Let's talk Becky Lunch and the "Divas Revolution"
 

Where do you go with the girls after SummerSlam? I, like many others, have been hoping to see the ladies in professional wrestling get more of a spotlight. The criticisms of female wrestling is out there: No one takes them seriously, the matches aren't as good, etc. I think there is enough evidence over history to dispel this though.

Women were main event attractions under Mildred Burke -- a woman who should really get a WWE Hall of Fame induction if the company is serious about pushing women's wrestling. The joshi of Japan were featured in their own wrestling promotions, and managed to have some matches that are considered critical classics. Even if the WWF, Wendi Richter was a huge part of the emergence of the Rock 'n' Wrestling era, and a match against The Fabulous Moolah drew the highest ratings MTV had experienced in its history to that point in time. Under the creative direction of Dutch Mantel/Zeb Colter, TNA's Women's Division managed to tell compelling (yet simple) stories, allow the platform for great matches and eventually managed to be the highest rated television segments of a product that included Kurt Angle, Sting and Jeff Hardy.

NXT has gone a long way to highlighting the strengths and full dimensions of its contracted female talent. Perhaps starting with, oddly enough, Summer Rae, there has been a focus on making the women of NXT important stars worthy of fan attention and an integral part of the show. Booming with Paige and Emma -- who managed to have quite a few hard-hitting strong-style matches that placed emphasis on the importance of the NXT Women's Championship -- performers like Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Becky Lynch have grown into respectable wrestling personalities in their own right -- with clearly defined motivations and attributes for fans to latch onto.

When Stephanie McMahon announced that Lynch, Charlotte and Banks would be called up to the main roster as part of a Divas Revolution, I, again like many people, got excited. These women are known for having more depth and better matches than the female talent featured on the main roster of WWE. A lot of previously contracted female stars got signed based on their looks under the John Laurinitis era of Talent Relations. Some have grown into competent in-ring performers; some have not. But is this really fault of their own? The paradigm shift being advertised by the WWE is basically against their own hiring and firing policies, and many of the women involved just haven't been given the same attention and focus -- especially when it comes to the development of their individual gimmicks -- as the NXT women.

My interest in this angle is still piqued -- mainly because Becky Lunch is delicious -- but my excitement levels are dwindling. As the weeks go on, the format of each RAW is becoming pretty apparent. There's a singles match between two girls on opposing teams, and then there's a tag match between four girls on opposing teams. The Divas Championship receives the verbal nod from commentary, but none of the new girls have truly made a statement about intending to imminently challenge for it. We're possibly just getting warmed up, but I worry that just getting longer matches with parity shown between the three sides is not truly going to help the girls in the division find a true footing with your average fan.

As predicted by many, at SummerSlam we are going to see a 3 vs. 3 vs. 3 match between the sides -- and it's going to be an Elimination Match to boot. This will be a good chance for the ladies to show off some impressive spots in the ring, and keep things at a fast past to get the fans' adrenaline pumping. But where to after this? Am I the only one worried that this program seems to be on autopilot? You've introduced three new girls, as well as having two of the more established ones having serious intentions to go after Nikki Bella's Divas Championship. How do you filter one girl through the pipeline without leaving the others out in the dark?

I think it's time to see a horse come out strong out of the gate. It's time to see some friction between the egos that have found temporary camaraderie in the Divas Division. Whether it's Sasha Banks and Naomi clashing due to Banks' ego getting too big for Team BAD and Tamina needing to choose a size, or the two girls of second generation fame turning on Lynch when her hard work and experience has taken her to a higher level than they are at. Nikki Bella needs to find herself a challenger too.

Right now, to me anyway, it feels like the WWE is telling and not showing with this "Divas Revolution". Sure, you're having longer matches, but the development is still next-to-none. Nikki and Brie are still playing faces or heels depending on the week; I still feel like I don't really know Becky Lunch; Paige has actually lost sight of her goal to dethrone Nikki. This "revolution" appears to be more tokenistic than symbolic. How do you change that?

One angle I am pretty keen to see, is Sasha Banks vs. Naomi. Team BAD seem the most fragile of all the alliances. Banks has got major star potential, and it's established that she will use anyone to get to the top. I think one of the first personal rivalries of this "new era" of female wrestling is to have Banks and Naomi split, with Tamina at ringside for their eventual match. Tamina ends up siding with Banks, and becomes the Diesel to her Shawn Michaels, and Naomi has more of a gripe against Banks. Naomi, with her athleticism and show-boating personality (see: jiggling), works better as a babyface anyway.

Best thing about it? It's away from the title. I think a key to getting a lot of these girls over long-term is to develop those three-dimensional personalities that can survive outside the "you have the title, I want the title" cycle the company has for a long-time put its women through.

Becky Lynch beats Rollins, Brock Lesnar and Undertaker on the same night to become world champion.

Break her neck beforehand so the crowd thinks those guys have a shot.

I like that idea. Except call her "Becky Lunch" officially for it. "Lunch is ready to launch, and I'm going to eat you for lunch, Brock."

