Did the WWE Divas die with "PG"?

[THEpapachamp]

The WWE/F Divas were born and a top stake within the company within the Attitude era with the likes of Sable, Sunny, Jacquelyn, Chyna, Miss Kitty, Debra & others.

All because (& let's admit it) they would find a way to strip the divas down in there bra & panties every week.

[YOUTUBE]Z5hJbDfHpzw[/YOUTUBE]

I've never seen so much a** in a thong on a weekly television show my entire life.

The WWE came out of the Attitude era with the toned down "Ruthless Agression" era with the likes of Stacy, Dawn Marie, Torrie Wilson, Trish & others. Still finding ways to get the WWE divas in there Bra & Panties ever week.

Introducing the almost weekly Bikini Contests for no reason whatsoever

[YOUTUBE]4ndbXl7HHfE[/YOUTUBE]

In comes the PG era..

Now with the lack of the WWE divas getting "down & dirty" like they used to and actually focusing on Wrestling matches. Have they completely been deemed USELESS in the WWE?

As Micheal Cole would say.. & I Quote..

Can We Please Get This Over With Already!

Did the WWE Diva die with "PG"?

 

[CelticCorey]

Well yeah they were known for the bikini contests and whatnot; but the last time the Divas division was relevant, IMO was when Natalya was Divas Champion. Eve's second reign has been nothing short of brutal and I can't wait until Kong squashes the shit out of her. Now, when Natalya was champ, was it the best thing in the company, was it the reason I tuned in? No. But I actually ENJOYED the division. Got much more interesting. Got good matches (Beth and Natalya pulled a good match out of Laycool of all people at TLC), Melina vs. Natalya was good and all around she was booked strong.


We don't need to see puppies; but that was the last time I liked the direction of the division. It was at its peak with Trish, Lita, Jazz, Gail and Victoria.

But not to mention even a year or so before it became PG, WWE's divas were crap.

 

[911 JP]

Yes, i miss what they used to do from the attitude era til about 2007, lets face it i still try to follow the division but i was far more interested what they used to do back then. And the rivalrys that they are in now suck, back then they could, at the very least, play mind games by stripping them infront of millions of people or a lesbian kiss, plus it made for good TV!

 

[THEpapachamp]

Well yeah they were known for the bikini contests and whatnot; but the last time the Divas division was relevant, IMO was when Natalya was Divas Champion. Eve's second reign has been nothing short of brutal and I can't wait until Kong squashes the shit out of her. Now, when Natalya was champ, was it the best thing in the company, was it the reason I tuned in? No. But I actually ENJOYED the division. Got much more interesting. Got good matches (Beth and Natalya pulled a good match out of Laycool of all people at TLC), Melina vs. Natalya was good and all around she was booked strong.


We don't need to see puppies; but that was the last time I liked the direction of the division. It was at its peak with Trish, Lita, Jazz, Gail and Victoria.

But not to mention even a year or so before it became PG, WWE's divas were crap.

I agree to a point. Natalya was probably the best champion since Trish and with Kong coming brings hope. But even still how long till she gets boring? The WWE universe has put to much hype on her & I'm afraid they will be disappointed.

plus when's the last time we saw a divas video package not involving Vickie? She's the best WWE has as a diva which could be the reason they have been involving her with more divas lately

 

[Wolf Pac]

It died when Trish Stratus, Lita, Mickie James and the other veterans left. It was never really about the Bikini Contests, Bra & Panties shit, it was the wrestling from Trish, Lita & co. that made the division entertaining. Personally I think the Bikini Contest, Bra & Panties stuff are overrated, nobody ever got to see them fully naked, so who really gave a crap if they weren't gonna be fully naked. Stripping down doesn't make a diva division entertaining, talented wrestling does and you had that when Trish, Lita, Mickie, Jazz, Jacqueline, Ivory & co. all left. Nowadays you don't have any talented divas who can work in the ring with exception of Natalya, Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, Melina & Michelle McCool but they don't get anybody talented to wrestle against unless they are against each other.

 

[Clem]

The division didn't die exclusively because of the PG rating, but it certainly didn't help matters.

Before the change, when WWE would hire a glamour model and hope for the best, she could at least strip and win our favour that way.

Unfortunately, now we're in this awkward limbo, whereby none of them are talented, but they can't go the alternate route and impress us with their "assets"

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It died when Trish Stratus, Lita, Mickie James and the other veterans left. It was never really about the Bikini Contests, Bra & Panties shit, it was the wrestling from Trish, Lita & co. that made the division entertaining. Personally I think the Bikini Contest, Bra & Panties stuff are overrated, nobody ever got to see them fully naked, so who really gave a crap if they weren't gonna be fully naked. Stripping down doesn't make a diva division entertaining, talented wrestling does and you had that when Trish, Lita, Mickie, Jazz, Jacqueline, Ivory & co. all left. Nowadays you don't have any talented divas who can work in the ring with exception of Natalya, Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, Melina & Michelle McCool but they don't get anybody talented to wrestle against unless they are against each other.

