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"Divas" Wrestling thread

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  • Registered Users Posts: 12,478 ✭✭✭✭gnfnrhead


    Dreadful suck up interview from Nikki.

    Just realised, this thread really should have been called PW's in-ring talent related Divas thread :pac:


  • Registered Users Posts: 645 ✭✭✭Vision of Disorder


    all you have to do is look at the likes of Shimmer (Also where Emma came from) and you can see people enjoy it.

    How many people though? All that Shimmer really proves is that there's absolutely nothing to suggest that there's a significant appetite for an all-women wrestling promotion even where the women can do it bell to bell in the ring.

    Likewise TNA's Knockouts division was excellent once upon a time but it didn't make a blind bit of difference to their numbers.

    WWE women's wrestling is at a low ebb now. The big worry for me is that they need two top quality performers at once to make a mark and they don't have that. I'm not sure they even have one on the main roster at the moment to be blunt.

    I think AJ was there at one point but has lost her way completely and gone backwards. Paige is mediocre, Natalya is a horrible actress, the Bellas, while much improved, are still only adequate in the ring.

    Because they're starting from a position of weakness the Divas need two complete packages to share the load in a memorable feud and add a veneer of respectability to the whole division.

    The AJ Lee of a few years ago vs Charlotte could have drawn some real interest (and money) but I honestly don't see any particularly unmissable potential match ups in.the division as it stands.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,491 ✭✭✭thebostoncrab


    Actually during 2008 the women's matches would get either the highest or second highest rating for TNA quite often. People were tuning in because word was going around about how great the women's division was.

    Of course Shinmer isn't going to draw massive numbers, but that's not because it's all women, it's because, like every indie fed, it's not WWE. If anything, they do better than most other indie feds because it's all women.


  • Registered Users Posts: 645 ✭✭✭Vision of Disorder


    Actually during 2008 the women's matches would get either the highest or second highest rating for TNA quite often. People were tuning in because word was going around about how great the women's division was.

    Of course Shinmer isn't going to draw massive numbers, but that's not because it's all women, it's because, like every indie fed, it's not WWE. If anything, they do better than most other indie feds because it's all women.

    On TNA I agree that it was a big part of why TNA fans watched the product (that and the tag division) but their numbers didn't jump until Hogan and Bischoff turned up (with the Nasty Boys et al in toe). I loved TNA then and the Knockouts were a big part of that but it didn't create any sort of lasting swell of interest that I can see.

    Equally, while I admire and respect Shimmer, it's not enough for anybody to simply point to their existence as evidence of a sizable, untapped market of diehard female wrestling fans. I'm not saying it negates the possibility you understand, just that it actually proves absolutely nothing except that there is definitely a niche market for it (just like there is for backyard wrestling, lucha or even minis).

    I honestly think that women's wrestling is more likely to grow from within the WWE model than from outside and, sadly, I can't see any big changes anytime soon (though some tokenism might come of the current debate).


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert


    SHIMMER is an entity/business model onto itself. Along with CHIKARA I think it is only indie whose DVD sales have remained strong in era of rampant piracy. They've a core group of a couple of hundred fans who buy every DVD that who always watch illegal uploads like a hawk and report them.

    Their shows rarely sellout or shows any discernible trend that attendance is increasing if anything it was peaked and has declined. SHIMMER is just 2 weekends out of the year they bulk tape 4 shows for DVDs each weekend. Most if not all the wrestlers don't wrestle as a full time job and the foreigners tend to take a week to a month off work to travel America and work other shows. SHIMMER charges top dollar for ringside seats and such like. Fans from all over the World come and drop a lot of money on merchandise. A know a female fan who spent $1,800 on stuff! The appeal/success is based off the novelty of how infrequently they run. Having set dates means Wrestlers can plan in advance their availability far out from the event.

    There's a sister promotion to SHIMMER called SHINE in Florida that runs once a month which kind of exposes what can happen more regularly. The level of talent can range wildly depending who is in America or that side of America at the time. Most of the best women's talent are from Japan or Australia so the dip in quality on even a monthly women's show is quite big. There's another promotion called WSU which tends to be the preshow to CZW shows which only about two rows worth of fans attend and the quality of those shows can fluctuate massively too. Some of their shows last 90 minutes as the assortment of women can go that long.

