. It's not like she'll be missed from the wrestling world in any case.

Matt Cross:

The contestant with arguably the most potential and experience, who was my pick to win the show and got the short end of the stick and got eliminated second. His fans will be happy to know he wrestled a tryout match for WWE in September and since he was on the show, he's been getting a lot more bookings and requests. He's kept in contact with all the trainers and they've been really helpful, not to mention he's good friends with CM Punk. I'd personally love to see him in WWE because he has a lot of talent and he could bring a lot to the table. He isn't exactly a big guy but he can certainly make up for it with his quickness. Well anyway if he doesn't get there he's certainly doing well for himself anyway, wrestling all over the world. His goal is apparently to wrestle in 20 different countries.

Ariane Andrew:

People were probably chuckling that when she first appeared on Raw she announced herself as "the next WWE Diva" when she would be eliminated on the first episode. However she would get the last laugh as after the first episode aired, she revealed she'd been signed anyway. Rima certainly wasn't happy with this, bashing her on Twitter and claiming she had no respect for wrestling. Mickael on the other hand praised her, saying "you are a bumping machine". Ariane has since debuted in FCW under the name Cameron Lynn and like Christina, seems to zig zag through what role she's playing. She certainly brings a lot of personality to the table with her heel character and has a gift for comedy. What a shock that the first one out seems to have flourished the most since the show ended. No news on whether Melina vs Alicia Fox is still her favourite match.

Week In Review For Women's Wrestling #25

Raw - Eve & Kelly Kelly vs Divas of Doom:
Why is Eve in the match when Alicia is the one getting the build up? It didn't even really need to be a tag match if Eve wasn't even going to get tagged in or even do anything. I repeat my usual pet peeve with entrances. When you have little time for a segment, scratch one of the entrances and the match will get a bit of extra time. The video package for the DoD was pretty good, or what we saw of it anyway, we'll probably see the full thing eventually. The action we saw was okay but no actual offence from Kelly which was a bit annoying. The ending I saw coming a mile away but wondering why Kelly is getting a win over Beth when Alicia is being prepped to get the next title shot? I'm guessing TLC will give us a tag team match of some sort, fingers crossed it's a tables match again and this is signalling Kelly will be Alicia's partner. This week will give us more answers. 3/10

NXT Watch:
No offence to Derrick Bateman but Maxine and Johnny Curtis make a much better couple. I would still like them to follow on my idea of pairing Johnny and Bateman as a tag team as they would add some colour to that division. Maxine looked great and as always she exudes charisma like it's vapour. Get more Divas on the show please.

Impact - Mickie James vs Madison Rayne:
This one was alright and on par with the last couple of matches these two have had on Impact, which have all been better than their previous PPV matches. I felt it was maybe a bit overlong as the final bit with Madison getting in control again wasn't really needed. I'll give Mickie her credit as she has been looking a bit better in the ring lately though she still seems a bit slow with her moves. Madison is brilliant as always and she just has a way of commanding the attention to herself whenever she's on screen, even when she's not in the spotlight. Standard booking giving Mickie momentum heading into the PPV. I have yet to see the match but I'm sure it'll be somewhat passable. 6/10

Gail Kim vs Traci Brooks:
I really don't like Traci's hair. The Bob is the most unflattering hairstyle known to womankind and I have yet to see a woman who looks good with one. The match was a different flavour than the Mickie/Madison one in that it was more about storytelling, Traci taking out her frustrations on Gail and going to town. The brawl was fun though the whole segment was a little too short. I would actually love for them to build off this after Gail is done with Mickie and give Traci a push against her. She has never been Knockouts Champion and I think it could be a very interesting feud if done correctly. They could be heading in this direction since they gave Gail a dirty win, Madison hitting Traci with the belt and all. 4/10

Smackdown - Aksana Watch:
I love that they find ways to get Aksana on Smackdown though I am looking forward to her eventually joining the women's division. I was expecting her to be the new member of the Divas of Doom when they paired her with Alicia. I'd like to see them take that back up and have Aksana unhappy to be accompanying Alicia for whatever reason and eventually side with the DoD. We know from FCW that she can play a heel whereas Kaitlyn turning isn't needed. I'm actually relieved the Chick Busters split was seemingly postponed because if it has to happen it should be done properly. WWE doesn't seem to be good at soft turns for the Divas and I wouldn't want a Kaitlyn heel turn to be like Melina's or Alicia's face turn. The swerve happens and the next time we see her she's a heel.

Week In Review For Women's Wrestling #24

Raw - Alicia Fox & Kelly Kelly vs Bella Twins:
And we're back to the usual pointless 2-minute tag matches. This match served one purpose - put Alicia forward as the next possible title contender. Getting that across could have been done with a promo or some form of segment but hopefully they can kick things into gear eventually. The match was pretty forgettable and Alicia didn't even get tagged in at the end. However the one bit with the DoD interfering was pretty funny - I mean who ever heard of distracting someone by pretending to jog around the ring? They do seem to be giving the DoD a bit of comedy and I'm not sure if I like it as it might take away from their big time heel personas. With LayCool it worked but it doesn't seem natural with Beth and Natalya. 2/10

Smackdown - Mistletoe On A Pole Match:
I do applaud creative team for giving them something new to do but this was short and uninspired, mostly just the divas throwing each other around rather lamely. But really the entire show was full of this silliness and hopefully now that they've gotten the "Divas in Xmas outfits" show off the schedule we can get some new direction. The backstage segments were pretty fun on the other hand and I enjoyed Aksana eating the mistletoe. It was an off night for ring action but successful for some backstage interactions. 1/10

NXT - Maxine vs Alicia Fox:
I'm a little annoyed with the time given to this considering it's NXT and they should be getting Superstars lengths for matches. However Alicia shows her savvy at working short matches but injecting life into them and making them entertaining. She and Maxine worked well enough together though I wish we could have had a segment or something playing up their history. Derrick Bateman's mother was funny and hopefully she'll come back for more segments...hopefully bringing Momma Benjamin with her. I'm enjoying the way this angle is going and I expect some kind of mixed tag match soon with Johnny Curtis and Kaitlyn vs Derrick Bateman & Maxine with Max making her decision. Oh and Tamina sounded pretty good on the mic. 6/10

