Feeling lucky? In this new feature we’ve dubbed Playing the Odds, we will weigh the odds of certain Diva or Knockout events occurring, be it a championship win or heel turn.
We classify each like so: if the event’s occurrence is highly unlikely, it gets the Long Shot stamp; if it’s within the realm of possibility, it’s a Safe Bet; if it is extremely likely, it is a Sure Thing. Now, this does not mean everything we brand a Sure Thing is destined to happen–it just lines up with what we feel to be feasible from precedent or a person’s current position. Also, this is from our point of view, so don’t take this as fact or anything of the sort.
In this first edition, we will take a look at the ongoing Divas Championship Tournament, seeing which Raw Divas have the best shot at coming out on top. We may not be in Vegas, but we’re placing our bets anyways–take a look at ours and make a few of your own in the comments.
Alicia Fox
Odds: Safe Bet. Even though the WWE has been noticeably fickle about giving Alicia big pushes (they’re more of a “now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t” type thing), she is certainly a rising star in the company. They have felt comfortable giving her title shots before (twice, actually), and though her pushes were always short lived, they showed that she’s not destined to be merely a background player. Comparatively, a Diva such as Layla, who is still pretty much a background player, has never seen the kinds of pushes Alicia has been given. This makes us believe that Alicia might have better luck than her “replacement” (remember, Alicia was Michelle’s tag along first). This year could hold Alicia’s big breakout, and winning this tournament or even giving a good showing in it could effectively kick-start that. Though, as promising as her future looks, the WWE’s fickleness when it comes to her makes us hesitate to give her our full confidence in this tournament. It’s certainly possible that she could go all the way, but we’re not going to be betting the farm on it either.
Brie Bella
Odds: Long Shot. Yes, she’s already out of the tournament, which makes this sort of irrelevant, but when looking at it from an objective standpoint, pretending that the match had not taken place yet, it’s quite the long shot to picture Brie getting pushed all the way to the title. It’s not that we lack the faith in Brie having success on her own, but with the way the WWE books Brie and her sister–that is, extremely inconsistently–it’s tough to imagine the WWE giving either of them a title run. They seem to only use them in the ring when they need extra bodies. Otherwise, it’s escort duty fro the GM of the week. Bottom line, there’s just been no real investment made in the Bellas by the WWE. Until the WWE starts taking them seriously as competitors, they pose no real threat.
Read more to see how the other Raw Divas’ odds stack up.
Eve Torres
Odds: Safe Bet. While her move to Raw has pretty much cut the legs off of her in-ring progression, that doesn’t mean she isn’t improving or not worthy of a serious push–the WWE just hasn’t seen fit to give her the ring time she had on SmackDown, and it has hurt her as a result. Being demoted to backstage segments and randomly pairing her with Chris Masters isn’t using her to her full potential, to say the least. We obviously feel that there are big things in store for Eve, but her treatment on Raw so far hasn’t been foretelling a serious push. With Melina’s injury, though, it leaves the top babyface spot wide open, and Eve could be a prime candidate for that spot. This question is, will the WWE see fit to use her as such, or will she remain in the state of regression that resulted from one of the most ill-fated Diva draft moves in recent memory?
Gail Kim
Odds: Sure Thing. She’s passed the first round, and has all the flash and pizazz that could easily place her in that open top babyface spot, so this gives us a bit of a hunch that she might just make it to the finals, if not capture the title. She certainly has some momentum going, having already got that one win under her belt, so she has a leg up on the other babyfaces in that respect. Overall, when we look at the candidates, no babyface stands out as much as Gail–she has that experience of holding a title (both in the WWE and TNA), and she’s certainly not inexperienced. She would be the safest bet for the writers to take if they wanted a face champ to, say, be chased by Maryse, as Melina was. She, we believe, could step up in Melina’s place better than any other Diva at their disposal. Many Diva fans would be all for it, too–a crowd pleasing move and a feasible one in the business sense–what could be better?
