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Down Right Diva!
17 Plays3 months ago
Join the Queens in their season 2 premiere, as they talk about what's in store for Queens Ring Podcast, and the Diva's Era of WWE.
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Transcript
Introduction and Season Two Announcement
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Queens of Rain podcast, where we celebrate the past, the present, and the future of professional wrestling. We're your hosts, Charity and Kari, your go-to duo. And on today's episode, we're diving into season two and the Divas era. Yes, we are on season two. How high at you girls? How low? No, we are very excited. We took a little two month break, kind of,
00:00:28
Speaker
Spent time with family and do some other things you want to do.
Break, Rebranding, and Future Plans
00:00:31
Speaker
And now we're back for season two. Bigger, better, better. Do your hair make. Okay. so Yes, it was. And you know, the amount of love and like check-ins we got throughout us.
00:00:47
Speaker
taking this break i was like no wait a minute so y'all was really messing with the queen yes asking you guys okay no we're good we're good we're good we're just taking a step back rebranding kind of figuring out what direction we want to go in next um so yeah very excited for season two what can y'all expect oh Okay.
00:01:11
Speaker
2025, I can already tell it's gonna be a movie. We're doing a lot of things different. We're hoping to fully release merch. Yes. Have guests on the podcast. Yeah. This year, we're gonna have interviews, guests, you know, from from refs to actual wrestlers to makeup artists even the people that are doing the videos and the photography out the ring um and luckily for us we have quite a bit of connections um especially in the pacific northwest so we hope to kind of dive into this territory a little bit more kind of give you more indie besides you know our love for the bigger names so yeah i mean it's no secret we have a relationship with sos so but we are tapping in in to
00:02:04
Speaker
other indies around the state of washington or again that's just the start okay yes so be stay tuned for those and for you know deeper episodes almost an um said ever so and that's the first 2020 ever so um Deeper episodes, you know, we kind of reformatted and so you'll see that and the rebrand on social media, ah the way we're doing the episodes, how we we're presenting ourselves.
Kurt Angle Interview and Chris Van Vliet Praise
00:02:35
Speaker
So 2025, be good to us, please. As you should. Now.
00:02:41
Speaker
before we actually get deep diving into the Davis era okay we got a headline for this week to discuss and that is Kurt Angle's interview with Chris Van Vliet yeah the Kurt Angle interview was a little crazy i think what we want to talk about most is or why we grabbed the headline uh was his story about Rikishi um Kurt talks about how if You upset Rikishi. He retaliates. Kurt was facing Rikishi on a televised show, by the way. And before the match, I guess Rikishi went to the bathroom, did not wipe, and so when he went to do the stink face on Kurt, you can only imagine what he had to go through. Mmm, nudges. I can't imagine.
00:03:38
Speaker
disgusting that's first of all so gross very unhygienic especially during a time where there's a lot of blood going on so i'm assuming they have to do like tests things like that cleaning up blah blah blah so to have someone not wipe poop it like curt said that it smelled really bad yeah yeah he did say that i was like i can't even imagine why like why would you do and and it had to have been such a reoccurring thing for him to be like, oh yeah, if you made Rikishi mad, that's what he does. What? Where do you draw the line? Because where do you draw the line and that? That's disgusting. Just disgusting. You're not doing that to me. curt I would say Kurt laughed it off and whatnot, but like, nah. No, I'm not laughing at all. It's like, what is wrong with you? So gross. But it was a good end interview if you haven't seen it. You should go watch it.
00:04:34
Speaker
I think I really like Chris's interviews with the wrestlers because he asks them important questions, but also questions that other people don't. I feel like his interviews really go deep into wrestlers' lives and he gets honest answers and reactions. So I really like his interviews. I would say whenever Carrie told me about this interview, just off of his interview with Kurt, I liked his channel. I went and was like looking at these other ones that he did.
00:05:03
Speaker
And it's like he's not asking those questions to be negative or to attack. Like he's genuinely wanting to know and care about them.