I've seen nothing so far in this "divas revolution" to give me hope. All that's happened is Stephanie basically proclaiming a "revolution" and us getting one extra ultimately meaningless divas match per show.

The only way there is gonna be a true revolution is if someone stands out of the pack. Someone needs to dominate the division and become the standard bearer to bring other divas up from the muddled mess they're in now. Either A) You sign an unknown diva to be your "Brock Lesnar" type. You can even have Heyman manage her. Tired of JUST dominating the men's division, he decided to go out and find the most dominant diva of all time. She crushes everyone in her path of her way to the title and every divas has to step up her game to compete with her. Or B) You introduce the Four Horsewomen. And you don't just have them all trade wins on a weekly basis. You put the title on Charlotte and you keep it on her. If anyone wants to take it, they're gonna have to go through Becky, Sasha and Bailey.

In both these situations, you're building a standard. Taking the title from them will be impossible. If you even come close, you've set yourself apart as a diva with tons of potential. If you succeed, you've set yourself up as a bonafide star.

As it stands now, no diva is credible and all this trading wins back and forth without any personality coming out only serves to showcase parity within the division. Nothing matters because everyone's pretty much the same.

Her stable should be called the Lunch Ladies and they can wear hair nets, rubber gloves and serve sloppy joes.

Wrestlicious did it!

http://i.imgur.com/bAxt8GQ.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/rKOOPhJ.jpg

Gert and Fran. Good lunchlady names. Legit, the most credible tag team in divas wrestling today.

<font color=goldenrod>This whole divas stable thing has felt so disjointed. While I'm happy Becky, Charlotte, and Sasha are on the roster...I'd have preferred if they all just came in gunning for the title. Or even have just one of them gun for the title and the other two get called up later.

I can't see how this 9-woman triple threat tag team match at SummerSlam isn't going to be a total clusterfuck. And the skeptic inside of me thinks that they're only doing this to artificially extend Nikki Bella's title reign another month because they don't want to put her over one of the new divas right away but don't want her to drop the belt either.

A few months ago, Nikki went on and on about how her goal was to be the longest reigning Divas champion ever. Now in the last few weeks, they've made it a point to bring up AJ's record on commentary and Nikki's stated goal has now changed from just being the longest reigning champ to "hold the title for more than 300 days". Seems clear the idea will be for her to keep the belt til NOC (which breaks the record by a day) but then one of the new girls takes the belt off of her, so the announcers can bring up that they stopped Nikki from reaching their goal.

Vince seems insane enough to think who the longest reigning Divas champion is actually matters, and I could totally see him thinking he's somehow getting one over on Punk by having his wife's record get topped by the person who is currently fucking Cena lol.</font>

The revolution has been meh. Teaming the girls up for no reason, especially Sasha Banks with Naomi and Tamina, made little sense and in reality is just lazy booking. The only reason you're seeing three teams of three is because it gets 9girls into one angle and creates matches out of them that are a synch to book. There's literally no other reason to think otherwise.

Not to mention, instead of giving these girls time to develop their own independent personalities,like in NXT, they've been clumped together to be "friends", though I don't get what Sasha Banks has in common with her team, and team PCB is just "hey, we're faces".

Fan has got it right. They need a dominant force, like Awesome Kong to come in and just obliterate everyone for a year or so, building her up as this unstoppable monster. Give each girl a chance to flesh out their characters, and when you find the clear stand out who the crowd can get behind, build her up to put her with the monster.

As of right now, none of that's happening. Nikki loses semi regularly, which makes her title reign look meaningless. Everyone is as good as each other. Nobody gains the upper hand. It's boring. You can pull off parity when it's between two rivals specifically, like Charlotte and Sasha for instance, but the whole division being even Steven is uninteresting.

I also have little faith the cluster fuck they have scheduled for Sunday is going to get any significant time.

And one final note, the whole "longest reigning champ" gimmick is great, when it's actually your gimmick. Mentioning it in passing or using it as a stat to shoot off during commentary isn't going to get it over. Part of the reason Punk had that great run was knowing and rubbing it in, constantly, that he was champ as long as he was. That's how it's supposed to work.

So which of the Bella twins' got fake boobs?

Nikki.

Mick Foley wrote an interesting article on the piece:

“WE NEED A WOMEN’S PIPEBOMB

Stephanie McMahon did a great job of kicking off the #DivaRevolution on July 13. Really, she did. She gave a great, heartfelt introduction to three of the brightest stars on the WWE horizon – #Charlotte #BeckyLynch and #SashaBanks. It was a night that literally brought tears of joy to my eyes. So why, just five weeks later, have those tears of joy been replaced by the anger and embarrassment of hearing “we want Lesnar” chants during the Banks/Nikki Bella match?

