Brooklyn and the Divas

[Savior of Silence]

A few of the divas showed their frustration with the Brooklyn crowd last night on Raw.

Paige tweeted then deleted: "“You helped us create change and then did your best to disrespect. Niceeeee jobbbbbbbb!”

Brie Bella posted on Instagram: "So proud of my Foxy @thefoxxyone but the Brooklyn crowd can kiss my ass!"

Nikki Bella also posted on Instagram: "Where's my shorts?! Haha #TeamBella rises! Oh and WWE Brooklyn shame on you for disrespecting women that put their bodies on the line for your entertainment. As for the ones that supported us, THANK YOU! You make it worth working so hard and having this revolution! "

Becky Lynch tweeted: "Well Brooklynch. I'll love you and leave you. You were a beautiful boisterous bunch. #RAW"

Charlotte tweeted: "Only adds fuel to my flair. #Raw"



What do you guys think? Was the crowd hatred justified last night or were they just being smarks?

 

[chuckmdubya]

oh man, they should not have reacted like that. Think of all the male wrestlers who have endured the same basic treatment and not lashed out in a shoot manner the way these ladies just did. When they made signs saying Die Rocky Die, thats way worse than how the Divas were treated last night, and Rocky let it go and came back with a new attitude to fix his crowd problem. Same with New Day, when the new day sucks chant started it wasn't meant as a joke. How many times has Hogan been told he's old.

Look back at Big Show a couple weeks ago, the crowd was chanting for him to retire, basically insulting everything he's worked for the last 3 plus decades. He confronted it in the way wrestlers should, he confronted the crowd and made it part of the show. The ladies should have done that. Called out the crowd right then and there on the spot. The ladies are a much bigger part of the show now and will have to start doing better when dealing with hostile crowds. Cena does it every week. When you start pushing characters you get adverse and diverse reactions, you have to deal with, not complain about it later.

 

[binbin47]

Bit of both really, crowd was red hot after all that happened, and was looking to be a great show, let's recap quickly:

Brock destroys Bo Dallas

New day wins an entertaining match and BAM Dudleyz return!

And then summerslam rematch for Ambrose Reigns vs Wyatts AND BAMAGAIN new Wyatt family member who happens to be another monster!

And after all that, #DivaRevolution, a restless crowd, probably expecting a lot after a somewhat disappointing summerslam triple threat (especially after the glorious match on NXT takeover betwenn Bayley and Banks) and what did they get, a really bad promo, and an even worst match, with a very slow pace, and well not really exciting, since everyone knows nothing interesting will happen until at least Night of Champions...


To make things worse, Team BAD didn't even show up like they didnt really care about beiing first team eliminated and then not having a say in this "feud".

So yeah, I don't really know what change Paige is seeing here, there are 3 more women in the division, but it still isn't interesting. And so I'll keep on watching NXT, because at least there IS change there, new champion, will she hold up, who will step up? You kn ow stuff you can invest yourself in and care.

 

[GOOZEKING]

Same crowd that cheered for Sasha vs Bayley don't blame them if they don't care for pointless tag matches with 0 story... GIVE ME A REASON TO CARE... Don't just call it a revolution because 3 new people came up and the entire roster is just trading wins back and forth gaining 0 momentum

 

[Jack-Hammer]

On one hand, it's pretty classless; after all, it was a New York audience, which means there are probably not only a fair amount of assholes in the audience, but it's also some of the smarkiest fans in wrestling. On the other hand, the ladies are gonna have to grow a thicker skin and not let the heckling get to them. We see the male wrestlers have to endure it all the time while Paige & the Bella Twins may very well not be used to it; after all, it's only been about 6 weeks or so since the Divas started to become relevant portions of the product rather than just take a piss break.

To some degree, I think crowds like last night can sometimes reflect the worst of modern fans. While the Divas better get used to some heckling, I do think Paige touched on a good point in her Twitter post; it's so damned impossible to please some fans these days that it's almost an exercise in futility to even try. When WWE does something fans don't like, they get shit on, when WWE actually seems to listen to something fans seem to want & give it to them, they still get shit on.

When you compare the reaction of the Brooklyn audience with the responses that the Divas as a whole have gotten over the past 6 weeks, it doesn't fit. They've gotten strong receptions everywhere else, they were well received at SummerSlam Sunday night and some fans were into the match on Monday. When you've got a crowd full of smarks, what they're gonna cheer for or ridicule can often be a complete crap shoot; for instance, you'd have thought that they'd have pissed all over the 8 man tag match last night given that it featured favorite targets like Randy Orton, Big Show, Sheamus and Ryback all in the same place, but they didn't. Hell, I was surprised they didn't piss all over the Orton vs. Sheamus singles match at SummerSlam Sunday night but, as I said, it's hard to predict what a heavily smarky audience will do.

