Kelly Kelly On WWE's Women's Division

[Jack-Hammer]

Kelly Kelly recently gave an interview in which she was promoting the 2nd season of WAGS; I have no idea what WAGS is so I'm wondering if it's some sort of Kardashian or Real Housewives sort of deal? Anyhow, when asked about the women's division, she had this to say:

"They're putting a lot more focus on the women too, but I feel like they're shying away from the era of what I was, of the models. I don't really feel like there's a fan favorite girl right now. And I don't feel like there really has been... sorry I probably am speaking out of turn... but like AJ was a fav, and you know what I mean, now, right now, I don't feel like there's somebody that the crowd can get behind."

She didn't come off all bitchy about it or rake it over the coals or anything along those lines really. To me, it came off more misinformed than anything else. During Kelly Kelly's day, there were very, very, very few women who got any sort of real response from the fans and most of the ones who did got it mostly from men who were ogling the women in their skimpy little outfits. Most of the women from her "era" were not only given very little time to do matches or really have any storylines, but most of them just couldn't wrestle whatsoever. I was sort of expecting her to go into some sort of rampage of hate on the women's division like Sunny did, though Sunny was probably high as hell at the time and is of the opinion that the job of women in pro wrestling is to be highly paid fluffers.

The women's division is never going to be "perfect", there's always going to be something going on at any given time that somebody's not going to like, but I very much disagree with her comment about there not being someone that crowds can get behind. Aside from Kelly Kelly and AJ, most of the women in the division prior to about a year ago hardly got any sort of reaction whereas fans are definitely interested in Charlotte, Paige, Becky Lynch and especially Sasha Banks.

 

[Bernkastel]

Nah, she's right. And that's one of the criticisms I have with the division right now. They've done a good job building Charlotte as the top villain, but there's no hero. No top woman to get behind. No leader. They were pushing Nattie as a top face, even if she was just going to be a placeholder, but now suddenly she's heel again. I am surprised that the WWE hasn't pushed Becky Lynch. She's clean cut and has a decent look. She's not as charismatic as Sasha Banks, though. She returned recently so I assume that she'll be the one that WWE pushes as the top face. But yeah, Kelly's right. There's no one woman to get behind. No one that really takes the lead. Everything is just kind of splintered amongst the fan bases.

 

[Azane]

I mean, the women who were really over during her Era were like, Victoria, and Beth Phoenix, the women who could actually wrestle.

She's thinking the women like her or Candice Michelle were "over" when they were the reason we always called the women's division bathroom breaks. She came right after Lita + Trish were done, and came before the Divas revolution of which we had a half dozen talented women come in to perform.

Barbie always came off as being even more ignorant than her TV character.

If she was trying to say there's no single woman people get behind? She's somewhat right, because Becky, Charlotte, Soon Bayley, Sasha, Paige and Natayla are sharing the spotlight. It's not because fans don't want to get with them, it's because fans have different favorites or multiples and it's splitting the fans on who's their favorite, rather than them all hating on the division, WHICH ISNT A BAD THING. The other thing is, they've focused the program around Charlotte recently, and I will take that point that Ric Flair has been the most important factor in the women's division for 6 months, that hopefully is over though, and it will allow a heel Charlotte to put some faces (She lost slightly dirty to Paige on RAW 1v1, so there's that)

 

[Kamala316]

Barbie/Kelly had more meat in her than a Pizza Hut oven during her time in WWE, I'm surprised she even found time for house shows or "wrestling". She was so bad in the ring that she doesn't deserve to comment on the state of the WWE Womens' division. Go be a hockey wife, eventually divorce him, and take half his cash so you can continue to life your lavish lifestyle.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

Misinformed is a great way to describe it. I think it's clear that Bayley is the biggest fan favorite in all of NXT and has the perfect gimmick to be the face of a WWE PG female division. NXT obviously isn't the main roster though, and on that roster there really hasn't been a "John Cena" but that's mostly because right now there's a "Randy Orton". In 2009 when Orton was running RAW as WWE Champion, the top faces were either putting him over or involved in other programs:

Cena - feuding with Edge/Big Show. I'd say right now Sasha is the top dog of the division but they've been holding her off due to injury and I think they wanted to save her ascent till SummerSlam in Brooklyn, the very same arena in which she put on match of the year in 2015.