Quite simply, we need a women’s pipebomb. Stephanie may have kicked off the #DivaRevolution on WWE Raw – but we need a Diva/woman/female competitor to take that ball and run with it. We can’t just gradually be SHOWN the revolution. WE can’t have the revolution EXPLAINED to us. We need one of the participants to make us FEEL it. We NEED that promo that perfectly captures the time and place, the pride and passion of this revolution. We NEED a CM Punk pipebomb. We NEED that “Austin 3;16 says I just whipped your ass” moment, that Dusty Rhodes “Hard Times” promo – something that hammers home the point to even the densest, drunkest members of the #WWEUniverse that times have changed – and chanting for anyone – even if it is a returning hometown hero like Brock Lesnar – while women are working their asses off to entertain them is not just disrespectful, but unacceptable.

As a wrestling fan, I was embarrassed. As a friend of both participants in the match, I was hurt. In my wrestling days, I would have tapped into those feelings of embarrassment and hurt and let it out in a promo. Often, those promos were effective; in a few cases, they even became iconic. Not once did I feel that one of those promos would have been better served by committee. I know that times have changed, and that the days of sending a superstar out to the ring with just a microphone and a deep-seeded belief in the importance of their message are largely over. But why not take a chance and let one of the women walk out to the ring with that same opportunity I was given? The same opportunity Punk was given…and Austin…and Dusty…and Flair…and Funk – and so many of the masters of the microphone who won us over with their passion, while not giving a damn about grammar, sentence structure, witty retorts and back and forth banter. John Cena was given the ball last night, and took it in for that figurative touchdown. Heyman is almost other-worldly in his conversion ratio. I honestly don’t know if any of the women can deliver on the microphone with the effectiveness of a Cena or a Heyman. But they deserve the chance to try. All I am saying, is#GiveDivasaChance.

To this day, I count the lyrics to a 1983 David Allen Coe song “The Ride” as one of the driving forces of my career. Dean Ambrose even quoted it a couple of years ago. I get goosebumps each time I hear it or even read it.

He said, “Drifter can ya make folks cry when you play and sing?
Have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues?
Can you bend them, guitar strings?”
He said, “Boy can you make folks feel what you feel inside?
‘Cause if you’re big star bound let me warn ya, it’s a long, hard ride.”

Maybe early-80’s outlaw country isn’t going to inspire every wrestler the way it inspired me…or Ambrose…and possibly a few others along the way. If not, I urge the women to find whatever it is out there that inspires them; that will allow them to be ready when asked to explain the significance of this moment in time. Do whatever it is that allows you to keep your “pipebomb” at your disposal. In the end, making folks feel what you feel inside is what this business is all about.

Just remember, it’s a long, hard ride.“

To be fair, the match between Sasha and Nikki sucked doodle.

I think they just need to go with a very simple structure of having a heel champion, a face challenger, whilst you build up some other performers in the division. Nikki Bella is obviously your current heel champion. For God's sake, let her play a fucking heel. Stop this flip-flopping; it's not helping her any.

Best face moving forward? I'd go with Becky Lynch. She's one of the new girls, she can work and she's got spunk. Let the girls promo on each other, then have Becky win the title and Charlotte turn on her out of jealousy. Maybe she puts Paige on the shelf to build heat? Sasha feuds with Naomi with Tamina in the middle. Easy.

But the biggest thing I agree with from #1-wwf-fan's post is that one girl needs to break away at this point. I'd go with Lunch, but it doesn't matter if it's Lunch, Charlotte or Banks. I'd have one girl score both falls at SummerSlam, to be honest.

AJ Lee could cut some good promos, and did cut a "pipebomb" once...

women wrestling fucking sucks, get over it. valets are fine if used at a minimum

no one is going to take the divas division seriously when they have got Total Divas still running

Last two posts are spot on.

No one cares about women wrestling. As valets/managers they're fine. I don't even know anything about this revolution/team BAD/whatever... I haven't really cared about a women's match/segment since the days of Lita and Trish etc.

<font color=goldenrod>I'm inclined to say to find a way to put the belt on Sasha just because being a heel will give her more intriguing options to work with. Let her work a couple of title defenses against Becky and then Charlotte on Raw. She tore the house down with both girls on NXT.

Give the matches a good 15 minutes and maybe the casuals who have long since tuned out women's wrestling since the Trish/Lita or even Trish/Mickie days will realize, oh shit, they're actually good and start paying some attention to the division again instead of using it like a piss break. I'd like to think that people aren't so far in the camp of "I don't care about women's wrestling" that they can't enjoy it once something good is on the table. If you can't sit down and watch some of those NXT women's matches particularly from the Takeover specials and actually enjoy them, that's really fucking sad.

Problem is once you get the viewer interested again they need to then avoid doing retarded storylines with them. And I don't really know how much faith I have in WWE writers in doing it especially with Dunn supposedly being firmly in Vince's ear about how womens' purpose on the show is to show skin and not much else.</font>

I'm more inclined to appreciate their wrestling in the NXT format for some reason. The presence of the Total Divas/established women kind of water down the whole thing. Fans aren't that stupid these days, they literally bounce ideas/trends and the current one that is hard to miss is the non-overness of Naomi. All she does is throw her butt around with neon light boots and we get it, we already had Jacqueline back in the day.


