Victoria is certainly among the greatest women's wrestlers the WWE has seen and will ever see. There was a time, not all that long ago, that I thought women's wrestling would actually be relevant. Victoria is the last lynchpin of that era, which included Trish Stratus (the greatest ever,) Lita, Molly Holly, Ivory, Jazz and even Gail Kim, who got booed out of the building on RAW so badly for botching her running-up-the-turnbuckle armdrag and was rail out of town on a rail almost immediately after only to revolutionize the Women's Division in TNA. These girls are all attractive (well, maybe except Jazz) and they certainly could all perform in the ring. Victoria and Trish were involved in the first Women's Hardcore match, for crying out loud, while Lita and Trish actually had a MAIN EVENT on RAW for the Women's Title with The Rock as the special guest referee.
Yet, Victoria's been nothing more than an afterthought for years, even jobbing constantly to Maria. We're supposed to buy that? Seriously? Now, the WWE has taken the easy way out, with their stupid Diva Search competitions, allowing all the cheesecakes and the bunnies move in and then wait for the Playboy call right before Wrestlemania.
I pity Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Nattie Niedhart and Jillian Hall because the girls of Victoria's era should have been enough to pave the way for them, but it hasn't.
Yeah, I LOVE Melina and she has improved a lot in 3 years but she has a ways to go and, hopefully, Maryse can duplicate what Victoria and her era have done. Katie Lea Burchill is awesome and needs a break but isn't getting any, with Kelly Kelly around and even Layla, who can't emote her way out of a paper bag. Jillian is an excellent worker but the ridiculous singing gimmick JUST WON'T END. And, poor Nattie, she's getting jobbed like Victoria already without ever getting the run Victoria used to get.
In the end, Victoria did it all with class. To my knowledge, we never heard her complain about how she was being used and in the end she puts over Michelle McCool, who has her spot because she's blowing the Deadman (note: not "a" Deadman, but "the" Deadman, as in the Undertaker.) Victoria at least deserved some (TV) attention regarding her retirement but, typical WWE, she got none.
Hey, all this and I didn't directly mention Torrie Wilson or Candice Michelle.
Ditto to all your thoughts Daigz. On WWE.com there's a blog from the one and only Trish Stratus who echoes just about all your thoughts (so much I'm sure u stole half of it lol).
Victoria was probably my favorite of the girls (until Trish became a goddess) almost immediatley from the beginning, with a unique character, incredible hotness, and using moves chicks just didn't do at the time. I truly believe WWE started ****ing her character when they started wanting to make her "sexy" instead of just being who she was. And the way they used her to "pave the way" for the "new generation" has just been awful.
IMO the biggest problem with women's wrestling in the WWE other than who's on the roster (Gail can't come back soon enough) is simply that Finlay is an active worker again. And as much as I enjoy him as a performer (at 50 he's still one of the best WWE has), the rib that the huge D-bag Johnny Ace played on him was the best thing that happened to women's wrestling. The way he developed all the girls at the time was truly a mark on just how talented he is, and the quality of women at the time.
You will be missed Victoria, especially the shaking of the ass.
PS. Poor Nattie. It's not her fault she happens to be built like Beth. But noooooo....can't have two similar girls on the roster. And in fairness, I do think Michelle has developed as a performer, but still has a way to go. And thank god they finally realized Candice was nothing but a useless skank
As a side not to this discussion...is anyone else tired of hearing "indy" or "Japanese" fans tell you women like Trish or Victoria could never hang with those types of wrestlers? For example....I keep hearing how Cheerleader Melissa is the greatest female wrestler in America. Yet has anyone seen her have a single good match? And for those not in the know...Cheerleader Melissa is also known as Rasheed Said in TNA. Yeah....she's good....right.
I've never seen Cheerleader Melissa in action, I don't have cable to watch TNA. I've seen TNA before a few times on vacations though. Also I did see the match between Rocka Khan or whatever her name is against Gail Kim. Trish and Victoria was good. We should also thank UPW/OVW for training them too.
It's great to see Victoria (Tara) back at it in the TNA Knockouts Division. At least TNA's got this aspect of their show right. The girls are HOT, HOT, HOT and can actually WRESTLE, WRESTLE, WRESTLE.
The Beautiful People's (with champion Angelina Love, Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne) gimmick is arguable the best gimmick in all of wrestling, not just TNA. Combine them with Tara, Daffney, Taylor Wilde, Cheerleader Melissa (who is Raieha Saeed at the moment) and Roxxi and they blow WWE girls out of the water (no offence to Mickie, Beth Phoenix or Gail Kim.)
And what's even better is Victoria won't have to job to Maria, the Bella twins, Michelle McCool and Candice, even though she's FINALLY gone (don't get me goin' on her...)
I gotta completley disagree with u Daigz, even though we usually share the same thoughts on the Divas. Ever since Gail left TNA, their women's division has been an utter disaster. They went from main eventing, to making Kelly Kelly look like Ric Flair (although the tag match involving Daffney was good at the PPV).
Awesome Kong: A fat bitch who can't sell, hasn't made anyone (including Gail back then) look even decent, and hasn't had a good match since Gail left.
Raisheed Said: Cheerleader Mellissa=awesome. Raisheed=boring promos, little solid looking offense (mostly do to issues with her outfit), and a pretty lame character.
The Beautiful People: Hot yes. Gimmick? Very good. Talented? BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
Taylor: She's an ok wrestler, but got pushed way to hard, way to quick, and didn't really develop. A simple case of "OMG Gail's leaving because we refused to pay her, and we need a top girl now!!" She's gotten better in recent months, but she's no Gail/Melina/Beth Pheonix/Mickie James.
Roxxi: Terrible gimmick (talented wrestler though)...and oh ya...FIRED (i.e. you're using the BP over me? See ya).
ODB: Charismatic, yes. Sloppy as hell? Ditto
Rant over.
PS: To give credit where credit's due...McCool has impressed me in recent months. She's shown some definite improvement in the ring. Granted...she has been working with Gail for 2 months, which makes anyone look good
Nate, never uttered a word about Awesome Kong & ODB. Once Cheerleader Melissa can actually become herself she will be really good-to-awesome. I was merely stating she is in the Knockouts Divison as Raisha. And I never said anything about Roxxis gimmick, either. I just put her over as a good worker. I agree with you on Taylor. She did get pushed too hard, too fast but she is a far cry from an okay wrestler.
And the gimmick is what makes the Beautiful People; from their characters, their music, their charisma, Angelinas mic skills and their longevity in that role which has helped cement themselves. Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne are not that talented yet, but come on, are you trying to tell me that Angelina has not improved immensely just in the last year while Michelle McCool has.
PS: Yeah, McCool has done better recently... but Im still going to run her down in my INSIDER columns.
