The Forgotten Diva's Past

Hi guys,

It doesn't seem like a day or show goes by in WWE without someone talking about the Women's Revolution and how amazing the up and coming women wrestlers are. And they're right! Nowadays, female wrestlers are stronger than ever constantly putting on amazing matches with fellow women and even men. In WWE you've got the likes of Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Shayna Bayzler and Sasha Banks. On a wider scale you've got Britt Baker, Miyu Yamashita, Riho, Bea Priestly and Viper to name a few from across the world. All amazing women who have pushed the boundaries of women's wrestling into a new era trying to get to a point where they're seen as equals.

However, have we forgotten or tried to disregard the past?

Before this revolution, we had the divas division. A group of women who wanted to make it in the industry they loved and grew up watching, but weren't given nearly the same amount of opportunities. They were the show fillers, the beauty's to watch and something to appease male fans. We saw bra and panties matches, red carpet matches and even some that I don't even want to write (but either use your imagination or search it on YouTube.)

But they carried on fighting. No matter what they were given, they tried to make the best of it and make sure that all eye's were on them, even if it ended up being for the wrong reasons. On a more technical level, they were even restricted in the ring in terms of their move set. I've lost count of the number of interviews I've read with former Divas who talk about how their style was criticised by their superiors. They were told to fight more like girls which basically meant things we associate with a 'cat fight'. In an interview with former WWE Diva Gail Kim on PressBox Online, former member WWE creative Kevin Eck said that, back in the day, WWE’s Chairman Vince McMahon view was that “no one wants to see the girls fight like the guys”.

That wasn't to say that they didn't try to put on a show and get the crowd interested like they would any other match on the card. Take the feud between Lita and Trish Stratus. These two women were amazing athletes in the ring and constantly pushed boundaries with the moves they were doing that included either a lot of aerial or hard hitting stuff. That's just to name a few amazing women from that era because really, there were so many names I could talk about from Molly Holly, Gail Kim, Ivory and that's naming a small number.

So, when did we start to see a change?

If you think about it, it was the divas themselves who started the change, even though we fans like to take credit. Remember, the likes of  Lita, AJ Lee, Naomi and Paige were all Divas - all three very different from what we thought female wrestlers were meant to be with Lita's outrageous wrestling style, Naomi's athleticism, AJ's converse's and small stature and Paige's gothic-esque personality. Without spurts of hope they gave us that things can change, would we have really wanted that change or would we have been happy just letting things carry on as they were. 

So, whenever people criticise the likes of the Divas, it angers me. It's almost like some people choose to forget everything that these women did for the sport

For me, the biggest example of this it the Bella Twins who made their debut during the peak of the divas division. From the minute they stepped into the ring, people were quick to criticise them. I think even they would say that they weren't the best in the ring, especially compared to the talents now. However, people need to remember that they didn't have places like NXT who cared about women's wrestling and created a space to nurture that talent. They had to make do with the resources they had to try and get better and work their way up the division, something that many people put down to their relationships with Daniel Bryan and John Cena. Even now, after Nikki fought back from a career ending injury and Brie returned after giving birth, all they got was stick from botching a move or something else. As someone who fell in love with wrestling through the Bellas, it hurts to see such malice towards them, especially after the announcement of their induction into the HOF.


I don't want to make you think that it only happened to Nikki and Brie because it's just an example close to my heart and, depending on when you started watching WWE, your examples will probably reflect that.

All of the divas worked so hard to get eyes on the product and build roads for the new talent that came up whilst they were wrestling. Apart from the likes of Trish, Lita, Beth Pheonix and a few others, why are so many of the Divas forgotten about when talking about the women's revolution. It seems like we only remember them when they make a comeback whether it's just for television or for something big like the women's Royal Rumble. It was these women who fought through everything to try and get even a 5 minute match on television and fought even harder for a match on a big PPV. We can all remember Wrestlemania 29 where the only match to feature the Divas was cancelled.

Could anyone even imagine something like that happening now?

When we see the new stars coming up and getting those big history making moments, I always think about the likes of Naomi, Natalya, Tamina and even Alicia Fox. Women who all had to go through the toughest but never seem to have those big matches to etch their names in the history books. For once, I'd love to see someone who didn't get come up through the nurturing environment of NXT have that big match. Let them get the same huge opportunities as the women who've come from developmental or the independent scene. If they're not getting the shots because they're not as good, then help them get to that standard and give them the training they should've had when they started!

So, even though we're so far from a perfect world in women's wrestling, it's improving at a crazy rate and we shouldn't forget the women who paved this road. The women who worked their arses off despite the lack of opportunities just so that women nowadays could have all of these firsts: main eventing WrestleManian, TLC matches, War Game matches and their own Survivor Series matches. These women did the best they could considering the circumstances and worked their asses off to try and even get a minute of screen time. The Divas Division was what made people take notice and realise that it wasn't right.

This is a post I've wanted to do for some time and I really hope you guys liked it or at the least understood where I came from. I am not saying that everyone is like this, but there are always going to be people who forget how much the past impacts the present.

Let me know what you think about this post and talk to me on my social media because I love a good chat and a good bit of fangirling about everything wrestling:

(@Wrestling_Chat on Twitter and Wrestling Chatter on FB and WrestlingChatter96 on IG)! I

Also, keep an eye out for my fortnightly podcast where I talk a lot about all thing wrestling: https://www.mixcloud.com/WrestlingChatter/ because I will be starting it up again and this is a promise!

Until next time,

Bye