Why did Charlotte VS Paige fail so miserably?

[MartialHorror]

Their Survivor Series match was...odd, to say the least. It was generally regarded to be a technically well wrestled match, but the crowd was dead and I was bored- even though I like both women.

I think there were two prominent flaws in the booking of the match and writing of this storyline. The first is-

1) Paige has been booked as weak lately and not even in the same way that Rollins was booked. She broke up Team PCB because she was losing and afterwards...she kept losing. She lost to Becky Lynch and even Natalya, who herself has been relegated to being a jobber. The compelling feuds tend to be collisions between two nearly equal forces and Paige was not presented as Charlotte's equal. The only time this works is if the weaker opponent has a handicap in their favor (example, Naomi has Tamina), but Paige only had herself.

2) Charlotte was a horrid babyface and Paige is an entertaining heel. Weak booking aside, Paige has been cutting some awesome promos lately. She's almost more of a wildcard, as she has also clashed with other heels. Charlotte isn't bad on the mic, but she's not on Paige's level. Paige, when talking, comes across as 'cool'- sort of like Kevin Owens.

Charlotte keeps bringing up her Dad or does her 'wooing', which only gives validity to some of Paige's arguments. The infamous contract signing where Paige brought up Reid Flair drew a lot of heat, but I took a much different issue with it. Charlotte kept bringing him up, even though she hadn't directly mentioned him before (at least that I remember), including during her emotional conquering of the Bella Empire. It felt like Charlotte was using his name to garner sympathy for that reason, which made the whole angle feel kind of seedy, even if that wasn't the attention. While Paige was out-of-line for being derogatory, Charlotte was the one to open the door. Also, Charlotte has been a hypocrite lately, accusing Paige of making it all about 'her' (Paige), when Charlotte was doing the exact same thing. This is more of an attack on how her promos and character are written, of course, and not an attack on Charlotte herself...unless she is writing those promos.

Plus, as I keep saying, 'genetically superior' is not a phrase that should be associated with a babyface.

So Charlotte is becoming an unsympathetic heroine while Paige alternates between sympathetic villain and cool villain. Fans don't really want to boo either of them, because Charlotte is still running off of momentum from her NXT run and Paige rekindled a lot of interest with her heel turn. The result was pure apathy.

I still think Charlotte would be a better wildcard than babyface. For fans to get interest, I believe they need to separate her from Becky. They don't need to have a falling out, but it does seem odd when babyfaces have the numbers advantage. I think Charlotte herself needs to play up her bad-ass persona and match Paige in the 'cool' factor. Her promos should not be based around 'You're not a good role model for girls. You're not champion material' as it's too reminiscent of some of the shit Nikki would say when demeaning someone.

But what do you guys think? Do you agree? Do you believe Paige should've been the face and Charlotte the heel? What would've made this angle get a more positive reaction? Or do you think Paige or Charlotte just aren't compelling enough? Or did you like this story?

 

[Navi]

I think the problem has been the whole Diva's Revolution, and the WWE's inability to book women's wrestling.

Was absolutely thrilled when the three Banks, Lynch and Charlotte were brought up from NXT, but very disappointed with the way the whole thing came off. First of all they should never have been put into three teams of three, that was ridiculous. Wrestlers like Naomi, Alicia Fox and Brie Bella, were treated as glorified attendants. Sasha Banks who I thought would be the break out star, has has very few TV matches, and it's clear the crowd loves and wants to see more of her.

Charlotte is very good in the ring, great athleticism, but is lacking in the promo department. That's something that will come with time, and that's what they should have given her more off. I would really like to have seen these three girls get involved in singles feuds to really show their stuff, as it is, Banks and Lynch like I said have very few matches.

Where they failed with Paige and Charlotte was the same problem they are having with the men's side of things, very few faces. Charlotte, Lynch and Nattie are the only three on the face side. On the heel side you have Nikki and Brie Bella, Alicia Fox, Tamina, Sasha Banks, Naomi and now Paige with her pipe bomb. So three faces against seven heels. The matches for me anyway got boring quickly.

