WWE Evolution was a women's professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Networkevent, produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and NXTbrands. It took place on October 28, 2018, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in Uniondale, New York. It was the first WWE pay-per-view to consist solely of women's matches.
Results:
Dark Match: NXT UK Women's Champion Rhea Ripley (c) def. Dakota Kai to retain
Since this match wasn't advertised for airing on the actual PPV, I'm guessing that WWE will show this on the Network exclusively at some point down the road once the NXT UK show catches up as they crowned Rhea Ripley as champion a while ago. The problem on the hold up was fishing for networks for this show before they settled on airing it on the WWE Network.
I have to tip my hat at Rhea Ripley heeling it up on her tweets and banter with Tegan Nox since her injury in the Mae Young Classic. That's how you keep kayfabe alive, folks.
Team Bestie (Trish Stratus & Lita) def. Alicia Fox & Mickie James w/ Alexa Bliss
The live crowd was eating this up as the opener as I felt like we were watching a match from 2006-2008ish with the four women involved. I thought some people had the nostalgia goggles on pretty heavy and fogged up as a lot of this match came off really sloppy at particular spots, yet the crowd continued to chant "YOU STILL GOT IT" during the duration of this match. I dunno about all that...
Even more surprising was that Bliss came in to shove Lita off the top rope during one of her initial Moonsault attempts. I thought WWE doctors won't even clear you to do even that much when they say you're suffering from a possible concussion? That just came off really weird. Still, the right team won here as the first feel-good moment of the evening. I did enjoy the combination of moves from Lita and Trish that picked them up the win.
If Lita and Trish are planning on sticking around for that possible inevitable Women's Tag Team titles announcement, then I hope they are going to polishing off that ring rust at the Performance Center.
Nia Jax wins 20-Woman Battle Royal for a Future Women's Championship Match
I can't speak for anyone else but from how the women here were given short entrances here and not really given much time to show the significance of the Legends and former women coming back to be a part of this match, I felt like I was watching the Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal from a few years ago that Santina Marella won as a complete joke to shit on the entire Divas division as a literal slap to the face at the time too.
The IIconics went out first and they were asking for it too after dragging on and on with their belittling of their competition. I swear those girls' voices sound like nails on a chalkboard. Molly Holly and Alundra Blayze went out not too long afterwards. We didn't even have time to even see a Molly Go Round (like at the Royal Rumble earlier this year) or a German Suplex from either. Talk about a damn waste...
Ivory joined Carmella for a 7 second dance break as how her and R-Truth have been doing on SmackDown! Live lately, only to get tossed out shortly afterwards. I will admit that all of the returning Legends and former Divas looked stunning here tonight, especially Torrie Wilson, Ivory, Michelle McCool, Molly Holly, Alundra Blayze, and Kelly Kelly.
Seeing McCool wreck some of the girls for a moment gave me deja vu to back when she had her own "Reign of Terror" on SmackDown! as the head of LayCool. It just tossed more salt into the open wound when the cameras panned back to Maryse watching at ringside with her husband, Miz Mizanin. If Maria Kanellis could have been in this thing for a few minutes then Maryse could've came in too for a hot minute too.
I want to know what is up with these teases for Tamina Snuka and Nia Jax squaring off in these battle royals/Rumble matches? It seemed like they were teasing a potential alliance but that came crumbling down the second it came down to the final moments of this bout. Speaking of alliances, I thought it was funny that the last fraction of Absolution (Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville) came crumbling down when Mandy eliminated her own "bestie". I hope they don't split them up as it's the only thing that those two have going right now. Besides the fact, remember if WWE does green light this whole Women's Tag Team titles thing, they are going to need a lot of tag teams for it.
I had Ember Moon pegged to win this match and boy did I almost get trolled with Zelina Vega sneaking in and tossing both Nia and Ember over the top rope towards the end. That moment resulted in the death and destruction both Tamina and Zelina as Nia military pressed that poor girl out of the ring and into an unsuspecting Tamina at the bottom of the entrance ramp. I would be bloody surprised if Tamina doesn't have a concussion from that as she literally caught Zelina with her face during that spot.
Ember tried to bring it to Nia, but ultimately it wasn't enough as Nia tossed her over the top rope to pick up the win. From how much praise Nia gets outside of WWE in the media, I shouldn't be surprised with this decision. At the same time, I have remotely NO interest in another Ronda vs Nia match.
Toni Storm def. Io Shirai in the Mae Young Classic Finals to become the 2019 Mae Young Classic Tournament winner, winning a future NXT UK Women's Championship Match
I saw people raving about this match left and right on social media live last night, but I thought it was OK. These two women are no strangers to facing each other, having faced each other back in the STARDOM promotion in less than a year or so. In that regard, I felt that what we saw here was underwhelming in comparison. It's that same feeling of disappointment that I had when all of that hype and anticipation for AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania was going to recreate their Wrestle Kingdom classic in a WWE ring, only to perform under WWE standards to lackluster results.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the effort here by both ladies, but I was just expecting a little more. At the same time, the finish on who was walking away as the winner was rather predictable too as Toni Storm was the only one who already had established entrance music and a custom Titantron made while Io Shirai was still using the generic stuff provided from the tournament. Not to forget that Toni Storm is already signed to NXT UK brand and this win is the most logical decision to put more eyes on that show.
Shayna Baszler def. Kairi Sane (c) to win the NXT Women's Championship for the second time
This match was good, but I didn't think it was as good as their previous outings. This is starting to become the female equivalent of the Gargano/Ciampa feud. NXT has to be careful here with Kairi and Shayna hogging the spotlight or crowds are going to start turning on them if they continue to beat a dead horse with this feud. It's time for someone else to get a shot.
I guessed it earlier that day that Jessamyn Duke and Marina Safir were going to debut and help Shayna regain the title. That being said, Kairi might not need much help as she was fighting off the Horsewomen on her own for the most part. I could easily see this leading into Shayna having her own female Undisputed Era from how this plays out going into the next TakeOver special. I just hope this doesn't lead into a female War Games match. No need to rush that now and save it for next year.
Natalya, Sasha Banks, and Bayley def. Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan)
I went out for gas and a fast food snack at this point, but was continuing to watch on my phone's WWE Network app. Say what you want, but this was Liv Morgan's coming out party. Boy, did that girl turn a lot of heads with her performance in this match. That was miles above and beyond from her lackluster performances on both NXT and the main roster.
At the end of the day, the right team won though as Nattie, Sasha, and Bayley picked up the win. Now can we give all of these excessive Sasha and Bayley vs. Riott Squad matches a break? I don't even watch RAW and SmackDown! regularly anymore and I'm sick of hearing about it when I peak at the results every week.
Last Woman Standing Match - SmackDown! Women's Champion Becky Lynch (c) def. Charlotte Flair to retain
Easily the best thing on this card all night. If anyone tell you otherwise, they need to get their head examined. I don't know if it's the best main roster match in WWE history in relation to women's wrestling, but it's definitely up there in some fashion. This was the most compelling feud/angle going into this show and the ladies definitely delivered in what seemed like the definitive finale for this feud. Becky Lynch beat Charlotte Flair clean - it's time for both women to move on to something else and keep them apart from each other for a while.
RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey (c) def. Nikki Bella (w/ Brie Bella) to retain
I don't even see why this was even the main event. I understand that WWE considers Ronda to be their golden goose to lay them the golden eggs to keep WWE's women's divisions up on the radar in mainstream media, but there was no way that this match was going to top the one before it. Plus whatever happened to allowing the match with the hottest build go last?
