Tagged: Emma
Forever Frenemies: Divas Division Storylines
The enemy of my enemy is my Frenemy: Give peace a chance ladies…
AJ Lee and Paige are locked in a relationship that is equally compelling as it is eye-roll same ol’ given the past decade of women’s wrestling in WWE.
Throw into the mix that upon her debut, Paige captured the title from the seemingly undefeatable AJ, who was at the time flanked by her “buddy”guard Tamina (where is she these days huh creative?) And it makes for predictable yet slyly entertaining TV.
AJ has the audience eating out of the palm of her hand at the best of times, even prior to her ‘power’ relationship status she has with **HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED**, Lest we forget after all, she is a former Raw General Manager.
Paige is certainly coming into her own and flowering (slowly) into a mainstay and must see. AJ’s black widow submission manoeuvre is a spectacle and well suited to her, a similar move is Paige’s PTO which again is well suited to her.
Paige has upped her game in ring too, with the addition of viscous headbutts and a series of knees to the midsection whilst her opponent flounders between the ropes. AJ has never been the shy retiring type and has her own venomous assault moves including the ultra effective (and flashy) shining wizard kick.
The question is, once the frenemy train has reached the end of the line, what’s the next move for both women?
WWE seem to have the right idea of adding another competitor to the chase, however the fact it is a Bella is harmful to all the work these stars have put in. Adding either Nikki or Brie is a misstep and should be avoided at all costs.
With up and coming star Rosa Mendes (Total Divas’ latest cast addition) and talent like Emma ( remember her?!) In purgatory or Naomi now she’s shook off the dead funkadactyl weight (just the music to go…) The pool may not be deep but it is certainly filled with women who are exactly the direction the Divas division should be going.
As for the whole angle of “girl you my bestie but i hate you at the same time”, it is one of those classic angles that will never die and (nearly almost) never fail. like the heel authority figures vs. rebels against the system and of course sibling rivilaries.
This of course is excluding the god-awful bella twins.
Sorry (NOT sorry).
But given that women have come leaps and bound forward in most industries throughout the world, it may not be where it should in wrestling, and the prefix of “Diva” gives certain connotations BUT it is getting there. little by little. heck who knows, a PPV in the future may actually have a women’s championship match as the main event…
The NXT bubble
The Future: Welcome to the WWE oven where they bake the bread winners of tomorrow...today!
As you know, The WWE are sports-entertainment’s juggernauts, providing hours and hours of live programming via your local cable sports channels (or in the case of smackdown, Syfy) as well as a insurmountable back catalogue of old promotions such as the infamous Dubya see dubya and of course, E See Dub.
Present day WWE has become to wrestling industry what Simon Cowell is to the music industry. Occasionally it will provide genuinely entertaining acts but by and large it is just a money making business above all else.
Come to think of it it’s odd that they haven’t sourced Mr. Cowell to be a guest host.
The genuine article when it comes to pure wrestling and minimal storytelling via promo comes in the form of NXT. There have been a few success stories from the camp, the biggest ones of course being the Wyatt family and the shield.
But then there are those who developed a big fish small pond complex and when entering the ocean that is the main roster, have become lost in the shuffle.
Big E is one such victim. He stormed in as the muscle behind the showoff Dolph Ziggler and later AJ Lee. Now he’s toting the American flag and slowly becoming Pastor E with each promo as he battles in (a losing effort) the ever present threat of the Russian empathizer, Bulgarian Brute Alexander Rusev.
Then there is the wonder from down under, Emma.
She unfortunately has suffered the same fate as many before her: she’s a diva that can actually wrestle.
This leaves an already small class even smaller as WWE tries to tap every vein of social media possible as well as any currently popular show format too. Is it too far fetched to envision a WWE sitcom? Smark answer would be yes given current lack of in depth storylines.
Then there is the (now ex) WWE Divas Champion Paige. She has fallen victim to not only a lack of any direction in her day to day defences of the title, but was subjected to the same treatment that won her the gold (or should it be glitter?) In the first place.
So with a bevy of talent waiting to come up, how will the E proceed from here?