The Divas Era: Beauty vs. Skills
00:05:12
Speaker
You know, they are people. So getting them, getting them on a deeper level is actually like, that's, I mean, that's kind of nice. I'm a deep person. Definitely in depth. And yet it's kind of like, kind of what we want to do. So I feel like If you haven't seen it, go watch it, follow Chris, all of that. So we'll deep dive into the Divas Era. I guess it is time to transition into what this episode is all about. And that is the Divas Era of the movie. So the Divas Era started in the early 2000s and it kind of lasted until around 2015. We were graced with the
00:05:50
Speaker
multitude of talented females, interesting storylines. This era was kind of where women in WWE were generally pushed to the side and considered background, kind of background noise were not essential to the company. And instead of nurturing women,
00:06:05
Speaker
like they should have been doing. There was a heavy focus on their appearance and segments during that time and matches were criticized for you know being too short. ah Especially segments. and Why are we having these non-important nonsense segments that don't really help aid in the evolution of the women's division. So today we're kind of going to be discussing the good, the bad, the ugly of the Divas era and how it led to women's wrestling today. Yeah. So first, what was Divas era? So the rise of the quote unquote Diva began when WWE started to market their female talent with their beauty, glamour, and sexuality over their wrestling skills. Carrie kind of mentioned that. And again, we're going to dive deeper into that.
00:06:56
Speaker
So wwe WWE began to recruit women from other industries, such as models, fitness competitors, and act actresses, rather than from wrestling schools. Again, that's going all into looks. Yeah. Clearly. Right. Off the lead into less emphasis on in-ring ability. Let's kind of dive into influential divas of that era.
00:07:25
Speaker
as always as we did last year if we say someone or don't say someone mind your business make your own podcast leave us alone i didn't say all that but but we know there's a lot of divas there's so many divas that came that were there that were gone that were we know but so we're just naming key divas we just chose a few Yeah. And then, of course, we'll have our honorable mentions. So yeah, let's kind of jump into that. I would say, actually, a key diva is Tori Wilson. I love Tori Wilson. I love when Jiwi come out with her little dog. With her little dog in her entrance. I thought it was so cute. and But Tori helped shape early 2000s WWE.
00:08:24
Speaker
You know, at that time, the division was still evolving. I feel like there was not a lot of expectation at that time for women and women's wrestling. And Tori was a part of the models in that era that came into WWE. And, you know, they thought that bringing in people from other places would kind of broaden their fan base. And you know, maybe they were correct. We don't know.
00:08:52
Speaker
I personally don't know. I was a child at that time. I don't have to know what's happening. I was even younger. Exactly. So we don't know what it brought. Tori had an undeniable charisma, you know, she, which ultimately her bubbly personality made her one of the staples and most recognizable faces in the company.
Influential Divas and Their Legacy
00:09:15
Speaker
Though she was, you know,
00:09:19
Speaker
a model turned ballet. She showed off her versatility in storylines and later put in work for several matches. I feel like one of the storylines, or key storylines, obviously, which we've mentioned last year in one of those episodes called Season One, is her storyline with, what's her face? Oh my god, now her name's escaping me. The one about her dad. A crazy one where where the girl,
00:09:49
Speaker
What is her name? Why is it not coming to me either? Well, I cannot think of her name for some, I just saw her face yesterday, I was looking at so too. But the storyline where the other diva was in a relationship with her father, they got married, her father died, like there was a funeral, it was insane. I think that was on one of the things that, one of the episodes where we were talking about insane storylines.
00:10:18
Speaker
it was that was on there that was crazy ah but even that crazy storyline kind of cemented her into you know more storylines and even though it that was a really bad storyline at least it was an in-depth storyline that kind of put her on the map you know she later as i said she worked hard to be in to turn herself from model to valet to actually getting in the ring and that hard work led her to being involved in tag team matches, mixed tag team matches, and even her own single matches. Though she may not be like considered a part of the eventual women's revolution, she definitely helped bridge the gap and open the door for women like Trish and Mickey to be able to be in those other matches, to have those other storylines. And I think she also, when SmackDown first started, because SmackDown came after Raw in the 2000s,
00:11:16
Speaker
She was their main diva. So she helped aid in the growth of SmackDown as well. So put respect on Tori Wilson. She is also a Hall of Famer, I believe so. Yeah, think I I mean, what's the episode without singing? You know what?
