If anybody felt dissatisfied with WWE and it's divas division, you've a right to be!

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I've just read this utterly disturbing news off the news on the wrestlezone homepage:

"The feeling following the NXT season 3 finale is that WWE intends to keep both Kaitlyn and Naomi around despite Kaitlyn being the official winner of the show. Officials like Kaitlyn's personality, but feel she needs time to improve her ring work, and feel that Naomi is an excellent athlete who could really shine in the ring. The only hesitation with Naomi is that her ring work sets the bar so high for the Divas, that officials fear resentment towards her from other Divas if Naomi were ever to be pushed."

It is specifically the last part I am concerned with though:

"The only hesitation with Naomi is that her ring work sets the bar so high..", etc...

.........OK......I know the situation with WWE's women's wrestling so i can't be too shocked with this news, but hearing it said openly really hits it home for me. So although I cannot be shocked, I am appauled.

WWE is afraid that one of their wrestlers might be wrestling too good???!!!! They are afraid of resentment from other divas?? Well I've got a hint for you... if you have female wrestlers who can wrestle in the first place then there would be no problem ergo if you didn't fire people like mickie james, you'd have nothing to worry about!!

And yes I know that it is sports ENTERTAINMENT, and according to those that watched, naomi isn't exactly an entertaining spectacle. But if your afraid of that scenario, why weren't you afraid that say cena might resent daniel bryan, or mark henry may resent CM punk.

I'll tell you why, and we all know the reason already, it's that women's wrestling in the WWE is a joke to them. It's all stand-up comedians without the jokes, you know professionals without the core substance, and I actually find the way WWE treats women NOW more sexist than they used to, because they used to get a shot at living in a man's world, whereas now they are "eye-candy" and there is no more appropriate term i could use.

And in fact I wouldn't mind do much if the divas actually WERE entertaining, but half the time they couldn't distract the a member of the crowd from a conversation with the nearest person about the weather! If your so concerned about competition, then hire more female wrestlers and there'll be nothing to worry about, either that and stop lying to people and just have women entertain like maryse and not wrestle if that's what you want.

Given how the knockouts in TNA are flying high right now, it really feels like they're losing out to the competition. I know what some people are going to say and they are absolutely right as always, WWE is a business and women's wrestling doesn't draw. That may be true but what about prestige? Should the company that has held names like Lita, Trish stratus, Mae Young and more recently beth phoenix not have respect for that heritage, or do they have to care at all?

End of the day, point is that I care. Does anyone else?

 

[DaNewGuy]

I think what your picking up on may just be speculation on the part of whoever wrote the article. If it isn't, then I disagree with the sentiment that she could be 'too good', because as a consumer I'd like to see the best overall product possible. That said, I'm going to stick with the Mark Madden theory that women don't draw, and say it doesn't really matter anyway.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

You know, I've not been real happy with anything this season on NXT. Granted, none of the Divas are that impressive at all. But, this is all turning into another glorified diva search where they will end up keeping ALL the contestants anyways. Besides Naomi and Kaitlyn, you know we will end up seeing AJ, and Maxine and Aksana somewhere down the line I'm sure. What's the point of saying "Only ONE will win" as the tag line for this NXT show? I mean, even from NXT season one, the guys are all still around, but yet, most of them all have the talent and skill to do a decent match.
The season 2 guys, we see more of Mr. Perfect Jr, and IRS jr, than we do of the ACTUAL winner, Kaval? Does anyone else see the irony of this? I mean, it ought to really be called "Open cattle call" show. Because we all know eventually 70% of the FCW people will probably be called up anyways to WWE programming in someway shape or form. Then you figure Tough Enough will be revamped, and so there is another way to bring in more people, eventually, why will we need FCW if there is going to be all these "American Idol" type shows where people/athletes will get a spot on a roster without TRULY working for it?
To me, if that's the case, I will sign up and try out without having any REAL training. To me, I can see why there are people who will start shooting and saying that the state of women's wrestling is a total crapshoot right now. You got models acting like they can wrestle, and then you wonder why the women of yesteryear like Trish and Lita, are abiding by the silence is golden rule. They've learned that its probably best to stay quiet, because at this point, they're still considered welcome alumni. I can understand and sympathize with that since they wouldn't want to burn any bridges, because that is what the IWC is for. You can certainly tell by the live audience and the internet crowd that we will not hold our tongues.

