Does Women's Wrestling Have A Future In WWE?

[Guest Matt Black]

Another thing that occurred to me whilst watching the depressing burial of Paige (without any build-up or explanation, way to tell a story there, by the way) was why the WWE persists with the Divas division at all? I mean, they seem to have no confidence in or ideas for any one save for introducing them, giving them a title run and then having them lose in humiliating circumstances to the next flavour of the month.

 

I'm no sexist who wants women to be on the show simply for the sake of their sexual exploitation, but based on what is done with most of the female talent in the WWE today, wouldn't it be cheaper to just hire in lingerie models or pole-dancers and have them hit each other with pillows whilst wearing their underwear?

 

After all, only the other week we had three supposed wrestlers being thrown into a pool of mud by a middle-aged woman with no athletic ability whatsoever, so maybe the Divas belt should be awarded to the female who can elicit the loudest bellows of sexual frustration from the live audience?

Edited July 5, 2014 by John Hancock

[Guest John Hancock]

I think Triple H has said in the past that he personally sees no point to women's wrestling in the WWE, and ex-WWE creative people have said he wants to get rid of it. The more influence he gets, the more it's going to be phased out I think. I think A.J.'s last title run just put that eventual decline off a little bit because she got over so unexpectedly. The success of Total Divas probably has something to do with it too.

[Guest Edgehead]

I thought it seemed a bit odd that Paige was suddenly a heel for no reason whatsoever, there was no thought put into it at all, it was like the whole thing was decided 2 minutes before they sent Paige out there.

[Guest Matt Black]

I think Triple H has said in the past that he personally sees no point to women's wrestling in the WWE, and ex-WWE creative people have said he wants to get rid of it. The more influence he gets, the more it's going to be phased out I think. I think A.J.'s last title run just put that eventual decline off a little bit because she got over so unexpectedly. The success of Total Divas probably has something to do with it too.

 

I think there's a place for the women in wrestling (you only have to look at Japan and promotions like Pro Wrestling: EVE to see that), but maybe unless there's a sea change in the higher echelons of the WWE, it just isn't one of those places. Seriously, I'd rather there be no women's wrestling in the modern incarnation of WWE than the half-arsed joke that we see week in and week out at the moment. Those female workers who are actually worth the time could be pursuing their careers elsewhere rather than committing to a promotion that still sees them as glorified eye-candy.

 

I thought it seemed a bit odd that Paige was suddenly a heel for no reason whatsoever, there was no thought put into it at all, it was like the whole thing was decided 2 minutes before they sent Paige out there.

 

I'd agree with that wholeheartedly, the woman might not be the best on the mic, but her stammering and inability to put any serious emotion behind her words seemed to suggest that not only had she been unable to rehearse them but also the whole angle of losing the belt had come as a surprise that killed her confidence in front of the audience. Plus it made no sense: she won the belt in the same kind of surprise challenge, said she'd not fall for the same trick herself and then proceeded to do exactly that.

 

Surely if the writers had an ounce of sense they'd have gone with the opposite result: AJ returns and challenges Paige to the rematch, goads her into it and then comes within a hair's breadth of pinning her. That would have established that AJ was a legitimate challenger and set up a feud in which Paige had to fight tooth and nail to retain her championship against an established veteran of the Divas division.

[DC 536]

I just love it when the WWE goes with a story-line in which a champion is able to book themselves in a championship match on a whim and then lose the belt to someone who supposedly just waltzed out of the backstage area and insulted them.

 

Even more stupid is having a champion accept such a challenge and then actually lose the belt in the process; what better way to tell the audience that any moron can get their hands on a title in the WWE.

 

Another thing that occurred to me whilst watching the depressing burial of Paige (without any build-up or explanation, way to tell a story there, by the way) was why the WWE persists with the Divas division at all? I mean, they seem to have no confidence in or ideas for any one save for introducing them, giving them a title run and then having them lose in humiliating circumstances to the next flavour of the month.

To be fair to WWE on this one, the actual angle made storyline sense since it was how Paige won the title in the first place.

[Guest Matt Black]

To be fair to WWE on this one, the actual angle made storyline sense since it was how Paige won the title in the first place.

 

The return of the former champion and the reciprocal challenge may have made sense, but the outcome did not unless the aim was to kill Paige as either a champion or believable contender and reset the Divas division to the exact position it was in before AJ left. I hope they have someone other than Paige lined up as the net challenger, because they just killed her appeal with the audience, killed it stone dead.

[Guest Ciaran The King]

Except for the few better performers that pop up every decade Trish/Lita/Victoria/Jazz/Mickey/Kaitlyn/Aj/Paige the women's division in WWE is dead. The Dvias offer nothing apart from really bad acting on Raw, SD and total Divas

[Guest Matt Black]

Except for the few better performers that pop up every decade Trish/Lita/Victoria/Jazz/Mickey/Kaitlyn/Aj/Paige the women's division in WWE is dead. The Dvias offer nothing apart from really bad acting on Raw, SD and total Divas

 

I agree totally with this.

