"Divas Revolution" Expiration Date

[Paige's Side Piece]

It's the segment that had everyone talking. It's the segment that showed the past, displayed the present, and introduced the future. A segment that #GaveDivasAChance to be viewed in a much different and important light. Groups were created and all out madness erupted after Stephanie McMahon laid out the room for opportunity and set out to see who was going to take it. With the NXT stars of the Women's Division, Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks being the focal point of the segment, we got a glimpse of what the future may bring to a desert dry Divas Division. Over the past few weeks, we have been getting good Divas competition, from the Triple Threat at Battleground, to seeing an aggressive side to an overlooked Naomi, to having a great encounter between Sasha Banks and Paige, to now seeing an all out admiration for the Lass Kicker, Becky Lynch. But with all of that, the feels from that segment has quickly dissipated. It feels like week after week we have gotten tag team matches with no rhyme or reason. No storylines or fueds to build individual characters and an overall protection for the Divas Champ Nikki as she continues her reign to knocking off AJ Lee’s 295 days.

Nikki should be experiencing the level of new competition solo. There should have been fueds created amongst the three teams that revolve around being the number one contender for the Divas Championship. Even though there are now two Divas matches on Raw, there two matches that lead to nothing, where they try to stuff all the divas involved into those two segments. The constant reminder of the "Divas Revolution" doesn't help neither as it sounds like a $9.99 catchphrase commentary is beating us over the head with. While they do get backstage promos, its only to talk about how they are better than the other teams. That is the storyline to pit each team against each other for Summerslam, but no Divas match that has featured more than four women have been something to watch or remember. Who has emerged as the front runner to dethrone Nikki Bella? Why should those who still don't care about these females wrestling invest their time into teams that aren't focus on becoming champion? Why should I care about Team Bella, Team PCB or Team B.A.D. when they are destined to break up later on? These women were brought up to revolutionize what it means to be a female wrestler like they did in NXT, but to me, it seems like another opportunity to capitalize on a trend with no end goal, instead being trend setters themselves.

The only "team" that seems to work for me and I see as a group that can push each other is Team B.A.D. With Sasha Banks added to the pairing of Naomi and Tamina, their group is truly BAD in a good way. They come with a collective personally that is different from the other groups, and each of them have the most to gain from the group. Sasha Banks can use the group to validate her BO$$ status as the Queen B in B.A.D., while Naomi could use the group to potentially catapult herself to the Divas Championship. With Tamina always being view as the muscle/bodyguard, she can use this to bring intimidation to other divas that hasn't been felt since Kharma, not comparing the two, but she could provide the protection to keep her sisters holding the titles. A group that I feel can become a faction but the term faction has been deleted from the WWE vocabulary, just like the number to a group can be no more than three. I'm just hoping something starts to manifest within a Division that has been broken into groups, with one title not being defended, and nothing but bragging rights at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Messiah]

Nikki Bella will become the longest reigning divas champion, for obvious reasons. She's so talented and Cena might be in the bosses ear a little bit, but that record is as good as her's, but people are making too big of a deal out of it because it's only the Divas Title, how prestigious is the title? Not very much and it's not like she's going to break Moolah's record which would be damn near impossible.

Nikki has many challengers now, she can battle Sasha Banks, Charlotte who's been booked very strong lately, and of course Paige but who really wants to see that anymore? Nikki and Paige have fought way too many times this past year, these newer divas should get shots now, Becky Lynch could be a good challenger a few months down the line as well.

Unfortunately i don't see the divas revolution lasting very long, maybe until the fall time, and then they'll be back to 1 match a night and very little storyline development once this current storyline is over. I hope i'm wrong, but history shows i have no reason to think otherwise.

 

[Radical Canadian Goose]

To me it is obvious that wwe has no idea where to go with the Divas Revolution angle. They have already had issues with naming the two stables not named Team Bella, (Best at Dominating. Really?). This angle seems to be there to forget that Nikki Bella is the Divas Champ so she can break the record then start a singles angle with one of the NXT callups. This Divas revolution is pretty cool, but it won't really begin until Nikki breaks AJ Lee's record, and then the singles matches, and the real revolution begins

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't see what the problem is. For years, we've been bitching about wanting to see WWE do something with women's wrestling and now they finally are. As far as the "Divas Revolution" goes, it doesn't bother me that they're beating us over the head with it because this is the first tine in God knows how long there was actually something worth talking about pertaining to women's wrestling in WWE.