 

[TUFFY54]

I've never been a fan of womens wrestling, but during the days of Lita, Trish, and Victoria it wasn't that bad. Madden is right in saying it doesn't draw, but the womens product lately has been embarasing. I posted on here a few weeks ago about how the NXT match between Alica Fox and Kelly Kelly was the single worst thing I had ever seen in a wrestling ring. It made Jay Leno and Eric Bischoff look like Flair Steamboat. I suggested then that WWE just do away with womens wrestling and people shitted all over me. The truth is that with nothing but 10 diva swimsuit matches, it would be no different to just have them be managers and valets. The fact is that women in the WWE are nothing more than eye candy and thats fine. I don't care what people say about "I want my little girl to have positive women to look up to in wrestling", wrestling has one of the most male dominated audiances of any form of entertainment in the world. Only a fool would care about the Divas division when the WWE itself doesn't. Joey Styles leaked the results of NXT on his twitter and no one even cared. I'd imagine the reaction to, say, Michael Hayes tweeting who was going to win the Rumble would be a little different. Womens wrestling today is a joke, a farce, and pathatic. Thats not sexists, its honest. Until Randy Orton and Cena face off in a tuxedo match for the title, or Kane and Taker settle their feud in a water gun lifegaurd match, nothing is changing my mind.

 

[Nicole13Edge/HardyFan]

That was kind of stupid. I mean seriously Vince get over it Trish is gone so put some thought into the womens divison. Actually I find this as an insult it actually makes me what to become a TNA knockout besides a WWE diva and I've wanted to be a wwe diva since I was 7.

TNA is now beating WWE in something and that is their female division. I was just waiting for someone to bring this up how can someone be too good. I'm not a Namoi fan but she can wrestle and so can A.J. and Katylin works hard and will eventually get there. So its kind of stupid to say that they are scared that she is too talented thats like telling your divas to suck. If I was a diva I would be worried that I wouldn't get pushed if I was someone like Natyla who can actually wrestler. I mean seriously how hard is it to be better than the Bellas and Rosa Mendes. Vince needs to stop and think and actually treat the female divison right again like he did when people like Trish and Lita were around. Oh and firing Mickie didn't help at all.

 

[craftyjacket]

I care. I would love WWE's women wrestling to be better. I watched the first episodes of NXT Season 3 hoping that they would be able to shine, but they made a mockery out of the whole show and basically degraded female competitors even more than usual.

The thing is, WWE is mainstream right? Mainstream is sexist. The World is sexist. It's everyone's blame. Not only guys are sexist, girls are really anti-feminists, sometimes. They just go with the flow and make things worse. It's confortable, in some cases, to use their looks to get by in life and stuff like that, so yeah, the stupid masses continue to be sexist. WWE appeals to mainstream, so they portray women wrestlers as they think their audience sees women (and too many people do). They're one dimensional eye-candy with no depth.

That statement about Naomi is astonishing, but i guess it's not clear for everyone why Tamina isn't used right, why Natalya is rarely used right. They're just too good. They don't want to make the rest of their female roster look like crap. An obvious solution is STOP HIRING MODELS. But i digress.

 

[Terminal Sledgehammer]

I am a critic of the divas, and that quote sums up what I have been saying essentialy "we don't want to use possibly one of our best wrestlers because she makes the rest of them look like a stick in the grass and they might feel bad about that". WWE needs to really need to look at that statement and question what the hell is happening with their product. They know that they have the talent to make the division better but they don't want to hurt the feelings of the eye candy? Seriously?

Natalya is talent, Tamina is talent, hell I'll call some of the others talent at this time but we are stuck with problems of not stepping on toes to get the gold. If that is a problem the E needs to rethink their management.

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

I doubt that statement came from WWE themselves. And the division has been getting much better lately. Natalya can really go in the ring and is bringing credibility to the Diva's Title. LayCool bring the entertainment and heel aspects, and tend to lighten up Natalya's mostly serious mood. Alicia Fox is improving in the ring and on the mic. Melina returned and is still able to perform well. Plus Beth Pheonix just came back. The division has been shit for a few years now, but it is improving. With the addition of Naomi, AJ, and Kaitlyn the division is looking to have a pretty good future. The division will never be treated with the respect that Shimmer and Joshi wrestlers get, but it is going in the right direction and is certainly improving.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The Divas are filler. That's all Vince wants them to be, that's all that they're ever going to be for the forseeable future. It's time to accept it people. We can complain all we want about how the WWE should put energy into its women's division but it ain't gonna happen.

Why won't it happen? Because Vince McMahon feels that women's wrestling isn't going to make him any money. The truth of the matter is, he's right. Women's wrestling doesn't draw money. Even in countries like Japan, where women's wrestling has been quite popular for a long time now, women's wrestling is drying up. Promotions made entirely up of women are closing in Japan so you can just imagine how low on the totem pole women are here in America.

Ideally as a fan, I would love for the WWE to have a real women's division. I'm not a huge fan of women's wrestling but if you're gonna have filler, then try to make it the best filler you can. But it's not going to happen, so I'm not going to worry about it.

