divas on PPV each year: 2009

Royal Rumble – Melina vs Beth Phoenix* (Women’s title match):
The titans clash for the third time and this time the gold’s at stake. Melina has some fur things with her. The Rumble set is great. Beth shoves Melina down and Melina gets a headlock. Beth snapmares her and shakes her around like a rag doll. Melina stamps on Beth’s feet and dropkicks her. Beth knocks her down with a back elbow and Melina comes back with a headscissors-arm bar combo. Beth makes Melina sit on her shoulder before throwing her into the corner. She then drops Melina with an electric chair and rams her face with her ass. Beth locks in a half crab before bending Melina’s leg so far back she makes her kick her own head. Melina goes for a headscissors but Beth reverses into a sidewalk slam. Beth raises Melina up for a military press but she reverses into a jawbreaker. She gets a sunset flip for two and drops Beth onto the ropes. She does her knee to the back and a running facecrusher for two. She lands a sit-down press off the top rope and goes for the Primal scream but Beth reverses. Melina gets a Victory Roll for three and she’s the new champion. Fine match and great spot making Melina kick her own head. 7/10

WrestleMania 25 - 25 diva Battle Royal to Crown Miss WrestleMania:
During Kid Rock’s performance of “So Hot” the divas come out dancing and make their way down to the ring. We’re told Layla is the first eliminated while the ring introductions were still going on. Candice Michelle and Mae Young are sitting at ringside as the guest time keepers. Rosa Mendes and Alicia Fox are next to go out and Cole says that Sunny is in there somewhere, lost amongst the rest of the blondes. None other than Molly Holly back in her old country bumpkin attire is visible. Jackie Gayda and Torrie Wilson are briefly visible. Victoria is seen eliminating Maria and Gail Kim eliminates herself and Jillian Hall. Beth cleans house, tossing out Tiffany, Eve, Kelly, Maryse, Molly, Katie Lea and the Bella twins who eliminate Victoria and Natalya. Right about now Santino Marella is visible in drag although the announcers don’t recognise him. Mickie James and Michelle McCool tumble off the top rope leaving Melina and Beth alone with Santino. Beth tries to Glam Slam Melina out but Santino tosses them both out. Candice enters to present him with the sash and tiara and he is identified as “Santina”, Santino’s twin sister from Italy. S/he celebrates by dancing in the ring while an irate Beth Phoenix looks on. This match was way too cluttered to take any form and none of the past divas got any introductions, I couldn’t even tell where Torrie, Sunny, Jackie or Joy Giovanni was; still decent and good enough for comedic value. 4/10

The Bash – Melina* vs Michelle McCool (Women’s title match):
McCool brings Alicia Fox with her for extra support and starts off with a European uppercut. Melina reverses a DDT into a hurricanrana and punches. She gets a back body drop and running headbutt for two. She chokes McCool at the ropes but gets big booted. McCool works on Melina’s leg with a spinning toe hold. She wraps it around the ropes twice and starts kicking. Outside she rams Melina’s foot into the ring steps. She gets a tilt-a-whirl side slam and bends Melina’s leg over into a pretzel position. McCool crotches herself at the ropes and Melina lands two knees to the midriff. Chop block by McCool but Melina gets a headscissors at the ropes and in the corner. Melina reverses a Faith Breaker attempt into a hurricanrana and a spinning heel kick for two. Melina reverses a superplex attempt and lands a diving clothesline but Alicia Fox puts McCool’s foot on the ropes. Melina dropkicks Alicia and goes for the Last Call but McCool blocks and superkicks her. Melina kicks out and so McCool lays her out with the Faith Breaker to win the Women’s title. Solid match although it started one of the most boring title reigns in WWE. 6/10

Night of Champions – Michelle McCool* vs Melina (Women’s title match):
Things got off to a brilliant start as McCool blindsides Melina with a dropkick as she was performing her split-legged entrance. Melina spears McCool and gets an arm drag into an arm bar. She gets a mule kick in the corner and McCool tries to duck out of it but Melina dropkicks her. She follows up with her headscissors-mule kick combo but McCool sends her to the outside and knees her into the security wall. Back in the ring she locks in a dangerous looking half crab and then bounces Melina off the ropes. On the outside the two start fighting on top of the guard rail where McCool delivers a DDT which ears a “holy sh!t” chant from the crowd. McCool goes to dropkick Melina off the apron but misses her and Melina lands a diving facecrusher off the apron. Back in the ring McCool kicks Melina but ends up getting kneed into the ropes. Melina lands two knees to the midriff and a spinning wheel kick for two. McCool gets a belly to belly suplex for two and Melina lands a sit-down press from the top rope. McCool rolls through and pins her to retain the title. Fantastic match and best of the year, great use of spots and congrats on getting the chant. I’ve never heard it during a diva match before. 9/10

Mickie James vs Maryse* (Diva’s title match):
Lightning has not struck twice for the divas. The one time WWE give a Divas’ title match a good length it’s one of the lamest ever. Maryse starts off trying to stay as far away from Mickie as possible until Mickie gets a headlock takeover. Maryse ducks for cover again and the crowd have now realised this is going to be lame. Mickie carries the talentless Barbie through this and gets a snapmare and running dropkick. Maryse kicks Mickie to the outside so she nearly misses the ten count. Maryse drives Mickie’s head into the mat and Mickie fights back with punches. Maryse locks in a camel clutch, meaning she only has two of her three moves of doom left in her arsenal. Maryse goes for a hairspray bottle under the ring but Mickie gets it off her. The ref won’t let her use it so she mounts Maryse with a Thesz press and drives her back into the apron. Mickie goes up top for a Thesz press but Maryse rolls out of the way. She locks the camel clutch back in again to show off her legs and Mickie comes back with clotheslines and a neckbreaker. Mickie lands her hurricanrana but Maryse drops her onto the ropes. Mickie goes up top and Maryse throws her down. She goes for the French Kiss but Mickie ends the agony with a DDT. Not as bad as it could have been since Mickie was able to up the points a little. It should get full marks for finally dethroning Maryse though. 4/10

