Defending The Women
Of The WWE Divas Division
The WWE Divas Division is known and remembered for a lot of
things including the WWE Diva Search, dance contests in the ring, evening gown
matches, fashion photoshoots, Halloween costume contests, a reality show called
Total Divas, swimsuit contests, pudding matches, Santa’s Little Helper matches
and the WWE Divas Championship belt which was designed to look like a pink
butterfly. The WWE Divas Division has often been criticized for many reasons
including swimsuit matches, eggnog matches, catfights, pajama pillow fight
matches, schoolgirl matches, gravy bowl matches, dance segments, short matches
that lasted anywhere from thirty seconds to five minutes and the WWE Divas
Championship belt, which was won by many women such as Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres,
Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Layla, Maryse, Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox and Michelle
McCool. Unfortunately, the blame is sometimes placed on the women themselves
even though they really are not to blame.
During this timeframe, the ladies working for the WWE were
not given much time on television so they had to make the most of the little
time that they were given, so long as their matches and segments weren’t cut at
the last minute which unfortunately happened from time to time when matches or
segments that would occur earlier on the program went past their time limits. One
example of this occurred on April 7th, 2013 at WrestleMania 29 when
an eight-person intergender tag team match was scrapped due to time constraints
after two matches earlier in the show exceeded their time limits. The match
would eventually take place the next evening on Monday Night Raw.
The fact that women were not given much time for matches and
segments also made it more difficult for them to showcase their abilities,
creativity and talent. Being given only five minutes or less of television time
on programming that was two to three hours long in total made it hard for the
women to have enough time to show all the hard work they had been putting in
through training. The women would often have to worry more about trying to avoid
going over time limits instead of being able to solely focus on telling the
story they were trying to tell through their segments, gimmicks and matches. Because
of this, many fans looked at the women’s segments and matches as a time for bathroom
breaks.
Because of such limited time being given to them, many of
the women were often criticized as looking unskilled or untrained in the ring,
particularly models and actresses that were hired with no prior wrestling experience.
During an interview with Ring The Belle in March 2021, Former WWE Superstar,
Maria Kanellis stated that many of the women who were criticized for being
“unskilled” due to short matches on television had longer matches on
non-televised house shows where they had many impressive performances. Maria
also noted that training was different during the time that WWE referred to
their women wrestlers as “Divas” as the WWE did not have a Performance Center
for their Superstars to train and develop their craft at, instead learning
through developmental territories such as Ohio Valley Wrestling, Heartland
Wrestling Association, Deep South Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling
or by showing up early to live events to get extra time to train in the ring
with more seasoned veterans such as Victoria, for example. Additionally, some
women, such as Kristal Marshall for example, were specifically given less ring
time than others on the roster after being told by some in WWE’s management
positions that they did not wish for certain women to wrestle.
Additionally, the women were unfortunately considered filler
spots back then between matches and some people in production and management positions
backstage also did not wish to take the women seriously as competitors, instead
desiring the women’s roster to be seen as eye candy by having them dress in
skimpy attire and putting them in segments and matches that focused more on
their physical looks and sensuality as opposed to booking and showcasing them
for their athleticism and talent. Sadly, many women were also put into
storylines, gimmicks and segments that were designed to shame them, embarrass them
or make them look like a joke in some way. Often times, people in production and
management positions backstage wanted to demean them or humiliate them as a
result of cutting a promo that was “too good” or having a wrestling match that
looked “better than the men performing” because they incorporated kicks and
punches or cheated to win by putting their feet on the ropes.
At one point, Former WWE Superstars, Michelle McCool and
Victoria were told by Vince McMahon backstage to go back out and re-do their
match at an event because their punches looked too good. Unfortunately,
Michelle McCool and Victoria were forced to change back into their ring gear,
go back out and redo their match with a new rule officially being instituted
for women’s matches where they were no longer allowed to kick or punch and were
only allowed to catfight, slap and pull hair. According to Michelle McCool,
this lasted for around six weeks before the women started sneaking punches and
kicks back into their matches. Former WWE Superstar, Chris Jericho also defended
Melina and Michelle McCool for a DDT spot they performed on the barricade when
they were criticized by an agent backstage for it looking better than some of the
men’s DDT’s. After overhearing the criticism made towards Melina and Michelle
McCool’s DDT Spot along with other bumps and moves that they performed, Chris
Jericho stated that if the men’s matches don’t look as good as the women’s
matches, that’s the men’s problem and not the women’s and that the men should be
stepping their game up then.
