This is the fourth, and final, column for Terri Bey on WrestleChat.net.  She has done a few guest columns over the last month and may do more in the future.  Feel free to follow Terri (the biggest Edge fan in the world) on Twitter, @GioPontiFan.

Where Have All the WWE Divas Gone?

I would like to make a formal apology to the WrestleChat.net staff and to you readers for the long wait for my final guest blog. I had to take care of some health and other personal issues, so I ask for forgiveness. It was a situation that could not have been helped.

That being said, I would like to thank Brett Clendaniel, Jr. for allowing me to write these four guest blogs. He is not only a great reporter and webmaster, he is a great friend of mine. It’s an honor to write for him.

Now that I got that out of the way, I will start my final guest blog.

The majority of people have heard the classic song, “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Pete Seeger. The song is a very famous anti-war song talking about how war eliminates the flowers, and eventually the soldiers (a generation) from the earth. There is the famous line, “When will they ever learn?” “When will they ever learn.”

Well with the news of now former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly’s departure from WWE, and former Diva’s and Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix on the way out, it looks to me that the Divas division is going to be full of just models trying to wrestle. Let’s face it, after Phoenix leaves at the end of October, the only diva left that can work a match is going to be Natalya.

Where HAVE all the Divas gone anyway?

I have watched professional wrestling closely for 14 years. Of course, I am learning more about the “old” days, and I still have a lot to learn, and I realize that. However, WWE has had great women wrestling stars like Wendi Richter, the Fabulous Moolah, and Mae Young as wrestlers in its company.

Since I started watching, I saw the rise of two great women wrestlers. One is Lita, and the other is Trish Stratus. I remember when Trish Stratus started out as a valet as part of “T & A.” I am obviously talking about Test (RIP) and Albert (now Tensai). Stratus was not great when she started, but she worked hard and became a top wrestler, and won the Women’s belt 7 times.

Lita was with the Hardy Boyz as Team Extreme. What Lita (4 Time Women’s Champ)brought to the table was her high flying moves. I always found Lita to be a very excited wrestler in the ring. She also after the “Love Triangle” incident became a valet for eventual WWE Hall of Famer Edge later in her career.

Through the last 14 years that I have watched, I have seen WWE hit and miss on WWE Divas. They had the good such as Mickie James, Victoria, and Ivory. They also had the bad such as Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle, Amy Weber, and Christy Hemme. I am not going to comment on Chyna. Let’s say she fell off the deep end.

With that being said, this bunch of Divas would be better than what is passing for a “Diva Division” right now in the WWE. As the song says, “When will they ever learn?”

According to rumor, Triple H wants less emphasis on the Diva division. I’d like to know why he’d want to do that, if true. I don’t know if Hunter who was not a big fan of John Laurinaitis, is mad because Laurinaitis hired a bunch of models for WWE, including Kelly Kelly. I think WWE could have benefited from having the two women that could work a match, Beth and Natalya actually feud.

While Beth was in the midst of her Diva Title reign, WWE did nothing with her. They didn’t even have her feud with Natalya. Now that Beth is on the way out, they FINALLY gave her a match with Natalya, and let Beth win in her own hometown of Buffalo. It did not make sense.

One other thing that didn’t make sense was when Michelle McCool was in WWE, Vince/Creative let McCool dominate. I mean, I liked McCool, but at times I wished that her partner Layla got a chance to show what she could do. After all, they were LayCool. I also thought that McCool was too protected, and she/Creative could have let whichever babyface she was working with get one over on her. When do they ever learn?

I think WWE can have a Diva division if they get women who can work. Fans like ACTUAL WRESTLING. Speaking for myself, I like GOOD WRESTLING and I don’t care about the gender of the wrestler. There is no excuse for WWE not to have wrestlers doing one minute matches because they know the wrestlers (male or female) can’t wrestle out of a paper bag.

I have heard about Sara Del Rey’s signing and Edge’s protege Leah Von Dutch’s tryout with WWE. This does give me some hope.

It also appears that with the departure of the Bella Twins, Kharma, Kelly Kelly, and soon, Beth Phoenix, WWE may not be the ultimate career. The Bellas evidently want to do stuff outside of WWE. Kelly Kelly evidently wanted to do stuff outside of WWE. I don’t know Beth’s plans. I know her boyfriend Edge is going to have neck surgery in November as he said in recent interviews, so I am sure she is going to be tending to him for 3 or 4 months.

We are left with, and I am not including the women wrestlers in FCW, Eve, Layla, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Beth Phoenix (til the end of October), Aksana, A.J., and a couple of others. Some division.

Perhaps the Division should disappear for a time and the remaining divas should be valets until some fresh blood comes in. That is what I would do instead of letting the division rot on the vine.

When will WWE ever learn? When will they ever learn?

Terri Bey
Wrestlechat.net Guest Blogger
[email protected]
Twitter: @GioPontifan
FB: www.facebook.com/TerriBey