Jillian
Odds: Long Shot. Again, as with Brie, this is irrelevant, as she has already been eliminated from the tournament. Still, judging by Jillian’s lack of luck when it comes to pushes (she held the Divas Championship for a hot minute and went on the have a botch-filled mini-feud with Melina that the WWE pulled the plug on pretty quickly) it seems like the WWE lacks faith in Jillian, especially now given her lackluster feud with Melina. They seem content to make her a side show act, and a serious push towards the Divas Championship seems out of the question. Now, given all of this, it’s no big surprise that she was the second Diva eliminated, but I don’t think anyone had much faith in her chances to begin with. Maybe some day Jillian will get another moment in the sun, but it ain’t now.
Kelly Kelly
Odds: Sure Thing. While we have every confidence in Gail’s ability to pick up Melina’s slack, it’s no sure thing that the WWE would go for her. The more obvious candidate for the company to call on is her blonde counterpart. Kelly is easily the biggest crowd-pleaser of the babyfaces, getting the biggest Diva crowd reaction pretty consistently. While usually the WWE have used those sympathetic qualities in a more humbling way–as a glorified heel punching bag–they could easily spin that into a full-fledged push as the brand’s top face. If the WWE are looking for a solid figure for the fans to get behind, Kelly is the one. There have been underdog champions before (early Trish, to name one) and it is realistic to think that the WWE would go for that. She’s arguably the face of the WWE Divas in mass marketing already, so why wouldn’t the WWE want to actually push her to the forefront–in more than just commercials and Slurpee cups?
Maryse
Odds: Sure Thing. We’ve already expressed our concerns that the tournament could end in the most predictable way possible–crowning Maryse as Divas Champion. It really is the most obvious choice, as she was destined to win the championship sooner or later, had Melina not been taken out with her injury. The WWE could have easily given her the championship in a Battle Royal and saved all the fuss that comes with an 8-Diva tournament, but this provides the opportunity to build Maryse up to the title in a way that the Battle Royal wouldn’t–she’ll defeat her competition in place of Melina and assume the position she would have been in eventually. It’s highly predictable, as we’ve said, and we sincerely hope that it doesn’t turn out to be so obvious. It’s not that we don’t have faith in Maryse to be a decent champion, it’s just that it takes all the fun out of things when you can see the ending from a mile away. Still, this is by far the safest bet of them all. Put your life savings on this one, folks.
Nikki Bella
Odds: Long Shot. With Brie already eliminated, it doesn’t leave much hope for Nikki’s chances. The WWE, as we mentioned above, doesn’t seem all that sure what they want to do with the Bellas. Whether they wrestle or not, it seems unlikely that they would push one over the other, especially to such heights as the Divas Championship. The short-lived sibling rivalry was ret-conned rather quickly too, so don’t expect a split any time soon. By the way, with Nikki taking the pin for Brie, that would make for an interesting squabble between the two, with Brie claiming that Nikki has been eliminated, and not her. Of course, the powers the be could then just disqualify them both for admitting to cheating. Ah well..
How do you think the odds stack up? Vote for what you think it the best bet below and let us know how you see it in the comments
[poll id="508"]
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35 Comments
iF MARYSE BEATS GAiL, (WHiCH i REALLY H0PE D0ESNT HAPPEN!) THEN WE’LL ALL KN0W SHES GETTiNG THE CHAMPi0NSHiP. GiVE S0ME0NE ELSE A CHANCE WWE!!
It would be great if the WWE could give it to one of the faces, like Gail, Kelly or even Eve – however I doubt that’ll happen seeing as the WWE seems too interested in making her follow Mr Pecs – instead of just taking the obvious route and giving Maryse the title. I think Maryse will take it.
I still want to see Alicia win the title, but I don’t think this is the right time. I’m routing for Gail or Kelly.