I honestly was rolling my eyes at the bulk of this. I won't complain about Ronda selling for the Bella Twins here as she sold for Alexa Bliss at Summerslam for what felt like an eternity before she won that match, so I wasn't going into this match expecting a complete squash. In all honesty, it should have been one with Ronda Rousey going over as the definitive de facto woman to beat if she beat Nikki Bella in the same manner and as quickly as how Brock Lesnar did to John Cena at Summerslam 2014. Just hit her with a few moves and go home.
I get it... WWE wanted to paint the narrative that Nikki Bella was fighting as one of the last remnants of the Divas Era against this wave of current generation, legit ass-kickers who have been taking WWE's women's divisions by storm as of late.
Closing Thoughts
As of this writing (1/2/18), WWE already announced on Monday Night RAW that Ronda Rousey's next opponent will be Becky Lynch in a non-title match for the upcoming Survivor Series PPV. I honestly don't know how I feel about that as I can't see anyone benefiting from that match outside of maybe Rousey. It seems like WWE is doing anything they can to get Becky Lynch to be seen as a heel in their "universe" when the fans have universally accepted her as their new fan favorite. I don't see why they have to fight against this. Just go with it and profit off of it. It was bad enough that they were piping in boos during the PPV during her entrance when that entire Nassau crowd were collectively behind her during her match at the PPV. They need another strong female figure to build storylines and feuds around, so why not go with someone else that isn't named Charlotte Flair for once? The last thing they need is another disaster like how they mishandled Bayley, Sasha Banks, and ultimately Asuka over the past year. Oh how the mighty have fallen. I could go on about those missteps, but that would justify an entire separate post to cover that mess properly.
The biggest question coming out of this event is whether or not WWE are going to continue taking their women seriously following this event. Otherwise, it's just going to look like an "apology payday" for the women while they continue with the "No Girls Allowed" Saudi Arabia show AKA Crown Jewel (or Sweet Saudi Money 2: Electric Boogaloo as how Solomonster refers to it on his podcast...) that got a chorus of boos during this event. WWE has fine crop of women - spanning generations of talent from past to present that showed up in numbers for this event. That's something to be proud of, no matter how you felt about the individual talents. The women of WWE came out and represented in force and it was a solid show. I honestly wouldn't go as far as people were saying on social media that this was the best WWE show all year, but I'll say it was worth the time and effort. Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair killed it in their match while everything else on this show ranged from OK to passable. I just hope that WWE considers this a one and done and don't feature the women as prominently as they did with this platform, despite the fact I was rolling my eyes at how hard they were patting themselves on the back about this event that I could've sworn I could hear Vince McMahon burping in gorilla.
Royal Rumble (2018) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Networkevent produced by WWE featuring wrestlers primarily from the Raw and SmackDownbrands, as well as surprise appearances from competitors on the NXT brand. It took place on January 28, 2018, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the thirty-first event under the Royal Rumble chronology, the first to include a women's Royal Rumble match, and consequently, two Royal Rumble matches.
Nine matches were contested at the event, including three on the pre-show. In the main event, Asuka won the first-ever women's Royal Rumble match, which was also the second women's match to main event a WWE pay-per-view, and the first to main event one of WWE's "Big Four" pay-per-views. The men's Royal Rumble match was won by Shinsuke Nakamura. Other prominent matches included Brock Lesnar retaining the Universal Championship in a triple threat match against Braun Strowman and Kane, and AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a handicap match. The event was also notable for the surprise appearance of former UFC star Ronda Rousey following the women's match, officially confirming that she had signed full-time with WWE.
ZX: Serena are back again for our tag team write-up on Royal Rumble 2018 since we already tackled NXT Takeover: Philly write-up together so we might as well go two for two since we did actually watch the entire event together. Kudos to Serena staying up on Sunday given the time difference for her in the Lithuania. I lost her halfway into the NXT show (laughs).
Serena: Once again, ZX left me to fend for myself against the wolves that is the 2 hour, oh so special, Kickoff Show. I don’t know why I bother to turn this thing on. But since in my neck of the woods PPV’s start at around 2 AM, I try to entertain myself with this debacle. Usually, it is just not good. Don’t get me wrong, the matches most of the time are fine, but the panel makes me want to rip my eyes out and my ears off. But hey, I survived, so that is something to be thankful for.
Kalisto, Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik def. TJP, Jack Gallagher and Drew Gulak
ZX: Dang, what hole did they did out Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik? I might actually go back and watch this one (laughs).
Serena: Well, we started with the Cruiserweights. And the saddest part in my eyes was the fact that they wrestled in pretty much an empty arena, since only a handful of spectators were actually present. Yet, the match itself was absolutely okay. Your usual team vs team bout, heelish tactics, hot tags. Nothing to write home about. Except for an absolutely amazing spot nearing the end of the match. Kalisto, Dorado and Gran Metalik all stood on the top turnbuckle and did a trio moonsault on TJP, Gallagher and Gulak, who were all standing outside of the ring. Definitely, a beautiful spot, worthy to be seen by more people.
The Revival def. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
Serena: Okay… I will confess. I could start acting like I knew that this match was an awesome tag team bout, showing us the absolutely best that the division can offer. Well… Not the case. In reality, before the match started I went to wash the dishes and when I came back, the match was pretty much at its end. So, um… Yeah. Pardon me, I missed this one and only saw the finish and that it is. Hopefully, I didn’t miss much.
ZX:: As soon as Mojo’s music hit, I flipped the TV back to the game I was playing… Serena, this one is yours. (laughs)
Serena: Another one? Jesus. Okay… Um. “GLORIOUS!!!”. I always mark out during that entrance. It is just too good not to imitate or at least sing along to. Yeah, another throwaway match. Of course, I do understand that WWE creatives had a rough patch here, since Enzo Amore was released by the company not even a week earlier, also some other backstage hiccups happened last minute. So, this match was okay, you can’t really fault neither Rawley nor Roode. But was it a memorable bout that should be on the main card? Nope.
ZX: Going into this PPV, I had completely NO interest in watching this match, but I’m glad to say that they definitely won me over by the end of this. AJ Styles is without a shadow of a doubt the best worker on the main roster, if not the entire company at this stage. My only concern is that I hope he stays healthy and injury-free throughout WrestleMania season.
Serena: When you think about it, it is kinda odd to see the WWE Championship title match open the show. After all, that title has a name and a legacy to it. So, a bit saddening to use it as an opener. But, it does make sense, because all three can rip the roof off the building. And it was exactly what they did. The match was highly energetic, fun to watch and a great way to start the PPV. I remember telling ZX during the match that my admiration for Styles has no end. Seriously. What an amazing worker. He can make anyone look like a million bucks. And he, in cooperation with Zayn and Owens, made this match so much more than it was on paper.
Also, as a little side note: Sami Zayn is not a heel. It just doesn’t seem to work. He pretty much tries to copy KO, but whereas Owens shines his brightest as the sarcastic and snarky heel, Zayn is forever the lovable underdog, the optimistic babyface. I don’t really see this working for long.