 

[JoeMallard]

If Team BAD, especially Sasha Banks, had come out there, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. As for the smarks, they know that Nikki is still holding the title out of WWE's pettiness. Plus, the blatant lies Team Bella was spewing, just added fuel to the fire.

 

[Reflection]

It is the three of them that can take turns kissing the fans' asses. First of all, the overrated jar of mayonnaise has some sort of delusion that a revolutionary change has taken place, and --> she is the catalyst that has made this revolution possible because she is so awesome <--- when in reality, everything is still the same, with the exception of three new debuts. Funny how the ones that are actually trying to make a difference, have not reacted so strongly.
And that mofo Brie Bella is a cancer to the divas division and will continue to drag it down to the sewer for as long as she is there. I wish it was her that suffered a career-ending injury and not Daniel Bryan.
The crowd paid for their tickets and have every right to be vocal. The fact that these biAtches cannot handle criticism or jeers for their beyond-pathetic performance and have to respond back with an unnecessary "well, fuck you too" type of message, as well as actually blaming the fans for it, shows that they suck as persons as much as they do as performers.
Btw, Mark Madden was right, Paige should not be a part of this "revolution." She should be sent to Naomi's team and Sasha Banks should be aligned with Becky and Charlotte.

 

[wewanttables]

It was disrespectful. And not just the audience but the booking. You have Nikki go on and on and on about having the title and then you make less than no progress towards a contender. I am starting to believe that Nikki will never defend that the diva's title. Its like she can't reasonably defend it because the logical challengers should win and that can't happen. Have Emma get a title match, win via dq and Paige and company come to her rescue. Boom, someone that Nikki can beat one on one, the title gets defended, and we build towards why those three groups of girls are feuding. Maybe have a series of matches to determine whether Brie and Alicia Fox are allowed ringside for the title defense.

Should the crowd have acted so disinterested? No, Paige and Charlotte could have an entertaining match with a five pound sack of flour. They just have been given too few times to shine as individuals and I really don't know why those three groups are together except that Stephanie wanted it that way. This whole thing has been bungled by those in charge.

 

[tak161]

I look at it like this: For years, fans have been arguing that the Diva division was stale, boring, and pointless. Everyone wanted more time devoted to the women, and to have them featured as more than just eye candy. Well, that's exactly what has happened. Divas are now usually given two spots on the card, matches have doubled, and sometimes tripled in length, and there is a clear distinction between the three dueling factions. With the exception of title matches, WWE has given the people who begged for a Divas Revolution exactly what they wanted.

Last night's crowd was out of line with how they reacted. It's one thing to express yourself, but what happened was complete disrespect to the six women in the ring. How can you clamor for more to be done in the Diva division, the crap on everything they are trying to do? They are risking their bodies just as much as Brock, Rollins, Taker, Ambrose, Ziggler, and everyone else, and they should get the same respect. Chants of We want Sasha!, Bellas Suck!, and the like are fine. But the Boring!, and the worst that I heard which was We are Awesome! are uncalled for. Pay your money to watch, cheer and boo who you like, make up chants directed at certain people, but have respect for what those people are doing for you. Personally, I'm not a fan of most of the Divas, but I have yet to see any of their matches be boring. It's about respect, and that crowd last night had no respect at all.

 

[Messiah]

These woman need to stop worrying about the crowd.. They're going to chant whatever they want whether people like it or not, it's one of the negatives of doing a show in front of a live audience.. What are people expecting? Majority of WWE fans don't want to see the divas, sure some people on the internet do but majority don't.. The divas need to focus on what's happening in the ring, not in the stands. If they worry about that it's going to throw them off their game.

It was disrespectful sure, but almost 100% of wrestling fans are disrespectful towards the talent, in this case they were disrespectful towards the divas.

Clearly the fans were bored during that segment. If this keeps up, WWE will scrap the divas revolution and they'll go back to being irrelevant.

Some of the divas are great wrestlers, but NONE of them are entertaining.. If i was there i wouldn't be chanting that crap, i would be at the concession area buying merchandise.

