FanPost

Fixing the WWE Divas Division: Month One

WWE.com

In this post, I began to make a case for repairing the WWE Divas division. I set out the rules by which I would play, and opened the door to this adventure with NXT Charlotte's call-up to the main roster. To be fair, I didn't so much open the door as kick it down and shove Charlotte into the spotlight, but, you know. Potato, potahto.

The response was really positive, for the most part, which is great motivation to roll out with my plan. This is how I would book the Divas division to generate more excitement in the fans. Note that this is not the ONLY way to book the division, nor is it necessarily the BEST way, or the way EVERYONE would do it. It is the way I, as a professional screenwriter for television, would come in and write the division.

Before I roll out Month One, I wanted to respond to a couple of concerns:

1) I know Charlotte isn't used to carrying long promos. I don't need her to. I need her to be on for one night. I need her to deliver the promo of her life, and then I'm carrying the vast majority of her storyline in the ring, where she is best.

2) Spoiler alert #1: I am not calling up Sasha or Bayley. NXT needs them, badly. They have to stay there to carry the Danas of the world until there's a better base of talent down there. Sasha, Bayley and Becky are the whole NXT Women's division. They have to stay down there for a little while longer. (How would I book that division? A whole 'nother post, but it ends with Bayley as champion, finally.)

3) I am not permanently tying Charlotte to Ric Flair. I am trying to trade in on his name recognition, primarily because the WWE botched her initial RAW debut so horribly back in December that I'm basically starting her over. She's Flair's daughter - establish that, then move her in the direction I want her to go. So no "woos" in her future. :)

All right. That's enough of that. Let's get down to business. I only have 20 minutes or less per week - basically all of Kane's time. Because in my world, Kane also retires. Like, yesterday.

MONTH ONE

WEEK ONE: MONDAY NIGHT RAW

Notes from the Writers' Room: This is where Charlotte's initial promo with Stephanie McMahon and John Cena takes place. Please go back to the original post if you've forgotten how that all goes down.


WEEK ONE: SMACKDOWN!

Natalya over Naomi with Tamina (6 minutes)

Notes from the Writers' Room: We're going to need a secondary storyline for the division, and Natalya doesn't get nearly enough attention. Putting her into a program with Naomi helps both of them, because Naomi is going to be off the title hunt for the near future, and Natalya needs to get back into the viewers' consciousness. Both of these ladies can carry a standard match, so give them five minutes to work and let them do their stuff. Tamina stays mostly out of this match, although a few extracurriculars after the match will set up next week nicely, so let's encourage that.

END OF WEEK ONE

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WEEK TWO: MONDAY NIGHT RAW

Charlotte over Summer Rae (5 minutes)

Nikki Bella over Alicia Fox (6 minutes)

Notes from the Writers' Room: We're not going to rely on promos to get Charlotte over. That's not going to work. She needs to cut the promo of her life Week 1, and then we're not going to hear from her again for a little while. In the meantime, she's going to start Goldberging the Divas left and right. This one against Summer Rae is scheduled for 5 minutes, but most of that will be spent between an awesome entrance for Charlotte and, in the match, Charlotte toying with Summer, false pinning her several times only to pick her up and keep beating her down. This one ends in a squash pinfall.

We're building the new look for the Divas division around the best talent we have, and at this point, begrudgingly that means Nikki Bella. She is the champ, and she needs to look like a hill to climb by the time this program reaches its climax. She gets six minutes to work with Alicia Fox, although about a minute of that is intros/aftermatch stuff. Nikki beats Alicia pretty convincingly.

On the other side of the commercial:

INT. MONDAY NIGHT RAW - BACKSTAGE (2 minutes)

NIKKI BELLA and BRIE BELLA are walking backstage, talking after the match. They approach the DOOR emblazoned with the DIVAS logo. Nikki tries to open the door, but it's locked.

NIKKI
(confused)
It's locked. Why is it locked?