ZX: A fun match to watch, but I was so damn happy that they didn’t drag this out to three falls. WWE abuses that so much in these Best of Three Falls matches that it’s almost a given. I applauded that they let the Usos retain in a clean sweep. Kudos to Gable and Benjamin for their efforts here, but they aren’t over enough to deserve a title run yet. From what I did glimpse at of the pre-show, letting Jason Jordan verbally bury their failures isn’t doing them any favors either, but I’m confident that they could turn this around by the end of the year.
Serena: In all honesty, this match was also quite a pleasant surprise. I did think that this match will take the reigns as your “bathroom break” match, but no. It was actually quite a fun, high energy match. Gable is turning out to be the stronger one out of the former “American Alpha” union as he is not only pretty good in the ring, but also quite charismatic to boot. Of course, the finish of Usos retaining wasn’t that much of a surprise as the brothers are actually becoming one of the best teams currently in WWE and it would just be odd to take the titles away from them. They grab your attention, they are entertaining in the ring and they keep surprising me with the quality of their bouts. Kudos to both teams.
Winner of Men’s Royal Rumble Match: Shinsuke Nakamura
ZX: We’re going to discuss this in detail since we both had fun watching this together live last night. I don’t see why people were complaining so much about this match when this was the best Rumble match in recent memory. Excellent use of all of the talent and not too many surprises/wasted spots to not enjoy it.
My first favorite spot was Baron Corbin going nuts a la The Big Show after returning during the 2001 Rumble and getting eliminated by The Rock to lay waste to everyone. If they want to continue to insist on Corbin being their next “big” guy then this is the way to do it. If Strowman was in this match, then it would have been the same trainwreck. I don’t even like Corbin in any shape or form and I popped for this spot.
Serena: I know that ZX is not that big of a fan of Mr. Lone Wolf. And the way they were booking him as of late, I wasn’t becoming a fan either. But, what a nice change this was. Baron just went ballistic, pulling out anyone and everyone outside, beating the living crap out of everybody. What especially helps, is that he actually has the physique and the demeanor to pull this stunt off. If this is Corbin’s new character, then I am definitely getting behind it.
ZX: Elias coming out to play in concert during the middle of the Rumble was a rare treat, but boy was I surprised to see Cien Almas in this match. I can’t remember but is this the first time that they’ve had one of the current NXT Champions in the Rumble match?
Serena: I think that might be the case. Also, Elias appearance did make for Corey Graves to throw out a witty jab, that slowly started restoring my faith in him as a commentator: when Elias said that the timer was stopped until he finishes his song, Graves just said in this dry, serious tone: “I sure hope not.”.
ZX: They had Tye Dillinger in the 10 spot again, only to get assaulted backstage by Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Zayn takes his place in the Rumble, so I guess Dillinger joins that select list of Superstars who never were “technically” eliminated from the Rumble match since they never got to enter in the first place.
Serena: Honestly, I was thinking that Owens might actually come out as well, but only later on did I remember that he has some secret injury and that WWE are letting him take it easy. So, there goes that prediction.
ZX: I was surprised that Sheamus went out instantly at the hands of Heath Slater, but then I remembered that he has some neck/spinal injury that they are trying to hide so it’s better that he doesn’t work a full Rumble match when he still has to wrestle again later in the show.
Jinder eliminates all of the New Day save for Kofi Kingston who “Kofi’s” his way out of another Rumble elimination by landing one foot on a stack of pancakes. One of my favorite spots in this Rumble occurs afterwards once Kofi eliminates Jinder Mahal and he’s pummeled by pancakes from the New Day at ringside. God I need a gif of that... AND Orton’s RKO to Almas later in the show.
Serena: And with that The New Day earned my utmost respect and love. They hindered the Jinder… With pancakes… Sometimes I do start to feel that we are fans of quite a peculiar televised programing.
ZX: Broken… err Woken Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt teaming up then eliminating each other didn’t make not one lick of damn sense, but whatever. I’m glad they weren’t in this Rumble for long anyway. The Hurricane’s rather short impromptu return served as the one “silly” throwback that this Rumble needed and I was definitely glad to see Gregory Helms show up again in a WWE ring. I REALLY wanted him to challenge Neville when he was Cruiserweight champion too last year, but he was still employed by Impact Wrestling at the time.
Adam Cole’s inclusion in this Rumble was a HUGE damn shock. Talk about a “Shock to the System” like how Undisputed Era’s theme song goes. Other than his entrance he didn’t make as much an impact here though, not that I’m complaining that he was in this match to begin with.
Serena: Definitely, one of the more exciting appearances during this Rumble. I think that WWE is for sure all in on Cole, so hopefully soon he, along with Aleister Black, is on the main roster, shaking up the competition. I mean, a match between those two for a title? Now that is my kind of fantasy booking.
ZX: Ugh… The Miz and those HORRIBLE looking Yes! Kicks to Cena and Rollins. And here I thought Brie Bella was bad at recycling Daniel Bryan’s offense… I don’t know what worse, Miz’s Yes! Kicks or his piss poor attempt at doing Ric Flair’s Figure Four Leglock a few years ago.
Now we know why Rey Mysterio turned down Impact Wrestling’s offer to attend their last set of TV tapings. Dude looked like he was in better shape than his original run with the company. Hell, he looked better here than even his Lucha Underground appearance for the last two seasons. I dare say Rey was back to form from his WCW days. I wonder if this is a one-off (like Rob Van Dam’s various Rumble appearances) or the start of a full-time deal to do his last hurrah with the company?
Serena: For now, apparently this is a one off appearance and Rey has no deal to appear in WWE on the regular. But hey, his appearance was one of the biggest shockers of the night and definitely brought the entire arena to their feet. Plus, the shape this guy is in is phenomenal.
ZX: Miz ends up getting eliminated via a Shield powerbomb by Reigns and Rollins, who ends up tossing Rollins out immediately afterwards. I guess that was payback for his heel turn a few years back and trying the same thing in a Rumble when the Shield was together. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get Rollins vs Roman at WrestleMania in the undercard if they decide NOT to go with him in the main event against Lesnar.
Dolph Ziggler makes his return as the last man to enter this Rumble match. I took note that Ziggler was acting like Shawn Michaels and had his gear tailored like the “Showstopper” from one of Rumble appearances from his younger days. That proved to be for nothing when he got eliminated just like everyone else before the bottom 6 took the stage.
Serena: During the show we chatted with ZX and both of us were wondering who was going to be the 30th entrant. Undertaker? Lashley? Triple H? EC3? Drew Galloway? Jeff Hardy? A new signee we haven’t heard about? Nope. It was the return of Dolph Ziggler. No, don’t get me wrong. Dolph is a great worker and one of the most underused and underappreciated talent in the business. Without a doubt. He makes even the shittiest gimmick watchable. But, with Almas, Cole, Rey, Cena, Rollins and all of these other names appearing, his entrance was… Underwhelming. And so was his performance. He was eliminated quickly and was underused once more. Please, let this guy go. Look at how great Cody Rhodes is doing. Dolph could do great things in the indies. He needs to move on and change the setting.
ZX: I couldn’t agree more on that statement about Ziggler. His talents are criminally under-utilized in this company and it’s clear that he’s capped off behind a glass ceiling that WWE never let him break through any time soon if ever.
On a positive note though? Whoever booked this Rumble deserves a raise. I loved the visual here as we got two different generations of WWE Superstars at a clash here. John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton (Ruthless Aggression Era staples) stare down with Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, and Shinsuke Nakamura (PG/Reality Era and former NXT Alumni budding stars) as we get a cool representation of old and new guard coming to a clash here. You could sell this year’s WrestleMania poster off ANY combination of these guys headlining this year’s event.