Impact - Knockouts Get Wet And Wild:
Ah we long for the days when this was commonplace in WWE. Well not really considering there this would be instead of a proper match as opposed to in addition to it. This was much more entertaining than last week's trainwreck of a match since it took place backstage and watching girls have a waterfight in bikinis is always better than watching them try to wrestle in lingerie. I get the feeling we'll end up with a segment where Karen has to strip down to a bikini and scrub everyone's cars. That would be pure comedy gold - imagine Velvet spraying her with the hose. Combined rating: 7/10

Mickie James vs ODB (Street Fight):
I loved this match. These two had a good enough match a few months ago but this was brilliant. I was pulling for ODB to win it the whole time because I don't want to see another Mickie run with the title and adding ODB into the feud to make it a triple threat could give it some extra spice. Hopefully if Gail retains then they can make it a triple threat. As for the match, I critiqued Mickie for how bland her matches with Tara were, but here saw her put on one of her better showings in TNA so far. ODB took her to her limit and gave us a possible MOTY candidate. It's certainly miles better than the series of PPV matches we've been getting from the Knockouts. I loved all the spots with the weapons and they were so intense. Uniquely for a Knockouts match, I feel they choreographed it so that the timing felt consistent and the ending satisfied me. They used the time given and made the most out of it. 8.5/10

WWE Archive: Survivor Series 2000

Survivor Series 2000



Now I've decided simply waiting around for the monthly WWE PPVs to come along isn't enough for me. So I am going to dip down into my archive of old WWF/E DVDs and review the PPVs of days gone by. Can the matches of today compare to them? Well, only one way to find out.


This little show comes to us from the Ice Palace in Tampa, FL. This is during the height of the Stone Cold/Triple H feud where Trips was revealed to be the man who ran Austin down at last year's No Mercy. There was also something quite heated going on between The Rock and Rikishi who had recently turned heel and was revealed to be in cahoots with Triple H the whole time. We also had Kurt Angle in his first WWF title reign and his challenger this time around was the Undertaker. Should be a good one.

6-Person Intergender Tag Match – T&A & Trish Stratus vs Steve Blackman, Crash & Molly Holly:

Holy hell I’m getting nostalgic already. It’s the diva of the decade herself back in her rookie days. And for those who remember Molly as “pure and wholesome” right here she’s looking fine as a sweet country bumpkin. Anyway the first big spot of the match comes when Crash goes for a crossbody on Albert who catches him in mid air and then Blackman hits a missile dropkick on them. Throughout the match Crash was isolated as the weak link with Test and Albert making quick tags. Crash got in some nice offence with a beautiful hurricanrana over the top rope but walked into a brutal looking big boot from Test. He and Albert raised Crash up into a double flapjack. Eventually both the women tagged in and Molly Holly showed us why we miss her in WWE (this was her first match as Molly by the way). She made a tag to Blackman but the ref (Teddy Long actually) didn’t see it so while he’s reprimanding Blackman, Test and Albert restrained Molly so Trish could get a few kicks in. Crash and Blackman cleaned house however to send the thugs to the outside. Trish landed a bulldog off the top rope but Molly eventually scored the win with a diving sunset flip.
I really miss these 6-person tag matches; we used to see so many of them and now that the tag division is dead we barely get any these days. This was very fast paced and got the crowd going and acted as a nice showcase for Molly in her debut. 7/10

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match – Road Dogg, K-Kwik, Chyna & “The One” Billy Gunn vs The Radicalz:

Another holy hell, that’s R-Truth rapping with Road Dogg (this song is much better than the current theme he has). I miss Chyna and her bazooka – I always remembered her looking very mannish and scary but here she has muscles but looks pretty hot, this must have been around the time of her Playboy shoot. And it’s the man of the hour – Bad Ass Billy G himself. I loved this gimmick for him and that entrance music kicks ass. It’s also great to see the once-almighty Radicalz together but it’s also a little sad knowing that two people in this match are now dead (same case for the first match as well). Billy and Perry Saturn started off but Chyna was quickly tagged in, getting some power moves as well as her trademark handspring elbow. She DDT’d Saturn but a brawl broke out in the heels’ corner and Eddie Guerrero snuck in and clocked Chyna with the IC belt to allow Saturn to eliminate her. Road Dogg was then isolated by the heels who worked on his right knee. He finally made the hot tag to Billy Gunn who cleaned house with a military press on Guerrero, finally eliminating Latino Heat with a sleeper slam. K-Kwik jumped into the mix and got some high flying offence against Chris Benoit but was quickly dispatched with a belly to back suplex. The former New Age Outlaws were left alone as the Radicalz isolated the Dogg once again. He tried to fight back but Saturn eliminated him with a northern lights suplex. A 3-on-1 melee ensued and Billy ended up on the outside. He ducked a superkick from Saturn who got Benoit instead and was able to hit the Fame Asser on Dean Malenko to eliminate the Light Heavyweight Champion (that’s the one title belt that doesn’t get you laid). Back and forth action followed between the remaining competitors and Benoit landed his diving head butt but Billy G kicked out. He went for a suplex but Benoit turned it into a pin and Saturn held Billy’s feet down to help get the win for his team.
Another great match and one of my all time favourite Survivor Series matches. Billy Gunn was really shaping up to be a great singles star with this new gimmick and I recall him winning the IC belt not long after this. My only gripe was that Chyna got eliminated too soon – we all wanted to see her vs Eddie. 8/10

Chris Jericho vs Kane:

