Remember back when the World Wrestling Federation had tag teams? I mean REAL tag teams. The Hart Foundation, The Hardy Boys, The Dudleyz, Edge and Christian, the A.P.A., Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (not really a WWE tag team, but the name alone serves its purpose to my point), The Nasty Boys, The Legion of Doom (aka The Road Warriors), the Rockers. That’s just off the top of my head. There’s plenty of noteworthy teams in the years of WWE, but there is a growing trend in WWE where two wrestlers who have built careers as singles competitors are paired together in a “mix and match”-type tag team. The chemistry between the two usually relies on two or three weeks of a storyline that both are involved in, and that basically sums up why they become tag teams.
Recent tag teams of this nature have been Heidenreich and Animal (they were paired to sell Road Warriors DVDs, moreso than to honor the legendary teaming of Animal and Hawk), Rhyno and Tajiri, Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio, Batista and Ric Flair (they were a part of Evolution, but nothing gave an indication as to why they should be a tag team), Edge and Chris Benoit, as well as Eugene and William Regal, just to name a few.
Over in the Cruiserweight Division, it seems business as usual… sort of. WWE fired quite a few cruiserweights back in the latest “Spring Cleaning” firings at WWE. Then, they trade Chavo Guerrero to Raw, give him the moniker of Kerwin White (“If it ain’t white, it ain’t right!”), and has set him in a feud with Shelton Benjamin. The whole thing has success written all over it, because both men are talented. However, I have grown to dislike Kerwin White lately, after initially enjoying his backstage pro-white rants. Coupled with the fact that Shelton Benjamin is million dollar talent with a ten-cent personality, and you have the opening match at WWE Unforgiven, or at least I assume it might open the show. They may opt for something a little more high-profile, like the Intercontinental Title match, or the Tag Team title match, but my point remains that Kerwin and Shelton are not top priority for WWE, and rightfully so. It’s not a strong story at all.
But enough about Chavo Guerrero as Kerwin White. Back to the cruiserweights, or lack thereof, as it were. It’s bad enough Chavo is in the middle of an identity crisis on Raw, but The Hurricane and Tajiri are also residing on Raw, the brand without the Cruiserweight title. This leaves Paul London, Nunzio, Scotty 2 Hotty, and a short list of names remaining on the Smackdown brand (with the title) that are considered Cruiserweights. Mexicools might be considered Cruiserweights, but I’m not sure yet. I realize Spanky and Jamie Noble have been re-signed with WWE, but that doesn’t change the fact that there isn’t a whole lot to the division right now. My guess is Nunzio and Scotty 2 Hotty are in grave danger of losing their job at the next roster cuts. The only reason Nunzio is currently Cruiserweight champion is the current lack of cruiserweights to hold the title.
It’s kind of like whenever someone aside from Trish is Women’s champion; just no other choice but to give it to Molly Holly or Jazz, and now they’re gone. In fact, WWE has fired all of its talented Women besides Trish and Victoria. I won’t even get into Lita (wouldn’t want Matt after me, as well as Edge), because she is far too injury-prone to be considered a talented diva, and not eye candy. Who else did they lose? Molly Holly and Jazz, as previously stated, as well as Gail Kim and Jacqueline. I’m not certain of Jackie Gayda or Ivory were worthy Divas in the ring, but let’s add them to the mix as well, for a point. Now, who do we have left? Trish Stratus and Victoria are the only talented Divas left in WWE.
The Divas who cannot wrestle? Well, let’s pull out a notepad and get to work on this list: Michelle McCool, Melina, Stacy Keibler, Christy Hemme, Torrie Wilson, Candice Michelle, Maria (even if she is just an announcer, because so was Terri Runnels, and she wrestled occasionally), and Ashley Massaro. Even though I have incredibly high hopes for Ashley’s future as an actual Diva Talent, and not just eye candy, she is still in the developing stages (her in-ring work; not her, umm… assets). Joy Giovanni and Amy Weber would also be included, but for some reason, they were released already.
What exactly brings together these three divisions within the WWE? Well, a group of people enjoy the matches from each division individually. There are plenty who get excited when watching the high-flying antics of the Cruiserweights. Now, Mr. McMahon has a new policy against high-flying antics, so I guess you’ll have to settle with safe antics or non-life threatening antics. Doesn’t roll off the tongue, does it? Sure, there’s more injuries within the Cruiserweights, but it basically does away with the idea and the meaning behind Cruiserweights. The Cruiserweights set themselves apart from everyone else by being smaller guys, and being able to do more “high-risk” stuff that amazes even the mildest of Cruiserweight fans. With this detoriation of this particular division comes a title that really means very little to the group of men who are considered Cruiserweights. How can you boast about being Cruiserweight champion, if you’re only better than three or four men, at a division that has scaled back one of its main attractions: high-flying manuevers.
