Analysing the State of the WWE Divas Divison

photo from dwwedivas.blogspot.co.uk

As I'm sure most of you will know by now, I'm one of the small number of wrestling fans who actually value and enjoy womens wrestling, so it should come as little surprise that I'm about to ramble extensively about that very subject. I know I said my 'top 10 matches of 2012' piece would be next, but my top ten currently still has about fifteen matches in, and I have no idea what order I want to put them in, so I'll hold off on that, as this is both more topical and something I have more desire to write about.

In the time since I have returned to watching wrestling regularly (July 2011, when Punk dropped his infamous pipebomb) the WWE Divas division hasn't exactly been a great example of what women can do in a wrestling ring, but since that point there have been a great number of arrivals and departures, and it could be argued that the division has actually got even weaker in the last eighteen months. Despite this, there are plenty of positives for those who care to look for them, and in some ways the divas are in a stronger position than they were at the start of 2012. I shall take a look at how the division has changed in the last year, and attempt to evaluate what impact these changes have had on the divison as a whole, before giving my opinion on where the division stands right now, and where it could be heading in the next couple of years.

Outgoings

In the last year there have been plenty of divas leaving WWE. Some have been relative rookies, whilst others have been established, successful veterans, but the latest lady to leave could be the most damaging of all.

Eve Torres was the Divas champion when news broke of her likely departure, and she had been carrying the division on her back for months, so when it was announced through the dirtsheets that she was going probably to be leaving soon, it came as quite a surprise to me, and presumably to many others. Her recent engagement & projects outside of WWE made it likely that she would leave soon, but it was the immediacy with which she was to depart that made the news such a shock. On this subject, I should say that I think it's a shame that WWE can no longer be bothered to give their divas a good send-off, what with the Bella Twins being fired by Eve herself in a backstage segment, Beth Phoenix being suffering the same fate at the hands of Vickie Guerrero, and Eve's own resignation on some show that I've not really heard of that seems to run alongside RAW on smartphones or something. That's not to mention the likes of Maxine, Kelly Kelly and Kharma, who basically just stopped being there with no announcement at all. These women may not be the main focus of WWE's product, but they all work extremely hard in and out of the ring, with a workload that often seems heavier than that of many of the more established superstars, and as such they deserve to have their efforts acknowledged by WWE to a greater degree.

Anyway, Eve's departure comes at a time when the division is already struggling for depth due to all the other ladies who have been released. With very few established ladies left on the roster (Natalya & Layla are probably the only two who fit the bill, though Alicia Fox could also merit consideration), it is clear that WWE are going to have to put their focus into building an entire new division, and at the minute it seems that they are intent on doing so without utilising any of their most established assets to anywhere near the level they are capable of. This seems like a curious move, considering they now have a champion who is still very inexperienced, and will often need to be guided through matches by a more experienced opponent. At present, both of the aforementioned established ladies are on the same side of the fence as Kaitlyn (I have no idea where Alicia Fox stands, by the way, and I don't think anyone else does), which means that they will either have to have one of them turn heel, or someone less suitable will have to step up to the plate.

This change would've been easier if WWE had managed to keep hold of some of their top heels, but with Beth Phoenix & Kharma both leaving the only logical challenger to Kaitlyn is her former Chickbuster partner AJ Lee, who is currently busy watching Dolph Ziggler lose to John Cena every week. Whilst the departures of Beth & Kharma were damaging on their own, they became huge problems when coupled with the exits of the Bella twins & Maxine, who all could've stepped up and helped provide some opposition to Kaitlyn, even if they were far less talented than Beth or Kharma in the ring.

With six of the divisions top heels having left this year, and most of the remaining divas being bland, happy-go-lucky generic divas, it could be the ideal time to call up some of the better young women in NXT - unfortunately, some of them have left too. Raquel Diaz (real name Shaul Guerrero, daughter of Vickie & Eddie), Skyler Moon & Sofia Cortez (Ivelisse Velez from Tough Enough) could all have been brought up and been interesting heels, but they too are no longer with WWE for one reason or another, leaving us with only two established NXT divas (Audrey Marie & the incredible Paige) that could be called up.

All in all, the already weak divas division has taken a lot of extra damage in the last year, and it is difficult to see how a strong product can be produced with the roster as thin as it currently is. Layla, Tamina, AJ & Natalya make up all the credible opposition for Kaitlyn right now, and those five will struggle to make the division an appealing prospect for long, even if WWE utilises lesser divas like Aksana, Rosa Mendes, Cameron & Naomi (easily the best of the rest) to fill out the roster. As such, the time is right for some new blood in the divas division, so it's just as well WWE have been signing up plenty of talented women recently.

Incoming & Emerging Stars

With so many ladies leaving WWE, it is vital that they are replaced and the roster is filled out again, and, despite all these departures, it seems like 2012 was the year where WWE decided to make an effort to invest in womens wrestling again. Where before the majority of women who signed with WWE were former models, this year has seen a shift towards signing established womens wrestlers from the independent scene, and this can only be a good thing for the long term future of the division. Oddly, however, the biggest signing for the womens division is someone who will (sadly) probably never be seen on the main roster...

Sara Del Rey is regarded as one of the greatest womens wrestlers in the world, if not one of the best women to ever compete, and she has proven herself to be more than capable of mixing it up with the boys too, having competed against the likes of current WWE United States champion Antonio Cesaro in their pre-WWE days. Sara is a magnificent in-ring performer, and a fantastically dedicated athlete known for her incredible work ethic both in and out of the ring. She has earnt the respect of her peers, male and female, the world over and is often cited as one of the biggest inspriations for women working on the independent scene. Whilst she still has plenty to offer in the ring, WWE have signed her up to work as a trainer in their developmental territory, NXT Wrestling, and I can think of nobody better to teach the next generation of divas. I will always hold out hope that we see Sara competing in a WWE ring one day, as to me she is one of the greatest performers in the world, regardless of gender, and her presence would immediately raise the prestige of the divas division immesurably, but even if this never happens it is reassuring to know that sufficient value has been placed on ensuring good womens wrestling for the future that WWE have recruited the best possible trainer to work with their prospective divas, and it is equally pleasing to know that Sara has achieved her dream and been rewarded with a position that befits someone with her passion, dedication and ability.

Now that I'm done babbling about how amazing Sara Del Rey is, I should probably discuss the ladies that have signed up to be trained by her.

In the last year, WWE have recruited several new divas, some from the independent scene - like Mercedes KV (now Sasha Banks) and Davina Rose (Serena Deeb's protege who, as far as I know, is still waiting to be given her new name) - and others from various other areas outside of wrestling - including former fitness model Alisha Ceraso (now going by the name Dani, and I believe I saw doing ring announcing on NXT last week) and former pro kickboxer Anna Bogomazova (known as 'The Russian Bruiser' Anya) - and while many of these ladies are yet to make their televised competitive debuts (indeed, of the four I've mentioned only Sasha Banks has wrestled on NXT), it is likely that some will make their way to the main roster before the end of the year, due to the shortage of women in WWE at present. The biggest star of all the new recruits, however, is one who joined right at the start of 2012.

A young English girl from one of the biggest families in British wrestling, Paige (formerly Britani Knight) made her debut at an NXT live event under her real name (Saraya) on 5th January 2012, and in little more than a year she has already established herself as the alpha female of NXT, racking up numerous wins and amassing a fanbase at least as big as anyone else that has appeared on NXT, if not the biggest of all. Paige represents the new era of womens wrestling in WWE - she is not a diva, she is the anti-diva, a woman who has worked hard and learnt her craft, who has earnt her place in the biggest wrestling company in the world on merit, not on looks (although she has those too, to be fair). Paige is not a diva, Paige is a wrestler, and she is the future, of that there is no doubt.

In the last year we have also seen several talented young women who were already with WWE before 2012 emerging as future stars of the divas division. The most notable of these is obviously AJ Lee, who has been involved in major storylines for more than a year now, and has blossomed into the biggest star the divas division has had for years. She may not be exceptional in the ring, but she is better than average, has a style that helps her stand out, and, most importantly, people are invested in her. She will almost certainly be Divas champion by the end of WrestleMania, and she will hopefully be able to help bring some interest back to a division which has long been considered the 'bathroom break' part of any WWE show.