Triple H - put over Randy. Much like Hunter was, Nattie is a very talented veteran with a decorated past that has both the credibility and relevance to put over Charlotte/Orton as a legitimate threat in the ring.

Batista - was injured, eventually came back to feud (and lose to Randy). Despite her perfect health, Becky fits best here because of the documented history between her and Charlotte much like Dave and Randy. This feud is logical, but WWE isn't pulling the trigger on it, most likely to make way for a Sasha v Charlotte conflict much like Batista's feud was short-changed for the very long Cena v Orton feud that took place August-November of that year.

Kofi Kingston - You're probably throwing your hands up in the air screaming "Kofi was never a top face!!!!" but 2009 was the closest he ever came before getting linked to Big E and Xavier. He too feuded with Orton, most likely to help elevate him back to importance while maintaining Orton's stature when he beat Kofi clean. That sounds an awfully lot like the angle they're running with Paige and Charlotte right now.

You see there are plenty of faces in the Divas division and a megastar waiting in the wings (Bayley), but right now they're establishing their top heel. By winter this whole topic will be irrelevant because we will have our top faces dominating the show, just like in winter 2009 when Cena returned to his place at the top of the mountain and ushered in a very face-dominated 2010. Despite 2009 being dominated by heel Randy Orton, there were only 2 months in 2010 where the champ was a heel, I'd expect the women's division to follow the same trend with a lengthy run for Sasha on top.

 

[Messiah]

Are they putting more focus on the women?.. It's just as bad now as it was 5 year's ago.. No story development, segments are short, matches are relatively short, except for PPV's.

The only talented women in WWE are Paige and Charlotte, 2 women who should carry the women's division on their back, especially Charlotte. None of the women in WW are over, that's a problem.. Paige use to be, don't know what the fuck happened to her popularity.. I can't say anything about Sasha because i haven't seen a match of her's on the main roster, I've hated her since her NXT days, so i refuse to watch her segments on RAW or Smackdown. She's definitely a channel changer for me.

 

[thekooljt]

CAN SOMEONE SAY "SOUR GRAPES"? NOBODY REALLY TOOK KELLY KELLY SERIOUSLY AS A WRESTLER. THATS WHY IF YOU REMEMBER HER STINT WITH THE WWE, IT TOOK THE WWE A LOOOOOONNNNNG TIME TO ENTRUST KELLY WITH THE DIVAS CHAMPIONSHIP.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Are they putting more focus on the women?.. It's just as bad now as it was 5 year's ago.. No story development, segments are short, matches are relatively short, except for PPV's.

The only talented women in WWE are Paige and Charlotte, 2 women who should carry the women's division on their back, especially Charlotte. None of the women in WW are over, that's a problem.. Paige use to be, don't know what the fuck happened to her popularity.. I can't say anything about Sasha because i haven't seen a match of her's on the main roster, I've hated her since her NXT days, so i refuse to watch her segments on RAW or Smackdown. She's definitely a channel changer for me.

Paige isn't over anymore since they started the "Women's Revolution" and abandoned her. All they care about now is Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky. As soon as they came up, Paige was shoved to the side and jobbed out. She's become irrelevant since then.

That's one of the major problems NXT presents, that biased NXT fanboys refuse to acknowledge - as soon as someone new from NXT shows up, they're the ONLY thing that matters. And the amount of time performers have in the business before modern fans consider them "old" grows shorter by the year. Mark my words, by 2018 there will be people saying, "Seth Rollins is a useless, past-his-prime jobber. He should be jobbing to Apollo Crews in two minutes." It's fans today that are killing the wrestling business.

