“Your Two Cents” is the new interactive feature where we gauge the opinions of our Twitter and Facebook followers on different discussions in women’s wrestling.
This week, we’re asking this: The Knockouts are consistently topping Impact’s ratings. Do you think the Divas could do the same with more screen time and better marketing, or is it not comparable? We’ve read your responses on our social media pages and picked some of the best submissions to highlight here on the website. As always, you can join the debate by leaving your comments!
Our Two Cents
Batting for Team DD this week, it’s Cryssi giving us her personal opinion on this week’s topic:
Cryssi: This is a tricky question because the WWE has the talent, Diva-wise, to make this happen. But with their lack of effort it seems like it really isn’t comparable. Part of me wants to say yes, but in order to make the majority of the fans care about the girls they would have to do a complete overhaul of the division and that’s just not something I can see them doing. The WWE doesn’t even take time to build younger talent, let alone try to make their Divas special. The focus will always be on the same three guys, with various others playing supporting roles or getting a big push here or there. The Trent Barretas and Tyson Kidds of the world will continue to be misused and unappreciated.
The Divas are worse off. Even when they get their pushes, like Eve Torres and AJ are getting now, fans still complain that it isn’t good enough, or that something is off. Without spoiling SmackDown, AJ was crucified in one of the spoilers that I read, and whenever you read results on other so-called sites, the Diva match always seems to have the description ‘typical Divas match.’ Attitudes like that don’t help things and are the reasons why the Divas can’t really compare to the Knockouts right now in terms of getting respect. Kharma‘s reaction from the crowd at ‘Rumble and the way Prince Dolph sold for her give me a small amount hope. It proves that there are people in the company who care and want to help. As you can tell, I’m very mixed on this. It’s so whatever.
Your Two Cents
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@CaffeineJack | Of course they could. Sure, there’s audience apathy to deal with, but if WWE excels at anything, it’s getting people over and making the fans get behind them. If Superstars like Alberto del Rio, Sheamus and Alex Riley can be pushed into the main event from obscurity in months as a result of good booking and strong investment in storylines, the Divas can too. A call to the WWE – give Beth Phoenix and Natalya ten minutes on Raw or Smackdown to show what they can do, and you’ll get an audience behind the entire division with a single match. |
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Charles Parker | Probably not. The WWE has consistently trained their audience to not pay attention to anything outside of a handfull of people. Unless Vince or his successors spend a lot of time completely rebuilding the division and how its handled, its probably not going to change. |
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@GregLucM | It can only happen if WWE becomes like TNA and is willing to take risks in their management and let the women do actual work. Giving the competitors time to, you know, have a wrestling match is certainly part of it. Nobody would be tuning in to the KOs if they were conditioned to expect a match that barely goes over a minute, with a grand total of 3-4 moves performed, and people seriously questioning if more than three people in the division can actually wrestle. But the other part of it is risks. Nobody would be tuning in to the KOs if there weren’t the occasional off-beat match, like cage matches, or intergender matches.Nobody would be tuning in if every girl was a variation of generic smiling face or generic not-as-smiley heel. The proof is in WWE already, and her name is Kharma. She didn’t look like any Diva WWE has ever had. Her character was unlike any Diva. Hell, she’s still NOT listed as a Diva on WWE’s site. She got more over than most guys on the roster without a single proper match. People are STILL waiting for her to come back full-time and somehow do something to “save” the division.
And yet, Kharma is one of many undercut by the reason why the Divas are not a draw. While she was busy giving a finisher to *title-contender* Dolph Ziggler at the Royal Rumble, the announce team was more busy being concerned with the ever-present Michael Cole getting eliminated by a girl, like a bunch of school children and despite how un-Diva like Kharma is. At this very moment, WWE is running with a damn fart gimmick on one of the few women people tend to agree can wrestle, and besides that is (or was, rather) supposed to be part of a duo who went on about being taken seriously. This past Monday night, they had a 6-woman tag match where half the participants didn’t even get tagged in, and cut to the crowd sitting on their hands as if they expected a different reaction. WWE does not take their women seriously inside the ring and downright undercuts them, and until that view changes, the Divas, collectively, will not get reactions or ratings. |
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Leron Mason | That’s comparing apples and oranges. First of all, Impact only gets about a 1-1.2 in the ratings anyway. The Knockouts get that range so that’s about average. If the Knockouts went to WWE with the exact same amount of time, they would still average in the 1-1.2 range. For WWE that would be horrible, but for TNA it’s fine. There is no Diva with the ability to draw in 3.2-3.6 that Raw does. Maybe if Lita came back or Mickie James. The whole division needs to be revamped and with Britani Knight, Tenille Tayla, Kharma and Sofia Cortez, it looks to be headed that way. |
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@Miss_Diesel Diva’s? They can definitely have the same success as the KOs, and it is all a matter of doing the correct marketing, giving a decent amount of time as well as putting the correct girls out in the forefront. WWE can do so much with girls that they currently have; in both their main roster and their developmental roster. If they spent less time focusing on how beautiful the girls are and more on what they are capable in the ring, worked with them on mic work and gave them more to work with than silly playground issues they would be doing just perfectly fine. Perhaps actually reaching the same level as the KOs. |
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Mondarious Brantley | Can the Divas pull off high ratings for WWE? In my opinion I think if given the proper attention like the Knockouts the ratings could increase for them. In the past Diva storylines used to good now its like WWE comes up with something and if they dont like it they just drop it without any reason. So can the Divas top ratings for WWE. I say yes look at TNA’s Knockout roster half are former Divas who didn’t get proper attention from WWE, but TNA has given them something to work with character, storylines, and promos and look at how fans take to them!!! |
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Sarah Flannery | Honestly, I think they could. With them introducing AJ and Eve Torres into main storylines, and giving Beth this unstoppable diva like power, and Kharma waiting in the wings, all they need is the chance! People out there know they’re talented, they just don’t trust the booking. |
And now we turn it over to you…
What are your two cents on the debate? Do you think the Divas could top the ratings too? Tell us in the comments…