Similarly, her former Chickbuster partner & fellow NXT 3 star Kaitlyn has emerged as the top babyface in the division. She won her first ever Divas championship on RAW's 20th anniversary show and I think it is no less than she deserves for the improvements she has made since her time on the third season of NXT. Back then she was brand new to the business, having her first ever match on the show, and though she wasn't up to much in the ring, she always had a natural charisma that made people want to vote for her, and she ended up winning the season. She has worked hard to improve her in-ring abilities, and although she still has a long way to go, she is much improved where she was a couple of years ago. For me, watching her on NXT Redemption was a treat, and it became clear then that she was destined to have a big impact in WWE, but even then I couldn't have predicted how quickly she would continue to climb the ranks, and now I can't help but feel her career has some significant parallels with that of Trish Stratus. Kaitlyn may not quite achieve that level of success, but to my mind she is the closest thing WWE have ever found to another Trish, and I'm confident that she will continue to get better and better as she grows into her new role as the face of the divas division.

Where Is The Divas Division Going?

So, now we come to the most important question in all of this - is the divas division fading further into irrelevance, or is it preparing to burst back into life? To be honest, I think you can all guess which way I'm going to go on this one...

Yes, with the likes of Beth Phoenix, Kharma & Eve all gone, the divas division is missing many of its 'big' names, and we are instead left with a few experienced stars with genuine in-ring ability, and a lot of young girls who are still learning the business. However, this can also be seen as an opportunity to reshape the division, and move away from the 'diva' style that has held the women of WWE back. With the changes that appear to have been made down in NXT, I believe this is the way things are going. There's plenty of talented women on the WWE payroll now, and they have demonstrated a willingness to invest more in female wrestlers than in previous years, so it seems unlikely to me that (a) WWE would let all that time and effort go to waste; and (b) the women who have been signed will not work harder than they ever have to make themselves as successful as possible. When those two factors are put together, I can only see things getting better from here on.

I've said it plenty of times in various places across the interent, but, from what I can see, the divas are currently in a transitional period (as is WWE in general), and this year will simply be one where changes are made, and the new ways of doing things are established, in order to allow the product to start dramatically improving from 2014 onwards.

In the rest of this year I expect to see:

1. A Kaitlyn/AJ Lee feud that carries us through to WrestleMania, and possibly beyond.

2. The introduction of new talent to the division - most likely Paige, Emma, Sasha Banks & Audrey Marie - possibly also Davina Rose, under her WWE name.

3. An effort being made to bring underutilised divas back to relevance - chiefly Natalya, but also Alicia Fox, Tamina & arguably even Layla.

4. Short, 'diva' style matches being slowly phased out, and being replaced by longer, more competitive matches (by longer, I only mean 7-8mins, at least at first). Later in the year I would hope to see at least one PPV match going around 10mins in length.

5. More time being allocated to the divas for promos & storylines where they are the primary focus, rather than being used alongside, or in support of, male superstars.

Should all of these five steps be realised, I am confident that from 2014 onwards we will finally be able to see interesting, competitive womens wrestling back on WWE programming, and to my mind that day cannot come soon enough.

Why A Partnership Between WWE And SHIMMER Makes Sense For Everyone

As I'm sure you've worked out by now, I'm quite keen on womens wrestling. It's also fairly obvious that WWE need to find a way to improve their divas division, and that SHIMMER is one of the best all-woman wrestling promotions in the world. As such, the idea of them working together is one that seems to have no negatives. This post will outline the way I would envision such a partnership working, and what both companies - and their talent - would gain from the link up.

How It Would Work

Two words - talent exchange.

I'm proposing that WWE and SHIMMER draw up trade lists of talent available for the other promotion to utilise on their shows. In other words, WWE would send SHIMMER a list of the divas they are prepared to send SHIMMER for their next set of tapings, and SHIMMER would send WWE a list of the women available to work any WWE television tapings or PPVs. Both sides would then agree on how many women can be selected, and make their picks.

This would be more difficult for SHIMMER since they don't keep their talent under exclusive deals, but I've got a solution for that, don't worry. What I would do is introduce a policy whereby anyone who has appeared on a SHIMMER taping in the last eight volumes (including the SPARKLE preshow, and possibly also the last two SHINE events) can opt in or out of the trade list at any point at which they are elligible to be on the list.

For example, let's say Mercedes Martinez has opted in to the trade list, but she has a WSU show coming up and she's getting a shot at regaining her WSU Champioship. She could decide to opt out for dates around the WSU show, and opt back in afterwards. This would ensure that the SHIMMER ladies are available to work for WWE without having to lose any of their regular bookings, and because it's unlikely that everyone will be working at the same time, WWE will still always be able to call on SHIMMER talent to use on their shows.

A similar scheme could be applied to WWE talent, whereby any divas - whether they are on the WWE or NXT roster - wishing to go to SHIMMER for their next taping could opt in and be elligible for selection. The only problem I could see is that some divas may not want to go to SHIMMER, but I'm sure WWE's management could convince them it was a good move for their careers, and besides, there are plenty of ex-SHIMMER talents under WWE deals right now - Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Paige and Skylar Moon have all appeared on SHIMMER or SPARKLE shows in the past - and they have also previously employed ex-SHIMMER talents like Serena Deeb and Kharma. On top of that, CM Punk is a friend of SHIMMER promoter Dave Prazak, Paige's mother Saraya is the current SHIMMER Champion, and with Sara Del Rey supposedly signing with WWE there would be a good core of talented workers who know the value of working at SHIMMER, and enough good will between the two companies to make such an arrangement seem plausible.

What Everybody Gains

First off, WWE would gain a massively increased divas division and immediately be able to put on matches of much greater quality without having to spend massive amounts of money signing a lot of new girls to contracts. It is most likely that the SHIMMER ladies would be used as enhancement talent to help get the contracted WWE divas over, but it would also enable WWE to take a closer look at anyone who interested them and test them out on a televised event before they decide whether or not to try and sign them.

With the divas getting infrequent appearances on television, and usually drawing no significant crowd reaction, it seems to me that, instead of training and working house shows against each other, they would benefit from working against other talented workers who could expose some of the less experienced girls to new styles and techniques, in an environment where the crowd are genuinely passionate about womens wrestling and their matches are guaranteed to recieve a strong reaction. SHIMMER is undoubtedly the best place in America for this. I have no doubt that working with the likes of Saraya Knight, Cheerleader Melissa & LuFisto for a couple of days would be of much greater benefit to the divas progression than doing a couple of house shows, and the addition of WWE talent to the SHIMMER roster would have great benefits for the Illinois based company as well.

SHIMMER don't exactly have trouble selling out the Berwyn Eagles Club as things stand now, but with the addition of names like Kelly Kelly, Tamina Snuka or even up-and-coming talent like Raquel Diaz, they may be able to slightly increase their prices and generate some extra income. Depending on how much WWE publicised the partnership, it could also help increase the profile of SHIMMER among more casual wrestling fans, thereby increasing their DVD and merchandise sales. I would also like to see WWE provide a small amount of financial backing to SHIMMER, in order to enable them to pay their talent slightly more per appearance.

If we work on the assumption that SHIMMER runs two sets of tapings a year, each consisiting of four shows, and that they use 35 women per show, paying an average wage of $1000 per worker per show, then doubling the wages of every women used in a year would only cost WWE $280,000, which is hardly anything considering how much they make every year. This would in turn make SHIMMER a more attractive proposition for female wrestlers, leading to more new names appearing on their shows and increasing the talent pool WWE can select from. This could also benefit WWE on their world tours, as they could call on local talent to work shows in places like Japan, Australia and Great Britain.

The talent from both companies would gain the chance to experience new wrestling styles and to work in a totally different environment to the one they are used to. WWE divas would get to experience a variety of new wrestling styles and have the opportunity to work up close with fans who know and care about womens wrestling, whilst SHIMMER women would get the chance to experience the WWE way of life, adapt to the WWE style of wrestling and work in front of crowds far bigger than any they have performed to on the independent scene.

Both sides could also use the partnership to increase merchandising opportunities. SHIMMER are known for having merch sales between tapings, so WWE could send the divas to SHIMMER shows with diva related shirts and dvds, and incentivise them by giving the divas a slightly increased percentage of the merch sales from SHIMMER shows. WWE, meanwhile, could stock small quantities of merchandise from their selected SHIMMER wrestlers on the shows they work, as well as selling a range of SHIMMER merch both at shows and online, with WWE taking a pre-agreed percentage of the profits from any of these sales.

Conclusion

There really does not appear to be any significant downside to a working agreement between WWE and SHIMMER - both sides are likely to gain financially, they will gain more options in terms of booking their matches, and the talent from both companies will have the opportunity to expand their wrestling horizons further, and gain a fuller understanding of the industry they work in.