Paige can cut a promo better than most Diva's but there was no rebuttal from the other side. She carried the feud on the mic, and while the match at SS should have been great it wasn't really. People have lost interest. Poor booking, really a lack of chemistry between to two have brought about what could have been something special, to something that we could have seen on RAW.

 

[MERPER]

For me the answer comes down to 2 simple things:

1) Charlotte isn't very good in the ring and is worse on the mic. She's just incredibly awkward to me, for some reason, and it makes it difficult to watch.

2) The promo involving her dead brother. I lost all interest right at that moment. I hated it and felt it was just awful to go to that level in order to build the feud. If you need to rely on a death to build a feud and garner interest, you've already acknowledged there is no interest and the writing staff is too lazy to find something better.

 

[Checkmate]

Odd is exactly the word to describe the booking, and let's be honest, it is the booking. Lots of these ladies are over with the crowd. Paige, Becky, Charolette, and even Nicki get reactions. Oh, and let's not even get started with Sasha. And we also know that they can work good matches. Look no further than NXT for that. They have history. They can go.

But, in NXT they were booked differently. They had feuds that made sense and were given decent match lengths. Granted, they've been getting more time at the main roster level, but the storyline progression hasn't been there to match. Let's take a look at the last month or so:

Paige betrays Charolette (and Becky). Paige gets her title shot. Becky fades away. Charolette has personal beef with Paige, and Paige makes it worse with a controversial promo (which has since been retconned out of existence). Point being, Paige is trying to get to Charolette in order to win the title. Their RAW match showed this. Aggression. Passion. Where was that at Survivor Series? Nowhere. Why?

Paige is shaky at times. For a while pre-revolution it looked like she was phoning it in. Charolette isn't used to being on the main roster yet and it shows. She's at the top of a division in flux, and such a thing requires a strong figurehead. Charolette isn't there yet. Her ringwork is the weakest of the PCB trio, and her character is reliant on her retired legend of a father. There is a foundation, but it hasn't evolved into anything yet.

That being said, I don't think the whole angle failed miserably. For years, we didn't have much of anything when it came to Divas' angles, and when we did, it was crap. This shows some progress. It's not all good, but there are tiny glimpses of something better in there. Wait till Sasha, Paige, and Becky start something. Those three can handle themselves a bit better than Charolette, and will likely be able to carry a longer program.

 

[MartialHorror]

Yeah, 'failure' might be too harsh of a word. If anything, the matches have been decent and some of the promos are good. It's not horrible or anything, but the entire thing has been shaky at best, misfired at worst.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Hardly a failure, but there were two main issues with their otherwise solid match at Survivor Series: the crowd were zapped after the lengthy elimination tag match, and wouldn't recover until the Undertaker turned up; and the awkward finish to the match. Just seemed to come out of nowhere.

Otherwise it was probably Charlotte's best match since coming up to the main roster.

 

[Wald]

It's not been a failure but it has felt flat alright. I put it down to a number of reasons and, as always, the booking is the most fault

#1. Charlotte has been portrayed as an afterthought champion. She got some of the spotlight in the final Raw promo leading in to the match but we know very little about her except that she's Flair's daughter. Well, NXT viewers know more about her but Raw only viewers (the majority) don't.

#2. Faction wars was not the way to go with the 'Divas Revolution'. I'd have kept Becky on NXT for another few months and debuted her around now. Charlotte could have gone up to challenge Nikki as a solo act and Sascha could have followed quickly behind her to fit in with her Boss character (why would she stay on NXT when she's better than Charlotte etc.). That would have given them time to draw out both characters better and introduce Becky in a better fashion.

#3. Paige is fast turning in to the Big Show of the women's division. Her character seems to flip between heel and face multiple times during a week, even within promos. Hard to care deeply about an act like that.

#4. Hardcore fans, the ones who really wanted the Divas Revolution, see Charlotte vs Paige as a second rate feud compared to Bayley vs Sascha, which is where the real two leaders of the women's division are.

#5. Even casual fans recognise something special in Sascha and want her in the mix, hopefully they go there with Charlotte vs Sascha but WWE have already painted themselves in to a corner by building the main roster anticipation for Sascha to get her shot. She'll get more babyface reactions than Charlotte in any potential feud, mark my words. Though Sascha is a talented enough heel to potentially turn that around.

