The 7 Diva Trade

[Viola Moonlight]

For those that have been living under a rock, the WWE recently underwent a seven diva trade between all three rosters. Here are the current Diva rosters as it pertains effective of the trade:

RAW Roster:

- Alicia Fox
- Bella Twins
- Eve
- Gail Kim
- Jillian (whoops, forgot her. Thanks Jensen)
- Kelly Kelly
- Maryse
- Melina

SmackDown! Roster:

- Beth Phoenix
- Layla
- Maria
- Mickie James
- Michelle McCool
- Natalya

ECW Roster:

- Katie Lea Burchill
- Rosa Mendes


From a quick analysis of the rosters, it seems as if SmackDown has quite possibly the best four females on the roster that have some sort of connection and exerience in the WWE where co-incidently has the Women's Championship on. However, Mickie James is the only true face character on the brand... then Maria but her relationship with Dolph makes her sort of a tweener. Good competition can happen here on the brand and will do wonders for the roster that has many troubles with the wrestlers currently considering Punk being the dog house, Mysterio's suspension, Edge's injury, etc.

RAW looks as if the only two women that can actually wrestle consistently well are the two faces in Gail Kim and Melina. The next best wrestler is Kelly Kelly who is improving and will finally get her time to shine with the roster. The only relevant heels are Alicia Fox and Jillian Hall until Maryse returns. This will allow for girls on the roster to gain more exposure and possibly allow for someone on the face side to turn heel. The addition of the Bella Twins isn't a suprise since they are always on RAW.

As for ECW, I feel extremely sorry for Katie Lea. Having the Bella's is one thing as her only opponent, but to face another heel in Rosa Mendes who right now is not doing anything positive is really bad. I hope they both stick to managing duties on the roster. Katie Lea really needs to get onto another roster where the action is like RAW. Until her "brother" finds a crowd connection, that won't be happening.


So, any thoughts on the matter?

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

I look at it this way. Raw is now filled with most of the divas, Smackdown now contains most of the more skilled wrestlers, while ECW has pretty much remained neutral, I'd say.

On Raw, I think the best female wrestler there is Gail Kim, but WWE is doing a horrible job of letting her show her skills. I think Melina is second, but in WWE's eyes, she is first, while Maryse will take the number three. Until Maryse returns, Melina will not have a real credible heel opponent, unless Jillian (whom you forgot to mention) remains in the title scene, but I don't find that too likely. Kelly Kelly is really improving, but she'll never look like a real title contender or champion to me. Alicia Fox are both fast learners, and get better with every match, so they should do pretty good on Raw. The Bella Twins... they just need to stop switching brands. WWE, GIVE THEM A HOME AND STICK WITH IT!

On Smackdown, it's a bit more interesting. Prior to the trade, Melina and Michelle McCool had been fueding over the Womens Championship for about five months. Luckily, that will no longer be happening. Now she has real competition in Mickie James and Beth Phoenix. I'm sure Phoenix would probably do a good job in getting the crowd behind her if she fueded with Michelle. While, Mickie could do what she's been doing against all other heel opponents. I believe now Natalya will have an even harder time succeeding when you have Michelle, Mickie, and Beth. Though, I'd love to see a fatal-Four way fued between them, if possible. Maria and Layla likely won't have much changed for them... probably a simple ongoing fued between the two. That is if WWE plans to put Maria back in the ring.

On ECW, you have two heel divas. The smart thing would be to turn Rosa Mendes face, and probably use her as a valet again (maybe The Hurricane, Shelton Benjamin). We all know how talented and skilled Katie Lea Burchill, but on ECW... she has no room to show it. Rosa is actually very talented also, so I'm not sure what WWE is planning to do with Rosa and Katie Lea.

 

[SorrowsHT]

First of all, ECW is a joke and is proven by the divas. There should either be a good balance of divas or none at all. It's not fair to Katie Lea(who's one of the best female wrestlers in the company).

Raw: I'm not a fan of Melina in the ring but Gail Kim/Maryse could be good. Kelly is ok, but just that. Alicia, Eve and Jillian are fairly poor. Oh and WWE should keep Bellas on Raw as they work on that show and they're always on it anyway.

Smackdown, by far got the best deal. Beth, Michelle, Mickie and Natalya all together is great. I have a feeling that Natalya isn't going to be in the running for the title though. I'd say turn Beth face and feud with Michelle. Maria is a better wrestler than she is actress(proven imo, by her recent promos) but still pretty poor. Layla is also poor.

Overall, good for SD, bad for Raw and the same old shit for ECW.

 

[hawaiianbulldog]

I say they should put all the divas on 1 show but this trade is bad for Raw and great for SD while ECW has like 2 divas WTF?!?!?! All the shows divas divisions are bad no matter how much talent they seem to have little to no story line and bad matches so this trade does not change that much.