Serena: Also, just a quick mention, but kudos to Reigns for his evolving gimmick. Taking in the fans hatred and despise for his ongoing push, Roman became somewhat of a tweener, with his current character resembling more of a heel rather than a face.
By the way, am I the only person who noticed that Cena was giving a “Rise above Hate”/”Don’t listen to them” pep talk throughout the entire time they were in the ring? That was an odd break of character.
ZX: If you go back and watch that part over, Cena’s actually talking Reigns and Nakamura through the last phase of the match. Gotta love Cena and how loud he calls spots. That will never stop being a staple feature on BotchaMania. At the end, he clearly shouts to Nakamura “NOW! NOW!”
Serena: Hey, admit it, you would do that too. Most of the time Nakamura does seem a tad out of it. Just a little bit.
It came down to Cena and Reigns teaming up against Shinsuke Nakamura, who both did a great job of putting him over as “the guy” for the Rumble winner here. Even though I got scared a few times at the possibility of WWE Creative being stupid enough to go with Roman Reigns as the winner of the Rumble again, I’m glad that they made the right decision in this case. Now we’re getting a Wrestle Kingdom 9 rematch within a WWE ring for WrestleMania for AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. Fingers crossed on both of these guys not getting hurt before ‘Mania.
Serena: Without a doubt, this was one of the best outcomes we could get. Shinsuke and AJ Styles is a wrestling fan’s dream booking and if everything goes smoothly, we’re in for a stellar Wrestlemania.
ZX: Let’s not jinx it. The hard part is wondering whether or not WWE is make this build worth it or will they half ass it like the last few Undertaker WrestleMania match builds.
ZX: At this point, I had really mentally checked out as this was literally the bathroom break match for a lot of people. I felt sorry for Rollins as he had to wrestle TWICE in this same show back to back when Jason Jordan was reduced to doing a fake injury angle for WWE Creative would have an excuse to take the belts off them and give them back to The Bar.
Serena: Everybody saw this from miles away, especially after Raw 25 and what not, that Rollins was gonna murder Jordan and that they will lose the belts. Well, he didn’t, but the belts are back with The Bar either way. I’m happy with this outcome. Sheamus and Cesaro make for a badass team and they should be champions. So all is good. Also, heard that the reason behind Jordan playing up the knock on the head is because he suffered an injury some time earlier and now has to keep it to the bare minimum, similar to Owens.
ZX: Just as expected, Kane was just here as an afterthought and merely there to get the pin for Brock nor Strowman would have to take a loss here. People keep saying that WWE is going with Reigns vs. Lesnar II at ‘Mania and I have to say that I’m not really convinced of that. It seems like they could have Lesnar drop the title to Strowman at ‘Mania if they want to keep dragging this feud out. It’s either that or drop the title to Strowman next month in the Elimination Chamber match. As for this match, I was honestly half paying attention to it. Brock got some suplexes in, Strowman, Brock, and Kane laid waste to a ton of furniture in this match, and of course, Kane took the losing pinfall. There really wasn’t much to write home about in this one.
Serena: Very much so this match was my bathroom break. Everything you could expect: from the spots to the finish to the outcome. Been there, done that, seen it. Let’s move on.
Winner of Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Asuka
ZX: Much like the Men’s Rumble Match, we’ll discuss this one in detail too.
Maria Menounos can go fuck off somewhere, double for Stephanie McMahon begging for attention during this match on commentary. For some reason, they had RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and SmackDown! Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair sitting at ringside during the duration of this match. They didn’t do this with the men, so I didn’t see what was the point of forcing the champions to sit at ringside when it was just going to piss them off that they weren’t in-ring to be a part of this monumental event in WWE history and women’s wrestling as a whole.
Serena: Menounos tried her hardest to imitate an old school boxing match ring announcer and failed so badly that I wanted to watch the first two entrants on mute. Honestly, Lillian Garcia would have been the best choice for this match. A bit of nostalgia and also, one of the most well known female ring announcers in WWE.
ZX: Sasha Banks (dressed like Wonder Woman) and Becky Lynch started the match off, with Sarah Logan and Mandy Rose entering shortly afterwards. The first big surprise (or rather nostalgia treat) in this match came in the form of Lita making her Women’s Rumble debut. Lita seemed like she was moving around in slow-motion at times, but it was good to see her here regardless. Stephanie McMahon pointed out on commentary that Lita had the names of the women who couldn’t make it for this event written on her left arm (Luna Vachon, Chyna, etc. to name a few). If that doesn’t give you the feels, then I don’t know what kind of heartless monster you are. (Laughs)
Serena: Well, this was my mark out moment of the evening. As a long time fan of Amy “Lita” Dumas, I was beyond ecstatic to see her back in the ring, with her signature red hair and punk rocker look. Even though she was a tad rusty and maybe slower than we are all used to, but still, I choose to put it all aside and just be happy to see that moonsault and hear that entrance theme once more.
ZX: Kairi Sane came out next and looked like a damn kid with most of these women even though she knocked the shit out of Lita at one point of this match. Lita hits her signature DDT on Tamina, then the Twist of Fate on Becky and Sasha before hitting her Diving Moonsault on both Becky and Sasha at the same time. Shortly after that, Becky eliminates Lita which made me laugh a little bit as it seemed like WWE Creative’s way of trying to put Becky over the original model when her NXT gimmick was carbon copy/cheap knockoff of Lita in the first place.
Torrie Wilson returns in this match - looking just as great as she did during RAW 25 earlier this past week and ends up eliminating Dana Brooke. I love Dana, but Mae Young and Moolah could’ve eliminated Dana from the grave from how bad her ring work is… Torrie is eliminated by Sonia Deville shortly afterwards.
Serena: I have to agree with ZX on both points here. Torrie Wilson looks like an absolute stunner. I believe that both her and Terri Runnels blew everybody out of the water at Raw 25. Although, I would have prefered to hear her “A Girl Like That” theme song rather than “Need a Little Time”, but hey, that is just a little preference. Either way, even though I was never a fan, it was still great fun to see her back in WWE.
ZX: Molly Holly enters at the #12 spot and even hits the Molly Go Round on Sasha as I mark the fuck out. My hype dies down as McCool enters this match and eliminates Molly and Lana. McCool looked great too, but goddammit her kicks are just as bad as The Miz’s if not worse - if that’s even possible. To be honest, I NEVER thought she had good offense even during the height of her career, so for me nothing really changed in that regard.
Serena: Oh, even I marked out seeing Molly Holly back in the ring. Knowing that she kept denying her entering the Rumble and how WWE doesn’t even give her enough credit for what she is and what she has done for the business, it made me so happy to see her again. And Molly looks in tremendous shape. Never missed a beat throughout the very short time she spent in the ring.
ZX: Vickie Guerrero came out in this match for some odd reason with her massive amount of heel heat intact. I wasn’t too crazy about her showing up to actually “compete” in this match when they could have given her spot to her and Eddie’s daughter (Aiden English’s real life wife FYI) Shaul Guerrero who was on one of the earliest seasons of NXT during the FCW era. The best thing Vickie did during this match was knocking out Carmella with that MITB briefcase.
Serena: Definitely the gif’able highlight along with Jinder Mahal getting beat up by pancakes. Please, somebody, make this a thing. Please.
