Report - Major Changes *POSSIBLY* Coming To The Divas Division

[Jack-Hammer]

There's a report at wrestlinginc.com, originating from PWInsider.com, stating that WWE is planning major changes for the Divas over the course of the coming weeks and months. The talk allegedly revolves around how the Divas are portrayed.

As has been seen on Total Divas, the women are portrayed with strong personalities, yet not so much on Raw or SmackDown!, at least when it comes to the Divas as a whole. Fans of Total Divas who tune into regular WWE programming that haven't before aren't seeing the same portrayal that they see on Total Divas. WWE officials are looking to fix this so they don't lose potential viewers in the coming months. The report states that some WWE officials want to change the perception of the Divas based on the success of Total Divas. A lot of this is stemming from the #GiveDivasAChance movement that, according to the article, has opened up some eyes among WWE officials as to how the female wrestlers are booked.

Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a noticeable difference in the overall storyline involving AJ, Paige & The Bellas. This past Monday saw a near 12 minute match for the Divas Championship between Paige and Nikki Bella as well as another roughly 10 minute match the week before. On SD! this past Thursday, Nikki & Brie delivered one of the better promos they've ever done with AJ & Paige both playing their parts well. Paige seemed more in tune with the Anti-Diva character in NXT than she's shown since coming to the main roster, acknowledging that she & AJ are the "freaks" and proud of it while Nikki & Brie just seemed like a couple of bitches instead of a couple of popular mean girls in high school.

At the same time, I'm sorta taking this report with a pinch of salt. I find it difficult to believe that the #GiveDivasAChance movement on Twitter has "opened" the eyes of some company officials to something that they weren't seeing before. More often than not, more people go for refreshments, to the bathroom, entertain themselves or, when it comes to the TV audience, see what's happening on other shows while Diva segments are going on. I just have a difficult time believing that there are some officials within the company who are only now becoming aware of how much of a joke the Divas Division as a whole has been viewed by fans since...well since always really. If people within the company needed their eyes open as to how women are portrayed on regular WWE programming, all they've needed to do for the past year is watch how women are used in NXT. The claim strikes me as bogus or there are officials in WWE who aren't even watching the product and if it's honestly does happen to be the latter, then said officials should be given their walking papers.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Never saw one second of Total Divas. But if their fake personalities on that show are more interesting than their fake and/or non-existent personalities on RAW, then by all means, change how you portray the Divas.

 

[Messiah]

How can they use them more than they already do? The divas get enough time on television, occasionally they should make their matches longer but that's it.. 1 divas storyline is enough.. Truthfully, most of the divas don't give a shit and are only there to collect a paycheck, it's blatantly obvious with the look on their face every time they're out there, and the fact that some of them are crying about money on Twitter. Only a few divas deserve more of a chance like Paige, The Bellas, Emma.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

How can they use them more than they already do?.

I think the bigger point is less about time and more about what they do during the time they are out there.

The actual "change" that is being discussed is in how the Divas are portrayed.

Apparently, however they act on Total Divas is how they are now going to act on RAW and SD. Whatever that means.

 

[LBGetBack]

How can they use them more than they already do? The divas get enough time on television, occasionally they should make their matches longer but that's it.. 1 divas storyline is enough.. Truthfully, most of the divas don't give a shit and are only there to collect a paycheck, it's blatantly obvious with the look on their face every time they're out there, and the fact that some of them are crying about money on Twitter. Only a few divas deserve more of a chance like Paige, The Bellas, Emma.

So you can tell what people you've never met are thinking just by the facial expressions they are using on TV?

C'mon.

 

[ArcherCC]

I just want them to give them full matches like they do on NXT, the RAW Divas I don't give a hoot about, their matches suck most of the time. Flip side the NXT Divas have great matches, they are allowed full time slots, and work hard.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Try to make your product more appealing to women by giving women wrestlers more of a spotlight? Crazy talk.

 

[OldSchoolWrestlingFan]

The WWE needs to come to the realization to make the Divas more appealing they need to make them sexy/strong/talented not just a bunch of air head busty models that in ring performances suck. They need to go back the way Trisha, Lita, etc was used during the Attitutde Era in my humble opinion - they had a great balance of sexy & athletic.

The way they build Divas in NXT, like Charlotte, is dead on! She is sexy, strong, aggressive & puts on magnificent matches. They have loads of great female talent & could put on amazing matches but they just don't allow them to do so. Go watch Natalya vs Charlotte for the NXT Women's Chamionship its proof they could put on great matches with their Diva talent if they had more time & better booking.