 

[Azane]

Paige isn't over anymore since they started the "Women's Revolution" and abandoned her. All they care about now is Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky. As soon as they came up, Paige was shoved to the side and jobbed out. She's become irrelevant since then.

That's one of the major problems NXT presents, that biased NXT fanboys refuse to acknowledge - as soon as someone new from NXT shows up, they're the ONLY thing that matters. And the amount of time performers have in the business before modern fans consider them "old" grows shorter by the year. Mark my words, by 2018 there will be people saying, "Seth Rollins is a useless, past-his-prime jobber. He should be jobbing to Apollo Crews in two minutes." It's fans today that are killing the wrestling business.

Let's totally ignore Paige pinning the champion on RAW almost clean.

Paige hasnt been relevant because she hasn't been on TV, not because the fans don't want her.

 

[Navi]

Kelly Kelly recently gave an interview in which she was promoting the 2nd season of WAGS; I have no idea what WAGS is so I'm wondering if it's some sort of Kardashian or Real Housewives sort of deal? Anyhow, when asked about the women's division, she had this to say:

"They're putting a lot more focus on the women too, but I feel like they're shying away from the era of what I was, of the models. I don't really feel like there's a fan favorite girl right now. And I don't feel like there really has been... sorry I probably am speaking out of turn... but like AJ was a fav, and you know what I mean, now, right now, I don't feel like there's somebody that the crowd can get behind."

WAG's means "Wives or girlfriends", it's used to describe the partners of prominent athletics. I haven't watched the show, but the term has been around forever. First heard it when it was used to describe Victoria Beckham years ago.

Anyway her comment kind of makes sense. She wrestled at a time when women really didn't wrestle, they were more like bikini wearing eye candy for the guys who occasionally engaged in a cat fight here or there. I don't think she would know a decent women's wrestler if she tripped over one on the street. In saying that though, the WWE has fallen short in their attempt at a Diva's Revolution. What should have been a great advancement in women's wrestling ended up as no more than them firing blanks.

The women's roster has changed so much with injuries to Nikki Bella, Naomi, Emma and Tamina. Brie retired, and why they aren't using Sasha Banks and Paige more is beyond me.

They need to give Banks a decent run with the title before they call up Bayley. If they don't we'll have another Daniel Bryan situation on our hands. Bayley is the female wrestler men, women and kids will get behind.

 

[ShinChan]

I partially agree with her but not fully.

The potential is surely present in Women Division unlike in the past. Paige, Sasha, Becky, Charlotte, Natalya, Bayley and Asuka are all damn good in the ring. These 7 can easily main event even a PPV. Besides these, I can see potential in Alexa Bliss, Carmella and Nia Jax. Not to forget Nikki Storm.

Charlotte has been the champion since a long time. Since Night Of Champions, She has been the flagship women. First as Divas Champion and then as Women Champion.

Her reign needs to end to validate the effect of Women’s Revolution. Sasha needs to dethrone her at Summerslam.

Ric Flair's influence has been a major disadvantage too. His shadows over Charlotte weren't good.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I do not agree with her at all. The fans do have favorites to support. Sasha and Becky both immediately come to mind. They have both been popular among fans and clearly should be pushed as the heroic characters of the division. Kelly Kelly is just jealous because the division doesn't suck anymore. They have moved on from models to women who can actually wrestle. She may have held the Divas Championship but it was during a time when everyone sucked except Beth Phoenix. Kelly Kelly would never survive in today's division, and this is coming from someone who was a fan of her.

 

[Sean Valjean]

Sasha Banks kind of kills Kelly's analysis. If there's one woman the fans consistently rally behind (despite being largely absent since WM), it's her. Becky Lynch is popular in her own right and Bayley is the biggest face in NXT. Even Paige remains over despite doing very little in recent months. If anything this is better, as instead of having only one major face, fans have several to cheer for.