ZX: Kelly Kelly returned shortly after Vickie Guerrero’s departure and as much as I liked seeing her, I was suddenly reminded of her ring work. She got better towards the end of her WWE run, but she showed like NO signs of that here. Might be better that she stays out of the wrestling business (laughs). Torrie Wilson put up a better fight than she did. That was on my dream match list at one point too - Torrie vs. K2. But now? I rather not see that at all. Not that I’m complaining but K2 looked like she was about to have a wardrobe malfunction at any moment during that match.
Serena: I think we also have to mention another Hall of Famer making a brief appearance. Jacqueline came out as #21, yet was very quickly eliminated by the powerhouse that is Nia Jax, who entered the Rumble soon after. There were quite a few reports that Jax was favorited as the possible winner of this match. But, after seeing already 30 Rumble matches, it is safe to say that the “big guys” or in this instance the “big girl” don’t usually win. They eliminate quite a few people, but at the end of the day, all of the remaining participants gang up and somehow push the “monster” over the ropes. The same fate struck Jax as six wrestlers in total eliminated her.
ZX: I was glad to see Jacqueline in a WWE ring again, but I honestly didn’t need to see her in this match for “validation” - she did that and then some for in WCW prior to her WWE career and then later as part of TNA/Impact Wrestling as part of the foundation of their Knockouts division with Gail Kim. Then again, someone from her generation of WWF/E Divas needed to be there since Ivory, Sable, Tori, and Debra weren’t anywhere to be found. “Black don’t crack” as the saying goes in terms of her age not showing, but (whistles) Jacqueline could’ve done something about those bald sides showing.
Nia Jax had a strong showing here and I definitely loved her stand off with Beth Phoenix. I was hoping we were going to get a Glam Slam out of that but no dice. Beth Phoenix looked just like her last in-ring appearance and was moving around like she never left. I have to agree with Gail Kim’s tweets about the Rumble, stating that Beth needs to come back full-time and be a road agent/locker room leader for the current crop of women there. It was an absolute joy to see the Glamazon back in full force tonight. My heart melted when her and Nattie shared a hug together and we got a VERY brief reunion of PinUpStrong. Is it too much to ask for a Nattie vs. Beth Phoenix match for WrestleMania?
Serena: “The Glamazon” was another long time favorite of mine, so seeing her in the ring with Natalya was truly a heartwarming affair. I do have to agree with some other reviewers that unlike the male Royal Rumble, the ladies did have a lot more nostalgia and “oh my feels” moments. Maybe… Just maybe, a tad too much. After all, girls like Nikki Cross or Peyton Royce and Billie Kay could have most definitely made an appearance. Sure, we did get Ember Moon making her main roster debut, still playing off the damage done to her by Shayna Baszler the night before. And the girls from Absolution and Riott Squad were there as well. But that is pretty much it. The Bella’s, McCool, Torrie Wilson, Kelly Kelly, Lita, Molly Holly… They brought the big guns and fired everything all at once.
ZX: I didn’t mind the nostalgia as we knew going in that they were calling back a lot of the older women who were scratching and clawing for this opportunity for the longest. It was their moment as much as it was for the current generation of women in WWE. My biggest issue with this match up to this point was how many times groups on groups of the women were rolling out underneath the bottom rope and just laying down at ringside to rest. Sasha Banks was in there for what, 45 minutes and I swear she was out at ringside for 40 of that. At one point, I just said fuck it on trying to keep up on eliminations as I couldn’t tell who was out or who was just resting around at ringside.
Serena: What happened next was both funny and absolutely sad. With the last two spots in the Rumble left, I was trying to guess in my head, who will be entering. I knew that #30 will no doubt be Trish Stratus. Just had this gut feeling, because I just didn’t see Ronda coming out and wrestling the other girls. Wasn’t going to happen. So then, I thought that it could be Kaitlyn or maybe Peyton Royce together with Billie Kay. Maybe Victoria or Melina? Candice Michelle? And then… Bayley’s music hit. And I started laughing, because I completely forgot that she was actually on the roster. Slipped my mind. Shows how little WWE Creative’s are engaging us with The Hugger these days.
ZX: Oh god. We both laughed when we were watching together. I felt bad that I completely blanked out on Bayley even being in this match. We can place the blame on WWE completely shitting the bed on what to do with that poor girl. She had the makings to be the female equivalent of John Cena of appeal to children, especially little girls, but all of that was squandered on the main roster. I saw Victoria wrestle at Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore event that was streaming free on Twitch that past Friday, so I wasn’t really expecting her to be in the Women’s Rumble. She fought a hilarious match against Kenny from the Spirit Squad if you’re wondering. Candice Michelle “retired” properly at one of those events too last year against Victoria, so I wasn’t expecting her either. Bummed out that we didn’t get Melina in this thing but maybe next year? I was surprised that the Iconic Duo didn’t debut in this match either. They haven’t been on NXT for months now and no main roster call-up in sight. Are those two injured or something?
Serena: And here we have the last entrant… No, not Rousey. That would be too easy. Trish Stratus. The Hall of Famer was #30. And yeah.... Huge pop, everybody was excited. Too bad that Lita came out so early and got eliminated before Trish coming out, because a little square off between those two or maybe a little rivalry set up between them and the Bella’s would be actually quite fun. Hey, a girl can dream. The match was fine afterwards. Sasha Banks won worst Rumble competitor award this year, since she kept stopping others from eliminating people. Maybe too many dives got to her head. Even Graves on commentary kept noting that Sasha should stop interfering when other wrestlers are trying to throw someone over the top rope. Albeit, she was the Iron Woman of this match, so kudos I guess.
ZX: I was fine with Trish Stratus getting the last spot as this first ever Women’s Rumble wouldn’t have been “legit” without her and Lita in it. I agree that it’s a shame that we didn’t get a nostalgia moment between Trish and Lita followed by possibly having them setup a rivalry between the Bella Twins that they have teased wanting to do on social media for the longest that I can remember. Trish even said that would be the only match she would actually consider coming back for working a WrestleMania program. Only Trish I liked was heel Trish and her retirement run if I’m perfectly honest. Even I couldn’t deny it was cool to see so many generations of Divas (there I said it, go ahead and flame me…) - past and present - in one match for this historical event. I still say Trish looked disturbingly thin though. She definitely didn’t look like herself.
Serena: And now, the finish of this match. Asuka became the inaugural winner of the Women’s Royal Rumble. Which in my eyes was a well deserved victory. She is steadily built up as a threat to every single female on the roster and, to a certain point, she could be a threat to the guys as well. Skillful and talented, her charisma transcends through the language barrier. With the current female roster, Asuka is probably one of my favorites. And I couldn’t be happier that WWE continues to book her like a strong competitor after her transition from NXT.
ZX: My only issue with Asuka is that she is obviously memorizing her few lines in English. I know Nakamura actually speaks English but his accent is so strong (nowhere as bad as Becky Lynch’s during promos though…). Asuka was the obvious choice for the winner for this match and I’m SOOOOO glad that they didn’t go with Rousey (we’ll get to her in a second). It’s crazy to see that WWE crowned not one but TWO international/Asian talent in one Royal Rumble event. If you told me that WWE would do that 10-15 years ago I would have thought you were insane. My only concern is how do they keep Asuka undefeated until then? Call up some more women from NXT or have her beat jobbers until April? They have already ran the well dry in that regard outside of possibly doing something with Bayley and Sasha Banks, but we already saw how the latter went down on RAW Monday night.