That being said, I'm sitting back and giving them a chance to progress the story. It is weird that one of the groups haven't started the eventual "turn on themselves" arc.


Paige and Becky Lynch should form a tag team after Charlotte branches off and call themselves the European Buttresses of New York(EBONY) and run roughshod on the newly thought up Divas Tag Team Championship tournament.

You really should watch the NXT match with Sasha Banks defending against Becky Lynch at R: Evolution (I think it was?).

Amazing. They, at least those two together, already rival that of Lita/Trish. They have the ability to "go" in the ring, it really will come down to how stupid the writers make their "story".

I agree with Mic Foley. We need that diva that doesn't need a team. Feel like Becky would make a good heel and Sasha should have never teamed with Naomi and Stamina, Cameron could have been the third member. The teams make it seem forced and not a true revolution. The NXT girls are a lot more talented than the main roster divas in the ring. Also as long as its the "Divas" division its not going to be taken serious. We need that woman that's going to take over and reintroduce the women's divisions. Total Divas is to blame forthis mESS, Raw gets beat out by Basketball wives and WWE needs a women's reality show that ruined their Divas division.

Agree but would rather see Lei'D Tapa than Kong. Something about Tapa that just turns me on.

They need to stay on Nxt or get a few hours a week on the Network to do some real work and not some watered down bullshit to fill a spot. They need to give fans a reason to care, to suspend belief that these people honestly want to hurt each other. The women need to kick the stuff out of each other and the ones that are currently able to make this believable are not really being used properly. There is a reason why Gail Kim walked and the question we need to ask is whether or not that issue has been fixed

I've said it before and Ill say it again....They were going to do this 3v3v3 match at SS but had no idea how to get there or where it goes after. What have they done? Added an extra divas match because they expanded the roster. Lots of tag matches which get no one over. The division is in the exact same place it was 6 months ago save that the matches are marginally better executed.

This whole thing is going to fizzle really fast after SS unless they do something to make someone (One of the NxT callups) stand out and challenge Nikki for the title by SS or the night after.

Nikki will drop the title after she surpasses AJ Lee's record because ponies.

THAT is when things will hopefully improve, "story progression" wise or w/e you wanna label it. They have all been tremendous in NXT.

"Workers" get over in NxT much better than Raw. Now they need something more. So far....meh. Sasha doesn't even get to lead her group or come out to her own theme half the time. Got a fucking jobber entrance this week even.

any1 get hard to Becky?

eating Becky Lunch rn

The revolution is a sham. They just brought up a bunch of talented workers and clumped them into teams for no reason. Nothing has changed. They now just have more interchangeable parts to feed into title matches.

The best thing they could do would be after Summerslam to drop all of the alliances, with the exception of Tamina being with someone as she sucks so very hard.

Then they need to have a single elimination tournament to basically figure out who is going to be the "big challenge" standing between Nikki Bella and her record breaking title reign.

But basically use the tournament to build up all the new Divas and give them personality outside of a group setting. Also bring in Bailey for the tournament. So have it be Bailey, Brie, Alicia, Paige, Naomi (w/ Tamina), Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks.

Charlotte or Paige could turn heel near the end, cost someone the final against Bailey. It would create two solid feuds,Becky vs a heel Paige or Charlotte, and Bailey, the happy go-lucker runt of the bunch, vs the unstoppable Nikki Bella who is about to become a record holding Divas champion.

This isn't hard to book people.

Sasha > Becky

Haha

That's your Penis decision

Queen of the Ring network special, where the divas battle for the right to wrestle Nikki at the next big ppv show, maybe even Mania. Make being given a title chance mean something and winning mean more.

Biggest problem with the Revolution so far is the WWE is too stubborn to do anything with the Divas title until after Nikki beats AJ's record because of petty reasons. Turned a whole movement that was meant to bring in big changes to something on a holding pattern because the WWE never had any real plans besides cheaply riding on Ronda Rousey's and the NXT women's popularity.

Should have delayed the whole movement until after Nikki beat AJ's record just so that baggage didn't carry over for the storyline. Then have Team Bellas fight for their lives to keep a stranglehold on the division while the other teams try to topple them instead of them trading meaningless wins.

Could of easily had this year be the "Summer of Divas" but almost like every other big "Summer" movement, WWE found a way to mess it up really quickly.

Smeat with the win.

I said months ago that all of this would happen and no one bought it. #JumpingBombAngels4Lyfe

RIP Crazy Edgar.

No one ever believed his prophecies.

I like what they have done so far.

I think at this stage, they are just trying to get over the 9 girls as one package for lack of a better term. Having them in groups of 3, just helps get more of them on TV at once. If one member of the BAD is fighting a Bella, then you have 6 divas on the screen.

Over time, the key will be to focus on one or two key feuds with the top tier girls and get them over to the next level. The problem with having 9 girls on the screen all at once is its much tougher for one person to stand out. The key will be picking the right girls to focus on. Ideally you want to pick girls who can be the total package or look, talk, and work. Thats a rare find in the Divas division. Really in the history of WWE only 4 or 5 girls fit that bill.