As far as them not knowing where they're going, I couldn't disagree more. I don't see how WWE could be hoping we forget that Nikki is Divas Champion when they mention it a dozen times each week and she herself is out there either on commentary, doing promos or wrestling in matches while carrying the title with her. What's more important right now isn't emphasis being put on the title, it's emphasis being put on the Divas Division as a whole and the women of NXT establishing a strong foothold. Either of the three NXT Divas could be a legit challenger for Nikki Bella but, as has been mentioned in numerous threads, it seems pretty obvious that the intent is for Nikki to becoming the longest reigning Divas Champion in history. If that is indeed the case, then there's more to be gained for these three NXT women with how they've been booked the past 6 weeks or so than in challenging Nikki Bella only to lose. A different level of credibility MIGHT be established for women's wrestling in WWE, but that's going to take time and that means a different level of credibility MIGHT be brought to the title in the process. The title is mentioned, it's brought up, we see it featured, but it's not the center of what's going on right now and I think that's the right way to go. There'll be a time soon enough in which the title is more at the center of things just, probably during the build for Night of Champions.

It's hard to blame anyone for being cynical because we've seen so many promising storylines trashed due to Vince McMahon unexpectedly losing interest and we're waiting to see if that happens here. If the "Divas Revolution" is the genuine relaunch of the Divas Division in WWE, then I'm all for it and I'm enjoying it so far. If Vince kills it, it's just another opportunity he's squandered.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I think its still a work in progress. The building has the foundation and the walls are forming...next we will start seeing personal feuds happening if they can shy away from the little groups that have formed. One or two groups break down all at once and big feuds start from there. Then....start bringing in the title , have the champion have some close calls until she finally loses the title at The Royal Rumble to Charlotte.

 

[ajdb]

Some fun facts about Nikki's title reign:
-After winning the title at Survivor Series, she didn't defend it again until TLC
-She defended again on a live SmackDown
-Her next defense came OVER 2 MONTHS LATER at Fastlane
-11 televised title defenses (5 PPV, 5 TV, 1 Network Special)
-4 different opponents (AJ Lee 1 time, Naomi 4 times, Paige 7 times, Tamina 1 time)
-Not counting the Tokyo show, she hasn't defended the belt since Money in the Bank
-The last time she defended the belt in a match that DIDN'T feature Paige or Naomi? TLC 2014

Very much WWE had her win the belt just to wipe AJ Lee from existence. To quote Mr. Fuji, "The proof is in the pudding!"

I assume WWE brought the NXT women up earlier than planned to appease the fans. They didn't have a plan but they did anyway and thus we ended up with these mix and match battles between these teams, teams WWE didn't already have names for because Kevin Dunn didn't care and they are flying by the seat of their pants with this until SummerSlam where I assume the survivor will end up not being from Team Bella thus giving us our next #1 contender.

 

[Navi]

The only "team" that seems to work for me and I see as a group that can push each other is Team B.A.D. With Sasha Banks added to the pairing of Naomi and Tamina, their group is truly BAD in a good way. They come with a collective personally that is different from the other groups, and each of them have the most to gain from the group. Sasha Banks can use the group to validate her BO$$ status as the Queen B in B.A.D., while Naomi could use the group to potentially catapult herself to the Divas Championship. With Tamina always being view as the muscle/bodyguard, she can use this to bring intimidation to other divas that hasn't been felt since Kharma, not comparing the two, but she could provide the protection to keep her sisters holding the titles.

I was with you until you said that. The only person on Team BAD that works for me is Sasha Banks. Tamina is well just there to fill space, and Naomi really should go back to acting school. She's a terrible heel.

When paired with Banks, you can really see the other two's weakness. Naomi comes off as very over the top and totally unbelievable. Tamina, well at least she's still breathing. And if they were to give Naomi the title, she would have won it already. With the new call ups, I think her chances at being Diva's champion are pretty much running out.

Nikki Bella will become the longest reigning divas champion, for obvious reasons. She's so talented and Cena might be in the bosses ear a little bit, but that record is as good as her's, but people are making too big of a deal out of it because it's only the Divas Title, how prestigious is the title? Not very much and it's not like she's going to break Moolah's record which would be damn near impossible.

