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.