Strip The Gold Away

There are a few things going on in the diva division and KO division that I wanted to talk about. There was also something I have been wanting to talk about for a few weeks now. I will talk about what the WWE is doing with Eve/Kelly and what TNA is doing with Mickie James eventually. This time, I want to talk about a broader topic.

Have you ever heard wrestling fans talk about the "Golden Era" or "Golden Age" of the WWE diva division? Of course, they are talking about the years of Trish and Lita, particularly after Trish became centerpiece. I sometimes see people rate this era so highly, it annoys me. I want to talk about how I see the peak years of the diva division.

Do you know what it means for something to be gilded? It means it is covered in gold. Looks good on the outside, but does that mean there is something good on the inside? Not necessarily. You can cover Jinder Mahal in as much gold as you want, but at the end of the day, he is still Jinder Mahal.

There was a "Gilded Age" in American history. This was a time when many people became extremely wealthy. And they loved to show it off. Just looking at that, you would think that everything was wonderful and life was beautiful for everyone. It wasn't. There were tons of people who were extremely poor. During these years in American history, people say the rich got richer at the expense of the poor. People say the government was run by the wealthy. To put it simply, all those extremely wealthy people could not hide the fact that the country really was not great back then at all.

I think you can see where I am going with this. The diva division under Trish Stratus and Lita was not golden. It was gilded. On the outside, you had two extremely over workers. Just under them, you had eye-candy divas who can connect with the fans just by showing skin and through sex appeal, which the WWE would often help them with through the storylines and segments they gave them. If you consider Stephanie McMahon as part of the diva division, she too had success and was used well. Everything seems fine then, right? The WWE has successful workers, so why complain about the division back then? You should be thinking how the WWE is getting these women over. Stephanie and Lita got over through things they were doing in the men's world. Even though Lita spent a lot of time in the "Golden Age" injured, she spent roughly the last two years before retiring getting major storylines and rubs from top WWE male wrestlers, namely Kane and Edge. The eye-candy divas, like Stacy and Torrie, could get over just by being hot, so it isn't surprising that they too were frequently used as valets, managers, girlfriends, and so on, while sometimes getting into diva feuds with other eye-candy women. What about Trish, the woman the WWE centered the division around and built to be the greatest women's wrestler? How did they sell that idea? There is also another question you should consider. I talked about eye-candy divas, a female wrestler who got over through what she did alongside the men, and the boss's own daughter, but what about the other female wrestlers? What about those women who did not get the continuous, great treatment alongside the guys? Why didn't I talk about them yet? Well, so far, I was only talking about those women who became successful. There is a whole class of women in the division who never got major overness. Moreover, these were the women frequently used to put over Trish Stratus and bring credibility to the division. No one ever really talks about that enough. Why would they? People seem blinded by the gold. To put it another way, the division at this time had credibility and over workers. Problem is, the women who really brought wrestling credibility to the centerpiece and the division were never getting over.

Strip the gold away. You don't have to ponder what that would look like. Trish Stratus and Lita left. The WWE's top priority for years after that, as far as the diva division goes, has been to recreate a centerpiece to follow in the path of Trish Stratus. They want to take an eye-candy diva and build her up to be a great wrestler. Every attempt so far, however, has failed. Moreover, you really don't have them creating a woman like Lita. To top it all off, because the WWE has been PG and because they are now pushing eye-candy divas as wrestlers more regularly than they did in 2004, they don't have the same success that would come from eye-candy divas just pushing sex appeal. The most successful woman they had after Trish Stratus and Lita left was Mickie James, a credible jobber who made it on her own. They were never fostering her overness, and they even got rid of her. You can say that the WWE has the workers to try to run a credible, respectable women's wrestling division. You go back about a year, to before they lost both Melina and Gail Kim, and I would agree. However, as you can see by the WWE's actions, credibility is not their goal. Overness is their goal. They want to get who they want to be successful connected with the fans.

You look at the diva division you have had recently. In essence, it is the same division you had a decade ago. The only major difference is that the WWE has failed to accomplish what it did during the best years of the division. All that fancy gold covering is gone. The WWE has failed to properly cover up what lies beneath. What lies beneath? A division that revolves around trying to get the fans to buy into whichever workers the company want them to buy into. A whole class of workers who are being taken advantage of to keep things going and make the centerpiece look good, but are never allowed a fair shot at overness themselves. In the end, what lies beneath is not good business. It has failed to work out.

Just want to switch to something slightly related. I haven't given up trying to get other people understanding my diva theory yet. It isn't an easy thing to do. I just want to toss something out there, in the hopes you might get an idea of how tough it can be explaining this to someone. If you ever feel like doing it, if you ever find yourself talking to a wrestling fan on the Internet, at school, or wherever, just ask them one question. Do you think the WWE ever wanted Mickie James to be a success? That's all. Just look at how they respond. No, you don't have to tell me how they responded. And no, I'm not asking to advertise my blog. I'm certainly not asking you to start a war that might cost you a friendship or kicked off a message board. Just think about how that person responds, then think about what it would be like to try arguing this with complete strangers on the Internet, and sometimes on Twitter, Youtube, or message boards where it will not remain a 1-on-1 discussion. From what I have seen, no one else really sees the diva division in the terms I have put it. It can make someone really doubt whether he is right or not at times. Definitely daunting. I'm not asking you to lose sleep over it, but if you just want to know why I'm not rushing or having an easy time, just try asking that one question I put out. In case you are wondering what my new strategy is, since the one I tried on the Wrestlezone forums many months ago flopped, I ask the question about whether or not whomever I am talking to thinks the WWE wanted Mickie James to be a success, already assuming that the person will either say that the WWE obviously did want her to succeed or think I'm an idiot for asking, and then I will ask another question. If they wanted her to succeed, why were they always pushing her as they did the women who never succeed? From there, I branch out to what I have to say about the overall diva division. How long will it take me to flop this time?