When it comes to the WWE, one man has made all the decisions for over 30 years. That man is Vince McMahon. WWE used to be known as a comic book-like family show. It had no edge to it. Then WWE introduced “The Attitude Era” to the WWE fans. This led to WWWE doing things that seemed nuts, all for TV. It put wrestling on the map. However, it had detractors, as Pro-Wrestling no longer was family friendly. So many continue to hate it all because of what happened nearly 20 years ago. The one thing that WWE added that many fans were thankful for is the WWE Divas.
WWE had a Women’s Division for a while, but then decided to pretty much dismiss it. The only time we saw the ladies were when they walked with a guy down the ring or were simply a manager. So people like Miss Elizabeth, who we never really saw wrestle much, was beloved as a beauty in a time where there wasn’t many like her. It wasn’t until years later that the WWE brought back the Women’s Championship.
Many of the women WWE hired were good wrestlers, but they mainly focused on their look. If you were hot, you were almost guaranteed a job. Ask Sable and Sunny. While the two did have talent to go with their looks, the looks got them in the door. They are considered WWE’s original divas, and they brought an edge to a company that needed it. Eventually, other women got in on the action, and we saw girls like Lita and Trish Stratus. Trish came in as a former fitness model turned manager for T&A (Test and Albert), eventually she would break out on her own. She is now known as the best WWE Diva of all time by many fans.
After Lita and Trish left, WWE started to go in a different direction with their programming. It had nothing to do with the two, or any other diva that had left like Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler, who were both known for hotness. The move to PG was simply to help for marketing purposes.
WWE had the problem at this time of trying to develop divas that were once seen by WWE as hot models who could be used as just that, and make them wrestlers or managers. It worked for some, but for others it just didn’t pan out. Ashley Massaro was one who had talent, but couldn’t work for the current WWE product. Maria had a similar issue, but she has shown she can handle things well on the Indy scene.
Vince McMahon saw he also had great divas like Mickie James, who came from the TV-14 era, but also was known as a good performer. Michelle McCool and Layla also came from this period, as well as Kelly Kelly. The division was focused on them for some time before all left. WWE tried using people such as Beth Phoenix as well as Eve Torres. Sadly, it seemed that once a girl would gain popularity, she’d be done.
Today, WWE possibly has the best diva roster they have had since the early 2000s, assuming we combine main roster with developmental. That is why news coming from WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has put creative in a bind.
AJ Lee and Paige have pretty much been leading the division since the early summer period. Before WrestleMania, however, AJ Lee was the Diva’s Division. WWE has had a lot of success with their show on E!, Total Divas . The issue now is that Vince feels that no one on the show should be the Diva’s Champion. There is really no reasoning behind it, but Vince just doesn’t want to see anyone from the show hold the title. The problem with that is that the bulk of WWE’s main roster Divas are on that show, barring two… Paige and AJ Lee.
Clearly the two ladies are good, but fans are going to get tired of seeing just them wrestle for the title. It simply can’t work. If fans knew going into a rivalry with a Total Diva that they wouldn’t win, then what would be the point of the rivalry?
Vince has random thoughts all the time, and ends up changing his mind off and on. So he very well could change his mind on the Divas from the show. Don’t expect it anytime soon, however. On top of this growing problem, Vince is also making it tough on creative. He sometimes wants storylines to be in synch with the show then other days he doesn’t. Each RAW or SmackDown serves a new story for creative. This is why some weeks we will see the ladies wrestle each other after a storyline on Total Divas that was filmed months ago. Other days, we won’t see much from the show at all in reference to the live action.
To add even more frustration, there are days where Vince won’t find the issue with Total Divas all that important. It obviously causes many behind the scenes to get miffed, especially when they write something that is cleared one minute then Vince wants to add to it or change it the next. This happens on the fly every week, however. WWE is a fast-paced environment, and Vince is very much a moody person. Some things mean more than they did the day before, or mean less. Until Triple H and Stephanie take over everything, this will continue to happen with Vince. The weird part is that no one really wants Vince to go either, if that makes sense.
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