In August, I mentioned a hypothetical "closed division". Not surprisingly, I was really alluding to the women's division. Women competing against men and for titles traditionally held by men is not the norm, it is the exception. Especially in this era in the WWE, you do not see it often. The WWE would rarely push two diva storylines/feuds on the same show without one getting the short end of the stick sooner or later. Look at Natalya's "feud" with Tamina. It went on while Diva title issues also did on Raw. Great? Few problems. First, the feud between the two women was really just an extension The Usos and Hart Dynasty battling over the tag titles. Second, aside from the beatings the heels gave the faces, nothing great was really invested in this feud. That leads to the third thing. It did pretty much nothing great for either woman. Tamina and her guys quickly got depushed. Natalya did not really gain much. She would have had credibility for the push she now has based on the fact that she was hired as a wrestler, feuded with McCool before, and, if it must be said, she's related to Bret Hart too. What's more, and I am not saying the matches were horrible, the interactions between the two really were not good enough to put either on the map more than they already were from being credible wrestlers and relatives to legends. You also had divas feuding for Raw's Diva's Championship. All you had during this time was the passing of credibility through the passing of the title. Once again, I would not say the WWE invested very well in getting either Eve or Alicia properly over. Maybe they did give it a good try, but it still failed. I would say both diva matters that were going on got the short end of the stick in terms of potential and bringing results for the women involved and true entertainment value. There is more I can say on this, but my point is that the WWE's treating of the diva division in this manner is one of the reasons it does suck.I am going to talk about Gail Kim here. In my opinion, there is no better, clearer example of how the WWE views women like Gail Kim, Melina, Mickie James, Victoria, and the past credible wrestlers who revolved around Trish Stratus than what they did to Gail Kim earlier this year. I know I probably talked about this in my dead diva blog, but I want to revisit it since it will also help in developing the larger topic for the future. On a small scale, it illustrates it very well.
Gail Kim returned to the WWE last year. She had become the centerpiece of TNA's highly-praised female division. By buying her out, the WWE did a small bit in crippling it. Fans were hyped for months, thinking Gail Kim would do some kind of magic in the WWE. Where is she now? In any case, when Gail returned, she laid out both Michelle McCool and Maryse on Smackdown, setting her sights on the Diva's Championship. Funny how she was the closest one to making history by becoming the first woman to hold both titles by this time, isn't it? Victoria had left, no one else on Smackdown had held the Women's Championship before, and no one on Raw had held the Diva's Championship or had a shot at getting it while it was on Smackdown. In any case, Gail's push got destroyed pretty easily. Also, Gail Kim was easily depushed and not very over. What went wrong? Three things. First, Gail Kim's overness did not carry over from TNA to WWE. Second, the WWE did not invest in her hard or well enough to try to make her over. Third, as much as I do like Gail Kim, she does not have what it takes to get over or stay over independent to how she is treated by the promotion. WWE just moved her around as they felt, using her as a low-level tool. She had more credibility than some in that she had held the WWE's Women's Championship before and was an actual wrestler, but she was still just there to put people over.
At the end of 2009, Diva's Champion Melina got injured. As 2010 started, a tournament was announced to crown another. As the year progressed, which diva had the best win-loss record for televised matches? Who was undefeated, getting wins pretty much every week? Not Michelle McCool, Mickie James, or Maryse. This diva the WWE must have loved so much was Gail Kim. They had to love her, right? Why else would they give her the wins? Because they wanted to develop a credible wrestler to feed to Maryse. That is what Melina was. She got injured. Who is left as the most credible face on Raw? Kelly Kelly? She is the most over face at the time there, not the most credible. Eve? She was who the WWE was going to pump credibility into through a title reign in the near future, but not the most credible at the time to put Maryse over. Bella Twins? Prostitutes for guest hosts. I already said where Gail got credibility from. Gail also went over every heel diva on Raw. The mission with Maryse at that time was always to try to get her looking like a credible wrestler by associating with them. She didn't need help getting monster heel heat, since the WWE would want a woman with her sexy gimmick to actually be somewhat liked, not hated like a Michelle McCool around this time.
