As of late, we here at Diva Dirt have witnessed a bit of a tide turning against Divas Champion Maryse. That’s not to say fans have become hostile or spiteful, but (with the exception of a well-received turn at the commentary table this week on Raw) fans aren’t loving Maryse as much as they used to.
I feel that with this, like most other investigations, it is best to start from the beginning. While on SmackDown, Maryse went from lowly Diva Search reject to Divas Champ, all the while picking up fans and changing steadfast negative opinions to ones far more in her favor. Wrestling skills and ring presence seemed to spring from nowhere, and she quickly ascended to become one of SmackDown’s top Divas. Her heel character, cocky and arrogant, seemed to capture people’s attention and display plenty of charisma, despite the apparent language barrier. Love her or hate her, you can’t deny that the difference between the beginning and end of her SmackDown tenure is like night and day. Don’t believe me? Check out this clip, back from when Maryse’s top skills including saying “welcome back to SmackDown” and blowing air kisses:
Granted, those vignettes, which aired throughout 2007, didn’t give her much of a chance to show her worth, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t write her off right then and there. I mean, who needs another blonde chick who can’t do more than lie around in skimpy clothing? Which is why, when Maryse started wrestling in early 2008, I was quite shocked to see at what level of skill she was. No, she wasn’t the next Wendi Richter by any means, but in comparison to someone like Maria, who had many more years in the company (and seems to be metaphorically pedaling away on a stationary bike), Maryse was improving at light speed. She showed a comfort level in the ring that you can’t fake. So it came to be, with less than a year of experience of wrestling on television, Maryse won her first WWE title:
Sure, there were complaints about her title win, but not the level of apocalyptic lamenting you’d expect for the crowning of a champion with so little experience under her belt. In the following months she honed her heel persona, seemingly becoming more and more at ease in the ring, all the while picking up more supporters. It seems, that with such meteoric rise, Maryse was fated to a quick drop and sudden stop; This is what we are witnessing now. Her long title reign appears to have spawned a bit of backlash, and her move to Raw in the Draft seems to have kick-started it. Fans, we’ve witnessed, are using words like “boring” and “dull” to describe her, saying things like “her long title reign has made me almost commit suicide”, as well as accusing her of having a limited move-set. A quote from a commenter saying, “her attitude is boring, her moves are boring” pretty much sums up the general feeling. Now, take a look at a very recent match from Maryse – do you notice any difference in her ring work or persona compared to the match last fall on SmackDown (posted above), or has Maryse plateaued?
Now that’s not to say that everyone’s suddenly hating her, or bashing her every move. This is all just harmless speculation. We’ve just noticed that attitudes toward Maryse have become increasingly restless – and who’s to blame them? Fans crave change and excitement, and with a champion whose reign has spanned countless months and whose character seems to live by the mantra of “wash, rinse and repeat” week after week, it’s inevitable that feelings would sour. So what do you think, readers? Has your opinion on Maryse taken a turn for the worse, or are you loving her more than ever?
RSS
Email
Twitter
Tumblr
Facebook
YouTube
24 Comments
I think it would be better if fans hated her tbh, so she could garner at least some kind of reaction from the crowd. Right now there’s just sort of this feeling of indifference when it comes to Maryse, which is awful.
okay seriously can diva-dirt do something to fix those ads that keep popping up? they’re really annoying
She’s never impressed me. From when she first started wrestling and used to lose her balance or fall over almost every match, I was unimpressed. She hasn’t improved noticeably since the early days and seems like a one trick pony these days. Waving your hands about as you walk to the ring doesn’t make you a great heel. I just find her bland and uninteresting, I was shocked when she was given the title so early in her career. The sooner she drops the strap to someone more deserving, the better.
I think they need to get the title off her asap! I love her and all but I feel like she is “comfortable” right now and doesnt really feel like she should improve because WWE crowned her champ.