 

[LSN80]

The biggest problem with the women wrestlers is that they dont draw a dime. This isnt just true in WWE, its the same thing in TNA. They're simply an afterthought, and have been for a long time. People talk about the "glory days" of women's wrestling, but it was still just one match a show, at ten minutes maximum. Again, thats the same in TNA as it is in WWE.

I dont find that statement to be appauling at all. At worst, WWE just acknowledged what we've been saying for a long time. Women's wrestling isn't so much about the wrestling, and more about looks and personality. If one can look great and demonstrate personality with athleticism, they're going to get "over." But as nothing more then filler programming.

It would be nice as a fan for WWE to put effort into their Women's division. As a fan of the entire product, I want to see all of it done right, not just one or two divisions. But the time comes where you accept what you're being given in alot of ways, and thats been the case for a long time in the Womens division. All this article did was acknowledge what we've been saying all along. They're not invested in the women's division, so why should I be?

 

[Cruiser]

I haven't really enjoyed watching the divas in the WWE since the early 2000s. Back then the women were attractive but also had really good in-ring skills. They also had good storylines to go with it. Today storylines in the women's division are just thrown together. It's more of an "I don't like you" thing for every feud rather than a built up feud they used to have. I was a fan of the division when Sable, Lita, Trish, and the rest were actually entertaining. Now I honestly couldn't even tell you who the diva's champion is, who's feuding over it, or even match the wrestlers names to their faces.

I'm going to agree with the other posters on this one though. Women's wrestling is not making a comeback at all. They don't draw and they really never have. Even when I enjoyed watching the divas people didn't tune in for them. I think it just highlights how "filler" in the WWE like jack-hammered said has declined in quality. Back then every minute of the show had to be entertaining to stop people from switching over to WCW. Now they really don't have to make the filler interesting and it shows. So unfortunately the women's division will continue to be a joke in the WWE.

So to answer the question of the original poster, yes I do care. But I am also aware that the divas are not going to be taken seriously, at least not anytime soon. So I really only care to the extent that I recognize it's not as good as it used to be. Will the lack of a good women's division stop me from tuning into Raw on a Monday? No. The divas were never what drew me to wrestling anyways. But instead of staying with Raw to watch a divas match like back in the day I may just switch over to see what's going on with Monday Night Football now. I definitely won't lose sleep over it. I mean, I won't lose sleep over wrestling in general but definitely not over the divas.

 

[Honkey_Kong]

The problem with the women's division in both TNA and WWE is the fact that nobody really cares about women's wrestling. If WWE just stopped airing women's segments hardly anyone would even notice and there sure wouldn't be an outcry. We all watch enough porn to not give a shit about these broads.

But as far as the women's in-ring abilities and mic work, how much mic work is needed to do the old "I hate you" angle? And how do they expect to have good ring work when it's the WWE's philosophy that they can just turn anybody in to a wrestler so skills aren't necessary. It's not just women's wrestling that has that problem, look at David Otunga and the Miz.

The main problem I see with women's wrestling is, it'll never be a draw and so it just fills up the card. But they could be using that filler time to build up their feuds (which we all complain they don't do enough of). A good 10 minute diva segment could do wonders if added to a midcard feud.

 

[AsHBK_TheViper]

I think The Main problem In WWE is that they dont Trust Their DIvas to do a Good job on the TV or PPV,Hence they are Given SO much less Air-Time.Their PPV matches are also Placed so that the crowd can Take a bath room break.And like many said here as well,WOmen's Division Doesnt Draw!
But i Have seen Improvements,LayCool Are Annoying but thats what they are suppose to be!Natalya Is great.Beth and Melina put on good matches.Maryse is better when she has the Buterfly Title with her!Naomi Could do well if given the time.I dont think WWE would make such statements.

Recently WWE is throwing in DIvas here and there in many segments,The Bellas with Daniel Bryan,Melina and JoMO,We have a Kaitlyn -Ziggler-Vickie ANgle .WWE needs to Realise which DIvas can perform if given a chance and use them in wrestling quantity and the other can continue being eye candies!I am of the Opinion if guven the time to divas such as Nattie,McCool,Melina Beth and Maryse,they could put on Good matches,But WWE doesnt feel the need to do so!

 

[Bernkastel]

The WWE does push the Divas that are actually worth something. McCool and Layla are two of the best in the division... Marsye is good, Beth is decent, and Nattie is improving.

If WWE has any concerns about Naomi, it wouldn't be her moveset. She doesn't appear to be a hazard in the ring, as i've seen a few of her matches.

Moveset is not the issue here...

