May 28 2009
The WWE’s New Championship For The Women?
When the WWE had their huge “Miss Wrestlemania” battle royal, most must have assumed that this would be a one-time honor, or yearly, much like the “King of the Ring” tournament. The King does not traditionally have to go around defending his crown. The match that put the crown on Santina Marella was disastrous from the build up to it. The aftermath has not been that respectable either. It is comedy crap. More specifically, it is comedy crap focusing on the women.
It is true that no female wrestler has yet to hold the honor, and one may never achieve it. A man in drag was the first. The second, and current, is a non-wrestler. At least it is a woman this time. Lillian Garcia may be holding it somewhere down the line.
Does the WWE believe it can substitute quantity for quality? TNA may have a division for their women that supports serious action, time to work, multiple angles going on at once (without the excuse of separate brands), and so on, but the WWE responds by saying that it has a Women’s Championship, Diva’s Championship, and the “Miss Wrestlemania” title. It has angles going on over at both of the main shows, but some of those angles do not even involve real wrestlers. It has two female GMs, but that does not honestly add respect to the WRESTLING aspect of the divas.
Many will just argue that it is not meant to be taken seriously. It is just a means to get Santino time to do his act. Fine, but it is still not helping to add respect to the division, particularly on Raw. And it is definitely taking resources from that very division. They had Beth Phoenix chasing after it for weeks after Wrestlemania, not to mention having all the women compete as if it seemed to be an honor worth achieving at Wrestlemania. Instead of the WWE finding use for Mickie James in her own feud, they just randomly tagged her onto Santino/Vickie just a few days ago. And it is not over yet. I just find it idiotic that many of the same people who say that Santino is so awesome, best thing on Raw, attracts ratings, and all that, they go around and call the diva action poor, say the women tried their best at least, the match was “whatever”, and just do not put any interest in it. And there is absolutely no correlation between those two things? The crown is not to be taken seriously? I will agree to that, but the WWE is taking it seriously. They are treating it as a draw. Wrestlemania, Backlash, Judgment Day, and now Extreme Rules all have one common thread when it comes to the divas. That is Santino. He won the crown at Wrestlemania, defended it and continued his drag act in a segment at Backlash, furthered the feud against the Guerreros, which led to his eventual loss of the crown, with a segment that featured Chavo attacking him at Judgment Day, and is now competing for the honor again at Extreme Rules. What other diva action has there been? Yes, the fans are not meant to be taking it seriously, but the WWE is, and it is done at the expense of the real female wrestlers.
What is my overall point? Drop the crown. It is not doing the women any good. Is it even supposed to? The WWE is not showing them proper respect. I mentioned that news sites reported on the lack of diva action at pay-per-views recently, and I am sure it is a topic among wrestling fans, but the answer is right there. Santino. The entire act of treating the crown as a title to be defended is a poor storyline. It is not treating the real wrestlers well. Beth Phoenix could not get over by it, but it is doing well with Vickie now. Yes, I want the best for the women of wrestling, but that does not mean shoving more titles around is the answer alone, especially when it is a joke. I would rather see the Cruiserweight Championship back. Even the Hardcore Championship would be nice. The WWE is taking the easy road with Santino. The harder road would be to let the women define their division themselves. They already have so much against them with how the WWE has already treated them, but they still deserve a chance. Santino’s comedy act can work fine elsewhere within the WWE. I do not even want to see this crown on one of the credible divas, as if it needed credibility added to it. Mickie James and Natalya do not need to be included in the joke. And in the end, if they really want another title on Raw so bad, give William Regal back his European title.