Whoa, we’ve actually got a match with two guys who are still in the company and both have come a long way since then. Both were World Champion this year in fact. Of course I do miss masked Kane and Y2J but this feud was all started over something about spilt coffee. Anyway Jericho immediately went on the offence, trying to catch the Big Red Machine off guard with various dropkicks to give some nice spots on the outside. Kane dragged Y2J around by the hair and repeatedly threw him into the security wall. Jericho responded by dropkicking the ring steps into him. The match finally moved back into the ring and once again, Jericho was favouring various dropkicks. He tried for the Walls of Jericho but that couldn’t hold the Masked Monster. Kane even went to the top rope and landed a double axe handle but Jericho dropkicked him in mid air. Kane uncovered the turnbuckle pad and attempted to throw Jericho on it but Y2J countered and gave Kane a taste of his own medicine. He hit a bulldog to leave Kane lying on the canvas, went for a Lionsault and Kane very conspicuously shifted himself over to move into position. He caught Jericho with his hand and dropped him with a chokeslam to end the match.
I enjoyed it anyway although the foundations for the feud were pretty lame just to add some filler onto the card. I’ve noticed that Jericho has remained a very consistent worker over the years, probably because he’s never been seriously injured unlike say Triple H, Edge or John Cena. 7/10

European Championship – William Regal (champion) vs Hardcore Holly:

Ah well it’s the lowest ranking mid card title on the line here and this match was apparently added on Sunday Night HEAT as Holly returned recently from injury. Before the match started Regal got some cheap heat on the Tampa crowd but his mic work was still pretty good. Bob “I let Brock Lesnar break my neck to teach him a lesson” Holly sauntered down to interrupt him and the match got underway. We saw a few nice arm drags from the champion and some other good exchanges. Holly got sent shoulder first into the ring post (the announcers inform us that it was recently surgically repaired) and Regal seized on the opportunity. He started working on the injured arm by whacking it off the ring post and using submissions such as arm bars and arm locks, even taking time to salute the crowd. They spilled to the outside and Holly was having trouble using his arm. Holly smashed Regal’s head off the ring steps but then grabbed the European title belt and whacked the champion with it in full view of the referee, earning himself a disqualification.
It was decent for what it was and we saw a couple of nice moves as well as some story being told. But overall it was just filler and the time could have been added onto other matches. 3/10

The Rock vs Rikishi:

In the category of heel turns that should never have happened…yep the dancing Samoan teddy bear is definitely a candidate. It seemed WWE likes to turn gold into crap, hoping it’ll turn back into gold. Rikishi was over as part of Too Cool and the heel turn did nothing for him. Aside from the Hell in a Cell at Armageddon this was probably the biggest match of his career and yet it was one of the worst matches of the night. I do miss The Rock but even he and his showmanship can’t make a match good unless there’s that talented wrestler in there to help him work through it. Rikishi did try though; he even took a leaf out of Triple H’s book and brought in the sledgehammer to help himself out. He even kicked out of a Rock Bottom. The eye sore of the night came when Rock took the Stink Face – like the bronco buster, that move should only be used by a face as comedy against a heel; it’d be like Jillian’s boob rub being taken as a serious finisher. Rikishi also got in a nice Samoan drop and Rock gained momentum with a spinebuster. He then delivered a People’s Elbow that apparently tasered Rikishi because he started vibrating on the canvas like a dehydrated flounder. This was enough to keep Rikishi down for the 1-2-3 but while Rock was celebrating, Rikishi superkicked him and landed four Banzai drops off the top rope to him. Paramedics were carrying Rock out on a stretcher as Rikishi looked on sadistically. 
To be honest, this angle was like Santino going full on monster heel and feuding with Randy Orton – i.e. it didn’t work. The Rock was able to insert some form of energy into the match but it really just flopped. 4/10

Women’s Championship – Ivory* vs Lita:

I’m not gonna quote the typical diva fan and cheer “yeah, when divas could actually wrestle” followed by a football chant that goes “there’s only one <insert name here>” because back then they were pretty much in the same state they are right now – hit and miss. The fans were just starting to take the divas seriously as wrestlers but it wasn’t until 2002 that it actually happened. Early on in the match Lita got cut open above her eye; the announcers sold it as Ivory cutting her with a right hand but it was actually caused by an enziguri (Ivory’s boot caught Lita above the eye as they both came down). It soon turns into a full on bleed out but the women soldier on anyway. Ivory worked on the challenger with a leg drop, elbow drop and northern lights suplex (she was wrestling in a long skirt so she was pretty restricted). Her fellow Right to Censor team mate Steven Richards ran down to help her but Lita went to the top rope and body blocked both of them. Back in the ring she landed a crossbody but missed her moonsault when Richards pulled Ivory out of the ring. Ivory grabbed her belt and went to use it but Lita suplexed her (the sound Ivory made when this happened was hilarious) and removed her top before going to the top again. Here she landed the moonsault but Ivory put the belt on her knees to counter the move. She covered Lita and retained her title. After she left, the crowd applauded Lita for her effort. 
To be honest, I saw nothing different from this diva match than you would see in one today apart from the blood. The match got about four minutes in total and yet was still fleshed out and told a great story. To those who complain that the divas suck now and can’t wrestle, look closely at Lita. In this stage in her career, the moonsault and her hurricanranas were all she had as she was pretty sloppy at everything else and Ivory was carrying her through this match. However she was a trooper and really got the fans behind her in this match. 6/10

WWF Championship – Kurt Angle* vs The Undertaker:

Two holy hells in less than three minutes – Kurt Angle with hair! And the American badass! I have to say, I enjoy the Undertaker’s matches a lot more when he doesn’t take so long to walk to the ring. Of course that gives me no time for my bathroom break though. Now this one was just a pure classic in the making – none of Kurt Angle’s later reigns could top this one. It’s just a shame he couldn’t make it to WrestleMania and they fed him to The Rock just so they could set up Stone Cold’s heel turn. This match was extremely back and forth and had absolutely no padding – take note main eventers of today (you too Taker). I’m having a hard trouble remembering everything about it. Nobody sold Taker’s moves better than Kurt Angle did, especially that guillotine leg drop – Kurt looked like he’d nearly been decapitated. Taker took the champion to the outside and went nasty, driving his back into the ring post a few times. None other than Edge and Christian ran down to the ring to interfere but the referee was having none of it and so he sent them packing. In the ring Undertaker chokeslammed Kurt but the ref took too long to get back in the ring and the champion survived. The spot of the match came when Kurt locked in a Figure 4 Leg Lock around the ring post. He fought dirty as well with the usual low blow that heels normally do. He ran outside and hid under the ring but Taker pulled him out. Back in the ring he delivered the Last Ride and covered him for 1-2…the ref stopped counting. The man on the canvas wasn’t Kurt Angle but a lookalike (Kurt’s brother actually; he used that trick again in a match against Brock Lesnar in 2003). The real Kurt snuck in and rolled the Undertaker up, grabbing the tights for leverage to retain his title. 
Match of the night by far and definitely up there with the Survivor Series classics. I wish WWE hadn’t let Kurt Angle get away. 9/10

