Was it a great year for women’s wrestling? Gerweck.net has been doing their annual polls and in those polls we see numerous Divas & Knockouts are being featured. The first Surprise came when Shimmer was nominated for Promotion of the year. WWE lead the way, followed by TNA, UFC & ROH. Shimmer got 1% of the votes but when reviewing the results all the other promotions had either 1 or 0% of the votes. But when looking at the actual numbers, WWE, TNA, UFC & ROH had such a huge lead it was hard for the other promotions to get high scores. But what was noticeable, when the scores where checked last, SHIMMER was in 5^th place. Beating out AAA, NWA promotions and other bigger promotions. Making SHIMMER the 5^th best Promotion of 2008.

Also DVD of the year, TNA: Knocked Out, was also an option for voting. There were some tough choices, like The Eddie Guererro DVD (Which won with 22% of the votes), The Triple H”King Of Kings” DVD, The Hardy Boyz DVD, Ric Flair Collection and some other big DVD’s released this year. TNA: Knocked Out managed to get 4% of all the votes. Also this DVD got more votes then the “Kurt Angle: Champion” DVD and the “THE Best Of TNA 2007” DVD. TNA: Knocked Out was voted TNA’s second best DVD of 2008, right behind the praised “Global Impact” DVD.

Currently Taylor Wilde is in second Place for “Rookie Of The Year” 2008, right behind Evan Bourne (who has 63% of all the votes). You can still vote for Taylor. Taylor (with 12% of the total votes) is currently ahead of Vladimir Kozlov, Ricky Ortiz, Jack Swagger, Frank Trigg, Scotty Goldman & DJ Gabriel.

Also the poll for “Tag Team Of 2008” was just added and to everyone’s Surprise “The Beautiful People” are currently tied in 2^nd place alongside Ted Dibiase Jr. & Cody Rhodes with 12%. The Miz & John Morrison are currently holding the top spot with 38%. The Beautiful People are currently ahead of great tag teams like: The Colons, LAX, Beer Money Inc, Team 3D & the Briscoes. Keep The Beautiful People amongst the top tag teams and vote.

Also a “Female Wrestler Of The Year” poll is also there with Sara Del Rey (27%), Beth Phoenix (24%), Mickie James (12%) & Awesome Kong (11%) leading the way. Other names you can vote for are: Taylor Wilde, ODB, Gail Kim, Natalya, Ms. CHiff, Michelle McCool & Kelly Kelly.

Surprisingly despite not having too much high quality matches in 2008, women’s wrestling has really grown. Either it was the success of the TNA Knockouts, or the growth of SHIMMER, either way Women’s wrestling is starting to grow again and just by viewing some of these results it shows.

Continue to support the SHIMMER Athletes, the TNA Knockouts & the WWE Divas by Voting. The power for change, is now in your hands.

Link to vote for some of the polls are here:

http://www.gerweck.net/

—Rumors that Rhaka Khan is dating Kurt Angle has been stirring around the net, if this turns out to be true, it would be quite the odd pairing. Click Here For Rhaka Khan Pictures.

—According to Jim Ross, Maryse is not expected to drop the Divas title due to injury…

The new Divas Champion, who never met a mirror she did not like, Maryse, suffered a dislocated knee cap recently but isn’t expected to miss much ring time.

Lethalwow.com’s Top 100
Most Viewed Profiles of 2008

Tuesday 1 January 2008 to Wednesday 31 December 2008 :

01) — Melina Perez
02) — Torrie Wilson
03) — Candice Michelle
04) — Maria Kanellis
05) — Salinas (Shelly Martinez)
06) — Kelly Kelly
07) — Joanie Laurer (Chyna)
08) — Gail Kim
09) — Trish Stratus
10) — Angelina Love

Frankie “Kaz” Kazarian and Tracy Brooks (Brookshaw) were recent engaged. Brooks noted the change in relationship status from single to engaged on her Facebook page. She also sent a message to her fans tonight. “Tracy is wishing everyone a very happy holiday and yes i am engaged!!!!! best christmas present ive ever received..love you frankie.”

The Miami Herald has an article on TNA Knockout ODB. She discusses watching wrestling as a child, entering the business, the Knockouts Division, working in Ohio Valley Wrestling, what goals she hopes to achieve, and more. ODB thought TNA wasn’t going to keep her around following her return to the promotion in October 2007. “At first, I don’t think [TNA] was going to keep me around,” she said. “They were starting a women’s division, but I think they had no idea who they were going to keep. I think they were surprised [at the crowd reaction] for me. I was surprised too.” ODB also commented on her surprising success in TNA. “I didn’t expect the big push,” she said. “I think TNA wanted to see how it went, and it took off. People wanted to see us, and we can wrestle. People went nuts. It was something they hadn’t seen before.” ODB also commented on her wrestling character. “ODB is basically me with the volume turned up a lot obviously,” she said. “Throughout the years, you got to just find yourself as a character. I was very shy, quiet, when I first started. Actually, I am still kind of quiet . . . sometimes.”
The following is from TNAWrestling.com: TNAwrestling.com is happy to announce that every week, we will be showcasing an exclusive match on the website! Courtesy of our syndicated Xplosion show, we are bringing a new bout to fans that visit the website via YouTube! From here on out, the exclusive match can be viewed by clicking on the “WEB MATCH” tab on the main page video player, next to “TNA TODAY” To watch the first match (featuring The Beautiful People vs. Taylor Wilde & Roxxi with Traci Brooks as special referee), click on the play button below. Check back to the TNAwrestling.com main page next week for another exclusive!

