The least watched Divas on television may just become the most watched… ECW’s Kelly Kelly and Layla may soon be moving to WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night RAW by proxy. The news on the Internet this weekend is that ECW is set to jump ship from SmackDown! to RAW, combining it’s tapings and house shows with the A-brand.
The move will mean that ECW is taped before RAW goes live every Monday night, with the show still airing at Tuesdays at 10 on Sci Fi. The move is being made to rejuvenate the fledgling show, which has seen it’s ratings shed by half since it first launched in June 2006. As well as taping before the RAW audience, ECW Superstars will likely appear on RAW and vice versa to incite interest in the ECW brand. One must assume that Divas Kelly, Layla and forgotten Diva, Lena Yada will come part and parcel with the move.
From a business standpoint, this is a wise move but from a Diva standpoint, this is going to be sure to infuriate many a Diva fan. I, for one, think that the talent exchange between SmackDown! and ECW is a good thing because it allows Divas like Kelly and Layla to grow and develop, wrestling Divas like Michelle McCool, Victoria and Natalya. ECW and SmackDown!, Diva-wise, should be the shows for those growing talents before graduating to RAW like Natalya and Michelle eventually will.
Having Kelly and Layla thrown straight onto RAW will as I said, infuriate us fans but also water down the RAW product. We already have two duds on RAW (Ashley and Maria), having two more will only take away from the likes of Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Melina – and now Katie Lea. RAW has really stepped up it’s game in the past few weeks, I don’t want to see that ruined. Hopefully, when the move occurs (and it seems a done deal), there will be no interaction between the Divas… especially not on RAW. Have Ashley and Maria appear on ECW, fine, but don’t let that spill over onto RAW. I beg you!
