Female wrestling has always been a niche product. Something to occasionally have on a card. A small roster with a couple bigger name females and the rest just a supporting cast.
Wendi Richter and Moohlah being the two stars in the early 80s.
As soon as Wendi Richter had a falling out in WWE and left, the division was worthless because there was no viable babyface.
In a down period like this the women become less used and thres been various times where WWE disbanded the division for over 3 years.
Then over time they brought it back more in spurts such as the Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano feud.
And then when they started the division again it was mostly a farce with people like Hervina, Kat, Bertha winning the title.
The more that era went on it became largely T&A. The use of a lot of T&A titilated fans and kept girls more interesting that otherwise wouldn't be. WWE was also putting much more effort into the writing overall during these years.
And they were smart to build a roster with star types like Trish and Lita bolstered by solid veterans to make them look good.
Throughout these various years they did Diva searches and things like Playboy pushes. This all hurt the division because most of those girls didn't pan out at all and it gave Wrestlemania spots to busts like Ashley Massaro and Christy Hemme.
Trish and Lita left then the company leaned on Mickie James out of necessity after various girls I mentioned flopped. They put Candice on the right path but she quickly flammed out because of injuries and a deteriorating look.
After awhile the division was on the right track with Mickie and Kelly as the main faces. They were both buried though because of Vince/Stephanie's insistence of pushing Melina as a face.
We then entered the era of Michelle McCool's politics. An era where mostly everything that was done was an attempt to build the Undertakers heat vacuum wife. This took opportunities from other girls and numbed fans to the product.
If nothing else there was a Diva match every TV and houseshow, helped a lot by Kelly who gave them an ideal babyface that was always popular and healthy.
As time went on though the powers that be stopped putting any effort into the womens division. They consciously damaged it in many ways. No real storyline effort, 1 minute matches on Raw, no PPV build, no viable Wrestlemania matches.
Mixed in with bad politics of Stephanie trying to get Eve over as a face, Vince handing the title over to his "buddies" the Bella Twins. Keeping a jumped the shark LayCool gimmick going for several months too long. Only for McCool to randomly leave right when her husband went into semi-retirement. Leaving the title on a completely played out Beth Phoenix for months rather than put effort into the division.
The result of the company burying the divison and its politics led to just about every notable Diva leaving.
The last straw for some perhaps AJ being given the absolute sun and moon because of a potential fling with Cena. A girl who was strictly on the NXT brand shortly before. And to get any traction they had to build several Raws around her. Have her do endless amount of sexually charged acts. And constantly be around main eventers.
All for a girl that never paid any dues in WWE, rarely wrestles, and has a nothing special look.
And how were they treating the wrestling division while this was going on? Giving a bad political push to Layla and just keeping the title on her with no direction because they had no desire to put effort into the division.
They completely wasted a KK vs Eve feud which could have really helped the division get on the right track. But no, they rather spend all their time planning outrageous sexual acts for AJ.
Kelly left. Beth Phoenix left. And Eve abandoned ship as well despite how much they continued to give her.
And where are we now? Trying to squarepeg Kaitlyn into a pushed face role which is bombing. Something that if they had half a brain knew would be the case but they frankly don't give a shit.
WWE in their arrogance thought the division could just roll along without its top stars. After all, they just want to use it as a piss break anyway. But even if you are toning down the use of the division you still need top stars. They have no face anything close to Kelly. A face that could make all the random pointless matches seem at least half way important. And could be the main diva headliner on houseshows.
Instead they have Kaitlyn who can't get a reaction. And look how bad the houseshow lineups are. Stuff like Kaitlyn vs. Tamina and Layla vs. Aksana. Its downright embarrassing.
What we are seeing is a wounded pointless division similar to when Wendi Richter left. The only difference is now WWE can't seem sexist for disbandoing the division and won't be without something competitors have.
Internet marks live in a delusion that every girl they sign in developmental is going to be a star. But most flame out becase of either injuries, heat, bad packaging and lack of starpower. Not to mention given a crappy name, brought up with a crappy angle, and tasked with being successful in a division the company does not care about.