00:11:43
Speaker
we We always have a little fond fun fun. We always sing in something. Yeah, so the first diva I'm gonna talk about is personally one of my favorites, Michelle McCool. Okay, she actually debuted from the Divas competition. Yes. Or Diva Search. Yeah. So then evolved from like the fitness, which I'm all fitness competitors. And then she was a teacher and then just went to this like ruthless heel. That woman is beautiful. I completely forgot about the teacher angle.
00:12:16
Speaker
i yeah it's I see it now with her little ruler. yes I see it, I see it, I see it. But again, she had the more technical type of wrestling that really like brought out the whole, oh, women are not only looks. She's beautiful indeed. But okay, but she's also tough now. she'll flunk yeah yeah
00:12:45
Speaker
So she was the first the inaugural WWE Divas champion. So i give her her flowers, okay? And that happened, of course, in 2008. So she made history by that. And she's the first woman to win both the Divas champion and WWE Women's champion, which helped, of course, legitimize the Divas division. And if you don't know, you should know,
00:13:13
Speaker
She was one half of like, cool. Tag team partner was Layla and they were also like one of the most memorable tag teams. Though there was no tag team championships at the time. I feel like if had there been one, oh, they definitely would have had some tag team championships. Exactly. So she, she had many single feuds and tag team feuds.
00:13:40
Speaker
She also, Carrie was mentioning about the mixed tag team matches. She also had a mixed tag team match against Victoria and Kenny Dykstra. Oh, I see, I could never pronounce. But he she teamed up with Chuck Palumbo. Oh yeah, I remember that one. Yes, we sure do. And she fell out with Layla over, you know, regular friendship, bitter bitterness type stuff. And following that fallout, Layla and her had a match and the loser leaves WWE. So that unfortunately Michelle McCool ended up leaving. But I believe it was like something like dealing with her back or something. So they kind of just made that storyline like that kind of helped her retire from WWE. And she fought her last match in 2011. And unfortunately, That was the last of Michelle McCool, besides her comeback appearances where I rumble. You know, I was talking about how Tori Wilson helped bridge the gap and open doors for women like Trish and Mickey James. So it's only fitting that we talk about Mickey James. So not only did Mickey excel in the ring, she's a great athlete, a great wrestler, but Mickey's rivalry with Trish Stratus could be considered a key moment in the era.
00:15:02
Speaker
You know, it offered something more story-driven. Mickey's, you know, crazy, crazy chick, obsessed fan, storyline. Like it was more the one-dimensional. So I think that definitely helped and was a great story if not the storyline that we kind of got to see.
00:15:20
Speaker
more from the Divas. Miki debuted in 2005 and her work with Trish Stratus, Leda and Beth Phoenix and others helped elevate women's wrestling during an era when matches were often more about spectacle, more about flaunting women than actually being able to enjoy their talent and see their talent and watching it thrive and grow.
00:15:46
Speaker
Um, Nikki won the WWE Women's Championship several times. And even when the Divas era ended, she remained consistent in not only WWE, but the world of wrestling in general. For years, like that's kind of, I wouldn't say it's, I would say it's hard to do because you don't think of a lot of wrestlers who have general, like literally generations behind them.
00:16:11
Speaker
eras behind them and she's even, you know, still influencing today as she is regarded as one of the women who helped pave the way for more technical and athletic women like Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair and Tiffany. So moving on, we talk about insane storylines as in the Divas era, flaunting everything about a woman. There's a lady here
00:16:43
Speaker
a
00:16:46
Speaker
was that ranch
00:16:51
Speaker
message
00:16:56
Speaker
Okay, so this diva she actually was one of the main ones if we're talking like insane storylines Trish Stratus Y'all the main storyline, the main insane storyline that anybody, if you really watch wrestling during that time, they have to talk about is the bark like a dog storyline. Just straight disgusting. Trish joined WWE in 2000 and she was the fitness model.
00:17:28
Speaker
and Not even like going off of just a fitness model, she ended up growing into one of the most beloved and powerful women wrestlers breaking barriers that were limited for the women around that time. And during her time in the Divas era, she won the WWE Women's Championship, a record setting. Let me repeat that, a record setting of seven times.
