On Ryback And Eva Marie

When Daniel Bryan and John Cena won the midcard singles titles at Wrestlemania, a lot of fans got excited for what might happen in the midcard. As far as Daniel Bryan goes, his injury made things a little depressing. He didn't really get a chance to do anything with the title. Ryback has now won it.

I think Ryback is a good representative of the midcard. He is a good choice to be Intercontinental Champion. His current feud is said to between both Big Show and Miz. They have already shown some interaction. I am not excited for this feud. I would like to see midcarders feuding for these titles. Let these former World Champions do something else.

Not that I expect Ryback to drop the belt so soon, but what good would either of those two heels winning it do? Miz gets too many needless title reigns whenever he comes back from doing a movie. Big Show certainly does not need it. I remember when Kane won his first Intercontinental Championship. It didn't feel like Kane was being demoted to the midcard. It felt like the Intercontinental Championship was in a good place. Nowadays when a former World Champion wins a midcard title, it does feel like he has been demoted to the midcard in most situations. The current title reign for Cena is obviously an exception. But most of these guys feel like they are taking the spot of guys that have not had the kind of title success they have had. As I said, I would expect Ryback to retain the title. I would still rather see a title feud between him and Bray Wyatt.

Eva Marie has been training. But NXT fans gave her a horrible reaction recently. Is that fair? Is that #GiveDivasAChance? I have seen what some fans had to say about it on message boards and Twitter. There is a mixed reaction. Did a wall-of-tweets for about an hour. First time I did that in a while. I really did intend to do it more often. The motivation just is not there. When people don't seem to care, that can ruin your motivation. And I know I might end up looking stupid or crazy with what I am saying. I'm not ignorant. Why even bother speaking out?

Eva Marie does seem to have motivation. There are clips of her training. Of course, as I have seen some fans point out, she needs to prove it in the ring in front of the audience. I remember when the WWE showed some clips of Maryse training and tossing around some guy. It was stupid. This was around the end of her centerpiece run in 2010. Nice to know she knows how to defend herself, but you need to put on quality matches in front of those wrestling fans to get their respect. Eva Marie has not put on quality matches in the past. But how many opportunities has she had since #GiveDivasAChance started? How many has she had since training seriously? And very negative reactions can screw her up early.

When #GiveDivasAChance started, I felt fans would, or should, wipe the slate clean and actually give these divas a fair shot to prove themselves with an open mind. One of the reasons the diva division, and the company in general, is in bad shape is that they have all these people on the roster that they do not utilize properly. Because of that, it often feels like they have no one fresh to push and you see stale feuds and matches. The WWE has pretty much made up their mind on certain individuals, like Emma, and they are stuck where they are. Fans were complaining about these other women not getting featured. They are essentially asking for the WWE to wipe the slate clean and approach these women with an open mind. Give them a chance to be pushed. Thing is, how can you demand that of the WWE when you are not willing to do it yourself? Yes, Eva Marie has been bad in the past. But you start complaining about the WWE treating their divas unfairly, then you don't let a diva that has been training to improve get a fair shot. It seems hypocritical.

As a fan, I can like Eva Marie because she's hot. As a writer, I would push her as an eye-candy periphery diva (valet, romance angle, etc). As an analyst, I understand how dangerous the situation can be. If she is horrible, then the quality of the diva division will suffer and a lot of fans will complain. If she is very good, that might motivate the WWE to continue this division that shows favoritism to eye-candy performers over legitimate female wrestlers. If she is just average, which might be the best scenario, things just continue regularly. As a critic, I'll approach her with an open mind. I know she has a history of being bad, but she's been training seriously and if you are going to talk about giving divas a chance, I think it is the right thing to do. Wipe the slate clean. Give them all a second chance. Start proving yourself now.