As I watched Raw this past week, with my brother, who has not watched any wrestling for some time, I gained the perspective of a casual fan.
Make no mistake, my brother is not the typical casual fan, he, like me, is a huge "smart" mark, and at one point was a huge fan, but has been so turned off of wrestling as of late, because of the lack of actual wrestling, and to quote Regal, "absolutely diabolical" angles, that he has not watched in quite some time.
As we watched, the Women's, I mean Divas, match was about to take place. Before the match, as is now custom, there was a quick backstage segment, with the Women, I mean Divas, walking to the ring, before the commercial.
It was at this point that he pointed out something, that to me that seemed merely a subtle difference, until I thought about it. As Randy Orton's favorite diva walked out, and held her "Diva's Championship" my brother said something to me that struck me, he questioned laughingly "they made the Women's championship a butterfly?"
I had realized it before, but never put much thought in to it. Yes, they had made a new Women's championship, or atleast renamed it, and made it into the shape of a butterfly. This got me thinking, and I realized that the reshaping of the physical belt, into the shape of a butterfly, was a microcosm of what the woman's division has become in WWE.
Gone, are the days of women that could actual wrestle; such as Trish, Lita, Molly Holly, and others, long gone. There was a time where it mattered whether or not the women could wrestle, and it seems now, that all they are required to do is look pretty, and what does a butterfly do? All it does is look pretty.
Which makes me wonder, was this a conscious decision, made to reflect the division, was it made so as to not insult the women of the past? Or did some jackass just say "uhh yeah make it a butterfly, why not?" In the structured world of WWE, I don't think it was as haphazard as that.
They apparently made an organization decision (despite going PG) to just have the women, I mean Divas, as eye candy. They've begun the practice of hiring models first, and then trying to train them. This, in my estimation began with the Divas search.
Contrary to popular belief, or what WWE programming will have you believe, there are hot women, that can actually wrestle. For the most part, the "Knockouts" of TNA can actually wrestle, at least better than the Divas. There are plenty of female wrestlers on the independent circuit that are terrific wrestlers, *cough* Sara Del Ray *cough*.
It seems as though with the WWE Divas, that wrestling does not even matter at all, if a Diva is hot, they are put on TV, and given a championship. Half of the women on the roster would not even make Stone Cold's cut on Tough Enough.
And, I'd like to think that, their all time favorite match wouldn't be Melina Vs. Alicia Fox....
-Mark X
I disagree in your statement that half the women on the roster wouldn't make it on Tough Enough. A lot of today's Divas can actually wrestle -- they're just not given enough time to do so. For as much as people knock Eve Torres, she is a legitimate athlete and can actually work when given more than 5 minutes. The only reason why Eve isn't given her due is because she doesn't look like a true wrestler in the same mold as Beth Phoenix or Natalya. If anything, I liken Eve to Gail Kim, as both look like models but have a workrate that belies their appearance. Not to say that Eve is the best female wrestler on that roster, of course, but she's far from terrible. I'd also lump the Bella Twins in that category, as they have an understanding of ring psychology in the way they've gotten themselves over as heels; the only reason this hasn't been noticed is because guys will still cheer for them because they're hot. Watch a 7-minute Bella Twins match without audio, preferably against another set of girls that can work like LayCool, and you'll see that their fundamentals are solid.
ReplyDeleteAlso too, if one woman can't work, no matter who she's paired with, they could both end up looking bad, and Eve is not too bad, but like you said she doesn't look like a wrestler, and really doesn't have a gimmick, like all of the others seem to have, and she can't simply go with the "I'm a girl who can wrestle" gimmick, that Gail Kim goes with.
ReplyDeleteWhereas back in the day, they didn't need gimmicks, because a lot of them could just wrestle, and wrestle well.
The problem with the division, is like you said the lack of time, and like Gail Kim said, the lack of build up. Couple that with the fact that in the little bit of time they do get, the commentators don't put them over, or even really get in to the match.
The other problem with the division, as it is, is the fact that Kelly Kelly is the champ...