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Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unstable"

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#1 · (Edited)
Former Creative Kevin Eck explains the booking of the divas division

Kevin Eck talks about the alignment of the divas, storylines including The Bella's and AJ/Paige and the recent #GiveDivasAChance movement.

When the WWE Universe waged a social media campaign two months ago asking WWE to give Divas a chance, Vince McMahon acknowledged their pleas and said to keep watching.

It was a 30-second Divas tag match on Raw that that sparked the outcry, and since then the women have been given more time in the ring.

What Vince apparently has failed to realized, however, is that to truly give Divas a chance, it's not just about longer matches. Like the men, the women need compelling story lines and clearly defined characters.

In those regards, WWE still has work to do, especially as it pertains to character development.

The combination of AJ Lee's retirement, Page going on hiatus and Naomi turning heel has left WWE with no babyface Divas (unless you count Natalya, who sometimes shows babyface traits but is part of a heel act with WWE Tag Team Champions Tyson Kidd and Cesaro).

To further muddy the Divas landscape, the Bella twins -- whose mean-girls act has made them the top heels in the division -- came across as babyfaces on Raw this past Monday.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the questionable booking. During my time on the WWE creative team, we actually were told that there really are no babyfaces or heels in the Divas division. It was strongly implied that the Divas are all just a bunch of catty chicks, most of whom are mentally unstable.

A perfect example of that philosophy was the booking of the program between AJ and Paige last year. Instead of establishing a babyface and a heel, both characters acted heelish,

Their "frenemies" angle was more confusing than compelling. Thus, the rivalry between one of the most "over" Divas of all time and a heralded newcomer to the main roster wasn't nearly as good as it should have been.

The audience needs someone to root for. It's really not that complicated.

If the idea now is to get fans to cheer the Bellas -- and I'm honestly not sure if that's the case or not -- don't have them just show up on Raw one week acting nicer and wrestling a babyface style. Tell me a story. What circumstance has sparked this change in their personalities?

Speaking of the Bella twins, their reunion last year after Nikki had turned on Brie three months earlier is a textbook example of uninspired and illogical storytelling.

Nikki told Brie that she wished her twin had died in the womb and went on to demean her sister for a month due to a stipulation that made Brie her personal assistant. Yet at Survivor Series, Brie helped Nikki retain her Divas Championship.

Why did Brie do it? We were never given an explanation. That's not only lazy booking, it's also insulting to the audience. My guess is that either Vince himself or someone in creative threw out a cliche about blood being thicker than water, and that was that. Move on.

Here's what I would have done: Remember after Nikki turned heel when she did vignettes in which she talked about things Brie had done to her when they were younger, such as stealing Nikki's prom date and letting Nikki take the blame for a car accident that Brie was in? It came across like Nikki was lying about these events to make Brie look bad.

What if the night after Survivor Series, Brie said, "Everything that Nikki said about me was true. I'm a bitch. I've deserved everything that Nikki has done to me. Now we're even. We're back on the same page, and together we're unstoppable."

Now, as a viewer, I get it. I already disliked Nikki, and now I dislike Brie, too, for fooling me into thinking she was "the good one."

Just one promo could have taken care of a huge, gaping plot hole, but the powers that be apparently felt it wasn't worth the trouble.

Here's an idea for the Nikki vs. Naomi match for Nikki's Divas Championship Sunday at Extreme Rules that would clearly establish Nikki as the babyface and Naomi as the heel:

Before the match takes place, Naomi catches Nikki alone backstage and attacks her from behind, doing a number on Nikki's previously injured knee (announcers can bring forward Nikki's injury history in commentary).

Nikki goes into the match injured, but Naomi relentlessly goes after the bad knee. Nikki puts up a fight and refuses to give up, but eventually can't overcome the injury and loses the title.

To make it even more dramatic, you could have an emotional Brie at ringside cheering on her sister before eventually throwing in the towel to stop the match. Brie then goes to check on Nikki, and Naomi attacks Brie as well.

Now I have a reason to like the Bellas and dislike Naomi. And just to make sure viewers understand that Brie had no ulterior motive for throwing in the towel, Nikki should cut a promo saying that she knows Brie did it out of love and concern for her well-being.

That's how you give Divas a chance.
Source: http://kevineckwrestling.sportsblog...--wwe-needs-to-give-them-better-creative.html
 
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#4 ·
Re: Former Creative Kevin Eck explains the booking of the divas division

And why was this guy let go again?
Most likely because he was one of the few in the back that had logic.
 
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#5 ·
Re: Former Creative Kevin Eck explains the booking of the divas division

Can Vince just go into a Linda McMahon Road to Wrestlemania 17 stupor?

This rampant sexism just makes Stephanie's diet-feminism look even more hollow. I think her definition of feminism is her using her power to emasculate the hard working roster.

Poor divas. I agree that they need better compelling stories. Random face/heel turns, focus on only one diva at a time, Gail Kim booking help no one.

I will however state that I believe heel/face lines should be blurred when you have a great mic worker like AJ. In real life, we don't have the dichotomy of being good or bad. We're human and fallible- sometimes we do good and sometimes we're like Natalya on Total Divas heel.
 