The other problem with the division as a whole, is that its treated similar to the tag division, where you generally only have one program at a time, and its focused on the belt. So if you're not in the title program, you're lost in the shuffle. I would like to see them slowly start to develop multiple angles for the girls on each show. The factions will help that, because you can have turns and stuff, that will result in more stories.

I think it is fine and ya'll just a bunch of negative nellies.

<img style="-webkit-user-select: none; ████████ zoom-in;" src="http://img00.deviantart.net/eba9/i/2014/228/9/4/sasha_banks_and_bayley___wwe_chibi_comic_by_kapaeme-d7vdfu7.png" width="500" height="300">

I've been thinking about this recently: What really makes this a "revolution"? Does the inclusion of three new (really good) talents actually constitute that? An idea I had was this:

At SummerSlam, PCB win the 3 vs. 3 vs. 3 match, with Nikki's team taking the loss really quickly. Becky makes Nikki tap-out super-fast to The Disarm Her. Ronda Rousey style. It then breaks into a regular six-women tag, and Paige pins Naomi or something like that.

Night of Champions sees Nikki defend the Divas Title against Paige. Why Paige? I'm sure you can get there somehow, but this was all originally about Paige getting Nikki in a fair and square situation. She does that and wins the Divas Title. Nikki, of course, blames everyone else for her loss. Stephanie McMahon announces that this is a true revolution, and now that The Bella Army has lost power, they might stand to lose more. At Hell in a Cell it's going to be Nikki, Brie & Alicia Fox vs. the newcomers to the Divas Division -- Charlotte, Becky Lunch & Sasha Banks -- Losers Leaves WWE.

The match would have intrigue, because you are going to get a shake-up. No one could see the big stars losing, but at the same time the new girls are better. The combination of Charlotte, Becky & Sasha has an interesting dynamic. Plus, Brie & Nikki always do that "L" thing, so having it come back to bite them in the ass is classic heel comeuppance.

The former NXT girls pick up the win, and as a result, Nikki, Brie & Alicia Fox are no longer main roster Superstars. Maybe they go down to NXT and play bitch heel invaders, which could help stock up that roster now that Charlotte, Lunch & Banks are on RAW and SmackDown. Nikki, Brie & Alicia running into Emma & Dana Brooke could be somewhat interesting. It can help them polish up (because they still need a bit of work), and when they come back they could be hotter than ever.

In the meantime, Sasha Banks (who gets the win at Hell in a Cell) makes a stake for the Divas Title, and actually wins it. Charlotte, Becky & Paige now all have someone to chase. Go from there.

Sasha Banks looks like a gnome or some kind of middle earth creature. Creepy.

http://images6.fanpop.com/image/phot...66-333-500.jpg

That face does not bone me up. I don't get it.

<font color=goldenrod>Well that's an easy case to make when you go out of your way to find the worst picture of her on the internet.</font>

Except I chose a pic from an actual photoshoot intended to make her look her best...

The first pic that came up when I searched was this...

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/um-3UZZ14nw/maxresdefault.jpg

Now if I had used that, you might have a point.

She doesn't have your conventional face, but as if you'd say no, fan.

And -- if we're being pigs -- her face isn't always the point.

Normally I would say "Fuck no, I wouldn't say no" because, let's be honest, no one here is "too good" to fuck any diva.

... But her face genuinely kinda weirds me out and I think I'd be too distracted to even get it up. lol

I like it, except at this point Bayley still has room to grow and improve her career in NXT. She should win the NXT Women's Championship from Banks @ TakeOver: Brooklyn and have a good 5 or 6 months with it at least, no callup necessary. Besides, she'd probably get lost in the shuffle right now, and nobody wants that.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VJVLWy6AwJc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

They need The Movement to join The Revolution... #ARMCHAIRWARFARE

The more I think about it, the more I want to see these ridiculous teams disbanded after tomorrow, and the start of a rebuilt division where it's clear who will the next main diva.

And I'm more and more liking my idea of a queen of the ring tournament special. Tourneys are easy to book, and by getting a few of the girls, namely Becky, Sasha and Charlotte to the semi and finals, you get them over even though two of the three have to lose. Becky going over Paige in the quarter finals, only to either lose to Sasha or Charlotte in a close, competitive match puts her over as on the cusp ,much like her takeover match with Sasha, and gets her primed to possibly go over at Mania to finally claim the top spot.

Meanwhile, the winner of the tourney goes over Nikki, and dominates while the other girls go into feuds with each other, with ultimate goal being to push Becky or Sasha to the top, though Sasha's boss gimmick fits better as being chased,as does Charlotte's genetically superior shtick or whatever it is they use to implement her dad as a birthright to success.

Fuck, once they feel Eva Marie is (not really) ready to go, push her to feud against a now non champ Nikki to take her spot as the prototypical diva and new star of their shitty show.