The biggest stumbling block I could see to such a partnership is WWE's apparent disinterest in womens wrestling, but should they decide they want to return to the glory days of Trish, Lita et al, they could do a lot worse than starting by teaming up with SHIMMER.

Sara Del Rey & How WWE Can Learn From Chikara

Photo from http://illegalforeignobject.tumblr.com

With the recent news that Sara Del Rey has been offered a WWE contract, as well as the impending Chikara Grand Championship match between current champ Eddie Kingston and Miss Del Rey, it seems like the perfect time to discuss how Chikara have proven that women can play a major part in professional wrestling, and how WWE should take note of this when decided where to take the divas in the future.

As anyone who follows womens wrestling, or even independent wrestling in general, will tell you, Sara Del Rey is one of, if not the most talented female wrestler in the country. Some might even go as far as to say she's the best in the world. Wherever she ranks - according to PWI she's the tenth best wrestler in North America last year - she's undoubtedly near the top, and Chikara have been clever in utilising her skills to create what might well be the biggest match in their history, with the possible exceptions of some of the ROH-Chikara clashes that have happened over the years.

Photo from http://idontlikewrestling.tumblr.com/post/11022120823

Chikara.have taken advantage of Sara's excellent in-ring talent by pitting her against male opponents recently. They've also been doing this to a lesser extent with another female on their roster, Saturyne. This isn't something new for Del Rey, as she's worked with the guys for years, even facing off against the likes of Claudio Castagnoli (now Antonio Cesaro in WWE, for those who still don't know) and El Generico (this one actually happened in Chikara fairly recently). By allowing her to compete on an equal footing as the men, and even having her beat her male counterparts, Chikara have arrived at the point where they can book what is, to my knowledge, the first ever time a woman has challenged for the top title in a significant American promotion. Unsurprisingly, the match has attracted a great deal of interest, and it would be no shock if the pay per view event on which the match is taking place, The Great Escape, turns out to be one of their most successful shows ever.

With WWE seemingly set to sign the 'Queen of Wrestling', now might be a good time to look at how she has been utilised on the independent scene, and use this knowledge to help revitalise their womens division.

Should WWE complete the signing of Del Rey, they will have a significant number of female wrestlers on their books - Kharma, Beth Phoenix, Layla, Natalya, AJ, Eve, Alicia Fox, Tamina Snuka & Kaitlyn currently work on the main roster, with Paige, Sofia Cortez, Raquel Diaz, Caylee Turner, Summer Rae & the recently signed Buggy Nova in FCW and Kelly Kelly seemingly still on leave - so there is more than enough talent for a successful womens division, but the main problem is that most of the current divas have very little credibility left anymore. One way of helping to restore this credibility could be to follow Chikara's lead and have some of the top women occasionally compete against the men.

In the likes of Kharma, Beth Phoenix and Del Rey (as well as Sofia Cortez), WWE have talented women who can and have wrestled against men before, so by putting them against male opponents and having them hold their own they can help to re-establish the idea that these women are powerful, talented and (most importantly) worth watching, then when other women compete well against them they will also seem stronger by association. WWE have done something similar before with Chyna, and now seems to be the perfect time for them to repeat the process.

In all likelihood, rebuilding the reputation of the WWE womens division will be a slow process, but allowing some of the top women to compete against male opponents may help to speed it up somewhat, and could help WWE create female stars on a level with Trish Stratus & Lita, something they have been unable to do in the era of brief matches and minimal storylines. With the change to three hour RAW's coming in the next few weeks, and a new show scheduled to start later in the year, there will be plenty of extra time for WWE to fill in the coming months, and I can think of few better uses of this time than to help bring real womens wrestling back to a mainstream audience.

I've been saying it for ages, but I really feel that, with a little time and effort, WWE could produce a womens division as good as we've ever seen, although I never would've expected that one of the quickest and best paths to that goal would have been (re)paved by the little indy gem that is Chikara. Should the current indy inspired shakeup in WWE allow their ladies to finally fulfil their potential, however, I'll be one of the first to thank them...

A Tribute To The King Of The Jobbers

This article is a tribute to a man who gets a lot of hate from the good old IWC, but, more importantly, gets the crap beaten out of him on almost every WWE show. Most of the time it's a beating handed out by a WWE superstar, but sometimes he'll be crushed by a wrestling legend, a rapper, or even Cyndi Lauper. That's right, I'm talking about the "ONE MAN BAAAND BAYBAAYYY!", Heath Slater.

Photo from http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/who-should-be-the-next-slater-hater

I'll admit, I used to be a Slater Hater, but in the last few months I've found myself warming to him, and now he's only of my favourite guys on the main roster. I think that, because of his status as the go-to guy when someone needs to get humiliatingly beaten up, people tend to overlook all the good things he does, and when you start to look a bit closer you realise that he actually has a lot of great qualities, some of which I'm just about to outline. Even though he's the unofficial King of the jobbers now, I reckon he has enough going for him to become a very good addition to the Intercontinental or United States title scene, and here are a few reasons why...

The Way He Performs His Gimmick

His gimmick is stupid, yes, but he embraces the stupidity and does the best he can with it, which is basically just singing badly and doing air guitar. Slater deserves a lot of credit for his work, as it would've been easy for him to have thrown a wobbly, half-arsed it for a few weeks and faded into the background like a lot of people have when they've been given a weak gimmick, but he's gone for it and his charisma shines through, making it entertaining instead of cringeworthy or even just plain boring.

Just watch the segment from RAW a few weeks ago where Cyndi Lauper hit him with her gold disc and tell me he's not giving this gimmick everything he's got. He's clearly the standout performer in that segment too, and it also featured Rowdy Roddy Piper, who came second in WWE's recent 'Top 25 Masters of the Mic' list.

Simply put, the guy makes a bad gimmick enjoyable to watch, so imagine what he could do with a good gimmick.

His Mic Skills

It should be pretty obvious to even the bigger Slater Haters that he can talk on the mic well. He gets more chances to cut a promo than almost anyone else on the roster too, so it's clear that WWE agrees with me. Hell, he nailed the pre-match heel promo so perfectly that WWE have been getting Ryback's victims to copy him before their beatings.

He may not be dropping pipebombs or talking about his strudel. but he comes out almost every week and in a minute or two manages to make you want to see him get beaten up, even though you've already seen it (insert large number here) times before. He's also one of the few heels on the roster that actually manages to get decent heat without resorting to abuse and/or mockery of the crowd and/or city they're in.

Even when he's just coming out and stealing other peoples' catchphrases, he still manages to put his own bit of swagger in there to make it more entertaining and gain some extra heat.

His Look

It's pretty unique, I think we can all admit that. Not only does he stand out because of his hair, but he also wear stuff like this.

Image from http://www.allwrestlingsuperstars.com/heath-slater/heath-slater-wearing-hat

Just look at all that denim. What a hat as well. You won't see anyone else wearing that in the crowd, let alone in the WWE locker room. There's probably a reason for that, but still...unique.

His In Ring Skills

We may not get to see it very often, but Heath Slater is actually a pretty decent wrestler. He can obviously sell convincingly, hence his position as lead jobber, but when he does get to work a proper match he displays good technical skill and timing, as well as a few impressive moves. He's certainly good enough in the ring to be a champion, it's just a question of building him back up to a point where he could believably win a singles title. After all, if Santino can hold the US title for (at the time of writing) almost four months, why can't Slater have a similar run?

In Conclusion

Even though he'll never be a main eventer, or probably even reach the upper-midcard level that the likes of Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes currently occupy, I think that Heath Slater could be a good addition to the midcard title scene, or even the help re-establish the tag team division, considering his pedigree as a tag team competitor (three time champion with Justin Gabriel, for those who don't know).

He's better than many people give him credit for, and he seems to have a great knowledge and passion for wrestling, but ultimately it may be the case that he's too good as a jobber to ever be used any other way.

Either way though, Slaters gonna Slate.

FCW Spotlight 2 - Damien Sandow

LIGHTS!

Spotlight please.

The time has come for part two of my 'FCW Spotlight' series. As those of you who saw him in FCW (or just read the title) will have already realised, this article is on the intellectual saviour of the unwashed masses, Damien Sandow. Like the man in part one, Antonio Cesaro, he has already graduated from FCW to the main roster, and you can currently see him on SmackDown!, but he's new enough for me to count him. Besides, I've already said I was going to do one on him, and I'm a man of my word.

So here, for the benefit of you, the unwashed masses, is my spotlight on Sandow.

