killeroflegends

The Bellas to ECW. Gail Kim and Alicia Fox to Raw. Natalya to Smackdown. Including those divas, the trade moved 15 wrestlers. Obviously, one of the main goals of the trade was to shift some ECW talent and make way for a new wave to hit ECW. Nevertheless, the trade did have some heavy impacts for the women’s division. Honestly, I just find some of it idiotic.

The Bellas have moved from Raw to ECW. Just a few shorts months ago, they were moved from Smackdown to Raw in the huge draft. A few weeks before that, they could have been seen regularly on ECW for a while as Miz and Morrison feuded with Primo and Carlito. I am glad they stayed together, but I just find it a little weird. They barely did anything at all on Raw. They had some good potential for future title feuds, which I will never be discussing anytime soon now. It looks like they may be feuding with each other again. If they stayed face, I would be happy to see them have feuds with the two ECW heels. Problem is, ECW lost one major heel diva in the trade. The one heel left may not get a push anytime soon. And the other face is a non-wrestler, General Manager. At least the Bellas can help some of the newer ECW talent settle in with the fans. The fans usually warm up easily to hot women pushed for their sex appeal.

Gail Kim follows the diva she first targeted for a title. Gail Kim moves from Smackdown to Raw, like Diva’s Champion Maryse did a few months ago. Will this be good for her? On Smackdown, she was the credible sidekick to Melina, at the moment at least. On Raw, her current role will be the credible sidekick to Mickie James. Things may change in the future. Her importance has not really changed in some sense. On the other hand, with two faces off Raw in Brie and Nikki Bella, it was important for Raw to gain another face. Since she is not the top face diva at the moment, and is not used greatly to simply make other women look good, as Mickie James regularly is, she should be able to perform as she did on Smackdown, should the heel divas on Raw be capable of holding their end. That is a plus for the Raw diva division.

This is where I get to the trade I really find idiotic. Alicia Fox to Raw from Smackdown. She ran the full spectrum in just a matter of months. She went from ECW to Smackdown to Raw. I will not count that she technically started on Smackdown, since that angle was pushed away quickly and she never really competed there initially. ECW was where she started as the dancing valet to DJ Gabriel. He was going nowhere, but they took Alicia away and put her on Smackdown as the random sidekick to Michelle McCool. A random heel turn coincided with this. Once again, like the Bellas, Alicia barely got to make a name for herself on Smackdown. She was just McCool’s lackey. It was a good position, I am not saying otherwise. McCool is the top heel there. Alicia would have gotten a lot more exposure. Promo time and an eventual turn from one of them would have been good in getting her over. It never got to that point. Alicia helps McCool make history at The Bash. Next night, she is part of the trade. Some continuity is lacking. And did Raw really need a heel? They lost two faces, so gaining Maria or Eve would not have been so bad.

There is one trade I like a lot. The Hart Dynasty, including Natalya, have moved to Smackdown. When discussing the draft a few months ago, I talked about the possibility of sending Tyson Kidd and Natalya from ECW to Smackdown. DH Smith was actually a member of Smackdown at the time. He was the one that got moved to ECW. Things did not work out so bad. The group got to establish themselves a bit on a show that had space for them. Now they are all on Smackdown together anyway. The awkwardness of DH Smith jumping back and forth will just be something for internet fans to amuse themselves over. As for Natalya, she got pushed from Smackdown to ECW and back as well. She was featured regularly on ECW before officially joining the roster. That is another awkward bit. At least she is near a title scene now. Moreover, she is near faces who will actually wrestle, so Natalya fans will be happy about seeing her wrestling again soon.

Let me do a breakdown for the shows. ECW has four divas. One is a non-wrestler face, Tiffany. Katie Lea is an established heel. The Bella Twins just got on board and may be feuding again. Unless Tiffany starts wrestling soon, and Katie gets a push again, Nikki and Brie will be dominating the scene. With ECW being the site for new stars to debut, however, it may not be out of the question for someone like Angela Fong to debut there in the near future. Then again, can a one-hour show really handle it? I doubt it.

Smackdown has six divas. Michelle McCool and Natalya are the heels. Melina, Eve, Maria, and Layla are the faces. Right before the trade, I had my doubts about so few heels against numerous faces. They gained Natalya, lost Alicia Fox. Still two heels. With Gail Kim gone, however, at least the sides are a bit more fair. Not very. Smackdown went from having eight women after the draft, if you count Candice, to just six. I am still hoping Layla’s “face turn” is part of a swerve and she is still heel. In terms of credible wrestling talent, it seems the heels may actually outnumber the faces. Not many experienced faces on Smackdown.

In terms of numbers, Raw lost two divas and gained two. Not counting Lilian Garcia, who really is leaving the WWE soon, eight still remain. The composition has changed, however. Mickie James, Gail Kim, and Kelly Kelly are the faces. Maryse, Beth Phoenix, Rosa, Jillian, and Alicia are the heels. Not exactly the same as Smackdown’s imbalance. The heels are more numerous than the faces. Moreover, the heels are pretty stacked in credibility, talent, and experience. I would say Rosa is the weakest link there. She needs more work. Kelly Kelly is the least experienced of the faces, but at least she has some overness and has improved well in the year she has been on Raw. I did not say she is amazing, but I am giving her some credit. Jillian Hall is still missing (engaged, I believe). That makes the imbalance a little less sharp. Moreover, the WWE had some friction between Rosa and Beth on Monday. It was mainly Beth attacking Rosa in her attempt to win the match, but it may or may not be worked into an angle to split them up in the near future. In any case, one heel jumping ship can even things for Raw.

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