WWE Diva Deliberation: Comparing The Divas of Yesterday to the Divas of Today (Part I)

Two of the most popular Divas are equal as seen on this picture from a game from the glitch genre.

     Three years and some months have passed since Trish Stratus, the Golden Girl of WWE, fought the final match of her wrestling career against Lita at Unforgiven 2006. Two months after, Lita retired herself, losing her retirement match against Mickie James.
     After the two female veterans left the company, interest in the Divas division dropped. Trish and Lita are probably the most popular Divas of their time, and Lita's last match was the "passing of the crown" match. Her encounter with Mickie signified the end of an era which some people call the "Golden Era."



     What is the Golden Era? The Golden Era was the time and period where the women's wrestling at WWE was at its highest point. Almost all of the Divas put on entertaining and good matches, and the worst of the bunch came from Smackdown!, where all the eye-candy women went to. But even the eye-candy Divas at the Golden Era were at the same league as the Divas of today. Torrie Wilson, for example, had good matches, and she improved drastically. For reference, search for 'Torrie vs Victoria HEAT 2006' on YouTube.
     I can't really point out a particular year when the Golden Era started, but I'm pretty sure it was somewhere during 2002-2004. However, I can point out the stand-out Divas of these years: Jazz, Jacqueline, Victoria, Ivory, Lita, Molly Holly and by the end of 2004, Trish Stratus. Not only were they great performers, but they were good-looking as well.
    When the Golden Era came to a close at Survivor Series 2006, a new era was born. I don't know what the people call it, but I call it the 'Disappointing Era'. The Disappointing Era gives us 2-5 minutes of airtime for the Divas, and 2 more for entrances. It's very rare that we get more time for the Divas than 7 minutes now, and even more rare that we get promos. It feels all the momentum that the Golden Era gained for the women's division slowly diminished.
    With all that in mind, Trish Stratus and Lita were the most famous Divas to grace the Golden Era. In my opinion, Mickie James and Melina quickly filled in the throne for that until Beth Phoenix and Candice came in the scene. After the unfortunate injury of Candice, the other three divas -- Beth, Mickie & Melina -- were by far, the most popular of the bunch. They eventually went head-to-head in a great match at Judgment Day 2008 (Disappointment Era standards) which culminated in what I think is the last great feud from the Divas: Beth Phoenix vs Melina. After that, I don't know what the hell happened because I didn't follow WWE for a while... until late 2008.
     I have just heard that Trish would have a tag match against Beth Phoenix, so I quickly became interested in WWE again. On the Smackdown side, Maryse and Michelle were feuding over the Divas title. I thought, "Wow! The Divas division is looking great!". Maryse had just won the title off Michelle and the latter turned heel. I thought Mickie James and Michelle McCool took the thrones away from Melina and Beth.
     Then a whole year passed by, and then the "Piggie James" storyline was created. It sparked more attention from the crowds than I thought it would, but hey, the Divas are back on their feet! The successors of Trish and Lita were going at it, and then BOOM! Mickie James is released.
     Anyways, someone had to replace Mickie at the time, and for once, I was baffled on who could be the Ying to McCool's Yang. Was it Layla, her sidekick? Eve, the "female Miz"? Kelly Kelly, probably the most marketable Diva? Alicia Fox, participant of the greatest match in pro wrestling history? Or is the throne Melina's once again?
     Here is my take on who is the Golden Girl of the Disappointing Era, and who the other Divas of today are most similar to from the Golden Era (pictures of current Divas are on the left, and former are on the right):

Alicia Fox & Jacqueline

     One thing they have in common is they are both fierce ladies who can put on good matches (although that's more of Jacqueline). They also have that "bad attitude" and "I'm a tough lady" thing going on. While Alicia shows her fierce attitude during her entrances, Jacqueline shows hers when she's wrestling. Don't you feel like going "Ouch! That's gotta hurt!" every time Jacqueline is competing in a match? Even Ivory said she was stiff! Although more of a personal opinion than anything, but I feel that both of them are underrated workers. Alicia is a great seller, and she isn't given enough credit for that, while Jacqueline is just good all-around, yet she doesn't get mentioned a lot by Diva fans.

Beth Phoenix & Jazz

     ... Duh! Both tough women who are made out to be dominating wrestlers who can inflict lots of pain to someone. Also, both of the ladies have a rag doll of some sort. Beth has Kelly, and Jazz has Trish. I also think both of them can put on good matches with whomever they are fighting against. Both women also competed in matches with "extreme rules." Jazz had a fair share of hardcore moments  during her ECW tenure, and Beth competed in the first-ever Divas' I Quit and Extreme Makeover matches.

Gail Kim & Victoria (well I can't compare Gail to Gail...)

      Both are/were greatly misused in the WWE. They are women's wrestling veterans who are still in the business, and Gail, like Victoria, is being used to make the other Divas look stronger than they are. They are great talents who have held less WWE Women's titles than they do deserve. Oh, and they both also have an awesome finisher. Their fans always have a glimpse of hope that they might win another championship, but shed a tear every time WWE let them down.

Melina & Ivory

     Ivory and Melina share two things: They are both great heels... AND they suck at being faces. Every time Ivory came down to the ring wearing an RTC attire, you always knew you had to boo, and anytime Melina screamed randomly, you had to mute the TV and wished she shut her mouth. Melina was great during her feud with Jilllian at 2006, I thought, and with Torrie at 2005 when she played as a heel. However, both of them were bland faces. I knew Ivory's time in the WWE was nearing its' end when she was a face. The only time Melina shined as a face was during her feud with Beth at 2008, then after that, KABOOM! Also, let's not discredit the fact that both of them are charismatic women, and could wrestle better than most Divas during their times.

Part 2 coming soon...

Diva Fact(-ish) #1: According to pro wrestling-related websites, the inaugural Divas Championship was supposed to be Torrie Wilson! However, she retired at 2008 because of back problems.

Trish and Lita: IGN.com

Candice/Melina/Jazz/Jacqueline/Beth/Alicia: WWE.com

Gail/Mickie: THQ

Ivory: AskMen.com