Reports circulating on various websites are that WWE head honcho, Vince McMahon was behind the Diva Trade of Monday night, feeling that the women’s division needed a shake up. According to one website, McMahon had become frustrated with the division (much like the fans) and had determined that it had become stale.
Other websites report that Vince’s decision for the shake up is due to the matches put on by the Divas. Reportedly, McMahon hasn’t been happy with the performances turned in by some in recent months — calling into question several flubs that granted, are apparent in Diva matches (particularly on Raw).
Whatever the story may be, it looks as though for the first time in God knows how long, the Chairman has finally shown some semblance of interest in the women’s division. If the second argument is true, some of Vince’s decisions may make sense. Raw, where most of the botches during matches occur, now seems to be moving in the direction of Jillian vs Melina. Both Divas can work a good match and are consistent performers which should lead to a ‘steady hand’ on Raw over the course of their expected programme together.
Meanwhile the gripe I have with this whole situation, is that just as with most things, Vince is overlooking the actual problems and passing the buck onto the women themselves. The reasons given for Mickie James and Beth Phoenix moving, to some extent are that their characters had run their course on Raw and were beginning to get stale — isn’t that what you hire writers for? To continue writing them in a manner that, I don’t know, makes them intriguing as characters?
As the title suggests, this Trade screams ‘band aid covering a bullet hole’. The real issue here is the writing, or lackthereof, that goes into the women’s division. The Divas are thrown out there week-to-week with no clear sense of direction. The only way that the division can grow and not be stagnant, which is Vince’s frustration, is if you actually put the time and effort into giving the same creative writing as they pour into the men. You can barely call them ‘feuds’ because they are just a series of matches leading to a pay-off match. Little effort is put into scripting promos, scripting week-to-week continuous drama leading to that pay per view match or that championship match or that grudge match.
Trading the Divas is all well and good, but it won’t solve the issues in the long term. It’s a short term solution but not a long term one and eventually, we’ll just hit that road block once again. One Diva in the company told us about the way the writers showed no effort in actually booking a consistent storylined feud in her last programme. She and her opponent were thrown into random matches and then put into matches against each other, but there was no real story to it as hard as they fought for one. And that’s where the problems are. Even if the work is great, if there’s no story — you’ll still have a stagnant division, Vince. If the work is shit and there’s no story, you’re doubly out of luck Vince.
These issues will arise again, I can almost guarantee it.
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12 Comments
I agree with all of this. Moving the women around just seems like a quick fix for the real issues at hand, and that is that none of the women really have a character and there are no stories to get people interested. I mean, Alicia and Mickie could’ve been something to get Fox over and maker her name known but it was another “girl wins number one contender’s match and has blow off PPV match”. It’s very annoying that there are no storylines to make interesting character developments. I mean, where would Mickie be without that star making feud with Trish? That was actually the last good Diva’s feud and storyline the WWE produced and as well as it went you’d think they would go for more. But instead they opt for these random tag matches and battle royals each week and nearly every girl on TV right now is a generic character and a lot of them are interchangeable. Even if they do Jillian vs. Melina it already seems to have the workings of another “you have the title and I want it” thing they always seem to do. Hopefully we’ll be surprised with something fresh and new, but I highly doubt it.
WHAT A WEEK for the divas,it’s all so hard to sink in
honestly,the womens division on Smackdown was stale but Raw definitly wasn’t,Raw didn’t even scratch the surface with all the fueds they could have done,beth vs. Gail,beth vs. Gail vs. mickie,Jillian vs. mickie,Jillian vs. Gail,alicia vs. Gail,there was just so many fueds possible
not trying to point fingers or anything but all the botches seem to happen when mickie is in the match,actually she causes most of them
storylines don’t exist with the WWE divas anymore(unless you count the whole maria-dolph thing),the last storyline that ever catched anyones interest was Trish and mickie but that was almost 4 years ago
honestly,i have no problem with no storylines,i just want some interesting fueds
I have to agree with you Melanie, this is a short term problem and before we know it the feuds over on Raw and Smackdown will get stale leading to another diva trade. I fell real bad for these divas and the way they are being treated, why not do what TNA does Hire a certain person a certain group of writers to just concentrate on the divas division no other division or male superstars just the divas. I fell that this is what Vince gets he has treated the divas like shit and is finally getting what he deserves fans are falling out of love with the divas, as is seen from the ratings when a divas match comes on, and silence we hear when a diva match is taking place in the arena. I say he pulls his head out of John Cena, The Undertaker, Triple H and Randy Ortons Ass and thinks about spending some good money on some diva writers. I think your gold Melanie, you would be the pefect writer for the divas division, woo i would love to see you make storielines and feuds that would last some long hard months. But now back to the trade moving beth and Mickie because there characters have become stale give me a break moving them to SD will be cool for 2 months are so and then fans will be bored and pissed with the divas bookings just like Mickie supposibly is :(
Well, as I have previously suggested, it may be a good enough sign that Vince even CARES at all about the division. I remember reports/rumors that Vince, Trish, and Mickie all worked closely together on that epic storyline. Actually, Mickie and Trish probably just walked into his office, dropped the word “lesbian”, and he agreed to let the two do whatever they wanted. But either way, attention from Vince is a good thing.
I must point out, however, that the lack of direction in the women’s division is not exclusive to the division. Most of the WWE midcard is facing the same problem, with random feuds that are dropped on a dime, and an overall lack of character development for anyone outside of the main event scene.
I totally agree with the writer of the article.There are no interesting storyline or even worse zero promos,by the divas.They have all quite the same character,unlike the tna knockout.
Seriously,what is the difference of character between kelly kelly and gail kim?.
Response,there are no difference.There are just 2 cute girls who always smile,that’s all.