The WWE is prolonging the inevitable, Maryse is going to be champ, she will have 3 week fueds with every Diva on Raw, and some cringeworthy backstage segments with the Miz until Melina returns. Welcome to 6 months of Raw is Bore people. (I love Maryse I really do, its the Miz and Raw’s booking team that irk me)
In my fantasy world I would love for GAIL to win, take the division by storm and restore the crowds faith in actual womens wrestling. (insert crickets chirping here).
The way I see it is this.
I don’t see how WWE Creative would think of having a babyface vs. babyface match in a tournament.
I mean, it happened once on Superstars. It was fantastic, but the WWE aren’t exactly that smart.
I think it could end up like this.
Match 3 – Kelly Kelly picking up a win against a Raw-debuting Katie Lea. (that would be so awesome!)
Match 4 – Alicia Fox picking up a win on either Eve or Nikki Bella. I mean, there’s one babyface too many on Raw, and like I said earlier I don’t see them doing a face/face match.
Match 5 – Maryse picking up a win against Gail.
Match 6 – Kelly Kelly picking up a win against Alicia.
And the finals being Maryse vs. Kelly for the Divas Championship.
Katie Lea might be the surprise wild card that usurps Gail in the next round. Or she could be the doofus heel foiled by the ascending Kelly Kelly. As much as it pains me to admit it, it’s probably the most logical choice to involve Kelly in the finals since she’s the most popular… but I’d still rather avoid another Kelly/Maryse confrontation.
No one deserves to win this tournament more than Gail Kim. She’s reliable, she’s experienced… and she’ll probably be thrice the champion the most likely winner, Maryse, will ever be. I mean if you guys think about it, Gail won over the fans without even speaking much: all she needed to do to create a personality for herself was through her ring work, plain and simple. And that, I believe, is worthy of applause. Gail Kim all the way.
It’s tough to say, but I think it’s safe to assume it’ll come down to Gail and Maryse. I don’t know if anyone noticed, but assuming that wwe takes their fans into account… which probably makes this unlikely, on the wwe diva poll Gail Kim is ridiculously ahead of everyone else and it’s already had more than 1 million votes. So I’m hoping that Gail will take the win. She could surely get over with the crowd, if she were given some mic time, I don’t recall her ever saying anything except for the time she threw a pie into Santino’s face.
I hope Gail wins it. She deserves to get the title after the WWE gave her a poor return on SD! and haven’t did anything with her since. After she could have a nice feud with Maryse.
consider me on the hunt for logic, but would they really put gail’s win and advancement on superstars (the lesser watched show) if she’s planned to be the winner of the raw tournament?
although saying that, as of right now, i wouldn’t be surprised if wwe themselves don’t know who’s going to win.
i still think it will be Kelly Kelly vs Maryse in the final, and if that happens
i would rather see Kelly Kelly get it. Maryse’s return has been kinda boring IMO she hasn’t proved she’s ready for another title shot (and she seems to have a smaller move set then before she left)
i would rather see Maryse do some chasing and more training
Im really rooting for G-Kim. I may not be a big big fan of hers but she deserves this title. I would love to see her run as top baby face of raw. But then again most likely maryse will win the whole thing. If maryse does win this thing then i would b pissed and call it a waste just like the knockouts tournment.
Like everyone else is saying i think it will be down to kelly vs maryse (i hope its not) most likely it will be and thats gonna be a train wreck waiting to happen
Then again if Katie Lea comes in and wins the whole thing then…..I will be more happier than a jack rabbit…..Lmao
I agree with the majority that it comes down to Maryse, Gail or Kelly.
Being predictable isn’t always a bad thing, sometimes things are only predictable because they are the most logical conclusion. Outside of those 3, I don’t think any of the other possible winners would make any sense either from a storyline point of view or from the average fans perspective.
