Looking At Wwe's Divas: Smackdown And Ecw
Fittingly, last night's edition of ECW gave us a pretty good indication of where many of the ECW and Smackdown Divas currently stand in the mind's of WWE fans. They don't. Not to be cruel, but the lack of reaction to all but Kelly Kelly last night pretty much reinforces the belief that many WWE Divas are easily interchangeable and that you can take out any Diva (remember Brooke?) and just put "another pretty face" in their place. This isn't necessarily an insult to the performer (well, in some cases it is) but also an indictment of WWE Creative, who simply don't put many of these Divas in a position to stand out and separate themselves from the pack.
So, now that I've started off this column on a positive note, let's look at the Smackdown and ECW Divas:
Smackdown
Michelle McCool - The reigning babyface queen of Smackdown, Michelle has shown a lot of improvement in the ring, adapting her natural athletic gifts to wrestling. Yes, her "Loving Life" vignettes were beyond cheesy, and her acting skills were probably the only bad thing in the Jamie Noble-Chuck Palumbo storyline, but she's moved beyond that. It is very obvious that her prolonged feud with Victoria has helped her greatly, to the point that fans have gotten behind her as the top female on the brand. If Smackdown had a Women's Title, she'd probably have it around her waist.
Natalya Neidhart - Welcome to the big time. The daughter of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart is in the midst of her introductory push, and as is usually the case in WWE, when they want you to make an impact, they start you at the top. You don't want to start off as a backstage interviewer or a valet when you can beat up the top babyface on the brand in your first appearance. Neidhart definitely has the skills to go in the ring, and could easily be Smackdown's version of Beth Phoenix. It will be interesting to see if she can translate her initial push into a permanent spot as a regular on Smackdown broadcasts.
Cherry - For a long time, Cherry skated to ringside, flasher her underwear while flipping over the top rope, and didn't do much else, save for occasionally flirting with Batista. Then she got involved a bit here and there, but was hardly a major force at ringside. Suddenly, during the recent Diva competition, she was flipped into a babyface role. She was positioned to be second to Michelle, and recent WWE.com videos have been putting separation between her and Deuce & Domino. This week on Smackdown, she'll wrestler her first televised singles match against Victoria, and it looks like we could have a Cherry & Michelle vs. Neidhart & Victoria feud on the horizon.
Victoria - We all knew she was the best female wrestler on the Smackdown brand. Actually, she's better than a lot of the men too. During the Diva competition, Victoria got to show another side of her persona. Her facial expressions, comedic delivery and basic pratfalls made the former Women's Champion the funniest performer on WWE not named Santino Marella. She was that good, and made otherwise dull segments absolutely hilarious. She will most likely play second fiddle to Neidhart on the heel side for now, but it's a position Victoria has been in before. She's the rock of the women's division, always reliable, always getting the job done, and always making the others around her look better than they are.
Eve Torres - Eve was the winner of the least pushed WWE Diva Search in history. No fancy finale specials, hardly any television time, just WWE.com segments that hardly set the wrestling world on fire. Thankfully, WWE has not rushed Eve into the ring, and is giving her time to learn to wrestle before her inevitable first match. In the meantime, she is filler in Diva competitions and doing the occasional backstage interview. Will she amount to anything? Who knows. For now, she is the classic example of WWE having "just another pretty face" on the roster.
Maryse - For months, Maryse would pop up on Smackdown after commercial breaks, usually in her underwear or sitting in a bathtub, telling us to watch Smackdown (which was redundant, since we were already watching Smackdown). Then she disappeared for a while, only to finally show up at an arena. Someone then decided that the leggy blonde with a heavy accent should be a heel. Of course, that really hasn't resulted in anyone caring about her. As one person pointed out to me recently, "She's hot, but she doesn't do anything. She can't wrestle, she can't talk, she can't convey emotion". Last night on ECW, we found out she can't dance either.
Torrie Wilson - Give Torrie credit. For someone who has never been a strong in-ring performer, she's managed a nine year career in the wrestling business. However, she's been sidelined for months with back issues, and with her recent foray into fashion retail (she opened her clothing story last Fall), you can't help but wonder if the 33 year old is looking at the end of her run.
ECW
Kelly Kelly - The youngest female ever on the WWE roster has finally hit 21, which means she will probably be in Playboy next year. Just kidding. I think. Anyway, Kelly went from being an exhibitionist that never actually showed us anything, to the least coordinated member of a dance team, to ... well, she just shows up on ECW looking hot and feuding endlessly with Layla. She's tried to improve in the ring, but it is very obvious she still has a long way to go in that department. However, it is obvious WWE loves her, so she'll just continue showing up and being hot.
Layla - The former Diva Search winner has done what no other Diva search winner has ever really done successfully, in that she has become a believable and effective heel. Layla is able to come across as a nasty woman that you want to hate, as opposed to "a hottie being mean to the other hottie". She's definitely shown a passion for the business, rather than using WWE to add to her portfolio while looking to become a TV star or a model. Layla could benefit with more ring time against experiences foes, rather than having to actually be the "veteran" in matches with the likes of Kelly Kelly.
Lena Yada - Lena is the classic example of WWE having no idea what they want to do with someone. She starts as an interviewer, then immediately heels both Kelly Kelly and Layla during a dance contest on ECW (not last night's, the one before that). So, she's going to be a selfish Diva that hates everyone, right? Wrong, she was then presented as more of a traditional heel... oh wait, now she's back to being a non-descript backstage interviewer. Don't worry, we'll figure out what she is sooner or later....
PWInsider.com