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match – Edge & Christian, Bull Buchanan & the Goodfather vs Hardy Boyz & Dudley Boyz:

Ah, the peak of the tag team division – three great teams in the ring as well as a stable that were a heat machine. This got more time than the first Survivor Series match but, maybe it’s the DX nostalgic in me, I preferred the first one. Val Venis came down with Buchanan and the Goodfather for “moral support”. First great spot of the match came when it broke down early on and all four of the faces hit a quadruple DDT on the heels. The Hardys stripped to reveal camouflage t-shirts in honour of their partners and hit the typical Poetry in Motion before stripping again to appease their female fans. Sadly for the fan girls Matt Hardy was the first eliminated with Edge’s new move – Edge-o-matic (it’s not new now but it’s still a cool move). Christian also took D-Von Dudley out of the mix with an Unprettier (it’s called the Killswitch now) but things went south for the heels when Edge speared Bull Buchanan by mistake which allowed Bubba to eliminated him. Edge was next to go after a Bubba Bomb (King wailed “no more Edge-o-matic!?” when this happened). The Goodfather used a Samoan driver to send Bubba to the showers, leaving Jeff Hardy alone in a 3-on-1 deal. He was able to overcome the odds and sent Goodfather to the outside before hitting the Twist of Fate on Christian and landing the Swanton Bomb to eliminate him. Val Venis attempted to interfere by getting up on the apron but Jeff ducked the assault and Venis clotheslined the Goodfather by accident. Jeff was able to pin him to get the win for his team but the RTC stormed the ring to gang up on Jeff. Venis landed the Money Shot on him but help arrived in the form of the Dudleys and Matt Hardy. They tabled their enemies and celebrated. 
I really do love these SS matches and it was just epic to see all those teams standing side by side as partners. It was a bit more chaotic than the first one so some parts of it were a bit sloppy but the crowd was hot for it and it was worth watching. 7/10

No Disqualification Match – “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs Triple H:

People love to whine and moan about how many PPVs John Cena has main evented for WWE yet never complain about Stone Cold in the main event considering that he hogged the spotlight as well as being an average wrestler. This was the result of an ongoing storyline that was Triple H running down Austin a year ago and Mick Foley officially made the match No DQ earlier in the night. This was of course a brawl at best and that is of course what everyone did best in the Attitude Era. You have to hand it to Triple H and Austin and the amount of effort they put into this feud; you really feel like they hated each other and wanted to see what they would do to each other (there’s a joke that could be made about that last statement but please be classy and ignore it). This was even more hectic than Kane/Jericho and Angle/Undertaker so a lot of it is a blur. There was a LOT of ringside fighting as well as the typical brawl at the announce table. Austin even chugged a beer after hitting Trips with a monitor. The match eventually spilled to the backstage area twice where on the second time, Austin was ambushed by the Radicalz. Triple H ran off and we found him waiting inside a car in the hopes of running Austin over. Benoit appeared and they had no idea where he’d gone. Austin turned the tables however and he drives a forklift into the screen and hoists Triple H’s car up high in the air before dropping it down. I guess this is a no contest then. 
You can look at that ending in two ways; first of all you could complain about how unrealistic it is to do that just for a storyline. Austin got run over the year before and was out for 8 months yet Triple H returned to ring action only a few weeks later when he should have been killed. Or you can appreciate that the aim was to shock the audience which it did and really emphasized what the Attitude Era was all about. So, chalk it all up to Rule of Cool. 6/10

Ranking of the matches:

1)    WWF Championship (9/10)

2)    Radicalz vs Chyna, Gunn, Road Dogg, K-Kwik (8/10)

3)    Hardys & Dudleys vs E&C & RTC (7/10)

4)    6-person tag (7/10)

5)    Kane vs Chris Jericho (7/10)

6)    Women's Championship (6/10)

7)    No DQ brawl (6/10)

8)    The Rock vs Rikishi (4/10)

9)    European Championship (3/10)

Week In Review For Women's Wrestling #23

Well this week BeliEVErs and Glamafreaks eagerly awaited a rematch from the two divas' show-stopping encounter at Vengeance, not to mention new direction in dissention amongst everyone's favourite tag team. Then on the other end we also had a controversial match on Impact that had the internet almost in an outrage. Let's get going:

Survivor Series - Beth Phoenix* vs Eve Torres (Lumberjill Match; Divas' Championship):I'm still pissed we didn't get a traditional SS match again this year but lord knows they sure didn't have time for one, not when they had The Rock talk for a solid ten minutes. This match did suffer from being short but the Divas prove what good workers they actually are by using the four minutes allotted and giving a good match anyway. It wasn't as spectacular as Vengeance but they showed off their chemistry and delivered something watchable. The Lumberjill stipulation added nothing really since it was only Kelly and Natalya getting involved which would have happened anyway. At least the other Divas looked good and got to collect their extra PPV pay-check. The opening moments of the match were a bit stiff and a little bland but things tightened up as they went on. Beth didn't get that much offence in which prevented it from being too hard-hitting but Eve was very impressive with how she played off Natalya at ringside. They did well to give a memorable ending since they wouldn't have been able to make a full blown wowing match with so little time but the ending helped make the match memorable. I'm happy that Beth gets another clean win, not to mention something devastating and unique like how she won the I Quit match. 6.5/10

Raw - Kelly, Alicia, DoD backstage:Given that WWE normally loves to throw the girls out there in a big multi-tag match with five moves of doom and a rush before it's over this was probably for the best. It got the DoD on TV to follow up their big win and it was wise to keep Eve off TV to sell how devastating Beth's Glam Slam was. Hopefully we can get some proper direction this week. N/A

NXT Watch:No match again this week but plenty of segments. Maxine, Derrick Bateman and Johnny Curtis are pure gold and I'd love for them to become a proper three-person stable. Johnny does still technically have a Tag Team title match in his contract so who better to pick for a partner. I'm looking forward to the eventual wedding which will most likely have Maxine turn on Derrick in favour of Johnny. WWE weddings are never normal of course. As for JTG/Tamina, I was impressed with Tamina on the mic as she seemed much more natural and spoke so easily. But seriously not another romance-inspired face turn for her please. Just keep her as a heel on Smackdown and Superstars while you have this story on NXT. We really don't need to throw the division out of whack even more.

