Welcome to a very special edition of the Raw Redux, aptly titled “Raw Doesn’t Deserve a Redux.” And it doesn’t. Following the Divas being left off the Backlash card in favour of Santino and his alter ego, Santina, it was much of the same on last night’s Raw.
How we’ve gotten to the point where the women’s division revolves around a man in drag, fails my comprehension. Needless to say, it was quite an ‘auspicious’ start on Raw for new Divas, Maryse and the Bella Twins. I wonder how soon until Santina gets a Divas Championship shot? Next week on Raw or Judgment Day?
All I can say about this joke of a division is, don’t watch it. The real action starts later in the week; I can honestly say that Raw has lost my interest and the Knockouts are looking more and more appealing. Tune into Impact on Thursday nights and hold out for the Divas of SmackDown on Friday nights. Spoilers from tonight’s taping will be up as soon as they’re available.
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April 28, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I have to agree with you. There are no words to describe that.
How much longer do you guys think it will go on for??? I’m actually surprised “Santina” hasn’t gotten his (I refuse to call it her) hasn’t gotten their own profile page yet. Or his own photoshoot.
April 28, 2009 at 4:11 pm
As much as it pains me to comment … this is NOT the way to build or maintain a viable Women’s division of Professional wrestlers. Glad that Santino/Santina is on Raw where it can drag (no pun intended I think) those ratings down and give us all needed toilet breaks where these segments should be placed and flushed.
At least for now I have the post draftness of SmackDown where hopefully the professional women will be allowed to wrestle.
One can only hope and pray.
April 28, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Raw divas are terrible I dont understand why wwe continues to treat these divas like crap.I think Santina will b come divas champion. Thats how much wwe does not care about the divas.
For better matches watch Smackdown and the Knockouts Raw has lost my viewing well the divas has.
Katie Lea for Womens Champion
April 28, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Grrrr! WWE im going off of RAW! Good Job i have Smackdown vs RAW 2009, that way i do RAW the way i want it too be. I wish Maryse & Mickie battled it out…but the match was Based on Santino/Santina & Beth storyline…..Boring!!!!
& another thing, WWE bringing the Bellas to do there “switching” thing again…this made me detest watching Smackdown & now its happening on RAW :O We dont need this again been there, done that & got the t-shirt!
The Divas Division was going down bigtime, eversince Wrestlemania 25, before then it was ok, enough to cope with but now its just damn right disrespectful to the women who trained nearly all their lives to be where they are today. If i were the divas i’d be thinking about my contract and if i wanted to go to TNA, a wrestling show that actually takes pride in the female wrestlers.
Shame on you WWE, Shame on you!
Lets hope that ECW, Smackdown & TNA has more to offer to us Diva Fans
April 28, 2009 at 10:30 pm
WWe has officialy lost it all they care about is the “money”
they dont care about how much they are losing fans cuz of this
hopefully Smackdown has something to offer us “/
April 28, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I’m with you. RAW is a complete joke.
April 28, 2009 at 11:18 pm
I love the divas, but I don’t think WWE is losing many members of their ‘key’ demographic (m 14-39 or whatever) because of “Santina”. A lot of people find it really funny. Tasteless, most definitely, but it’s comedy. It’s ‘Sports Entertainment’. And I have to give Santino his dues for going out there and fully committing to the role like he does. It takes balls (pun only somewhat intended). The divas always have their up periods and their down periods. Every generation, decade, group of divas have. It happens and the divas push on. If Mickie and Kelly can go out there with a smile, knowing their teaming with “Santina”, and Maryse can go out there knowing she’s going to get harassed with a fire extinguisher by Hornswoggle and keep up the act, why can’t we support them? This certainly isn’t the time to go around, proclaiming the “Raw divas are terrible”. They really do need all the support they can to get through this, push on and rebuild a reputable diva’s division.
April 28, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Manda – We can’t change the way WWE books the Raw Divas and I’m not suggesting that people write in their complaints or sign petitions as they did with WrestleMania, because that never works. We can’t change the product but we can change our viewing habits. Like you say, it probably won’t dent their ratings in the slightest and I’m not suggesting people avoid it to ‘hurt WWE’s ratings’. I’m suggesting it for the piece of mind of people who frequent this website. Why settle for watching a mediocre product when there is far superior programming out there i.e. Impact and SmackDown.
