Are WWE Divas allowed to be intresting?
Over the years the WWE have seen some amazing female talent come and go. Women like Lita, Trish Status and Chyna are just some of many who re-defined the word "diva" and changed the idea of what a female professional wrestler is. From their unique images to their amazing wrestling ability, these women changed and made history in one of sports entertainments biggest companies. In recent years women like Beth Pheionix, Maryse, AJ Lee, Eve Torres and Kaitlyn have been some of the names to stand out and take the spotlight amongst other talents.However there has been a dramatic change in the way the WWE female talent is used and therefore used. It's strange to think that just over ten years ago two female competitors main evented an episode of Monday night RAW when now days the girls struggle to get ten minuets of wrestling time. Storyline's have become weak and not even focused around actual wrestling and the fans have next to no interest in the division. In the mean time promotions like TNA and WWE's developmental territory's (NXT) divas division have taken the spotlight thanks to good,strong match booking and interesting storyline's. However, with the female talent in the WWE divas division rising by the minuet are the WWE being forced to turn a page and change up the direction they have them in? And with all the crazy work with gimmicks and personality, just how important is actual Wrestling ability in the WWE? And how are the WWE divas allowed to be intresting?
Character and Gimmick...
The WWE has produced some intresting and strange gimmicks over the years to say the very very least. But it's become clear that the character of a Diva or superstar is more important than actual wrestling ability. This is a clearly big thing in the WWE Divas division in particular. If we look at the gimmicks on the main roster you will actually see that there is no diversity what so ever. It appears that in the WWE you are either crazy or a super bitch and it doesn't really go much further than that. Last year Paige, AJ Lee, and Alicia Fox were all using the crazy gimmick with only one of them actually managing to pull it off convincingly. We then had Cameron who was given a gimmick completely focused around the catch phrase "girl bye" with her applying make up while in the ring. Everyone else either played the top baby face veterans or the super bitch. While the superstars on the main roster get a variety of different characters and gimmicks. This is just another example of how the WWE don't want their female talent to out shine there male talent and their for be interesting in anyway. With the same, boring gimmicks, the WWE universe have given up giving a crap about the division. Ten years ago we had Lita. Who possessed one of the most unique gimmicks in the history of her division yet she had one of the strongest connection with the fans throughout her career and to this day. The company could have easily gone down a similar root with Paige. Throughout her time down in NXT, Paige played the raven haired, anti diva, diva of tomorrow, since coming up on the main roster she has been given almost the exact same gimmick as AJ Lee and Alicia fox. the crazy girl. It's clear this was not the right character for Paige what so ever and it caused a lot her original fans to lose faith and interest in here while the people who were never even aware of her NXT work not even bothering to look twice at her. Down in TNA the Knockouts division also have a strong diverse set of characters/gimmicks and the fans are interested in what their going to do next.
Match Quality...
I have written a whole separate post all about the match difference between the main roster divas and
Storyline's...
I honestly think storyline's play a big big part in how we view a superstar or diva, and if we look at the NXT diva's storyline's and the main roster diva's storyline's there's a big big difference. On the main roster everything seem's to be like one big soap opera. If we take the AJ Lee/ Paige feud for out first example,the storyline first mainly focused on the sexual tension between the two, with kiss teasing each other and the title hardly being in the picture, talking of the championship over the past thew month's it's gone back and fourth between the two and there's been no sign of importance of the title and it's just something to throw about. Another example is the Bella twins storyline witch has consisted of hardly any actual wrestling, instead we've had story's of what took place between the two in high school, for example Nikki sitting a test for Brie or Brie stealing her sisters prom date. Any actual wrestling between the two has literally come under one minuet. Crossing over to NXT and it's a completely different scene. The girl's over there are chasing the same thing's the guy's are and it so refreshing to see that. Take the storyline between Charlotte and Bayley. It's all been about Bayley gaining the respect of a diva she was yet to defeat. The build was amazing leading up to NXT Takeover two, with Bayley picking up strong win's over the like's of Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss. It was about Bayley and Charlotte fighting for the NXT women's championship and as I just said Bayley gaining the respect of her opponent. At Takeover the two went one on one for the championship and after a strong match lasting around 11/12 minuets Charlotte managed to retain the championship but at the end of the match the two shook hands and Charlotte showed her respect for Bayley. The lead up and the ending of the storyline was strong and gripping. No stupid promo's or segments. Nothing about their past or sleeping with each other's boyfriends, it was all about wrestling and becoming a champion. What I've noticed with NXT is that they don't completely focus on the storyline's more so the actual wrestling. The work on the storyline's are limited but their doesn't need to be anything major in the storyline's and NXT has proven that.Once again it's the exact same in TNA. Yes, there has been some major down falls in this department but over the years the knockout feuds have been strong and meaningful and enough to keep you wanting more from the storyline and matches. The WWE are so worried about the divas outshining the superstars that they put them in crappy, pathetic storyline's that no one would be interested in rather than have them in something strong to balance out the male and female talent.
