week in review for women's wrestling

http://betterwithbob.blogspot.com/2012/02/week-in-review-for-womens-wrestling-34.html

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It's my favourite part of the month for women's wrestling - a TNA PPV one week and a WWE one the very next. We see the continuation of one angle and the build up towards another. Well at least in theory anyway. A lot of girls are getting featured on the TV screens so let's take a look at how things played out.

Against All Odds - Gail Kim* vs Tara (Knockouts Championship):
Yes, yes, yes! Finally! This is the match I've been praying for the Knockouts to have. I loved the non-title match they had on Impact and, while I was critical of the booking behind it and afraid they'd given too much away, they managed to top it. There was great back and forth action between the two women and they definitely benefited from having the storyline behind it. These two have insane chemistry and, barring their awful match when Gail returned, have always put on good matches together. It would be interesting to see a full blown match between them with Gail as the face and Tara as the heel because I think they could tear the house down together. I was genuinely afraid for Tara's health when she was fiddling with her knee brace considering she still has a torn ACL. Believe it or not that's only the third time in her career that her moonsault has made contact (I'm not counting the time Lita fucked up). Hopefully the Knockouts can keep this ball rolling but judging from the storyline continuation, I'm guessing that'll be a problem. 7.5/10

Raw - Tamina Snuka vs Brie Bella:
Wow, this is a random match though I am grateful it's Brie and not Nikki because it was sad that the better wrestler of the twins was acting as the jobber to the faces. This match was nothing special considering Brie and Tamina have their own five moves of doom but they were done well and the match served its purpose. I might not be crazy about Tamina getting a push but the build up for this feud has been fun so far and the match feels decently built up. I don't see a rematch as WrestleMania worthy but we'll wait and see what the next few weeks have to offer. Beth was good on commentary, she didn't take away from the match and she spoke well enough. As an aside, I like that Tamina has a last name now. It's a bit annoying that a lot of the Divas only have first names. They should give Natalya her last name back as well. 4.5/10

Eve/Zack Ryder/John Cena Triangle:
The folks at Melrose Place probably applauded this twist. I'll admit it was a nice swerve and I'll offer up my two cents on where I think this angle is headed. I believe it will go either of two ways - Eve turns heel and allies herself with a heel Cena. Judging from the heat she was getting, this could prove well for her provided she can actually play a convincing bad girl. The second option which I think is more likely is that Eve will have been manipulated by Kane into kissing Cena just to mess with them both. It does remind me of the Kane/Lita/Matt triangle from 2004 though thankfully we know Eve won't be dropping Kane's sprog since we're on a PG show now. Though I won't be surprised if he has her tied up backstage next week. Also look at her expression after she kisses Cena. It seems like she didn't want to do it and she did seem genuinely upset for Zack's wellbeing after he got thrown off the stage. If WWE gets her to do something big to get her ownback on Kane then they could turn that heat into incredible popularity. Hopefully both Eve and Zack are featured heavily at WrestleMania.

Impact - #1 Contender's Battle Royal:
I enjoyed 75% of this match. I've never witnessed a TNA Knockouts battle royal before and it was quite fun, especially since all the women had to go over the top rope. There were a whole list of people I would have liked to see come out with a win like ODB, Sarita, Velvet Sky, even Winter. As soon as Tara got eliminated I was really excited because the final three women left in the ring were all ones I would be happy as a #1 contender. The final three in the ring just dragged on for ages and less is more in those situations. Those extra minutes were not needed and I just wanted it to end already. My cheers of joy immediately turned to boos of outrage when Madison got in the ring. Oh, TNA, no doubt you think you're being clever. They clearly have no idea how to book one storyline at a time. What is the point of putting tension between the Tag Team Champions? Why the hell would Madison want to face her tag team partner in a match when she's already a champion? Is it too much just to crown a number 1 contender and put the belt on them, then you can have Gail and Madison feud all you want. Hopefully Velvet gets included to make this a triple threat, especially since Sting really doesn't like Madison. And who the hell is the face in this? Gail seems more like the face in this considering her friend one-upped her. Neither woman should turn face at the moment. Oh well please let Velvet become a 2-time Knockouts Champion. 6.5/10

Superstars - Aksana vs Maxine:
I was relieved to see Aksana finally get to wrestle a full match and I could spot some mistakes I see in guys at my gym all the time. She clearly came off like a heel in the match because she's so used to working as a heel down in FCW. Which makes WWE look even more idiotic because why would they have her as a heel in FCW when they wanted her as a face on the main roster? That being said, Aksana can play a face well enough as seen on NXT and the actual moves in this match were pretty good. Both women looked like they knew what they were doing, apart from the one sloppy moment when they were brawling on the mat. The spinebuster looked perfect though and it's great to see a Diva have a move like that in her arsenal. Hopefully Aksana will adjust to working as a face in weeks to come. 6.5/10

FCW - Raquel Diaz* vs Audrey Marie (Divas' Championship):
I miss Daniel Moinet's announcing, Caylee Turner should stick to wrestling. Not Raquel's best promo if I'm being honest. The delivery was fine but the lines themselves just didn't work. That being said, I enjoyed this match. It was better and more fun that the match where Raquel won the title. Audrey has really improved her pacing in the ring as all the moves at the start were so fast and flowed together seamlessly. Raquel needs to tighten up her bumping but she's covering for her inexperience by using her character and getting the crowd involved. You just know she'll be great one day. The ending was interesting, I liked it anyway and the pin looked convincing. It's a different way to end a match. 7/10

Smackdown - Tamina Snuka & Alicia Fox vs Divas of Doom:
I was happy that this match was longer than the ones we've been getting in the last few months and hopefully Smackdown can have matches that are at least this length from now on. I liked that the Divas inserted a bit of comedy and extra little things to make this match a bit more fun than the usual two minute "let's get all our spots in" ordeal. Alicia does a Matrix and spanks Nattie? Is she channelling Trish and Kelly? Is that her new gimmick? I could roll with a psychic Alicia. Anyway I loved seeing her work with Beth and Natalya though what was up with the moment where she just unlocked the Sharpshooter? Some reports say she farted in the ref's face but it didn't seem that way to me. Anyway Tamina does only two moves but I get the feeling she'll actually surprise us come Sunday. The ending moments were a nice little touch and it does give a little bit of a tease for the PPV where people will want to see Tamina splash Beth. I'm probably overrating it a little but this is the first Smackdown that has satisfied me in months. 7/10