Off The Ropes: Don’t Give Up on the WWE Divas Revolution Just Yet! by Hab Rich

Back on the July 13 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, Stephanie McMahon formally introduced the Divas Revolution. Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks all made their Raw debuts that night as well. It’s been four months since the movement began and we’ve seen the improvements being made to the Divas division little by little. That’s not to say there haven’t been missteps, because there are a few wrestling bloggers who’ve already dubbed the operation a failure, which is quite extreme. In this column I’ll give my opinion on the mistakes I feel WWE has made during this revolution; I’ll also talk about what I feel was done right.

I like my good news first so in terms what WWE has done right in terms of the Divas Revolution, look no further than Sasha Banks versus Becky Lynch & Bayley respectively. Even though these were NXT Divas matches, they’re all tied for first place in hands down some of the greatest women’s wrestling matches I have ever seen. You might ask, ‘how does this affect the revolution on Raw?’ Well, first of all, with Sasha Banks being called up to Raw, it almost guarantees a very good Divas match with pretty much anyone she works with. Secondly, it puts pressure the Divas who appear on Raw to step up their game because they know that the number one spot is there for the taking and all they have to do is put in the work.

Something else I feel WWE has done right regarding the Divas Revolution is stopped oversexualing the ladies. Whether you like the PG era or you lump it, the toned down sexuality has forced fans to view them simply as women wrestlers and not just eye candy. These ladies have tremendous in-ring skill and having matches that help to showcase those skills can never be considered a bad thing. They’ve also gotten longer televised matches on Raw and Smackdown! That’s something that can’t be easily overlooked, especially when you think about just how much we’d become accustomed to three to five minute Divas matches.

Where do I feel WWE has made a few mistakes? For starters, P.C.B.’s original team name was Submission Sorority and if you’re the least bit internet savvy, Google that at your own risk and make sure there aren’t any kids nearby. On one hand, I find it somewhat interesting that not one person either Googled that name before they rolled it out on television. I’m willing to bet that whoever came up with that name thought they’d struck creative gold. In my opinion this is what really got the entire revolution off to a shaky start because of the embarrassment it caused.

I also think having Paige do the whole on again, off again heel/face gimmick is really lazy booking. There’s plenty of juice for her to continue to be a major player in the revolution, with her claims that she started the entire thing. Plus, it’s already been established that Paige doesn’t really play well with other divas. Another big mistake that WWE has made during this Divas Revolution is not listening to the WWE Universe chant Sasha Banks’ name. I mean seriously, they chant for her in matches where she’s not even featured nor is she at ringside. She’s so over already and for creative not to have something in place for her is almost criminal. Charlotte is a fine Divas Champion and will really help the revolution out along the way, but even Stevie Wonder can tell you that Sasha Banks is where it’s at.

The internet wrestling community can by an impatient bunch and extremely hard to satisfy at times, so I can understand why people would call the revolution a failure. However, I believe that if the WWE Universe lets this thing evolve naturally, we’ll forget why anyone thought it was a dud to begin with. Exercise patience folks, the Divas roster is as robust as it’s ever been and as soon as they disband the teams, I’m sure we’ll see the competition ramp up. With so many recent injuries to the main roster, there are spots just waiting to be claimed and it’s not outside of the realm of logic that any number of divas could be the ones to grasp them.

***I have to admit that with the news of Seth Rollins’ injury this week, it was tough for me to not make this entire column about him. The booking and creative behind his entire run as WWE World Heavyweight Champion has been suspect and highly questionable, but he has put on a series of matches this year that probably no other superstar (besides John Cena) can measure up to. I’ll miss him, but I’m already looking forward to see the kind of pop he’ll get upon his return, as I’m sure it’s bound to be pretty massive. There’s a virtual vacuum at the top of the WWE roster with John Cena, Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan all out. It’s unfortunate that it has to happen because of an injury to another superstar, but there really are spots up for grabs and I’m very interested to see who is going to step up to the plate. WWE will be hosting a live event here in Augusta, GA on December 5th, and yours truly will be in attendance; in the infamous post game words of Bart Scott, “Can’t wait!” ***