Afterthoughts:
ZX: I thought this entire show as a whole wasn’t bad at all, given I didn’t bother watching the pre-show, but for the most part this show definitely delivered. I dare say that this was one of the rare occasions where the main roster outshined the NXT kids. People can sugarcoat it all they want but there were a TON of massive missteps during last night’s Takeover event that I just can’t overlook. I agree with the majority that the last two matches on the Takeover card were great, but definitely didn’t redeem the crap we saw prior.
After we watched the show together last night, I went back to look on social media (especially Twitter) to read comments on the PPV and was ultimately disappointed on how people were treating the women after they had their moment in this main event. It was far from perfect, but in terms of nostalgia and seeing the women - past and present - getting a chance to shine here was definitely worth that spot on the card. It didn’t take anything away from the men’s Rumble to have the ladies go on last, so I don’t see why people were butt-hurt about that.
The only thing I do agree with the hate on social media was that it was in VERY bad taste to have Ronda Rousey completely steal Asuka’s thunder for her moment after winning the Rumble. They could have started RAW off with that tomorrow night or something.
Serena: Personally, I might have shuffled the card around a bit and switched around the order of some matches. But in the end, this is a minor problem in my eyes. Over all, this was an amazingly fun PPV. Truly. I enjoyed the matches, even the minor faults, they didn’t really ruin the night for me. Especially knowing that I stayed up till 6:30 am to watch this. I was pretty much content with all of the winners. And the Ronda moment… Well… Um… It’s truly hard to say anything. When you think about it, how can you book her? She’s probably as green in the ring as Baszler. So, you can’t really put her in the Rumble, because if she beats someone like Trish, Asuka, Sasha or Nikki, it will look a bit on the ridiculous side. So, debuting her after the match was a safe bet. Yet, I do think that Creative could have given her just a tad bit more to do. Because now, her walking around, pointing at the Wrestlemania sign 5 times and then trying to shake hands with Asuka and Steph… It was kinda on the odd side of things. Sure, making a statement that her goal is Wrestlemania is fine. But if this is her career now, we needed to see something more than this.
Of course, I also agree with most of the ladies on the roster, when they felt undermined by “Rowdy's” debut and voiced their disdain. But hey, this was bound to happen. WWE will throw a new or indie talent under the bus for a cheap pop and a few ticket sells. So, everything made perfect sense to me.
ZX: They could have shown Rousey in the crowd at the start and ran the match normally, that way she wasn’t a distraction from everything else that went down and took away from the ladies’ moment. That way everyone has that mystique of “what’s Ronda Rousey doing here?” and kick off RAW the next night with that. They already had that segment to kick off RAW with Stephanie tooting her own horn about “making the Women’s Revolution in WWE a reality” so Ronda Rousey showing up at the start of RAW would have been perfect for that ratings boost in the first hour.
I can understand why the ladies on the roster were pissed off. They’ve fought for multiple generations for equality and a chance like this, only to have it ultimately overshadowed in the end by Ronda Rousey’s debut. Seemed like a HUGE spit in the face there in that regard. I dare say it was as much in bad taste as Sting’s WWE debut in Survivor Series a few years back when Dolph Ziggler’s big moment was completely eclipsed over the fact Sting made his debut during that same match.
Even women from outside of WWE thought it was a bad idea, with Gail Kim chiming in and few other various female talent from the indies giving their comments on it. They went as far as thinking it was completely disrespectful to the champions, Asuka, and the women that came out to compete in the match. I wouldn’t blame Rousey for that misstep - that was all WWE’s fault in that regard. On one hand, I get why they did it at the end, but on the hand, I’m really not surprised as they have managed to shit the bed on all of these “firsts” for women’s wrestling in their company in one way or another. Remember how they let a man hand Carmella the win in that first ever Money in the Bank match? Boy, that was a powder keg.
I'll end this write-up with a final closing thought. While I'm happy that WWE's women are able to break through the glass ceiling that they have been limited to for so long and allowed to have so many opportunities that have been without their reach for so long in terms of equality with their male counterparts, I wonder if all of these "firsts" truly worth it if the end result are hit or miss? Just something to think about... You take away all of the nostalgia and returns here and would you call this match great? For me, not really, especially if you want to compare this to the debut battle royal that TNA/Impact Wrestling did for the Knockouts division roughly a decade ago.
WrestleMania 32 saw the Hall of Fame Diva and inspirational women’s wrestler, Lita, present the new WWE Women’s Championship that is modeled after the WWE Championship. Lita also noted that WWE will remove the use of the term Divas as their women will be regarded as “Superstars” from this point on just like their male counterparts.
ZX: We haven’t done one of these dual author articles in a while due to our conflicting schedules lately, but with this current shake up to the WWE Divas, I felt that we had to discuss this matter. I feel better getting this off my chest without bouncing my opinion off of a female perspective so I don’t want to come off too machismo here.
(Laughs) So Serena, what did you think of the new title and this change of that we’re not to call the women of WWE Divas anymore?
For the record, I honestly busted out laughing that the new title looks just like the high school graduation ring that the WWE Championship looks like but just in the same color scheme as the original TNA Knockouts title. Just another reminder that WWE are ten years behind the curve in terms of knowing what to do with women’s wrestling.
Serena: As ZX has already mentioned, thanks to a hectic as hell work schedule I’ve fell behind with keeping up with WWE and the world of wrestling. But while on break at work did somewhat follow Wrestlemania on my phone. And of course, I did hear prior about Lita having a very important announcement to make at the show. Well, as you all know the big reveal was a new design to the Diva’s Championship, renaming it the Women’s Championship and removing the term Diva from WWE vocabulary. How did I feel about it? Personally, to me it felt like the last straw to grab. Since forms of feminism and girl power are still on the rise, thanks to the likes of Anita Sarkeesian, Taylor Swift and Beyonce, WWE tried to jump on the bandwagon by creating the Divas Revolution… And failed. Then they tried to jump back up with Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart style feud between Bayley and Sasha, which eventually did have to end. So here to try and market to Swifties and girls using the hashtag “squadgoals”, WWE presented a belt that looks the same as the male wrestlers have and removed the “degrading” term of WWE Divas.
ZX: Don’t forget influences of women gaining popularity in other media outlets - Wonder Woman, portrayed by Gal Gadot pretty much upstages Batman and Superman in their own marque film, women in Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD on ABC consistently being more dominant and lethal than their male counterparts on that show, the popularity of female led dramas or shows with women in positions of power, such as Scream Queens, Agent Carter, Supergirl, Empire, How To Get Away With Murder, and so on. Last but not least, let’s not forget about the impact of the women from UFC. You knew if WWE weren’t trying to brown nose with Rousey for over a year ago, WWE wouldn’t possibly have taken this “Divas Revolution” seriously to begin with. It would have stayed as part as NXT’s “carnival act” and nothing more.
Much like a lot of things in WWE nowadays, WWE does things to “toss fans a bone” to make them shut up and stop complaining. About 2-3 years ago it was Paige debuting to shut up the fans who were clamoring that someone “worthy” needed to end AJ Lee’s title reign instead of the lowly Divas on the main roster. Last year, they brought in Becky Lynch, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks into the fix to manufacture a false revolution to satisfy the fans dying for a "serious" take on women's wrestling in the vein of what the women on NXT were doing (hashtag "GiveDivasAChance"), only to create an imaginary revolution in an already muddled and disorganized women’s division by segregating the women into “teams” as if this was an episode of Jem & the Holograms, but even those girls had better gimmicks and personalities than most of the average WWE Divas were given on TV up to that point.