Speaking of gimmicks, the WWE also pushed a minor storyline at the same time in which Maryse would speak face English and heel French, as if Gail could not understand the latter. This was meant to push Maryse's sneaky and conniving side. Fans were supposed to find that somewhat cute. Some even read lesbian undertones. It's Maryse! Of course pervs would read lesbian undertones! In any case, the story ended when Gail finally revealed she could speak and understand French too. HAH! TAKE THAT MARYSE! GAIL WAS SO....so....what? Entertaining? Were fans supposed to feel sympathetic for Gail because Maryse was trying to make her look stupid, then fall in love with Gail after she revealed she was not fooled? If the WWE honestly had this storyline to try to turn Gail into a monster over face diva, it is the absolute worst attempt I have ever seen in any diva angle. Obviously, it was not what they wanted. They wanted people talking about Maryse. People were. What was she telling Gail? What is her plan? Is she turning face for real?
On the same night that Gail supposedly won the storyline against Maryse, the two were supposed to face each other to crown that new Diva's Champion. Gail still had that undefeated streak and momentum. Who got the pinfall win that night? Who else? Michelle McCool! Wait, what? The match was changed into a tag match. McCool/Layla vs. Gail/Maryse. Michelle McCool, centerpiece of the whole damn division, was the first woman to pin Gail Kim and give her the first official loss. Next night on Raw, Maryse picked up the scraps to win the title from Gail Kim. It was a pretty mediocre performance from Maryse, which is another reason to be glad the WWE went with a credible wrestler like Gail as the tool. Could have been worse.
What has become of Gail since then? She worked Wrestlemania and Fatal Fourway, but she has never gotten the attention that she got when the year started. Why should she? The WWE moved on to Eve. Melina returned. Natalya is pushed now. Do not shake off that Gail only got that treatment in the first place because the face they would have rather had pushed against Maryse got injured. If the WWE really loved Gail Kim, her treatment since then would have been a lot more respectable than just using her when they need a face diva for some reason. It is clear that she was only being used for Maryse's sake. The WWE was definitely high on Maryse being the centerpiece of Raw's division at one time, and may still be. Tool putting over centerpiece. That is what you had. The wins were not a sign of respect for Gail in so much as they were really building her up for Maryse's, or McCool's as it turned out, benefit. The storyline, as mediocre as it was, was meant to do more for Maryse's character than Gail's, even though Maryse "failed" to outwit Gail in kayfabe. The entertainment value was still on Maryse. Even right now, Maryse is still in a better spot as valet to Ted DiBiase than Gail Kim is as...as...pretty much the same place she was in before her 2010 push. It did nothing lasting for her. Wasn't meant to.
Once again, this example is on the small scale, but it is clear how the WWE didn't really care much about Gail for her own sake. They handed her wins. On a larger scale, they hand some women titles. I know a lot of people believe the WWE must love someone to give them a title. Is it hard to believe this same way of thinking can be used to say that the WWE must love a wrestler to give them a win? Especially an undefeated streak like they did for Gail? Love must be relative. Just like you need to stop thinking about wins meaning the WWE is completely on the side of a wrestler, you need to think about title reigns/wins in a similar way. Wins help to build credibility, as do titles. It is just an issue of scale. Titles are higher up than straight wins in matches. Look at what the WWE just did to Melina. They handed her a title, crammed title defenses in a few short weeks, didn't develop any of those "feuds" very well, built Melina's character very little, fed her to McCool, had her lose a clean finish to Layla, and she has been replaced by Natalya. If the WWE really cared about Melina, they would have found something better to keep her fresh since then. How long did it take the WWE to pair Maryse with DiBiase after her last real shot at the Diva's Championship at Fatal Fourway? A day. You can tell they care about this woman a lot more than certain others. The title was not a real honor or sign of WWE support for Melina. Fans will read it as if it is, just like some would read Gail's wins earlier this week as being done for her benefit in the end. Wrong. Melina has not even gained any real overness through all this. The only real difference between Melina and Gail in respect to all this is that Melina is a higher level tool than Gail.
I have been talking much about the diva division here. It is a closed division that relies on the creation of tools to put over the women the WWE wants over. Injuries sometimes lead to the WWE having to push women it would rather have not pushed, giving them "honors" they would otherwise have not gotten. This is not the end story. In a week or two, I will get to the real topic I want to discuss. Yes, it will be on Mickie James.
No comments:
Post a Comment