Paige can chase new champ Charlotte for a bit as next generation stars who argue who's family was better. The fight for genetic supremacy.

Sasha and Naomi can battle for who the real boss is, with Sasha of course going over in the end. Have Naomi dodge a ppv match by having Tamina sub in last minute and build towards Sasha finally getting her hands on Naomi and paying the outstanding Bank Statement.

Glad to see the 4/10 would not bang trolls aren't here :shifty:

Agree with Damian about disbanding the teams. Those need to go. I'm guessing they won't though. Got to stall while Nikki breaks an imaginary record.

I like the idea of a women's tourney but worry that since the division still isn't very deep that you'd be running through some match ups you'd like to "use" later down the road. Bigger problem is you would have to take a live show and turn it into this special like they did with Elimination Chamber or Beast of the East. That ain't gonna happen.

Feels too forced.

Could do it like the old King of the Rings and stretch out the tournament over the course of several weeks with the semis or final match occur on a ppv. Have enough to do at least a 12 person tournament (Divas Rev feud + Natayla + Summer Rae + Lana/Eva) and maybe a 16 one with some temporary call ups.

You could still save some marquee matchups, like Paige v Charlotte, Paige v Sasha, etc. Spacing it out is a good idea. Maybe save the final three matches for a ppv in that case.

Here's what you do; have Nikki purposely ducking girls from defending the belt and obtaining the record by sticking to tag matches and trying to persuade Stephanie that the other girls should have to earn it. Steph books a number one contenders match featuring Paige and Sasha. Nikki suggests that a member of team Bella should represent as well, so Alicia Fox is nominated.

Alicia wins via shenanigans thanks to team Bella, with Paige taking the fall, and sets up to have Nikki defend the title the following week on Raw.

In a ruse, Alicia, who had been talking herself up to Nikki as the person to end her reign all night, lays down for Nikki and proclaims being team Bella is just as good as being champ through association and social relevance. Upset at being had, Steph books the Queen of the Ring tourney, advising several qualifying matches will take place on Raw, with the final two culminating at the next ppv.

Paige v Sasha and Charlotte v Becky are booked for the ppv. Paige goes over after Naomi interferes and purposely costs Sasha the match. Becky wrestles her ass off but is not able to overcome Charlotte. Becky is however put over as being right on the brink of breaking through.

Charlotte then goes over Paige in an even match that sees Charlotte out lasting Paige and winning with natural selection.

Sasha goes on to feud with Naomi over Naomi being insecure that Sasha took center stage as the default leader of team BAD, and wants to show Sasha who's boss, first ducking her at one ppv by subbing in Tamina only to lose at the next.

Becky goes on to prove herself in a long term feud against team Bella, where she picks off both Alicia and Brie before going over Nikki and catapulting herself into a number one contenders status.

Paige and Charlotte continue their rivalry of who's got the better genetics over a series of matches that keeps Paige strong but ultimately puts Charlotte over as the top diva.

Becky and Charlotte are then booked into a Mania feud,highlighting both their journeys to this point and the contrast between them, as well as Becky striving to finally break through and become champion.

And there's your next half year of booking for the divas, done and done.

Not enough Sasha for me, friend.

She's next in line to end the dream of Becky at Summer Slam. After her feud with Naomi, her and Charlotte engage in a best of three number one contenders series, with Sasha winning.

Becky meanwhile fights off Nikki, Naomi and Paige in title defenses establishing herself as champ. She goes on to put Sasha over at Summer Slam, and chases for a bit before dropping out of the title picture.

Sasha goes on to dominate, beating the Bellas, Naomi, and Paige.

Charlotte meanwhile begins her rebuild into the title picture, beating the girls who aren't hunting for the belt, eventually going over Nikki and earning a consecutive title match at Mania.

She falls short, however, and Sasha goes over in convincing fashion at Mania to retain the title.

Banks should win the Divas title from Nikki. You have matches with Banks vs both Bella twins following that.

Then you take Banks, and put her with Stephanie as part of the Authority.

Then you just cycle through the remaining girls, and build up to Charlotte vs Banks for Mania.

Think this is the idea I've enjoyed the most in this threaf so far.

I think they can keep the teams, they just need to give more time to the singles matches that they have, so they can really drive home the point that this is not a time you want to be taking a break to piss. Hard to do that in 2-6 minute matches whether they're singles or tag.

Give a couple of them like 15 minutes to put on a great match now and and then, and they'll eventually be as over as they are on NXT.

The problem with teams is you don't get any development out of it for anyone. The teams they have now have done nothing to showcase or evolve those involved. They're literally together "just because". Though its unlikely they'd do much if they weren't in teams.

The sad truth is we all know, despite three hours of raw each week, the divas will be relegated to a singular feud featuring whoever's champ v the flavor of the month. The revolution hasn't changed that, it just added 7 additional pieces to mix for no reason other than "let's book these girls in a match together all at once".

But we're still on Chapter 1 of this whole revolution thing. Rome wasnt built in a day.

