Lets categorise them, Shall We?

[Prince Vee]

WWE has never given any importance to the Divas division in a long while and there were no "faces" or "heels" in the company. These girls switch between Faces and Heels too often than Big Show (No offence).

The feud between Bella twins and Paige are going a bit okay as far now. Initially, Brie was a face and Nikki was a heel, of course that's a long story and all of a sudden, they became so passionate, loving and caring sisters!?

They were heels when Nikki won the title from AJ and they had a brief face run until they faced against AJ and Paige at Wrestlemania. Woah when Paige went out of injury (kayfabe), the Bella's became face against feuding with Naomi.

Last couple of weeks they had gone heel once again!? What happened to Naomi and Tamina is more than just a disdain for the creative writers. Well okay, the Bella's as heels I'm alright with that. But why the hell she would go against Summer Rae? Wasn't she a heel for so long??

I've went through the Wikipedia page and listed the Divas below. Let's categorise them into faces and heels, Shall we?

Alicia Fox
Brie Bella
Cameron
Emma
Eva Marie
Layla
Naomi
Natalya
Nikki Bella
Paige
Rosa Mendes
Summer Rae
Tamina

After scrutinising, I came to the conclusion that, the only Face is the Divas division is Paige! The reason behind that is WWE universe doesn't see her as heel whatever she does!

Are there really any other face in the Diva's division? Your thoughts?

 

[SJ5522]

Natalya is face. Too many of the rest aren't even classifiable currently. That's what you get when your portrayal of women in wrestling is as hangers-on to the men. How to book women is the #1 thing above all else WWE needs to learn from NXT

 

[Wald]

Natalya is definitely a face, even when Kidd & Cesaro were heels I'd have said she was a face because she doesn't cheat and is well respected and liked by fans. Paige is the only other face though.

I really don't know why Vince loosens the reigns a bit and stops micro-managing this division. Just let a handpicked creative staff member oversee it and see what they can do. I'm a fan of female wrestling but it isn't anything close to being a draw right now so whats the worst that could happen? Especially if the creative member was given guidelines on what isn't okay for sponsors (no bra and panties nonsense for example).

To be honest, and this goes for so many companies, CEOs like Vince need to stop micromanaging everything. If I were in his shoes I'd like to think I'de focus my energies on where the money is at the top of the card. I'd segment the tag and women's division out to other creative managers and I'd have my right hand man in charge of the non-main event singles' wrestlers. That way he could advise on who deserves a promotion and my attention and I just have to worry about drawing money with the likes of Cena & Co. If something in the women's and tag takes off than all the better.

 

[Mustang Sally]

These girls switch between Faces and Heels too often than Big Show

Yes. In fact, some of them can switch on a match-to-match basis, being whatever they need to be and depending on whom they're facing. We've seen Alicia Fox as bad when she faced Natalya (and throwing one of her hissy fits after losing) and then portraying a face when going against Paige, who was heel at the time.

Of course, Paige herself has had the advantage of going back and forth, but at least that seems to be based on audience reaction, which is the best reason to switch.

Other than Paige, the only diva that seems to be consistently face is Emma, who is too dorky to function, anyway......and if you told me she had a run as a heel, I wouldn't be surprised.....because it would have been so fast that I missed it.

That the writing for the divas has lacked consistency is a vast understatement ....and the chief reason for the frequent switches.

 

[SJ5522]

Yes. In fact, some of them can switch on a match-to-match basis, being whatever they need to be and depending on whom they're facing. We've seen Alicia Fox as bad when she faced Natalya (and throwing one of her hissy fits after losing) and then portraying a face when going against Paige, who was heel at the time.

Of course, Paige herself has had the advantage of going back and forth, but at least that seems to be based on audience reaction, which is the best reason to switch.

Other than Paige, the only diva that seems to be consistently face is Emma, who is too dorky to function, anyway......and if you told me she had a run as a heel, I wouldn't be surprised.....because it would have been so fast that I missed it.

That the writing for the divas has lacked consistency is a vast understatement ....and the chief reason for the frequent switches.

Emma has been a heel in her recent NXT appearances

 

[Mustang Sally]

Emma has been a heel in her recent NXT appearances

Is that so?

Well, there we go. She's needed as a heel in NXT and a face on RAW. That's what I call inconsistency in character development. How can she build on it if it changes with every appearance?

Nothing against Emma, of course. She's a cutie......and she can wrestle, although we rarely get to see it.

 

[chuckmdubya]

Well, society today is obsessed with the bad girl. Housewives, Kardashians, female rappers with booty implants, Orange being "the new black", Teenage girls twirking and grinding all over the place, and it goes on and on.
So why would WWE be any different? Make all the girls bad girls. Even Paige has that element of bad girl to her.