#6. Main roster fans have been conditioned not to get excited about the women's division. Simple as that. I'm about as big a fan of the current women's division as there is but I'm also just expecting Vince to pull the rug out from under Bayley, Sascha, Becky, Emma, Asuka, Paige and Charlotte and just go back to his T&A preferences with Nikki (though she's not bad as a wrestler), Eva Marie and maybe even Lana.

#7. Steve Austin touched on this in his podcast this week when he said the main roster women's style is booked different to NXT, so Charlotte has had a bit of trouble changing from the freer Full Sail style to Vince's produced matches. Begs the question, if you agree with Austin that is, if main roster women's matches will ever top what's on NXT.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't know that it's failed miserably because, let's also be honest, some of us have impossibly high standards that can't be met and some decided to hate on the whole Divas Revolution without even giving it a chance. Both are common reasons why something in modern wrestling "fails" in the eyes of some fans.

The problem lies in the booking, it's just that simple. As has been pointed out, the storylines in NXT are easy to invest in, logical and the women are treated like competitors. On the main roster, Vince prefers these convoluted storylines in which logic isn't a top consideration sometimes and the women are portrayed mostly as catty bitches who engage in juvenile antics or name calling. Can main roster writers book women as the NXT writers do? Of course they can, but the problem is that the primary goal of WWE's creative team is to make Vince McMahon happy. They have to cater to Vince by either coming up with ideas that they know he'll like or listening to feedback on what they can come up with that he might or probably will like. WWE creative gets a lot of criticism but it's all too easy to forget that it's ultimately about making Vince happy, it's about what he finds entertaining more so than maybe what a helluva lot of fans are into; the problem with that philosophy is that too many fans feel as though they're not treated as a priority in what they prefer and it shows because Raw's ratings are hitting all time lows.

Also, to be fair, Survivor Series was a show that just didn't have the energy. There are some shows that have talented workers and good matches, but the energy isn't there for various reasons. In the case of Survivor Series, the show wasn't really treated like a priority with the exception of giving fans a nostalgic rush with it marking Taker's 25th anniversary and putting the title on Roman Reigns. Fans knew that both things were going to happen and many just weren't all that excited about either of them, especially the latter as many view Roman Reigns as the corporate pick. The traditional Survivor Series matches that took place weren't remotely a priority, they were just tacked on so that wrestlers could get part of the payday and to fill up some air time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'm not sure where the threadstarter is even coming from. This feud hasn't failed. The only capacity where it can be seen as having any negative effect is the comment Paige made about Charlotte's brother. That was a bit below the belt, but with Paige being a heel she did her job if she made you angry. People complained for YEARS, nearly a decade in fact, that the divas division was garbage after Trish and Lita left. Until Kaitlyn and AJ stepped up, it was. Mickie James couldn't carry the division on her own, neither could Beth Phoenix. There were too many untalented divas. That changed when Kaitlyn won the Divas Championship and began feuding with AJ. We had Divas Champions who could actually wrestle. Then there was the AJ VS Paige feud, equally great. Now it's Paige VS Charlotte.

We have a divas division where the majority of the girls can work decent matches and are good at promos to hype said matches. We have a Divas Champion who can wrestle. She has a #1 contender who is highly gifted in the ring as well as on the mic. The two are involved in the most personal feud the division has seen in a long time. Yet people are still complaining! What more do you people want!? There's just no pleasing some fans. This feud hasn't failed, it's just that some fans refuse to give the divas a chance, they will whine no matter what they get. Paige and Charlotte can put on good matches and I look forward to seeing where they go from here.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

There are many reasons and booking is the least of all. These women have been booked just fine. Charlotte has been booked to be a dominate but green champ and Paige has the history with the title to handle a loss or two but always be seen as a threat.

Here are some of the real reasons:

1. Shitty writing: these promos have been trash. They seem too long and convoluted. Charlotte came to WWE to fulfill her bro's dream but something about having someone have your back and I am going to kill you blah blah.

2. Execution: Charlotte and Paige have been given lemons in the writing and managed to make urine. Charlotte is an atrocious actress and Paige is not much better.

