The Roles For Women In Wrestling

[Hard Hit Prince]

In the past few years there has been a bigger demand for lead women in the entertainment business, and wrestling is or should be affected by that upward trend. However, there's a big "anti" movement for that trend in the WWE business model, starting from who is the real aim of the shows and ending up in the talent pool that we have available and the real goal of "wrestling".

Publicly the company is a sports-entertainment organization, with staged fights that usually have a goal to develop scripted storylines, to further up the popularity of a character and in that regard, developing their sales and social media impact (make profit). Vince McMahon as we all know is the promoter and some people seem to think he lost his grip, and that statement may very well be true, as he's still kind of trapped in last century thinking, but we can't take away the home runs he has achieved. Currently, there's a school of thought inside the WWE that call Raw and SmackDown's target a "one man show", being Vince McMahon the man who's supposed to like everything and not the fans. Dean Ambrose mentioned it on Talk Is Jericho, David Meltzer has further developed it, mainly because of the comparisons made between the NXT brand and the Main Roster brand.

So all of that to say that Vince McMahon's view on women is... WRONG. The way the Divas are treated and marketed to the audience is not the right way. While Men are still the force behind the major money makings in the entertainment and sports business, there's been a major growth in women's, starting from movie franchises such as "The Hunger Games" or "Divergent" or "Twilight", to critically acclaimed TV shows such as "Homeland" or TV talk shows with Ellen DeGeneres and Opra Whinfrey. In the sports side of this thesis we have Ronda Rousey, the UFC fighter is currently one of the biggest money makers for the company and she isn't selling herself as this "Queen of Beauty and Etiquette" that the WWE Divas are trying to.

In NXT, the women are wrestlers, I mean, Paige was red hot for the hardcore fans and that gave her a nice debut on WWE's main show, the night after WrestleMania, with a big ovation for the former WWE NXT and WWE Divas Champion. Nowadays, Charlotte seems to be in that role, as this unique athlete who brings it up inside the squared circle.

But now we go to the main roster, and we have the show filled with wrestler's who are more popular because of their presence on the hit reality show "Total Divas". While not a knock, the truth is that the show mainly treats aspects of the "personal" lives of models, more so than wrestlers. The stay in shape, the struggles of marriage, the "I'm an independent women" concept and what not, and, that isn't translated nowhere near to what they do inside the ring - that is, telling stories. AJ Lee got over, like really over, because of her characterization and of course, her successful role as General Manager of Monday Night Raw. The other ones, are there, because they are indeed "hot" and all the women want to be like them and the men want to sleep with them. However, that's it. The Bellas are a villain duo, who are so bitchy it's impossible to take them serious, and Nikki's making a real effort out there. The Funkadactyls are composed of a good athlete who has no character whatsoever aside from being a women and Niki Minaj's lost sister. Emma, was supposed to be fun. Summer Rae showed a lot of good work in NXT. However that does not translate in their wrestling careers, nothing translates to what they do inside the ring.

So what is your take on the female division in wrestling in the WWE? Try and hit the topics of the roles they are cast into, the characters, and specially, other roles aside from being wrestlers that make them interesting to you (eg: Lana as russian manager). If you can, give us some of the best moments starring WWE's women division.

 

[LBGetBack]

In the past few years there has been a bigger demand for lead women in the entertainment business, and wrestling is or should be affected by that upward trend. However, there's a big "anti" movement for that trend in the WWE business model, starting from who is the real aim of the shows and ending up in the talent pool that we have available and the real goal of "wrestling".

Publicly the company is a sports-entertainment organization, with staged fights that usually have a goal to develop scripted storylines, to further up the popularity of a character and in that regard, developing their sales and social media impact (make profit). Vince McMahon as we all know is the promoter and some people seem to think he lost his grip, and that statement may very well be true, as he's still kind of trapped in last century thinking, but we can't take away the home runs he has achieved. Currently, there's a school of thought inside the WWE that call Raw and SmackDown's target a "one man show", being Vince McMahon the man who's supposed to like everything and not the fans. Dean Ambrose mentioned it on Talk Is Jericho, David Meltzer has further developed it, mainly because of the comparisons made between the NXT brand and the Main Roster brand.

So all of that to say that Vince McMahon's view on women is... WRONG. The way the Divas are treated and marketed to the audience is not the right way. While Men are still the force behind the major money makings in the entertainment and sports business, there's been a major growth in women's, starting from movie franchises such as "The Hunger Games" or "Divergent" or "Twilight", to critically acclaimed TV shows such as "Homeland" or TV talk shows with Ellen DeGeneres and Opra Whinfrey. In the sports side of this thesis we have Ronda Rousey, the UFC fighter is currently one of the biggest money makers for the company and she isn't selling herself as this "Queen of Beauty and Etiquette" that the WWE Divas are trying to.

In NXT, the women are wrestlers, I mean, Paige was red hot for the hardcore fans and that gave her a nice debut on WWE's main show, the night after WrestleMania, with a big ovation for the former WWE NXT and WWE Divas Champion. Nowadays, Charlotte seems to be in that role, as this unique athlete who brings it up inside the squared circle.