(Brie pounds on the door, but it remains locked.)

BRIE
(shouting)
Open the door!

(The camera pans slightly to reveal EMMA, standing behind them. She leans between the twins and does a little SECRET KNOCK on the door. It immediately opens. Emma pulls the Divas logo off the door and hands it to Nikki.)

EMMA
(sliding between them)
Sorry. No divas allowed.

(Emma enters the locker room and the door closes behind her. Brie tries the door again, and it is locked. CUT BACK TO RING.)

WEEK TWO: SMACKDOWN!

Naomi with Tamina over Natalya with the Uppercats (6 minutes)

Notes from the Writers' Room: Part two of their ongoing program. Because of the post-match beatdown delivered to Natty last week, Tyson and Cesaro are accompanying her down to ringside this week. Outside interference on both sides, but important here is for Tamina to have herself a good old fashioned Chyna moment where she delivers something kind of brutal looking, probably to Tyson Kidd (since it'll look more realistic). In the end, too much distraction and Naomi steals the win.

END OF WEEK TWO

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WEEK THREE: MONDAY NIGHT RAW

Emma over Brie Bella (8 minutes)

Notes from the Writers' Room: There is a lot going on in this match. First, Emma has to no-sell her own entrance, HARD. It's the last time anyone's going to see her do her dance or hear her plainly terrible theme song. Second, this is an opportunity to re-cement the Bellas as heels; a couple of times of outside interference ought to do the trick. At about four minutes, Charlotte comes down to ringside. Nikki spends the rest of the time trying to stay on the opposite side of the ring from Charlotte. After Emma gets the win, Nikki jumps into the ring to get involved, but Charlotte comes in and forces a standoff. The finish here is lots of jawing from Charlotte and Emma in the ring while Brie and Nikki back up the ramp.

Later in the show:

INT. MONDAY NIGHT RAW. HALLWAY. (3 minutes)

NAOMI and TAMINA SNUKA stand outside a LOCKER ROOM DOOR. On the door, there is a DIVAS LOGO, which has a RED CIRCLE WITH A LINE THROUGH IT over it. Naomi tries the door, but it is locked.

BRIE and NIKKI BELLA walk up and watch Naomi pulling on the door handle, frustrated.

BRIE
Again?

(Naomi and Tamina turn on the Bellas, and square off. Brie puts her hands up in peace.)

NIKKI
Whoa. Calm down.

NAOMI
Oh, I'm calm. You calm down.

BRIE
You calm down.

NAOMI
YOU calm down.

NIKKI
Everyone calm down. We're not here to fight you.

NAOMI
What do you want?

NIKKI
Charlotte and Emma are turning into a problem.

NAOMI
Not our problem.

NIKKI
They're going to BE your problem. They're going to be a problem for
every Diva in the WWE if someone doesn't do something about it.

NAOMI
Then do something about it.

NIKKI
(sighing)
Fine. Whatever. Enjoy your locker room.

(The Bellas leave. Naomi tries the locked door again, looks at Tamina, then over her shoulder at where the Bellas just were as we RETURN TO THE RING.)

Later in the show:

INT. MONDAY NIGHT RAW. AUTHORITY OFFICE. (2 minutes)

STEPHANIE MCMAHON paces angrily back and forth. From off camera, a NERVOUS INTERN appears, carrying a small slip of paper.

STEPHANIE
What are you doing back here? I thought I told you to go find
Charlotte and tell her I want to see her in my office. Now.

INTERN
Yes, Mrs. McMahon. I did. She ... said ... no.

STEPHANIE
She said, "no?!"

INTERN
Yes, ma'am. She said ...
(reads from note)
"Give Divas a chance to talk to you instead of me."

STEPHANIE
What?! Who does she think she is? I am her boss!

INTERN
(quietly)
She said you would say that. She said to tell you ...
(reluctantly, from note)
"If you want to see The Boss, watch NXT, available ... on the
WWE Network for ... only ... $9.99 a month."

