Womens Division WWE/NXT

gimmick

Was watching some NXT over the weekend and got thinking - does the womens division really need to be on the main roster?

Like, look at Bayley, she is absolutely insanely over. Can that transfer to the main roster? Similar with Becky, Charlotte and Sasha. They were massive in NXT, but seem to be diluted somewhat in the "divas" division.

Emma who was nicely over fell flat on his pretty little ass when she got promoted also.

So in these days of perceived misogyny and enforced gender quotas, are we as fans better off with a strong womens division in NXT at the detriment of it on the main roster?

Angron

Hard to say really. I mean Sasha, Becky, and Charlotte are still fighting against the perception of "women's matches are toilet breaks". People really want to support them (just look at the pop Sasha got at the Rumble), but when you have shenanigans like Becky being distracted via Ric Flair sexual harassment, it can still be hard to take it completely seriously. I'm also not a fan of Charlotte's character being Ric Flair's daughter, and not Charlotte, who happens to be the daughter of Ric Flair. Similarly, Brie's moveset often seems to consist of doing her husband's moves, just a lot less well.

It's been said before, but they need better writing. Most of them deserve to be on the national stage every bit as much as the men, not stuck down in a developmental area where they will be paid less just because they'll be handled better.

Bounty Hunter

tbh I found Becky vs Charlotte at the rumble to be one of the first real moments where it actually looked like they were beginning to make strides in the right direction. More so than the match, which was decent, but just the simple way in which they presented the whole thing was what made a difference. It was presented like it was something worthwhile and the fans treated it as such and actually got into it.

This also coincided with the first time they had fully left the "Divas revolution" nonsense in the rear view mirror and again instead of just ramming it down our throats that the woman are trying to change perceptions instead just presented in the way that did that.

Sasha is over like crazy, Becky is too as the only real face (Brie will be gone soon and the Bellas aren't really faces, it's just her association with Bryan atm) and Charlotte as much as I am not her biggest fan is imo killing it as a heel champ so I am pretty sure they will be presented well with their potential triple threat at mania too.

Keep this up while phasing out some Divas and replacing them with people like Bailey while more NXters develop and it could succeeed. TBH even just those 3 Nattie, Nikki, Naomi & Bailey (edit - forgot Paige, though im a little sick of her atm) make a division I think is pretty strong but then again I am the eternal optimist and could be completely wrong about this very easily.


also no thread that is talking about all of the women in the fed is complete without me saying this: Fire Cameron, she is all kinds of terrible

Angron

I could not possibly agree more about Cameron.

Moneymaker

I think it's improved lately. Long way to go but they've taken steps in the right direction.

sky88

I think with nxt it is a hardcore fanbase so if there good they will get over easier there.

Still think the difference in crowd reactions can be so dead at times because there's still so many who would rather see a bra and panties match then a woman's wrestling match

. It's also not help by the terrible booking they do with the women. I still find it confusing wheat her the bellas were heels or faces throughout the entire summer.

bobby_says_hi

Different booking teams present two different rosters. On NXT they were well received, so bookers took note of that and pushed them as a special attraction in their own right. On the main roster, they've never been seen as little more than jiggle TV, so the misogynistic fans have been conditioned to not care at all. Even now with women's wrestling getting more respect, the misogynists in the fanbase still go back to their old notions - the former models don't care about wrestling, only want to get famous, they're taking shortcuts, the ones I don't like must be sleeping with someone to get their spots

The problem is that the main roster has never treated women in general like a priority. A few individual women - Trish, Lita, Sable, LayCool, AJ Lee - were heavily pushed. But the division has always been on one week and off the next. The women have been handicapped for years with two minute matches and no promo training. Not to mention over the last year, faces and heels have vanished completely. Half the division didn't have defined roles and just appeared to job to whichever flavour of the month was being pushed. So when it's clear that management doesn't care, most of the fans wonder why they should care either. The only ones who do are specific Diva fans who support the girls anyway

As the famous military saying goes, 'sh!t rolls downhill'. Vince McMahon historically has not seen women's wrestling as a priority. Wendi Richter asked him for promo training when she was signed and he told her "just flash em your pearly whites", and she got practically nothing for matches in contrast to the top talent - She made $5000 for her WrestleMania match while Hulk Hogan made S50,000, and not forgetting both of them were highly publicised matches. The women have historically never been seen as anything more than parsley on the plate, and likewise fans have been conditioned to see them as such. Even if they're popular and make the company lots of money, there are still people backstage going "well you're still just a woman". Before AJ Lee came along, there was practically no Diva merch besides the action figures. Things have got better and it's clear that someone behind the scenes is trying, but change won't come properly until Vince is no longer in charge.

