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Impact
Dave from Parma, Ohio, joined wrestlingmarks.com on 11/10/07
Women's Wrestling
by Impact on 12/15/07 11:38 AM
For all the people I constantly hear say "who cares, women's wrestling sucks" let me ask you something. When it comes to John Cena, or Bobby Lashley, or the Undertaker, or even Batista - "who cares? They suck." They're nothing spectacular. However, with most WWE stuff aside, have any of you watched some of these women wrestlers BEFORE they went WWE? And I'm not talking about the ones that are braindead about the profession, such as Kelly Kelly or Maria or Candice Michelle, who knew NOTHING about it going in. I'm talking about the ones that earned their way to the WWE, such as Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, and Victoria. Those women, along with more to come (Nattie Neidhart the next to hit the WWE?...), are just as talented in the ring, and sometimes more talented, than the men. Sure, they wouldn't be able to hold up in a match against a guy, that's a given. But when you watch some of the matches in the last few years by the women, they really are getting over, and they've improved greatly. In fact, the Trish Stratus versus Mickie James Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 22 had among the highest pops I heard thru that night. The crowd got into the match hardcore, and it's unusual for anyone to get into the women's matches period. That's because now there are more and more women WRESTLERS. I hate the term "diva" because while it suits half the women's roster, it's incorrect for the rest. There are women in that business that are there to wrestle, and that's it. Some fall into the stupid ass gimmick matches (all but Beth Phoenix so far I've noticed). But Mickie, while she worked independants as Alexis Laree, worked some of the best matches I'd seen in a long time. I saw some of Phoenix's matches with OVW and SHIMMER Women's Athlete's, and she's phenomenal. Some of the women out there now are great on the indy scene, such as Mercedes Martinez and the very impressive (and young) Portia Perez. These women are busting their damn asses off to be the best in the ring, not the best eye candy, and if you don't like them, fine, but at least show them some respect. I HATE the fact that people like Lashley, Cena, Mysterio, Batista, etc get all this fame and glory, when there are a lot more talented individuals, but you know what, I normally keep that to myself. Not because I don't want to start an argument, but because no matter how much I hate their work, I still show respect to them because obviously they have SOMETHING to make it that far. I just see something MORE in others that are pushed aside. So do me a favor, show the women of the wrestling world some respect.
Comments
(7 total)
From Petedaddydolla on 12/15/07 2:23 PM
You know what my friend, I 100% completely agree with EVERYTHING YOU SAID! That is something that I am usually hard-pressed to say. Beth Phoenix did great work in your aforementioned references(OVW & Shimmer) the fact that she doesn't take part in the "gimmick" matches speaks VOLUMES about her personal "mission statement" as a WRESTLER. I do V-LOGS on YOUTUBE.COM about a bevy of topics, mostly wrestling and I have sung the praises of BOTH Beth and VICTORIA. I am not afraid to speak out against the mind numbing idiocy of having talented women who wrestle and then making them job to a bimbo whose only pre-requisite is that she just had her tits done. I do not usually watch Smackdown on Friday nights except for 2 matches: #1 I will watch the Main Event and the #2 match is the womens match, just to be able to see Lisa Varone(Victoria)I absolutely am sickend by what they have done to her on TV. They lower her to a feud with MICHELLE McCOOL, what the hell is that? Then even worse they put KELLY KELLY over at her expense in a mixed tag match on ECW. Ok Kelly Kelly is as worthless as Vince
Russo's supposed "writing talent"! Michelle McCool didn't even win the "Diva Search" she wasn't even in the top 3, if memory serves. Then they make Candace Michelle, this woman sickens me; seem like she can PHYSICALLY hang with Beth in the ring. Truth be told the ONLY woman in WWE today that could physically challenge Beth is Victoria. If they set up a feud for the title with those two and MAYBE Mickie James, they would have some phoenomenal stories. WWE also dropped the ball with Aerial(ECW-WWE), shows up in TNA to work a few good QUALITY matches as herself without the Elvira gimmick and looked fundamentally good in the ring. Why didn't they let her do that in ECW-WWE? Oh that's right they were to busy dressing her up as the Mistress Of The Dark. Gail Kim is another talented wrestler that WWE just shuffled aside with no remorse a few years back, she looks great in the ring in her current feud with Awesome Kong in TNA. So out of the 17 women currently listed under the "Divas" section on wwe.com today there are ONLY 4 ACTUAL WRESTLERS! Beth Phoenix,Mickie James,Melina(I will give her the benefit)and Victoria. Melina had some quality matches in OVW, the same could actually be said of Jillian Hall as well though. Victoria and her performed some good spots a few years back as well. But by watching Jillian's gimmick now you would never know it. One more woman the WWE let slip away was Molly Holly, they wanted her to do Playboy and she said no due to religious reasons. Seems respectable, apparently to the WWE that is an insult. So the two parted ways, GOOD FOR YOU MOLLY! I am not saying I am against Playboy or the women who are in it. But if she didn't want to pose in the magazine it shouldn't have negatively affected her in-ring career either. I mean trust me, instead of seeing Rena Mero (Sable) and Torrie Wilson a few years back I MUCH would've rather seen Victoria and Beth together, or even Ivory!
See now I am digressing!My summation is that the WWE needs to give THE DESERVING women the title matches and the pushes that THEY EARN from hard work and dedication, NOT TWIRLING IN A DAMN CIRCLE OR WASHING A STUPID ASS CAR IN A PRE-SUMMERSLAM COMMERCIAL! I'm PeteDaddyDolla and that's how I Roll!
