ricky's review of last week

Subject: ricky's review of last week Mon 28 Nov 2011, 1:03 pm

Quote :: 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

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