Part of me wants to see Nikki advance to Round 2 just to give the Bellas another shot at Maryse. The Bellas’ poison finally came back to sting them in the Brie vs Maryse match. I think it would be interesting if Nikki and Brie had another shot to try and take down Maryse. haha
I do like how they have enough Divas on Raw to do this and for once it seems like they are finally going to use them all within the tired out tag match.
Maryse’s thing works better as the champ. You guy might she is “worthless” because she doesn’t go out there and hit a bunch of moves to “prove” she cant wrestler. But when the good girl finally gets a hold of Maryse to shut her blond butt up, the crowd eats it up. Proof of that is when Nikki slammed Maryse into the announce table last week.. And the Bellas are clearly defined by people who aren’t fans as “Well, why the hell are they still hired?”
And outside of Kelly, NONE of the Raw faces get that much reaction when their music hits.
WWE KNOWS HOW MUCH THE FANS WANT GAIL TO WIN THE TITLE
ON WWE.COM GAIL WON ABOUT 65% OF VOTES ON THE POLL AND OVER 1 MILLION VOTED!!
I forgot to add, I think in the long run it doesn’t really matter who wins this tournament.
It just comes down to whether they want a heel champion right now which would obviously be Maryse or a babyface in Gail or Kelly. Either way, I think whoever wins the tournament will drop the title to the other in the near future anyway, making this whole thing kind of null and void.
“Im really rooting for G-Kim. I may not be a big big fan of hers but she deserves this title.”
i’ll take a guess at this being pretty controversial, but within wwe, i don’t think she does deserve it. last week was her first solo victory in nine or ten months. yes, we all know she is great, but not taking her tna run, or previous wwe run, into account, she is nowhere near wwe champion material. it would be like handing layla or maria the divas belt.
as burke points out, i don’t think it really matters who does win this thing. if maryse wins, chances are she’ll be holding onto that title until melina comes back for it (or a new competitor arises from their annual trade). and if gail/kelly win it, they’ll likely drop it to maryse a couple months down the line, only for her to then wait around for a returning melina.
*the women’s belt
I really don’t think Melina is going to be a big factor when she comes back.
Before she got hurt, there were signs that she was clearly going to be pushed aside for Maryse. All those times Maryse was talking that smack, where was Melina? Look at all of Melina’s other feuds. The last time she didn’t stick up for herself was after Candice beat her. She just quietly went to sit in the corner or something.
I Swear If Maryse Wins I Will Die.. At Least On SD! Its Not Predictable Who’s Gonna Win A Title Match I Mean We Thought Mickie oud Defeat McCool!! Eve And Kelly Will Go Through And Gail Will Be Screwed Over By Maryse… Leading To Maryse vs Kelly/Eve At Royal Rumble.. I Bet It’ll Be A Lumberjill Match And Of Course Maryse Will Use The Heels To Her Advantage, But I Hope McCool Hits Maryse And She Loses
to be honest, why would gail kim win when:
1. they havent gave her a proper feud or tbh given a shit about her since she returned..
2. her match was aired on superstars. if she was gonna win im sure that it would of been aired on raw
3. they have what they would see as a ‘better’ babyface thats blonde and gets a great crowd reaction
its gonna be kellykelly or maryse in my opinion
I couldn’t disagree with you more Kaledrina; to catergorise Gail Kim along with Maria and Layla is ridiculous. She hasn’t won a match in some time simply because that’s the way she was booked. If match outcomes were determined by actual wrestling ability, Maria and the like might not even have a job. I think that she has been patient and quietly put over the younger performers is enough reason to give her a push.
Getting back to the tournament, I think Maryse’s opponent in the finals will be irreverent since it’s pretty much a throwaway — though if they really want to put her over strong, then Gail Kim is the logical choice. She’s distinctly more experienced and if Maryse dispatches of her, it will give her some credibility as champion.