Get the title off her then I will she will step up her game a little bit.
the lack of reaction towards her may be because she came into raw as divas champion and has held it ever since without ever defending it like a champion. losing the belt will be beneficial to her. it could reignite the drive she had when she was chasing michelle in smackdown.
and someone in the back needs to review matches with her. either a booker or fellow canadian edge (when he travels with the raw crew). at least her promos have improved greatly. she just needs to get her wrestling up to the same level.
Armando – Those “annoying” ads are the only reason Diva Dirt still exists. We need the revenue generated from those ads to pay for the hosting, which recently crapped out on us. Thus, we had to upgrade to a package that was even MORE expensive. I feel a few ads are a small price to pay for a site that provides absolutely free content on a daily basis, don’t you?
Maryse deserves her recent criticism. Since her return from injury, Maryse has not been very good in the ring. Leading up to Maryse’s title win, she used to actually wrestle. She would flow from one spot to another, she told a story; she wrestled. However, since her return she hasn’t wrestled. Maryse has hit her spots and that’s it. It’s very pick opponent up and hit backbreaker, pose, lock in hold, pose, hit that other move she does, pose, DDT and the match is over. Of course between her spots she takes some offense, but that’s it. That’s all Maryse does in her matches. She doesn’t hit a suplex, she doesn’t chain wrestle, she doesn’t target a body part; all she does is hit her spots match after match after match. I feel as if she’s lazy, and she’s not doing anything to improve when she needs to improve. Take Maryse’s matches with Maria on Smackdown and compare her matches with Kelly, and she wrestles better in the matches with Maria. Take Maryse’s matches with Michelle pre-injury and compare it to her matches with Gail, and Maryse wrestles better in her matches with Michelle.
Maryse needs to step up and improve in the ring. I’m not saying she needs to add another move to her moveset, because that’s not wrestling. Wrestling isn’t about hitting your spots and that’s it. Maryse needs to hit some moves in one match, and not hit those same moves in every match thereafter because she’ll be just about her spots if she does. She needs to hit some new moves, she needs to chain wrestle, she needs to bump better, she needs to add some transitions, she needs to add some psychology. Maryse needs to do a lot of stuff that she’s not doing.
im stil loving maryse just as much, and i think the real blame to her “downfall” is creative, she’s been booked pretty poorly, with really not much momentum making her seem weak, so while i cant wait for mickie to take the title, i’d actually like to see maryse retain at night of champs then lose at like summerslam, just so she gets some kind of momentum again
I used to be obsessed with her. After the 50th hair flip and every other taunt that made me like her, I stopped liking her. Her in ring skills are horrid. I do not understand why this girl cant pull out a few new moves. She’s been doing the same moves since she got in WWE. Michelle McCool brings out new moves constantly (Lifting Choke, Suplex on top rope followed by a dropkick) and then you have the divas champion Maryse who sits on her opponents back for half the match…
They say a division is only as strong as the champion…god help us
Winning a championship tends to expose your flaws and opens you up to criticism from fans. Maryse has improved, and will continue to improve, but that will not and has not made her immune. And as someone already suggested, WWE Creative is usually the real culprit of this “fan backlash”.
Mickie was called a boring champion. Beth was called a boring champion. Michelle was called a boring champion.
The only thing truly boring is the writing. Random 3-minute tag matches tend to only result in the divas rushing (and sometimes botching) through the match to hit the same signature spots, thus leaving the fans burned out quite quickly.
I totally agree with Undi. I tend to get bored with everyone with extremely long title reigns and call them boring champions. But as far as Maryse goes, I have said it before and I will say it again, Maryse’s only downfall is her limited moveset. She can convey arrogance very well and bleeds the charisma a heel should have. She just needs to be more innovative and different with her wrestling moves. The new breed of Divas these days are not showing any originality. Most of their movesets are pretty much the standard basics of professional wrestling 101. Maryse already has the athletic background she needs to succeed with a blackbelt in Karate. She just needs to show us more and I wish someone would tell her that because she can be soo much better than people take her for. I think everyone should watch Maryse’s match at Survivor Series. She did amazingly and I consider that to be one of her best showings. She broke out some new moves and she conveyed her heel persona very well. I used to love her and I still do just not as much just because she has become a “boring champion” just like Mickie, Melina, Beth, etc. had been. But, I expect a lot more and she should be busting her butt in the ring whenever she’s in there to show why she is the Champion.
