The Women’s division in the WWE has take a huge leap backwards in my humble opinion. As a female fan I have no interest whatsoever in any of the new Diva’s that the WWE are current employing and saturating their shows with. I would not class any of them as role models in the industry simply because of the way they are being portrayed. I am not stupid, I know that they have hired them simply as sex objects and eye candy to attract their “ideal” main fan base of males 15-25.
The sad thing is that the way they portray these women on their shows now is not very family orientated and it will get to a stage where parents will no longer be able to take their children to watch the WWE for fear of subjecting their young children (the future fans of the WWE) to watching half naked women strutting around in front of them. While they are no doubt pleasing their target audience they are also alienating the rest as well as true wrestling fans who tune in to watch WRESTLING!!!!!!!.
The sad thing is that most of the segments these new women appear in are pointless and even the male fans, while admiring their beauty and other assets, have no interest in them other wise and I am sure if asked they would tell the WWE that they would rather watch a great wrestling match than a beauty pageant. Unfortunately, that’s what is going to happen at No Way Out this Sunday and not just once but three times. When did the WWE become an off shoot of “Miss World”?. I love the current poll on WWE.COM asking fans to vote for which part of this contest they are most looking forward to, there are two option missing - “NONE OF THE ABOVE” or “NOT INTERESTED“.
If the fans vote then the WWE will deem it a success and we will see more of this crap in the future. If only a few vote then the fans will be sending a very clear message to the WWE that they are not interested in seeing this sort of thing again on a WRESTLING SHOW and then maybe they will get the hint that these “clones” are not doing their business any favours or enhancing their product.
How many fans actually know the names of all these new Diva’s and by that I mean actually put the name to the face - obviously the WWE are worried about that fact because they had them come out on Smackdown this week holding name cards - lets just hope they were all given the right ones!!!!!.
I am just at a loss for words as to why the Creative Team would even consider this to be a huge selling point for their PPV. In fact I find it a huge turn off and if this beauty pageant takes up too much air time then I will be “turning off“. In all honesty, if I had to pay for this PPV then I couldn’t justify forking out good money to watch it with this ……….. well, whatever you want to call it being a huge part of the card.
I have to admit that after seeing the “Go-Daddy” Commercial with Candace (I have actually never seen or more likely never noticed her on Raw before) in really had me scratching my head as to what all the fuss was about - I guess it’s a male thing. The WWE used her “exposure” on main stream TV and the internet to try and get more publicity for their product, unfortunately, they are barking up the wrong tree with these sort of things. The same goes for Christy appearing in Playboy like Torrie Wilson and Sable before her. Yes, male fans are going to cheer at the thought of seeing Christy naked but not because she is a WWE Diva - it’s a naked woman, it doesn’t matter who her employer is.
Men who saw the Go Daddy commercial weren’t searching the net to find out all about Candace and her current employer but more than likely looking for photos of her or videos to download and I would be highly surprised that if they read she was currently employed by the WWE it would have them scampering to watch Raw just to see her. It takes a lot more than that to get someone interested and to keep their interest in Wrestling - mainly being able to actually watch WRESTLING MATCHES with actual athletes who can wrestle!!!!!.
Same with Playboy, do the WWE really think that by having Christy appearing naked in the magazine that it will improve their ratings?. Most hot bloodied males will buy Playboy regardless of whether a WWE Diva is in there or not. Come on, how many guys will buy playboy with Christy in it and suddenly think, wow, I must start watching Raw to see her each week. Na, more than likely they will surf the net and download pictures of her or any videos they can find. Have the ratings soared through the roof since Torrie and Sable appeared on the pages of Playboy? - NO, is the simple answer to that one.
Should they be surprised then of the treatment of Amy Weber on their recent tour to Japan when her picture appeared on a flier for a strip club?. If you are going to portray your women as sex objects then this sort of thing is going to happen and keep happening. They are not going to be shown any respect and that is simply because of the way they are being promoted and used. These women are models (not fitness models like Trish and Victoria) and actresses not ALTHLETES or WRESTLERS and fans will soon grown weary of them if they continue to absorb so much air time each and every week and take up valuable time that could be used for wrestling. Yes, have them appear as valet’s every now and then (when appropriate) but don’t have them dominate each show.
I know the WWE is Sports Entertainment BUT primarily they should be concentrating on the WRESTLING aspect of the business. The WWE is not about reality TV, Playboy or Miss World pageants and fans don’t tune in to watch any of that, they tune in in the hope of watching some awesome WRESTLING matches. The balance needs to be addressed. Maybe if they hired writers who had Wrestling backgrounds and know what WRESTLING FANS would like instead of using Hollywood script writers then maybe they would attract a whole new fan base and reignite the interest of those fans that have been turned off by the current direction the company has taken.
Yes, its an ever changing business and the WWE have to try and reinvent their product on an almost daily basis but they need to be asking the right people. It’s a case of trial and error, sometimes they get it right other times they don’t. It’s a real learning curve that’s for sure and they can’t please everyone all of the time but they should go with the majority. They have a locker room full of experienced wrestlers who have been in the business a long time and know what makes the fans happy, maybe if they asked for a few ideas from them.
I have the up most respect for Trish, Lita, Victoria, Molly, Gail Kim, Jazz and Ivory, all very beautiful and talented athletes who are all ideal role models for future generations of female wrestlers and for women in general. They have proven through their own hard work, determination and dedication to the profession that if you want something enough and work hard at it then you can achieve your dreams and anything really is possible.
All of these women have worked incredibly hard to learn how to wrestle and to be taken seriously as in ring competitors. Up until about 6- 12 months or so ago they were all involved in solid Storylines resulting in awesome matches but unfortunately, slowly but surely the Creative Team have given fans little reason to care about their matches through lack of build up or any Storyline. I don’t blame any of these women at all because they always give their best in every match and make the most of any opportunities given to them. Now, the actual female athletes in the WWE has been reduced to just four women and I hope to god that the WWE will grow tired of this current trend of hiring Barbie and her sisterhood and will once more hire women athletes to work alongside Trish, Victoria, Molly and Lita (when she has recovered) and once again build the women’s division into something to be proud of.
Take Care
Di
diane@hunt24.fsworld.co.uk