She has come a long way, but to say she's so talented that she's the best on the roster is bullshit. She's got the title because Paige went off to film a movie and AJ left the company. If neither of those things had happened, Nikki Bella wouldn't be chasing AJ Lee's record today. Besides look at the Diva's roster before the NXT girls were called up. A blind cat could have made it and been good. So saying she's the most talented in among that group isn't anything to crow about.

And we're not making a big deal out of it the WWE is. It's mentioned on almost every show by the Bella's, the commentary team and God knows who else. As you say it's not a prestigious title, so I'm not sure why the WWE is so concerned about wiping AJ's name off the record books. It's petty and ridiculous.

Nikki has many challengers now, she can battle Sasha Banks, Charlotte who's been booked very strong lately, and of course Paige but who really wants to see that anymore? Nikki and Paige have fought way too many times this past year, these newer divas should get shots now, Becky Lynch could be a good challenger a few months down the line as well.

Then why isn't she defending the title against them? Why is she sitting there surrounded by her sister and Alicia Fox? If she has many challengers, then put the title up for grabs. Have a battle royal on RAW and pick the number one contender, then have her face Nikki for the title. Her title reign might end up being the longest, but considering how much she's defended it, it's one of the shittiest reigns ever. I would put in the same category as Dean Ambrose when he was the US champion.

Unfortunately i don't see the divas revolution lasting very long, maybe until the fall time, and then they'll be back to 1 match a night and very little storyline development once this current storyline is over. I hope i'm wrong, but history shows i have no reason to think otherwise.

Yes it will last till the fall, when the record is broken, and then everyone will go their separate ways, and we'll be able to have a champion that actually deserves to hold the title.

And that brings me to the topic of this thread. Let's face it the NXT girls were called up early. The reason for them doing so, was they couldn't have Nikki Bella sitting there saying she's broke the record when she never defended the title, and you couldn't have her fighting Paige and Naomi every week.

They had to throw something in there to try and take people's minds off it. Solution, bring up Charlotte, Becky and Sasha, but don't put them in the title hunt. Let's have this thing where we'll pair them all up, and waste a couple of months while Nikki Bella breaks the record, and maybe the fans won't notice. After that one or more of them can take on Nikki and she can finally drop the title, and the Revolution will be over.

The only good thing about this is they will have been given enough time on the main roster to get a secure footing. Unlike the Ascension, what ever happened to them anyway, the girls will be established when one of them wins.

The people this doesn't work for is Brie, Alicia, Naomi and Tamina. All of them have shown, or not shown that they aren't capable of standing toe to toe with the NXT girls. Might be a idea to send them back down to NXT for more training, as the NXT girls are just so much better than they are.

I suppose it's not really their fault, I put the blame on Vince. When you treat the females on the roster like eye candy, and them some real female wrestlers come in, it can't help but make the existing Diva's look bad.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

The story is simple. With or without the title, the Bellas run the show in the Divas division. They are vets who are more than one person who star in their own WWE reality show and have the support of upper management. Paige wanted the locker room join together and usurp the Bellas power. Fox decided to join them, Naomi and Tamina didn't want to work with Paige and the rest of the Divas roster ran off.

For some reason Stephanie used her power to give Paige numbers that magically worked out. Stephanie also gave Naomi and Tamina a third member that magically worked out. Now each team is fighting to show which group is the best and deserves to be in control of the Divas division. Which may not be more important than the title but gives Divas a chance (see what I did there) to compete on a level playing field.

The story may be climaxing at SS. It may take a little longer. It is so much better than the half assed one on one feuds we've suffered through for, well, ever. When it is done playing out we will start to get title defenses. Until then lets stop pretending to care about the length between Divas title defenses, the length of Divas title reigns, or the legacy of AJ Lee. A woman who gave an amount of time to professional wrestling before a rich man became more important.

 

[Mustang Sally]

It feels like week after week we have gotten tag team matches with no rhyme or reason. No storylines or fueds to build individual characters and an overall protection for the Divas Champ Nikki as she continues her reign to knocking off AJ Lee’s 295 days.

All this is true and what I hope is that management really gets behind developing the storylines after (1) the major PPV (Summerslam) and (2) after AJ Lee's record is surpassed (although if they want us to forget AJ, it might be even more effective to stop mentioning her every time Nikki shows up in the ring).