Erin- Yes that makes more sense. I apologize for my comment then. I didn’t know the circumstances about why they popped up! It just irks me when I click to read after the cut it cuts a an ad and takes me away from diva-dirt :(! I understand where you are coming from. Thank you for the explanation.
On topic now- I still love Maryse as I did when she was wrestling on SD but I agree it’s time to take the title away from her. I love her an all but she hasn’t really proven what it is to become champion. I would’ve love to see her wrestle and come up with new moves instead of flipping her hair throughout the match. I still love her and can’t wait until she passes the 200 day mark of holding that title! :) Im sure no other diva will get as close as her!
I do think she’s repetitive in the ring and that’s my main gripe with her. Other than that, she has a lot of flare and charisma which kind of masks her flaws.
when the ad came up on my computer it said my computer is at risk of viruses etc!
i was just worried that something bad will happen my comp is fully protected with a very good anit virus but it just scares em when it comes up lol
sorry i caused any confusion
The advert you mention is made to look like it’s doing a virus scan but really it’s just an advert, just press the ‘skip’ button. If you see it again, take a screenshot and e-mail it to me at divadirt@gmail.com and I can ask our advertisers to remove it.
I think she has lost her personal Mojo LOL. B4 she got injured she was like on of my top favorite divas she still is my favorite. But she isnt as good as she was b4 he inujury I do think she is repeative but I hope she regains her old self. I agree with Erin I think if she losses that title then she will be the old agressive rude mayrse again b cuz then she will be trying to get her Belt back.
maryse has lost her mojo a long timo ago, it only got worse when she was drafted to raw,
to me Maryse isnt soo special anymore, i mean everyone knows when Maryse comes out of the curtain
we are going to see; flips/taunts/ddt thats it, i think maryse doesnt really stand out anymore
cause well she has become soo predictable, im sorry but its almost she is the female cena,
well im just waiting for the day she looses that title, she carries it around like she has done something for it,
I used to love Maryse with a passion, but now she’s just ‘meh’. Her character, nor her moveset, have changed at all since she started it. It’s just all so boring and repetitive now. Hell, even her attire hasn’t changed at all…
I liked this blog, very analytical. I honestly thought Maryse was great at the start, but she is really just another Kelly Kelly (cookie cutter blonde diva) who is a heel and very overrated.
well said Melanie…i agree that her moveset leaves a lot to be desired…but i love her character and mannerisms…..while she has to do her part as far as improving her in ring skills, Trishrocks does have a point as long as creative listens to Vince…all the Divas on Raw will be booked poorly….I just hope his recent ventures to SD won’t ruin how good SD has been lately
I just watched Maryse’s Unforgiven 2008 match with Michelle. She was so incredibly cookie-cutter and boring compared to what she became later, it was hard to believe it was her. There was nothing stand out about her, while today, she’s very unique. On top of that, the only real difference wrestling-wise was she did some boring wristlocks and leg work. She didn’t really any do any more actual wrestling moves than she does today.
If that match is any indication of her typical work at that point, I’ll take today’s Maryse anytime because that was that was the least interesting work I’ve ever seen from her.
The match where Mayrse really Impressed me was the SurVior Series SD vs Raw Tag Team match& The match she had with Michelle on ECW.
I agree with Undi too BTW……I have said at one point that Mickie,Beth,Melina,Candice etc has had a boring title reign y ?. well b cuz all they do is defend there title against the same person they took it from. Then over the next two months all we see is them in Tag Team & Single matches.There are no Backstage fights,No Promo’s,No Call-outs.
I believe the last good backstage fight pretaining to the Womens title was bak in 07 with Melina & Mickie after melina pinned Maria for the 1 contender.Other than that we see nothing.On diva who actually defended there title against more than two people was Mayrse. Gail,Michelle & Kelly Kelly.