I’m telling you, Kelly Kelly in the finals with Maryse will be anti-climatic. Both are performers who heavily rely on their opponents to carry their inexperience. If these two meet in the finals, we’ll see a sloppily paced three minute debacle. I don’t think it would hurt Kelly if she were to lose to either Katie Lea or Alicia in the next round. She’s always going to be popular no matter how many times she gets her ass handed to her in the ring, such is the power of being typically hot.
An interesting idea, however: what if Nikki Bella goes on to the win the belt, only for Brie to bemoan that she was never pinned in the first place? Or even yet, the Bellas holding the belt without the distinction of which one is actual champion? Okay, in terms of wrestling it would be horrendous, but it would strike as a fun way of opposing the predictable outcome.
“An interesting idea, however: what if Nikki Bella goes on to the win the belt, only for Brie to bemoan that she was never pinned in the first place? Or even yet, the Bellas holding the belt without the distinction of which one is actual champion? Okay, in terms of wrestling it would be horrendous, but it would strike as a fun way of opposing the predictable outcome.”
I like you. haha
I guess the great thing about the Raw side is that not only are Divas that wouldn’t normally get some limelight, are getting some. I marked out like a bitch when I saw the Bellas were have a match. Even before the tournament in 2009, Rosa, Alicia, Gail, and Jillian all got their own matches. Not all of them were good, granted, but it’s still nice to see some new faces.
That’s why Layla having a big role on SD is refreshing to me. It is still the “It’s the same Mickie beat Beth. Beth beat Mickie. Michelle has to be on, despite her relevancy.” that has been going on for the last two years!
I hope it’s Gail but I know it won’t be. If she makes it to the finals, then maybe it’s a possiblity
Maryse is the obvious choice to make champion, reports are saying that WWE was going to make ehr champion anyway so yeah
I knew Jillian was never going to win but I was hoping she would at least make it to round 2(because she’s a former divas champion) but that didn’t happen and she lost like always. I guess WWE will never push jillian, her 5 minute title reign must have been WWE’s way of saying “thank you jillian for everything you’ve done for the womens division but we don’t see you as a champion”
Alicia will definitly make it to round 2 because unlike Jillian, WWE actually lets Alicia win matches and be a contender
If Kelly wins the title, just kill me now
I agree with all except for Gail Kim. I don’t think her chances are really that likely. I mean, she’s been under used ever since she resigned with the wwe. The last major thing Gail received that I could remember is that her title match with Mickie. I know a lot of people are pulling in for Gail because she’s the most technical wrestler still in the tournament, but what are her chances really? She still has to go up against Maryse and chances of Maryse NOT at least making it to the finals are very low – I highly doubt Gail will go over Maryse in their match. Eh, maybe she’ll win a number one contender spot or feud with Maryse IF Maryse wins the title. I’d say Gail is a slightly a pretty safe bet. I don’t think she’s a long shot – because there is a tint of chance, she did win that WWE.COM Poll – however I definitely don’t think she’s a sure thing, IMO.
I’m still pulling in for Kelly. Besides Alicia, she’s the only diva I believe could have a interesting title reign. It’s time that WWE began a new beginning of new Championship reigns instead of using the safe four – Maryse, Mickie, Michelle and Melina. Kelly is still young but has shown tons of improvement, I think that it’s time WWE gave the title to an underdog Diva again. They did so for Trish, and Candice was the last diva they did so for. I think the underdog storyline really goes over and as mentioned, Kelly is very over with the crowd.
…As for Maryse, if she wins it… :/
I Think WWE Have To Give Someone Else The Chance Because See The Typical Championship Rivalries Against Mickie,Melina,Beth And New In This List Michelle & Maryse Make It Bored. I Go With KELLY KELLY
Because She Have A Great Crowd Reaction, The Crowd Love Her And As Top BabyFace, WWE Easily Could Start Rivalry Against Maryse & Kelly Or With Alicia. And Kelly Kelly Has The Biggest Improvement Since She Left ECW. And In My Opinion The Possibilities Are This:
Maryse: Too Obiously To Be True. Have High Chances But I Dont See Her As Champion This Soon.-HIGH
Gail:Ring Potential But WWE Hasnt Saw Her As Best Choice Of Belts For Now.