Photo from WWE.com via http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1230316-damien-sandow-the-next-breakout-star-does-wwe-know-it

Background

Sandow has a history with WWE, having previously appeared on the main roster as Idol Stevens, one of Michelle McCool's 'Teachers Pets' along with KC James. Ultimately, the duo were taken off television and Sandow was sent back to OVW, at the time WWE's developmental territory. He was later released and returned to the independent circuit, before rejoining OVW and winning the OVW Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He was re-signed by WWE in 2010, and made his debut as Sandow late in the year. In his time at FCW he won the Jack Brisco 15 Championship, and competed against most of the top prospects in the company.

My Take

Sandow has been extremely impressive in his first few appearances on SmackDown!, and he possesses plenty of attributes to suggest that he could be a valuable addition to the WWE roster, and would be able to work at or near main event level.

He's a very solid in the ring, with good technical ability and psychology, but he also brawls well, and he's more agile than many would expect, as we've seen from his rollthrough Russian legsweep and his post-match cartwheel. He also has a good look - from his scarf and gown to his purple and pink ring attire, everything about his appearance is different from the rest of the roster.

It's his mic skills that help him stand out most, though. He's cut numerous live promos in both FCW (where the 'lights, spotlight please' bit comes from) and WWE, and - despite speaking in a far more elaborate manner than anyone else on the roster - I can't remember him ever tripping over his words or losing track of what he was saying. His gimmick - that of a highly educated heel who considers himself better than the fans, and wants to 'help' them reach his level of sophistication - requires an excellent vocabulary and great mic skills, and Sandow has made it look easy so far, whilst also bringing a delightful twist to the gimmick.

When provoked, a switch seems to flip in him, and he turns from a calm, eloquent educator to a crazed, savage brawler, beating down his opponents with frenzied attacks before hitting his straightjacker neckbreaker and transforming back into captain culture, with only his psychotic smile giving away his dark(er) side. This seemingly minor addition gives Sandow some extra depth, and also helps to make him look like a more legitimate threat, whilst also providing a way for smart opponents to gain an advantage on him by making him lose his cool.

Whilst his gimmick may initally seem like one that will only work if Sandow is a heel, I believe that, with a few tweaks, it would work just as well for him as a face. Just drop change the method of helping the fans from educating them to removing the ignoramuses from the WWE, and you can happily have him go after Heath Slater, Jack Swagger or even possibly David Otunga, a Harvard educated ignoramus. At present though, there are more possible fueds for Sandow as a heel. I for one would like to see him, after he's done with Zack Ryder, move on to Santino Marella and rid him of the United States title, but he could concievably be put up against Brodus Clay, Christian, or maybe even Booker T. I would suggest Khali, but then he'd have to 'wrestle', so no.

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Anyway, at present Sandow appears to be slotting in at around the same midcard level as Cesaro, if not slightly higher. Putting him in a feud and allowing him the chance to showcase his abilities in more detail would be wise, and with the right booking he could easily be considered a legitimate contender for one of the second tier titles in the very near future. Then again, this is something that could be said for a lot of the talent on the WWE roster, so it could still be difficult for Sandow to get a title shot without having to wait a long time.

In the long run, I can see Sandow fitting in comfortably at upper midcard level, having up a few US and Intercontinental title reigns and occasionally moving into main event matches and feuds to help put over current and/or potential main event talent. Despite not having any real flaws, I do feel that he may struggle to truly reach main event status without something being modified in his character, as - whilst he does possess a good deal of charisma - he doesn't scream 'main event star'. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that stops him being main event calibre to me, but he just seems to be missing that little special something that makes a top star. That said, I would be very happy to be proven wrong, as he is a favourite of mine, and I do feel he would do a very good job if pushed that far. In my head, he sits somewhere between Alberto Del Rio and Christian in potential (above ADR and below Christian, that is), which is still pretty damn good, just not quite CM Punk/Daniel Bryan good.

All in all then, Sandow is a very strong allround worker, with outstanding promo skills and an intriguing gimmick, but he ultimately lacks the 'x factor' that would make him an elite level talent. Nonetheless, he should have a great future in WWE, and could well become one of the best and most interesting heels we've seen in a long time. If you want a second opinion, then I suggest you check out Eonizzle's FCW Superstar Spotlight on Damien Sandow, but that's all you're getting from me.

You're welcome.

NXT: Redemption Is Dead, Long Live NXT

Okay, so with NXT: Redemption having finally ended, and the sixth season of NXT kicking off last week, now seems like a pretty good time to summarise my thoughts on season five of the show, and also look ahead to the potential highlights of this series. Whilst Redemption recieved a lot of criticism from those who'd grown weary of the brand after the divas got involved, the fifth series still managed to gain a cult following, and there were many who were very sad to see the show wind down, such as this guy, who I pretty much completely agree with.

From the time I first stumbled across it towards the end of 2011, I was one of the seemingly very small proportion of WWE viewers who watched Redemption every week. At first I found it decent, but not great, but as time went on I got to know the characters and understand their relationships with each other, and what they wanted to get out of their time on the show, and I began to love the show, to the point where I frequently enjoyed Redemption more than that weeks RAW or SmackDown. NXT displayed a level of character development and a complex series of interweaving stories and relationships that we haven't seen on the two flagship shows for a long time, and I think that's part of the reason why people became so fond of it.

We had Maxine's relationship with Derrick Bateman, which broke down as she moved on to Johnny Curtis, but then went back to Bateman after a wedding day revelation, only for him to leave her for her arch-rival Kaitlyn. Maxine & Curtis would be paired together again later in the series, but this time against their will, as Match Co-Ordinator William Regal handcuffed the duo to each other as punishment for their part in the kidnapping of Matt Striker, which was eventually revealed to have been masterminded by Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks, following Curtis' drugging of the long time NXT host in a plot to get Maxine time with Regal so she could try and convince him to grant her the one thing she'd always wanted - a move off the show. Striker was eventually freed by Bateman & Kaitlyn, and the trio discovered Hawkins & Reks involvement, which led to Regal making the two square off in the ring, then firing them. I could continue, but even I know there's such a thing as too much rambling.

Redemption was different to every other show WWE airs, and that was part of the appeal. At a time when RAW & SmackDown were cluttered up with long pre-WrestleMania promos, and subsequent replays of those promos, on NXT there was a small cast of young, talented workers, all of whom were billed equally, and all of whom got the chance to show the WWE universe that they were more than capable of stepping up and becoming interesting WWE superstars with a depth of character only recently seen on the main roster in the utterly stupendous AJ Lee. It was part wrestling show, part soap opera, and thoroughly entertaining.

Make no mistake, even though there was a lot of time given to storyline & character progression, NXT was still above all else a wrestling show, and despite being home to some inexperienced talent we still got to witness some outstanding matches, most notably in the feud between Tyson Kidd & Michael McGillicutty towards the end of the season (this rivalry appeal to be moving over to the new series, as they faced off in the main event of season six's opening show).

Everything about NXT: Redemption was perfectly suited to its roster and its standing within the heirarchy of WWE shows, and it offers plenty of pointers to it's bigger brothers on how to put together a true sports entertainment show without neglecting large parts of the roster, and I hope that the upcoming change to three hour RAW's sees some of the standout NXT talents get their chance to shine on the main roster. It was both a masterpiece in quirky, family friendly sports entertainment, and a throwback to the good old days of balanced rosters, well developed characters and interesting storylines, and I will always look back on the series as the peak of NXT, and the greatest wrestling show nobody watched.

Anyway, I've prattled on about Redemption for long enough, so now it's time to take a look at the new series of NXT and see what's in store, both in terms of the format and the roster.

Season six of NXT sees several changes from the format of Redemption, with the biggest change being that it's no longer filmed out on the road before SmackDown. Instead, we get to witness the next generation of superstars compete in front of crowds who actually came to see them, rather than Randy Orton or Sheamus, on the new set at Full Sail University, Florida.

This venue seems a more appropriate size for a show like NXT, containing only about 500 spectators, and it feels more like an indy show than a WWE program, but it benefits from this downsizing, as the awkward silences of the past are replaced by enthusiastic support from local fans, some of whom may already know the new talent, who have been working at WWE's developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling. Similarly, the venue may be more suitable for FCW talent, as it's only slightly larger than the FCW Arena, so they are not immediately thrown out in front of a crowd of thousands who don't know them at all, and they get the chance to develop a fanbase before moving to larger arenas, to (hopefully) a larger reaction than they would otherwise have recieved.

