WWE & E! team up for Divas reality show
It has been discussed for a while – provisionally for the WWE Network, which is seemingly still a long way from becoming a reality – but today, WWE and E! made the announcement that a new series featuring five current and two new Divas will launch on the entertainment channel on July 28. Titled Total Divas, it is one of five new reality shows the channel is launching in the near future. This one will follow Natalya, Funkadactyls Cameron & Naomi and Nikki and Brie Bella, with WWE’s press release insisting that it will “[highlight] the professional and personal lives of WWE’s leading ladies”, as well as “complete and utter access to the backstage workings of WWE, the show examines the preparation and fallout from matches, [and] the romantic entanglements of a WWE locker room”.
As mentioned, there will also be two new Divas, hired as part of a privately-held Diva Search which happened recently. They are Natalia Eva Marie – who will be known as Eva Marie – and Joseann Alexie Offerman - who will will be repackaged as Jo-Jo Offerman. (more…)
Mixed tag match bumped from WrestleMania card
Under normal circumstances, now would be the time when we would do a review of the match which occurred on the previous night’s PPV offering, pointing out what happened, what we liked, what we didn’t and whether it was a successful contest. However, for WrestleMania XXIX, we won’t be needing to do that, as for the first time since WrestleMania 13 back in 1997 – ostensibly before WWE started calling their women “Divas” – no women competed on a WrestleMania card. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (2 April 2013) – Femmes Fatales XI, SHIMMER Volume 53, WrestleMania XXIX & more
Last week, I repeated my previous assertion that two championships would change hands at NCW Femmes Fatales XI in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Saturday. Lo and behold, that’s what happened – with the Bellatrix World Championship and the Femmes Fatales International Titles being won by Courtney Rush and Mercedes Martinez respectively.
Martinez’s victory over Kalamity is only part of her story in the show. She continued her cross-promotion feud with LuFisto following her defeat to the Super Hardcore Anime at Women Superstars Uncensored’s An Ultraviolent Affair in February by attacking her foe during LuFisto’s challenge for the SHIMMER title against Saraya Knight. The steel chair attack to LuFisto’s head was enough for Knight to lock in the Bridal Rocking Horse for the stoppage and retain the belt, meaning that no matter what happened with Mercedes’ challenge to Kalamity, the Martinez/LuFisto programme would continue.
As it turns out, the programme will likely feature the International Championship, as the Latina Sensation used a Fisherman Buster onto a steel chair to gain the pinfall and bring The Oncoming Storm’s 17-month reign to an end. (more…)
Funkadactyls & Bellas to clash at WrestleMania XXIX
We mentioned it during yesterday’s Roundup and today it came to pass: WWE made it official that at WrestleMania XXIX on April 7 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ Team Rhodes Scholars and the Bella Twins – Nikki and Brie – will square off against Tons of Funk and the Funkadactyls – Cameron and Naomi.
While Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes have been on a mission to censure the antics of Brodus Clay and Tensai since before Elimination Chamber, Clay’s backing dancers were brought into the fold following the return of the Bellas on the March 11 Raw, and set their sights on Cameron and Naomi on the subsequent SmackDown. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (10 April 2012)
We’re in that post-WrestleMania period where everything is supposed to kick off for the next year. Brock Lesnar is destroying John Cena and making him spit blood, the word “yes” is replacing “what” and “whoo” as the cool thing to say, and CM Punk is being drowned in alcohol. But there is nothing for the Divas Champion Beth Phoenix. In fact, there is less than nothing.
The only in-ring Divas action on regular TV (as NXT hardly counts) for WWE since WrestleMania is a sub-three minute affair between Nikki Bella and Phoenix, which Bella won after Beth was distracted by Kelly Kelly. Presumably, this would lead to a title shot for Nikki, as she had just pinned the Divas Champ. That may happen on the live SmackDown happening later (though it may be a foregone conclusion, as I’ll discuss later), or a continuation of Kelly v Phoenix from WrestleMania, even though it was Maria Menounos who got the pin on Beth. Either way, things are flimsy at best, and it hasn’t looked good for the titleholder for many months.
Barring a decent build and match against Tamina Snuka in February, Phoenix has hardly set the world alight in 2012. This may be a combination of forgettable matches, no storylines – including the fizzling of the Pin-Up Strong angle when it should have exploded – or no interest from any of the writers. Indeed, nothing has happened with the in-ring product involving WWE’s women for at least half a year, and it must be frustrating the Champion. (more…)
Kelly retains at Money in the Bank
It was the worst match at Money in the Bank by a long way, and nobody would have bought the show to see it, but Kelly Kelly retained the WWE Divas Title over Brie Bella in the second match of the show.