Vince is not happy by the wwe divas matches.Well,he should hire wrestlers not models.
Serena deeb will have zero problem to become woman champ,if she has a good character,when she will go to the main roster,because of the lack of talent,in the wwe woman division.
Seriously,if you want to see good women matches:watch tna,shimmer and of course joshi puroresu,on you tube(the japaneses women wrestlers),it’s not the same sport.
When i listen wwe to say on t.v that mc cool is the best wrestler in the world,i laugh.I believe they have never seen the work of kaori yoneyama,mariko yoshida or azumi hyuga…….
all of the wwe writers need to lose their jobs
All the writers are afraid of Vince McMahon.
Vince is an asshole. It’s just as simple as that.
Thanks Melanie for discussing this subject. How can any group of professional women wrestlers wrestling in hurried matches with absolutely no story lines that WWE management sees as opportunities for their assembled masses to find the restroom ever accomplish anything resembling what WWE used to be, and TNA is now. Just allow these very talented women to grasp and run with competent story material in more that a few seconds of a feud. Is that asking too much? The shakeup does not need to happen with these amazing women wrestlers … the shakeup needs to happen in the front office and with a bunch of incompetent hack writers who simply cannot write decent material for women if their lives depended on it, and hopefully soon their jobs will depend on it.
(QUEENOFXTREME)LITA, I totally agree with the point you made that WWE hires a writer exclusively for the Divas. TNA has that with the Knockouts – I believe Vince Russo has nothing to do with their booking, a guy Matt Conway works with them creatively and Scott D’amore is the agent for the Knockouts. D’amore has often been seen as a major reason why the women of TNA have become such a big hit and people enjoy watching them.
I agree with the sentiment of Melanie’s post. How the hell can Vince think the Divas division is stale when he himself has done nothing to create any interest around them? There hasn’t been a proper storylined feud since the days of Trish/Mickie and even a re-generated Lita/Trish just before Trish’s retirement. The fans RESPONDED to those feuds because INTEREST was created. You could tell that people were eager to see these women perform. Now the Divas are lucky to get any promo time, and barely any backstagw segments. And what distinguishable characters do most of them have? Hardly any. The only ones who stick out are Beth (Glamazon), Maryse (arrogant French model) and Jillian (bad pop singer). If you’re a face you’re basically the happy girl-next-door and are BFF’s with the other faces. Heels are jealous, mean and bitchy. How much depth is there in any of that? All the commentators say is that “smart, sexy and powerful” line. How about some individuality for these poor women???!! Again, a big reason why the TNA Knockouts have been a success is because most of the women have a unique character/appearance which you can recognise straight away. WWE basically saps any character away from their women, morphing them into Stepford Divas almost.
So the reason why it’s stale is because VINCE and the WRITERS have failed the Divas.
Melanie, I have a question for you and anyone else that feels like answering. Do you feel that the “creative” writing after the invention of the diva’s title hurt the divas division?
I understand that for many people, it makes no sense to have 20+ girls fighting over one belt but I just feel that having a diva’s belt on each show was an excuse for the writers to start a bunch of “You have title. Me want title.” feuds that just come out of nowhere.
The Creative Team has “Lack of Creativity”!! The Divas get thrown is these dumb Guest Host theme matches. Like The Diva Bowl Match or whatever its called. When all that time could have been used to build up a decent fued. Fatal-4-ways ,Triple Threat fueds could have been formed. Vince thinks the womens division is stale b cuz he makes it stale by Not Caring about it. You cant tell vince not to have a Cena vs Orotn fued. They only get 3-5 minute matches we be lucky if they get a 6-8 minute match.
The point is the divas will always be overlooked. I woudnt blame any diva for being frustrated.The Creative Team never follows up on events that happened the week before they just throw in another tag match or singles.The Divas Division woudnt be stale if they put time and effort into building fueds. Like Beth/Gail,Alicia/Gail,Kelly Kelly/Alicia…Michelle/Natalya…etc.
If Vince isnt happy with Divas. Then give them the time that they need and deserve. So they can build up a character and ppl can stop using their matches to go on Bathroom breaks.!!! Moving them around isnt gonna change anything. We dont even see backstage fights anymore. Its a shame that it took Vince to be unhappy with divas to reliaze that Jillian needs a push. They have all these talented Diva on the roster and all they do is waste their time and talent. Vince is frustraing hisself and nothing more.
Do something create special Diva Matches…and not Playboy Bunny matches…A match where the divas can wrestle it on a PPV. Like the TNA Monster Ball match!. B creative Vince….THINK!!!
Here is what the WWE creative team stands:
Brian Gewirtz – Vice President, Creative Development (Raw)
Christopher DeJoseph- Writer for Smackdown
Ed Koskey – Head writer for ECW
Michael Hayes – Senior Vice President, Creative Development
Pat Patterson – Creative consultant
I know about Hayes story on the team and how he throws the race card. Patterson – isn’t he getting extremely old? And who are the rest?
And yes that “smart, sexy, and powerful” slogan is getting on my nerves. All I here for the Divas is the slogan and that their are beautiful, like they are clones of each other. I adore Jim Ross the most because he does care about the division and wants to see their full showing of the girls. I have had it with Lawler! He’s not funny, he’s a perve, and he doesn’t even like women’s wrestling. Todd is ok, Josh and Stryker are DEAD, and Cole is … well… MICHAEL COLE, the one people pick on.
If that’s all you got for your creative team, then you need to hire new writer (GREAT ONES THAT CARE ABOUT THE SPORT) and fire Hayes and Patterson. Also with the new team, split them up into 3-4 groups for each brand – 1 for the Women, 1 for the Tag Team, 1 for the Midcard, and 1 for the Maincard.