Examining Ways WWE Can Better Showcase Divas Division

If WWE is serious about better utilizing its Divas division, the blueprint to do so is not complicated.

Widen the stage on which the women work. Hand them improved narratives that climax as dramatically as the male-centered ones do. Repeat the success that is unfolding at NXT.

Those are the keys. That's it. The company, though, has to commit to achieving those goals if the Divas division is going to be anything other than a constant source of frustration for fans of women's wrestling.

The conversation about WWE neglecting its female talent has been going on for a long time. The volume of it got louder in the days following Monday's Raw.

On WWE's flagship show, the entire Divas division had a total of 31 seconds of ring time, per ProFightDB.com. Even for a company that routinely asks its women to attempt to tell wrestling stories in two to three minutes, this was startling. In response, fans took to social media.

#GiveDivasAChance trended.

Vince McMahon tweeted that he was aware of the outcry and asked fans to watch, presumably for changes in the division:

It won't take miracle work to elevate the Divas division. It's currently such a throwaway, neglected part of the show that any amount of added focus will improve it. That process starts with ring time.

More Time

The thin slice of airtime that the women get each week has become a running joke. PWMania's Jason Solomon tweets how long the Divas go for each bout, calling it "Divas Stopwatch."

He routinely clocks matches that don't even reach the three-minute mark:

This can't be the norm. Paige, Natalya and company need more time to work with. As Edge once told Brett Buchanan of Alternative Nation, "In 2 minutes, you can't tell a story, you can tell a haiku." 

Allow the women enough time to properly build suspense in a match. Allow them enough space to land more than a few moves. 

That shouldn't be an issue with as many hours of programming as WWE produces each week.

WWE should also designate one of its shows as one that routinely features more Divas action. In addition to having matches on Raw that exceed the five-minute mark, let Main Event be the women's playground.

That show is historically centered around in-ring action. Allow a big chunk of that to go to the women. 

Credit: WWE.com

In time, the fans clamoring for more Divas contests will know that Main Event is the place to see Naomi and Natalya lock horns or to see Emma and Paige rekindle their NXT rivalry.

Those collisions will mean more as well if WWE stops feeling the need to veer away from wrestling tradition when it comes to the Divas division.

Wresting Stories, Not "Diva" Stories

The motivations for wrestlers to bash each other in the head have largely been the same over the years. Pride, revenge and championship aspirations have been the cornerstones for feuds dating back to WWE's inception.

When it comes time for the women to step in the ring, they are too often doing so on the backs of some trite, soap-opera-like angle.

Natalya once wanted to fight Brie Bella because Brie didn't like the painting she gave her as a wedding present. Nikki was angry about Brie asking her to cheat for her on a test in high school.

Paige and AJ Lee's last year was built around the sexual tension and the two girls being "frenemies."

These all sound like the plots of plays written by teenagers, not WWE storylines.

Not once did Steve Austin go looking for a scuffle because someone didn't like his art. Bret Hart and Owen Hart never brought up test-taking. 

They didn't need any of that. They battled based on anger, betrayal and pursuit of power.

WWE needs to give these types of tried-and-true stories to its women.

And the anti-Diva story needs to stop popping up. Again and again, the company has pitted a tough woman against more of a beauty queen in a tale of the former looking to prove that she is different from all her plastic peers.

Beth Phoenix, Kharma, AJ and Paige have all played out that same narrative.

It's time for something new or, more accurately, variations of the standard wrestling angles. It's time to focus more on wrestlers looking to prove themselves, to position themselves into title contention.

When's the last time there was a No. 1 contender's match?  

Build matches around stories that are more reminiscent of the great rivalries of the past. Pit David versus Goliath, good versus evil, the foreigner against the American. Don't feel the need to reinvent the wheel and cover it in glitter for the women.

More intense stories will lead to the need for bigger climaxes.

Then it will make more sense to go to traditional feud-ending stipulations such as Cage matches or Last Man Standing bouts.

WWE has put women in a cage before. TNA has shown that Last Knockout Standing matches (as that company calls them) can work.

And WWE knows that elevating its Divas division can result in excellence. It has already done as much at NXT.

Borrow from NXT

As Bleacher Report's Dan Pecoraro points out, NXT gives its women opportunities, and they often respond by stealing the show:

A big part of that is that NXT women's matches are longer, especially on the live specials. 

ProFightDB.com lists the Fatal 4-Way for the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: Rival going 11: 52, while Paige vs. Nikki at Fastlane ended after 5:35. Not surprisingly, the NXT bout was at least twice as good.

NXT also features more traditional stories.

Bayley and Charlotte's feud was largely about the former looking to prove herself, trying to show the world and the champion that she wasn't just a happy-go-lucky girl but that she was a warrior. Sasha Banks and Charlotte have benefited from the classic friends-turned-foes narrative.

There has been no need to turn to sexual tension and rivals teasing kisses, as Paige did on the main roster.

Beyond that, NXT provides an ideal example of how to showcase the Divas division by featuring better commentary.

Jerry Lawler has toned his act down over the years, but he still spends too much time talking about the women's looks. His peers are guilty of treating Divas matches as less important than the male ones. When the women step into the ring, jokes and Total Divas plugs come flying in, not passion.

Take Paige vs. Brie from January, for example. Michael Cole and John "Bradshaw" Layfield talked about Howard Stern's birthday, Daniel Bryan being back and a contract-signing segment later in the show, and they made sure to mention when the next episode of Total Divas was set to air.

That's not the ideal way of elevating the action going on in the ring. 

At NXT, the members of the announce team do a better job. They are more in awe of the women.

When Banks and Charlotte clashed last December, there was far more focus on the action.

Jason Albert raved when Charlotte powered out of a submission hold: "Look at the strength right here!" Rich Brennan screamed about the pain Banks had to be in when she fell victim to the figure-four leglock.

They amplified the emotion in the ring as commentary should. 

If McMahon wants the next edition of Raw to pacify the fans out there demanding better treatment, he needs to get in Cole's and Layfield's ears. Tell them to emulate Brennan and Albert. 

The chairman then needs to carve out a large portion of the show for the women to perform. 

The Divas need more time in the ring and stories that aren't hackneyed, but most of all, they need the chance fans have demanded they get.