Impact - Tara, Brooke Tessmacher & Velvet Sky vs Winter, Angelina Love & Madison Rayne (Thanksgiving Thong Thunder Match):Ye gods this was an absolute trainwreck. They went about it in the best way that they could, with Karen enforcing this to degrade the girls and them not being happy about it but then again it still doesn't make sense. Brooke strips off during her entrance, Velvet's gimmick is shaking her ass in the camera as was Angelina's and hell Madison was more covered up in her lingerie than she would be in her normal ring gear. The match itself was alright in terms of action but it went on for far too long since it was pretty much a cheap ratings grab for T&A. Three minutes is all that's needed for that as the girls just looked stupid out there in lingerie. I'm not saying WWE was better at doing this either but at least they never had these things run on for too long. The fact that the girls were wearing lingerie just took away from the action in the ring and I couldn't take it seriously. Also the way Velvet took Madison's finisher was really off. 3/10

Gail Kim brawls with Mickie James:This on the other hand was brilliant. Gail really is a good heel and showed a ton of charisma here with all her lines. Mickie was the same as she always has been, sometimes over-emphasizing things and not getting her delivery fluid but she did alright. The brawl was cool to watch and it was definitely more exciting than anything we saw from Mickie and Tara or Mickie and Madison. Hopefully Gail and Mickie can be TNA's first truly stellar women's match since Kong/Hamada vs Taylor/Sarita. Segment rating: 8/10

Smackdown - Divas of Doom vs Chick Busters:I wonder how many times we've seen this match this year. Anyway it was fine for what it was and Kaitlyn handled herself fine out there, showing she's now comfortable working with the likes of Beth and Natalya. AJ's part in the ring was good as well though the ending was a bit lame. Usually if you're going to have a short match you should make the ending much more impactful and give it some oomph, as Beth and Eve demonstrated at Survivor Series. Instead Natalya just locks in the Sharpshooter and that's it. As for them appearing to go ahead with splitting AJ and Kaitlyn up, it's not needed and if they should split someone it should be the Bellas who have been together for too long. Although I'm actually wondering if they've been building to this for a while since I've noticed specifically that it's always AJ who is in the decision of these matches which is likely what Kaitlyn is getting fed up with. I hope they don't split them up and they end up overcoming their differences as Alicia convinces them to unite against the DoD. Match rating: 4/10
The after match segment was much better. I guess AJ is the new Kelly who gets beaten up like a rag doll. This was probably the most intense DoD submission segment so far because AJ sold it so well. She sounded like she was genuinely in pain and I nearly did mark out a little. It shows how convincing Natalya is at what she does because in that moment I hated her guts and wanted to see her get her comeuppance. I would actually love to eventually get a segment where all the other Divas surround Natalya and beat her up only for one of them to lock her in the Sharpshooter or the Pin-Up Strong hold while Beth abandons her. Make it happen WWE. I suppose this means it'll be Alicia vs Beth now which is very exciting for me since they've never feuded and never actually faced each other properly. Segment rating: 6/10

Survivor Series 2011 In Review

And we've come to the final Big 4 PPV of the year and one that originally started as a show dedicated to tag team wrestling. Well this year we do indeed have a tag team match as our main event but the rest of the card is notably low on traditional Survivor Series matches which is a shame because I do love them and they're not that hard to build towards. Survivor Series was always my favourite PPV for those matches so it's always a disappointment when the creative team don't book enough of them. As an aside, thankfully we got a new set this year and I especially liked the touch of graphics showing who was competing in the match on either side of the stage. Shall we begin?

1) Dolph Ziggler* vs John Morrison (United States Championship):
Gee, I wonder how this would end. The crowd could care less about the match itself though I do find the "we want Ryder" chants a tad disrespectful. If it was anyone other than Morrison I'd be annoyed. Dolph played off it really well and got great heat from it. He was able to make this match exciting and a bit more interesting because he and Morrison don't really mesh. All I really saw was Morrison phoning it in and hitting his usual flashy moves. They were done well but there was no real variety to them. Dolph and Vickie were able to add some colour to the match and make it somewhat watchable. The closing moments were a lot better with the back and forth moves and the near falls. Dolph retains as expected. I was against him being placed in the US title picture back in May but I'll give him credit, he's been a good champion and had a good run with the belt just like back when he was IC Champion last year. I'm excited to see where this feud with Zack Ryder is going and hopefully Ryder will eventually end up with that belt and Dolph can hop right into the main event. 6/10

2) Beth Phoenix* vs Eve Torres (Lumberjill Match; Divas' Championship):
Comparing it to their match at Vengeance, they fell short. Maybe because it wasn't as long or because it had little to no build up, it just wasn't as intense. They did put on a good show but it lacked a certain fire that Beth's matches with Kelly had because there was a proper storyline behind it. The early parts were just bland but things were much better for the last 2/3. Beth didn't get in as much offence as I would have liked and the Lumberjills really did nothing at all which is either good or bad depending on how you prefer these types of matches. Eve was very impressive with her new triangle choke and her personality, playing off Natalya at ringside pretty well. The end spot was amazing though, I didn't expect the Divas to pull off something like that. Beth gets another strong win. Good match but not great. 6.5/10

Did WWE not learn from their mistakes at WrestleMania this year? Less is more and people are going to watch The Rock anyway so there's no need for him to yap yap yap for a solid 10 minutes. There are matches that could have used that extra time while they're over exposing The Rock. Need I say anything else except: shut up and wrestle!