There’s probably a large group of people, mainly those considered males, who really enjoy watching the WWE Divas. What’s not to like for a guy? Large breasts, skimpy clothing, lots of moves that allude to lesbian acts. While it’s hard not to notice the Divas (I’ll show my bias towards Stacy Keibler and newcomer Ashley Massaro), I see no reason in allowing most of the Divas inside the ring, when none of them can compete. How many times will we see Trish Stratus vs. Victoria from now on? Aside from them, no one else deserves the Women’s title, because they don’t have talent.
Instead, the other divas mainly compete in “Bra and Panties” matches, and “Lingerie Pillow Fights”. Ooh, exciting. I’ll let you in on something that you can use when watching Divas “perform” in the ring: the less clothing that they wear, the less talent they truly have. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see Trish Stratus mainly showcasing her cleavage in a match, as opposed to Torrie Wilson showcasing her cleavage, bare stomach, bare legs, and her ass in a slim pair of “tights”, if you will. Takes the eyes off the lack of talent, doesn’t it? Not for true wrestling fans who can tell the difference. The Womens title is a joke, and if my words can’t convince you of that, take a look at the current champion, Trish. She was champion for eight months, and for four of those months, she was on the injured list. Not exactly a title WWE was concerned about, now was it?
Probably the most popular of the three divisions is the tag team division. I can remember watching old matches as a youngster (I’m not an oldster, but I’m talking about my early childhood here) with Marty Janetty and Shawn Michaels, and with Demolition. It was fun because these tag teams went together for a reason. They had a gimmick going, and they were meant to be tag teams. My memory doesn’t quite serve me too well, but I know there were other strong tag teams back then. Tag teams that were together for a reason.
Today, who do we have that are possibly long-term tag teams? I applaude the WWE for trying harder to make solid tag teams, because we currently have three teams that I would consider real tag teams: The Heart Throbs, MNM, and Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch. I would appreciate Cade and Murdoch more if they had a Tag Team Name, but beggars just cannot be choosers, can they? For the sake of making WWE look good, I’ll add Hurricane and Rosey to the mix, although I think when their tag team run is over, Rosey and Hurricane might find themselves on the bad side of a roster cut. I wanted to try and give you a reason why the tag team division is in as much trouble as the Cruiserweights and Womens Divisions, but the tag teams are getting a bit stronger right now, and there’s less “throwing two people together for the sake of another tag team”. We had that a lot for the past three years, so if they can work on better tag teams like they are right now, I won’t mind the odd “throw-together” tag team every now and then.
It leaves us in a dilemma, though. Not everyone can be Batista or John Cena. Heck, I don’t think we’ll ever see Trish Stratus as World Champion, and it’s not likely you’ll see Paul London in the World Title picture, either. So, the truly talented from the Divas and Cruiserweights need their divisions. I hate it that many of these women and Cruiserweights are probably focusing more on the fact that they could have a better career in TNA. It shouldn’t be that way at all. WWE should be making an effort to work on these two divisions. Has there been progress recently? In a way, I suppose. In WWE’s own way probably sounds better, and explains more. Firing some of the top Cruiserweights was not beneficial in any way, and moving one Cruiserweight to Raw, and leaving two others there didn’t help matters much, either. The Womens division is all but dead, and the main focus is off talent completely.
The question is no longer “What can be done to save these divisions?”. It’s really “How much time do these divisions have left?”. I think there is very little concern for either division. For the divas, there is a much larger focus on skin from the eye candy, rather than the talent. For a small portion of us, seeing Torrie stripped down to her underwear just doesn’t really cut it. We have to remember that a far larger portion of the WWE audience gets great joy in seeing Torrie with barely anything on for the 1000th time.
The same can really be said for the Cruiserweights, in a sense. People enjoy seeing the high-risk moves performed by these guys, but at the same time, they don’t really care who the Cruiserweight champion is, do they? Sure, you can partially blame WWE’s lack of ability to push the division, and push a real solid Cruiserweight, but there’s also far less eyes anticipating the Cruiserweights than those anticipating Batista or John Cena, and even less of that audience gives a damn about who’s champion this month. It’s all a matter of pleasing the larger demographics, I guess. For every guy who wants to see Paul London take on Nunzio, there’s about twenty guys eagerly awaiting Batista vs. JBL. It’s a number I pulled out of the air, that is probably far from accurate, but as always, it proves my point.
I suppose the titles are only there as souvenirs to whoever wins them by chance. In the very end, the Cruiserweight division and the Womens division are alive and well. They are thriving, and they are surviving. They got their share of talent, and their share of the audience. What really is near-extinction are the Womens Title, as well as the Cruiserweights Title. While we don’t see the Eye Candy as true Divas, in the WWE’s eyes and in the majority’s eyes, they are the Womens division. Same goes for the Cruiserweights, who put on damn good matches, moreso than win their own. Championship. I don’t think you’ll be seeing the end of either title anytime soon, but the dignity and prestige is long gone from either championship. It’s a sad state of affairs, that can be blamed on both a lack of promotion and a lack of interest, but working to rebuild either championship would take more than one little columnist’s thoughts and ideas. It would take the company itself to work on a long-term plan, and it’s very apparent that their intentions and their focus is on other things besides the Womens and Cruiserweight titles.
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