I can't really agree with most of this. During the height of the Attitude Era, it really was about the bikini matches, the bra & panty matches and all that other shit. That's what you saw week in and week out when it came to the Divas most of the time. It seems overrated in hindsight but it really wasn't because when you were 16 years old, aside from sneaking a glance at a Playboy on a magazine rack or catching a softcore titty movie on Cinemax, this was about as close as you got to seeing women of this caliber almost naked. And much of the time, it was live and in person. At the height of the Attitude Era, porn wasn't as easily accessible via the internet as it is today.

When the Monday Night Wars ended, the Divas did become a little more focused overall on wrestling but not as much as they currently are to be perfectly honest. Even after the Wars ended, there were still lingerie matches popping up, bikini contests. They even had a lingerie pillow fight for a match at WrestleMania a few years back. There are a lot of Divas on the roster than are good inside the ring, a few of them can even talk on the mic. One reason why they don't seem like such a big deal anymore is because A. women's wrestling has never been a significant force in American pro wrestling and B. the Divas aren't used for tits & ass segments anymore.

I'd definitely prefer it if Vince at least tried to make the Divas more relevant. But, generally speaking, I do prefer the Diva format now than to all the useless gimmick matches and segments that used to eat up a lot of time. Sometimes Diva matches are too short to mean anything but I'd rather have a quick and painless 2 minute match than a boring 10 minute T&A or lame comedy segment.

 

[ugotpwned999]

I think the divas devision died as soon as they got rid of b&p matches and the pg rating meant they go as far as pre-pg.

Saying that, its pretty much proven its hard to find a good diva these days. The WWE divas devision died as soon as Lita, Trish and Victoria etc...left.

WWE hasn't really cared about the divas devision since like '07 anyway.

 

[EastCoastFan]

The women's division died when they started making them all "divas". Once sex appeal became more important than being able to wrestle, it was all over. The Diva Search proved that being "hot" wasn't enough. The first Diva Search class failed to produce any big stars outside of Michelle McCool. Christy Hemme couldn't live up to the hype they gave her for winning. Maria Kanellis tried, but did her best work as a ditzy interviewer. Amy Weber and Joy Giovanni never amounted to anything.

Meanwhile, to make room for them, WWE fired Jacqueline, Jazz, Gail Kim and Nidia. Ivory got benched and spent the last year-plus of her contract as an interviewer and commentator. Molly Holly started the year as Women's Champion and went stratight to jobber. By the fall, she was losing every week to the sexy but totally unwilling to learn Stacy Keibler. She wound up so miserable that she left wrestling completely. And once she was gone, Victoria became "the company whipping girl".

They tried to rebuild by bringing in Melina and Mickie James, but it wasn't enough. When Trish and Lita retired in 2006, no one had managed to step up to their level and take their place. As great as Beth Phoenix and some of the others are, none of them got over the way Trish and Lita did, and once they were gone, WWE stopped caring about the women for anything but eye candy and bathroom break matches.

To answer the question: going PG didn't kill the "divas". They were already dead long before then.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think the PG era has made fans care less about the divas.

While Trish, Lita etc could all really wrestle, you ended up seeing them in their underwear pretty often too, which would always get a huge pop from the fans. Even in the days of Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler, the divas still stripped off as well as most of them being able to wrestle a little bit.

Admittedly, while hardly any of the divas are as good in the ring as Trish, Lita, Victoria, Molly and Ivory, some can certainly hold their own. However, because their sex appeal is being toned down, fans are showing less interest in seeing them JUST WRESTLE.

The Attitude Era took the divas too far probably, with the sexy gimmick matches but it got the fans at least interested in the division, and some of them could wrestle a little bit, but it was mainly about the sex.

Now, its mainly about the wrestling, and in Trish/Lita's day it was a combination of both, which I think was best. With gorgeous women who could wrestle as well as pose in bikini's, I think this was the best days of the diva's division.

I think the PG rating has hurt the women somewhat, but I think Vince lost interest in them a while ago.

On a side note HOW HOT DID VICTORIA/TARA LOOK ON THAT VIDEO CLIP?!?! Why don't I remember that bikini contest happening?!

 

[Fallen Angel 21.3]

The WWE Divas died when the WWE Woman's Title was retired. That belt was held by the Great divas and fans wanted to see them wrestle. Lets face it WWE has a joke of a divison now they get rid of the ones that had talent. I am thankful TNA has at least a decent Divison at best. TNA proves that you don't need to show Tits and Ass every week to have a good woman's divison

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

TNA proves that you don't need to show Tits and Ass every week to have a good woman's divison

While TNA use their women alot better and actually give them decent feuds and storylines, have you not seen the Beautiful People's entrance?! That is the most ass-focused entrance in wrestling, and its great!