Maria was the worst tonight

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Screaming you're stupid constantly at Allie while sounding like Dexter and botching two moves in the eat defeat and knee from Brandi. The Gail Kim love was insufferable but Maria is in 2nd place.

[Emmet Russell]

Remember how ROH hid her weaknesses by not having her wrestle matches? And by managing Bennett and shaking her ass?

[Deleted]

She's never not terrible. One of the most obnoxious, over acted characters in wrestling. She's bad at promos and worse in the ring.

Just awful.

[Super Duper Dragunov]

I like her as a character. She plays the arrogant bitch heel very very well.

But in no way should she be wrestling. And why this wasn't Maria vs. Allie in a street fight type match (to cover up blatant lack of wrestling ability) is beyond me.

You still could have had Sienna vs Gail for the title so Gail could have her yawn in the sun.

[Final Countdown Jones]

The bigger issue is that this really should have been the moment when Allie finally turned on Maria, refused to let her cheat to win instead of simply undoing Maria by panicked incompetence again, and letting her get some comeuppance. Instead of just "OH LOOK MORE EX-WWE PEOPLE HOORAY THEY CAN HIT THE MOVES INSTEAD". Instead, Allie is going to keep bumbling her way through this Rhodes/Bennett feud.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Oct 3, 2016 0:27:27 GMT -5 Emmet Russell said:

Remember how ROH hid her weaknesses by not having her wrestle matches? And by managing Bennett and shaking her ass?

And if she was in a match, it was rightfully overbooked to hide her flaws in wrestling.

[Final Countdown Jones]

Oct 3, 2016 2:53:06 GMT -5 Jedi-El of Tomorrow said:

Oct 3, 2016 0:27:27 GMT -5 Emmet Russell said:

Remember how ROH hid her weaknesses by not having her wrestle matches? And by managing Bennett and shaking her ass?

And if she was in a match, it was rightfully overbooked to hide her flaws in wrestling.

And you'd better believe that the promise that they would book the two of them as singles stars in their respective positions, all over the shows with plenty of talking time and solo pushes, was a big factor in them making the jump to TNA. They believe they have it and that ROH was covering up for weaknesses (Maria sucking, Bennett being for people who think plain rice is an 'exciting' meal), and TNA is dumb enough to support that nonsense, which means we get both of them treated way above their level and they show their asses, since TNA doesn't know how to cover up anybody's weaknesses.

[cabbageboy]

I used to like Maria when she was the ditzy interviewer on OVW and even some in WWE, but she is just insufferable in this role. It's not even like "I want to see her get what is coming to her" heat. It's just "Turn the channel" heat. Nothing about her entire character makes sense, from why Corgan/Dixie let her be this heel authority figure, or why Allie has been this subservient lackey, or any of this really.

[lizzurd]

Oct 3, 2016 9:00:24 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

I used to like Maria when she was the ditzy interviewer on OVW and even some in WWE

I'd like to echo this statement. She was fantastic as Santino's ditzy bimbo girlfriend circa 2007. Shame she's somehow gotten worse in the following nine years.

[A Platypus Rave]

Oct 3, 2016 1:33:03 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

The bigger issue is that this really should have been the moment when Allie finally turned on Maria, refused to let her cheat to win instead of simply undoing Maria by panicked incompetence again, and letting her get some comeuppance.

How does that help Professional Wrestling's greatest wrestler of all time Gail Kim?

[MichaelMartini]

The premise behind that pre-match angle of a stupid lackey ruining the heals plan through incompetence had potential to be funny but the delivery was awful. They half assed it and rushed through it. Zero comic timing.

[Deleted]

Just watched it to see how bad this could have been, and I have to ask - how were those botches?

Gail put her foot under her mouth and dropped down, and she fell as if she'd been knocked out.
And then Brandi, an untrained wrestler, kneed her under the chin, and she fell.

Where was the botch exactly?

[Injustice45]

The funny thing is that Maria was actually holding her own against Gail Kim, one of the veterans in TNA's locker room. Yes, the same Maria that hardly did any wrestling since showing up in TNA in January. Only TNA would book a person that rarely wrestles to look more dominant than the wrestler who has fifteen years of experience.

[lizzurd]

Oct 3, 2016 13:23:25 GMT -5 @legendstar said:

Just watched it to see how bad this could have been, and I have to ask - how were those botches?

Gail put her foot under her mouth and dropped down, and she fell as if she'd been knocked out.
And then Brandi, an untrained wrestler, kneed her under the chin, and she fell.

Where was the botch exactly?

I don't think it was so much a blatant botch as it was just very awkward and blatantly choreographed. From Eden/Brandi overselling that whiffed slap to the slow/clunky transition into the knee. Just bad, man.

[543Y2J]

I will always WWE miss cute ditsy backstage interviewer Maria so so much....

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2016 14:24:01 GMT -5 lizzurd said:

Oct 3, 2016 13:23:25 GMT -5 @legendstar said:

Just watched it to see how bad this could have been, and I have to ask - how were those botches?

Gail put her foot under her mouth and dropped down, and she fell as if she'd been knocked out.
And then Brandi, an untrained wrestler, kneed her under the chin, and she fell.

Where was the botch exactly?

I don't think it was so much a blatant botch as it was just very awkward and blatantly choreographed. From Eden/Brandi overselling that whiffed slap to the slow/clunky transition into the knee. Just bad, man.

Isn't that on Brandi though?

[ayumidah]

Yeah, I watched that GIF. Looked like it was on Brandi, not Maria. So to me, that means there's a chance Maria's better than Brandi, which yikes.

[canal]

Oct 3, 2016 16:34:04 GMT -5 ayumidah said:

Yeah, I watched that GIF. Looked like it was on Brandi, not Maria. So to me, that means there's a chance Maria's better than Brandi, which yikes.

I mean, Maria's only been in the business a decade longer than Brandi, I'd hope she'd be slightly better.

[sunnytaker]

yeah ditzy maria was my favorite version of her- especially when she'd suddenly out of nowhere come up with some intelligent remark and blow everyone's mind (aka the bischoff trial).

and remember she wasn't much of a wrestler during her wwe run. she somehow managed to not become divas champ in a time where everyone on the roster held it at least once. heel manager/valet is the best place for her now though not in ring competitor. but at least she can bump enough so she can get her comeuppance in ring by whoever she's tormenting. I mean the Bucks gave her an indy-taker spike piledriver in her last RoH appearance.

[Mozenrath]

Look, I get that she wanted to do more than be a valet, and TNA offering her that, and her husband a chance to spread his wings, and while she could have just kept doing the same stuff in Japan, ROH, etc, and got along fine. She wanted new challenges.

Admirable, but mistaken.

Rather than allow them to rise to the occasion, this has shown a spotlight on both of their flaws. Booking hasn't helped, given Maria has no valid reason to be an authority figure, and her performance, in ring and out, does not compensate for that.

Bennett, whose name I cannot type without wanting to put "LET OFF SOME STEAM" at the beginning, makes OVW's output in the mid 2000s look like Nakamua. He'd have got along fine, maybe, feuding with an experienced veteran who could work around his shortcomings, like when HBK faced Chris Masters, or Cactus Jack getting a decent match out of Van Hammer of all people, but EC3 was a poor opponent for him on virtually every level. Shitty face character, no real chemistry, and not experienced enough to elevate the material he has to work with. Bennett never had a prayer.