 

[Ol'Canucklehead]

It's the nature of the beast. They want rowdy crowds, but to their liking? lol Sure you ladies put your bodies on the line, but who pays your bills? The fans. They can say just about anything. It's their right. I was never a huge Divas fan and when the revolution started, I was like "This might be interesting.". Nope. Just as boring as before. Some of them might be able to wrestle, but none can act if their life depended on it. Successful male wrestlers can turn a switch on and believe their personas in the ring. For some reason female wrestlers can't and every promo sounds like it's being read off of a cue card. Lack of story telling and feuds have killed this "revolution". Oh, and John Cena pandering for his gf. Will they never learn that politics ruin things in wrestling?

 

[Con T.]

On one hand, it's pretty classless; after all, it was a New York audience, which means there are probably not only a fair amount of assholes in the audience, but it's also some of the smarkiest fans in wrestling.

You mean the same snarky fans that were so into Bayley/Sasha Banks just two nights before during Takeover?

Question, here; what do you imagine was the overlap between Takeover and Raw? Because, frankly, I'd guess somewhere like 85%, probably even higher than that. And while I have no data of this assertion, I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of this smarky crowd is the same crowd that, incidentally enough, allowed themselves to get sucked into the story of Bayley and Sasha Banks.

Point being, there's a reason people were begging for Sasha to come out there; if I had seen what her and Bayley did, with roughly the same amount of time, I'll take that ten times out of ten over what we got Monday.

I'm placing precisely 0.0% of this on the crowd. This is all on WWE creative, and frankly, the women. Though, it doesn't help when creative puts the women into a position to fail, which is pretty much the story of this "revolution"

 

[Savior of Silence]

With the exception of title matches, WWE has given the people who begged for a Divas Revolution exactly what they wanted.

I completely disagree. Just because we get 2 women's matches now doesn't make it a revolution. Just because 3 women who are head and shoulders above 95% of the rest of the women in the locker room debuted, doesn't make it a revolution. The booking has consistently remained the same as before. The problem with the women was never "they're not given enough time", it was always "they're being booked like shit". This is still the case.

Last night's crowd was out of line with how they reacted. It's one thing to express yourself, but what happened was complete disrespect to the six women in the ring. How can you clamor for more to be done in the Diva division, the crap on everything they are trying to do? They are risking their bodies just as much as Brock, Rollins, Taker, Ambrose, Ziggler, and everyone else, and they should get the same respect. Chants of We want Sasha!, Bellas Suck!, and the like are fine. But the Boring!, and the worst that I heard which was We are Awesome! are uncalled for. Pay your money to watch, cheer and boo who you like, make up chants directed at certain people, but have respect for what those people are doing for you. Personally, I'm not a fan of most of the Divas, but I have yet to see any of their matches be boring. It's about respect, and that crowd last night had no respect at all.

Again, I have to disagree. If you're being boring in the ring I have every right to tell you that you're being boring.

 

[MERPER]

The lengthy talking back and forth is killing things right now.

Neither Nikki or Brie are good on the mic. Becky is awful. Paige is ok and Charlotte is blah.

The back-and-forths are like high school girls complaining about who is dating the QB of the football team.

I don't think the matches are bad, but when you combine a lengthy match with a lengthy promo, mic-work situation it made a REALLY long segment. Shorten the mic work, keep matches the same and you're probably fine.

I agree the crowd was disrespectful, but I'd say for the 2nd straight week WWE didn't do the divas any favors in placement and script writing.

 

[Outsider]

I'm always excited when I hear that a diva's match is happening....But am immediately turned off when I hear NIKKI will be partaking in it. I truly cannot stand her. She sucks at wrestling....She's not even playing a character, she's honestly just dense as fuck..... and her alcoholic raspy voice just tops it off. If she wasn't John Cena's fuck toy this would not be happening.

 

[Nada]

I will never not be baffled by this idea that paying customers should be derided or slammed for being bored, and yelling for JBL, CM Punk and god knows whatever else.

Listening to Paige cut a promo on The Miz was cringe. It was the first time i felt bad for the Miz to be involved in this trainwreck, he has more dignity being tossed by Big Show and Ryback.

Pro wrestling is built on the foundation of what the fans want to see. Those fans wanted Sasha, gee i wonder why, is it because she had an amazing match with Bayley? While the "divas" in the ring had a pointless, mess of a tag team match?


Those fans appreciated talent, they cheered the New Day, then booed them when they made the NY being stinky remark, but immediately cheered them again, a "That was awesome" chant was clearly audible. Meaning that they were in on the joke and respected the men for doing a good promo.

When Miz urged the women to shut up, he was cheered. The whole segment was trash and embarrassing.


