Stacy and Nidia vs. The WWE's Hottest Diva (Gail Kim...or, as one word...gailkim. Gailkim. Gailkim.) and Earth's Most Wonderful Woman, Molly Holly. These two need a team name. I'll rip off the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and call them the Electric Ladies Orchestra (ELO). Molly and Gailkim spent most of the match working Stacy over...but of course, this is a match, not a squash, and Molly spent a good part of the early going selling Stacys' WEAK OFFENSE as though she were being struck by nuclear bombs. But then, she regained the advantage and tagged in Gail, and...LET THE DISPLAY OF INNOVATIVE SUBMISSION HOLDS BEGIN!!! She slapped on an elevated reverse leglock (?!?) which was broken up by Nidia. Molly tagged back in, worked some of her traditional mat holds, and tagged Gail back in. She (stiffly?) disposed of Nidia and had Stacy all to herself, and...LET THE DISPLAY OF INNOVATIVE SUBMISSION HOLDS BEGIN...AGAIN!!!
I don't know what to call the hold she put on Stacy...it looked like a stretch-muffler/leg grapevine combo. What I do know is that when Gail saw fit to use this move, she made Stacy scream, she made Stacy beg, and in the end, she made Stacy tap. Yayyyyy!!! The announcers actually made an effort to put Molly & Gail over in this one. Hopefully, its just me: does anybody else notice Molly...laboring...a bit in the ring? She looks a step slow recently. Hopefully she isn't hurt worse than some reports have indicated.
You want more HBK/HHH Bad Blood; Hell in A Cell? Asked and answered!
The Main-Event: WWE SIX-MAN ELIMINATION TAG-TEAM MATCH. The participants are Evolution-Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista (w/HHH) vs. The Raw Canadians (Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Edge). Pretty good match. Batista played the role of monster (or Mon-Star, if you were ever a fan of The Silverhawks)in this match, and did such a thoroughly good job of it that I will use CAPS when making reference to Batista's power moves...such as the SPINEBUSTER. It was a long time before the first man (Batista) was eliminated, which I like. No, I don't like the fact that Batista was eliminated first, I like the fact that a lot of time went by before the eliminations started. What didn't I like? Jericho was the next one to go (of course) after interference from HHH. If you like Ric Flair's flops, his knife-edge chops, and back-body drops (in bulk), then THIS IS THE MATCH FOR YOU. Edge went next, leaving Benoit alone to take on Randy and Ric. To make a long story short, Benoit made Flair and Orton tap out, and HHH glared...a lot. That's it. That's Raw. Want to know more? No.
THE PORTION OF THE COLUMN THAT PUTS THE MOLLY IN MOLLYOPOLY
Molly Holly. Molly Holly. When comparing Molly to other WWE workers, the name HHH keeps coming up in these circles, and I have thrown Brock Lesnar out there, too. I take it all back. It occurs to me that there is a certain former WWE main-eventer whose career somewhat resembles Mollys' in a lot of ways that may not be readily obvious at first. So let me present some 'facts'.
MOLLY HOLLY & KURT ANGLE: CAREER CLONES? YOU DECIDE!!!
Okay...both of these two workers are lauded as being among the very best-if not the best technicians in their respective divisions. Both of these two have spent the majority of the early part of their WWE careers involved in comedy angles. Both have spent a considerable amount of time playing the cowardly heel. Both have had their heads shaved bald. Both have portrayed holier-than-thou, self-righteous, hypocritical characters. Both have focused much of their heel efforts-at least in the early part of their WWE careers-in the general direction of the WWE's more sexually-oriented characters. Both have been involved in well-developed romance angles. And both of them have never really gotten their just due (Molly more than Kurt).
The differences? Kurt has more charisma than Molly and you can simply do more with him at this point out of the ring than Molly. Also,there is the inescapable fact that Kurt is male, which means he will always have a greater opportunity to realize his potential than the women in the WWE. I think-think-Molly is capable of more than she has shown. Some sort of alliance between these two would seem to make sense. And lastly, some rumours surrounding Kurt may indicate that he is much more willing to rock the boat than Molly is.
Alas, even in the similarities, we find gaping chasms of inequity. Kurt Angle, after getting his head shaved by Edge a few years back on PPV was never in any danger of undergoing the anti-push that Molly is currently engulfed in. He was too over and he was too male. One could say that WWE T.V. might suffer without Kurt Angle. One could not-at this point-say the same about Molly. The WWE seems to have gone out of its way to push Molly down the card after getting her head shaved, while pushing less-talented women up the card.
Both workers have played the cowardly heel...but Kurt has over the last couple of years been allowed to evolve into a dangerous, feared grappler-as a heel and as a face. The comedic skits have given way to seriousness. In fact, Kurt has dropped the 3 I's and stuck with one: Intensity. Molly, on the other hand, aside from one 2 minute spot where she choked out Victoria, is still playing the cowardly heel.
