killeroflegends

For fans of female wrestlers, this topic is a matter of great discussion. From what I have personally seen from others, the serious fans seem somewhat split in where they stand. For people who already do not take women’s wrestling serious in the WWE, it is all just fuel for comedy. Should a woman ever really win a major World title in the WWE?

My own personal view may somewhat articulate the split. I am a very liberal person. I believe in equal rights and fairness for people of different genders, races, and so on. Getting off my high horse, there is more to giving a major title like this to a woman than issues of equal treatment. Yes, it may be pretty cool to see a woman hold it in your lifetime. You would probably be twice as ecstatic if the woman happened to be your favorite diva. How will the WWE treat the build up for this woman to become World Champion? How will they book the match? How well will her reign last?

Before going further into why it would probably not work out, let me say a bit of what the WWE has done to lay a foundation for a woman ever becoming a major champion. I will just focus on World titles to make my point, but I still have to mention the first woman to win the Intercontinental Championship, Chyna. A decade ago, before she ever won that title, she was the number 1 contender for the WWF Championship. She was put into a triple-threat match for that right against Triple H and Undertaker. The match had its moments, but it was not as purely competitive as it might have been if it only featured the two men. In the end, thanks to some interference, Chyna actually pinned Triple H. She would pin him again, thanks to some help again, the following week. In the end, she lost her right to Mankind. She never got her shot. A few years later, Stephanie McMahon actually was in a match for the title. In a triple-threat match, she went against Triple H and Chris Jericho for the Undisputed Championship. Of course, she could not put on nearly as competitive an effort as Chyna. She was just in that match to lose so she could be taken off T.V. for a while. Even though it was obvious she would not win, she was still in a match for the title. In theory, everything has been done short of actually winning it, so why not?

One major problem is sprinkled into what I just wrote about Chyna and Stephanie McMahon. In all these important matches they were in, a strong competitive feel was often missing. The woman’s presence was often just to interfere in exchanges between the men, stand there to tease the idea that she better play it safe or she will get hurt, or actually take some kind of bump for the commentator’s to stress heavily. If a diva actually won a title, it would have to be some kind of fluke win, much like when Chyna pinned Triple H. That is the practice the WWE has used in the past. How can a diva be taken as a serious threat if all her matches after winning the title are like this? She may end up wrestling triple-threat matches for her entire reign. Let the two men do the brunt of the work, then have the woman come in when she needs to. It would be a joke.

Building more on the point of a competitive feel often missing, how would the man feel about wrestling this match and dropping the title to a woman? You hear rumors all the time of certain wrestlers refusing to put other guys over. How would these same wrestlers feel about putting a woman over? Even if the man is protected, as Triple H was to some degree by losing due to interference, would he feel humiliated to lose his title to some woman? You may have also heard a lot of some big egos developing backstage. Even if a woman manages to win the title from a man comfortable with losing to her, will the other main-eventers feel the same? It may just be a short title reign.

Assuming you eliminate the two problems I just mentioned. The title match would be a singles match. There would be no interference or fluke finish. The man will agree to drop the title and bring a truly competitive performance. How many women in the WWE could actually handle a competitive match with most of the guys in the main event? Without even mentioning the bigger guys like Undertaker, can any one diva have an answer to Rey Mysterio’s speed and quickness? You can have a diva who relies on her strength try, but would the resulting match performance come out looking solid? Would it just end up looking like Rey Mysterio trying to make simple shoves and knockdowns from a woman look killer? I have spoken before how that does not do a lot of favors for Mickie James. The problem only gets bigger when the opponent gets bigger. What kind of diva can handle the strength of Big Show? Counter it with agility and quickness? I still doubt it would make for a pretty match. You will end up having to rely on interference, taking the competitive feel out a bit, and all the other stuff I said to take out.