 

[SJ5522]

Is that so?

Well, there we go. She's needed as a heel in NXT and a face on RAW. That's what I call inconsistency in character development. How can she build on it if it changes with every appearance?

Nothing against Emma, of course. She's a cutie......and she can wrestle, although we rarely get to see it.

I'm not actually sure whether she's an official roster member right now, I think she got sent back to NXT because of lack of crowd reaction either way (which is obviously their fault, but whatever, i'm sure she's fine with spending further time in NXT)

 

[Messiah]

The Bellas are still faces, even in this feud with that pale chick. Most of them are faces just not used that much for the fans to tell. The only true heels there are Naomi, Rosa, Summer and Cameron. Eva doesn't count since she's on NXT. I forgot what Alicia Fox is. Natalya, The Bellas, Emma and Layla are all faces... After categorizing them it looks like half are faces and half are heels.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

You need clearly defined faces and heels. That fact transcends wrestling, in any fiction, you need heroes to root for and bad guys to see defeated. It's the simplest way to get someone invested in a product. Heel and face lines have been blurring for nearly 20 years, and it goes beyond wrestling.

TV has shows like Breaking Bad and Sopranos. Villains have ongoing titles in comic books nowadays. The lines of good and evil are blurring everywhere in society, it's a sign of the times. But nothing changes, fundamentals of good story telling never change.

You need complex and flawed characters coming up against simple relatable problems in a clear an concise story with defined properties of who's the good guy and who's the bad guy. Consistency should be Queen in the Diva's division but it's not.

Is Paige a babyface? When she returned form the movies, she ran for the save on Nikki, then attacked her. When she was feuding with Naomi and Tamina, she ran down Tamina based on her looks. Way to be a star Paige, way to give divas and chance and not define them based on their looks and appearance. It's well known that WWE scripts this stuff, those aren't Paige's words.

The Bella Twins are natural heels, yet suddenly based on something they said on commentary before Extreme Rules and the fact that they smile on the way to the ring, we're supposed to cheer them? Smiles don't build a character to root for.

If anyone we should be rooting for Naomi. She went on a winning streak, pinned the Divas Champion, then the number one contendership is decided via battle royal for some reason? So she started taking what she had clearly earned. It wasn't nice attacking Paige, but attacking other wrestlers before and after matches without punishment has been the norm since the Attitude Era. Then she brings in part of her in-laws family to even the odds against the Bella's unfair advantage. Shouldn't they be faces?

These five women make up the division. Where's the depth? And when the other character show up to work finally, they're equally inconsistent. Didn't Summer Rae turn heel and join the Miz before disappearing? Yet she works as a face upon return. Emma is a a full blown heel on NXT (a doing a great job), yet she works WWE events as a face. Even the supposed top face in the division mentioned Emma in the same sentence as other faces that should be given chances. Does Paige watch NXT?

The division is horribly inconsistent. You can have a division full of tweeners, but you need someone to root for. The storytelling suggests to me that it should be Naomi, except she's fallen off the map and has heel mannerisms with what ought to be face booking.

There's five hours of WWE programming a week. If NXT can support two separate women's storylines with one hour, I think WWE can figure out a second. First things first is figuring out the title scene.

You can have anti-heroes, you can have flawed characters, but you need consistency. Nikki has held that title way too long and should have dropped it to Naomi long ago. Let the ladies tell the stories in the ring. No one wants WWE to reinvent the wheel. They want them to give divas a chance. Let them go out there and fight. Raw should have minimum two divas matches, with consistent storytelling and long term planning. This shouldn't be difficult.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Alicia Fox: Heel - Though to be honest, it doesn't really matter as she's not at all relevant, nor has she ever really been in quite some time.

The Bella Twins: Heel or Face as it seems to change with the tides - The Bella Twins' random switching from heels to faces and back to heels in the aftermath of SummerSlam last year is a prime example of how inconsequential Vince McMahon considers women to be in the grand scheme of things.

Cameron: Heel - Cameron hasn't been relevant past the initial few weeks of the aftermath of her break up with Naomi.

Emma: Heel in NXT, though who knows as far as the main roster goes - Emma's talented inside the ring and she has potential but, as with most women on the main roster, it's unlikely that potential will be fulfilled since Vince doesn't deem women important.

Eva Marie: Heel - If there's anyone on the WWE roster, development or main, that fans aren't gonna rally around as a face, it's Eva Marie. During a recent promo she cut at the last NXT tapings, the live crowd absolutely gave her the business. She was brought to the main roster initially because Vince liked her look and as a means to promote Total Divas even though she didn't know a headlock from a crotch shot and a lot of fans will hold that against her until/unless she's really able to dazzle them at some point.