Pentecost

Moneymaker wrote: »

I think it's improved lately. Long way to go but they've taken steps in the right direction.

Yeah slowly but surely since Sasha, Becky and Charlotte came up it has improved. Especially since they ended the trios and turned Charlotte heel. Going to take a while to get it established in the minds of the older casual fans as a truly credible product but no reason why the kids can't start rooting for them as well as the men.

shineon23

Probably off-topic but the way that Smackdown gets discarded every week as either a rehash of Raw matches, or filler with no storyline advancement.

Would it not make sense to have Smackdown as an NXT exclusive show? Kind of similar to the brand extension was before.

As a 3 hour Raw is tough to watch as it is, it'd reduce the main roster hours from 5 to 3 each week, so Raw may have a chance of being of a higher quality.

If the women's division were then a prominent part of an 'NXT' Smackdown they'd still be getting nationwide/worldwide exposure and could still benefit from NXT environment.

Probably unrealistic with logistics, potential loss of event revenue, but it could be a way to gradually phase NXT talent on to the main roster on Raw.

An 'Invasion' angle to takeover Smackdown probably wouldn't work either, as WCW and original Nexus' Invasion's turned stale fast.

And I agree that the Becky/Charlotte Rumble match was great for the most part, if that quality of match is recreated I can see the positive reaction continuing on to other PPV's.

johnnysmack

The biggest thing to give womens wrestling credibility is to keep jerry lawlor off commentary.

gerrybbadd

The whole problem is the "Divas"

In NXT, they're women, not Divas. And they're let go. And go they can. Better than some of the guys.

Then they get called up to the main roster, and they're " Divas". And that's the downfall. Vince sees them as light relief in between the men. It's disgraceful really.

Moneymaker

gerrybbadd wrote: »

The whole problem is the "Divas"

In NXT, they're women, not Divas. And they're let go. And go they can. Better than some of the guys.

Then they get called up to the main roster, and they're " Divas". And that's the downfall. Vince sees them as light relief in between the men. It's disgraceful really.

I think they'll bring back the "Womens" title sooner rather then later tbh.

CastorTroy

The problem there is the Diva label ties it into Total Divas, so it's unlikely to change as long as that series is around

sky88

CastorTroy wrote: »

The problem there is the Diva label ties it into Total Divas, so it's unlikely to change as long as that series is around

yea they wont stop using divas untill that show ends and that doesnt look likely at the minute unless both bellas are retiring and they get there own show.

slicus ricus

gerrybbadd wrote: »

The whole problem is the "Divas"

In NXT, they're women, not Divas. And they're let go. And go they can. Better than some of the guys.

Then they get called up to the main roster, and they're " Divas". And that's the downfall. Vince sees them as light relief in between the men. It's disgraceful really.

This will change eventually. One of the key things that is happening at the moment is the success of the women's Bantamweight and Straw-weight divisions in UFC. WWE will eventually want to mirror this in terms of making the product look legitimate. While Vince may not have his finger on the pulse about this, Triple H most definitely does. NXT is Trip's baby and when he takes over full responsibility of WWE, NXT now is a sign of things to come. Exciting times ahead!!

johnnyryan89

shineon23 wrote: »

Probably off-topic but the way that Smackdown gets discarded every week as either a rehash of Raw matches, or filler with no storyline advancement.

Would it not make sense to have Smackdown as an NXT exclusive show? Kind of similar to the brand extension was before.

If the women's division were then a prominent part of an 'NXT' Smackdown they'd still be getting nationwide/worldwide exposure and could still benefit from NXT environment.

With HHH and Ryan Ward apparently having a big input into Smackdown now I think you'll see the women's division featuring a lot more on it.

bobby_says_hi

looks like we might be getting a triple threat match at WrestleMania. It would be a great moment for either Sasha or Becky to win the title there.