But now we go to the main roster, and we have the show filled with wrestler's who are more popular because of their presence on the hit reality show "Total Divas". While not a knock, the truth is that the show mainly treats aspects of the "personal" lives of models, more so than wrestlers. The stay in shape, the struggles of marriage, the "I'm an independent women" concept and what not, and, that isn't translated nowhere near to what they do inside the ring - that is, telling stories. AJ Lee got over, like really over, because of her characterization and of course, her successful role as General Manager of Monday Night Raw. The other ones, are there, because they are indeed "hot" and all the women want to be like them and the men want to sleep with them. However, that's it. The Bellas are a villain duo, who are so bitchy it's impossible to take them serious, and Nikki's making a real effort out there. The Funkadactyls are composed of a good athlete who has no character whatsoever aside from being a women and Niki Minaj's lost sister. Emma, was supposed to be fun. Summer Rae showed a lot of good work in NXT. However that does not translate in their wrestling careers, nothing translates to what they do inside the ring.

So what is your take on the female division in wrestling in the WWE? Try and hit the topics of the roles they are cast into, the characters, and specially, other roles aside from being wrestlers that make them interesting to you (eg: Lana as russian manager). If you can, give us some of the best moments starring WWE's women division.

Honestly, I think that if they want to be serious about pushing the women's division, then they need women running things in that area. 90% of the women who get pushed....their characters fall into one of several categories. VERY few well developed, layered characters in the women's division over the years. Everyone that gets pushed is either the All American girl, the psycho, or the obnoxious bitch. That's about it. Most characters come off so fake or over the top. I feel like the people running the division really don't "get" women.

 

[enviousdominous]

I would have quoted your entire original post, except that I'm making a general reply on your thread and thus it would just make me look silly.

You know what burns my britches? The notion that if an entertainment company is driven by a male audience, that we men must obviously only want to see women intermittently and in situations that over-exploit their naughty parts while showing other women that to make it in the business you better learn how to do a lot of kneeling and bending over.

Sure, I think of women in a sexual manner sometimes. Only one woman (in case she's reading this). When I tune in, I'd rather be inspired by watching Bailey give %110 in her pursuit of the coveted NXT Women's Championship (I'm really glad that they call it a "Women's Championship" by the way) than have my intelligence insulted by watching two athletic women waste their talents in bikini contests or mud-wrestling.

We don't see so much of the smutty stuff anymore, but we're not seeing women being taken more seriously by the writers either. I don't know if it's lack of creativity or if it's a fear that they'll distract from the male performers, I'm pretty sure that if the women of the WWE were given the go ahead to do so they'd be entertaining us in the same way as the women of NXT.

I understand that you can't force appeal on an audience that is programmed to expect what they've been given for the past fifty years, maybe a dramatic storyline that goes beyond the stereotypical bullshit that's usually attributed to the female psyche will fall flat on an audience that refuses to relate. Personally, I think that the audience will welcome an iron-woman match at a given PPV where both women involved are granted the creative breathing room to act out a classic on par with Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart. I also think that if you preface that match with a month of drama on a more serious level between the two women, the fans won't be so confused by the lack of hair pulling and shrieking that they'd lose interest in the match.

I don't consider myself to be a feminist, I just want to see talented individuals stop being such a parody of their own gender.

 

[stingray11214]

Let's be very real here: WWE's main roster and NXT plays to two TOTALLY different audiences. RAW/SmackDown is essentially The John Cena Show. Adults are there because their kids drag them to see John Cena. So, you need to keep those adults entertained. Hence, the eye candy. It does not matter if they can wrestle or not, as long as they look like those girls that men will go to the toilet with their picture. NXT plays to the wrestling fan. Looks be damned, as long as they can WRESTLE. The only reason I can see Charlotte even on the Main Roster is because she is the daughter of the Nature Boy himself.

Look, if you REALLY want to watch Women's wrestling, there are PLENTY of outlets to watch good, strong Women's wrestling. Shimmer, Shine, Lucha Undergrond, and the Joshi promotions in Japan. You, unless you are willing to go down on your knees and worship VKM and anything he does, do NOT need to watch the trash and glorified prostitutes that currently hold court on WWE's main roster.

You want to see real Women's wrestling? Last night, on YouTube, I watched the 2000 documentary "GAEA Girls". You want to see why Joshi Puroresu in Japan is light years ahead of America? See how Chigusa Nagayo trains those girls. I can guarandamtee you that the Bellas and Cameron would not last a combined 10 minutes in that camp.

 

[Meth Head]

There was a period in the early 2000s when the WWE took its women's division as seriously as it did the men's. I do not understand why they simply cannot bring that mentality back. The division during that time showed that they can put on genuinely engaging matches that rivaled many mid-card acts during the same period. Hell, I don't think anyone would even argue when I say that the Trish vs Lita main event on Raw back in '04 shits on some recent 'Mania main event matches in terms of quality. That was how much the division was on fire during that time.

The WWE never stopped objectifying their female personalities even during that time, of course, but at least for that brief period they showed that they could nail a balance between sexuality and in-ring prowess when it came to their women's division. It's just a damn shame that they decided to tamper with that formula and regressed to treating women as just sex objects again.

 

[BuriedByCena]

They are basically just there to be eye-candy, for pee breaks and ring rats for the wrestlers when it gets too lonely on the road. I hate to say that, but it is the truth. You only need to look at how often the wrestlers hook up with Diva's as proof.

Batista, Cena and CM Punk were very famous/well known with hooking up with the entire Diva's locker room. Undertaker Married Michelle Mccool, Punk/AJ, Bryan/Bella, Cena/Bella, Miz/Marase, Jimmy or Jay Uso/whatever her name is....the list goes on and on.