The problem may be that none of the divas have that credibility to hold their own in a serious match in the WWE against the men. A few weeks ago, a reader left a comment about Beth Phoenix never being able to be the next Chyna. She has lost too much to divas already. All these divas have lost to each other already. They are arguably left as the weakest of the roster in some sense. Even Chyna, who had a good history against taking on men and not getting humiliated by typical divas often before she came close to getting a title match, could not actually get a truly competitive match or clean win on her contendership matches, as I just pointed out. How can a diva who has lost cleanly to Maria turn around and demand to face Randy Orton in a serious title match? Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that Beth Phoenix has not really lost a televised match by pinfall unless by a roll up or by interference/distraction of some sort. It is almost as if they are still keeping her safe for that path. Of course, I still doubt her matches would be more competitive than Chyna got. Will they end up being similar to comedy segments disguised as matches with Santino.

Assume a diva does have the credibility to be taken seriously with the men. That does not automatically mean that she has to win a World title. If she is too good for wrestling other divas, there are tag titles and midcard titles for her to go for. What makes her credible to go after the WWE Championship? How over is she? What is her main-event fit? I spoke about that a few weeks ago. It is important. This discussion is about the main-event titles. For the most part, all the men that have won a major World title in the WWE had to have a fit in the main event before that big win. Jeff Hardy had many brushes with the main event before he won his first WWE Championship. CM Punk, and here it gets tricky depending on whether you actually consider the ECW title a major World title, won the World’s Heavyweight Championship seemingly right away when he went to Raw. However, he was built up in the main event of ECW. Moreover, he was still treated as somewhat of a midcarder during his title run on Raw. Besides all that, he had great overness. JBL seemed to pop out of nowhere and win the title himself. He did not win it on his first try, and that may have given him a brief period for the fans to see him as a main-event heel, but the WWE did gamble with him and had to book him strong to force him as a main-eventer. The WWE also arguably gambled with Brock Lesner, and I am sure you can argue for others. I will not say much about the divas in terms of which are in the main-event. I wrote about that too much already. None are there now. It is hard to say that any are close to being there. Even should a diva get repackaged as a “JBL”, or should a new diva debut and get the monster push Lesner got, they may still run into the same problems I already mentioned. In terms of the divas here today, there is also a problem of overness. Very few are strongly over for something beyond being hot. And considering that they are, and I hope you understand what I mean here, “the wrong sex” when it comes to competing for a World title, overness and a fit in the main event may be even more important in helping the audience buy it and want it.

What if the WWE did find the diva that had the qualities to deserve this push? How would the feud, match, and title reign look like? If you hate how John Cena was booked as WWE Champion, you may not enjoy a woman going through this. In my eyes, the WWE would book it as an underdog story. Can this woman defeat Edge for the WWE Championship? When the match comes around, the quality probably will not be very competitive. It may very well be more about telling the story about this woman having almost no chance. Some kind of interference will probably lead to the title win. Even if you do not get that, match quality would be influenced by what she can do with the man. I mentioned Edge, and he does seem like a wrestler I can picture having a good match with a solid female wrestler, but things get tricky when you head into a match with Big Show or even John Cena. Would the WWE want Cena to look weak against a woman? Even if the woman makes it out as Champion after a very good match with a clean finish, what will the next challenger hold? Every feud would be based on whether she can defeat some other highly-credible wrestler already established in the main event. These men would be expected to job to her to help prove that she belongs. I already mentioned how likely that may be. Fans may get tired of this woman overcoming the odds too much. The reign would not last long.

In the end, the only way you may actually see a woman holding a World title is through some fluke win to start a short reign. Do you remember how Fabulous Moolah won her final Women’s Championship and how that reign lasted? It was pretty much a “gold watch” for her. That is how I picture the WWE would treat giving a woman a major title. She will have the overness and qualifications. The man with the title would be willing to drop it to her, knowing that it is only meant to give her one huge honor, he will not look too weak, and will regain the title again soon after anyway. But would it even be worth it? A diva would have to be very popular and have a lot of support in the WWE to earn that.

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