In his return to PWP, featured writer Tim Bell talks about the mismanagement of the ‘Divas Revolution’ and how to much of a good thing can get bad.
Everybody watching RAW on July 13th, 2015 who keeps up with rumors and spoilers were excited for one specific event suspected to take place that night. It had been rumored that Becky Lynch, Charlotte, and NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks were all backstage that evening, and popular belief was that we’d be seeing all of them, in some form, on RAW that night. When the moment came to pass, most were so excited about the debut, and subsequent domination by the division’s newcomers, that most gleaned over the fact that the segment foreshadowed some very real issues ahead for the division, issues that have now come to fruition.
Instead of allowing the women of NXT to come in and stand on their own, WWE went for broke by bringing them all in together, lessening the impact of each’s debut. Also, each were positioned alongside existing competitors, and while some acknowledged the partnerships felt a bit forced (especially in Sasha’s case), again, most fans were willing to ignore the strangeness of the storyline in order to appreciate that these women were finally on the main roster every week.
However, 2 months later, I think it’s apparent that while we certainly have more talented divas on our screen every week, the division hasn’t truly improved to the degree most expected.
2 months after their debuts, we’re still seeing 6-Diva tag matches. The storylines we’re watching continue to circulate on teams fighting each other simply based on being on different teams, and that’s simply unacceptable at this point. We’re finally having Paige branch out somewhat, but they’re seemingly even hesitant to go full-force with that turn, as they continue to tease Paige being aligned with Charlotte and Becky even after her promo two weeks ago attacking her teammates, but the nucleus of that issue still revolves around the gang warfare the Divas have been involved in since July.
Am I the only one who’s gotten to the point where I’m demanding more from this division before I invest my effort into caring?
A quick look at the talent in this division emphasizes the problem. Many online are quick to say that the only talent resides with the NXT alumni, but an unbiased eye tells a different story. Sure, Paige, Sasha, Charlotte and Becky are going to be a huge part of this division for years to come, but don’t ignore the talent we’ve seen consistently from Naomi, a reinvigorated and recently reintroduced Natalya, and the athleticism of Alicia Fox.
And, as unpopular as it seems to be to many fans, Nikki Bella is still quite possibly the most improved performer over the past year, and can go with any of these NXT women if given the opportunity. And we haven’t seen enough of Tamina on her own to make a true assessment, so why not give her that chance? My point is, we easily have at least seven, and depending on your views, up to ten highly talented ladies in this Divas division right now, depth we haven’t seen in years, if ever. Can’t we get more than one freaking storyline between all of them?
Looking at the male counterparts, when we’ve had great stables clash, such as DX and the Nation, we weren’t subjected to 10-man tag matches EVERY week. The members would clash in singles and tag matches, and there would be stories told within these matches, ultimately to have the situation settled by the leaders of each group. We just had that with Charlotte & Nikki Bella, yet WWE doesn’t seem to be ready to progress into a new story quite yet. They should be capitalizing on the depth of their division by adding Divas segments to the show, and making us care about the individuals, rather than some misguided factions.
For instance, if Charlotte is penciled in to continue feuding with Nikki, the Paige/Natalya rivalry is a great addition, if they follow through, but why stop there? Get Becky Lynch involved in a conflict with Naomi, and have the veteran Alicia Fox challenge the “rookie” Sasha Banks. Change the names however you’d prefer, but my point is that just because WWE feels that they have a wealth of female talent, doesn’t mean they have to rush to throw it all in our faces all at one time.
Spend time generating actual issues between the Divas, and we’ll begin to care about each of them, because the talent is there to back up decent storylines with amazing in-ring competition. All the pieces are there, they simply need to be aligned properly, rather than just being smashed together in one blur.
I completely agree with you, Tim.
I’m so tired of this gang warfare stuff.