Here is the match:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQxzb77OoQ4&feature=channel_page

Credit: EWrestlingnews.com

TNA is promoting a Santa’s Workshop Knockout Streetfight for this Thursday Night on TNAWrestling.com…Roxxi, Taylor Wilde, Christy Hemme, and ODB vs. Sojourner Bolt, Rhaka Khan, Raisha Saeed and Awesome Kong. Hopefully the match will not be as horrendous as last week’s streetfight.

All 8 Women will be involved at Genesis on January 11th in the Women’s title match as Christy Hemme challenges Kong for the title once again—this time in a Lumberjack setting… “If Christy wins, we riot.”

At the iMPACT! taping for the January 8th, 2009 edition, reports that Awesome Kong defeated a “Madison Green” or “Madison Layne” is surfacing, supposedly this woman is Ashley Lane, one-half of the Shimmer tag-team champions. Some are reporting it as a try-out/dark match however it may very well be televised on iMPACT!.

Ashley Lane took time to join Lethalwow.com for an exclusive interview. CLICK HERE FOR THE INTERVIEW.

—On December 15, TNA taped next week’s iMPACT! episode—their Christmas edition. Shimmer wrestler Portia Perez was defeated in a dark match, getting pinned by Angelina Love.

—Christy Hemme, ODB, Roxxi & Taylor Wilde, Awesome Kong, Raisha Saeed, Rhaka Khan and Sojourner Bolt will all participate in a Santa’s Workshop match on iMPACT’s Christmas episode.

— If you recall, a mysterious blonde woman attacked Torrie Wilson after a match on an episode of SmackDown in September 2007. She made one more television appearance (in a backstage segment with Vickie Guerrero) and then disappeared. The women in question is of course Krissy Vaine, who along with her boyfriend Ryan O’Reilly, quit World Wrestling Entertainment, as the rigorous schedule proved to be too much for them. Vaine decided to retire from the wrestling business altogether whereas O’Reilly returned to the indy scene a few months later. The two were chastised for their decision to quit what most in the industry would consider a dream job. You can read an article from last year on Vaine and O’Reilly discussing their surprising WWE departure at the following link.

In an update on her hiatus from the wrestling business, Krissy Vaine has decided to return to the industry. She is currently taking indy bookings out of Greensboro, North Carolina through Bill Behrens. Promoters interested in booking Vaine (or O’Reilly) can reach Behrens at showbis@aol.com.

Vaine’s “Team Blondage” tag team partner, Amber O’Neal, is ecstatic to say the least of her friend’s return to the squared circle. The two are getting back together again for a “Team Blondage” reunion as they have some appearances and shows lined up in 2009. You can read O’Neal’s blog talking about the “Team Blondage” reunion at the following link.

CREDIT: RAJAH.COM

Sojourner Bolt vs Christy Hemme

Christy Hemme vs. Sojourner Bolt on iMPACT! scored huge ratings this past week…

Powell’s POV: The highest rated segment of the show occurred in the seventh quarter-hour for the Christy Hemme vs. Soujourner Bolt match, which scored a 1.28 rating.

http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/TNA/article1003864.shtml

Sojourner Bolt took the time to talk to lethalwow.com about working in TNA. CLICK HERE FOR HER LETHALWOW INTERVIEW.

It has been a few weeks since I wrote an edition of “The Rundown”, and quite a lot has happened since. A couple of days after TNA’s Final Resolution and a few days before WWE Armageddon, there are distinct forecasts for 2009. WWE Raw has a potential break out feud between Beth Phoenix and Melina Perez, WWE Smackdown! has the pending debut of Gail Kim and TNA, ummm—more of a fall from grace…

—Comeback Girl: Melina Perez made her return on the November 24 edition of Raw, teaming with Mickie James and Candice Michelle to defeat Beth Phoenix, Jillian, and Katie Lea. Melina picked up the win and has since made her intentions clear—there’s no love-loss between herself and Beth Phoenix. Melina plans on taking Beth’s favorite “accessory”, the WWE Women’s title away from her.

—The Last Call: During Melina’s comeback match, she introduced a new move to her arsenal, a sunset flip powerbomb, calling the move the “Last Call”. She picked up a win against Jillian Hall using the move the following week on Raw. The move is certain to become associated with her name.
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For the month of November 2008, Melina Perez was once again the most viewed profile on Lethal Women of Wrestling. Her return last month made it impossible for Torrie Wilson to reach #1.

Lethalwow.com’s Top 30
Most Viewed Profiles of November 2008

Saturday 1 November 2008 to Sunday 30 November 2008:

01) — Melina Perez
02) — Torrie Wilson
03) — Candice Michelle
04) — Kelly Kelly
05) — Joanie Laurer (Chyna)
06) — Maria Kanellis
07) — Rena Mero (Sable)
08) — Gail Kim
09) — Traci Brooks
10) — Lita
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