3. The shadow: Charlotte and Paige are living in Sasha's mysterious shadow that people think will save the Divas division. Just like people thought Paige would do and then for a short time thought Charlotte would do.

4. The Nature Gene: too much, it's too much. Mimicking her father seems to be the thing she is best at but there is too much of it. Charlotte is a tall, athletic tan blond who grew up in privilege, the complete opposite of 99.76% WWE's fan base. I would think that there is more the creative team could do with that. Plus, if you are going to have Charlotte being Natch 2.0 wouldn't it make more sense to make her a devious heel.

5. Surroundings: it is hard to enjoy one story when the rest of most of Raw is complete shit. Charlotte may have to join New Day to have entertainment value.

6. Reid comment: it was a mistake.

7. Paige's appearance: I'm being nitpicky but she is a pretty woman who dresses all wrong and needs to lose the make up and sharknet stockings. It is all too distracting.

8. Weaves: too much damn hair in the ring. They may want to consider putting enough fake hair to cover up that mole on Charlotte's face but otherwise all that hair makes the talent look like Cousin It and hides their facial expressions.

But mostly it is shitty writing and untalented actresses.

 

[Messiah]

When was the last time a divas feud didn't fail?.. Every divas segment is awkward to sit through, it's hard for creative to write for woman when the woman aren't great to begin with.. There's not one diva that's not awkward on the mic. They all suck, some of the are great in the ring, but none of them can cut a great promo. No woman have ever been able to cut an excellent promo besides Stephanie McMahon.. Don't give me that AJ and Sasha bullshit, they suck on the mic to. It's hard to tell a compelling story when nobody can sell it on the mic. That's why Stephanie started the divas revolution when she introduced Becky and Charlotte.

 

[The Scarred One]

I wouldn't say the feud has failed. It's certainly shaky, but it's not necessarily a failure. Even then, you can't blame either Paige or Charlotte for it. For years, people have viewed the Divas division as a joke. It wasn't hard to see why with WWE bypassing many talented female wrestlers in exchange for bikini models. To expect a strong turnaround overnight is ridiculous. You have to rehab the Divas brand to the point where people can start taking it seriously again. Calling up the likes of Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks was not a quick-fix solution. But it was a start in the right direction.

Once again, the writers must shoulder the blame in this case. It reminds me of how the cruiserweight division was booked before it ended in 2007. You can have the best talent in the world, but it doesn't mean a damn thing if the writers don't invest in it and strongly push it. NXT has proven that the fans can get behind a strong women's division if it's booked correctly. Look at the Banks/Bayley match at NXT Takeover-Brooklyn. It was a much larger crowd than NXT was accustomed to performing in front of. But that match stole the show and probably should've been the main event. So it's possible that the main roster writers can do the same and make fans care about women's wrestling. If only Vince McMahon would allow them.

Paige has really reinvigorated herself since her heel turn. She's one of the best heels in the WWE. Charlotte is a natural athlete and can certainly go in the ring. She can also go on the mic. Not on the same level as her father, but she can still cut a good promo. For Charlotte, I think it's a case of giving her too much too soon. She had only been on the main roster for two months when they gave her the title. I'm a strong believer in the slow build. Let them start off slow so they can get their feet wet so to speak. Then, when they get settled into their role, that's when you pull the trigger and push them. Again, that falls on the writers' shoulders.

Here's how I would've booked the feud:

Don't focus on Charlotte so much at first. Focus on Paige being the one to dethrone Nikki Bella. She does so at Night of Champions and Team PCB celebrates the end of Nikki's reign. While Paige defends her title against Nikki and closes out that feud, that's when you build up Charlotte. Have her pick up win after win and eventually earn a shot at Paige's title. When Paige and Charlotte have their match at Survivor Series, Paige wins by cheating. The next night, Charlotte calls her out on it and an apologetic Paige grants her a rematch. The next week, the rematch takes place and Paige again cheats to win. After the match, Charlotte again calls Paige out on it. But this time, Paige just lays her out with no remorse whatsoever, cementing her heel turn.