Hell in a Cell – Mickie James* vs Alicia Fox (Divas’ title match):
King says a diva match a day keeps the doctor away. Personally I think Alicia should have got this match on Raw instead since she wasn’t ready for PPV yet. Mickie gets a headlock takedown and they have a stare out. Alicia gets a hammerlock which Mickie cartwheels out of. She locks one of her own and gets a monkey flip and snapmare with a running dropkick. Mickie gets a neckbreaker and goes up top but Alicia pulls her down and locks in a sleeper hold and pulls Mickie’s hair. Alicia gets a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and taunts. Alicia locks in a body scissors, pulling the hair and the two collide when they try double clotheslines. Mickie gets her hurricanrana and goes up top again to land a diving Thesz press. Alicia shoves her into the corner and gets a Northern Lights suplex for two. She goes for the scissors kick and Mickie plants her with the DDT to retain. A bit sloppy but not that bad. 4/10

Bragging Rights – Smackdown Divas (Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix & Natalya) vs Raw Divas (Melina, Gail Kim & Kelly Kelly):
It’s strictly faces vs heels and Gail and Beth start off. Beth kicks Gail in the gut and she goes for a moonsault but changes to a roll up. McCool tags in and gets a European uppercut but Gail counters with a hurricanrana. Natalya makes a funny tag and slams Gail. She misses an elbow drop and Gail spears her in the corner. She then jumps on her to bounce her throat off the ropes. Kelly gets a great pop when she tags in and chokes Natalya with her leg. She gets the helicopter headscissors but Natalya drops her on the ropes. Kelly tries a sunset flip off the top rope but McCool kicks her in the face. The Smackdown team isolate Kelly as the weak link and make quick tags. Beth snapmares Kelly and locks in a sleeper hold but Kelly fights out, trying to get to the others. McCool tags in and gets a sleeper hold, knee to the head and knee lift. Beth tags back in but Kelly gets her hurricanrana. She gets a jawbreaker on Beth and makes the hot tag to Melina. Front dropkick on Beth and she gets the knees to the back and the running facecrusher. She reverses a slingshot suplex into a small package but Natalya distracts the ref. Melina gets the headscissors-facebuster combo but McCool and Natalya break the pin. Gail and Kelly clean house but Beth lays Melina out with the Glam Slam to earn keep Smackdown in the running. Quite good but I wish Gail and Natalya had more ring time. 6/10

Survivor Series – Team McCool (Michelle McCool, Layla, Beth Phoenix, Alicia Fox & Jillian Hall) vs Team Mickie (Mickie James, Melina, Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres):
First of all what is Jillian doing here? She has nothing to do with the feud so it should be Natalya instead. Kelly and Layla start off , Layla tripping Kelly and dropkicking her back. Layla gets a spinning kick in the corner for one. Kelly backflips and starts clotheslining Layla. She lands her own version of the Fame Asser to send Layla to the showers. McCool tosses her across the ring and Gail Kim tags in. Gail gets a running dropkick and spear in the corner. McCool reverses a hurricanrana into the Faith Breaker to eliminate Gail. Eve tries a roll up on McCool but Jillian tags in for a handspring elbow drop. Jillian gets a hairpull whip and bridging pin for two. Eve reverses a suplex but misses a dropkick. Eve kicks Jillian as she tries for a handspring elbow and fluffs a sunset flip to eliminate Jillian. Beth charges in and quickly dispatches Eve with a Glam Slam and Kelly seconds later. Mickie comes in and starts punching Beth before getting a crucifix pin to eliminate the Glamazon. Beth clocks Mickie to say yes there are hard feelings. Alicia comes in and stomps Mickie before using a hairgrab takeover. She gets a northern lights bridge for two and Mickie goes for the DDT but Alicia picks her up and rams her into the corner. Mickie lands a diving body press to eliminate Alicia from the mix. McCool isolates Mickie with a knee drop, leg drop and sleeper hold. The crowd gets behind Mickie and she throws McCool off. Mickie finally makes the hot tag to Melina who spears McCool twice. She gets her headscissors-mule kick combo, knee to the back in the ropes and running facecrusher. Melina Matrixes out of a McCool kick but gets clotheslined. McCool delivers a belly to belly suplex for two and goes for a powerbomb but Melina reverses into the Last Call to win the match. Better than last year’s but needed to be longer and Gail needed more ring time. 5/10

TLC – Michelle McCool vs Mickie James (Women’s title match):
Ah the legendary Piggie James feud. They start up with a severe lock up that spills to the guard rail and both climb back in staring daggers at each other. Mickie goes for a few quick pins and McCool counters a crucifix to ram Mickie into the corner. King makes a crack at Florida State University as McCool knees Mickie in the ribs. Snapmare from McCool and knees to the back before locking in a sleeper hold. McCool taunts to get heat from the crowd and starts kicking Mickie while she’s down. Mickie goes for a headscissor takedown but McCool reverses into a backbreaker. McCool tosses Mickie out of the ring and throws her into the crowd barrier. Mickie lands her hurricanrana using the barrier for leverage and mounts McCool with a Thesz press. Back in the ring Mickie gets another Thesz press and dropkick for two. Mickie gets a body press and goes up top but Layla pulls her down. Mickie kicks Layla and McCool accidentally boots Layla off the apron. She superkicks Mickie to get the pin and retain. Great way to end the year and continued a great feud. 7/10