I think Kelly's comments stem from the fact that the division has be focused around a dominant heel champion for almost two years now. We endured Nikki's record-setting reign, then Charlotte was a face for like two months after dethroning her before becoming a mega heel herself. AJ Lee was the last fan-favorite women's champion - in 2014.

With two lengthy heel reigns back-to-back, that means a lot of heroes have fallen to the villains. I imagine that's why she feels there isn't a true big face to rally behind. It's somewhat remarkable that the fans have remained invested in the faces considering they've ultimately been losers for almost two years.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Barbie/Kelly had more meat in her than a Pizza Hut oven during her time in WWE, I'm surprised she even found time for house shows or "wrestling". She was so bad in the ring that she doesn't deserve to comment on the state of the WWE Womens' division. Go be a hockey wife, eventually divorce him, and take half his cash so you can continue to life your lavish lifestyle.

Shameful. This is one of the most ass backwards posts I have ever seen on this site or anywhere for that matter. Pizza Hut? I mean come on. They don't make a meat focused product. It mostly known for grains, dairy, and vegetables. Well I guess fruits since the tomato is technically a fruit.

How could someone be so obtuse to say something like that? If you want a meat reference use McDonald's or Outback. "More meat on her than an Outback grill" makes far more comedic sense than Pizza Hut. Awful.

Now that I regained my composure, on topic, Stuttering Kelly is right. Since AJ left the focus of the division was on Nikki and then Charlotte. Face Charlotte was a huge flop and the remainder of the time Charlotte and Nikki have been heels. They've given short pushes to other women but those pushes were inconsequential. Someone like Stuttering Kelly got a pretty decent chance to be the face of the division during her time. That hasn't been the case for over two years.

Sasha hasn't been given much for very long. It is just now that she may be getting her time in the sun. Paige seemed to be getting some attention at the start of the Divas Revolution but that was pulled back for Charlotte. Becky was never allowed to get the job done. Natalya was just filler.

So in conclusion. WZ members really need to work on their mysoginist analogies and Stuttering Kelly pays more attention to women's wrestling than a lot of you.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

"They're putting a lot more focus on the women too, but I feel like they're shying away from the era of what I was, of the models. I don't really feel like there's a fan favorite girl right now. And I don't feel like there really has been... sorry I probably am speaking out of turn... but like AJ was a fav, and you know what I mean, now, right now, I don't feel like there's somebody that the crowd can get behind."

Those "we want Sasha" chants and Bayle's popularity indicates there are women in the roster the fans get and are getting behind.

But it's obvious she isn't watching the product right now since she mentioned AJ as someone she likes right now though she's no longer in the company.

 

[MrHashasheen]

She's not wrong and I'm amused at the thread a bit. Yes, Becky Lynch is over and yes Sasha is over and yes Bayley has a lot of hype around her, but can you really say they've gotten behind any of those three as the babyface face of the division, the epicenter of major stories beyond the division itself like AJ got to be?

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

She's not wrong and I'm amused at the thread a bit. Yes, Becky Lynch is over and yes Sasha is over and yes Bayley has a lot of hype around her, but can you really say they've gotten behind any of those three as the babyface face of the division, the epicenter of major stories beyond the division itself like AJ got to be?

But which female superstar got the fan support she is talking about after Trish Stratus? The criticism on the women's division might have some validity but no female star in her time in the WWE has the fan support she is talking about.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

In the end though Kelly Kelly is a mediocre at best talent so her in the women's division really shouldn't hold much weight.

Thankfully more talented women sings the division with more praise

From Trish Stratus in a recent interview

“They are getting the chance to shine and utilize the talent they have. It’s great. It’s a good time to be a woman in WWE right now. I think if you’re a woman coming up and need something to aspire to there are some positive role models. The girls are doing a fantastic job.” … “I think it’s a good thing that I really can’t pick one girl that stands out. I think everyone is doing something unique and giving a different flavor. My whole thing in the past was the characters weren’t being developed. You couldn’t get a sense of who these women were, which was a shame because you wanted to resonate with them. But now these girls are all connecting in a lot of different ways.”