When asked why she turned on her friend on an episode of RAW or SmackDown, Paige pretty much says that she used Charlotte to get her title back and that she no longer needed her. She would also say something like how Charlotte is trying to take her spotlight or something like that. Charlotte is hurt by this but vows to make Paige pay for what she did. All the while, Becky Lynch is stuck in the middle, not sure which side to choose. At TLC, Paige and Charlotte face off once more for the title. This time, in a ladder match, because why the hell not. Towards the end of the match, Charlotte looks like she's going to win. Becky Lynch comes out to show her support, only for her to turn on Charlotte and help Paige retain the title. The next night, Becky Lynch explains her actions, saying that her friendship with Paige goes back further than her friendship with Charlotte and how they've had each other's backs for years. Charlotte has a match against someone and wins, but she's not 100 percent following her match the previous night. That's when Paige and Becky strike and lay her out to the point where she has to be taken away in an ambulance.

So Charlotte is out of action for a while. Meanwhile, Paige has a short feud with Natalya, who calls Paige out on her actions. They feud with each other going into the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber with Paige coming out on top on both occasions. Natalya does her job of putting Paige over further. As this goes on, we get updates on Charlotte's well-being through sit-down interviews at her home. She's fine physically but she's broken spiritually. Finally, her father comes along and pretty much chews her out for choosing to roll over and play dead. He pretty much deliver something along the lines of what Rocky told his son in "Rocky Balboa." This lights a fire under Charlotte's ass to get back in the game. So after Paige finishes her feud with Natalya, Charlotte makes her return, determined to end Paige's reign as Diva's Champion. Paige is blowing Charlotte off, saying she has beaten her rival three times and doesn't think she's worthy of a title shot. Prior to WrestleMania, it's decided that Charlotte will have the opportunity for another title shot. But she has to beat Becky to do so. In a hard-fought battle, in which Paige tries to interfere but gets run off by another diva, Charlotte comes out on top.

Thus the stage is set for Charlotte vs. Paige at WrestleMania 32. The first stipulation being that if Charlotte loses, she will never get another shot at Paige's title again. The second one being that it's no holds barred. So after weeks of building up both champion and challenger, they finally face off on the grandest stage of them all. The match is brutal, full of passion and fury, as they both just beat the shit out of each other. Once again, Becky tries to interfere on Paige's behalf, but a miscommunication between the two causes Becky to be taken out of the equation. Eventually, Charlotte locks Paige in the Figure 8. Paige tries to fight her way out of it, but she eventually taps out. Charlotte has finally beaten her former friend and and has won the Diva's Championship. You have Ric come out and congratulate her in what should be a beautiful and emotional moment.

After that, Charlotte retains the title against Paige at the following pay-per-view due to another miscommunication between Paige and Becky. Finally fed up, Becky lays out Paige and turns face, leading to a feud between them in which Becky comes out on top. In the meantime, Charlotte feuds with Sasha Banks over the Diva's Championship in what should be a stellar feud, in which Sasha eventually wins the title. You can then have Charlotte try to once again win back the title or maybe have Becky go after it. There are plenty of possibilities to go from that point.

At least, that's what I would have done. It may be too late for the writers to do something similar, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

 

[Azane]

I don't see it failing, it's been an above average Woman's feud. It's not Lita vs Trish, but are you seriously going to expect 2 women who've wrestled about 4 years combined to be on that level?

Charlotte keeps forgetting to sell when she's supposed to be hurt, somethings that continously killed her matches for me, her flexibility and move set are ok, That spear off the guard rail was TERRIBLE though, looked like they were trying to be make it on Botchamania.

The Reid comment actually sold me on watching the event, I was hoping the WWE was going to go to a new level beyond "IM GONNA BEAT YOU UP" Storytelling, sadly they backed up on it, and now we're back to the bland "We're not BFFS anymore" generic storyline.

I don't know, this is still the most interesting I've seen the division since Trish/Lita, and in a way, it's better because there's much more talent spread out.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Paige vs Charlotte at Survivor Series was actually one of the best matches on the card. For some reason everyone seemed to be phoning it in on that night. Phoning Series 2015. Thrown together , meaningless elimination matches.

A better question is , "Why has creative failed so miserably ?"

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

It didn't. The match was good. The story was great. The mention of Reid Flair's passing, although controversial, made the feud personal, which is always great.

