Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Hey, the Divas CAN Work (Kinda)

It wasn't bad, which for them is like saying "IT WAS FIVE STAR!!!1"
Photo Credit: WWE.com
So, as I mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire episode of RAW last night. That included an extended match featuring Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly and the Bella Twins. Yes, I enjoyed that too. No, I'm not high on peyote. Please, stop laughing at me, it was a decent match. No, seriously, for them it was okay. Please, put the straitjacket down.

In all seriousness, it was the best Divas match that I've seen in awhile that didn't involve Michelle McCool, Mickie James, Beth Phoenix or Nattie Neidhart. I was surprised at the levels of competency in it, but I can bet that there was someone out there who wasn't. Razor of House Kick-Out!! said on The Wrestling Podcast last week (have you listened to it yet and have you left feedback? DO IT) that all he thought the Divas needed was just a little more time and a little more effort. I disagreed with it slightly, because really, there are only a few women in WWE right now who can give you a good match without being carried.

But then I watched the match. Granted, it wasn't Savage vs. Steamboat good, or even Masters vs. Ryder on Superstars good. Eve's shimmy before her standing moonsault was lulz-inducing in a bad way, and as my newest blogging Bromar Garciaparra (Mitch, we have another brother!) Brandon Stroud points out in his latest Best and Worst of RAW column at With Leather, Kelly Kelly's offensive output should be limited to an inside cradle after selling for the entire match, and maybe that stinkface she does, because that's hot and I get at least one pervy reference per blog post about women in WWE. The Bellas are works in progress too, although (and this should make Jason Mann happy) they are a bit further progressed than their babyface counterparts are in the match last night. So while quality-wise, it wasn't great, for them, it was like their Savage/Steamboat moment. If that makes sense.

What I hope happens is that next week, they get a little bit better, and with each week, the same. Then, maybe in a year, after some seasoning, some advice from agents who know the business and the like, we have some fine Divas wrestlers who can work a 8-12 minute free TV match with a goal that's more lofty than "not botch the shit out of the simplest things". It worked with Trish Stratus, who started out as a fitness model and left WWE as a bona fide wrestler. With Kharma coming back in less than a year and the spry and more-than-capable AJ being groomed on Smackdown, Beth, Nattie and I guess Gail Kim will have more "aces" to help them along with the maturation of the Kelly Kellies and Bella Twins of the world.

At the end of the day, that's all any of us really want. I honestly don't care if your women's division is full of vapid model types or full of gals like Sara del Rey, Madison Eagles, Cheerleader Melissa and the like. Just as long as they're competent and can do wrestling, most sensible wrestling fans will be happy. The Divas tag from last night was a step in the right direction for them, and hopefully, they'll keep getting it right more and more until hey, they're actual wrestlers.

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