From Impact on 12/15/07 3:20 PM
Thank you I'm glad someone finally agrees with what I'm saying and you're very right about Gail Kim, Nora "Molly Holly" Greenwald (if I got the last name right), Jilian and Ariel. And yes, Melina has greatly improved as well, and I respect her in-ring talents too. But as for Kelly Kelly, or McCool, or even Candice.. they're getting pushes they shouldn't be getting. And Victoria was majorly shafted when she was moved from the brand that has the ONLY Women's Championship on it.
And me? I'm "the Impact" and you can find my blogs on http://myspace.com/dlind1984 in my blog section.
From willierko on 12/15/07 6:11 PM
Listen I totally agree with you about the whole woman dynamic in the wwe, but guess what there are alternatives man there are promotions in japan that revolve around womans wrestling and then you got the infamous shimmer promotion with amazing wrestlers such as Sara Del Rey, Lacey, Daizee Haze, Allison Danger, Sarah Stock, Rebbecca Bayless, and others. But your right about womens wrestling i think we can all do is accept the fact that wwe does not really care about in ring work (I.E Victoria) but there are women in the wwe that can work great matches like Melina, Victoria, Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, and there are those who are improving such as Michelle McCool and Jillian Hall. Then there are those who ofcourse need to go far away like Maria, Candice, and Torrie who would all be better off being models and such.
From Petedaddydolla on 12/16/07 1:37 PM
Yes Yes and more Yes about the opinions expressed here. WWE needs to wake up reward these ladies for hard work, not collagen and silicone!
From theone86 on 12/16/07 3:49 PM
I agree with the TC, save for a few things. I SEVERELY disagree with Mysterio being lumped in with the likes of Batista, Cena, and Lashley. I could go on for hours over the talent, or lack thereof, of those wrestlers, but Mysterio is way ahead of all of them when it comes to athleticism, ring psychology, selling, repetoire, and time and effort put into this business. Yeah, WWE only wants him to do a few key moves to get some easy pops, but that doesn't mean he isn't in the upper echelon of wrestlers currently employed by WWE. I think there are very few wrestlers, male or female, that are on the same level as Mysterio. Same thing with Taker. Although he hasn't been in prime form lately, no one in WWE has been. I really think it's due more to management than the wrestler themselves.
Second, I'm going to defend a couple of "Divas." Michelle McCool, I think, is about the best talent to ever come out of the Diva Search. While most contestants are wannabe models with nothing more going for them than breast implants, Michelle is actually someone that's been dealing in fitness for a long time. I won't defend her ring work because, frankly, I've never seen her wrestle. I think that's a big problem of WWE management lately, though. They tell all these newbies that they don't need much training or experience and then they go around thinking that they can just spend a few months in OVW and get pushed like they've been in the industry for years. WWE really needs to raise its standards when it comes to ringwork. Second is Torrie. She's not the best in the ring, but she's way better than Candice. I remember when she was tagging with Rey Mysterio and she was bale to hold her own. Again, I haven't seen her recent stuff, but she has ability. Third is Melina. I think she's even better than Torrie and up there with the likes of Mickie. She can play a great heel, she has a deeper repetoire than most other female wrestlers, and she knows how to work over an opponent. Lastly, Jillian. The gimmick needs to go, but other than that she's a decent wrestler. She definitely needs to work on match pacing, but she's got some unique moves and good agility. Definitely not on the same level as Candice.
Now for the Divas I can't stand. Just about any other Diva Search contestant. Candice is horrible, there is absolutely no justification for her title run. Kelly and Layla are completely useless as well. At least when Kelly was stripping WWE wasn't trying to disguise it as wrestling, they were actually saying, "Yeah, we just want to exploit women for ratings, we're not going to try and call it wrestling anymore." Miz is also a Diva I could do without. I actually don't mind Maria, at least with her they don't push her like they do the women that put more effort into the biz. Cherry is nothing more than a manager, so she really doesn't bother me. I got so sick of those Maryse promos, but they seem to have passed. Finally, the worst Diva WWE has ever seen, Ashley. All she does is yell and jump up and down so that horny boys can look at her oversized tits. She is the most worthless person in that entire company.
But really, what do you expect? WWE caters to marks, marks who are typically men. These people could probably care less about being respectful to women, they probably think it's empowering on some level. Why would WWE change if no one demands they change? Their fans aren't going to, and the people working for them aren't going to. WWE needs to be sent a message that we're tired of this crap and we actually want to watch women who can wrestle. It's sickening the way WWE treats its female talent. I don;t know why a company is allowed to basically force someone to leave because they won't pose naked, but I know how. Female wrestlers continue to let themselves be subject to it, and fans become apathetic about it. Those two groups have to demand change if anything is ever going to change.
From JamesP on 2/13/08 6:37 PM
Why's everyone dreading Candace? She's greatly improved in the ring. People were saying the same things they're saying about Candace about Trish when she got a push, and look at how she ended up.
From jeff on 2/14/08 4:23 PM
I agree with you 100%. I'm am one of the few people who actually care about women's wrestling. Sure I love seeing divas in bra & panties, but I love to see them wrestle too. I'm glad the WWE is trying to push Kelly Kelly, Layla, Maria, and Michelle McCool. Torrie is getting better too, but I think she should retire because we barely see her anymore.