Why wait until these events are dispensed with? Maybe we're in a testing-out period to see if fans take to the sight of women who can actually wrestle.....in other words, let the product in the ring speak for itself and see if it catches on before investing time & money in writing skits and plots.

Face it, after all the promos are done and storylines set, it's always going to come down to the action in the ring. Some folks can't seem to figure out why the diva division never caught on, yet it seems apparent the prime reason was that the wrestling was bad.

So, let's see what the fans think of what they're seeing after the bell rings. Already, the gals are getting a lot more time to show their stuff in the ring. If the audience can't get behind that, any storylines will be worthless, anyway.

 

[OYDK]

The story is simple. With or without the title, the Bellas run the show in the Divas division. They are vets who are more than one person who star in their own WWE reality show and have the support of upper management. Paige wanted the locker room join together and usurp the Bellas power. Fox decided to join them, Naomi and Tamina didn't want to work with Paige and the rest of the Divas roster ran off.

For some reason Stephanie used her power to give Paige numbers that magically worked out. Stephanie also gave Naomi and Tamina a third member that magically worked out. Now each team is fighting to show which group is the best and deserves to be in control of the Divas division. Which may not be more important than the title but gives Divas a chance (see what I did there) to compete on a level playing field.

This

The story may be climaxing at SS. It may take a little longer. It is so much better than the half assed one on one feuds we've suffered through for, well, ever. When it is done playing out we will start to get title defenses.

This

Until then lets stop pretending to care about the length between Divas title defenses, the length of Divas title reigns, or the legacy of AJ Lee. A woman who gave an amount of time to professional wrestling before a rich man became more important.

And yeah definitely this. Some of you people need to get a grip...

To OP:

This is the first real story that the Diva's division has had since the upstart, over-her head 19 year old defeated the most dominant Diva of her era for the Divas title in her debut match, and while I think you have a point, I think you're overlooking what this build is eventually going to lead to (probably) following Summerslam. The tension will build between the groups which will most likely lead to in-fighting and THEN you likely will get more than one storyline revolving around the Divas title. WWE is building towards a clear end game, at least in my opinion, and it includes Charlotte being the one to dethrone Nikki.

If Charlotte enters a feud with Nikki, I wonder what will be done with others like Paige, Naomi, Becky and Sasha. I'm curious as to where Charlotte goes after Nikki (if it happens), and which direction Sasha and Becky go after the eventual dissolution of their stables. This is the first time in a while that I've actually been invested in the Divas division and they're getting TIME BA GAWD, nearly half an hour a week.

The reason the Divas were basically given nothing before this "revolution" was primarily because... well they weren't worth watching. Sure Laycool was entertaining and AJ and Paige garnered some interest over the years, but we haven't had a really worthwhile roster in a while. With a Divas roster comprised of The Bellas, Naomi, Paige, Sasha, Charlotte, Becky, and (if WWE ever got their heads out of their asses) Natalya, there's no reason for the company to give up on their women.

 

[Paige's Side Piece]

I was with you until you said that. The only person on Team BAD that works for me is Sasha Banks. Tamina is well just there to fill space, and Naomi really should go back to acting school. She's a terrible heel.

When paired with Banks, you can really see the other two's weakness. Naomi comes off as very over the top and totally unbelievable. Tamina, well at least she's still breathing. And if they were to give Naomi the title, she would have won it already. With the new call ups, I think her chances at being Diva's champion are pretty much running out.

If you feel that way about Tamina and Naomi, why wouldn't those two being paired with Sasha Banks help them in area's they are weak at. You were explaining how bad and over the top Naomi's acting is, for me, she's portraying the sassy, "ratchet" chicks I run into on the daily basis here in NYC. This was a gimmick she used in FCW. I agree with you about Tamina, and it's not that talents fault for what they choose to do with you, and since I don't see her touching a title, she is there to fill out a spot. I was just saying this is the only group that can help each other out. Groups back then were created to help build other stars. I can see this helping Naomi and validating Sasha Banks BO$$ gimmick.

 

[MCMG]

I think it should be soon. At some point there needs to be a focus on the championship. In theory, that is where control of the division lies. I reckon Team Paige should win at Summerslam and that is their flag on the division. Naomi/Banks have a falling out because they didn't win and the Bella's ditch Fox because she is dragging them down. Finally, the babyface team don't need to be together because they have already done their job and can now focus on the individual goal of being champ.