I think once they break off separate feuds, where you dont have all 9 girls on TV at once, it will be better.

The way I see it, you have Banks shine tonight at Summerslam. Have her be the one to score the winning fall against Nikki. Then you start to focus on Nikki (with Bree) vs Banks for the next couple of months.

In the meantime, you focus on the rest of Team BAD vs PCB. You can play off two things there - #1 have Naomi be kinda jealous of Banks having the spotlight so she's trying to prove she's the leader of the team, and #2 Team BAD being focused on PCB can lead to Banks dropping them and joining The Authority because they should be focused on her.

That naturally leads to a Banks-Naomi program through the late part of the Fall.

Considering that the website has been very hit-or-miss (mostly miss lately), likely just another BS dirtsheet thing. Supposedly the original plan for the Divas Revolution was for something completely different to happen before someone complained to management to get it changed.

The more reliable new sources likely going to confirm or deny this within the next few days.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/6119...evolution-news

On one hand, not the first time Nikki has used management to complain about something (ex. AJ's "pipe bomb" promo) or get a plan squashed (ex. WWE wanting to bring back several past Divas for a match at Mania a couple years ago). On the other hand, WWE been somewhat obvious that Nikki is holding the belt till she breaks AJ's record.

If that was the original plan, fuck Cena and Nikki for getting what was best for business squashed.

That seems like an all too convenient rumor. Not out of the question and we all hate Cena and the Bellas to begin with so....yeah....I'll ignore. Like Smeat said, it seemed like they were doing this the whole time so unless something else comes out about this, its probably BS.

We'll see. I honestly have zero faith that the head writing group new what they were gonna do with the girls to begin with.

Its now or never. They need to do something tonight or tomorrow.

Bayley should show up during the Divas match and interfere and align with Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha. Trading the 4 Horsewomen last night and having them form at Summerslam would really fire up this Divas Revolution.

Ok, so they have Raw tomorrow and if nothing develops, we can say this was a failure, right?

Nope.

oh ok. cool.

Swing and a miss.

The Queen of the Ring tournament is simple and easy enough to book. Paige, Becky, Charlotte & Sasha are the girls you want going through to the second round. So I guess you have Tamina, Naomi, Brie and Alicia drop the first round matches. Lynch over Fox, Charlotte over Naomi, Paige over Tamina and Sasha over Brie.

In the semi-finals, I'd probably match up Charlotte against Paige and Becky against Sasha. Charlotte beats Paige with a little unwanted help from her father. Sasha and Becky tear it down, with Banks getting the win and moving into the finals. Sasha wins the whole deal, since Paige and Charlotte will have heat after their screwy finish. It's possible that Becky could find herself involved in that program too.

Sasha goes on to win the Divas Title, but then brings back the Women's Championship. Naomi and her split, with Banks getting Tamina to turn on Naomi and become exclusively her muscle.

I really don't know where to go with The Bellas. I guess if I'm Nikki, I'd be upset I lost the title. Maybe they blame Alicia Fox and kick her out of the group. I guess Nikki would try to play up her connections with The Authority as well. Having Nikki tie into the Cena/Rollins story would make sense too. Maybe it is best to give Nikki and Brie a bit of a break though. When Nikki loses the title, maybe she can throw a bit of a diva moment and claim that she's too good for this place -- biding her time to make a return.

Actually, in a perfect world, The Bellas moving into a tag team feud with Trish and Lita would be pretty good business.

Observer ended up debunking the story about Cena getting Vince to drop the original plans although did hint there was another story regarding plans getting changed for the Revolution storyline.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/dajosc11">@dajosc11</a> I can only tell you I heard differently.</p>&mdash; Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) <a href="https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/635524760919629824">August 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
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IT WAS DANIEL BRYAN THE WHOLE TIME!!!

All the fantasy booking and hand wringing in this thread makes me sad. Do you guys really think the company is seriously going to feature women's wrestling legitimately?

No, unfortunately. The arm chair booking in this thread was likely done on the fly and all suggestions were far more in depth, caring and in th long run, beneficial than anything WWE will ever do, which is sad really.

I think it's an issue of everything outside the main event in general. Women's wrestling just falls under that umbrella. I really think they WANT to feature women's wrestling legitimately and make womens matches a selling point like they are on NXT but they don't know how anymore. It should be simple enough.

You can't carry a Bella to a good match, it's that simple. They have their role, but it shouldn't be taking away from the girls that can go.

Step 1 to trying to legitimize women's wrestling would be to employ and feature actual women wrestlers and weed out the models they hire and the look good first, learn to wrestle second approach they've had for years now. Outside of Trish, who was really lightning in a bottle, they've failed miserably in trying to create a face for the division.

Problem is, they're not going to do that. The Bellas are a prime example of what they're looking for; pretty girls with nice bodies who can execute enough in the ring to get by.

Unless that changes, the divas division will never amount to anything.

Putting these girls out to do live promos should be rewarded with the electric chair. Paige is so damn annoying as a promo, and everybody else is just horrific. Even Sasha, as major league as her character is walking down the aisle, can't cut a promo to save her life, and absolutely God awful on commentary on NXT a couple of weeks ago.