    But SHIMMER shows do tend to be really good and up there with any indie I watch. Also it is like ROH if WWE didn't sign any key talent. This is SHIMMER's 10th year some talent have been signed, retired, gone on hiatus, have been forced out due to injury or started a family but most of the roster is still there. Also new talent keeps coming along if anything there's too many women to book.

    There's a whole other post to be made about how many SHIMMER fans/attendees are actually fans and how many are pervs. SHIMMER's promoter Dave Prazak tries to keep everything on the up and up. He has also done things like invited women's sports teams and societies to shows but that initiative never really gained traction. There's been some embarrassing videos of after parties that have leaked and a few rumour and innuendo stories. The actual Wrestling fans who do really care about the image of the promotion try really hard to present the right image but it only takes one pervy lad who ONLY takes pictures of women doing German suplexes (who exists by the way) for the internet to hear about for the internet cast judgement on everyone who attends or watches the shows. Due to things like that there's an element of "I wouldn't be seen going to that" with Women's shows. Women's shows don't really draw big numbers by indies standards even if they sell extremely well on DVD or digital download. Which leads even further judgement on what Women's Wrestling is as you have the whole image of a lad at home jerking off to them.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 9,820 ✭✭✭grames_bond


    gnfnrhead wrote: »
    Just realised, this thread really should have been called PW's in-ring talent related Divas thread :pac:

    We already have that thread:
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=81175870


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,611 ✭✭✭✭ERG89


    Yeah, because it took Ronda so many fights after her UFC debut to become a headling draw...

    Tbf Ronda Rousey is so much better at what she does than any of the divas its not a valid comparison. Most of even the best diva matches are still sloppy


  • Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭Clemantis


    rovert wrote: »
    Most of the best women's talent are from Japan or Australia
    Thats a bit odd, considering Australia isn't generally known for producing a lot of great wrestlers. What is Australia doing to produce talented female wrestlers?


    I think a one-off diva themed episode of Superstars has the potential to be good, or maybe at a push Smackdown, but honestly I think they'd struggle to fill two hours with what they have (including the NXT women). But the next night things would go right back to the way they are now.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,061 ✭✭✭leggo


    Clemantis wrote: »
    Thats a bit odd, considering Australia isn't generally known for producing a lot of great wrestlers. What is Australia doing to produce talented female wrestlers?

    To be fair, countries can go through spurts where they punch above their weight. Look at Ireland, currently we have Sheamus, Balor and Becky in NXT, plus then there's Barrett, McIntyre and Marceau who owe a lot to Ireland for their success, while Luther Ward and Tron were also signed and came from that same era. Often it's due to one promoter or trainer who brings raw talent up to scratch, same with the explosion in MMA here now after McGregor's success. I'd be interested to see if rovert has any insight into what caused the spurt in Oz too though.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert


    Yeah there's no real reason. Australia obviously has a massive population but WWE isn't really that popular there. The WWE live events draw fairly similar to Ireland.

    SHIMMER genuinely has inspired a lot of Women to get into Wrestling as serious Wrestlers. Madison Eagles originally set the ball rolling in 2008 when she appeared on a SHIMMER show tag tagging with her student Jessie McKay. Eagles has won a lot of awards as best female Wrestler in various reader polls and in the PWI Women's 50. Essentially fans kept asking is there more Aussies as good as her seemingly one extra one popped up on each taping or so from including Emma, Kellie Skater, KC Cassidy and Shazza McKenzie. There's a girl from New Zealand called Evie who gets lumped in with the Aussies too. Being Aussies they tend to be good looking, charismatic and great craic at the after party so they are over with the fans. Australia being in the middle of an ocean meant that the girls had to go elsewhere to get experience whether it North America, Japan or Europe so when they returned to the local scene they have all this new knowledge to share.

