Eva Marie appreciation station

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Mar 29, 2016 12:43:36 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I will say this about Eva. Luchabelle made a good point to me once about how with the Diva's Revolution, It's obviously great to have excellent female wrestlers, but in a company that employs guys like Titus, it's a double standard that every employed woman has to be exceptionally talented to warrant a paycheck, but that same requirement is not made of men. Parity isn't achieved by making it where guys can fall anywhere on the talent spectrum, but only the upper echelon of women should have gainful employment.

On that front, her having a job makes sense. They have had men at around her skill level they kept on payroll. They could find a better diva to replace her, but the same could be said of a number of men. Hopefully I didn't butcher her argument.

Do they really have that many men around the skill level of Eva Marie on the main roster, though? Or at least, on her skill level without something to bridge the talent void. You bring up Titus, but Titus makes up for his shortcomings with his charisma, look, and reckless power to make him a credible athlete that can stand on this show and look like he belongs in the big leagues.

WWE is the number 1 wrestling company in the world with a developmental system that is making a lot of noise, so we should expect, at least from the main roster shows, that everyone top to bottom, male or female, is at least credible, if not "exceptionally talented." (of course, that is a subjective thing to begin with)

On the bright side, Eva's ability to draw heat may be enough to bridge the gap in the same way Titus does with his charisma.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Mar 29, 2016 10:17:00 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

Mar 29, 2016 9:59:14 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Got this from a secondhand source so dunno if this is exactly true but, uh...

But here's the thing about that... Accounting for how tightly directed and scripted the company seems to be, how come the babyfaces didn't instantly embrace her as a returning hero like it's suggested she's "meant to be" here? Paige actively shoved her away, Brie's calling BS in interviews and/or on Twitter... The only one seemingly playing Sting here is poor old Nattie.

She's been on the main roster before and was a heel. She's also spent the last few months being a mega heel. Even on Total Divas, she's somewhat of an outcast. It's possible that the story they are going for is that the babyfaces don't trust this girl that comes out of nowhere to save them only for the new girl to prove her worth and be a crucial part in them winning the match. Thus, Eva is solidified as a "babyface" (in theory, anyway) and the girls all hug to give Brie a nice little WM moment on her way out the door.

It's really not unbelievable or even an unheard of story in wrestling. And it's not like the main roster writers have shown this great attention to detail when it comes to what works in NXT. Most of the disbelief of the report comes from, "these people really can't be that stupid" but they've proven over the past few years that yeah, they kinda CAN be that stupid. Of course, they could totally change the story after the reaction on Raw but it's really not that hard to believe that they would think this super hot chick who they clearly love could be a babyface by saving other faces.

[Rudy Gobert Fadeaway]

Mar 29, 2016 12:43:36 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I will say this about Eva. Luchabelle made a good point to me once about how with the Diva's Revolution, It's obviously great to have excellent female wrestlers, but in a company that employs guys like Titus, it's a double standard that every employed woman has to be exceptionally talented to warrant a paycheck, but that same requirement is not made of men. Parity isn't achieved by making it where guys can fall anywhere on the talent spectrum, but only the upper echelon of women should have gainful employment.

On that front, her having a job makes sense. They have had men at around her skill level they kept on payroll. They could find a better diva to replace her, but the same could be said of a number of men. Hopefully I didn't butcher her argument.

I MISS YOU LuchaBella

[Reflecto]

If you have just one talent in one aspect of the sport that is otherworldly, you can have a career for as long as you want to solely based on that.

Right now, Eva Marie's one otherworldly talent is that the fanbase LOATHES her. Utterly despises her. Makes it to the point where you honestly have to feel for Brie Bella here solely because it's apparent the crowd is going to double-turn that match and her final Wrestlemania moment, if not match, will see her face team booed out of the building, solely because Eva Marie's on the "face" team and the fanbase would literally cheer anyone: Osama bin Laden, Hitler, Roman Reigns- over Eva Marie.

And in the process, it's turned Eva Marie into a terrible wrestler, but as a heel she has started to turn the corner and go from "a face heroine that the crowd boos because they hate Eva Marie and everything she stands for" into "She's utterly worthless in the ring- but she's starting to turn the corner as a character and make these incredible heel reactions work for her instead of against her", which is slowly turning her into a great heel.

If anything, these things make her MORE valuable on the main roster- since it's clear even when they tried revamping the division, they're still falling into the "This diva is suddenly a face/heel even though they weren't last week because REASONS"" trap, and that weakness would put someone like Eva Marie, who could get ANYONE face pops against her, at a huge premium on the main roster.

[G✇JI☈A]

These were posted on the official WWE AUSTRALIA Twitter feed:

Now they might be being ironic. But this feed has one of those "ticks/checks" so it's an official WWE Twitter feed.

[Demented]

FAN Friday has appreciated Eva for a long time now.

[G✇JI☈A]

BTW it was such a big return.. They left it off the Hulu edit.

[r.]

1: It's a work

2: Eva Marie is terrible, Every possible of wrestling she is terrible at.


That is all.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

Everyone except the executives who are hands on with NXT are idiots.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

[mrbananagrabber]

JBL and Cole made some comment about her "not getting a very warm reception."

So you guys hear THOSE boos but not Roman's?

[Deleted]

Mar 29, 2016 12:43:36 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I will say this about Eva. Luchabelle made a good point to me once about how with the Diva's Revolution, It's obviously great to have excellent female wrestlers, but in a company that employs guys like Titus, it's a double standard that every employed woman has to be exceptionally talented to warrant a paycheck, but that same requirement is not made of men. Parity isn't achieved by making it where guys can fall anywhere on the talent spectrum, but only the upper echelon of women should have gainful employment.