(Stephanie glares at the intern for a moment, seething.)

STEPHANIE
(deadly quiet)
Get. Out.

(The intern hightails it out of there as we close in on Stephanie's angry face and then FADE TO COMMERCIAL.)

END OF WEEK THREE

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WEEK FOUR: MONDAY NIGHT RAW

Charlotte and Emma over Brie Bella and Nikki Bella (15 minutes)

Notes from the Writers' Room: This match closes out the first month of our Divas division respec. Emma debuts a new ring entrance (no bubbles and, for God's sake, no dancing) and new entrance music (something edgier and a bit darker), because her old gimmick and music are officially buried. She comes out first, then Charlotte, then the Bellas. One important thing is that Paige is back, doing commentary (more on this in a second). This match is given a full segment, which probably includes a commercial break in the middle. That should give all four of these women a chance to put together a really spectacular match, even if realistically that means Brie is going to get carried a little bit. The finish here is Charlotte going over on Brie, with Emma holding Nikki to keep her from making the save.

During the match, Paige is on commentary. Her whole job during the match is to point out every single time Cole, JBL or Booker T talks about something other than the match. At first, she makes pointed comments: "Why are we talking about that instead of the match?" "Can we get back to the match, please?" After a while, she just starts counting every time they do it. As the commentary is typically a mixture of scripted and ad-lib, this should get very interesting very quickly.

After the match, Naomi and Tamina come down for the run-in on Charlotte and Emma. After a bit of a brawl, where Naomi, Tamina and the Bellas start to get the upper hand, Cole mentions something to Paige about being a Diva.

Paige responds with, "I'm not a Diva." She pulls off the headset, picks up a chair, and hits the ring. Paige cleans house on Naomi and Tamina, which allows Emma and Charlotte to come back on the Bellas, and the Divas are sent packing. Emma, Charlotte and Paige stand strong in the ring, and we have established our two factions.

Then:

INT. MONDAY NIGHT RAW. RINGSIDE.

STEPHANIE MCMAHON's music hits as NAOMI, TAMINA and the BELLAS back up the ramp. Stephanie appears from backstage and stands at the top of the ramp.

STEPHANIE

Stop it! Stop! I have had enough of this!

(Stephanie's music stops playing. Everyone turns to the top of the ramp.)

Charlotte, whatever you think is going to happen here is not going to
happen. There's going to be no NXT Invasion. There's going to be no
ladies' version of the NWO. You are not Ric Flair and those are not the
Horsemen. You do not get to come into my ring on my show and
disrespect my Divas. You don't get to send interns to tell me how to
run my locker room.

(She points at Paige.)

Paige, I'm disappointed in you. I thought you had more common sense
than this.

(She waves dismissively at Emma.)

And Emma, you're lucky you even still have a job.

(Hold for crowd reaction.)

I'm trying to Give Divas a Chance, but you have made it pretty clear that
you are not Divas. So I am putting an end to ... whatever this is. Next
week, in that very ring, it's going to be Naomi and the Bellas vs. Emma,
Paige and Charlotte. And the special guest referee is going to be
Tamina!

(Hold for crowd reaction.)

And if one of you three gets pinned or submits, I'm not sending you
back to NXT ... all three of you ... are ... FIRED.

(STEHPANIE'S MUSIC hits and she grins evilly at the anti-Divas as we FADE TO COMMERCIAL.)

END OF WEEK FOUR

====================================================================

So that's it, sports (entertainment) fans. That's how I would book the first month of the Divas division, in fewer than 20 minutes per week. This sets the stage for the ramp-up of the program I plan to bring around in Month Two.

Kick it around. Speculate. Let me know what you think. If this was the way the division was booked for the next month, would you enjoy it? I'm trying to make a departure from the "Bitches Be Crazy" philosophy of the current WWE Creative team. Let me know how you think I'm doing.

(Spoiler alert #2: You think I forgot about Natalya. You're wrong.)

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