Lance Storm Criticizes Presentation of Divas Revolution, Explains Why Brooklyn Crowd Booed Match

Former WWE, WCW, and ECW star Lance Storm has a respected mind for the business, so when he offers thoughts on the current state of the product, one should probably open their ears and listen up.

In a recent Q&A session over at StormWrestling.com, Storm discussed WWE’s Divas Revolution, and how WWE’s booking may lead to its early demise. He also mentioned the negative reaction the women received this past Monday night on “Raw,” and why the WWE Universe was essentially told to react poorly to their match before it even began:

Q: I’ve heard two schools of thought on the divas revolution. One, that it’s a dud and the same formula with different faces, and second, that it’s a proverbial “slow burn” and it will get there in due time. Your thoughts?

“Before I get into my thoughts on what they are doing let me first state that I am a big fan and supporter of women’s wrestling and have a great deal of respect for many of the women involved in the “Divas revolution”. For the most part I think the Divas Revolution is being screwed and unless they change the way it is being presented it will fail, or at least not succeed to the level it could or more importantly should…”

“In NXT they are women wrestlers, they are competing for the NXT Women’s Championship; a title belt that looks credible (actually better than the Men’s Title in my opinion) and therefore can be respected. We were never told that the women were going to be taken seriously or that they were going to have good matches and be respected. They were just presented on the show in a respectable light, allowed to focus on competing to be a champion, and given enough time to do a good job if they were able. The women worked hard, had good matches, were given good angles, and fans started to care, and they got over. It was in a sense Organic.”

The Brooklyn Reaction

“When the crowd on RAW in Brooklyn turned on the women’s match it wasn’t the fault of the crowd nor the fault of the women, it was the way it was presented. In the promo to set up the match Nikki Bella actually said that wins and losses didn’t matter and that these muti-diva matches are pointless. She said the only thing that mattered was the Diva’s Title and how she will soon be the longest reigning Diva’s Champ of all time. How can anyone be surprised or angry that the crowd gave up on the match that followed when they were flat out told before it started that it didn’t matter? Furthermore how can we care about Nikki’s long title reign when I doubt anyone even remember the last time she defended it?”

“I do remember both Sasha and Charlotte making Nikki tap out to win tag matches, a fact that wasn’t focus on, nor did it earn them a title match. To get this thing over you have to completely overhaul the way in which it is presented, like they did in NXT. You must focus on each woman in turn with a constant focus on the Championship. Unfortunately because they also have to focus on and promote Total Divas, they have to focus on a large group of women, in particularly the Bellas, so this may be impossible. The Bellas have improved a ton over the last couple years and they are more than capable of having good matches, but in my opinion as long as they are being focused on, this will never feel new.”

To read the Q&A in its entirety, click here.

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