Most Divas they sign at most are going to be role players. When I look at the FCW Diva roster right now I see maybe two girls that could be top heels, one of which isn't a good worker. I don't see any girls that are cut out to be a true top face.
And now they are doing a Diva Search which is just going to flood developmental with girls who will need at least 2 years of training and most will bomb. For every Eve Torres (who failed as a face but was productive as a heel) there is girls like Rosa, Amy, Joy, Carmella, etc etc.
Right now you could fire almost all the Divas and it wouldn't matter. Most of the FCW girls are just going to take their place as role players.
Then net marks hold onto some goofy hope of Indy girls being a savior. We had to hear this for months about Sara Del Rey. And what really happened, they only signed her to be a trainer. What do you think would happen if they actually had her be a wrestler? They would give her a new name, some goofy gimmick, give her an initial heel push then turn her into a jobber.
The reality is WWE can sign anyone they want. Every one of these Indy type girls have no problem selling out such as Kong and Serena. Girls who were hyped to the moon by the Internet and given the tools to succeed by political backers in the office. And what happened? They couldn't deal with WWE's controlling and demanding ways.
There just isn much of any well packaged girls in the Indys. WWE would sign them if there was. Instead they try to seem smarkish by signing girls like Davina Rose and Buggy Nova. One already flamed out. The other just started in NXT and really has too minor league of a look. Its no wonder they have toyed with having her wrestle under a mask.
Most of what is in the Indys that is worth signing are girls to be veteran heel jobbers. Girls like Sara, Cheerleader Melissa, etc would be fine in that role. That would make the heel side a lot better than having girls like Aksana and Alicia as the main jobbers.
The first point of this article is WWE is the top wrestling company in the world. Its where every wrestler wants to be. Yet they aren't able to cobble together a womens division. All that is left is shakey role players and a blind hope that some of the Dev girls can develop into top stars.
Then you go down the ladder to TNA. The second biggest wrestling company and its just as big of a joke.
Their method is to mainly give pushes to long washed up WWE girls. It makes no sense to give a girl a huge push that is way up in age and was a jobber in WWE.
Then they delude themself by overvaluing their homegrown talent. For instance Velvet Sky.
Here is a girl who is almost 32. Her age along with her skanky look make it impossible for her to be uber marketable.
When Velvet was avialable did WWE want her? No.
If Velvet walked out on Raw right now would anyone care? No.
Yet this is who they want to build as their "it" girl. A plan as stupid as WWE trying to build Kaitlyn.
Net marks buy into this bullshit too. They call Velvet "the TNA Kelly". No, there is no comparison. Firstly Kelly is way more popular and well known. Secondly Kelly is way more marketable. Thirdly Kelly is a lot younger. And lastly if Kelly walked out on TNA it would be a big deal.
The one girl TNA has that is a commodity is Brooke who has some level of starpower, even if its mostly based on her showing her ass. But even if Brooke walked out on Raw do you think anyone would really care? No.
The main star they have is Mickie James who is about on her last legs.
TNA's roster is really no better than WWE's. They if nothing else give the women time. But for being supposely the smark friendly female wrestling company, who do they put their title on, Velvet.
There is nothing high level going on in TNA's Knockout division. Its just giving a lot of time to a odd mix of washed up girls and homegrown girls they overvalue.
Then you get to the female Indys. Internet marks go on and on and on about such and such girls in the Indys are such big stars. They talk about these female Indys that are lucky if they get 100 people at their shows as if it is the big time?
Talk about delusional.
What do every one of these girls in the Indys want? A spot in WWE.
A chance to go to WWE. A place that has rampant politics and has systemattically killed the womens division.
So for almost every Indy female they are basically busting their asses for an opportunity that will never come. And then WWE will sign an Indy girl like AJ who only had like ten Indy matches.
To sum things up I am basically saying that female wrestling is a niche product and its really only viable if you have a true star or two driving it. We are seeing this big time in WWE right now. And because of PG they can't even have the girls get a cheap pop for showing thier ass.
Internet marks though live in a fantasyland where every unover secondary girl is a star
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