Wrestling Deja Vu 04.20.09: Dominant Divas

Hey yo. Welcome to Wrestling Deja Vu, the only place on 411mania where you can find a breakdown of recycled gimmicks. Someone once said there is nothing new under the sun and that’s certainly the case with wrestling. It’s been a busy week around the wrestling world with last week’s WWE draft and last night’s TNA PPV. The Lockdown card was pretty attractive and it’s probably one of the rare cases where a TNA PPV (Lockdown) looks better than a WWE PPV (next week’s Backlash). Anyways, today, WDV takes a look at two of the most dominant female wrestlers, Beth Phoenix and Chyna. There are other ladies with the “dominant” gimmick, but these two have been in the mainstream picture for a while.

And introducing the participants

Beth Phoenix had two debuts in her career. She first debuted in 2006 as a character that claimed to have a secret of Mickie James. She went down quickly with an injury and was out of action for a while. When she returned from injury, she was sent back down to OVW (the developmental territory at the time). In 2007, she re-debuted as the partner to Melina. Since then, Beth Phoenix has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the Diva Division. For a long while, she was the top female on Raw. She’s held the Women’s twice and has participated in multiple Wrestlemanias. Phoenix is only 28 and could see a Hall of Fame career if she stays on course, but as history has shown, this is difficult for females in the WWE.

WHERE IS SHE NOW?: Still active. She was the 2008 Diva of the Year and is currently the on-screen companion to Santino Marella. Will probably be turned face soon because of the crowd reaction and Santino.

Chyna set the tone for the dominant diva. She became an onscreen character in 1997 and joined Degeneration X shortly after. Her enforcer role allowed her to dominate over the opposition and she got over with the crowd. After a decent stay with DX, she went on to other endeavors. She competed with both men and women and even got to hold the Intercontinental title for a while. After what Jim Ross described as “personal problems”, Chyna left the WWE and did other things with her life.

WHERE IS SHE NOW?: She left the WWE in 2001 and went on to a Japanese career that saw limited action. Since she retired, she’s been engaged in a ton of controversy including multiple hospital stays.

DOMINANT DIVAS

Every once and then, a female wrestler works her way into some mainstream organization and gets to be “The Dominant Diva.” In the 90s, the person that filled the void was Chyna. Her time in the Diva’s Division didn’t really see her participate that match (although she had a Women’s Title reign), but that was because she was seen as an enforcer and “too strong” for most women at the time. Beth Phoenix was the WWE’s dominant Diva of the late 2000s. She won the Women’s title multiple times, participated in Wrestlemania, and just dominates the decision with strength. She’s carried some of the lesser divas to decent matches and has earned her spot at the top of the Diva card. I don’t know if either of these two women every participated with one another in some way, but most people that see Beth automatically connect the dots between the two.

TOGETHER, WE’RE THE MATCH OF THE YEAR

Santino and Beth begin their relationship while Chyna comforts Triple H

Some people believe that females with no previous wrestling experience have zero business wrestling, this is where the valet was born. A pretty lady usually helps her male counterpart by distracting the fans from a certain flaw. This isn’t really the same with Beth and Chyna, but it’s semi-relevant. Beth’s alliance with Santino allowed her to turn from a hated heel to a tweener that was getting some cheers from the fans. Santino and Beth have had their share of success, but it depends if you think Beth going from dominant to a comedy character. Chyna’s relationship with Triple H allowed her to just look bad ass and be an enforcer. Her time in DX did wonders and allowed her to have a decent career. Triple H and Chyna (along with Shawn Michaels) were considered the foundation of DX (before the recent version) and were huge.

BATTLE OF THE SEXES

This section of the column is more applicable to Chyna, but Beth Phoenix had a match with Santino. When a diva becomes too dominant, they eventually try and have some matches with a male. This was true when Awesome Kong tagged up with BG James and participated in that tag team deal. Chyna’s foray into the male division saw her win the Intercontinental Title (three times) and participate in the Royal Rumble (eventually being eliminated by Steve Austin). Beth Phoenix’s match with Santino saw her come out victorious, but in true wrestling fashion, Santino’s sister, Santina Marella, evened the score for the Marella-Phoenix rivalry.

WDV FACE-OFF

The two females start off the match with a quick stare down. It doesn’t last long because Beth initiates the test of strength to see who is the stronger of the two. Chyna has the advantage and shoves Beth to the ground. Chyna approaches Phoenix to see what she can do, but Beth rolls Chyna for a quick two count. Both women are up now, Chyna launches a punch, but the Glamazon ducks and rolls up for another quick two count. Beth is furious at the near falls and taunts the ref. Chyna sees the advantage and grabs Beth for a German Suplex. She gets a two with the pin and lifts Beth up. She sets Phoenix for a power slam, but the Glamazon uses her power and flips Chyna to the ground. She picks up Chyna, nails the Glam Slam and pins Chyna for the win.

The Rundown

As mentioned earlier, the average career for women in wrestling isn’t very long. It’s rare that a diva makes an impact like Chyna did. Her influence has allowed Beth Phoenix to become one of the top divas today. If she can keep her career going at her current rate she’ll be a surefire Hall of Famer. Chyna and Beth were both dominant figures with a notable man (in Santino’s case, more notable for his hilarity than in-ring ability). Their dominance allowed them to compete with men from time to time.

In Case You Missed It

Miss any columns posted over the weekend? No problem, here is everything that was done.

411Mania’s Squared Circle News Report

The Wrestling Bard

Column of Honor

Column of Honor Pt. 2

The Bell to Bell News Report

For the Record

Contemplating CHIKARA

The Triple Threat

Last night was TNA’s All-Steel Cage PPV, Lockdown. Check out all the coverage around the site. There are tons.

Goodnight, Travel Well

– Disregard the positive outlook I had on the season for the Texas Rangers. They had a horrible week and now sit well under .500%. Oh well. It’s still early, but the Rangers are starting to show their true colors. The bullpen is horrible.

– Last week’s Impact was pretty decent. It was definitely better than the average outing from TNA. My favorite part was Daniels’ debut and his subsequent mouthing of “I NEVER LEFT.” I can’t comment on the PPV since this is being turned in mid-show, but it looks like a solid event. I’m looking forward to the tag team match and BIG SEXY, Kevin Nash in action.

– Holy Hell. Bobby Lashley in TNA? I can dig that. I didn’t expect it and liked Lashley.

– Hopefully, this week will end the “Batista, Triple H, other raw people on SD” bit. I don’t mind the lack of respect shown to the brand split, but they should at least keep things separated right now since the draft was just last week.

– So yeah, that’s another column in the books. I’ll probably have a reader request column every month, so e-mail or post your suggestions and I’ll make an effort to crank out a column about that. I’ll be back next Monday with another edition of Wrestling Deja Vu.