Brie spent much of the match working over Kelly’s abdominals after faceplanting her on the arena floor from the apron before Kelly fought back and claimed the victory with her K2 finisher.
Eve Torres accompanied Kelly to the ring after the angle on Monday’s Raw where she was beaten down by the Bellas after Kelly defeated Melina, but had absolutely no impact on the content of the match or the outcome.
It seems pretty redundant, as it was a fairly throwaway contest, but let’s look again at what was thumbs up, what was thumbs down, and what was thumb in my arse then into my mouth… (more…)
Kelly Kelly wins Divas Championship
It’s about a year later than she exclusively told us she wanted it to be, but Kelly Kelly finally won the WWE Divas Championship on this week’s Raw.
As part of the three hour Power To The People edition of the show, Kelly was voted into the title match against Brie Bella with 53% of the vote, beating out out Beth Phoenix (36%) and Eve Torres (11%). Kelly used a victory roll on Brie, which was reversed, but Kelly reversed it back to gain with winning pinfall.
While we’ll have a more comprehensive analysis of the result in the Roundup later, we have mixed feelings about it all. Obviously, it makes sense for Kelly to have the belt – after all, she is the most over woman on the roster. She’s in Maxim’s Hot 100, has been doing the rounds at E3 this month to help promote the new WWE ’12 videogame, and is the kind of company girl that WWE likes, much like Torres. She’s also been in WWE for five years, and everyone eventually get a turn with the belt. Rosa Mendes must be rubbing her hands somewhere…
However, with her being the most popular woman there, would it have not been worth writing a programme for Kelly and the Bellas to lead up to a pay-per-view match? It may not have generated a huge amount of extra buys for the show, but every single buy is worth it, right?
Regardless, congratulations to Kelly. After plugging away for all this time, she deserves a run with the Divas Championship.
Over The Limit: Brie retains, Eve attacks Cole
In what turned out to be a pretty nothing pay-per-view, Brie Bella retained her WWE Divas championship by beating Kelly Kelly. Well, we say Brie, but it was actually Nikki Bella who scored the pinfall after the twins switched places for the finish.
As has become customary for these pay-per-views here at Ringbelles, we break down what was good, what was not, and what was horrid. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (12 April 2011)
The Big News
Two big stories coming out of the UK this week…
It was a rough yet rewarding weekend for Britani Knight. Suffering from what she thought was tonsillitis, the 18-year old member of the Knight Dynasty wrestled 5 matches in 28 hours on route to becoming the first ever Pro Wrestling: EVE champion. However, she was bedridden the next day with what turned out to be glandular fever, causing her to miss a date with her home promotion, World Association of Wrestling. We at Ringbelles wish her congratulations on her title win and also a speedy recovery from a nasty illness.
EVE’s title tournament turned out to be less complicated that the brackets would have led you to believe. Starting with FIVE four corner matches and a Last Chance Battle Royal for the losers to determine the quarter finalists, they were hurried through relatively quickly to leave us with singles matches which varied from fine to good – the standout matches of the first night featured Erin Angel v Nikki Storm and Britani v Jenny Sjodin in the quarters, and Sweet Saraya taking on Blue Nikita in a Last Woman Standing match. The return of Blue Nikita was something of a surprise after her relationship with EVE went sour after the first show – so when she ran in to attack Saraya in the opening match of the evening, it took many by surprise. It also meant that both voluntarily took themselves out of the tournament – Saraya was eligible for the Battle Royal and Blue Nikita never got to compete in her four-way contest due to brawling with Saraya before the bell – to compete in the Last Woman Standing affair, which Saraya won with a sunset powerbomb.
The Project nightclub was a makeshift venue after the Royal British Legion was pulled as a host due to licensing issues and complaints – somebody even called up the local radio station pretending to be EVE management to say the event at the Project had been completely cancelled – but as an environment for the audience, it was great. It was cosy, yet sat the fans comfortably with plenty of space, and felt safe yet anarchic. Apparently it was a little too cosy backstage, as there wasn’t much room for the wrestlers – of which there were around 20 – to change, but that could be changed if EVE decides to return to the venue – something the owners were pretty receptive to. (more…)
WWE: Amazing Kong promo & Brie Bella wins the Divas Title
A couple of noteworthy moments from WWE Raw last night…
A promo for Amazing Kong aired before the Divas Title match showing the head of a blonde doll being flicked off. Kelly Kelly should be soiling her drawers right about now…
Following the promo, Brie Bella defeated Eve Torres for the WWE Divas Championship. Good on her, we say – the Bellas went from a struggling face act on their last legs to a more useful heel tandem, and have been rewarded with the Divas title.
WWE Raw 4/11/11 Eve Torres vs Brie Bella by dacharmingcharmen
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