Layla : No idea - In Layla's case, I don't really think it matters as I have a feeling her in-ring career is pretty much finished.

Naomi: Heel - Pretty much a no brainer and she's also got a lot of potential, I have absolutely no idea where she's disappeared to in the past few weeks though.

Natalya: Face - Natalya's pretty much a babyface since Cesaro & Kidd are as well. Natalya & Beth Phoenix had real potential years back as the so called "Divas of Doom", but we all know that potential was squashed before anything even had a chance to take root.

Paige: Face - Paige is a face since her return and it looks like Vince is casting her as the latest "hero" of the Divas Division to try to "change" things.

Rosa Mendes: Heel - Rosa Mendes may well be the most useless Diva in the history of WWE and that's saying something. She's awful whether it's as a character, on the mic or especially in the ring; if reports are correct, the only reason she's been with WWE as long as she has is because she's close friends with Kevin Dunn and Dunn is Vince's biggest "yes man."

Summer Rae: Heel - Summer Rae is sort of the new epitome of a "sports entertainment" female heel in that she's attractive, plays to the audience in something of a comical way and is associated with heels who're either comedy jobbers or have become comedy jobbers.

Tamina: Heel - Tamina's someone who's look makes me think of her as a heel because she doesn't have the sweet, traditionally "model" type of looks Vince likes for women on the main roster. Tamina's too big, too physically imposing and definitely has no real personality to speak of.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Are there really any other face in the Diva's division? Your thoughts?

Other then Bellas and maybe Natallia, no.

Does it really mather? They are all portraying one onedimensional character: Hot bitchy girl. Whats worst they are all doing it by playing same "Look at me, I am hot and bitchy" routine. Last time I saw even tiniest change in that routine is when they maked Alicia Fox(out of all people) do that "crazy girl" stuff. Almost none of them have personalities or charisma or even wrestling or mic skills and some that do have them(Paige for example) are blended in that one character and dont jump from it. None of their feuds almost makes any sense(If you turned Naomi heel then you had to make Bellas face?) and expecting as they have started to feud to see them fight over shoes. Acctually, that would even be improvement of their feuds right now.

If they start to give them some personalities maybe, then maybe at least some of them can show improvmement. Like this they are stucked to just showing up and performing 3 minute matches that some guys(never saw why because you have at least two hot women on TV) considere piss brakes. Because in what state is division and girls in it now, they dont deserve more then that.

 

[SJ5522]

Paige is a good wrestler and just about the only over person on this list, but tbh, I live near her hometown Norwich. Norwich is not exactly a tough place, quite a middle class population. I have a huge difficulty taking her promos seriously, she sounds so bratty like she's 11 years old when she goes "this is my house". On the plus side, at least this vaguely resembles a personality which is loads more than I can say for Cameron, The Bellas, Eva

 

[MCMG]

I think the Bellas turned face simply because both AJ and Paige were gone and they needed one for the feud with Naomi. They clearly wanted one of the two to be a face and Nikki was the choice. The two of them have now returned or in a weird middle.

Face: Nattie and Paige
Heel: Fox, Cameron, Summer, Naomi, Tamina, Rosa, Bellas.

Indeed, Emma is babyface on the main roster but heel in NXT. Does it matter? A little but she hardly has a prominent role on the main roster.

The thing about revitalising the division and "GiveDivasAChance" is that there must be talent. They can't give Rosa and Cameron 20 minutes because it almost certainly transfer well. I'm guessing Paige, Nattie and Nikki are the only Divas who could manage 10 minutes or more.

Another issue is character development. How can you only have 3 babyfcaes in the division given one is mainly a valet. Moreover, Emma who is a heel in NXT. In NXT the faces are Charlotte, Bailey, Carmella and Becky. The heels are Emma, Banks, Brooke and Bliss. A perfect split down the middle, what a fucking concept.

I think they have to send Cameron and Summer down to NXT and have them go a similar route to Eva. Thereafter, they call up Charlotte, Bailey and Sasha. Plus, in the long run there is Becky.

It doesn't take a lot of work for the Divas division to look something like:

Face: Charlotte, Paige, Bailey, Nattie, Becky, Emma.
Heel: Banks, Nikki, Brie, Fox, Naomi, Tamina.

That division is talented. It has a good split between good and bad. There is depth and there is the possibility of more than one feud going at once. Indeed, given the Bellas are there they could even do some tag-team wrestling.

 

[SJ5522]

Did Emma even win a match on Smackdown or Raw? the commentary on NXT talks about her changing her style cos her time on the main roster did not go as she would've planned. So it's not quite the contradiction it seems like - I'm not sure whether we can consider her a member of the WWE main roster in the current moment