 

[gmanversion1]

TNA did women's wrestling right. NXT got it right. Main roster WWE is starting to get it right.

There's no reason there can't be more than 1 divas angle.

I was a fan of the Women's Tag Team Title, and I would love to see WWE bring them back.

 

[kadroan]

TNA did women's wrestling right. NXT got it right. Main roster WWE is starting to get it right.

There's no reason there can't be more than 1 divas angle.

I was a fan of the Women's Tag Team Title, and I would love to see WWE bring them back.

They should bring the Women's Tag Team title back or bring back the Women's title just to add more possibilities for the writers to get creative with the Divas. Right now, it's just Nikki vs. whoever wants to beat her for the title while everybody else is in limbo.

 

[Seosa]

More angles, better storylines, reverting back to the Women's Championship & treating the division seriously would all help.

 

[Wald]

Great news if true. It's not at all hard to get right either and present your females as strong athletes with good storylines running behind them. Set aside three segments per week on Raw & Smackdown to highlight the Divas Championship feud and one other feud in the Divas division. Have the likes of Natalya and Lana also showcased on these shows as part of their act with Tyson, Rusev or whoever as well and you're golden. Perhaps give them ten minutes on Main Event to help highlight upcoming Divas too.

I mean the interest is there and a good Divas storyline does capture the fans interest. Further to that, the likes of Paige, AJ, the Bellas and Natalya all have strong characters so just highlight them more.

One thing I'd add to the mix is for them to drop the Divas name though. Go back to just calling it the Women's Title and highlight that they are female athletes. The word Diva has too many connotations with bitchy for it to be taken seriously.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The most interesting aspect of it is watching WWE try to open a new market segment. Most folks seem to agree that WWE's current primary audience is young men. Going after young women who like reality shows, if successful, would bring them fans they never had before....in fact, before the Total Divas show, probably never dreamed of having.

But does having these young women who watch the reality show translate to watching the same gals fight it out in a wrestling ring? I suppose it revolves around the nature of interest they have in the divas. Outside pro wrestling, if the publicity machine can interest folks in a certain personality, they'll watch that celebrity no matter what they're doing.....two examples being Paris Hilton and the Kardashian women. Yes, what they're doing is essentially nothing.....yet, there are millions of people following them as they do it.

So, if young gals find the Bellas and Natalya to be compelling people, the viewers might very well follow them to USA and SyFy to see what else they do.

As far as changing how the divas act on Raw and Smackdown; making them appear on these shows as they do on Total Divas......well, that I've got to see. I've watched the stupid reality show a couple of times and one thing I've picked up on is the marital trouble between Natalya and Tyson Kidd; they've managed to show a bit of it on the main shows as Nattie accompanies Kiddaro to ringside for their matches. I don't know that I'd call it compelling, but I do find it interesting.

Bravo to WWE if they can make something happen in this area. If it makes the WWE women a better watch, it's worth a try.

 

[Wald]

I actually think the success of Ronda Rousey has probably caused this change of heart. We know Stephanie is a big fan of hers and we also know that Heyman is. Through in MMA fans like Undertaker possibly putting her over as being one of the biggest, if not the biggest, MMA star in the world now and it might have opened Vince's eyes to people taking female athletes seriously.

 

[OYDK]

Good timing for WWE with the #GiveDivasaChance movement making its rounds... they can use it as an excuse for why they're re-vamping the division. I'd say the main reason WWE's thinking about giving the Diva's more time, is because of the potential viewer loss from Total Diva's fanbase. Without Total Divas, the WWE Diva's would still be trading the title weekly, and I wholly believe that.

Whatever the reason though, it's obvious that more than a few Diva's on the main roster can work a decent 10-15 minute match. Nattie, Brie, Nikki, Paige, AJ, and Naomi off the top of my head, and that's not even counting the NXT Diva's. Making the women an integral part of the show can only make the product better overall, as we the fans won't have to sit through 5 torturous minutes of "we don't give a shit."

 

[Wald]

So much for #GiveDivasAChance.

They tried their hardest to drag out the Rock & Rousey segment so that it would be darker for Wyatt v Taker and yet they couldn't give the Divas more than six minutes of ring time for their match?

 

[GeTiTT]

The match at Mania was "ok" being that it was Wrestlemania there was so much more they could have done. Looking at tonights 6 Diva tag match on Raw i think we can see changes coming if they continue with the time given. I think the key is to keep the likes of Cameron, Eve Marie, Rosa Mendez away from the ring as much as possible. Let the big girls do all the work. Looking forward to see what happens with the Divas title picture at Xtreme rules with these top 6 woman.