Monday Night Raw Review: WWE still does not know what to do with the Divas Division

This week’s Raw could be counted upon as being one of those episodes where nothing new or shocking took place. Predictability surrounded it and in some segments so did the monotony. One thing that stood out was the amount of screen time the divas championship picture got on Raw.

It wasn’t particularly enthralling but did lead to the probability of a Fatal Four Way at Night of Champions. Another point of note was the staredown between AJ and Stephanie which seemed to be a much more promising aspect than the interaction that took place between all of the five women.

Not so Compelling Characters

The biggest disappointment of this segment was Paige’s gimmick. What’s so different about her character? It did not seem like she had a personality of her own. She was most definitely mocking Lee but this imitation should have long gone after she won the Divas Championship. You know, after she seemingly conquered her opponent. She looks like the second AJ instead of being the first Paige.

Nikki Bella, on the other hand, seemed to be getting her words mixed throughout her promos. It looked like she was trying really hard to be compelling but botching a few lines in between. It’s just too awkward to watch the Bellas act out this drama which in the true sense of the word has turned into what soap operas are made of. It looks like every single week, they’re trying to outdo themselves in the Raspberry Award-worthy acting department.

AJ did well with whatever little dialogue she had for herself and even though Stephanie has been phenomenal as a heel, she couldn’t save this segment from being below average.

A Wasted Opportunity

Yes, it was a promising development to see the divas division get so much screen time but the divas like Paige and AJ, who are much better wrestlers than the Bellas and also two of the best wrestlers in the entire division, had nothing much to talk about. The only things that made sense was the injustice faced by AJ who seems to be not getting her title shot in a one on one match against the 22 year old diva.

And Paige made sense too when she uttered the only line given to her, “The only one missing from the divas championship discussion is the bloody divas champion.” I wish she had expressed that one line in a tone not similar to that of AJ’s

It’s like the Bellas have been given the nitty-gritties of the storyline and the actual wrestlers in the discussion were just there to add some credibility. In that very segment, Paige and AJ’s storyline took a backseat to the uninspired performances of the Bella Twins. That isn’t one of the best moves. And if going by the crowd reaction is what WWE uses to determine what’s best for business then this drama between the sisters should be cancelled sooner than later.

Not getting the desired reaction

Immediately after Nikki Bella started speaking, she was greeted with ardent ‘boring’ chants and we could’ve actually heard crickets when both the Bellas were interacting with each other.

It’s easy to not care and just move on but the fact remains that the Divas Division has seen some worse days but it has been picking up some steam since Paige’s debut. The involvement of Stephanie in the Stephanie felt like she was trying to moderate and supervise the performance from getting stale or she was just there to put more attention on it. She got the attention but I don’t think she prevented it from getting stale.

There is no clear indication than this. The WWE should put more attention on divas who can perform well on the mic and in the ring, instead of trying to transform every woman with next to no professional wrestling experience to the next Trish Stratus.