With Melina‘s ACL tear confirmed, the Armchair Creative Team is taking a look at how Raw can go forward in Melina’s absence. Many things need to be considered, chief among them the fate of the Divas Championship. So, how should they proceed? Erin and Melanie have a few suggestions.. Read them and vote for your favorite below!
Melanie’s Idea
A Babyface Swerve — With Melina expected to forfeit the Divas Title on Raw, it seems a new Divas Champion will be crowned on the same night, perhaps in battle royal fashion. Given that Melina was last feuding with Maryse, it seems she would be the obvious choice to win the belt. But… How about WWE makes it less obvious and goes with a babyface winning the belt instead? With everyone expecting Maryse to win the title, I’d much rather see an exciting swerve that could set up a new feud instantly.
Last year on SmackDown, Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio was suspended due to the Wellness Policy, while in the middle of a feud with Dolph Ziggler. However, WWE swerved fans by having Mysterio drop the title to John Morrison instead of the expected switch to Ziggler. The move led to an instant replacement feud between Ziggler and Morrison.
Going on that basis, I’d love to see WWE swerve us and give the belt to a babyface with Maryse then seething with rage and targeting the new Divas Champ as she did with Melina. Ideally, this role would go to Gail Kim who seems to be the most competent wrestler on the brand to replace Melina. However, knowing what we know about WWE, it’d be just as likely to see Kelly Kelly take the spot — WWE loves her, she’s higher on the totem pole than Gail and this could be the opportunity she’s been waiting for. Up until now, she’s always had a Melina or Mickie to play second fiddle to while bubbling under as someone WWE wants to push for the belt eventually. This seems like the time do it.
With Raw now more of an entertainment-based Saturday Night Live-esque show, there isn’t an immediacy to have your top babyface be a great worker as the matches for the Divas are usually 2-3 minutes and/or gimmick matches. Kelly, as seen on Raw last week, works well within those confines. As green as she may be, Kelly has proven that she can be relied upon for shorter length matches. It may not be ideal for us as fans, but WWE seem high on her and she is popular with fans.
Whether it be Gail or Kelly or even a third party, I’d prefer to see ‘the babyface swerve’ as it’ll give the opportunity to establish a new top babyface and push one of those ‘bubbling under’ Divas into top Divadom. Giving the belt to Maryse, who is already a top Diva, seems redundant.
Erin’s idea & reader poll after the cut:
Erin’s Idea
Natalya Gets Her Due — We’ve reported on the news that Natalya will be appearing at this Monday’s Bret Hart-infused Raw due to the Hart blood running through her veins, and it was even suggested by Melanie that Natalya could take the Divas Championship in a shocking win. Personally, I would love that, but I would prefer that Natalya actually earn the title in order to avoid the inevitable “she doesn’t deserve it” backlash.
In order for this to happen, I feel that Natalya should be brought onto Monday’s Raw as a babyface, introduced by Bret. That shouldn’t be hard to accomplish, given that Bret will likely be brought in as a good guy. The Hart Dynasty can use his good will with the fans to go good as well, and Natalya can get an instant face turn by simply associating herself with her legendary kin.
I feel that the WWE might take the easy way out of the Melina/Maryse feud on Monday and have Maryse win the Divas Championship in a sneaky, underhanded way that would gain her more heel heat– say, cheating to beat Melina without having her injure her knee any further or cheat her way through a Battle Royale–and have her be the snotty heel champ that Natalya could face off against. It would be an interesting way to introduce Natalya into the Raw fold and provide a new, capable foil for Maryse.
Throughout this feud, Natalya’s profile would be raised significantly and, in my opinion, the end goal should be crowning Natalya Divas Champion. We here at Diva Dirt have long felt that a championship win is overdue for her, so it should be handled in a way that wouldn’t be tarnished by a hasty win. Sure, Bret could show some favoritism towards Natalya with his guest GM role, but it should be in a way that introduces her into the fold in an impressive way, not just literally handing her the Divas Championship.
So, which idea do you prefer? Vote for your favorite below!
[poll id="496"]
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36 Comments
Well I think they’re gonna milk the vacated Divas title as long as they can.. Royal Rumble maybe?
But I like Erins idea more :x
Natalya > Gail & Kelly Kelly
don’t really mind aslong as a next champion consist of real women wrestler sif not i don’t give a bott about it anymore
the natayla thing could be legit, could be the reason why the hart dynasty’s match was cut from smackdown, they didnt want nattie to start a new fued as a heel with maria so give them a week off, have them appear on raw and be faces all of the sudden and nattie grabs the belt.
Both suggestions sound good, but far too complicated and creative for Raw’s notoriously unimaginative writers. I’m expecting Maryse to win the belt and feud with Kelly, although I’d much rather see them push Eve torres as the top face.
Predicton: Kelly wins, feuds with Maryse. Sad but logical.