HIGH
Eve Torres: Have To Get More Involved(Not Ready,Not Yet). NOT NOW
Alicia Fox:High Possibilities But Not For Now Because She Have A Lot Of Potential But I Dont Think WWE That Is The Right Time. HIGH
Brie & Nikki Bella: Sure Not. One Of Them Is Already Eliminated And The Most Obious Thing Is That Nikki Will Be Eliminated Too. SURE NOT
Kelly Kelly: Have Ring Potential & The Best Crowd Reaction She Is The Best Choice. +HIGH
Jillian:Have A Lot Of Potential Sorry That WWE Saw Her As A Joke For Belts. SURE NOT
Honestly, I think Kelly should have this. She’s not my favorite, but that doesn’t matter.
Kelly has been waiting and waiting. Every time there is a chance for her to become the top diva, someone returns and she gets pushed aside.
Plus, I think an underdog champion could be a nice change.
I also think that having a belt would push her to grow even more.
She’s already shown that she can carry herself in most matches and she’s perfect for the short matches on Raw where she can do her spots.
On top of all that, the WWE already loves her. She’s their marketing girl.
And it’s no lie that the general audience loves her.
Eve Torres: Have To Get More Involved(Not Ready,Not Yet). NOT NOW
Eve would have been a good plausible choice if the WWE put her in matches when she got traded to Raw. Instead they turned her into eye candy to hang around guest GMs. That’s a damn shame!
Ebmich: I agree. Layla’s positioning in the Smackdown storyline has been most interesting. Michelle McCool really needs her right now, as without her she just doesn’t generate the same off screen chemistry with the other performers. Layla is very much the integral cog: Mickie gets to go over Beth clean, who in turn preserves her dominance by battering Layla, who allows the opposition to the title come across as a threat without the champion being pinned. Intelligent booking, if you ask me. Granted the only reward for Layla is extra screen time and little recognition for in-ring prowess, but when she can milk so much out of those little spots, why complain. Smackdown has been consistently entertaining for the past few weeks, in spite of the initial bad taste of the Piggy James gimmick.
As for the Bellas suggestion, I was just thinking how funny it would be whenever one of them defended the belt with the other in tow. They could employ a tactic where a fight breaks out between them, which distracts the opponent to their ultimate folly. Since the Divas Championship hasn’t really taken off in prestige, I don’t see the harm in playing about with it for a while longer. At the very least the Bellas might make a funny foil to Maryse for awhile.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Vince puts the title on Kelly to piss off the legions that voted for Gail. How dare the universe not coincide with the mass marketing doll of WWE. Insolence worthy of a firing squad, I tell you.
I would like to be surprised this time like having eve or kelly win.
I Really Hope Kelly Wins!! She Deserves the Title!! She is the most popular Face && has really gotten better!! If she doesnt win then i hope Eve or Gail Win! Im sick of Maryse winning all the time!! WWE let a BabyFace Have the Divas Championship!!!
now imagine if its kelly kelly vs gail kim for the title….
then kelly kelly wins.. gail will be pissed… turn heel,
evening the faces and heels, i think it is a good time to turn her!! :]
weirddork, i’d love to see gail turn heel and have some form of importance in the division, but by doing that they’ll be watering down her moveset which, for now, seem to be the only thing that’s slowly getting her over. i wouldn’t mind seeing her go back to her submission style, but i’d prefer her getting some form of major recognition from the tom, dick and harry fans first.
Safest bet ( from a wrestling standpoint / heel ) : Alicia Fox
Safest bet ( from a charismatic, over standpoint / heel ) : Maryse
Safest bet ( from a wrestling standpoint / face ) : Gail Kim
Safest bet ( from a charismatic, over standpoint / face ) : Kelly Kelly
Kelly is OUT!! WOOT!