Total Divas and Wrestling ability...
If we look at the girls getting the main attention and the girls who are most talented in the ring it's pretty crazy what you see. Last year, Eva Marie almost had more RAW appearances than Natalya. Now, you all know how I feel about Eva Marie. I think the problem is is that the WWE were too quick on here. This is the perfect example of signing a girl with next to no experience and expect her to be the next Trish Stratus in a number of weeks. She needed her two plus years down in NXT, to help her both in the ring and as a character. But the WWE are so focused on selling sex and using their female talent for sex appeal they would rather have a girl clearly not ready for the main roster let alone Wrestlemania compete against veterans than have her train properly and have some who is actually ready for the big stages go up. If we talk about the most talented women on the roster two names quickly jump to mind, Natalya and Naomi. These two are hands down the two strongest in ring competitors and athletes. We all know that these two could put on a monster of a match given the right time and storyline yet one of them has never held the divas championship and the other has only held it once. I will write a full post on these two so keep an eye out for that. In the defence of the WWE they did produce total divas witch did boost the popularity of the girls but with the show being so controversial its done a lot of damage. I will leave the link bellow to a post I previously did talking more about this.
Booking! Booking! Booking!
Finally, it's booking. I could do a whole post on this subject so I'm gonna try my best to keep it as limited as I can. The main roster booking for the divas is flat out terrible to say the least. Every week it seem's to be the same thing. Alicia Fox VS AJ Lee with Paige at ringside, Paige VS Naomi with AJ at commentary. The end result is always so predictable and most of the time I find myself using the divas match ups as a bathroom break because there's no point watching the match because you already know what's going to happen. With total diva's contributing to this, you already know on a Monday at least one of the divas matches of the night. I get that it's a big deal enough for the WWE to start having more than one diva match on RAW, but with it being so predictable there really is no point. Let's go back a thew weeks were on the Sunday Naomi and Cameron where the main attention on Total Divas, and the following night on RAW the two had a match because of the tension shown on the latest episode of the reality show. But the problem is, we've seen their feud start and end month's ago, we don't need them to go at it again for no reason. If we look at NXT however, this past week Becky Lynch one on one with Sasha Banks witch made so much sense. It's evident that Banks is next in line for a shot at the NXT women's championship and they are slowly building her up as the number one contender and show casing her skill.
One thing we also need to talk about is what happen's to an NXT diva once she reaches the main roster and the booking according to someone's skills. If we take JoJo for example she did some work on RAW a while back when she was apart of total divas and even participated in a PPV match, even though she lacks a lot of experience the WWE thought it was okay to through her into a match up with people way more experienced than what she was. However at the moment the NXT have her working as a ring announcer purely because she's not ready to start competing in the ring. There's also divas like former stunt double Kendall Sky who has been with the WWE for a while now and has been training for quit some time is clearly a big talent and if any of you have seen her work from live show's you will know she's a strong competitor, but it's clear they haven't got her competing in the ring yet because she isn't as polished as divas such as Banks and Bayley. Ask yourself this, if Eva Marie or Cameron heck even Rosa where on the NXT roster would they be competing yet? What frustrates me also is what the WWE do with the divas from NXT when they come up to the main roster. Over in NXT Paige was known as the anti diva. With feisty attitude and bags of experience she dominated the roster and was apart of some of the best female matches the company has seen in recent years, in fact many fans were comparing her to the like of Hall of famer Lita. However since coming up to the main roster her character change has been completely shocking. She's now just another typical diva with some added piercings and darker hair. I have to be honest, if I had just watched her matches from the main roster I wouldn't of seen the big hype about her. Another prime example is Emma. Emma is by far one of the most gifted female wrestlers the WWE have. Once again she was apart of some of the best divas matches in the company and can do some pretty awesome stuff in the ring we don't see the women do on the main roster. But since getting the call up she's been apart of nothing major and we haven't seen a fraction of what she can do in the ring. I remember reading another article and it saying she's basically the female Zack Ryder and that statement couldn't be more true! It honestly make's me so mad to see what they have done to her, she has so much potential it unbelievable!With the female fans in the WWE increasing are the company being forced to change? Will we see a change in the new year? Leave a comment bellow letting me know what YOU think.
Comments
Post a Comment