From the last day of wrestling news- the biggest story to come up has been the dual suspensions of Alberto Del Rio and Paige, which has many people assuming it's the end of the line for both performers in WWE.
Trouble for Del Rio's been
suggested for a few months now following an underwhelming return to the
company- but the end of the line for Paige - between her age, overness,
and ability - seemed to come out of nowhere in recent weeks and was
somewhat shocking. Everything seemed to point to Paige having a long
career for WWE, whereas now you wouldn't be surprised if it was suddenly
cut short.
Unfortunately, this potentially
"short" career by WWE standards is not surprising at all when the
statistics come into play - and this is the biggest reason that if this
is it for the Anti-Diva, it may prove once and for all that any hope of a
Women's Revolution in WWE may be dead forever.
The statistics surrounding
women in the WWE are absolutely dire when you crunch the numbers.
Whether Natalya's current top push is popular with fans or not, and even
as Alicia Fox seemed to drop down the line to become the same jobber
she was before the "Revolution" started - they still had their place on
WWE TV.
It's normal on paper...until
you realize that, along with most recent former champion Charlotte and
Stephanie McMahon (who, for obvious reasons, is effectively in the
company for life), Natalya and Alicia Fox are the only women to have a
WWE Women's/Divas' Championship reign to their names and still be
employed on a regular in-ring basis for World Wrestling Entertainment
(assuming Nikki Bella's injury will be sending her to a part-time role,
as many also speculate).
Making things even worse -
since the Women's Title was re-activated in September 1998 (when the
title can be considered to have one distinct lineage), Natalya and
Alicia Fox are ALSO the only two non-McMahon women to remain in the
company for more than five years since their final championship reign - a
very tiny 10.3% of all women to be a champion in the company.
The stat gets a little more
disturbing from there - 10.3% of women managed to last four years since
their final title reign in the company (Victoria, Ivory, and
Jacqueline).
6.8% of the women (Layla and Debra), lasted within 2-4 years of their final title win...and then it falls off a cliff.
Assuming this is the final
curtain for Paige in a WWE ring, she would join Beth Phoenix, Brie
Bella, Candice Michelle, Molly Holly, and The Kat in leaving the company
within 1-2 years of their final championship reign, at a 20.6%
clip...and that's better than the most glaring stat:
More than half of all women's
champions - at a 51.7% clip- are out of the WWE within one year of their
final title reign. The names there are staggering- AJ Lee, Kaitlyn, Eve
Torres, Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool, Maryse, Jillian Hall, Mickie
James, Melina, Gail Kim, Jazz, Chyna, and Sable - with, assuming the
injury is the end of the line as a full-time performer, Nikki Bella
managing to fall victim to this TWICE.
The stat doesn't discriminate.
It takes the "wrestler" as well as the "model", it takes the
"character" with the "generic", it takes the "over" with the "non-over",
it takes the "homegrown" with the "indy"- it even takes the people with
connections along with the unconnected.
It's almost black and white
with stats in the modern day: If you are a woman, and you're in the WWE
- you get ONE YEAR AT THE TOP and that's it.
If you think this is par for
the course for WWE and common for all performers...compare this to the
men's stats. Even ignoring the World Championships (mainly because since
WWE is a monopoly, they can have a World Champion for as long as WWE
wants to have them - and since the World Champions are almost by
definition main eventers at the peak of their powers, they can stay in
WWE for as long as that performer wants to stay in WWE), you can still
compare the Women's Championship to the three secondary titles in WWE
since the Women's Championship returned in September 1998 and see how
staggering those stats are.
During that period, 28.5% of
former Intercontinental Champions remain employed by WWE. 22.4% were
still employed for 4 or more years since their final title reign, 26.5%
were employed anywhere between 2 and 4 years since their final reign.
Only 8.1% of former IC Champions were gone from the company within 1-2
years since their final title reign, and only 14.2% of former
Intercontinental Champions did not go on to last one more year on the
roster (and Chyna is included in that group).
The other championships are
the same: for the United States championship since WWE absorbed it with
the WCW purchase in 2001, 43.5% of former United States Champions are
still employed by the WWE. 31.25% more lasted at least four years with
the company since their final title reign. Only 6.25% of former US
Champs were fired within 2-3 years of their title reign. 15.6% of them
were gone from the company within 1-2 years of their title reign...and
assuming this is also the end of the line for Alberto Del Rio, he would
be the ONLY former United States Champion to be gone from the WWE within
one year of his final United States Championship reign.
The Tag Team Titles are the
same - 27% of former Tag Team Champions (on a "this person held the
title" basis, not both members of the team) since September 1998 are
still employed by WWE on the main roster. 16% lasted over 4 years since
their final Tag Title reign. 19% lasted between 2 and 3 years, 20%
lasted between 1 and 2 years on the roster since their final reign, and
18% were gone from the company within a year of their final tag title
reign.
These stats are one of the
most glaring problems with the women right now- and it's not something
anything else can fix. Whether it's a hashtag of #GiveDivasAChance or
#TreatAllWomenWrestlersEqually, it doesn't help when "equally" means
everyone's out the door within a year of their biggest successes.
It's a stat that's so glaring
that no matter what else WWE does - change the name back to the Women's
Championship, declare the Women's Title a World Title, give more major
stipulation matches to the women, give the women Raw/Smackdown or PPV
main events - even if they give the women the WrestleMania main event
or push a female performer to the levels they'd push John Cena/Roman
Reigns/any top male superstar, it does not make a bit of difference as
long as statistically, that woman would only get one year at the top as a
performer and then be out the door for someone else.
Whichever woman's wrestler is
your favorite, these stats should disturb you and make you want
something to seriously change things.
Editor's note: This post was originally written and submitted prior to Thursday's news regarding Eva Marie's suspension or Nikki Bella's medical clearance.
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