I’d love to see either Gail or Nattie with the belt, I can see Natalya winning, but they’d never give it to G-Kim, she’s like the diva no one [that is not a fan of women wrestling AKA 97% of wrestling fans] really knows or cares about, it’s crazy, but she’s just the asian chick that looks like a Bella twin from behind. If they’d give it to Gail, I’d be happily surprised, if they’d give it to Natalya, I’d be extremely happy, if they’d give it to anyone besides them [I also wouldn't mind Jillian/Alicia/KatieLea] I’d ignore it and stop taking that fugly butterfly shiz so seriously.
I WOud Love Natalya To Swoop In And Rob The Belt… SInce Bret Has Signed With RAW Mayb The Hart Dynasty Coud Move There.. Plus We WOud Get To See Some Interesting Matches Eg. Natalya vs Gail Or vs Maryse For The Vacant Title
GOOOOOOOOO NATTIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m gonna go with Erin’s idea with Natalya. It sounds like it could work. I don’t want to see the obvious choice of just giving the belt to Maryse.
are they definately holding up the title on monday?
No one knows this could be a big fuss over nothing
u guys realise this is just hypothetical right? erin and melanie obviously went to trouble to put it together. they’re not saying it SHOULD happen or it WILL happen but what they’d LIKE to see happen. its supposed to be fun geez.
I think if the battle royal does happen, and Kelly Kelly wins, the last two divas would be her and Maryse setting up their feud. And that would give Kelly Kelly even more star power than before. But if the RAW writers really don’t care, it’ll simply go to Maryse, with her feuding with Kelly and Gail before dropping the title to Ms. Eve in the way future.
But if it’s Natalya, I could see another Jillian moment happen with Maryse winning the battle royal, Bret or the Dynasty come out and say by orders of the special guest host Maryse will have to defend her Divas Championship right now against one diva who is pure “Nasty”, enter “Natalya”. Bell rings, her spin clothesline -> Sharpshooter -> Maryse Taps! DING, DING, DING!!!! “Here is Your Winner and new Divas Champion Natalya” Then this is where Natalya turns face and feuds with Maryse.
Robert J.-it’s a nice idea but I doubt they’ll ever have another Jillian moment
Bret Hart is not in charge of writing and storylines,he’s just coming in to do a storyline with vince and shawn micheals thats it
Maryse will most likely win the title,WWE has been building her to take that title,she’s already pinned melina,gail,and kelly
“u guys realise this is just hypothetical right? erin and melanie obviously went to trouble to put it together. they’re not saying it SHOULD happen or it WILL happen but what they’d LIKE to see happen. its supposed to be fun geez.”
omg i only asked if there was actually a tournament, i never knew if this was confirmed or not!! stop bloody crying im only asking! i thought i had been missing out on a tournament that was coming so asked if there was one and your jumping to conclusions making out that im trying to spoil your fun
Does anyone think that they will let her keep it until she returns? i mean if you think back when viscera injured trish they let her keep her womens championship and she was out for like a year.
But if Natalya were to win, what would happen to the remaining members of the Hart Dynasty? Would they go to RAW, too? Seems highly unlikely that WWE would want to move all 3 members over from SmackDown, so I doubt the Natalya scenario will play out.
i do NOT want natalya to win this.
if michelle mccool gets crapped on constantly for being a champion due to her maybe dating undertaker, how is that any different than natty being champion just because her uncle is bret hart?
i still think she should’ve been the first divas belt owner, but winning the title just because your uncle is there is not cool. they should recognise her for her talent, not her family relations!
Maryse is definitely going to win the title. End of story. Yes it sucks, but that’s why we have SmackDown!
Paparazzi808-Yeah,I thought of that too,but then I remembered,hey,this is Melina,if it was Mickie,perhaps,but Melina?They seem to like her but not as THE top diva.
I would love to see Nattie kick some ass and win the title,but then I come back to reality,Raw.
Most probable:Maryse sneakily wins and feuds with Kelly.
You know I just had a thought…could WWE have edited her out of Smackdown to stop any type of heel tactics or future feuds on SD by attacking Maria in order to move her over to Raw as the babyface like you guys mentioned? It seems odd they completely remove her off of SD without reason being behind it, and with the wwe fans attention span ranging from week to week in their eyes, it would be much easier to get the babyface pop if they dont remember her attacking the beloved Maria.
I wanna see Kelly get the belt, call me “crazy” she deserves it…more than Maryse that is. But… if Maryse get’s the title i instantly switch to smackdown. & Rip up my raw tickets i bought for 15 dollars. lol. But i really will…
If Melina’s is healthy enough to do it, have Maryse and maybe a goon wearing a mask hit her in the knee with a pipe backstage. Then Melina can give the title up the next week when she can’t wrestle or tries to wrestle and gets hit in the knee again.