00:17:54
Speaker
So not only was she a pretty face, Trish could go head to head with any male or female wrestler. So many of her matches left those great impressions. The main feud and match that of course any wrestling lover had to talk about or do remember that first broke the woman's barriers is Lita versus Trish. They took the women's division to like new heights with that match and they were best friends. I mean they're still friends in real life but during the storylines and stuff, they that friendship was deaded. So Trish remains a trailblazer and a true icon of the deepest era. Okay, I feel like everyone that we're talking about is connected because I'm gonna talk about Lita.
00:18:38
Speaker
ah One of the most iconic figures I think in WWE history, even between both men and women, you know, she really stood out during this time by breaking barriers and taking risks, especially with her Lucha style wrestling.
00:18:54
Speaker
The other women were not doing that. You know, a game changer in the business, she helped change how the WWE ends. The wrestling world viewed women's wrestling at a time when many other women on the roster were more focused on beauty or acting as outlays. Lita brought out a Daredevil-like style to the ring. You know, she became revolutionary for the division. it She's a four-time women's champion.
00:19:18
Speaker
Yeah, a Hall of Fame.
Struggles and Criticisms of the Divas Era
00:19:20
Speaker
And I feel like because of Lita, because of Trish, even because of, you know, the other divas, what they did led to fans wanting more from the women's division and other female wrestlers wanting more. Her contributions to iconic matches and storylines helped elevate the division and how it was perceived. And that's Lita now.
00:19:40
Speaker
period we're gonna go to a diva that is known as quote-unquote the crazy one though she didn't start that way so AJ Lee she I think is one of the most popular and influential divas not even only in the divas era but just her whole career and then even to this day everybody wants AJ Lee man the royal speaking of the royal rumble everybody expected her to come back but that's the whole that's the whole of the story so her anti-debra persona impacted the wrestling world because she embraced her nerdy, quirky, and unapologetically bold side, giving the fans like a new icon to root for. She didn't conform to beauty
00:20:24
Speaker
and conventional femininity. She won her first Divas championship in 2012 and then she went on to win it two more times, tying with Eve Torres for the most reigns. And in 2014, which is like going towards the end of the Divas era, she broke the record to become the longest reigning Divas champion at a record setting of 295 days.
00:20:48
Speaker
She had two more memorable feuds in this era, one with Caitlyn and then the quote-unquote love triangle that she had with Deanna Bryan and C.M. Punk. So, AJ Lee and Caitlyn's feud, it was built off of real-life friendship that turned into a bitter betrayal. And one of the most memorable moments in their rivalry was the 2013 TLC, where AJ successfully defended her title against Caitlyn, solidifying herself as one of the most dominant women in WWE. And that's AJ, she's just dominant. Honorable mentions, say Melina, Beth Phoenix, Nikki Bella, Natalya, Ephora, Layla, Candace Michelle, Stacey Keebler, Molly Ollie, Kelly Kelly, and Victoria. I guess you could say Brie Bella. Yeah, Brie Bella, too. You know, there are probably other honorable mentions that we can say, but we didn't, so you say that. Yeah. If we're missing somebody that she wouldn't hear. We said we were going to talk about the good, we're going to talk about the bad. So let's kind of talk about some struggles, some criticisms that were a part of the Divas era. We mentioned they definitely didn't utilize their talent in WWE and probably it just in women's wrestling in general.
00:22:02
Speaker
um Despite having a deep roster, WAB often read ah relegated their women to brief matches or bathroom breaks, as the audience would call the matches, um along with meaningless segments and stereotypical roles. These short and superficial matches gave women like Victoria or Jazz or Alicia Fox limited opportunities to showcase their full inner ability and we know they have in-ring ability going out for that another
00:22:35
Speaker
struggle for the divas in that era with the lack of storylines. So the lack of those substantial storylines often hurt our female wrestlers making it difficult for the fans to take them seriously in the ring. So instead divas were seen in soap opera like storylines rather than legitimate rivalries and going for gold.
00:23:00
Speaker
And, you know, another thing that was criticized in the Diva's era was the overt sexualization. Leaning into, you know, sexualization of women, the Diva's era relied heavily on negative stereotypes about women in wrestling, with matches like the Braun Panis match, pillow fights, and wet and wild matches being staples for showcasing the women wrestlers.