 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

Nah, she's right. And that's one of the criticisms I have with the division right now. They've done a good job building Charlotte as the top villain, but there's no hero. No top woman to get behind. No leader.

There is a top face. She gets the crowd chanting her name all the time.

They're just purposely keeping her off television until Summerslam, because it's WWE and you can't have more than one women's feud on the card at one time. You also can't let anyone else get too over until Vince wants it.

 

[Trill Co$by]

Sure, we have women like Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch that are popular... but where is the overall legitimate face of the division? The WWE is pushing women to be equal to the men, but the men clearly have a top face in John Cena and a follow up in Roman Reigns or Dean Ambrose. Where's the Women's version of John Cena? Becky Lynch is popular and Sasha Banks is loved, but where's the leader of the division? The women don't have that, and that's all Kelly Kelly was saying. I have to wonder if Bayley will become the face, or maybe they'll shock the world and debut her as a heel. Who knows?

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

You could argue that since AJ there hasnt been "face of Womens Division" in WWE. Sure Becky and Sasha are curently faces but their direction in WWE is just not clear. They feuded with Charlotte but none got anything to do to be face of Womens Division from there. Heck, they even wanted Becky to turn heel on Natalya, thats how low they think of them. Dont get me started on Paige and how she went from "Your brother is in Hell" in one week to face in next week just because they decided to try Charlotte as heel because face thing isnt working for her. And that's WWEs main problem, they are all just so interchangable that even face/heel turn does nothing for the character except "shock effect". They are all just one big "bitchy tweener" character which changes depending on situation. Maybe after Bailey comes to main roster after draft things change but have fear that WWE would even manage to screw that.

 

[thekooljt]

Sure, we have women like Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch that are popular... but where is the overall legitimate face of the division? The WWE is pushing women to be equal to the men, but the men clearly have a top face in John Cena and a follow up in Roman Reigns or Dean Ambrose. Where's the Women's version of John Cena? Becky Lynch is popular and Sasha Banks is loved, but where's the leader of the division? The women don't have that, and that's all Kelly Kelly was saying. I have to wonder if Bayley will become the face, or maybe they'll shock the world and debut her as a heel. Who knows?

I am under the belief that Bayley can indeed be just as popular as John Cena once she is called up. But you have to ask yourselves will the WWE (Vince) allow a woman to be that popular? Can John Cena share the spotlight (with a female) who could potentially be just as popular as him?

 

[therockiswwf]

I am under the belief that Bayley can indeed be just as popular as John Cena once she is called up. But you have to ask yourselves will the WWE (Vince) allow a woman to be that popular? Can John Cena share the spotlight (with a female) who could potentially be just as popular as him?

Why do you always post in bold?

You have to ask yourself does Vince like money? Yes. Would 2 John Cena type draws get him more money? Yes. Would another John Cena type draw help Cena get more money? Yes.

Kelly Kelly probably hasn't been watching regularly (and I'm guessing she doesn't watch NXT). I'm guessing that is why she said there isn't anyone to get behind.

 

[Messiah]

She's spot on with the fact there's no hero in the women's division?.. Who do they have Paige? Sasha?.. Oh please, they'll have to do better than that. Charlotte has been owning the women's division ever since they started re-branding it. It seems WWE only knows how to build 1 women at a time, it's no different than it use to be.. Plus, they're not putting much focus on them anymore.

 

[Messiah]

I am under the belief that Bayley can indeed be just as popular as John Cena once she is called up. But you have to ask yourselves will the WWE (Vince) allow a woman to be that popular? Can John Cena share the spotlight (with a female) who could potentially be just as popular as him?

You're only judging based on her NXT popularity... It's way different on the main roster, you should know that by now.