The other notable change between seasons 5 and 6 of NXT is that the backstage shenanigans of Redemption have been cut back, although not as badly as I first feared. Instead of becoming totally match focused, like Superstars, the first episode of season 6 featured several promo videos introducing the new talent, as well as a backstage segment with Johnny Curtis & Derrick Bateman, setting up their match on episode two of the new season. I'm hopeful that the Curtis/Bateman promo will be the first of many such skits, and that we will still be able to enjoy some of Redemption's backstage madness, but it does seem that the new series will be a mix of the earlier NXT seasons, Redemption, and Supertars. As long as they manage to strike the right balance between the three there shouldn't be any problems there, but if they drift too far towards a bland, match only show with no storylines (like Superstars) then the show, and the talent, could suffer.



In terms of the roster, it appears that some of the stars of Redemption will making the jump to Full Sail, as we've already seen Tyson Kidd, Michael McGillicutty, Derrick Bateman & Johnny Curtis appear in the first show of the series. We have also been promised occasional appearances from members of the main roster, with Damien Sandow appearing last week, and names like Hunico and World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus set to feature in upcoming episodes. It's the FCW talent, however, that will take centre stage this season, and there are plenty of very talented young workers - male and female - for fans to get excited about.

The first show saw Bo Dallas (formerly Bo Rotunda) beat Rick Victor, and Dallas is certainly one of the ones to watch. He's got wrestling in his veins - his father was Mike 'IRS' Rotundo, and his mother was the sister of Barry Windham. Also, his brother is fellow NXT cast member Bray Wyatt, who I'll talk about later. Despite having only turned 22 recently, Bo has already been a three time FCW Heavyweight Champion (the only man ever to have achieved this feat) and he looks set for a bright future in the comapny. His look is slightly unusual to me, possibly because of his scarily straight hair, and his promo skills aren't great, but he's a solid in-ring performer and he still has a lot of time to improve on his negatives.

Bray Wyatt may be familiar to some as Husky Harris, contestant on season 2 of NXT and member of the New Nexus. Since getting SuperCena'd back down to FCW he's changed his gimmick and now works as one of the best heels you're likely to see on the show. Unsettling and fascinating in equal measure, Wyatt has recieved many comparisons to Max Cady, the character played by Robert DeNiro in the film 'Cape Fear', and when his gimmick is put together with his size and wrestling ability, it seems certain that Bray Wyatt will become a top heel on the main roster very soon. He debuts this week, and I expect him to establish himself as one of the brightest stars on the show. Just don't expect Eli Cottonwood to be by his side, as he's been released.

When it comes to working under the shadow of your father though, Richie Steamboat trumps the rest of the FCW roster. The son of Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat, Richie displays the potential to be just as good as his dad, alhough I do feel his moveset needs to be added to before he can be considered ready for the main roster. That issue aside, there's very little holding Richie back. He's improved his look from his early babyfaced appearance, and can cut a good promo. His matches with Damien Sandow, and later Antonio Cesaro, over the Jack Brisco 15 Championship - a mid-level title usually contested in 15min Iron Man matches - showcased his in ring skill, and it would be no surprise to see him competing against the same two superstars on the main roster soon.

Another FCW standout who debuts this week is Seth Rollins. Formerly known as Tyler Black in Ring of Honour, Rollins has been one of the top talents on FCW, having held both the FCW Heavyweight title and the Jack Brisco 15 Championship, something nobody else has done. He's not the greatest promo cutter, but he's solid, has a good look and he brings an energetic yet technicaly sound style that will help to quickly get him over as a face when he hits the main roster. He's put on some excellent matches with other top FCW guys, most notably three excellent matches with Dean Ambrose, the latest of which took place on the FCW show that aired last weekend.

Stepping away from singles competitors briefly, I am compelled to mention The Ascension, who could well be the team that really makes the WWE's tag team division relevant again. They are totally unique in the current (reality) era, as they work under a gimmick that's most comparable to The Undertaker's 'Phenom' persona, even down to the intense entrance and apparent mystical powers. The duo, comprising NXT season 4 veteran Conor O'Brian and Kenneth Cameron, have been almost unbeatable in FCW (as far as I can recall, only FCW tag champs Graves & Carter have beaten them), and they started NXT in similarly dominant fashion, crushing Xavier Woods & CJ Parker after this promo, which is all I can offer up as the match has been blocked on YouTube. I really rate them as a team, and their gimmick is perfect for a quick rise to WWE tag team gold, so much so that WWE could put the belts on them before the year is out without it looking premature.

Returning to singles competitors, Kassius Ohno will no doubt join his former ROH tag partner Antonio Cesaro on the main roster in the near future. His puroresu/strong style influenced approach is different from most competitors in WWE right now, and he couples this with impressive technical skills, a good look, solid promo skills and surprising agility. Whilst it currently looks like he'll be working on his own, a reunion of the Kings of Wrestling is something that would revitalise WWE's tag team division significantly, so look for that somewhere down the line.

I've saved the best of the men for last, however. Dean Ambrose is, simply put, the most gifted allround talent yet to appear on the main roster. He's excellent in the ring, with surprisingly good technical and mat skills, and he cuts a brilliant promo, but the thing that makes him so good is how convincingly he works his gimmick. He always reminds me of Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight, but whatever the influences behind his deranged, sadistic character, he plays it so perfectly, right down to the way he walks, grunts and occasionally SHOUTS FOR NO REASON, that you believe he really is Dean Ambrose, and he really is that fucked up. He's so good, that when CM Punk paid a visit to FCW last year, he ended up squaring off against Ambrose. Expect to see that match on the main roster pretty soon. Oh, and he's also been part of a great love/hate angle with William Regal down in FCW, with a second encounter between the two set to finish off the FCW television shows, following Regal's win in their first meeting. Ambrose has the potential to be one of the greatest characters we've seen in a long time, and the sheer brilliance to be pretty much guaranteed to make it to the top, regardless of how badly he's handled by WWE. Remember the name Dean Ambrose, very soon you'll be hearing it a lot.

I've written far more than I intended to here, so I'll just quickly discuss the women and then call it quits. FCW's roster of women is possibly more talented than a large portion of the current divas, with Paige (formerly Britani Knight) and Sofia Cortez (Ivelisse Velez from the last series of Tough Enough) being the two standout performers, although Raquel Diaz (real name Shaul Guerrero, daughter of Vickie & Eddie) and Audrey Marie (possibly the closest thing to Mickie James you could get without hiring the real thing) could also become very good additions to the main roster in the future. I've not seen enough of Summer Rae (former Lingerie Football League star Danielle Moinet) to be able to judge her in ring skills yet, and Caylee Turner (Christina Crawford from Tough Enough, and sister of Alicia Fox) seems to have switched to ring announcing lately, so I can't really comment on her either.

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To summarise that massive load of text into a 'tl;dr' version...

- I loved NXT: Redemption.
- More WWE shows should try to copy Redemption's roster management and character development as well as its delightful mix of wrestling, comedy and soap opera.
- If you kidnap someone, don't leave your cane in the same room as them.
- If you frame someone to steal their girl, don't do it in front of a camera.
- Never use chloroform on Matt Striker, or hire him to play Elvis at your wedding.
- Michael Cole is actually pretty good sometimes.
- Maxine is amazing.
- If you've never watched an episode of NXT: Redemption, I urge you to do so.
- The stars of Redemption have enough ability and potential to merit a main roster push, and not just to job.

- The new series looks promising, and hasn't changed quite as much as I feared.
- The set is somewhere in between a WWE venue and the FCW Arena in terms of size, and this seems to fit the show better than taking NXT on the road.
- There is a lot of talent to keep an eye on.
- The Ascension will rise.
- Dean Ambrose is amazing. And mental.

So yeah, watch NXT. It's nowhere near as shit as you remember.

FCW Spotlight 1 - Antonio Cesaro

So, a bit later than planned, it's time to kick off my little series looking at some of the talent that has recently emerged in WWE's developmental facility, FCW. There are plenty of great workers to pick from, but I'll be starting with one of the recent additions to the SmackDown roster, and a man with a great reputation amongst fans of independent wrestling, Antonio Cesaro.

Photo from Miami Herald - http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/24/2766361/experienced-cesaro-getting-his.html

Background

Before joining WWE, Cesaro competed under his real name, Claudio Castagnoli, in various promotions across America and Europe, but he is best known for his work in Ring of Honour as part of the 'Kings of Wrestling' tag team with Chris Hero (now Kassius Ohno, someone who will also feature in the series). The duo won the Ring of Honour World Tag Team championship twice, as well as earning the 'Tag Team of the Year' award from Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2010 amongst their many other accomplishments, which include a grand total of six tag team championships across four different promotions and the longest reign as tag champions in Ring of Honour history (364 days).