 

[DigitalNight]

I will never understand the different show territory biases. But that is just me. I for one am a RAW watcher. I review the results for Smackdown and "ECW" here. I am happy to see a couple fresh faces in each department of WWE. I am not super familiar with the Bella Sisters, but I am willing to learn what I can while they are on RAW.

I am also happy to see Melina back on Raw. I missed that entrance something terrible. *grin*

((In time, you will know my views on Mickie James and her sandbagging of the divas, so yeah, I'm happy to see her go for now.))

 

[Megadeth]

I dont watch ECW on a regular basis, but I just took a look at the ECW roster page and they list Courtney Taylor, Savannah, and ECW GM Tiffany on the roster in addition to Katie Lea and Rosa. I'm not at all familiar with Courtney or Savannah but from what I could gather, and anyone who actually watches ECW feel free to correct me, they have been used as interviewers and also wrestling in Florida, so I would think they are gonna start using them in a wrestling role or maybe bring in one or two more from FCW to give them at least a couple more divas so Katie Lea and Rosa at least have someone to fight.

 

[Tastycles]

I don't think it is as Smackdown heavy as it looks, but I'm seeing two things here. The first and most obvious is that Mickie and Michelle will work on the match from the other week and go on to a small feud. The other is entirely speculation, but here we go. Maria and Layla are pretty useless, Maria more so, so they need somebody to turn face. The Hart Dynasty need to get a bit more over first for it to work, so that leaves Beth Phoenix. Beth is pretty stale as a character right now, so I don't see what turning her face has to lose. If it doesn't work, turn her back again a week later and nobody whatsoever will care.

Over on Raw, Alicia Fox is already being pushed, and will probably feud with Melina until Maryse gets back, but I also think that there is a real possibility that this will be Gail Kim's more guilt edge oppurtunity than before. Do they need to turn her heel? Not necessarily. Kim needs to show that the audience can give a shit about her, and we'll wait and see if she can do it.

 

[brainsuks123]

Thier was no point of doing this trade. Really whats the point. WHY TRADE 7 DIVAS JUST TRADE 2. Now katie lea and rosa get nothing out of this. While Jilliain who won the divas title only to job to meilina so she could win the title. wwe has absoutley no idea what they are doing. Turing cody rhodes is a better idea than what they did with the trade.

 

[123abc]

Can someone please tell me why the Bella Twins are on Raw.....while Katie Lea is stuck doing nothing on ECW?

 

[Freddy4190]

It's a good change for Beth and Mickie. They face the same bitches every week. It's annoying. I like the trade, the Bella's are better eye candy then they are wrestlers and could serve as good managers for someone, or a backstage role, or guest announcers like they've done before. Whatever. It's a pretty cool trade imo.

 

[Viola Moonlight]

Can someone please tell me why the Bella Twins are on Raw.....while Katie Lea is stuck doing nothing on ECW?

In response to this, The Bella Twins have been appearing on the RAW brand for quite a while now due to the Guest RAW Host concept for eye candy use. Considering the RAW roster was seriously lacking in eye candy apart from Kelly Kelly who has not been consistently featured and is focused more on wrestling, they needed some women who could successfully play that role.

As for Katie Lea, she is stuck in kayfabe with her brother Paul Burchill and is used as the face of the ECW diva's to help train them. Right now, her main purpose is to help everyone else out she is associated with. Yes, it seems like a wasted talent to put someone of her stature on ECW with no real competition where there is hardly any time to feature women on the card... but you have to put women on every brand for the eye candy factor.

I really though that this trade would have released Katie Lea from her purgatory of the brand and switch to the RAW roster where heels are sorely needed and have women who indeed can work matches like Burchil. She had solid matches and a great feud with Mickie James, which is her only one on one diva feud in the E. Surely WWE could have switched her over and only used the likes of Rosa and possibly girls from FCW to valet/manage.

 

[maar130]

Well, this in reallity works for the two main show and it suck fo Katie Lea, not ECW, for Katie only. Hope She and her brother (yes, if she has to take him with her I am fine with that, she is the star of the "familiy") get traded to Smackdown after their feud with the Hurracaine because the have been sidlined for a long time.

Smackdown has some gold in their hands with Mickie and Beth, now with Michelle and Natalya there, maybe someone will need to turn face there but if not it's ok, Layla and Maria can be canon foders for them and it's ok too, they don't do much.

Raw got more Eye candy, which is good because there ain't much wrestling anyway. Sometimes you get a 5 minutes female wrestling match or a skit so it is prety much the same.

Eve was improving a lot in Smackdown, hope she can keep up with that, same with Kelly Kelly. They have 3 real female wrestlers (Jillian, Melina and Gail) and one that is close in Maryse, I thing that willpan out nicely at least for some tag maches.

And well, if the can keep the Bellas' and Alicia in skits and away from the ring that would be good.