[2008-06-01-WWE One Night Stand] Beth Phoenix vs Melina (I Quit)

[Superstar Sleeze]

Beth Phoenix vs Melina - WWE One Night Stand 2008 I Quit Match

A women's match without the title on the line! Wow! I didnt know that happened. Mickie James was champion at this time, FYI. Kadaveri recommended me this match on Twitter after I raved about Beth vs Candice. I got to say I really enjoyed this one. It felt like a really good PWFG match catch wrestling match. They focus almost exclusively on submission holds and there is no weapons. I thought there were a lot of innovative submissions that looked great. One thing, I think is that they dont always cater to the women's strengths in women's matches. They make them wrestle like men, but women have certain physical advantages over men, but they dont take advantage of them. One of those things is that women are more flexible and limber than men. So submissions look a lot cooler and financing on women. The psychology was very sound. Melina was hurling everything she had at Beth while Beth was using raw strength. I liked the immediate Guillotine Choke from Melina and Beth's sell. Beth's backbreaker out of it was gnarly. They were hitting each other hard too. I loved Melina's Mutoh Deathlock Back Bridge. Again more impressive looking because Melina is so flexible. Beth pulling herself to the ref with Melina still holding onto the submission popped me huge. What a cool spot. Then they tumbled out of the ring together! WOW! A lot of good Beth strength spots, but Melina avoids the Glam Slam. She kicks Beth in the ass into the post. She starts working the arm with the ropes. Awesome! FUJIWARA ARMBAR! I AM MARKING OUT! Cross-Armbreaker switch! BETH PICKS HER UP AND THROWS HER ASS DOWN!!! OH FUCK YEAH! GLAM SLAM! THEN SHE BENDS MELINA IN HALF UNTIL SHE SUBMITS FROM THE TORTURE!  

What a finish! I loved how submission based this was. Melina was a great scrappy underdog with lots of submissions and Beth was Beth just a glorious monster heel that owned it in this match. ****

[DMJ]

Just watched this for the first time based on someone referring to it as one of (maybe even "the") best WWE women's match ever in the Melina GWE thread.

I wouldn't necessarily go that far (I really liked Sasha/Bayley in Brooklyn and Rhea/Charlotte from WM39 and also Bayley/IYO from this year's Mania) but being in the conversation considering WWE didn't treat women's wrestling seriously until about 5 years after this match and that, as we've learned in various interviews, the women were often told specifically not to overshadow the men, is no small feat.

As the poster above wrote, Phoenix is outstanding here as the powerhouse. Melina is incredible too and puts on an excellent babyface performance (which, to me, is even more impressive considering that I often go into Melina matches not necessarily wanting to cheer for her because of how much I associate her with being an on-screen heel and also, according to industry gossip that should probably be taken with a grain of salt, being a "diva" backstage). 

The only extra note I'd have is that the powerbomb Phoenix gives towards the end of the match is devastating and had me audibly "pop" watching by myself as I did leg raises in my basement. Usually, I'm pretty silent watching a match by myself, so, when that happens, you know it looks nasty. 

 

An easy 4-out-of-5 on my scale, which puts it into somewhat rarefied air (the rating scale I use on my blog - cheap plug, Kwang The Blog only goes to 5 and I only do .5-point increments [no quarters]) as a 4-out-of-5 is in the territory of "Should Watch/Must Watch" if you're at all into US wrestling from the past 40 years.