Cesaro has also won titles as a singles wreslter, most notably the Pro Wrestling Guerilla World Championship, and placed 44th in the 'Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500' in 2011, but he remains best known for his tag team work, and many fans of indy wrestling hope to see a KoW reunion in WWE in the near future.

My Take

I have already discussed Cesaro in this article, and although many of my opinions remain the same, I do feel that, having seen more of his work in WWE & FCW, I underestimated his mic work slightly in that article. His promos of late have been very good, and he's been backing it up with excellent ring work, including a fantastic match against Tyson Kidd on Superstars. Even though I do think his promos are better than I initially gave him credit for, I still feel he lacks charisma, and that could be the thing that holds him back slightly. His promos have been good, but they're just missing that spark that makes you really interested in a performer.

His European style is (like former partner Ohno's) very different to most of the current WWE roster, as, despite being very technical, it is also based around a lot of powerful strikes and grappling (in a good, William Regal-esque way, not a Zeke/Khali way), with the standout move clearly being the 'Very European Uppercut', formerly known as the 'Swiss Death' - a devastating European uppercut delivered to an opponent who is in midair. Sadly though, it seems like that is merely being used as a setup for his actual finisher, the 'Gotch Style Neutralizer', which looks a lot weaker and less impressive. Nonetheless, his style helps him standout, which is always desirable in WWE, and he undoubtedly has the in-ring ability to work at or near the main event.

In terms of where he currently fits in, that's an area where I think I was pretty close to the mark in my inital assessment. In the article I linked to in the previous paragraph, I suggested that Cesaro would struggle to get out of the midcard if he debuted as a singles competitor (more because of the number of people ahead of him than his actual ability), but he has performed very well and already looks like a credible challenger to the Intercontinental title. Whether he'll get a shot at the belt is another question, considering he's competing with guys like Damien Sandow, Ryback, former champ Cody Rhodes and possibly even a returning Sin Cara, but he certainly merits consideration for a shot at the IC title because of his unusual & interesting style and ability to put on a good match. Cesaro, for me, currently sits at in a good position for someone who has only recently debuted, as a rising member of the midcard, but how much higher will he be able to climb?

Assuming there is no Kings of Wrestling reunion in the pipeline, I think that Antonio Cesaro will find himself as a solid upper-midcarder, competing for the Intercontinental and United States titles, and he may even occasionally find himself sniffing around the main event, but I don't believe he will ever become a true main event WWE superstar.

In a way, though, that's a good thing, because the midcard will benefit greatly from having such an accomplished wrestler in its midst - Cesaro's in-ring skill and ability to craft a match will make him invaluable when it comes to helping other talent break into contention for main event status, and he will help to bring back prestige to a couple of titles that have been devalued almost to the point of irrelevance in recent years. I can see him holding both the IC and US titles at least two or three times, and developing into a vital part of the upper-midcard, but let's be honest...we all want a Kings reunion somewhere down the line, don't we?

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As previously mentioned, there is a similar series to this on YouTube, which inspired me to do my own version here, so if you wish to compare my opinions to those of someone else I encurage you to click on this link and listen to Eonizzle's 'FCW Superstar Spotlight' for Antonio Cesaro.

Part two of my series will look at Damien Sandow. It'll be up...somewhen.

An Introduction To FCW Spotlight - The Greatest WWE Contracted Wrestlers The WWE Universe Has Never Heard Of

Okay, so this is a little feature I'm going to try and do a few of over the next few weeks, in which I will pick out some of the best talent that is (or has been) on the FCW roster in the last few months. This was an idea I had a few months ago, and one that someone else also had around the same time, but that I've only just got around to starting on. As with the series I've just linked to, I will be giving my own opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of the selected wrestlers, but unlike in that series I won't be offering up detailed ideas regarding the booking of their debut, or giving out scores. I'll just be giving a brief bit of background for the person in question, doing some (probably shoddy) analysis and giving a prediction for where they could fit in the WWE heirarchy upon their debut, as well as where I see them slotting in long term.

There are plenty of superstars (and divas) I could write about, but for the moment I'll start with the guys who have just appeared on WWE televison - Antonio Cesaro and Damien Sandow. For those who can't wait for my efforts, and want to hear opinions on these guys RIGHT NOW!!, I heartily recommend listening to Eonizzle's take on both men, which can be found here (Sandow) and here (Cesaro).

10 Post-WrestleMania Feuds To Reignite The Divas Division: Part Two - SmackDown

So, in part one of this article I ran through five feuds that could help breathe life back into the divas division. In this part, there will be five more angles, this time running on SmackDown.

As with the first set, I've come up with a basic story outline, and I'll be offering up a rough timeframe for each rivalry as well.

1. Layla vs. Tamina

Layla makes her return to WWE, attacking Tamina and costing her a match. The last WWE Womens champion then mocks Tamina, telling her to stop trying to be her father because she's nowhere near as good, only for Tamina to beat her in comprehensive fashion the following week. Layla demands a rematch, and gets her revenge when she beats Tamina through questionable methods. The two agree to face each other one more time, and Tamina eventually prevails, hitting the Superfly Splash after a long and closely fought contest.

2. The Rise of the Anti-Divas

Cue some new talent...


The Bella twins compete in a tag team match against a face pair (probably Alicia Fox & Kelly Kelly), who beat them. The face team are heading up the ramp, whilst Nikki & Brie argue in the ring, but then two young women come out of the crowd and attack the Bella's, beating them up before staring down at K2 & Foxy.

The following week, the two women reveal themselves to be Paige & Sofia Cortez. They announce that they are sick of the 'divas', who all prance around like models, giving women like them a bad name and providing a terrible example for young women, and they tell the divas that they plan to eliminate every single one of them, starting with the Bella's.

The two sides square up over the course of a few weeks in various combinations of singles bout, as well as in a tag team match, with the anti-divas coming out victorious every time. They announce that they will remain unbeaten because no diva can compete with a real woman, when two ladies appear, presumably wishing to challenge that fact...

3. The Anti-Divas vs. The Chickbusters

AJ & Kaitlyn come down to the ring and tell Paige & Sofia that, whilst they don't consider themselves 'divas' either, they think that attacking them all for no reason sets just as bad of an example as the one the anti-divas claim the divas set. This doesn't please Paige & Sofia, and they attack the Chickbusters, telling them that, whilst they may not have been divas when they joined WWE, they have been corrupted and so they will also be destroyed.

The rivalry goes on for a few weeks, featuring singles and tag team matches shared between the two sides, but in the end the anti-divas prevail once more. They declare their respect for the Chickbusters, who they see as being above the 'diva' label, but reiterate that the true anti-divas will always come out on top.

4. The Anti-Divas & Maxine vs. Kelly Kelly, Aksana & Alicia Fox

Maxine, now a regular part of the SmackDown roster, begins a rivalry with Alicia Fox, but keeps getting beaten. After yet another victory, Alicia Fox celebrates, but it suddenly ambushed by the anti-divas, and Maxine is revealed to be the newest anti-diva.

The three women embark on a brief series of attacks on Alicia, before she is finally backed up by Kelly Kelly & Aksana. The six women argue their sides of the 'diva' argument, whilst facing off in a variety of combinations over a period of weeks, with the anti-divas picking up a slight edge on the divas. The rivalry is settled in a six woman tag team match, in which the divas control a surprising amount of the match, only to lose in controversial fashion.

The anti-divas try to attack the three divas after the match, but all the divas in the locker room rush out in an overdue show of solidarity, and force Paige, Sofia & Maxine to retreat.

5. Paige vs. Layla

This angle could be used either side of Layla's angles on RAW (mentioned in my last post), and it could play out differently depending on which side it was used. Should it be squeezed in before then it would have to remain a singles feud, but if used after Layla's RAW feuds then it could possibly be turned it an 'Anti-Divas vs. LayCool' feud. Either way, here's how it would go down.

Layla picks up a victory on SmackDown, but the anti-divas ambush tactic comes into play again as Paige attacks Layla from behind. She tells the crowd that, now that the anti-divas have proved themselves to be far superior to the divas, she wants to prove that she is far superior to Layla, as the best English female in the WWE.

The two women battle in a series of very physical contests, and the option is there for LayCool to reform and compete against Paige & Sofia (this would be done, unsurprisingly, with a 2v1 attack on Layla, with Michelle McCool running down to save the day) at some point along the line. The final confrontation would either be another singles match, possibly with an added stipulation, or the first tag match between the two sides, depending on whether Michelle & Sofia were added to the feud, but either way Layla's side would win out, finally slowing the charge of the anti-divas and giving (a) Layla the momentum needed to start her work on RAW; or (b) LayCool a glorious reunion.