Nikki has to get the record, because they dislike CM Punk and AJ, because she is Cena's squeeze. This means that none of the diva's in the revolution will beat a poor mans Kim Kardashian wannabe until she gets the record.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

after replaying it in my head, i think that what killed them last night was that stupid miz tv segment because the match by itself wasn't that bad, it was on par with the other three matches on the show but the miz tv segment made no sense what so ever especially in front of a crowd that consisted mostly of marks.

Do i think that i was o.k for the fans to turns on them, no i don't but i say the same thing everytime this stuff happens since i think it disrespecful to the performers in the ring and it distract fans watching on tv from the match. i remember at last year royal rumble, orton and cena wer having one of their best matches in their career and the mark started to chant alot of stuff just so they could get themselves over. That's the part that frustrate me the most. The fact that these fans want to steal the show from the performers. The bigest joke chant out of all of them is the ''we are awesome'' chant. Everytime i heard this chant i just want to scream no your not at my screen.

Do i think that paige and the bella's did the right thing by reacting to this, not really, just like i didn't think it was the right move for sasha to react last week but they did and it's over with. Next week they will be back on the road and away from the mark crowd they had the last 2 weeks and everything will be back on track.

 

[ABMorales787]

Well, what do you expect when you book talent in shit angles carefully disguised with stupid buzz words, needless branding and Stephanie McMahon patting herself on the back nonstop? It does not help that the crowd is fully aware these girls are capable of far better as was seen on Saturday. Hell, guess what happened Saturday? The same exact crowd ate up a women's match. Dare I say it was the highlight of the entire weekend. The ones the girls should direct their anger towards is their so-called Hollywood writing team and the shitty story they were booked into.

 

[Kamala316]

Excellent points made so far, everyone. I agree that the Miz TV promo was absolutely horrible, and it's obvious that they're being told what to say...Jesus Christ, give them bullet points and leave them alone! The match itself was a little slow but ok, in my opinion. But also keep in mind that 3 of the 6 ladies in the match are new to the WWE roster, have been wrestling in front of a few hundred people for quite some time, and were never put in front of a crowd that is just "having fun". That is a whole mind**** in itself. At the end of the day, the match could have been better, the crowd was disrespectful, Brie Bella has no business in a wrestling ring (please go pop out a kid sooner than later so you're off tv), and the big one: if you're going to have Charlotte remind us every 30 seconds that Ric Flair is her daddy, please turn her heel.

 

[Garak]

What do you guys think? Was the crowd hatred justified last night or were they just being smarks?

Perhaps some of these Divas should go onto the WWE Network or ask Vince for access to the tape library. Pull out some of the Fabulous Moolah matches, and observe that a lady wrestler can actually engage the crowd and get real heat, not X-Pac heat.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

The crowd hatred was definitely justified. When you put on a terrible match, expect the crowd to react in a terrible way.

If the crowd hates on a terrible men's match, it's okay. If the crowd hates on a terrible women's match, they're being sexist. Double standards at its finest.

 

[Navi]

Perhaps some of these Divas should go onto the WWE Network or ask Vince for access to the tape library. Pull out some of the Fabulous Moolah matches, and observe that a lady wrestler can actually engage the crowd and get real heat, not X-Pac heat.

As great as Moolah was, times have changed and we have to change with it or we'll never watch the product again.

On topic, the girls backlash last night to the crowd reaction was in a word, fucked. Like JH said, every crowd has it's share of assholes, let's face it, but last night the whole crowd wasn't into this match. The promo was bad, and the match sucked.

When you're running a scripted sport though this is sometimes what you have to contend with, but it was a little over the top. Paige has turned into a real bitch. I'm a fan but she's rapidly losing my interest with her antics lately. Her attitude on Tough Enough makes me want to slap her silly at times. Brie Bella can fuck right off, go back to NXT and learn how to wrestle. And Nikki well don't get me started on her.

This is a woman who comes on TV each week crowing about how long she's been champion, and how in a few short weeks, she'll be the longest reigning champion. She might be the longest reigning champion, but she's really done nothing to defend the title. Unlike her boyfriend who defended his title every week, she walks around holding it in her hand and doing nothing else with it.

That is the main reason we are seeing this Revolution going downhill, and this is why we are seeing the fans react the way they are. I just hope it doesn't take the newest Diva's with it.

 

[Garak]

As great as Moolah was, times have changed and we have to change with it or we'll never watch the product again.

I don't dispute that, but from your post, I'd suggest you agree with me. Wrestling skills need to improve, as does the ability to sell to the crowd. Promo abilities are important, but a good wrestler can tell a story in the ring, whether they're a mat technician or a brawler or a flier.

