Vince Russo had a new blog this week on CSR and talked about the NXT/WWE woman’s wrestling situation.
Girls! Girls! Girls!
by VINCE RUSSO
There used to be an old cigarette commercial for a smoke stick called Virginia Slims, and it’s motto was—“You’ve come a long way, baby!” And, as it pertains to that little jingle, those words could never ring more true then what’s been happening in the WWE Women’s Division these days.
As a lifelong proponent of women’s wrestling, I couldn’t be more thrilled than to see just some great, female athletes get their just deserts in a Vince McMahon owned and operated company. I know it always hasn’t been that way, as based on the experience of working there I witnessed a concrete ceiling above the heads of the women in the WWE in the past, especially when they would begin to get over and then some of the boys with pull would get in Vince’s ear and remind him that this was the “Boys Club” and no woman had the right to steal their testosterone spotlight.
I tell many a story about Sable and the living hell that she had to go through in the WWE during the climb of her success–which included one of the boys–a grown man–defecating in her bag. But, I guess with Stephanie and Triple H now somewhat running the show—maybe in this area things have changed for the better!
I followed Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks when they were all working in NXT, and after seeing them for only a handful of times, there was no question that they were all ready for the “show”. Charlotte stuck out to me as perhaps maybe the best female worker I’ve ever seen, Sasha no doubt had it all going down with her sassy, stuck-up persona, while in my opinion even though Becky was good and still getting there, I felt she needed some seasoning to get to the level of the other two ladies who were owning the spotlight week in, and week out.
A few weeks ago when the WWE brought up all three ladies at the same time, I was ecstatic for both them, and the fans of the WWE, but I was also a bit concerned that somebody may get lost in the shuffle. For the writing crew at the WWE these days it is hard enough to get one talent over–let alone three at the same time. The mentality of “let’s throw them all out there and see what happens” could be a flawed game plan, as each girl needs the spotlight shown her way in order to gain the attention of the audience. When that spotlight is being divided three ways—then the ladies are only getting a fraction of that main stage, and right now that stage is already a bit crowded with the talents of the beautiful and bodacious Belles, the stunning and scintillating Alicia Fox, the punishing and convincing Naomi and Tamina and of course everybody’s favorite Paige—no doubt the best of the bunch..
The fact that the ladies have been having TWO MATCHES a week lately on RAW is a monumental milestone, and I applaud not only them, but whoever is pulling the strings to give the division the push, HOWEVER, I do believe that once again creative needs to step up their game as just putting the girls out there to wrestle each other, in different pairings, week after week—isn’t going to be enough to get them over. Wins and losses in a choreographed fight will only get you so far. Stories need to be written and characters need to be developed in order to get each and every one of these talented ladies in the position that they NEED to be—SHOULD be—and no doubt DESERVE to be!
But–they’re there—so it’s a start. Give credit where credit is due–the opportunity was earned, and rewarded, and for that the decision makers in the WWE deserve their comeuppance.