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So there you have it. Ten angles that could help make the divas division relevant again before the end of the year, and also help introduce some of the young talent that could help spearhead a new wave of womens wrestling in WWE.

We're already seeing a few changes to the division on television, but I hope to see some more big (positive) changes over the next few months, as there is too much talent in the division and in FCW at present for things to carry on the way they have been lately.

We may not get the glory days of Trish, Lita, Molly et al back, but I truly believe we could end up with a product that's pretty close to that level, and that would be no less than we, and the women themselves, deserve.

10 Post-WrestleMania Feuds To Reignite The Divas Division: Part One - RAW

Okay, so in my last post I said that I had come up with ten storylines that could revitalise the divas division - five for RAW, and five for SmackDown. Now is the time to take a look at my plans for RAW.

First of all, I should point out that these aren't rigid plans - I've just come up with an outline for the stories, and a vague timeframe based around PPV's. Anyway, here we go...

 

1. Eve vs. Natalya

Following on from Eve's win at WrestleMania (well, that's what would've happened in my world) she decides to try and take the Divas Championship from her WM28 partner Beth Phoenix. Natalya, however, comes to the same conclusion after some more mistreatment from Pin Up Strong partner Miss Phoenix.

The two women clash over who gets to face Beth, leading to a quick run of matches between the two to decide who the number one contender is. Eve comes out on top in this competition, and faces Beth at the next PPV, Extreme Rules, only to fall short.

 

2. Natalya vs. Beth

With Eve having failed in her quest to take the title from Beth Phoenix, Natalya steps forward to claim her title shot. However, she's told that she must once again prove that she deserves it by winning a number one contendership battle royale, where the winner will get a shot at the title at Over the Limit. In unsurpising fashion, Natalya does eventually prevail, only to be attacked after the match by Beth, breaking up Pin Up Strong once and for all.
 
The two women face off in some non-title singles matches & tag team contests, with both women matching each other throughout. With their rivalry becoming more intense every week, they agree that a clear winner is needed, and so the first ever Divas ladder match is announced. 

At Over the Limit, the two women put on a great show, but Beth eventually managed to retain once more. Clutching her title close to her chest, Beth celebrates in the ring, only for some familiar music to hit... 

 

3. Kharma vs. Beth

With Beth celebrating her win, Kharma makes her return, coming to the ring and staring down Beth, telling her that she's coming for the title.

Kharma destroys half of the roster in the coming weeks, with Beth avoiding any matches with her. During this period Beth throws the Bella's to Kharma, allowing her to get her revenge for their remarks when she announced she was pregnant. Eventually, it is decided that the two women need to face each other, so a title match is booked for No Way Out. Kharma vs Beth, in the first ever divas cage match. At No Way Out the two women finally go head-to-head in a match, and despite Beth's best efforts Kharma comes out on top, winning the title with an Implant Buster from the second rope. 

The rivalry doesn't end there, though. Having lost her precious title, Beth seeks to win it back, and recruits the Bella twins and Layla to help her overcome Kharma. Over the coming weeks, the four women attack Kharma during and after matches, before helping Beth cheat her way to the number one contender spot just in time for Money in the Bank. Kharma says that she'll give Beth her match, but only if it's 'last woman standing'. Beth obviously accepts. 

At MITB, the two women meet again, and Beth's stable interfere to try and help her incapacitate Kharma. In the end, though, she proves too strong, wiping out Beth's helpers before putting Beth through a table with an Implant Buster to retain her title. 

Beth, furious, turns on her allies, but one woman fights back...

 

4. Beth vs. Layla

When Beth lashes out at her former stablemates, Layla defends herself, attacking Beth and hitting her with a LayOut.

Beth responds by ambushing Layla during matches and interviews, causing Layla to respond in kind, triggering a series of brawls that are ended when the two women are booked in a match against each other at SummerSlam. 

PPV time, and the two women prepare to compete in a 'no disqualifications' match. After an evenly contested opening phase, Beth takes control, and looks to be about put Layla away when the Bella's - the other former stablemates of Beth - appear and attack the Glamazon. They, along with Layla, attack Phoenix, and Layla hits a Facelift through a table to end their rivalry.

 

5. Natalya vs. Kharma

After retaining against Beth at MITB, Kharma returned to trampling over the rest of the women on the roster, eventually turning heel when she takes out Kelly Kelly (this would also have the benefit of allowing K2 to be written off screen for a few months, giving her time to actually learn to wrestle). With all the women terrified, Natalya steps forward to challenge Kharma. The two women one up each other over the next few weeks, beating whoever is put in their way, and Natalya continues to stand up to Kharma, protecting a few divas from harm in the process.

Eventually, the two women are booked in a lumberjill match for the Divas Championship at Night of Champions, and the locker room ultimately gets their revenge when they all attack Kharma, allowing Natalya to pick up the victory and win the title. 

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So there you go, that's a rough plan for how I'd book RAW, taking us all the way into September, and there are threads in there that could possibly even be followed up beyond that point, such as Kelly Kelly's return to the roster & feud with the woman who put her out, Kharma. 

Next time I'll reveal my final five angles, which will take place over on SmackDown.

10 Post-WrestleMania Feuds To Reignite The Divas Division: Prelude - Booking WrestleMania

The WWE divas division has been a shadow of its former self for a long time now, but - as outlined in my last article - there is plenty of talent on the roster for the company to utilise. Unfortunately, booking the divas hasn't been a strong point of WWE's for years, so I have come up with ten rivalries (five for RAW, five for SmackDown) which could help the division gain some much needed momentum and legitimise many of the great female workers currently employed by WWE.

First of all, however, I will give you an idea of how I would book the divas match at WrestleMania, in order to help set up these feuds. As we all know, Beth Phoenix & Eve will be taking on Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos in a tag team match, and although Menounos has recently suffered two broken ribs she plans to work through it, for which she deserves a lot of credit, especially as she's not even a professional wrestler. Anyway, as has become traditional in the division, the match will inevitably last no more than five minutes, so here is my idea for how the match should go...

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Starting Off - Kelly Kelly vs. Eve

Kelly & Eve get the match started and go through the traditional opening exchanges - headlock, shoulder block etc - with Kelly quickly gaining the upper hand, dragging Eve to their corner and tagging in Maria. This would probably take 30-45seconds, I'd imagine.

Maria vs. Eve

Maria shows a few moves on Eve, before making the rookie mistake of coming off the ropes right next to Beth, who gets a cheap shot in, kneeing her in the ribs and putting her team in control. Eve gives Maria a couple of kicks and tags in the champion. By now I expect they'd be about 1:30 into the match.

Maria vs. Beth

Beth wears down Maria with a few slams and strikes, accompanied by some trash talk. She whips Maria off the ropes before going for a clothesline, but Maria ducks and dashes to tag Kelly back in. She then sells her rib injury, rolling out of the ring and onto the floor to writhe in pain, and leaving Kelly on her own...Let's say we're roughly around three minutes here.

Kelly vs. Beth

Kelly starts the good ol' momentum shift, probably doing her awful 'bang their head against the mat whilst screaming' thing and her 'do a terrible airplane headscissor takedown whilst screaming' thing before getting flattened by a big clothesline from Beth, who picks her up and delivers a GlamSlam. In an unusual show of respect, she doesn't go for the cover, but instead drags Kelly into position and tags Eve in to deliver the final blow. About four minutes gone by now, I'd say.

Kelly vs. Eve

So we finish where we started as Eve climbs the turnbuckle and delivers an Evesault for the win. Eve gets up and starts to celebrate, but Beth GlamSlam's her before throwing both Eve & Kelly out of 'her' ring. Eve looks back angrily, whilst Kelly goes to comfort Maria.

Optional Extra

Natalya comes down to celebrate with Beth, but the tensions between them (seen at the start of this match, for instance) resurface, and they depart uncomfortably.

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So that's the way I'd go in Miami, but what about after WrestleMania? The next part of this article will feature the five angles I'd run on RAW, starting off with two of the women I've mentioned above going head-to-head.