What else can you expect? Not every story and match is going to be a classic and on the level Sasha vs. Bayley was.

 

[ShinChan]

Nopes it hasnot failed.... The match at Survivor Series was good and match at Raw was better too.... Paige has been awesome as a heel and Charlotte is learning to be a good face...So yeah booking is average but it is still better than the totally irrelevant booking in the past.... They are making it better and thats the good part..... They might take some more time but improvement is always good...

 

[TML3:16]

I think the overall problem is most of the mainstream fans don't know Charlotte that well and the way she is presented isn't getting her over like they hoped, so people find it hard to invest. Also, they aren't used to seeing long, physical womens matches.
People shouldn't be cheering Paige for what she said and did, but people know her and liked her before, so they will cheer her because they aren't sold on who she is bullying. The women on the main roster need to get over in time, they can't force people to feel something. It's the same kinda thing thats been happening with Roman. It will work, but it will take time.

 

[whoopin' ass]

I think 2 reasons. First as mentioned already, the division hasn't really improved even after the "revolution". Over the last number of years, the wwe has trained thier audience that divas matches are short, so-so quality matches and that is what they have come to expect. Plus as a whole, technical matches are not pushed as much in wwe as they used to so combine that with a divas match and you are screwed. I know it makes no sense but neither does wwe today - how can the audience appreciate something good when they see it if they are rarely exposed to it? You'll get some fans who like it but because it is wasn't what they expect, lots won't understand or appreciate it.

I think the other issue, and it will impact the WWE Title too, is that the last champ never had thier rematch so it feels like this is just a filler feud. At any time Bella can come back and will probably win the title or at least be the big storyline - that's how wwe does it. Fans know she has that rematch coming( unless i blinked and missed it) so it is hard to get invested in a storyline with the current champ since the other angle never really finished. WWE Title will have the same issue - really doesn't matter who has the title right now, everyone is just waiting to see how they handle Rollins return and how he wins the title back.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I still think Charlotte would be a better wildcard than babyface.

Could very well be. In many ways, Charlotte seems trapped in a 'Daddy Vortex' with the way the company is forcing her to play up her natural association to Ric Flair. Her trainers, including Pops, have given her so many of Ric's characteristics.....from the 'strut' to the 'Woooo!' to the Figure-Four that I sometimes wonder what Charlotte herself brings to the carnival. The tearful reunion of the two when she won the Diva title was supposed to be touching, yet it made me a bit nauseous.

Yet, she's a face? Doesn't make sense to me. If she's the daughter of the 'dirtiest player in the game,' let her add that to her repertoire.

Or, better yet; I like the 'wildcard' idea. Just as Ric went through his career being a heel who was often hated even as he was cheered......let his offspring try it that way.


As for the Charlotte-Paige match itself, I enjoyed the action but can't seem to get truly invested in the feud. I like Paige......in fact, I like her so much that the "It's my house" stuff seems phony and stilted.

Let the two gals reverse their heel-face tendencies.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

A lot of interesting points on Charlotte's character. I think the most valid of all is that we have no idea who she is. She was doing the whole "Ric's daughter" shtick in NXT, and it was generally well received, she keeps doing it now and we're a bit put off.

I have to say though, Paige vs Charlotte as SS was a great match, you could make a case for match of the night but I wouldn't be so generous. It's case of too far too fast.

We want to cheer for generational stars, they trigger a sense of nostalgia in us for their parents. I think that's why the Legacy failed (aside from being Orton's punching bags), we wanted to cheer for Ted Jr and Cody because we grew up watching Ted Sr and Dusty. Even when they're being bad, we're inevitably reminded of their heritage through their mannerisms and similarities.

You can't run away from the fact that she's Flair's daughter, you should embrace it, but she needs to be her own person at the same time. She's being pushed hard and fast, which people tend to push back against. It's worked to get people over (see Lesnar) and it's failed (see Barrett).

The Reid Flair comment was as hiccup, a gross awful hiccup with a little bit of vomit, but a hiccup nonetheless. They'll move past it. Charlotte is the figurehead of a weak division, so of course it appears as if the Empress has no clothes. She is very good in the ring and will only get better if she stays healthy.