Chances are they’ll stick to what has been getting them paid in recent years, with the ocassional splashing of cash to get a true legend back for one last match.
(The Rock has a rematch clause for the title…just saying.)
With that said: let’s have a moment of silence for Zack Ryder’s career…
The Maria Kanellis Initiative
A face that the WWE Divas could definitely do with right now. And a championship run?
Maria Kanellis was a WWE Diva that has been iced out of the division because of her long standing feud with the Bella Twins.
Maria was a diva unlike any other. She had an onscreen presence that you couldn’t quite place in the ‘super happy fun-time’ box yet wasn’t exactly ‘anti-diva’ either.
Maria had an onscreen romance with the Milan Miracle, Santino Marella and seemingly never really rose above that station – not that you’d be uncomfortable with that fact.
The best way to describe Maria having watched her interviews circa WWE and post WWE is that she genuinely enjoys what she’s doing as well as most importantly believing in what she is doing.
She has a particular spot in the hearts of moat fans as she was a contestant during the mostly awful diva search competition in 2006. She was eliminated but began working under the tutelage of the one and only Paul Heyman down in the (then) development grounds for WWE, Ohio Valley Wrestling.
On a technicality this would make her a Heyman girl.
Her work and ideas input lead her to a role on RAW as a ditzy backstage interviewer. Her quirk here was that she was playing the dumb blonde despite being brunette. This role continued and was a nice break from whatever action was going on.
Her breakout moment came a little further along in her role as an interviewer when WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley asked Maria during the trial of Eric Bischoff her view on the Raw GM. Her answer was designed to stun and did not disappoint when she replied:
“Last week Bischoff abused his power in a way that was both malicious and capricious, and it’s this rash of discourse that ultimately led to a locker room of disdain and mutiny, and it should be grounds for his immediate dismissal.”
It was one of those rare “say whaaat?!” Moments that would be a cornerstone in any Maria flashback VT.
From there she elevated into her wonderful relationship with santino.
It culminated in him wanting to cover her up as she landed a cover on playboy. He gave her an ultimatum that no woman (or man) could ever have any difficulty choosing between: it was him or international glory of the playboy cover.
Ultimately she chose the cover and ended her relationship with Marella.
It was rumoured that she was recently asked to come back to the WWE, which would have been a welcome sight most definitely. Alas it did not come to pass, with the main reason being touted as the return of the Bella Twins halted Maria’s ascension back. It is alleged the Bellas had a legitimate off-screen beef with Maria and thus squashed any return plans. Being that the Bella twins are dating the two top stars in the company, it may only be a allegation, but one that holds alot of weight, if you’ll pardon the pun.
Maria has however shown she is the bigger woman and is at least attempting to heal any old rifts that may lie between them, paving the way for a possible return, by apologizing via social media to the twins:
@nicoleandbri I’m sorry for anything that I have said that may have hurt you. I’d like for everyone to move past this. I wish you both well.
— Maria Kanellis (@MariaLKanellis) February 19, 2014
Could this be the beginning of the journey back?
Let’s hope so.
The EMMA initiative
Forever blowing bubbles – is the EMMAlution on the right track?
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Emma is the first of a few Divas that are set to be called up to the main roster this year. Her gimmick is simple – a haphazard happy-go-lucky chick from Australia, who loves bubbles and believes she can EMMAtain the WWE Universe.
She was certainly a star on NXT and came oh-so-close to becoming the very first NXT women’s champion, losing the final against arguably the best female talent (and of course she’s getting extra points here for being British) Paige.
Ordinarily losing in a final for a championship match can be easily forgotten but let’s not dismiss Emma’s loss as just a loss. She did surpass other talents such as Fandango’s valet Summer Rae and former WWE Divas champion Alisha Fox to name a few.
So her bubbly attitude and super catchy dance move is thankfully not the be all and end all. She can throw down folks! Some have said that she potentially has more to offer the universe than Paige.
That’s a matter of opinion and what you as an individual believe gives a star longevity. The only thing that will need tweaking once she’s left the side of Santino, is her theme music.
As long as her theme isn’t recycled from divas past or a something as unfitting as say Layla El’s insatiable then Emma will be just fine.
You Still Got It! 