The Downfall of the Women's Division

In the past few years WWE's Women's Division has become downright embarrassing. There have been so many women come and go from the roster, but few have made an impact where it counts--in the ring! Now, before anyone gets offended I do have to say that there have been some great women wrestlers in recent years (ie. Trish Stratus , Lita and Victoria), but there have most definitely been more duds.

I think that the creation of the Diva Search a few years ago has a lot to do with the division going down hill. First of all, let me explain what exactly the Diva Search is. As a way to attract women to become a part of the wrestling world and therefore attract more male fans, a contest was held in which the winning contestant would receive a $250,000 contract with WWE. This of course sounds like a grand plan, but in addition to the winner of the contest, 5 out of the 9 previously ousted contestants were also hired to be a part of the company. Sure, WWE felt they needed to add more women in skimpy clothing in order to gain higher ratings, but come on.

To this day only 2 of the 6 women originally hired as part of the 2004 Diva Search are still employed by WWE. What pleases me most about this is the fact that they are not simply eye candy anymore--they have actually been training and have greatly improved since they were first introduced to the actual wrestling ring.

Thankfully, WWE still has 2 of the contestants from the 2005 Diva Search--the winner and the 3rd runner up, as well as the winner of the 2006 Diva Search. Only the 2005 winner has actually ever wrestled. On a side note for any Survivor fans out there, the winner of the 2005 Diva Search (Ashley) was cut from Survivor: China after just 2 episodes/6 days. While Ashley was away in China, Krystal (the 3rd runner up) was "marrying" Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long (I will discuss the wonder of wrestling weddings in a future post).

Now, I totally understand the purpose of the Diva Search but I guess I just don't agree with what it has done. There was once a time when women in the wrestling world were actually wrestlers or at least valets who had an actual role. I'm looking forward to seeing more of a balance in this aspect--something it seems might actually be happening as more of the divas have been training and having more matches. The downside though: the 2007 Diva Search is now in full swing.