Serena: Here we can see one huge major problem. And believe me, it is not the fact that the main roster of WWE lacks great female talent or that the Divas Title belt looked like something you would see in a 5 year old girl’s birthday party. And surely it is not the fact that female wrestlers in WWE were called Divas. The biggest problem here is booking (character development including).
ZX: You reminded me of something. At the NXT live show I went to this past Friday, there was a guy in line behind me with his kid daughter in concessions. She was holding the NXT Women’s title on her shoulder and wearing one of Bayley's "I'm a Hugger" T-shirts - sure, it was one of those cheap replica ones, but she was wearing TWO Divas titles as bracelets. It was the most adorable thing ever. That’s EXACTLY who they were marketing that title towards - little girls.
As a prize for a grown ass woman though? That was downright embarrassing.
Serena: Oh, without a doubt I agree. I really enjoyed how the old Women’s Championship design looked and when I saw the Divas title I could only facepalm. Sure, the marketing value is crystal clear, but when someone like Paige or Beth Phoenix would walk out with that thing? Pretty darn sad. And this new design? It’s okay. No, really. It is a perfectly fine belt design, I like the color scheme and it doesn’t even bother me that it does resemble the TNA Knockouts championship belt. Yet, in the end it is just another attempt at putting out a house engulfed by flames by pissing on it.
ZX: After I was done laughing at the similarities, I was fine with the change too. My issue was more with fans and now the Divas themselves, such as the Bella Twins and Charlotte, insisting that the term “Diva” was such an insult to them all this time. Maybe it’s because I’m a guy but I never saw it as an insult, despite knowing the “slang” meaning and connotation for it, but just saw it for the personal branding for the women of WWE. It’s not like all of the women of WWE were dressed up and going around acting like Divatox from Power Rangers. (Does around the world snap in Z-formation)
"Viva Diva!"
Serena: Okay, I may not be the girliest of girls, but I personally never saw the term “Diva” being insulting. Of course, it can be used to call out someone’s attitude and overall arrogance, but in reality a diva is someone who knows her self-worth. Even the ever praised Beyonce has a song called “Diva”. One of the most popular examples always was Mariah Carey. She was always called out for acting like a diva. But why? Because she knew just how good of vocalist she was, how hard she worked for her career and her current status and now she had all the rights to be as prissy and arrogant as she wanted to. This Diva knew that there is no one like her.
ZX: That’s the way I always saw it. Throughout my years reading comics and watching TV and films, I’ve seen women of all corners of life hold their head up high and proud with that label of a “diva”. The most recent example I can give is Janet Van Dyne aka the Wasp, or more commonly known as Ant-Man’s (Hank Pym) wife. She was best described as a “diva” but when push came to shove she was a fine example of heroism. Even her daughter, Hope Van Dyne, who was portrayed in the recent movie by Marvel Studios shares some of her mother’s qualities.
I love that you mentioned Mariah Carey as an example. Brownie points for that one. I’m pretty sure that Elizabeth possibly rolled over in her grave when they retired that terminology from the WWE record books. What about Trish Stratus, the quintessential WWE Diva? Hmph, that possibly explains why she wasn’t in attendance for the festivities for WrestleMania weekend if she didn’t agree with the name change.
Sorry if I’m rambling a bit too much here but I guess this is going to lead into what we should talk about next. Not all of the women in WWE are going to fit into this new archetype that all of the women should be understood as “equals” to their male counterparts. To be historically accurate, it’s NEVER been the case that all of the Divas in every past generation have fit that same mold. Paige and AJ Lee definitely didn't fit that image in the last cut off point in terms of a generation of WWE Divas. Before them, Kharma and Beth Phoenix didn't fit the bill. During the Attitude Era, Luna Vachon, Nicole Bass (whether you loved or hated her), and ESPECIALLY Lita didn't fit the bill but didn't deem it as an insult. Instead of acting like the term "Diva" was an insult, they molded the template to define women of all corners of life.
Serena: Absolutely. Trish broke the mold. Then Lita broke the mold. We had Sasha and Bayley, Charlotte, Becky and Paige. Beth and Nattie, Maryse, Melina, Victoria and Mickie. Even Michelle McCool and Layla. WWE had plenty of females on the roster that broke the rules of how a female performer at WWE should act and look. If Sunny was a pretty All-American doll, here came in Sable with her dominatrix Catwoman look. But if she wasn’t that strong in the ring, we had Trish Stratus who both was stunning and physically able to be up to par with the best of them. Lita was the alternative punk chick, that made all of the outcasts at school feel like it’s okay not to fit in. In the world of pretty faces Sasha and Bayley showed that they are athletes and able to main event a PPV to amazing ratings. Paige and the Bellas showed that you can both be a reality star and also talented at your craft. And all of them in the end were still Divas. They were proud, strong, confident women, examples to others that you can look different, you can come from different backgrounds, but you are united by the fact that you are a hard working female who knows her own worth.
ZX: I believe Jennifer Lawrence said it in X-Men: First Class, “Mutant and Proud.” (Laughs) You can replace mutant for Woman…
I’m thinking back a bit here and I believe the first time WWE actually referred to their women as “Divas” was with Sunny, but for a generation before her arrival, girls looked up to Miss Elizabeth who did nothing in-ring wise. She merely stood at ringside as supported her man. She didn’t cheat or say anything. She was just a nice girl who was there for the man she loved. It’s sad really that nowadays, most fans think that if the women in WWE don’t contribute in-ring to the levels of the NXT Divas, then they are worthless.
Serena: Tell that to Maria Bennett.
ZX: Oh my god. Absolutely! She may take a big bump here and there in a major feud for her husband to get a reaction from the crowds, but she contributes just as much if not more than her husband and his opponents to the entertainment value of their matches. I have a feeling that WWE brought back Maryse to do something similar for Miz.
Don’t forget Veda Scott too on Ring of Honor too. She’s doing some great things that’s getting unnoticed.
Serena: Of course, there are some examples where poor booking and a lack of polish and even talent is valid reasons to boo the house down. We talked about Eva Marie to no end, yet she is still the best example out there. Possibly one of the most gorgeous girls out there, with the charisma of a dead horse and the fluid motions of C3PO, she embodies the saying “It is easier to make talent pretty than to find talent for pretty people.”
ZX: (Laughs) I’m going to sound like a total guy here when I say this, but can I make a confession?
Serena: Should I feel terrified?
ZX: No, but it’ll put me in the same boat as CM Punk…
Call me old school or a pig or whatever, but I have it nailed into my head that wrestlers, especially women, are supposed to look a certain way. Perfect example, Luna Vachon and Trish Stratus. Who’s the face and heel? Naturally, Luna is the heel because she looks mean as fuck and not that really “attractive” unless that’s your thing. Trish Stratus is the babyface because she’s “pretty”. I watch this newer stuff with the girls from NXT, especially on Tough Enough and that Breaking Ground show and I’m going to myself, “Holy cow, WWE are hiring a lot of ugly and butterface girls. Who’s going to be the heels and faces?” Before people give me a shit-storm of heat on social media, I’m not knocking on anyone’s favorite girls or wrestling crushes. We all have our own individual opinions of perception of beauty. To be fair, some of them have made it work. Sasha’s gone babyface and Charlotte has too to iffy results, so I’m not knocking them at all as they bring it in the ring. I remember seeing Awesome Kong the first time in TNA and going, “There’s no way in hell they are going to sell her to anyone as a babyface.” It took them a few years but they managed to make it work when she came back to face Jessicka Havok a few years back.