If anything the WWE must feel that she's a superior performer and entertainer to many of the others if they are willing to admit that she'd make them look bad. Perhaps this is a good thing for the division if the WWE is hesitent about just throwing her on TV to just market her looks like they do with many of the new Divas.

 

[ABMorales787]

I bet the 21 cents left in my bank account that report is nothing but a wild guess. Since when has an NXT rookie that's showed some degree of promise not end up in one of the main brands? It's pretty obvious Naomi isn't gonna be used to her full wrestling capacity. They did it to Jillian Hall. They did it to Gail Kim. They are doing it to Melina. They are doing it with Tamina. The report is a wild guess based on obvious facts.

What really pisses me off about WWE's handling of the Diva is just that. How they are handled. They are made out to look like nothing but "greet you at the door" models who seem incapable of telling left from right. WWE has a pretty good market under their nose and they can't get their asses out of their head to see. It. No merch for Divas? I remember when Trish Stratus and Lita where around. Who didn't want a "Stratusfaction" T-Shirt anyway? You don't need to have women who can wrestle. A woman with a personality is good enough. If you are gonna have women, let them be women. Not doormats.

 

[AndyUK]

I honestly don't believe in the slightest that WWE would because they're ''too good'' but that is just me. It makes no sense anyway when you consider Natalya is the Divas Champion because for me, she's a better wrestler than Naomi and is better than virtually every other Diva on the roster.

The WWE Divas Division is filler and it will be for the foreseeable future but that doesn't mean they'll reject people because they're too good. I'm pretty sure they don't want the Divas to embarass themselves, its jst that they have the philosophy ''you can teach someone to wrestle but you can't teach them to look hot'', which I guess makes sense, particularly considering your average fan would rather see somebody hot than somebody that can put on a good match.

 

[The Champ]

People are always going to complain about the mistreatment of women's wrestling in the WWE. And I guess if that's what you enjoy, then I can understand why you would. But the simple reality is this. WWE's primary focus with the divas has been, and always will be, good looks. The wrestling skills come second, and usually they're more inclined to hire hot girls that they think can be taught how to wrestle, rather than not so hot girls who already can wrestle extremely well. It might be a little sexist, but it's just how the WWE works. There are always going to be things like SHIMMER out there for people who like solid women's wrestling, but in all likelihood, the days of the divas being treated legitimately with real storylines (see: Trish vs. Lita, Trish vs. Mickie) are long gone. We're lucky to have the divas in any kind of decent continuous storyline these days. Unfortunately, it's time for some people to accept that that's probably not going to change anytime soon.

 

[wwefan101x]

I had given up on the division after Night of Champions 2010. AJ, Naomi and Kaitlyn should all be hired, that could get things interesting again. Well Beth is now back and she's a great competitor. Natalya is champion yay!. So I see the divas division improving SLIGHTLY. I just think this has been a bad year cos
1) Mickie James was fired/left.

2) Beth and Melina were both out at the same time therefore leaving us with LayCool.

3)LayCool and their bestie belt and co champion crap

4) The only thing that kept the divison alive was pretty much LayCool's feud with Kelly and Tiffany but then Tiffany had that thing with Drew, leaving LayCool to feud with Kelly. I don't even remember what was happening on RAW lol.

5) Smackdown was left with 3 Divas...LayCool and Kelly, 4 if Rosa counts.

6) Lack of storyline build up, I think this is because Melina and Beth got injured and they had to change the storylines quickly.

7) Retiring/ Unifying the Women's/ Divas Championship... why form the Divas Championship in the first place only to get rid of it 2 years later.

Also there have been some Divas main events on Superstars that were decent matches. I personally think that 2010 has been a bad year for the WWE Women's Division. 2011 should get interesting as we should be seeing the break up of LayCool and Natalya feud with someone new.

Also does anyone else think that the divas should be placed on 1 brand? By that I mean put them all on RAW or Smackdown. Or like share them equally. Not like 3 and like 10.

 

[RayneJames81]

OK so I am a 29 year old male and happen to love the talent in the WWE Diva's division, which is one HUGE reason I still watch. I happen to agree that the division is definetly at a low right now, and that the WWE doesnt care or maybe know how to use their Diva's with talent. I will find it sad if the statement made about not wanting to use Naomi is true. Why on earth would you want to squash talent? Though with the WWE's history of squashing plenty of Divas and Superstars alike ( Jillian Hall, Gail, Katie Lea, Evan Bourne, Kaval, MVP, etc), it wouldnt shock me in the slightest.
I have to admit the WWE did suprise me by having Natalya win the Divas title, I honestly didnt think that was ever going to happen. So to me, that is a RIGHT step in the right direction. Now lets just hope they build on this road. Let Tamina wrestle solo, give Gail a title shot/run again in the future, let other divas shine in that spotlight besides McTaker and Layla.