Former WWE Writer Reveals More Info About Divas

http://ringbellesonline.com/2012/05/25/divas-frustrated-at-their-lack-of-screen-time/

A lot is discussed about how the WWE Divas feel about the short amount of TV time they are given for wrestling, and even less for angles, interviews and promos – something that we discussed with Kelly Kelly in one of our early Women Of Wrestling Podcasts – and it seems there is some credence to those rumours of what goes on behind the scenes.

A poster over at GameFaqs claims that he was an assistant for the writing team, primarily based at WWE’s facilities in Stamford, CT. He claims that his time with the company was not long – just between September and December of last year – but during that time, he says that he picked up on a number of different issues. Whether they hold any water or not is your decision, but we believe some of the allegations – listed in two posts by Scott Keith here and here – are plausible.

The overlying point is the frustration that the women in WWE have for the short amount of screen time they have to get over – which generally isn’t enough, but they have to make do, though they apparently do not take out their issues on their colleagues:

The biggest complainers are probably the Divas, and rightfully so. They always wish they were getting more TV time and longer matches and I can’t blame them…

The Divas all seem very nice and friendly. I only managed to introduce myself to AJ backstage at Survivor Series. She was sweet and introduced herself as April. Beth [Phoenix], Natalya and Alicia [Fox] walked by me on a few occasions backstage and smiled or nodded professionally.

First off, the abandoned heel turn of Kaitlyn, who was meant to turn on AJ and join Beth Phoenix and Natalya. The angle was even filmed on December 6 for that week’s SmackDown, but never made it to air:

Kaitlyn was supposed to be the third heel diva to join Beth and Natalya in the Divas of Doom. They even went so far as to have her turn on AJ at Smackdown, but due to poor planning the segment was really poorly done. Kaitlyn, Beth and Natalya didn’t really know what to do and it didn’t look good so it was edited out of the show and planned to be re-done the following week. However some other Diva drama came up backstage or whatever [which could be this situation, as Beth was removed from TV for a month], leading to the whole division being kind of in the doghouse in Vince’s mind. Vince ultimately decided there didn’t need to be a third heel diva at all, and broke up Divas of Doom soon after before deciding to push Tamina.

After the end of the Pin-Up Strong gimmick, Natalya was lumbered with a career-killing gimmick, encompassing some “comedy” segments involving her farting at inopportune moments. Apparently she got the gimmick – get this – because the writers liked her.

We used to make fun of Natalya a lot because from what we heard she had kind of an eccentric personality. It was in good fun though and not malicious, but at some point the “Nattie Neidfart” joke came up and we had a good laugh talking about stupid stuff like changing her move to the “shartshooter.” Several weeks later when I was already fired and the story actually made it to TV my jaw dropped and I cracked up. You’d be surprised how much stuff is done just as a rib on people.

As you digest that, here a couple of final tidbits to consider:

There was talks for a long time of Layla returning with an eccentric fashion-centered gimmick in the style of Lady Gaga, but obviously that didn’t happen.

They were considering doing a relationship between a face Diva and a heel superstar. I believe the frontrunner was Kelly Kelly with Wade Barrett, but that never happened.

The coincidence with the Layla story is that FCW Divas Champion Raquel Diaz tweeted a picture yesterday of her new look, and it’s very Gaga-esque, so whatever idea that the current Divas Champion may have had pitched to her as she was getting into ring-shape ahead of her WWE return may have been transferred to Diaz, who is also pitching herself as the “Ultra Diva”. Either it’s just dumb luck or Diaz is working with a second-hand gimmick, but she has an opportunity to make it work either way. After all, Leon White wasn’t the original choice to be Big Van Vader…

Like we said, the person who made all of these claims (who is understandably staying anonymous, as employees are made to agree to certain confidentiality clauses) may be just blowing smoke, but there is a level of plausibility to these revelations. It is up to you whether you believe them or not, but there is a lot of stuff there that seems to make sense.

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Here is more from the source that has to do with some divas:

On NXT:
"NXT is written every week by only two writers, and they pretty much have free reign to do whatever they want, so they had a lot of fun with the whole Maxin/Bateman/Curtis soap opera. I remember people questioning when the season would end. At one point the 100th episode in Las Vegas was supposed to be the end, with Bateman and Maxine getting married, but it kept going after that for some reason.

I don't know much else, but the road team writer that worked on NXT was always praising Bateman, Maxine and Curtis for their talents and enthusiasm. They all loved working together. You gotta remember that although NXT and Superstars are just web shows in America, they do air on TV internationally and actually pull good ratings in some parts of the world."

On Kharma:
"By the time I started Kharma had already left for several months for her pregnancy, so I don't know what they had in mind long term. They were probably playing it by ear and seeing what kind of reaction she got.

I remember hearing about her miscarriage way before it made it to the dirtsheets. Like months before. When we'd try to find out when she'd be back, the answer we'd get would basically be that she's on an indefinite personal leave until further notice."

On male-female violence:
JTG's a good jobber and makes guys look good. But I remember he got in big trouble for pulling Tamina's hair during some random NXT promo. WWE doesn't even want to think about man-on-woman violence on the program.

On feuds within the company:
"Not among wrestlers. I heard that Cena and Rock aren't huge fans of each other, but they're professional about it. Like I've stated before Gewirtz doesn't like Paul Heyman because of some history they have. I hear the Divas all mostly hate each other and are very catty and competitive because Diva TV time is so sparse. Don't know much else."

On any of his ideas that he wished were approved:
"Probably turning Swagger or Miz face. Or bringing up Brad Maddox. I pitched an idea for a love triangle between AJ, Zack Ryder and eventually AJ's "old boyfriend" played by Brad Maddox. This was way before the AJ/Daniel Bryan storyline."

https://divas-knockouts.aforumfree.com/t34723-former-wwe-writer-talks-sheamus-as-next-cena-bryan-vince-storylines-tv-pg-ryder-brodus-etc

^ Has more that has to do with not just divas and has the source of all of this.

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