LQJT86C
Where's my money, Chad?
Re: ULTRATITLE Rd. 3 Br. 3+4 Unofficial Post-RP Predictions Thread!
Chyna's run with the IC belt was a flop. She was over by and large before she ever beat Jericho, and by the end of that angle she was getting boo'd. And the fact that the ONE WOMAN to ever get close to an extended push over male wrestlers was so roided and pumped full of testosterone that it would be a stretch to regard her with much femininity at all, really does more to hurt the gender barrier than help it.
Chyna was pushed as a freak show, and it got the taboo pop from an audience who, at the time, was eating up sideshow angles. That wasn't "In-shape woman puts her skills to the test against men and breaks gender barrier." It was more, "What happens when woman who altered herself with drugs to the 10th degree fights a chickensh*t heel?"
Beth Phoenix is muscular but feminine. Put her in a feud with somebody noteworthy and have her go over. Then you've got a real example, and not just the occasional "dabbling". Let her go over John Cena, and watch the reaction it gets. I'm not saying people would throw cabbage into the ring, but long term I don't believe it would be good for the product, or Beth herself.
You want to eliminate a gender barrier? Keep the swimsuit models as valets only, and build a division of athletic, congenial women who can talk. That does so much more for women than throwing them in with the guys just to get the "Hooray for women being able to do anything in a fantasy realm!" claps. People can LOVE the ladies without having to know what would happen if they faced a man. They don't need their credibility hinging on their ability to "shock the world" and OH SH*T beat a man! Don't you see how that actually devalues wrestlers of both genders?
And yeah, Japanese crowds and American crowds are apples to oranges. I'm not sure you can really compare them at all.
EDIT: I'll also add that it's amazing how far ahead of Pro Wrestling that MMA is in terms of promoting women and getting them "over". The women's divisions in MMA are incredibly shallow, and yet Strikeforce has turned Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey into superstars who can headline events without a big name male in the undercard. The muscled up, beer loving male chauvinist skinhead Affliction t-shirt wearing fans...are all for it. And virtually nobody cares about how Ronda or Sarah Kaufman or Gina would do against a man. They just want to know who she's fighting next. That's real progress.
Chyna's run with the IC belt was a flop. She was over by and large before she ever beat Jericho, and by the end of that angle she was getting boo'd. And the fact that the ONE WOMAN to ever get close to an extended push over male wrestlers was so roided and pumped full of testosterone that it would be a stretch to regard her with much femininity at all, really does more to hurt the gender barrier than help it.
Chyna was pushed as a freak show, and it got the taboo pop from an audience who, at the time, was eating up sideshow angles. That wasn't "In-shape woman puts her skills to the test against men and breaks gender barrier." It was more, "What happens when woman who altered herself with drugs to the 10th degree fights a chickensh*t heel?"
Beth Phoenix is muscular but feminine. Put her in a feud with somebody noteworthy and have her go over. Then you've got a real example, and not just the occasional "dabbling". Let her go over John Cena, and watch the reaction it gets. I'm not saying people would throw cabbage into the ring, but long term I don't believe it would be good for the product, or Beth herself.
You want to eliminate a gender barrier? Keep the swimsuit models as valets only, and build a division of athletic, congenial women who can talk. That does so much more for women than throwing them in with the guys just to get the "Hooray for women being able to do anything in a fantasy realm!" claps. People can LOVE the ladies without having to know what would happen if they faced a man. They don't need their credibility hinging on their ability to "shock the world" and OH SH*T beat a man! Don't you see how that actually devalues wrestlers of both genders?
And yeah, Japanese crowds and American crowds are apples to oranges. I'm not sure you can really compare them at all.
EDIT: I'll also add that it's amazing how far ahead of Pro Wrestling that MMA is in terms of promoting women and getting them "over". The women's divisions in MMA are incredibly shallow, and yet Strikeforce has turned Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey into superstars who can headline events without a big name male in the undercard. The muscled up, beer loving male chauvinist skinhead Affliction t-shirt wearing fans...are all for it. And virtually nobody cares about how Ronda or Sarah Kaufman or Gina would do against a man. They just want to know who she's fighting next. That's real progress.
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