00:23:29
Speaker
and storylines that often led to women kissing women for male gratification. Garbaggio. Swivel! Swivel!
00:23:50
Speaker
that's ah That's a new word about RZR.
00:23:57
Speaker
Um, you know, other matches didn't really help. There were like the bikini contests. Yeah. A paddle on the pole match, which I mean kind of speaks for itself. You have to get the paddle off the pole. You win. You spank the other person. So we clearly know what that was made for. We ain't dumb. And kind of anything that involves mud. We know. Like we're not dumb. Um, you know, the diva search is also another great example.
00:24:26
Speaker
all the things they had to do in the diva search and as we mentioned already when we talked about trish or having to bark like a dog or kiss vince mcmahon in front of his wife in a wheelchair like which we said his wife on a previous episode his wife was also in on that she was in on that we saw we saw that in the documentary yeah she was in on it and she was helping like telling her what to do like yeah go for it do this like that link y'all crusties
00:24:57
Speaker
so So going into the legacy or the impact of the era. The Divas era, with even with all its criticisms, laid the groundwork for women's wrestling today. And though WWE focused mostly on the showcasing of the women talent as eye candy, it did help establish women as the significant part of WWE programming.
00:25:22
Speaker
So some stars were able to break away from being more than eye candy, for instance, Lita and Trish, and were able to showcase what they could do in the ring, laying the foundation for today's Martin Stars. And in 2015, we would drop the word diva, and the female talent would now become the women's division.
00:25:41
Speaker
The hashtag Give Divas a Chance started trending and thus led us to the women's revolution, ultimately changing women's wrestling in the company forever. Fast forward to today and we've had the first ever women's Royal Rumble, first ever women's pay-per-view. Period. The first ever Hell in a Cell and women have headlined WrestleMania. Yes, and we love to see it. And we love to see it. And now...
00:26:10
Speaker
But like I would always say lo when we talk about that or anything with the Divas era and like just the hashtag, a hashtag literally made a change, like made the company make a difference. it To me, it should not have been a hashtag. but props to whoever gained the hash. They deserve a lot of credit for real for that. Cause that's crazy. And the power of social
Excitement for Women's Royal Rumble and NXT
00:26:35
Speaker
media. Like if we had social media back in the early 2000s, y'all would not have been doing behalf the stuff that you put the deepest in your heart. So women in professional wrestling have endured a lot and gone through, you know, extreme lengths to be able to showcase that women do belong in the sport of professional wrestling.
00:26:55
Speaker
The Divas era paved the way for women's evolution and elevated women's wrestling to pop culture and reality television, as we've seen with Little Divas, Charity's favorite show. i'm One of them. And we cannot forget to thank those who came before us and paved the way so that we can enjoy women's wrestling as it is today. And we do enjoy it, okay? We love women's wrestling and Royal Rumble was yesterday and we were like, why is the women's Royal Rumble first? Yeah. We want to see them.
00:27:25
Speaker
We want to see theirs more than we want to see. What? Exactly. And his usual day eight. Indeed, okay. And then, I mean, I know we talked about it even there, but we brought the Roy Rumbles. So it's only right that we talk about how Lash and Jayla came in there showing out, okay? Roxanne was there too, but... Yeah, she was. But we...
00:27:54
Speaker
But yeah, the women of NXT showed up. They showed out. Yeah. They did the thing. They did really good. Were there any, there weren't any men from NXT in there, was there? I don't think so. I don't think so, so there you have it. Everybody was wanting Tricked to come in, though. Well, he was in there for five seconds, because Rontavious is not playing, so. I think that's gonna conclude our first episode about for season two. Season two, we said. So, you know, make sure you join us next week as we discuss the women of NXT. A good segue there. Charity, where can the people find you? You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at liveinlavish with Lonnie. And you guys,
00:28:52
Speaker
can find me on Instagram and TikTok at CarrieVicious. Thank you for stepping into the ring with us this week and hanging with you girls. Make sure to like and subscribe for more exciting episodes every Wednesday and head over to our Instagram and TikTok queens ring podcast. We love to interact with the wrestling community. So do not be shy. Don't be shy.
00:29:21
Speaker
Until then, keep your