Matt O’Brien writes and maintains the Wrestleview.com poll every two weeks.
In the most recent Wrestleview poll asking what American wrestling organization has the best Women’s wrestling, the results are as follows:
WWE 22% (593 votes)
TNA 45% (1,198 votes)
FCW 1% (35 votes)
Shimmer 23% (611 votes)
Wrestlicious 3% (86 votes)
WXW 1% (33 votes)
Other 4% (97 votes)
Total votes: 2,653
Coming in with the most votes is TNA. The Knockouts have earned their place on this poll by providing Impact viewers with some of the best segments each week. Some fans’ support has become to wane in recent months with the loss of talents like ODB and Awesome Kong. But with Angelina Love, Tara, and Madison Rayne leading the charge TNA had the largest backing on this poll.
Second place in the voting went to SHIMMER. What blocked SHIIMER from getting higher votes on this poll was the accessibility. The bottom line is that a lot of people just are not able to view it. SHIMMER’s place on this poll is telling of what viewers want in Women’s wrestling. Just look at who they beat out.
WWE only attained 22% of the votes, edged out of second place by only eighteen votes. There was a time when WWE had a division that was stealing the show every night with great matches from the likes of Trish Stratus, Lita, Victoria, Molly Holly, Jazz, Jacqueline, and others. Today many fans are angered over Team LayCool’s “rip off” of TNA’s Beautiful People, as well as Michelle McCool’s place on the card. Fans just don’t see the WWE Women’s division the way they used to.
And why is that exactly? Is it resentment over WWE’s current product? Perhaps fans just appreciate the alternative that TNA, SHIMMER, WXW offer. Another explanation is what the audience thinks a Women’s division should be. On one hand you have it as a specialty division not taken quite so seriously whose matches are used as breaks between top matches on pay per view. How many times have you heard someone refer to a WWE Women’s match as the designated bathroom break? On the other hand you have those who believe that the Women’s division should be treated on a more serious level. Matches contested are wrestled like any other match on the card. That has been the trouble not just with Women’s wrestling over the past few years, but how a division should be booked in general. In the end it all comes down to the booking tendencies of the company.
Coming in next was Wrestlelicious, while rounding out the results are WXW’, which features its annual ELITE 8 Tournament, and FCW, which just recently added a Divas Championship earlier this year.
Thank you to all those who participated and be sure to check out the latest poll at Wrestleview .com asking what the Undertaker’s best Hell in a Cell match has been.
Matt O’Brien
Columnist, Wrestleview.com
mattman5436@yahoo.com