Perhaps the most glaring difference is that Kurt Angle has extensive experience working with the 3 McMahons that matter (that is, all the McMahons not named Linda). Molly, to date, has pretty much no experience with any of them in any kind of match, promo or backstage angle. Kurt has benefited from the 'McMahon Rub'. Maybe Molly could too...if given the opportunity.I have heard rumors that one or both of the young McMahons have a high level of disdain for the Women's Division, but who knows if this is actuality? It does certainly seem as though there might be some credibility to this claim, but we don't know.
I'm going to make a u-turn here to illustrate a point. I'm also going to do something that may seem a little foreign to some of you: I'm going to give HHH his credit. Huh? What???
Arlando give HHH credit? Yeah. Remember, I was a huge fan of this guy even when many others were stepping off of his bandwagon when he won his first World Title (Some of you might remember who you are. You're the ones who said he wasn't good enough, wasn't over enough, wasn't charismatic enough to hold the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Years later, he continues to prove you wrong). HHH brought a higher level of heat to the WWE by being the heel that every babyface in the company needed. He made the World Heavyweight Title more over by being the colossal heel who always went over. He became,in short, our generation's version of Ric Flair...and business benifited as a result. As a matter of fact, I say I have a problem with HHH...but I truly don't know if it's so much a problem with him (recently, he has killed the heat of guys like Goldberg, he no-sells Y2J at every turn and immerses himself in almost every angle on Raw) or with the way his push seems to self-generate...it seems as though it will never end. He will ALWAYS go over, in the end...and is that HIM, or is it the bookers? I don't know. I know he sits in on the meetings when they put the shows together and when pushes are yea-ed or nay-ed and he IS married to the bosses' daughter, so it will always look bad. Maybe the true nature of my problem with HHH is this-with all the things he already has on his plate that are going to always inevitably look suspiciously like there is a conflict of interest between the very top of the WWE and HHH and the rest of the WWE, perhaps he should be trying harder to get EVERYONE ELSE OVER. Not just Batista. Not just Randy. And not just HBK and the very top of the Raw roster. How about the undercard? How could he do this? By staying out of midcard angles-like the one he is involved with right now with Eugene. Tajiri, A-Train,Rhyno, Val Venis, La Resistance or hell-even Garrison Cade-could handle this, and I'm sure that Tajiri,A-Train and Rhyno could've made a lot of money with this. This would be a good place for HHH to start...but let me get back on the point. The point is,the WWE set their standard with HHH. He was clearly the best in that spot, the WWE said so publicly;J.R. and Lawler and Heyman-when he was commentating-put him over as the WWE Standard of Excellence. The WWE has stated that Molly may be the best female wrestler in the company. They have also stated that she may be the strongest woman in the company (stronger than Jazz? Is that true?). Okay. PUT HER OVER AS THE STANDARD. It should be easy...the WWE female talent pool still lags way behind the men. Just state it, let the announcers bill her as such, and let her-kind of like HHH did for the WWE as a whole-get the whole Women's Division over by building it around her as the best female wrestler in the WWE. It's not like the WWE would be stretching the truth. Remember the WWE's last GREAT feud, HHH vs. The Rock? It was routinely stated that while Rocky may have been the charisma machine and the top draw in the company, it was HHH that was the top wrestler. Let Trish have the distinction of being the WWE's top female draw...but let Molly have the distinction of being the Women's Divisions' anchor. Look. Trish and Lita are not going to carry any one of the current female workers to their greatest match. Molly can and has. Gail Kim is good, but she isn't at the level of Trish, Lita, Molly, Victoria or even Torrie and Stacy in terms of overness. Victoria...to me at least, is missing something,or is simply not nearly as interesting in her current babyface persona. The only thing Molly needs is a push up the card. The only reason she is not a top draw is because the WWE has not really given her the ball. Molly as the Pole Star in the Women's Division would be a great start.
Also, I am NOT talking about her going over all the time. That is silly and stupid. It would simply make every last woman in the WWE look better if they could beat Molly in a match if Molly was publicly billed as being what she is-the best wrestler among the WWE women.
I didn't forget, by the way. I present to you:
THE STEAK-UMS STING of THE NIGHT: For M-poly # 9, it's a two-pack:
'That's right, Gail'. Molly expressing a throaty, hungry, almost lustful appreciation for a Dragon Sleeper that Gail Kim had applied to Lita. Worth hearing over and over...the delivery was priceless.
'That's right...that's right...get her!!!' Same match. Mollys' cheesy and whole-hearted exclamation of 'get her!!!' really needed to be heard to be believed...it was like the ABC After-School special version of Molly. She sounds like a prudish, female, vaguely pseudo-Christian heel SHOULD sound like.
Take it easy.
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