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 The WWE Universe was "rocked" last night by a blockbuster trade within the WWE's Diva division. Due to these transactions, Mickie James dropped her Divas Championship to Jillian Hall. Yay, Jillian. Wait...
Hall's victory was short-lived due to the return of Melina, who was granted a title shot upon introduction. Thus, we were subjected to two less than stellar women matches with the title changing hands both times, all within a 10-minute time frame.
The landscape has changed dramatically now in diva kingdom. Mickie James and Beth Phoenix head from RAW to SmackDown!, while Rosa Mendes leaves the flagship show to go to ECW. Brie and Nikki Bella pack up to travel with the RAW crew, while Eve Torres follows Melina to RAW.
This trade should indicate the fact that the Women's Championship should be the sole title for the women wrestlers. Outside of Melina and Gail Kim, no RAW diva is an adequate in-ring worker. Maryse, as much as I love her, has improved in the ring but it is her bitchy nature that compensates for her average in-ring ability.
The Divas Championship, while a nice gesture to the plethora of women on the roster, is a title that was unwarranted. It now seems that RAW is the home to the less than capable divas who are in search of the purple butterfly title. Kim and Melina might only be there to serve the purpose of mentoring the young women.
ECW gets Mendes who needs further seasoning. That move is fine. ECW should also be the place for the Bellas. Yet, they move to RAW but Katie Lea Burchill stays on ECW. Explain that.
SmackDown! seems to have been bolstered with their additions. Michelle McCool, the current Women's Champion, while being a good worker, is horrible at garnering reaction. Together with James, Phoenix, and Natalya, McCool should be able to give viewers some decent wrestling.
Notice I used the word decent.
The last few years have sucked when it comes to the ladies going at it in the ring. We no longer have the likes of Trish Stratus, Lita, Ivory, Molly Holly, Jacqueline and Chyna. Those ladies are replaced with women like those at the right.
Vince McMahon has decided that he would rather employ women who can fill out a magazine spread with gorgeous bikini shots instead of those who can put on a watchable wrestling match. Not to say that we are against seeing beautiful women get it on, but the women who graced the ring at the beginning of the decade were both talented and beautiful.
So, why are we suffering through the doldrums of the current female action? I have two.
Reason #1: We, as fans, have no reason to care about these women. Storylines overall have become watered down or just plain nonexistent. This is not just for the women. It's not as if the men are getting A-plus storylines either.
 In the past, we had Mickie James being Stratus' biggest fan. We had the rivalry of Lita and Stratus that spanned a couple of years. There was also a time in the late 90's where Jacqueline, Terri Runnels, and Ryan Shamrock were a part of a female stable, P.M.S (Pretty Mean Sisters). That was just a sample of what we once had, but that was when the crowd would sit and watch a match. Now, when ladies enter the ring, viewers see it as a time to hit the concession stand, the restroom, or locating the remote.
The current trend for the women is: have a battle royal and the last diva standing earns a title shot. The challenger will end up getting the upperhand in a few non-title or tag bouts until we finally get the title match. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Reason #2: Vince McMahon clearly doesn't care about the division anymore, much like he doesn't care for the cruiserweight division.
If he did care, we wouldn't have had that travesty of a 25-Diva Battle Royal at WrestleMania 25. If he did care, he wouldn't have focused so much time on Santino Marella cross-dressing to antagonize Vicki Guerrero.
The women themselves are not true wrestlers. Back in 2003, we were introduced to the WWE Diva Search competition. McMahon decided to go the route of hiring models instead of women with any previous wrestling experience. Sure, you can get lucky and find a Melina or Michelle McCool, but for every Melina you will get two Maria Kanellises.
McMahon's ego is so large that he feels that he can create stars from nothing. That is part of the reason here. It has to be. There are plenty of women who are tearing it up on the independent scene. They could have gotten a contract and continue to give quality wrestling as we saw five, six years ago. Instead, we get the current product.
TNA, as crazy as their direction might be, was able to produce a fantastic female division. Why? Because they went out and got women who could WRESTLE. Sprinkled in would be those women who aren't exactly strong in the ring (Christy Hemme, Traci Brooks) and use them in other capacities, until some improvement is shown. I don't think that this is too difficult of a practice to adhere to.
Our Way Out
McMahon needs to do us all a favor and scrap the Divas Championship completely. The division should focus on James, Phoenix, Melina, Natalya, Maryse, Katie Lea, and McCool. That is seven women to work around. I don't see a problem having seven women the focus of your division.
The other women should be placed in the role of managers, valets, or down in development. Eve, Alicia Fox, and Layla, despite making strides, can all use some more time to improve. Eventually, these women can become more integrated within the main players in the division. But not until they are ready.
Give the fans a reason to give a damn. Random matches between women without an ounce of drama will leave us as flat as month-old soda.
Did I mention giving some spotlight to Katie Lea?
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