    But it is weird that the Aussie women Wreslters are near universally good while in particular the women from the Montreal scene are gouge your eyes out bad.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 468 ✭✭bobby_says_hi


    It seems that they're back to 2 minute matches as of this week. That musical performance was pointless and embarrassing. Natalya and Naomi could have been given way more time, because they produce very good performances with such a short amount of time to work. AJ vs Summer seemed like the girls were rushing. Summer was definitely called up too soon - she has potential but she didn't really click with AJ. If she hadn't performed halfway decently on Main Event last week I'd be more critical. But I think like Emma, Summer needs to relocated to NXT. She's not being used in any meaningful way on the main roster - and NXT is in need of heels


  • Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭Clemantis


    Summer Rae and Emma are capable of putting on a really decent short TV Divas match with each other. They wrestled a number of times on Superstars last year. I'd love to see them go 10 minutes on Smackdown.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert


    Clemantis wrote: »
    Summer Rae and Emma are capable of putting on a really decent short TV Divas match with each other. They wrestled a number of times on Superstars last year. I'd love to see them go 10 minutes on Smackdown.

    Summer Rae, Emma and Paige all have really doing chemistry as they were in FCW/NXT together. But Summer has been horrendous in the ring ever since she did her WWE movie.


  • Registered Users Posts: 468 ✭✭bobby_says_hi


    Agreed. Summer, Emma and Paige performed very well when on NXT. But since joining the main roster, all their flaws as workers have been exposed. Depending on who they're with they can sometimes do decently - but they're all shadows of their former selves


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert


    I am very disappointed that WWE are making Eva Marie train/do work

    https://instagram.com/p/0Vbwc7GzQL/
    Time to go to work!!���� how bad do you want it? #IWantItAll #GottaPutInTheWork #LetsGo #AllRedEverything #WWE


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,166 ✭✭✭Stereomaniac


    What would you rather that she did, sit around and play her husband off against her mad father?


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,846 ✭✭✭Moneymaker


    Retire?


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert


    What would you rather that she did, sit around and play her husband off against her mad father?

    While getting paid for it.

    AKA living the dream


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert


    Lana is currently off TV filming the WWE Studios movie “Interrogation,” co-starring Edge. This explains why Lana was not on Smackdown last week or Raw this week.

    Lana is expected to be off WWE TV for the next few weeks, making it possible she could miss WrestleMania. If they wanted/needed to, however, WWE could fly Lana to Santa Clara to make an appearance at ‘Mania, and then fly her back to set to continue shooting for the movie.

    Hyped for Lana being ruined for everyone:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,158 ✭✭✭✭ Hope Old-fashioned Flood


    rovert wrote: »
    Hyped for Lana being ruined for everyone:

    So your telling me she nots really Russian? Madness!!



















    :)


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  • Registered Users Posts: 645 ✭✭✭Vision of Disorder


    She's as Russian as Rusev.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,417 ✭✭✭WinnyThePoo


    Bulgarian brute


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,158 ✭✭✭✭ Hope Old-fashioned Flood


    She's as Russian as Rusev.

    But but but but but she speaks with an accent?



    :)


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert


    So this is happening:


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,061 ✭✭✭leggo


    "I certainly wouldn't send my sister to get me coffee, because I don't drink coffee."

    That's like a Gareth from The Office line. Oh gawd I'm dying of the cringe...


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,166 ✭✭✭Stereomaniac


    I'd love it if Vince decided to put Paige & A.J Lee vs. The Bellas on last at WrestleMania and then put over Mrs. Brooks like a tonne of bricks. It would be a great "taking it too far" happening.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert


    Apparently Eva Marie is off the European tour including Dublin as she is actually training to wrestle. She is training with Brian Kendrick and the Santino Brothers in California.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert




  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭rovert


    Not sure if this story has been posted before on here. Her mother has said it on a few podcasts. It is gas:
    http://www.metalinjection.net/gossip/wwe-diva-paige-reveals-her-real-name-was-inspired-by-fn-slayer


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  • Registered Users Posts: 13,438 ✭✭✭✭briany


    Credit where it's due, the pushup taunt by Nikki Bella is great. Great heat getter.


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