Carmella made her return to the ring on last week’s SmackDown for the first time in eight months. Before returning to the ring, her rebranding started a few months ago as a “mystery woman” in several vignettes. She has been rebranded as “Untouchable” and since her return, she has shown more of a Diva moniker.
Everything screams Diva about her repackaged gimmick. A term that WWE took away from their female talent in 2016. A moment in history that signifies this is when the Divas Championship was retired and the women would go on to be just known as Superstars as equal to their male counterparts.
At WrestleMania 32, Charlotte Flair won the inaugural WWE Women’s Championship that started a new lineage from the original and would shortly be renamed as the WWE RAW Women’s Championship. This signified the end to the famous term for WWE’s female talent. Prior to this moment, the female talent has been known as Divas for decades.
The term Diva did tend to evolve throughout the years. One of the largest criticism of the term wasn’t necessarily to the women themselves but more so due to the booking. Moving away from the term has helped out women’s wrestling tremendously on the bigger stage. Caring about in-ring talent has proven to make the women of the company more than just eye candy or just a segment backstage. Yet, some fans miss what the Diva’s brought to the table.
Although Carmella has seemed to embrace the term Diva, that label has all but left WWE except for of course for the show Total Divas, which she has appeared on as recent as last season. She has always had a move set matching that of a Diva but now with her repackaging, her look, actions, and entrance are reminiscent of those that came before her.
Taking a look at the video below from two years ago, Carmella was the SmackDown Women’s Champion at that time and admitted she is a Diva. This was after Charlotte Flair tried to discredit her saying that she was only a Diva living in a woman’s era.
To break down the similarities of her repackage, we can reference the most recent video from Ring the Belle. They highlighted seven ways that Carmella proves to be a Diva just from this past week’s SmackDown.
We have the backstage look with leopard print channeling her inner Tori from the Attitude Era. Her new entrance giving the silhouette which has been done by Torrie Wilson and Christy Hemme. Entering the ring from the bottom rope such as Candice Michelle is quintessential Diva.
Next, we have the move-set which is similar to what she was already doing. The Super-Kick was always in her arsenal but adding the sit-out facebuster and figure-4 neck lock were common moves done by many a Diva. Speaking of segments, which Divas thrived in, we have shattering glass.
A gasp of a moment from SmackDown involved Carmella smashing a champagne bottle over the back of the champion, Sasha Banks. Trish Stratus, Dawn Marie, and Victoria are just a few instances where smashing something over your rival was an exciting occurrence (especially since the Divas didn’t always have stipulation matches as the women do now).
Lastly, we can’t forget a Diva who provided quality content for over a decade and that is Alicia Fox. The comparison between her and Carmella’s recent actions include the spraying of the champagne. Fox had moments where she would take beverages and spray them all over the place in a fit of rage.
What do you think of Carmella’s repackaging? Do you see more of the similarities between what she is presenting as a modern-day Diva? Could we be seeing a mixture of what once was and what is current?
Carmella won her match against Banks on SmackDown but via disqualification. She will face The Boss again at TLC this Sunday in an attempt to become a two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion.
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