On that front, her having a job makes sense. They have had men at around her skill level they kept on payroll. They could find a better diva to replace her, but the same could be said of a number of men. Hopefully I didn't butcher her argument.

It's important to have some low-level wrestlers, male and female, to put people over, fill spots in tag matches, fill spots in 1-on-1 matches so there aren't repeats every week, and pad out the roster so that it doesn't get too thin if people get hurt. In that respect, I think it's pretty important to have people like Eva on the roster (and this isn't even going into the fact that she's a heat magnet and therefore especially useful in the jobber role).

Unfortunately, WWE is very arbitrary regarding who it brands as its top female performers. Great female wrestlers usually get overshadowed by less talented women who have a lesser upside. Most of their popularity is the product of pushing them and putting them on TV, which could be accomplished with anyone. Good wrestling skills on the other hand can't just be manufactured; it takes natural skill refined by years of training and wrestling. Right now, the women's division is in a great place. The de facto top three divas are Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, and Becky and Sasha in particular are both getting over and appear to be viable long-term leaders for the division. Supporting divas include people like Paige, Natalya, Summer, Alicia, Naomi, and yes, Eva (among others). The female roster has a lot of depth and most of the current divas are either reasonably popular, talented in the ring, or both. It would be aggravating if WWE wasted this new environment by pushing someone like Eva ahead of its current top divas, and I sense as though some fans of the division are worried that this will happen. I'm concerned too, but I'm not as concerned as I used to be because almost all of the current divas are at least halfway-decent in the ring, and that's a big improvement over how it once was.

[Reflecto]

Mar 29, 2016 12:43:36 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I will say this about Eva. Luchabelle made a good point to me once about how with the Diva's Revolution, It's obviously great to have excellent female wrestlers, but in a company that employs guys like Titus, it's a double standard that every employed woman has to be exceptionally talented to warrant a paycheck, but that same requirement is not made of men. Parity isn't achieved by making it where guys can fall anywhere on the talent spectrum, but only the upper echelon of women should have gainful employment.

On that front, her having a job makes sense. They have had men at around her skill level they kept on payroll. They could find a better diva to replace her, but the same could be said of a number of men. Hopefully I didn't butcher her argument.

On the contrary, though, Eva Marie also shines a spotlight on the other side of that equation, just due to why she's unpopular.

Eva Marie isn't talented in the least as a wrestler- but her exceptional talent is "even her biggest haters will begrudgingly admit Eva Marie is a very beautiful woman", and so as a result she's getting these opportunities solely because of this as her exceptional talent.

Compare that to the same double standard and the parity is still an issue there, as even people like Titus O'Neil may be similar to Eva Marie in that regard...but yet, there's men who no one would ever consider as having a look like a superstar who make it to the top on their talent alone. Heck, even the parity doesn't happen there, since in many cases, there's also guys who don't have "the look", but are also untalented in the ring running around as well. By contrast, the WWE Divas are a division where even the "exceptionally talented" in ring competitors in WWE also happen to be either beautiful models who crossed over to wrestling...or in the "in-ring" performers' case, WWE aggregating all of the most exceptionally beautiful women from the indy circuit. You'll be lucky to see a women's wrestler who isn't a classic beauty who's a GREAT wrestler in a WWE or NXT ring, let alone a wrestler who's not classically beautiful and who's also as inept in the ring as Eva Marie or Rosa Mendes.

If you're going to use this argument for why Eva Marie succeeds in the Divas' Revolution and its need for parity, you also have to look at the other things that constitute "exceptional talent" in WWE women's wrestling as well.

[SCCB Was Told To Do Steroids]

SHUT UP, TOMS!!!

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

Eva Marie isn't nearly as bad in the ring as some people seem to think she is.

[Ash Kingston]

Mar 30, 2016 11:15:41 GMT -5 mrbananagrabber said:

JBL and Cole made some comment about her "not getting a very warm reception."

So you guys hear THOSE boos but not Roman's?

Man, I don't even think they were referring to the boos, but the general reaction from the other faces.

[percymania]

I got to meet Eva at Axxess!!! She is so purty. The cool part was her whole family was there - husband Jonathan and her parents. It was cool getting to meet them all. They all seemed to be on cloud nine enjoying the whole experience.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Apr 5, 2016 23:32:06 GMT -5 percymania said:

I got to meet Eva at Axxess!!! She is so purty. The cool part was her whole family was there - husband Jonathan and her parents. It was cool getting to meet them all. They all seemed to be on cloud nine enjoying the whole experience.

You got Flat No's autograph?

[LuchaBella]

Mar 29, 2016 23:34:56 GMT -5 Rudy Gobert Fadeaway said:

Mar 29, 2016 12:43:36 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I will say this about Eva. Luchabelle made a good point to me once about how with the Diva's Revolution, It's obviously great to have excellent female wrestlers, but in a company that employs guys like Titus, it's a double standard that every employed woman has to be exceptionally talented to warrant a paycheck, but that same requirement is not made of men. Parity isn't achieved by making it where guys can fall anywhere on the talent spectrum, but only the upper echelon of women should have gainful employment.

On that front, her having a job makes sense. They have had men at around her skill level they kept on payroll. They could find a better diva to replace her, but the same could be said of a number of men. Hopefully I didn't butcher her argument.

I MISS YOU LuchaBella

I've missed you too!!

[Mozenrath]

Apr 5, 2016 23:32:06 GMT -5 percymania said:

I got to meet Eva at Axxess!!! She is so purty. The cool part was her whole family was there - husband Jonathan and her parents. It was cool getting to meet them all. They all seemed to be on cloud nine enjoying the whole experience.

Tamina looking quite pretty there.