Book a strong undercard, keep the butterfly if you have too, but recast that belt in gold, and start running more than one feud at a time. Team BAD vs Natalya isn't quite strong enough yet. Becky needs an opponent, put her and Sasha in a personal blood feud. As far as Charlotte goes, she is Ric Flair's daughter, she needs to be more than just that.

 

[laodaron]

Look, when you could be booking Sasha v. Natty for the belt, and you opt for Paige v. Charlotte, that's why it fails. Straight up, Charlotte is just bad. In the ring and on the mic. She's just not ready for the WWE yet.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I think it wouldn't matter which two Divas were put up, the crowd would be dead for them.

Even Trish v Lita wouldn't get world-class pops.

The WWE fans don't care about Divas, whether they be Trish, Lita, Sable, Sunny, Alundra Blayze, Wendi Ritcher, Moolah or even Paige and Charlotte.

I think that most in wrestling see Divas as eye-candy, and nothing more. Even those Divas who have been great in-ring workers aren't taken seriously, and many still act like the ring is the domain of the male, and I am a guy saying this.

In fact, the only woman I could see taken seriously by wrestling fans would be if someone like Ronda Rousey signed with WWE. She fights like she belongs. The WWE have trashed the "Diva" brand so much, that no female can turn the crowd around.

Hell, I would like to see the WWE Divas be like the TNA Knockouts, who do Hardcore Matches, who do Cage Matches, who headline a show with a "Last-Woman-Standing Matches".

I would like to see a Divas MITB Ladder Match, or a Cage Match (the only Divas Cage Match in WWE history was Lita v Victoria one night on "Raw"). Doing some of these brutal matches will make people take Divas seriously.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I think it wouldn't matter which two Divas were put up, the crowd would be dead for them.

Even Trish v Lita wouldn't get world-class pops.

The WWE fans don't care about Divas, whether they be Trish, Lita, Sable, Sunny, Alundra Blayze, Wendi Ritcher, Moolah or even Paige and Charlotte.

I think that most in wrestling see Divas as eye-candy, and nothing more. Even those Divas who have been great in-ring workers aren't taken seriously, and many still act like the ring is the domain of the male, and I am a guy saying this.

In fact, the only woman I could see taken seriously by wrestling fans would be if someone like Ronda Rousey signed with WWE. She fights like she belongs. The WWE have trashed the "Diva" brand so much, that no female can turn the crowd around.

Hell, I would like to see the WWE Divas be like the TNA Knockouts, who do Hardcore Matches, who do Cage Matches, who headline a show with a "Last-Woman-Standing Matches".

I would like to see a Divas MITB Ladder Match, or a Cage Match (the only Divas Cage Match in WWE history was Lita v Victoria one night on "Raw"). Doing some of these brutal matches will make people take Divas seriously.

A huge Amen to that brother. The name and attitude of -DIVAS- division needs to be torn down to the bones and rechristened as The Woman's Division . These woman wrestlers have the talent IMO but they are handicapped exactly like the men on what is kid friendly and what's not.

Imagine Charlotte getting busted open like her dad after a 35-40 minute match , then getting attacked after the match getting put through a table. Shit, I'd cheer for that big time.

 

[laodaron]

Imagine Charlotte getting busted open like her dad after a 35-40 minute match , then getting attacked after the match getting put through a table. Shit, I'd cheer for that big time.

This isn't even entertaining when men do it, it just looks dumb, blood spurting from foreheads when 90% of the damage they've taken is getting slammed on their backs.

Leave out the blood, leave out Charlotte (put her back in NXT or let her manage one of the good wrestlers), bring in Sasha, Natty, Becky, and Nikki, and make an interesting Women's division.

 

[Noshowers]

Charlotte needs to be heel, that's all there is to it. Sure people get Nostalgic for her old man and cheer nowadays, but creative shouldn't confuse that reaction and assume his daughter will just get that.

She is taller and bigger then most of the other women and she was born into privilege as the daughter of arguably the best wrestler in the history of the business. She should have a chip on her shoulder. She should feel entitled. She should have learned a trick or two from the old man and take shortcuts. If she is billed as a Flair then she should act like one.