My thing is that I’m curious how other girls feel about that?
Serena: I do think that there are women who can be both great faces and great heels. But at the same time some of the girls are just more fitting for one role. Someone like Bayley is the perfect babyface. She is insanely adorable, has this great energy and warm personality. She simply shines her brightest when she is going against a major heel who tries to push her down and make her the ultimate underdog. Someone like Kelly Kelly has such an empty look in her eyes, where you can see that the light is on but nobody is home, that she can only be a child like babyface. Whereas someone like Paige can only work as a heel, because of her personality. She is cocky, she is someone that feels above everyone else and has the right moveset to play a villain. Not everybody is versatile and not everybody should be. If Trish Stratus was great both as a heel and as a face as was Mickie James, Lita and Victoria always worked a lot better as heels.
ZX: The latter three can work as faces but they tend to get boring really fast. Speaking of Kelly Kelly have you seen how “ratchet” or rather “diva” she acts on that WAGS show? If she acted like that on WWE programming she would’ve been a MUCH more interesting character. Such a damn shame she wasn’t herself instead of just smiling all the time. Then again, we were in that post-Diva Search period where the Divas were criminally underrated in a post-Lita and Trish Women’s division, so they needed that squeaky clean babyface Diva.
That takes us to our last topic in this conversation. We have seen a lot of changes to the Women’s divisions of WWE over the last few decades and it probably won’t be the last change either, but one thing is certain. All of these changes are for nothing if WWE Creative and Booking of this division going forward doesn’t get behind this “revolution” and get on the same page instead of hindering each other. You can’t clamour for change but still book your women in lackluster feuds and sexist storylines while the few who do positively enforce the division’s core values don’t get the time of day to shine.
Serena: I think that the current booking situation of females in WWE might just be even worse than it was. Sure, it had a few ups in NXT, but even now the matches at the Takeover specials are nothing to rave about, since Bayley has no on going feud and I doubt if it will change with Asuka now as champ.
ZX: Like I said in my review of Takeover: Dallas, booking Bayley vs Asuka right now was a lose-lose situation. It should’ve happened later down the road. Don't get me wrong. I loved the match though, but I wish they didn't give us that right now. Bayley loses to her first “real” challenge and Asuka still has her veil of invincibility but no one established to challenge her. NXT honestly shot themselves in the foot. On the main roster, it’s not much better. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that Sasha has been undefeated in singles matches since her debut on the main roster. As of this writing, Sasha has no ongoing feud/rivalry. Charlotte is somehow feuding with Natalya even though she already beat her at that throwaway Roadblock show. Becky Lynch is feuding with Emma of all people? Where the fuck did that come from?
Serena: Don’t shoot me, but I do think that WWE was going in a better direction before the Divas Revolution and maybe a few matches into it. Nikki Bella was champion, with an ongoing feud with Paige. Naomi makes quite a cool heel turn, taking Paige out on a special Raw in London and immediately becoming #1 Contender. Even though the feud between Nikki and Naomi was a feud between a tweener and a heel, it still seemed on the right track. Then the revolution started, presenting us with one of the better aspects of this circus - Team Bella. Clear cut “Mean Girls” heels, who cheated into getting Nikki to become the longest reigning Diva’s Champion. Their use of “Twin Magic” and Alicia Fox actually getting a chance to show her in-ring ability made this 3 on 3 team feud a lot more watchable. Yet, the minute Charlotte became champion and Nikki went off to heal her injuries everything went down the drain. As much as the marks will hate it… Nikki, Brie and Alicia were the only ones actually contributing to the Divas Revolution and making it somewhat bearable to watch.
ZX: The marks or rather the “stans” as how they have been labeled on social media, won’t admit that. It’s the same as the fans who won’t admit that just about every Diva that AJ Lee beat during her title reign made her look like a million bucks while she did nothing but sell like a ragdoll in 95% of her matches or the fans we grew up with who either hated anyone who stood against Trish Stratus holding the Women's title forever. Foxy and Brie were the work horses to help the newbies get used to working on the main roster, while Nikki played her part as the heel, yet vulnerable champion. She didn’t hold anyone back. She did the same thing what Charlotte’s doing right now - doing what the front office tells her to do.
It rubbed me the wrong way back when Sable did it, same for Ivory, Trish Stratus, Michelle McCool, Eve Torres, AJ Lee, and numerous others did it and I doubt it’s going to change in the future, but there’s always going to be something that WWE does that rubs me the wrong way with how they book their female champions.
Serena: You actually reminded me. Do you remember the Night of Champions match between Nikki and Charlotte? When social media was almost breaking down with how good Charlotte was and that finally now WWE will have a proper champion, I was actually feeling quite conflicted. Why? Because Nikki looked her absolute best in that match, showed such top notch character work with molding her moveset to cater her almost Kevin Owens heel like persona and put Charlotte over to no end, while the latter didn’t even manage to sell the beating she got on her leg.
ZX: Charlotte STILL barely sells anything and has little ring psychology but after hearing her recent podcast on Talk Is Jericho, even she admits she’s still pretty green on a lot of things. If she’s willing to admit that while being champion without having an ego, I can cut her a bit of slack. That's saying a lot because you know better than anyone how much I criticize her work.
Serena: Agreed. In the end, all I can say is… Changing the title design and getting rid of the term Divas is like putting a fresh coat of paint of on moldy walls. It might look at tad better at first, but it is still moldy underneath. Character development is still pretty non-existent, booking is inconsistent and the females are not used to their full potential.
But hey, at least we have equality, because the guys at WWE suffer from exactly the same as the women do.
ZX: You’ve hit the nail on the head there for sure. The only thing they’ve done is just lump all of their inconsistent booking under one roof now without the “Diva” label. I have to wonder though, do fans today realize that there’s actually a place for ALL of the women in WWE right now. They wouldn’t have to fire anyone but still keep the division strong, yet capable with strong hands to maintain the high standards that they have set for themselves. With the high demand of content on the Network, the less skilled ones in-ring could be valets, interviewers, or hosts for Network exclusive programming, such as Lana, Rosa Mendes, Cameron, or even Eva Marie if they deem that they are wasting their time with training her. They still have Nattie, Tamina, Alicia Fox, and even the returning Maryse as able hands to act as ring generals to keep things fresh with the newer girls (Paige, Summer, Emma, Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha). I just wish we could get to a point in fandom for women’s wrestling that we’re all supporting ALL of the women in this sport and not playing favorites.
Even I’m guilty of slut-shaming at times in the past towards particular Divas, but at the end of the day, I really do want to see ALL of these women succeed. What’s the point if just my favorites win all the time? You would think most fans would be sick of that when they got almost half a YEAR full of Paige and AJ matches after begging for it to the point, even the most hardcore of Paige and AJ fans were sick of them trading the title back and forth. You can’t make everyone happy with this booking but I think it should be unanimous that we all want something from these women to be proud of when we tune in, not something we would be ashamed of watching or not wanting to watch if at all.
