BLOG: Why Doing Away with the Term "Diva" Means Nothing

WWE took to WrestleMania to announce a huge change in their current Divas division. In fact there will be no "Divas" Division at all, ever again. Additionally, the Divas Title will be replaced with a new Women's Title. The belt more closely resemble the WWE World Heavyweight Championship currently donned by Roman Reigns. Gone is the familiar pink butterfly symbol that previously decorated the old Divas Title. Gone is any hint of femininity from the new belt. It simply looks like the men's title: only it's smaller, which leads me to my main point. If the goal is to strip the women's division of any and all of its femininity and sexuality, if the goal is to simply make the women's division into another version of the men's division, why give the women a smaller belt? Doesn't the smaller belt scream inferiority, rather than equality? Why have a women's division altogether? If the goal is to see no difference between the sexes and to see complete equality in all aspects of the sexes, then the women should not have their own division at all. They should exclusively compete in the men's division and if they are unable to do so, perhaps they should be replaced....if after all, that is indeed the goal. I'm assuming that with the transition to Women's wrestling, the WWE females will no longer be based around sex appeal, so we should be seeing no more cleavage, no more leg, no more splits in the ring, and a sex-less version of wrestling, which means they'd have to cut 99% of the female roster. It's also great to see WWE being creative and progressive by doing away with the Divas division and replacing it with Women's Wrestling, a term so cutting edge, that it was used for by the WWE for some 60 years prior to the invention of the Divas Division. Additionally, as the WWE transitions into women's wrestling, we should be seeing less attractive women get chances at championships, women that don't exactly fit the Eva Marie/Nikki Bella mold, right? We should see more of women that have simply been passed over, women that have been hidden from the public eye like Marla Hooch in League of Their Own. We should see more Natalya Neidhart and more Tamina Snuka. We should see Karma re-signed to the division and given an actual chance to compete. We should see women with non-traditional body types like Nia Jaxx get a huge push, correct? The skeptic in me sees this for what it is. The WWE is re-branding the division for the sake of re-branding and no legitimate change will occur. The WWE will sell millions of replica Women's Championship belts, millions of Women's wrestling tee shirts, and make a whole lot of money; but, no the idea of change is a ruse. In fact any change that has ever come from women's wrestling hasn't come from corporate at all; but, by the hard work these incredible athletes put into their craft. Sadly, in 2016, Female wrestlers will still be more valued by how beautiful they are than by their actual in-ring ability, which is why we just saw Eva Marie called up to the main roster and not Bayley, a far superior in-ring talent. Women will still move sexually and provocatively before entering the ring. They will still do splits. They will still present themselves as sultry and seductive. They will not compete against male competitors, showing their true equality because corporate won't let them. There will still be awful females that make their way up the company's ladder only on the basis of their looks. There will still be incredible female wrestlers that never do, only on the basis of their looks. Ironically Total "Divas" will continue to air on television. We will all be buffaloed by a simple name change, all misled to believe WWE is progressive, when in reality it is a business that cares about one thing: money. What does doing away with the Divas title do with the generation of girls that grew up wanting to be Divas? Does it tell them that being a Diva was an unworthy pursuit, a pipe dream that they need to grow out of? What does it say about the day in 2010 when the Divas Championship was unified with the Women's Championship. The old WWE Women's Championship did not survive that unification. The Diva's Championship did because it was always a more honest representation of what is expected of a WWE female wrestler. You are expected to be beautiful, at all times without fail. You are expected to interview like a movie starlet and to captivate the imaginations of young female fans who want to be you and young male fans who want to sleep with you. The standards have not and will not change, despite any clever re-branding the WWE tries to do to pull the wool over our eyes. What does the name change say about the long-list of talented Divas Champions? Are we to believe that Michelle McCool was not a talented athlete fully capable of holding any women's championship in the business? What about Beth Phoenix, Micky James, AJ Lee, Paige and the last Divas Champion Charlotte? Are we to believe that those ladies were somehow inferior to today's female wrestlers. Count me as skeptical. While gawking over the new Women's Championship on the WrestleMania Kickoff Show Renee Young spouted, "This looks like an actual championship." While the butterfly clad Divas Championship may not look to be real to Renee Young, it most certainly was and has a rich history. It was pursued and carried proudly by some of the best wrestlers in the world, women who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to the world of sports entertainment. To do away with it in such dismissive and dishonest fashion, is an insult to all of them.