As much as I appreciate the talents of some of the Raw Divas, I don’t just watch a programme just to support a star. We don’t watch television or go see movies to support people, we see them because they’re enjoyable and when they’re not enjoyable, we skip them. To make a comparison, it’s like saying all Eliza Dushku fans for example, should watch Dollhouse to ‘support her’, but what if those people don’t enjoy the show? Then they aren’t obligated to watch and will most likely skip it, despite their fandom for Eliza.
April 29, 2009 at 12:25 am
Okay you may not watch something to support somebody, but you can’t say ‘we’ and put everybody in one neat little group. I do. I watch ECW to support Christian and Evan; I’ll watch SD to support Jericho. I just don’t understand why everybody is so up in arms over Santina when this absolutely pales in comparison to egg nog/gravy/mud/bra and panties matches or Trish Stratus being forced to get on her hands and knees and bark like a dog.
April 29, 2009 at 12:33 am
To be entirely honest what I don’t understand about the insane backlash over this situation is… okay, I get that people don’t like it because they see it as a smack in the face to the diva division. What were all those years of eggnog matches and back to school paddle on a pole matches? Do we condone the debasement and utter disrespect shown for a division if the women are willingly participating? It seems like this is written off, yet one of the favorite divas around here, Torrie Wilson, is far more known for matches like that and her Playboy cover than for being anything close to a good wrestler. That’s no shot at Torrie either! I think a fun little match like that can be amusing once in a while, but how is that not along the same lines as Santina? Matches of that variety are saying “look, divas, we think too much of the men on our roster to subject them to this stupidity, but you… strip all your clothes off. You are meat to be sold by the patch of skin you can reveal. That is ultimately why you are here.” Was there ever this much outright anger and fist-shaking over that because I certainly don’t remember it.
For the record, I watch a lot of programs to support stars. I watch Raw to support Beth because I think she is a tremendous talent. I watch Smackdown to support Jericho because he’s my favorite wrestler ever. The other portions of these shows could suck for all I care, but because I consider myself a fan of those two I will watch to support them. Outside of wrestling, there are movies I never would have seen if Ewan McGregor wasn’t in them. I think there are a lot of people who do support individual stars, and it’s kind of weird to see that argument made here because I know a ton of people who see movies and television shows, buy magazines, go to websites, all in support of their particular favorite star or stars.
April 29, 2009 at 12:48 am
Lacey there was outright anger and fist-shaking over the pointless little Diva matches, which went along the lines of bikini contests all the way to school paddle on pole matches. I am almost certain that I do not speak for myself when I say that those matches too were like a slap in the face to the true Diva fans, so to say that there wasn’t any sort of anger directed towards those pointless matches is completely false. No one in their right mind would flip out over this without flipping out over something worse, which back then was bikini contests and Playboy Diva promos. I speak not only for myself but also for the other pissed off fans, when I say that the company continues to spit in the faces of us true Diva fans. Sure, this Santina gimmick is ten times better then having the Divas strip in Bikini contests, but this gimmick hasn’t done anything good for the division. The division is still a joke, the division is still exploited, and to sit here and defend the company, which hasn’t done much other then spit in our faces is completely stupid. Luckily for us we don’t only get one show focusing on the Divas, we get a variety of shows, but that does not take away from the fact that the company should just get on with the wrestling.
April 29, 2009 at 4:11 am
There are three components to WWE’s name: “World” meaning everywhere, “Wrestling” which is right in the middle and last but not least, “Entertainment”. A majority of the people I know watch WWE for that last little ‘E’. That’s why they regularly release superstars who are major names in the indys like Colt Cabana but don’t get over with fans of ‘entertainment’. You want real good, 20 to 30 minute wrestling matches? Watch ROH. Want good diva wrestling? Watch ‘Shimmer’; Steven enlightens us weekly on some of their best known names and even provides YouTube clips to some of their matches. That’s not to say that the WWE Divas aren’t talented, because they are, but they don’t get the chance to showcase their full potential. Personally, I don’t think you should expect WWE to “get on with the wrestling” anytime soon.
And PS: “back then” with “bikini contests and Playboy Diva promos” was just last year, before the PG rating was implemented. So it’s not like it was ages and ages ago.
April 29, 2009 at 5:31 am
I genuinely don’t remember half as much rage directed toward those matches as I do this Santina storyline, but if there were people refusing to review shows involving those matches then by all means I am wrong. If there were ever really people reacting this intensely I just straight up must have missed it. Even if they were behaving in this same way, I think then we should hold the ladies who contributed to that nonsense accountable. Trish, Ivory, Torrie, Stacy, Jacqueline, Candice, Melina, Jillian, Sable, Tori, Debra… I see some pretty big names on that list. If they were willing to be complicit in the mockery of the division, shouldn’t we be angry at them as well? This is a genuine question I have. We can be angry at WWE all we want, but if these women are agreeing to be involved in this kind of activity then aren’t they, too, demeaning the division?
