Melina: Gimmick Matches Were Used As Punishment In The Divas Era

Gimmick matches were punishment if you were an overachiever in the divas era.

Many fans around the world of wrestling don’t look back fondly at the Divas Era in WWE. Although there are some current day talent such as Chelsea Green who have openly admitted that they belonged in that era, many of the other former talent think that certain viewpoints attached to that era should be eliminated from the wrestling industry all together.

One of those women is former three time WWE Women’s Champion Melina. In a recent interview with WrestlePurists, Melina detailed her thoughts on some things from the divas era trickling down into today’s age while also revealing that gimmick matches used to be punishments back in the day.

“We’re blessed to have this contract, this opportunity, and it’s not to say that hey, let me bash the company, whatnot. There’s so many structures, like the top person has to delegate to this person and then these people. It’s like, it can’t be controlled unless it’s delegated. So I can’t blame the whole entire company, whatever, but this is the thing. There are things within the roster where things should change, but it hasn’t. It’s still kind of trickling from the years and the decades and the eras prior. Certain attitudes or maybe viewpoints, it’s still there. So whatever toxicity, it’s slowly getting flushed out, but not fast enough. So when it comes to a coalition or anything where it’s like, hey, girls, let’s get together, we’re lucky we have a job, but we don’t want to lose our job, and we’ve seen people come and go. It’s like, how do we go about where we keep our job but kinda like push this in [and not get heat]. We’d kind of come together, and then it’s like okay, pick your spots, and we’d get punished. Our punishment was, ‘Hey, here’s a lingerie match right after you did something extraordinary,’ or here’s like, I don’t know, a swimsuit match. They would do stuff like that to kind of see what we’d do. It’s like okay, what are they gonna throw at us at this point? I turned it into, in my kind, I turned it into like a game. Like okay, let’s see what they’re gonna have us do now. [Laughs]. Okay, they wanna see our reaction to this.”

During her tenure in WWE, Melina participated in gimmick matches such as a Lingerie Pillow Fight, a Pudding match, and a few different Bra And Panties matches. 

Since leaving the company in 2011, Melina has worked for IMPACT Wrestling and the NWA. Earlier this year, Melina made a surprise return to the company as a part of the Women’s Royal Rumble match.

Recently, Melina also noted that she doesn’t look down upon her time in WWE. To learn more, click here.

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