This year the WWE Divas Championship will be defended at Wrestlemania XXX. The Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship International, named after the Smackdown General Manager who announced it, features every single female wrestler currently on the main roster: AJ Lee (c), Natalya, Alicia Fox, Layla, Nikki and Brie Bella, Naomi and Cameron, Eva Marie, Emma, Summer Rae, Aksana, Rosa Mendes and Tamina.
This big match featuring the entire division may not be as interesting as some would like, but it is progress, as the history of women at Wrestlemania is pretty terrible. The Divas Championship looks like a butterfly tramp stamp, and in its 6 years of existence has never been defended at Wrestlemania.
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The aforementioned reigning champion, AJ Lee (who has held the title for a record-breaking length of time) won the title on June 16, 2013. Her championship reign has not had much in terms of interesting booking, and can basically be defined by two points of interest.
Many months ago, AJ called the rest of the division out, to their faces, calling them plastic and interchangeable. She has said she wants no part in WWE’s reality television program Total Divas, which is a relative success for the E! network. The program, your average scripted reality TV show, currently in its second season, follows the dramatic lives of Natalya, Summer Rae, twins Nikki and Brie Bella and the Funkadactyls, Naomi and Cameron. It has also been used to try and create Divas, introducing us to the misbehaving Eva Marie, and the completely drama-free JoJo (who hasn’t been seen in months). Both the Bellas, Natalya, and Funkadactyl Naomi have relationships with current WWE Superstars, with Nikki Bella dating John Cena, Brie Bella engaged to Daniel Bryan, and Natalya and Naomi are married to Tyson Kidd and Jimmy Uso, respectively. The show blurs the already messy lines between wrestling reality (known as Kayfabe) and actual reality, with superstars and divas often going by their given names, and not their in-ring names.
Since AJ mocked their beloved reality TV show, WWE has used her promo as a means to label her a villain (or ‘heel’ in pro wrestling speak), with the commentators frequently calling AJ jealous of the attention and TV time her competitors have achieved.
AJ’s heel status also has actual roots in her character, being prideful of winning the title belt, tattooing the date she won the title on the back of her neck. AJ has had a couple of bodyguards, formerly Big E, the current Intercontinental Champion, and now Tamina, both of whom helped AJ cheat her way out of a number of title defenses.
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While I personally don’t think this match was booked well, at least it exists and only features wrestlers. In the years we’ve had the Divas title we have seen matches featuring celebrities who can’t wrestle (Snooki and Maria Menounos), and the lamest moment of them all: the 25-Diva battle royal to crown the inaugural (and only) Miss WrestleMania, which was won by Santina Marella (the WWE’s Santino in drag).
In the years before that, things weren’t much better, featuring three women’s matches at Wrestlemania with Playboy branding in their titles (“Playboy BunnyMania Lumberjill Match”, “Playboy Pillow Fight”, and the “Playboy Evening Gown Match”).
Many will use this match as a chance to use the facilities or buy concessions or merch, but in the history of the division, it does matter.
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