I haven't seen Tough Enough, and only five minutes of Total Divas, but that was enough to get me annoyed with Paige. I think she's really good in the ring and has potential, but I really don't care to learn another thing about her personality, or lack thereof. Like I said, I haven't watched Tough Enough, but given the women's position in the industry as a whole, I'd suggest that there are very few that are in the position to throw stones, or even light jabs.

And, yes, there is danger to the Divas Revolution. It could end in a heartbeat and over something very fickle. As for title reign lengths, someone needs to remind whichever interchangeable Bella is champion about Moolah, even in the storyline. Maybe Ric's daughter can do so!

 

[Rykerzane]

All of you hating on the Bellas, especially the guy who wished a career ending injury upon Brie need to step back. You're probably the same ones that were hooping and hollering when girls were wrestling in bra and panties in mud or pudding. Like em or not, if you watch back a few years ago and now, they've spent time in the ring, and Brie and Nikki are dedicated to this company and have improved their art. They're not good on the mic but not many divas are. But all of yall CONSTANTLY hating on them clearly haven't given any attention to their improvement, the stuff they do as ambassadors for WWE, and the fact that they do bring a unique flavor to the division JUST LIKE all the other girls. Back off em guys, they're not bad.

The problem is "creative" (I use that term loosely) equated #givedivasachance with more time. Quantity doesn't equal quality though and they aren't focusing on the title. I've seen the comparison to AJ and Nikki is one match short or sometimes ahead depending on the stat than AJ's title reign so I'm not bent out of shape over it and acting like AJ is the pinnacle of champs and divas. She wasn't for me.

But why not focus the writing around the title even while Nikki hangs onto it. If she's a heel, which don't know if she is bc "creative" doesn't distinguish well amongst the women, then have her defend it and win in heel type ways. Or even if she doesn't defend it, get some good singles matches as qualifiers for the number one contender going and let them fight! I think it's all being overthought and underwritten.

 

[Navi]

Brie and Nikki are dedicated to this company and have improved their art. They're not good on the mic but not many divas are. But all of yall CONSTANTLY hating on them clearly haven't given any attention to their improvement, the stuff they do as ambassadors for WWE, and the fact that they do bring a unique flavor to the division JUST LIKE all the other girls. Back off em guys, they're not bad.

Yes I do agree they are, but this company has also been good to them haven't they? The WWE created a whole show called Total Diva's around them, and have made them stars. I will give you that Nikki Bella has improved somewhat, but Brie Bella is still horrible. And considering that they both pretty much were scraping the bottom of the barrel not so long ago, they have no where to go but improve. And yes Brie Bella is bad.

Oh and every wrestler is an ambassador for the WWE, it doesn't mean we have to like them though.

I've seen the comparison to AJ and Nikki is one match short or sometimes ahead depending on the stat than AJ's title reign so I'm not bent out of shape over it and acting like AJ is the pinnacle of champs and divas. She wasn't for me.

No one is acting like AJ was the pinnacle of champs and diva's, but the WWE doesn't have to make it so obvious that they want to erase her name from the books, do they? I wouldn't be bent out of shape over it either, if I'm not having it driven home to me each week that Nikki Bella will soon take that record. A record that quite honestly she doesn't deserve, because she never defends the friggin title.

But why not focus the writing around the title even while Nikki hangs onto it. If she's a heel, which don't know if she is bc "creative" doesn't distinguish well amongst the women, then have her defend it and win in heel type ways. Or even if she doesn't defend it, get some good singles matches as qualifiers for the number one contender going and let them fight! I think it's all being overthought and underwritten.

Why do you think they brought the Diva's up and started this whole Revolution. It's to take our minds off the fact that the title isn't being defended. We couldn't keep having matches between Paige, Naomi and Nikki Bella, and have Nikki Bella keep winning. She's just not that good.

So they brought up the NXT girls in the hopes that we're all stupid, and won't notice the fact that while Nikki holds the title and gets closer to the record, she still isn't defending it? Tell me when was the last time she actually had a one on one match to defend the Diva's Championship? I can't even remember. And isn't there a 30 day rule in effect that says the belt has to be defended within that time period? A rule that I might add was used to strip Brie Bella's husband of his title belt.

The whole thing is bullshit, and it's because of the WWE and their extreme pettiness over anything to do with AJ Lee and CM Punk that this is happening. If it were any other Diva that held that record, we wouldn't be going through this now.