3) Team Barrett (Wade Barrett, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, Hunico & Cody Rhodes) vs Team Orton (Randy Orton, Sheamus, Sin Cara, Kofi Kingston & Mason Ryan) (Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match):
I'm relieved a SS match actually made it to the card and they did a good job of building it up at the very least though I will say that Mason Ryan is absolutely no substitute for Evan Bourne who was definitely missed in this match. The opening interaction between Kofi and Dolph harkens back to their good work back in the Summer though I wasn't expecting him to get eliminated so soon. The elimination itself was a bit lame and too abrupt if you ask me. Watching the slow motion replay of Sin Cara's "injury" it looked like a work from the way he landed but then I found out it was legit so I don't know how the match would have turned out if he had gotten to do his stuff during it. He most likely wasn't going to be the next one eliminated anyway. Mason Ryan's elimination was done really well and gives Cody a good rub to take out someone his size. As an aside note what on earth was Michael Cole saying about Sheamus being bullied? Who the hell in Ireland would get bullied for having pale skin? The part with Sheamus in the ring plodded along at first but got more exciting with the spots on the outside and Kofi's hot tag was really good as was the elimination. I was expecting the faces to get one that time but I guess not. It was surprising to see Orton be the one who got isolated next (and it looked like Cody was trying to bite his head for some reason) but it gave Sheamus a good rub and he came out of the match looking more like a top face than he did going in. Him getting eliminated by DQ was just stupid though, especially with four guys left on the other team. Sheamus should have eliminated Swagger before getting eliminated himself. It's predictable but that can be good sometimes. I was surprised to see Hunico last so long but I expect if Sin Cara hadn't been injured he would have eliminated him, the mid-air RKO was great as always. I have to admit, I marked out when Wade hit the Wasteland on Orton and I was ecstatic when the ref counted to three. Wade and Cody got a great rub coming out of this match and it helped solidify them as big time heels. This has been a good PPV for heels anyway with Beth and Dolph getting great strong wins also earlier in the night. 8/10

I don't really think I like putting the Bellas with Del Rio. They should use Rosa instead since the twins can wrestle and Rosa has way more charisma (not to mention being better looking). Johnny Ace's voice is like nails on a blackboard but then again even nails can have some intensity.

4) Mark Henry* vs Big Show (World Heavyweight Championship):
These two guys managed to strike gold at Money In The Bank and Vengeance but enough is enough already. I'll admit that TNA does rush feuds without taking the time to develop them but sometimes WWE can really draw them out for way too long, this being the prime example of it. Big Show/Mark Henry is a match that should only happen once or twice and now it's likely to happen a fourth time as well. A friendly tip for WWE creative team - when the last match gets called off for having the frickin ring collapse then it's not wise to end the next match with a DQ, especially when it's something as lame as a low blow. It doesn't give Henry heat at all, it just makes people roll their eyes that this getting drawn out almost as much as Orton/Christian though at least those matches were something. The opening parts were alright and the story being told was good to see as was the one spot with the barricade. Everything else though was just nothing special. Even the crowd could care less though I would have loved the "we want Ryder" chants to start during this match. The little part that came when the match was over was much better though sadly this feud will continue. 4.5/10

Good interview with Wade Barrett, us fans in England are anxiously waiting the moment when he becomes the first World Champion, we already have a Women's Champion but this would mean so much more. Is it me or does it seem like a Barrett/Miz feud could be epic? Truth is truly one of the best and most entertaining heels in the company right now and oooh he said a bad word. Several times. The parents are going to be complaining all day most likely...

Could Justin Roberts sound more fake when introducing the army troops?

5) Alberto Del Rio* vs CM Punk (WWE Championship):
I was really excited for this match and that's something that hasn't happened since Del Rio became champion. These two are good talents in the ring and they both ooze charisma as well as being a really fresh pairing in the main event, not to mention it was awesome for CM Punk to get the chants in New York of all places. Pretty technical starting off, impressive and nicely done and I never figured Punk as one for the high spots like that but whatever works for him. About around the time Del Rio hit the first arm breaker, I knew we'd be treated to a great pure wrestling match that we haven't really seen since Cody/Ted at Night of Champions, but there was that bad looking double-axe-handle from the top rope. The exchanges were all so crisp and well executed and things really got intense after the big elbow drop. I definitely marked out a bit when Del Rio locked in the arm bar and I was praying for Punk to get to the ropes, not just because I wanted him to win but I wanted the match to go on even longer. The closing moments were just crazy (in a good way) and it was such a great way to end the match. 8/10

6) Awesome Truth vs The Rock & John Cena:
Good lord did we need more hyping for this? We got plenty of that on the show itself with The Rock's pointless ten minute promo not to mention the video package at the start of the show. Other matches could have done with the extra time, people. As the huge Miz mark that I am, it was great to hear him get so many cheers though I was honestly expecting The Rock to get some boos like when he came back in 2003. The opening interactions between him and Miz were nice to see. I daresay that's another match I wouldn't mind seeing in the near future. Pretty much the usual stuff from Cena though it was done well to be fair. Awesome Truth once again demonstrated their good tag team chemistry with all their double teams and strategic isolation. The match breakdown was pretty fun as well even if it was five moves of doom from both of the faces. I actually wasn't expecting the match to end with the People's Elbow but there you go. They went with the predictable route of trying to make Rock the heel but it just won't happen, creative. The fans really hate Cena that much. 6.5/10

Week In Review For Women's Wrestling #21

So another week is upon us and yet another PPV approaches this Sunday, with gold at stake. Meanwhile in WWE we come closer to our fourth and final Big 4 PPV of the year, and of course we do have a wedding coming up on NXT. Should be a good one.