#6 ·
Re: Former Creative Kevin Eck explains the booking of the divas division

so overall you mean booking, storyline and in ring time was bad in front of give divas a chance. your conclusion is that more in ring time is not the full package to give divas a chance. i think you are some kind of true.
i think the noami heel run is a good idea cause usos are not around and so it is ok kayfabe.
i would stay the bellas heel, they can do that especially nikki cause of her in ring and look and - well she has the tools to be a heel. why: nearly every diva and especially new one starts basically good as face for the fans. nice looking female. gotta be face. the heel work is more difficult and maybe for divas division good when done by an established one because of the credability.

(would not call he whore)
 
#7 · (Edited)
Re: Former Creative Kevin Eck explains the booking of the divas division

he has logic but here's the problem.

The Bellas are hot right now. To stop momentum give it to someone who isn't over, in a match that really hasn't created build and it's Chicago is stupid.

The Bellas are on all that media and Muscle and Fitness, and you want to end their momentum? you should be fired. LOLS.

Here's a better one.

Nikki leaves Brie for a bit. Naomi attacks her. Taking Brie away from ringside.

Now I have to like Nikki b/c Naomi fucked up her sister.

Nikki in a hostile Chicago crowd goes Brock on Naomi. Beats her.

Nikki is part of the Authority. This writer's initial story would not go over long term. That's the logic the writer misses.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I do like this story but more for Paige. Which is who needs to be super over. They have their match at next PPV and Naomi can attack her pre-match. And beat Paige clean.

Now Paige has become the star of this story.

While Nikki prepares for next challenger.

Giving a big win to Naomi before Charlotte makes no sense.

Naomi is ok, she's not over. She's not the future. She isn't even really the present.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Re: Former Creative Kevin Eck explains the booking of the divas division

Well, there is no way you can book Nikki Bella to make her a babyface to me but otherwise I agree with the statements.
the only thing he made sense about was how he would have booked the aftermath of the Bellas feud. Which was explained as Brie basically submitting to her sister's approval, because blood is thicker than water. The audience is not suppose to understand family. Family is a pure illogical bond. Your family can be in the worst of situations, end of the day you still love them. Because it's hard to turn on family.

But the Naomi booking. That's just shit. Don't do that. That's a disaster.

This ex. writer thank god he's not working here wants...

- Nikki to walk in w/ injury
- lose to Naomi
- continue story w/ Naomi
- go long for a payoff (NAOMI IS NOT OVER)

ok what does Paige do? wait?


You have one job. Your job is to separate the dominance that Nikki has become, she is not a rookie, she is wiser, she is stronger. You build that up so that the next title match means something. So the next feud the opponent has to take her even more serious. So that the Bella Empire is real.
 
#12 ·
Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unstable"

An article written yesterday on the blog of Kevin Eck, a former member of the WWE's writing staff did shed quite a lot of light on the state of the Division and the parameters of the administrators of creative as far as its handling is concerned.

Kevin Eck said:
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the questionable booking. During my time on the WWE creative team, we actually were told that there really are no babyfaces or heels in the Divas division. It was strongly implied that the Divas are all just a bunch of catty chicks, most of whom are mentally unstable.

A perfect example of that philosophy was the booking of the program between AJ and Paige last year. Instead of establishing a babyface and a heel, both characters acted heelish,

Their "frenemies" angle was more confusing than compelling. Thus, the rivalry between one of the most "over" Divas of all time and a heralded newcomer to the main roster wasn't nearly as good as it should have been.
Read his full musings here if you wish.

http://kevineckwrestling.sportsblog...--wwe-needs-to-give-them-better-creative.html
 
#13 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

Based on what we see on TV, this seems 100% accurate. Especially watching Alicia Fox and Natalya, I swear they flip-flop weekly.

The thing that gets me, though, isn't Steph EVP of Creative? Does she just not give a shit how her gender is portrayed? I guess as long as she's allowed to strut around and be Vince with a boob job, nothing else matters.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

The thing that gets me, though, isn't Steph EVP of Creative? Does she just not give a shit how her gender is portrayed? I guess as long as she's allowed to strut around and be Vince with a boob job, nothing else matters.
What do you expect? Stephanie's always ever only looked out for a herself and her husband so why you think at this point that she'd have the backs of a bunch of women who she probably hates and despises?
 
#14 · (Edited)
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

That's really sad. As per usual, WWE takes something that was once great (AJ's crazy gimmick) and runs it into the ground thinking it'll work for everyone else. NO ONE's been able to pull it off as well as she has since her feud with Kaitlyn. They need to give up on that. Look what happened when they let Nikki be herself: she spit hot fire on the mic. Paige has done her best stuff when she was allowed be all fun and cooky. Just because it works for one person doesn't mean it'll work for everyone else. Natural personalities turned up to 100 have ALWAYS produced the best results.
 