I think the incident should piss Alicia off who turns face and gets the title run instead of Maryse. Alicia is their best wrestler now, all things considered. Hell, Maryse has passed out and damn near passed out two of the last three times I’ve seen her in 3 minute matches.
kaledrina- i think its different with nattie as she has been wrestling for years, got trained in the hart dungeon and also has worked all over the world including japan. i dont think we can really compare nattie presently to mccool a year and a half ago to be honest, in regards to skill.
id love to see a battle royal in a few weeks after some storyline development between natalya, gail kim, maryse maybe even kelly along with some tag matches. maybe natalya could turn on maryse and turn face. then in the battle royale natalya and gail could be the last 2 participants and i woudl be fine with either of htem winning. then the winner either feuds with natalya/gail (the one who didnt win) and/or maryse.
if we get a maryse and kelly kelly feud ugh it will be horrible. kelly has improved vastly since her days on ecw but i could never watch her as a champion. maybe if she was feuding wtih gail it woudl be different but a kelly kelly and maryse feud is too boring and weak in my opinion.
You know….I don’t mind if ANY of these girls become champion. It’s definitely gonna mix things up for the better on raw…hopefully. I’m just happy some other girl is gonna be getting a major push as the top babyface. My first pick is gail..of course…because maybe this will finally get her some fans behind her. *Crosses fingers*. But Kelly kelly getting the DIVAS title would be great too….I mean, she’s been there for so long yet has remained pretty stationary…give the girl something to work for. I don’t see it SO absurd to give her the title…i mean she’s talented…like when trish became champ she wasn’t the best wrestler out there…but it motivated her to work hard and be one of the best. Oh and if Natalya gets it, i’d be pumped!! But it doesn’t make sense for her to switch shows for this…plus i kinda wanna see her fued with beth. :p
I like Erin’s idea more, but Melanie’s seems more likely. I guess we’ll see tomorrow night!
No way will Gail Kim end up with the Diva belt … not now. To give her the belt is to open the issue of the first three time belt recipient (WWE Women’s, TNA Knockout, WWE Diva) in a very long time if ever, and WWE is not going to allow that and the resultant publicity to TNA period. Gail Kim will be the last professional women’s wrestler to ever get that belt whenever it happens, and with Ms. Kim finishing up the first year of her WWE three year contract … guess again. Maybe Maryse, maybe Kelly Kelly, maybe Natalya, maybe a Melina retention … but not Gail Kim.
I love both ideas but I would really love to see Nattie move to Raw and become a face … not so much a Kelly Kelly face but more of the parth Beth is going down. I used to love Melina as heel and then even more during her “transition” phase but as soon as she tured full blown face she made me sick. I love watching her wrestling no doubt about it but I cant watch her backstage, on the way to the ring or after the match. The cheese-fest smiles the ADHD waves and the boarderline RIDICULOUS comments “I’m just soo excited to be out here with Kelly Kelly”,make me flip my bike. I dont wan’t to see that happen to Natalya!!
If Natalya gets the Divas title, there will be too much Divas on the RAW roster. The next champion could be Maryse or Gail Kim. How can they pull out this. hehe very exciting. I hope they have stipulation matches (IMPOSSIBLE) tonight. Not a battle royal for the title, what if a LADDERS MATCH. :)) crap if only Divas could have that match. Anyways, a new champion would be cool. When Melina comes back I want her to be HEEL.
If Gail or Natalya win the Divas Championship, I’ll be happy…..
but if they go the obvious route with Maryse (which I do but then again don’t want) then it’s cool because it’s possible she’ll have a program with Gail Kim!
Gail>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(more >) Natalya
I vote either Gail or Kelly. Kelly has improved alot over the years and she deserves the spotlight for once. Gail should be champion b/c since she came back to WWE, they have used her WRONG! Now would be a good time for her. That’s my opinion.
“You know….I don’t mind if ANY of these girls become champion. It’s definitely gonna mix things up for the better on raw…hopefully. I’m just happy some other girl is gonna be getting a major push as the top babyface. My first pick is gail..of course…because maybe this will finally get her some fans behind her. *Crosses fingers*. But Kelly kelly getting the DIVAS title would be great too….I mean, she’s been there for so long yet has remained pretty stationary…give the girl something to work for. I don’t see it SO absurd to give her the title…i mean she’s talented…like when trish became champ she wasn’t the best wrestler out there…but it motivated her to work hard and be one of the best. Oh and if Natalya gets it, i’d be pumped!! But it doesn’t make sense for her to switch shows for this…plus i kinda wanna see her fued with beth. :p”
I totally agree with you! When Trish got the WWE Women’s Championship, she wasn’t exactly…. how you say in America….. good, no?
I would like to see Jillian become the first multiple time Divas Champion, which would lead to Natalya as Divas Champion. You see, I’d book it so that Jillian wins the battle royal, last elminating a face (like Gail Kim) and then proceeds to celebrate, until RAW’s Guest Host, Bret Hart emerges and announces that Natalya will face Jillian for the title right now. Jillian (yet again) loses the title quickly and taps out to the Sharpshooter, losing her title to Natalya. What do you guys think?
if Nattie won,the Divas title could become the eqivalent of the old IC title(y’know when great wrestlers win the title….like bret hart…hmmmm?)