“but this gimmick hasn’t done anything good for the division.” It certainly has a lot of people paying attention, doesn’t it? We’re discussing it and arguing over it and carrying on full discussions on the state of the women’s division in general. I would also argue, whether anyone likes it or not, Santino has consistently been one of the top draws of the women’s division since the start of the Glamarella angle. People booed when he wasn’t at shows during the diva matches, and his involvement has consistently gotten the biggest pops when he has chosen to get involved. It hasn’t done anything good for the division? People are paying attention. They’re sticking around and watching instead of going to the bathroom. We can argue all we want about what this says about the development of the divas division by WWE as a whole when the biggest draw is a man, but that isn’t something we can remedy overnight. The use of Santino/a has drawn attention to the division which they may well otherwise not be getting at all right now.
Oh, and about this “and to sit here and defend the company, which hasn’t done much other then spit in our faces is completely stupid.” Please note how I responded to you without choosing to refer to any of your ideas or positions as “stupid.” It’s called behaving maturely.
April 29, 2009 at 7:01 am
I don’t know about all of that. But Raw was unbelieveable;not in a good way.I am have to rock with Melanie on this one.The Raw divas are are being advertised as jokes and not wrestlers.I find it disgusting and unbelieveable.
April 29, 2009 at 11:09 am
Santino was “outed” 3 times in 2 days! At Backlash by Khali and 2 times on RAW by Mickie & Hornswoggle..looks like the gimmick maybe dropping soon…hopefully! The gimmick was good and funny at first but now its getting stale…fast. If WWE refuse anymore to not let RAW divas, excluding Santina, wrestle one another and get a Divas Championship fued, it will be the a major insult to the divas who work really hard in the squared circle. I may not have been the only one whos has thought this but i can see Santino/Santina becoming divas champ, this will be the biggest ever insult to the Divas. I would different fueds begin between the likes of Mickie, Kelly, Maryse, The Bellas, Rosa & Jillian. Leave Beth and Santino to fued alone. Theres no point to drag divas who have no purpose in the storyline into the lime light just to stand there and do nothing, they deserve more than this, even if they aren’t the best of wrestlers.
April 29, 2009 at 12:05 pm
The fact that the company has drawn in more ratings with the whole Santina/Satino gimmick still is not doing anything for the Divas Division, that’s just doing something for the company, so to argue that Santina/Santino’s gimmick is in a way ‘helping’ the division isn’t true what-so-ever. The gimmick is only helping the company draw in ratings NOT helping the Divas Division look any better and you know it, so arguing that the division was ‘helped’ isn’t true. The division has only benefited from not being put into hideous and pointless bikini contests, not by Santina. And to drag the Diva’s all the way into this situation by basically blammng them and saying that they could have basically said, “NO!” is not true. LOL, do you realize that it’s not the Diva’s job to pick and choose what matches they would like to be in? Needless-to-say it’s not a Diva’s place, nor any superstars place to decline these insulting matches. These Divas could careless how they are being degraded, it is the fans who are more or less insulted by it all (I ‘assume’), simply because the Divas will still be payed. The point of it all is that there are fans who are insulted by it all and to say, otherwise isn’t true and it should be obvious not to ‘assume’ that no one was upset about when things were twice as bad. People are going to be upset, people are going to argue that the Divas Division wasn’t helped, because point blank the Division wasn’t helped. Yeah, the Divas are getting payed, but the Divas on Raw aren’t displaying their talent. It’s all about Santina/Santino’s gimmick on Raw, which IS drawing in ratings, but isn’t helping the Division. The Division is still a joke to many of their viewers.
April 29, 2009 at 2:43 pm
wow okay im like so off topic…but in the actual match…if thats what u wanna call it..should the heels have won??? brie was out of the ring long enough for a 10 count….i dont think s=they should debut the new divas till after the beth/santina story was finsihed….they should of only debut the twins have brei and and santinaand kelly vs beth n rosa n jillian …. anyways hope next week is the ending of santina…lol…shes taking up all of maryse’s spotlight…lol
May 1, 2009 at 8:30 pm
i wish santin[o/a] would just stay in the mens division. It’s called a womens division for a reason, and it’s not about a man in drag. I say have a Judgement Day match between Beth & Santina, and have Beth win and de-wig Santina. Then start taking the womens division seriously.