WWE Raw Review: Why Turning Eve Heel Was a Mistake

On last week's edition of Monday Night Raw, WWE diva Eve Torres emphatically—and abruptly—turned heel.

As the show opened, the former Diva Search winner was seen loudly bragging to The Bella Twins about how she had cruelly used Zack Ryder's feelings for to garner herself more attention and publicity. She went on to proclaim that she, in fact, cared little about the Long Island native or his health status after being viciously attacked by Kane several times over the past few months.

As if this wasn't bad enough, she then announced to Nikki and Brie her nefarious scheme to snag John Cena (who had shared a kiss with her the previous week) gaining herself even more fame and money.

Alas for the scheming diva, she made two mistakes: (1) she confessed her plot in front of a camera, revealing her true colours to the millions of viewers at home (eh, how did she miss a giant camera and production team exactly?) and (2) she didn't realize John Cena was standing approximately three feet away from her as she divulged her sins (how did she miss him too?).

Let's face it: this new Eve may be evil, but she's not too smart. 

Unsurprisingly, Cena (who lost his much-cherished friendship with Zack over his kiss with Eve last week) was not amused, which led into Raw's opening promo in the ring. One of the most ill-judged and tasteless skits in recent times, this consisted mainly of the former WWE champion viciously berating a weeping and desperate Torres with a multitude of crass an degrading insults and encouraging the fans in Minnesota to insultingly chant “Hoeski” at the former diva Search winner. (“Don't get too close to me!” he insisted at one point. “I'm disease free and would like to keep it that way!”)

A fallen, distraught and wholly humiliated Eve was then led away by referees to the loud jeers of the crowd. While the whole thing came out of nowhere (Eve hasn't really displayed any overtly heelish traits in the past few months), it’s understandable why WWE chose to go so suddenly in this direction. It brings some closure to the angle (resolving the Eve/Ryder/Cena love triangle) allows Cena to put this debacle behind him and focus on his upcoming WrestleMania match The Rock. You know, where the real money is.

However, this doesn't mean the decision to turn Eve was a wise one. In fact, it may have one of the biggest mistakes WWE have made with their women's division in recent times (and considering how poorly treated and undercut the divas are, this is really saying something).

Torres, more so than any other women in the company, had the potential to get over hugely as a babyface diva.

Indeed, Torres is a very likable performer: her down-to-earth demeanour and natural charisma led her to win the 2007 Diva Search contest and she has remained steadily over as a face ever since, regardless of how poor her push was or how how shoddily the booking team treated her.

Due to her willingness to improve in the ring and take big bumps, notably being the recipient of a stunning GlamSlam from Beth Phoenix of the top rope at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, she was also earning respect from fans and her fellow wrestlers.

Another thing to note is that, as a face, Eve was also a good role model for all the young girls who follow the product. With her intelligence and quality education (she has a degree in Industrial and Systems engineering from the University of Southern California), strong work ethic and terrific public speaking skills, she stood out from the gaggle of dull generic models the company usually signed.
Regrettably, all this has been lost now as Eve becomes Generic Diva Heel No. 49.

While Torres is an extremely talented performer who will no doubt try her best (as this un-aired promo from last week's SD shows), there is a still a limit to what she can do with such a character. Indeed, this new gimmick isn't even that original. Both The Bella Twins and Aksana have been presented as gold diggers' or heel women up to no good in recent angles.

Eve obnoxiously proclaiming herself to be “too good” for the fans and as someone who would never lower herself to date any of them isn't that impressive either.

Seriously: how many arrogant, vain female heels have we seen in wrestling, anyway? Too many to count.

Summarily, with her bubbly charisma, stunning good looks and in-ring talent, Eve had huge potential as a face diva. As a heel, not too much can be done with her. While we'll have to see how this current Eve arc unfolds at this point it looks like a huge waste of her talents.