Raw - Kelly's Cover Unveiling:
Well a promo is always a welcome change from a match but there was one big problem with it - Beth and Natalya were seriously overdoing it. They were trying to be LayCool too much at the start, much like Tamina and Rosa tried over on Smackdown. It didn't seem natural and it was a little cringeworthy because Beth and Natalya don't have Michelle and Layla's flair for comedy. The other part of the promo however was much better with the DoD being intimidating and menacing. They should have actually attacked Kelly and tried to put her in the submission hold. As for the Divas' title match between Beth and Eve, I expect we'll get it on the special 3 hour Raw next week as it should get enough time and hopefully some more development towards a Survivor Series match. Segment rating: 5/10

NXT Watch:
Maxine and Derrick Bateman make a great double act and now they've thrown in Johnny Curtis as well which makes it even better. True some of the gags were a little silly but this is still PG TV and these folks aren't CM Punk or John Cena are they? Anyway WWE weddings are never normal so what tricks will we get when Batemax try to tie the knot? And the segment with Tamina, JTG and The Usos was pretty fun as well. Too bad no Chick Busters or matches this week.

Impact - Gail Kim & Madison Rayne* vs Velvet Sky & Mickie James (Knockouts Tag Team Championships):
So Madison has to come out to Gail's music now? Anyway this match was pretty fun, regardless of TNA's strange booking - shouldn't Tara and Brooke get their rematches first before any other challengers step forward? I'd say it's one of the best Knockouts tag matches TNA have put on this year. The moves were all pretty solid and I forgot how talented a heel Gail used to be. For some reason the match felt more intense than some of the other typical Ricky Morton hot tag matches earlier in the year. The Gail/Velvet interaction was a good tease for this Sunday's match and I'm sure they can pull out the stops to make it worth watching. I hope to God Gail doesn't win because both she and Velvet deserve better. I want Velvet to have a lengthy first run as Knockouts Champion and I'd love TNA to give her one like WWE did for Kelly Kelly and hers. Though with TNA's crazy troll booking Gail will win this Sunday, Velvet will win it back on Impact and then probably lose it to Karen herself in a game of pass the parcel. 8/10

Smackdown - Alicia Fox w/Aksana vs Tamina w/Rosa Mendes:
I've been hoping for Aksana to eventually become part of the women's division and I think she just has. The segments with Teddy could only go on for so long and now we have a nice transition from those into the division. I'm sensing that maybe Aksana could turn on Alicia eventually to join the Divas of Doom. She is a former fitness model and is noticeably a lot more buff than the rest of the divas, plus she has a power moveset which could fit in well with Beth and Natalya. The only worry is that Aksana is a bit of a comedy character, regardless of what she's doing in FCW right now so maybe that'll undermine what the DoD are supposed to represent. As for the match, it was good despite being so short. I think the lack of time helped Tamina in fact since she's finally improved on her timing. Alicia keeps racking up the wins now though I'd like to see the divas get at least four minutes on Smackdown from now on considering it used to be a much better show for them. 5.5/10

WWE Superstars Dubbed

Well I promised you all another video and here it is. Now unlike the divas, most of the Superstars get a variety of songs personally made for them though of course some of them do get stuck with crappy production themes. Once again I tried to get in a variety of styles though it seems rock kept popping up a lot, and as always the trusty Tekken soundtrack came into play again as did some of the classic WWF/E theme music. The video can be watched at this link below.

Alex Riley:

Now this wasn't easy to figure out since he has one of the better themes in WWE right now and I'd be messing with success but I think the one I picked is a good replacement. The song is "Underdog" by Kasabian and the lyrics do fit his face turn pretty well. When he turned face he was branching out on his own, away from The Miz and rising up through the ranks as the new underdog. It's a pretty good fit when you watch the video back.


CM Punk:

I'll hold my hands up and admit I wasn't the biggest fan of his "This Fire Burns" theme but I do like his new theme that I don't know the name of. However I knew straight away which theme I'd be giving Punk in the dub. What with him being straight edge and covered in tattoos I went towards Grunge and so "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana was the most obvious choice. Watching him come out to it in the video is definitely a perfect fit.

Cody Rhodes:

Like Punk this one came to me straight away, though people probably won't know this song as well as the last two. It's "Ugly" by The Exies and I found out a couple of days ago that it was actually the theme for the 2004 Survivor Series. Of course with lyrics like "we are dirt/we are alone" and "are you like me/are you ugly" it goes so well with Cody's new disfigured and grotesque freak gimmick. Though I suppose I could have given him The Oddities' old theme as well.









Daniel Bryan:

With this one, I considered cheating and just giving him back "The Final Countdown". For those who don't know, he used that extensively on the indie scene and it became so associated with him, people were hoping WWE would get the rights to the song and let him use it when they signed him. Anyway getting the inspiration from that song, I stayed with Europe and found another pretty cool song by them called "Rock The Night" which has a similar beat to "The Final Countdown" but which doesn't sound as outdated. In fact I'm surprised no wrestler has this theme already (unless you'd like to correct me).

Evan Bourne:

The song I gave to this guy was a bit of a no-brainer as well though I'm sure a few people wouldn't agree. It's Audioslave's "Be Yourself" which was one of the themes for WrestleMania 26 as well as Ashley Massaro's music briefly in 2005. I guess the song is pretty simple as a title like Be Yourself is self explanatory. In this case being yourself means being one of the most talented guys in the world and my favourite wrestler currently in WWE. So it's a no-brainer that my favourite wrestler gets my favourite song.





Jack Swagger:

Now the Kurt Angle comparisons have been rolling in ever since WrestleMania 26 and even more so since he adopted the Ankle Lock as a finisher, it did seem like WWE were making him into Kurt Angle V2. And thus I couldn't resist giving him this theme. The one I went with was off the Anthology album and on the Youtube video I downloaded it from said Kurt Angle never used it but my brother says he remembers him using it briefly as a way to stop the "you suck" chants. So if Swagger's Kurt Angle V2 then he gets a retooled entrance theme.

Dolph Ziggler:

I was really stumped with this guy and there was no way I was giving him Billy, Chuck & Rico's old "You Look So Good To Me" theme that got hijacked by Santina. Browsing through my iTunes library, I came across this song by The Fratellis called "Tell Me A Lie". I think the beat and rhythm are quite similar to Dolph's "I Am Perfection" theme and so it works well enough over his entrance.