#23 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

That's really sad. As per usual, WWE takes something that was once great (AJ's crazy gimmick) and runs it into the ground thinking it'll work for everyone else. NO ONE's been able to pull it off as well as she has since her feud with Kaitlyn. They need to give up on that. Look what happened when they let Nikki be herself: she spit hot fire on the mic. Paige has done her best stuff when she was allowed be all fun and cooky. Just because it works for one person doesn't mean it'll work for everyone else. Natural personalities turned up to 100 have ALWAYS produced the best results.
This is it exactly, in a nutshell each person is individual, you need to find what's best for them and accent on this, this is how we'll get much better on screen characters.

Look at The Miz for example, people say he's genuinely annoying in real life, and on screen he's probably magnified this in his character, therefore he's playing the best character for him, now try giving Miz some completely different personality and it probably won't work quite as well as an exaggeration of himself does.

They need to find what works best for the individual not copy something that someone else did so well and expect the rest to be able to do the same.
 
#15 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

They should just get rid of the Divas division all together, it causes more harm then good. All givedivasachance did was make us have to sit through 12 minutes of crap rather than 3. All this bad publicity for what?

They should just make the Divas a network exclusive show and give them their own sets of titles.
 
#19 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

They should just get rid of the Divas division all together, it causes more harm then good. All givedivasachance did was make us have to sit through 12 minutes of crap rather than 3. All this bad publicity for what?

The problem is they're giving the wrong Divas exposure. They're trying to push Naomi into the forefront and it's backfiring miserably because she sucks at wrestling and can't execute her own signature moves without botching them.


They should just make the Divas a network exclusive show and give them their own sets of titles.
I'd be ok with this. Send all of the Divas to NXT as far as I'm concerned. Their roster is a bit thin, but the women still steal the show when they're given the spotlight, and most of them would be booked to their strengths. Getting proper treatment on a lesser watched show is better than looking like fools every week on primetime television.
 
#16 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

So is that why AJ acted crazy all of the time?
 
#20 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

The long matches and diva movement sunk after AJ left anyway. They've not done anything in the last 3 weeks we've not seen before.

This also explains the Naomi/Nikki match we're getting that Naomi temporarily turned heel for.

Oh and the fact that New Day are wrestling a heel tag team as well. This whole heel/babyface dynamic is probably seen as "TOO WRASSLIN' FOR MY LIKING!!!" by Vince. He just wants branded 8x10 Superstars who do finishing moves to each other for no reason.
 
#22 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

Well I kept wondering why they never got rid of AJ's crazy gimmick. WWE treats the divas like shit, most are shit in the ring and promo wise so really can't blame them for that. Eva is the only diva that's going to carry the division, I expect everyone else to flop since not even the top TD can make the divas seem worth a damn.

I just wish there could have been a torch passing match with AJ and Eva, with AJ passing the torch to the great diva to ever grace the stage.

:eva2
 
#26 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

Not surprised whatsoever. WWE is transparent as fuck with how they treat their female talent.
 
#27 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

Speaking of the Bella twins, their reunion last year after Nikki had turned on Brie three months earlier is a textbook example of uninspired and illogical storytelling.

Nikki told Brie that she wished her twin had died in the womb and went on to demean her sister for a month due to a stipulation that made Brie her personal assistant. Yet at Survivor Series, Brie helped Nikki retain her Divas Championship.

Why did Brie do it? We were never given an explanation. That's not only lazy booking, it's also insulting to the audience. My guess is that either Vince himself or someone in creative threw out a cliche about blood being thicker than water, and that was that. Move on.
this is refreshing to hear.

so the creative team KNOWS it's shit, but gets overridden by Vince, Steph and Co. anyway.

This company is truly fucked even after Vince dies/retires.
 
#93 · (Edited)
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

this is refreshing to hear.

so the creative team KNOWS it's shit, but gets overridden by Vince, Steph and Co. anyway.

This company is truly fucked even after Vince dies/retires.
Waiting for the copy and paste response from :trips2 saying how this guy from creative didn't understand backstage mechanics like fans who misunderstand how things work.

Ready for Stephanie to say she is a great example of a strong woman character on their programming to defend all of this.

:vince will be far off in a corner quietly saying "WE HEAR YOU GUYS loud and clear" and then continue to wear his sports entertainment goggles.
 
#30 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

"It was strongly implied that the Divas are all just a bunch of catty chicks, most of whom are mentally unstable"

:nowords
I assume that Steph agree with this sexist concept
 
#33 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

Nice to know that the thoughts are that any woman who wants to fight must be fucking crazy in some way. I fucking hate the characterisation in the divas division.
 
#34 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

This really doesn't come as a surprise to me. The Diva's Division has been treated like utter shit for years and sad part is. Vince McMahon and Kevin The Rat Face Dunn don't even give a ounce of fuck at all.
 
#39 ·
Re: Former WWE Creative Member Kevin Eck: "We Were Told There's No Faces/Heels in the Divas Division, They're to Be Portrayed as Catty, Mentally Unsta

Alpha females are catty and mentally unstable.

Get with a real women and you may one day understand that :lel
This is a wrestling forum, everything they've learnt about women they've learnt on the internet. You'd think the majority of women were emotionally stable heroic people who never act bitchy or catty judging by what those nerds on /r/Squardcircle say.

Emotionally unstable women with short tempers is a realistic portrayal tbh, it's just that WWE does it terribly bad.
 
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