Nikki needs to survive until NoC, right? That is one PPV too much but they can figure it out. Maybe in a triple threat or something. Maybe Paige and Charlotte get in each others way to really emphasis what the title means.

9 Divas already there, plus Nattie. Let's presume the Bellas are joined at the hip and Naomi and Tamina are a a team: that is 8 separate entities. That should be, at the very least, two big feuds and maybe a couple of smaller ones. That will revolutionise the division more than this team war.

Let's say after NoC they have Charlotte and Nikki feud for the belt. Paige and Banks. Naomi and Nattie. Then maybe Becky has a couple of matches with Alica Fox on Smackdown. That would be fantastic exposure for the division and suggests the revolution (or at least in it's current form) should end soon.

 

[Wald]

I like what they've done with the women's division and I'm excited for the triple threat tag match at Summerslam.

That said, afterwards I'd definitely split the teams up. The Bellas obviously stay together with Nikki as champion but other than that I''d move Paige, Becky and Charlotte in to being pure babyface singles wrestlers, I'd possibly keep Tamina as Sascha's bodyguard but I'd segue Naomi and Alicia in to being standalone heels. That would give you a main roster of

Babyfaces
Paige
Becky
Charlotte
Natalya

Heels
Nikki w/ Brie
Naomi
Sascha w/ Tamina
Alicia

That's a very good women's roster to work with. You just need to build Becky and Charlotte's characters more, as I feel they're in danger of being overshadowed by Paige in that team, and reintroduce Natalya as a credible threat.

I could also see them switching Nikki and Brie to being babyfaces, they seem to really want the fans to get behind them anyway, and have Nikki face Sascha for the title. To be honest, if I were booking the division, I'd get that belt on Sascha as soon as possible. She is nothing but money as a cocky heel champion. I saw someone on here compare her to Nation of Domination era Rock, just as he broke out of the pack because of his charisma, and I have to agree. She is ready to be the focal point of the division and the likes of Paige, Charlotte, Becky and Nikki all chasing her title would only make them stronger characters.

 

[Navi]

If you feel that way about Tamina and Naomi, why wouldn't those two being paired with Sasha Banks help them in area's they are weak at. You were explaining how bad and over the top Naomi's acting is, for me, she's portraying the sassy, "ratchet" chicks I run into on the daily basis here in NYC. This was a gimmick she used in FCW. I agree with you about Tamina, and it's not that talents fault for what they choose to do with you, and since I don't see her touching a title, she is there to fill out a spot. I was just saying this is the only group that can help each other out. Groups back then were created to help build other stars. I can see this helping Naomi and validating Sasha Banks BO$$ gimmick.

Listen I don't care who their paired with, but I feel sorry for Banks, because she got the raw end of the deal. Don't you think it's strange that the best Diva in that group, and the one that shows the most promise is the the Diva from developmental?

Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Shouldn't Naomi and Tamina be the ones who are better, and shouldn't their job be to help assimilate Banks credibility from NXT to the big leagues? As it is they can barely keep up with her. She has left them in the dust.

Naomi is a much better face than heel. Tamina is a lost cause I'm afraid. The only interesting Diva in that threesome is Banks, and it would be nice if she could help them out, but she's just come up from NXT. I would think she should be more worried about herself that two established Diva's.

 

[MartialHorror]

I'm already bored of it, even though the matches have been good. I dunno, maybe it's because Im not sure where the championship is in all of this mess? Has their been any indication as to how they will handle the belt? Will it be a 3-way? A battle Royale? Will Team Bad fight Paige's team and...one member will be selected? I don't see Naomi just letting Sasha take that opportunity (and vice versa), so that wouldn't make sense. Plus, why is Team Bad being treated as the bigger of the two evils when placed against the Bella's?

Another issue is WWE overly protecting the NXT ladies to where it's making the others look weak. I can't buy Brie, Alicia, Naomi or Tamina as threats because they keep eating anti-climactic pins or tapping out. But above everything, they haven't really developed any storylines. It's just been basic matches or tag team matches. The only good news is that the invaders are excellent workers and the Diva's matches are getting more time dedicated to them...and the matches have become watchable.