John Cena:

You'll notice I used a clip from 2004 when he was almost universally loved by fans. Going in with that gimmick, I looked at Eminem songs first but couldn't really find any that worked. I ignored Vanilla Ice and Marky Mark and eventually went with this fun little remix of Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" with rapping from Wycleaf Jean mixed in with it. And really, who else makes the other wrestlers bite the dust better than Cena?







John Morrison:

Now this was a real stumper. I eventually decided that for the flashier guys like Morrison and Kofi, I would go back to the Tekken soundtrack and pick up themes that had no lyrics. Flashy guys like them don't really need the songs, they just need something catchy and memorable. This time it's Tekken 3 and the theme belongs to the man himself Jin Kazama. I was a little unsure if it would work when he was in slow-motion but it still flows really well.





Kofi Kingston:

You'll notice I ignored that he and Evan Bourne are now both part of Air Boom (whose theme I actually like) and gave them both separate entrances. Like with Morrison I went with something without lyrics because it's really the character-driven wrestlers and the powerhouses that need songs describing themselves. The flashy guys don't need those as the lyrics can sometimes distract from all the theatrics they do in their entrances. I always found Kofi's song a little distracting and I think it's run it's course since they've dropped his Jamaican gimmick. The theme is once again from Tekken 3 and it's the arcade version of Eddy Gordo's theme.

R-Truth:

Ignoring his heel turn, mostly because I would feel really weird trying to dub over that strange period where he didn't come out to any music at all. This is the theme he used when he was first in WWF as K-Kwik (don't worry if you don't remember it as WWE seem to have forgotten it as well) firstly when he was with Road Dogg and then on his own. It's called "Gettin Rowdy" and of course it doesn't match up with the sound that well but I prefer it to his old "What's Up" song.







Randy Orton:

This was another hard one to pick considering how iconic his "Voices" theme song is now. I scrolled through my iTunes library looking for various songs to use before I remembered "Living In A Dream" by Finger Eleven. It was the theme to this year's Royal Rumble and I actually remember watching the PPV and hearing the theme and thinking it would make a good entrance theme. Playing it over Orton's incredibly slow entrance it actually fits and it's a pretty badass theme to come out to.







Rey Mysterio:

I decided to ignore the obvious Latin-inspired songs and peppy super hero stuff as well as the Tekken soundtrack because Rey isn't as flashy as Kofi or Morrison. The song I went with is "Touch the Sky" by Kanye West and it has lyrics that fit a high flyer with substance well enough such as "the day I die/I'm gonna touch the sky" and it's a nice feel good tune (regardless of the big headed guy singing it) which is perfect for the ultimate underdog in WWE right now.







Sheamus:

I'm ignoring a lot of recent heel and face turns it seems but mostly I had this video clip on my hard drive already and I didn't want to download another one just to incorporate his face run. Anyway I think the theme I picked for him could work as a face or heel theme either way. I actually considered giving him Triple H's old "My Time" or "Higher Brain Pattern" themes but then I thought that was a little too obvious and easy. I went even further than the Tekken soundtrack and went straight to the crossover with Street Fighter. This is Hwoarang's theme and I think the hard beat really fits Sheamus. I also made a point to ignore any ceili music for obvious reasons.

Sin Cara:

Once again this was a tricky one. While he is a luchador, he's not as personable or knowable as Rey Mysterio since he has that mysterious edge to him. So I went with the rationale that I had for Kofi and Morrison and went to the Tekken soundtrack. The track I picked is from Tekken Tag Tournament and is actually the only theme on that game I like, belonging to Yoshimitsu. It has a nice flow to it and goes pretty well over Sin Cara's entrance. And no there was no way I was going to make a separate one for Hunico as well.





Ted DiBiase:

This was officially the hardest one to pick a theme for. That isn't me saying I like his "I Come From Money" theme song but what song exactly do you give to this guy. I did acknowledge his recent face turn so I went through a whole list of songs about redemption etc since that's really what all new faces have to do. The one I ended up choosing is Linkin Park's "Breaking The Habit". First of all I tried a sped up version of the song to go with his entrance but it was all wrong and didn't sound good at all. The normal slower version of the song worked much better as you can see in the video.









The Miz:

Aha so someone did end up getting Billy Gunn's old theme music after all. Now this one probably isn't as well known as his "Ass Man" theme but it does come from the cool period when he got a bit of a singles push as "The One" (but as always WWF dropped the ball with him). The lyrics to the song don't really fit a face that well do they since it's titled "I've Got It All" and has lyrics like "everything you wish you had/God gave it all to me" which means it's practically an anthem for The Miz. I know I'm reaching here but watching the video it almost seems like he's moving in time to the music.



Tyson Kidd:

You're probably wondering what this guy is doing on the list considering the other people who got left out but Tyson Kidd has always been underrated to me in WWE ever since the Hart Dynasty split up. I was considering giving him a Tekken theme but I had kind of run out of ones that I thought were usable and so I went back through my iTunes library and found Thin Lizzy's classic "Boys Are Back in Town". I did consider using Funeral For A Friend's cover of the song but the original worked a lot better and it helps me keep my hopes up that DH Smith will get rehired and we'll have that Hart Dynasty reunion.


Wade Barrett:

Now in contrast to the tricky ones that came before him, I knew straight away which theme I was going to give to Wade. Zipping through the collection of Brit Punk the obvious choice was "God Save The Queen" by the Sex Pistols. I thought about using "Anarchy In The UK" as well but this one went over better in the video and I suppose I can always save the latter for William Regal when I do my classic WWF/E dubbing.




Zack Ryder:

Now this guy falls into the category of wrestlers I became a fan of purely because I liked their entrance music (*cough* Victoria) so replacing the iconic "Oh Radio" tune was going to be hard. I considered just throwing the Jersey Shore theme song out there but then I remembered Ryder didn't want to get nuclear levels of X-Pac Heat whenever he came out. The song I went with does come from Jersey Shore though I don't actually know the name of it. It's a fun party song and I think it's a fitting replacement.

So there you have it. The current Superstars and Divas have gotten some brand new entrance themes in a variety of styles and in a hypothetical agreement with Namco as well. Who knows which video I'll do next though I am strongly thinking of going back to the good old days and messing around with some of the classic WWF and E tunes. Until then.