 

The majority of the female wrestlers over the years have been little more than poorly trained models who were required to titillate the male members of the audience as they bounced down to the ring and then proceeded to slap, spank and hair-pull their way through what could never be termed a match.

[DC 536]

Except for the few better performers that pop up every decade Trish/Lita/Victoria/Jazz/Mickey/Kaitlyn/Aj/Paige the women's division in WWE is dead.

I agree totally with this.

Watch NXT.

[Guest Matt Black]

Watch NXT.

 

Then they get to the main roster and need to be "tweaked" for the transition...

[DC 536]

Then they get to the main roster and need to be "tweaked" for the transition...

Which, if you just watch NXT (for female wrestling), won't be a problem because new women will come in to fill the void.

[Guest Matt Black]

Which, if you just watch NXT (for female wrestling), won't be a problem because new women will come in to fill the void.

 

I'd love to have the chance to watch NXT, but here in the UK the only way I know of is to subscribe to the WWE network.

[dsrchris 190]

Do they not show it on Sky anymore?

[Guest Matt Black]

Do they not show it on Sky anymore?

 

If they do, then I suspect that it's only available on packages that include Sky Sports.

 

We only have the bare minimum, and even with that we're thinking of downgrading to Freeview for the sake of saving money.

[GENE 86]

It's on Sky Sports I watched five minutes of it last night.

[Guest fattyfudge]

I'm not saying that the male wrestlers have the best acting talent, but really the divas are horrendous in WWE... There is literally no emotion behind their words whatsoever and there isn't really a stand out talent in the ring either. Divas matches on smackdown or raw remain to be my piss break because to me, their only talent is on their chest (yes I probably couldn't sound any more sexist)

 

I think there is some great talent on NXT and I actually got into the dives wrestling on there, especially when bret and ric got involved, but I still think even the word "divas" along with their outfits etc are far too sexualised, and the division won't be taken seriously until things like that change

[dsrchris 190]

That's why NXT specifically called their title the NXT Womens Championship. It was a good move.

[Evil Gringo 279]

The last time there was any good acting from the main roster Divas was between AJ and Kaitlyn and those were the best matches in a long time on the main roster as well.

 

Paige and AJ could have some good matches together IF they let them go at it.

 

Aside from that women's wrestling's home is NXT. Simple as that - as soon as they go to the main roster they are either under used, used as eye candy or place as make weights or motivations in male wrestlers feuds. That is the WWE/F way pretty much since the late 80's.

[Guest Matt Black]

Shame they couldn't do more with Awesome Kong, but then who would have looked like a legitimate opponent for her apart from someone on the male roster?

[DC 536]

Shame they couldn't do more with Awesome Kong

I'm sure they had massive plans for her, but she got pregnant and that was the end of that.

 

She could still come back and I live in hope that one day she does.

[Guest HH-Evolution]

Wasn't it said in some news reports a while back that vince has 'gone off paige' as of late anyway?

 

Pretty sure something like that was mentioned a few weeks ago.

[Guest BeorimJ]

If HHH sees it that way, i wonder how come they have put some serious talent into NXT, especially also with a seriously good trainer.

 

I think, womens wrestling in WWE would have a chance, if they started to let them. They have some serious talent in the ring, and they are starting to give them more lessons for promos. Why Paige has not been able to do that in her few weeks WWE - no clue!

[dsrchris 190]

Wasn't it said in some news reports a while back that vince has 'gone off paige' as of late anyway?

 

Pretty sure something like that was mentioned a few weeks ago.

 

I seriously think Vince is starting to lose it. I mean, I knew for a while that he's just got no clue about what's relevant anymore, but ever since he cut Cesaro's first name because "Antonio isn't a tough guy name" I've been worried that he's finally losing his marbles properly.

 

Apparently he doesn't "get" Paige, Xavier Woods, Sami Zayn, or a whole bunch of the new up and comers. I think the only reason he went along with The Shield is because they were booked so well from the get-go. If you look back , they were probably just meant to be a means to an end to get the title on The Rock.

 

I'm seriously starting to think it's time for Vince to retire and go live out the rest of his days fuding his wife's failed political flights of fancy.

 

Not that that is gonna happen. Everyone knows Vinnie is gonna die in his office chair at Titan Towers (probably surrounded by blow and bodybuilders, but that's besides the point), I'm just worried about the damage he could do before he goes. They need someone who has some concept of what is relevant in 2014 and beyond, not a pensioner rehashing what used to be.

[Guest Matt Black]

Apparently he doesn't "get" Paige, Xavier Woods, Sami Zayn, or a whole bunch of the new up and comers. I think the only reason he went along with The Shield is because they were booked so well from the get-go. If you look back , they were probably just meant to be a means to an end to get the title on The Rock.

 

I'd guess that Vince "got" the Shield thanks to the similarity in their ring attire and that worn by The Big Bossman and Bull Buchanan in their run together back in the 90's, and the fact that RR is, as Men at Work put it, "[over] six foot tall and full of muscles".