Greetings to all… It’s David Davis with my weekly blog: Death of Wrestling. For all of those who read this regularly, you will know that this is not a blog about bashing wrestling; it’s a blog of a frustrated fan, who loves the business and wishes that each week it could be a little better.
It’s been a good week of wrestling, especially with MITB coming up tonight. The go home shows for Raw and Smackdown were special in that they featured a slew of PPV quality matches. But there was something much more intriguing to me than the major push Daniel Bryan is enjoying and that is the major push that the Divas are enjoying…
It wasn’t that long ago I was talking about Trish Stratus’ speech and the Golden Era of women’s wrestling in the WWE. Back then I had some hope for it within the WWE and despite a little dip, I still am holding out hope.
It’s interesting because the recent success of the Diva’s division, in my opinion, is down to two things. Firstly, AJ Lee. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that AJ is the single best Diva on the roster (Natalya would be high up on that list for a start), but I think the WWE currently consider AJ Lee to be the best Diva on the roster – well at least until Paige is called up.
Since AJ’s light has been shining so brightly, the Diva’s division has basked in her glow and this was particularly evident on Smackdown. The contract signing between Kaitlyn and AJ took place at the top of the second hour segment. Now this segment normally features the cream of the crop. The idea is to catch the channel surfers who are flicking through trying to find something to watch now that their favourite program has finished. It’s also supposed to stop you turning over now that another program you like is just beginning. This week, the WWE decided that the best way to do this was with a Diva’s segment.
Now I did say that there are two reasons and, in my opinion once again, AJ Lee and Kaitlyn have TNA, but more precisely Taryn Terrell and Gail Kim to thanks for this renewed push. If we’re to believe everything we read, Vince has been on a mission to surpass the mainstream media attention the Knockouts have been getting since their Last Knockout Standing match. It’s as if Vince suddenly remembered that if women go as hard as the men, but look as good as the – well – the women… the Male Gaze prevails, and mainstream publicity awaits.
The days of men just wanting women to be nothing more than eye candy are behind us (yes they are… they are… Ok mostly). Yes, we want them to be good looking, but we also want them to be at the top of their game and hard as nails – Ronda Rousey is proof of this, but so too are Serena Williams, Gail Kim and Jessica Ennis. Thankfully, the WWE is realizing this too and have been giving the girls a chance to be more than just eye candy.
One thing that I can take away from this is that competition is a good thing. The WWE is at its best when other companies are out doing them. The Attitude Era only existed because of the dominance of WCW, and the Diva’s are (arguably) only flourishing because of the success of the Knockouts. I hope the B leagues thrive – I want to see RoH, TNA, New Japan and all the other smaller promotions thrive, because without competition they’ll all rest on their laurels and that Ladies and Gents will be the DoW.
That’s all folks… As always, post your comments, thoughts and opinions below! Or message me on twitter and let me know what you think the ‘Death of Wrestling’ is and I might just blog about it!!! Peace and I’m out…