There's a reason Ryan Ward had these girls talking in pre-taped videos that were spliced into a package UFC style - it's what you do with people who can't talk. WWE throws them out there live. The fact these girls are complaining on Twitter about what happened on Raw as if they're entitled to a great reaction pisses me off no end.

Paige is a girl who really would benefit from vignettes explaining who she is and what she is about. Instead of giving her a live mic and talk, have her throw it down and beat the piss out of the girl who insults her.

RAW did these girls no favors. First of all -- The Bellas cannot promo. Nikki buried the idea of SummerSlam mattering, and then tried to put emphasis on the Divas Title. Becky was kind of quirky with her mocking of Alicia Fox -- bringing up shit the WWE itself had probably forgotten until they had to dig something up for her to say. Then the match was abysmal in terms of its structure. Nikki was made to look sympathetic early, which killed the crowd and any heat they could build.

They now have their biggest face star, Paige, joined by two new girls who need a push, and a hot heel act that is always going to be second-place to The Bellas. The dynamic of this story needs to change, as it's all a bit of a mess right now.

I didn't think Paige was that awful last night. Becky trying to be funny was cringeworthy... but Paige and Charlotte seemed to get by well. They should do more of those UFC style pretaped promo packages though. They're fucking amazing. With all the "Stuff works better on NXT because it's on a smaller scale" talk, that's one thing that could easily transition well onto the main brand.

I think a lot of people overlook the fact that as Paige is exposed inside and outside the ring during their shows as well as Tough Enough and Total Divas, she becomes more and more unlikeable, not only as a character but as a person as well.

They need to develop who they are as characters. Give the average fan a reason to care about the divas....

fan, Condor and Dukelorange all bring up good points.

* They should definitely package this shit better and more succinctly. It'd help if there was a clear feud going on.

* Paige is everywhere these days, and her Anti-Diva personality has kind of been exposed as a myth. She is a bit of a brat, and that busts her aura a bit. The bad booking of her since her debut hasn't helped. She could actually benefit from a heel turn and go into business for herself against Becky Lynch and Charlotte. Whatever.

* The above post is so simple, but nails the big issue on the head.

I can't link it, but The Bellas have taken to Twitter to take the Brooklyn crowd to task, and then go on to THANK the people that do support them. Do these girls not how to be proper heels?

I think damage control would lead to a tournament being started next week.

* Paige vs. Tamina
* Charlotte vs. Naomi
* Becky Lynch vs. Alicia Fox
* Sasha Banks vs. Brie Bella

Have the girls record pre-taped promos for their contribution, actually establishing a dynamic for their conflict.

* Paige talks about the crowd last week, and how she thinks people might have forgotten who she is -- she's the youngest Divas Champion in history and the first, and undefeated, NXT Women's Champion. This is her house, and she's going to prove it when she beats Nikki Bella.

* Tamina talks being a second generation star, just like Paige, and that Paige may have beaten her in the past, and that eats her alive -- because she's an amazon and she's going to prove she can walk into Paige's house and do whatever she wants.

* Charlotte and Naomi focus on being the best athlete in the division.

* Becky Lynch talks about her path to the top being a hard-earned one, whereas Alicia Fox got a job by being Vickie Guerrero's wedding planner and hooking up with Edge. She's going to win her matches like she did the SummerSlam main event, and she's going to validate her career with the Divas Title.

* Alicia Fox talks about how Becky is great at getting herself a lot of attention, and that match she had with Sasha Banks sure was pretty -- but she's not here to be competitive -- she's here to dominate. She's been here for nine years, and when she gets to face Nikki Bella in a true Divas main event, they're going to prove that the Revolution has been here for a long time.

* Brie talks about re-aligning herself with her sister, because legacy is everything. The Bellas are meant to dominate women's wrestling, and Sasha Banks calls herself a "Boss?" She just lost her NXT Women's Champion, and she's about to lose her place in the hierarchy.

* Sasha Banks talks about how great she is, and the proof of that is in doing what she did to Nikki Bella on RAW a few weeks ago -- by making her tap that title away.

Nah. I think we just go with Brie/Becky next week with a brawl after while we show Sasha in the back. Sweet booking.

<font color=goldenrod>I've completely soured on Paige as a character for this very reason. She's very sexy of course but beyond that I can't get invested in her at all. She whines way more than her character really should.

And then when you throw in the real side of her seen on Tough Enough (where she is an insufferable bitch who constantly tries to talk over the other judges) then yeah...it's tough for me to root for her. A heel turn would make a lot of sense.</font>

In all fairness to Paige, you're talking about her behavior on "reality" shows.

I've re-thought next weeks Raw Divas match:

Naomi and Tamina vs. Foxy and Brie. Brawl after. Where are we going for dinner?

Honestly, Paige annoyed me the second she first screamed "This is my house!" in that fucking horrible accent. And that's coming from a fellow Brit