Fans of Womens Wrestling Can Relax, the Future Lies With the Anti-Divas

As I'm sure everyone who doesn't immediately go for a piss/change the channel when the divas come on can see, the Divas division is in terrible shape at the minute. Far too many of the women fail to display a mastery of the most basic techniques in wrestling (watch Kelly Kelly try and run the ropes, then tell me how and why she recently held the Divas Championship for over a hundred days), and those who do frequently find themselves marginalised in favour of the ex-model types who currently hold the division back. For the record, when I mention the 'divas' I'm talking about the likes of Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox, Aksana and the Bella twins, with 'K2' being by far the worst of the bunch in terms of ability to airtime ratio. Many of these women don't even appear to want to improve in the ring, with a perfect example of this coming on Monday's RAW (12th March 2012), when Alicia Fox - one of the worst offenders when it comes to botches, just ask Beth Phoenix - said something that made me want to throw my laptop at the wall:

Maria Menounos: "So what kind of training are you guys doing?

Alicia Fox: "I'm just more trying to get my outfits together."

WHAT. THE. FUCK?! If you don't believe she said it, the whole segment is right here. And also, "outfits". Plural. Is she planning a fucking costume change? Does she think she's going to a fashion show? Jesus.

I know it probably wasn't a line that was meant to be taken literally, and I'm sure she's training very hard to improve, but even so, what kind of image does that portray? Rather than focusing on training and trying to earn a spot at the biggest PPV in the industry in which she works, she's thinking about her outfit. Her number one priority isn't her wrestling, it's how she looks, and that one quote perfectly sums up the whole problem with the 'divas'. So there you have it, not only are they terrible wrestlers, but they're terrible role models, and the sooner WWE decide to get move away from this attitude the better.

WWE has plenty of beautiful women on its roster who also posses some ability in the ring, and it is time they started to give these ladies the platform that they have given the likes of Kelly Kelly and the Bella twins. Aside from the obvious, and most prominent, duo of Beth Phoenix and Natalya, WWE also have capable female wrestlers in the shape of AJ, Eve and Tamina Snuka, all of whom are over with the crowds as much as almost any of the divas, as well as the apparently soon to return Layla. They also have young talent that has shown a willingness to improve, in NXT season 3 winner Kaitlyn and fellow NXT alumni Maxine, who I consider to be the best female character in the company right now. Both of these women have improved in the ring since their infamous match on NXT, and are part of one of the most entertaining angles on WWE television at the minute over on NXT. Lastly, FCW currently has two hugely talented young women on its books, who have already shown their anti-diva credentials - Paige & Sofia Cortez. Both ladies are young and very adept in the ring, as well as having great charisma and strong personalities, and I have no doubt that both will play a huge part in the regeneration of the division in the future. As well as being vastly superioir in the ring, all of these women are better role models than the divas. Well, if you exclude all the manipulating Eve & Maxine have been doing...

These women are proof that you don't have to look like a supermodel to be beautiful (although Eve was a model before entering the 2007 Diva Search - but then she was alligned with the divas before her heel turn), and show that strong, intelligent, determined women can achieve great things, even when the playing field isn't equal.

If WWE ever wants its womens division to be credible it must allow the talented wrestlers the time to create good matches and strong rivalries, whilst keeping the sloppy wrestlers out of the ring as much as possible. They don't necessarily have to get rid of the 'divas', but using them as valets and minimising their ring time whilst training them up would allow them to create a better product whilst still keeping their current stars on screen. I firmly believe that if the anti-divas are given enough time and resources, they have the ability to create one of the best womens wrestling divisions in the industry, and one that will finally be able to draw viewers, rather than being the designated 'piss break' segment of every show.

It's undoubtedly going to be a long road, but with careful planning and good utlisation of resources WWE can make its womens division both exciting to watch and positively influential on the attitudes of young women who look up to these ladies - both of which are, at least in my book, good enough reasons to give the anti-divas a chance.

WWE MVP's: The Five Most Important Workers In WWE

WWE has always had massive superstars. From Hogan to the Rock & Stone Cold to Cena, there have always been people around which WWE has centred. But at the same time, there have been people who have been just as important who have not been given the same degree of recognition, and it is with that thought in mind that I have decided to compile a quick list of the five most important on screen characters in WWE today.

5. Michael Cole 

Yeah, I know he's annoying, but he's also the lead commentator, and he can effectively decide whether a guy gets over or not, whether he means to or not, by how badly he crucifies them with his commentary. It wasn't long ago that WWE were citing Cole's commentary as a reason why guys they were trying to push, such as Daniel Bryan, weren't getting over, and that show just how important he is to the company at the minute. Which makes it more mystifying that they continue to use him as a heel, rather than the neutral/face that he was a decade ago, and that most of the great commentators have been (see Jim Ross for the perfect commentator at putting both guys over whilst providing great commentary).

Given the lack of managers in WWE these days, it might even be worth utilising Cole's exceptional ability to get heat in a more logical way by having him step out from behind the commentary box and become a manager for an up-and-coming heel. Which bring us neatly to...

4. Vickie Guerrero 

Vickie is the last great manager in the WWE - she is the biggest heat magnet in the company, with the possible exceptions of John Cena and Michael Cole, and she is an invaluable tool when it comes to helping wrestlers with in ring skills but no charisma get over (hello Jack Swagger). She can also help weaker faces get over by being a target for ridicule, meaning that pretty much every superstar who's being lined up to move up the card works with her in some capacity in the early stages of the push. To illustrate her usefulness to both heels and faces, look at Dolph Ziggler - who has, under her guidance, won the World Heavyweight Championship, the Intercontinental Championship and the US Championship, and moved within touching distance of being an elite heel performer in the company - and Kaitlyn - NXT season 3 winner despite being a late addition, almost exclusively because of her relationship with her pro, a certain Vickie Guerrero.

If there were more managers like Vickie in WWE she might not be as valuable, but she probably would still be the best. As it is though, she is one of the first people called upon to help bring success to many of WWE's up and coming talents, and as such she fully deserves a spot on this list.

3. William Regal

Another one that may surprise some people, but for me Regal is one of the most versatile character WWE currently have at their disposal - he can be a GM, a commentator, a manager or a wrestler; a face or heel; serious or comedic, and he can do every single one of those things well. At present he's working a double role on NXT as a commentator and match co-ordinator, basically an unofficial GM, as well as commentating on FCW, where he has been teasing a return to the ring in a feud with Dean Ambrose (which I feel deserves to be seen on WWE television). Should Michael Cole turn to management, as I suggested earlier, Regal would be a very strong candidate to replace him at the commentary table.

I genuinely don't think there is a single person on the roster who can offer as much in as many different roles as William Regal, and it's that versatility that's earnt him well deserved a place on this list.

2. CM Punk

Ever since that promo, CM Punk's star has been on the ascent, and right now he's probably the most popular person on the roster (only Santino comes close, and I can't decide whether that's awesome or horrifying). He's a great wrestler and a fantastic mic worker, he can work well as a face or a heel, and he can even put on his camel fur jacket and commentate. He's recently become the first person in years to outsell John Cena in merchandise, and his feud with Chris Jericho could turn out to be the feud of the year, pushing him even further up the ladder.

Punk is, as many people have already suggested, the closest thing we're going to get to Stone Cold in the PG/reality era, and he's well on the way to becoming as much of an icon as the Texas Rattlesnake is. At 33 he still has plenty of years left in him, and if his rise continues at the same rate as over the last nine months he could well be the man to topple Cena as the face of the company in the near future.

1. John Cena 

Yes, him. Still. As much as I wanted to put Punk at number one I just couldn't do it. No matter how much Punk is loved by large portions of the WWE universe, John Cena is still 'The Man' (copyright Ric Flair, 3000BC). Let's take a look at the evidence.

At WrestleMania, CM Punk will be defending the WWE Championship - the most prestigious title in pro wrestling - and he'll (apparently) be opening the show. John Cena, meanwhile, is in a non-title match which will, in all likelihood, be the main event. And before anyone says that's because it's a generation v generation match, I'll remind you that Rock v Hogan was third from last on the WrestleMania XVIII card, BEFORE THE WOMENS' TITLE MATCH, with the match for the equivalent to the WWE Championship headlining. Cena/Rock is also getting the most promo time of any of the WrestleMania matches, whilst Punk/Jericho appears to be an afterthought, picking up a few minutes every week at various points of the show before disappearing for a week, lost amongst the flood of RAW Rewind's about Rock/Cena and even HHH/Undertaker/HBK.

And what about Elimination Chamber? Same story. Punk opened the show in the RAW EC match, whilst Cena headlined with his ambulance match against Kane in what was essentially a filler feud. Cena's also the guy who gets the final spot on the WWE trail that starts every show, as well as being the last person you see on the opening credits of both RAW and Superstars.

Whether we like it or not, Cena is still the biggest star in the company, and it's going to be a while yet before anyone - even CM Punk - can topple him from that spot.