Chris Jericho was not the only man that defended and
advocated for the women to be treated with more respect and better
opportunities. Michelle McCool stated that her husband and WWE Hall Of Famer, The
Undertaker often wanted to speak up for Michelle and the other ladies but she
told him not to in order to avoid any more heat on her and the other women. It
is also well-known that WWE Hall Of Famer, Mick Foley also spoke out about the
women of the WWE deserving more acknowledgement, increased pay and better opportunities.
Fit Finlay also played a pivotal role in helping the women through training
them wrestling moves and in-ring psychology despite management scolding him and
telling him that they preferred the women to be having wardrobe malfunctions in
revealing clothing.
Sometimes people in production and management positions at
WWE also punished women on the roster for details about their personal lives
and relationship statuses being leaked publicly, gossip and rumors being
reported on dirt sheet websites, weight gain, having a more muscular build than
other women on the roster or for them being unwilling to perform raunchy acts
with them. Some examples of when women have unfortunately been shamed or
treated as a joke include giving Natalya Neidhart a flatulence gimmick and putting
Mickie James in a storyline where she was body-shamed, bullied and compared to
a pig. In October 2022, Former WWE Superstar, Melina spoke out on the Wrestling
Purists podcast and said that putting the women in lingerie matches or swimsuit
matches was a way that backstage personnel tried to degrade the women whenever
they did something impressive in a match and said that the environment could feel
toxic at times because of this.
Despite all of the discrimination, disrespect, underappreciation
and mistreatment they endured, it didn’t stop women like Maria Kanellis, Mickie
James and Michelle McCool actively pitching and pushing for better
opportunities like storylines and gimmicks. In her March 2021 interview with
Ring The Belle, Former WWE Superstar, Maria Kanellis stated she had pitched for
more wrestling shirts and merchandise promoting the WWE Divas. Unfortunately,
her idea was rejected, having been informed that WWE didn’t see women’s shirts as
sellable. That mindset would begin to change when the shirts and merchandise
for Former WWE Superstar, AJ Lee became a top seller during her time working for the
company.
Therefore, despite the WWE Divas being given less screen
time, less merchandise, shorter matches and fewer creative opportunities than the
WWE’s current group of Women Superstars, they still made the most of every
opportunity they were given to fight back for more respect and equality. They endured
misogyny, double-standards, unfair treatment and harassment that they never deserved
to endure yet still did what they could to entertain, to get fans to show
interest in women’s wrestling and to inspire girls and women worldwide. Because
of this, they helped pave the way for both the current and future groups of women
wrestlers in the WWE to thrive and prosper. If it wasn’t for the women of the
past striving and advocating for better opportunities and better treatment, the
Women’s Division could look entirely different than what it does now with the possibility
of the Women still never being given the accomplishments being in the main
event match at WrestleMania, having their own tag team championships to compete
for or having their own 30-woman Royal Rumble match, Money In The Bank match,
Elimination Chamber match or Queen Of The Ring match to compete in. Without the
women of the past working hard and taking risks for more respect and equal
opportunities in WWE, talented and athletic performers like Bianca Belair, Zelina
Vega, Nikki Cross, Michin, Shotzi, Rhea Ripley, Wendy Choo, Arianna Grace, Wren
Sinclair, Cora Jade, Roxanne Perez, Giulia, Gigi Dolin, Tatum Paxley, Liv
Morgan, Tiffany Stratton, Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, Alba Fyre, Jade Cargill, Nia
Jax, Candice LeRae, Kairi Sane, Asuka, Iyo Sky and Shayna Baszler may possibly
have not had the chances to excel or even compete in WWE.
