Melina Talks About How Women’s Wrestling Has Changed, Why WWE Started Calling Women “Divas”

Total Wrestling Magazine has an interview with former WWE women's champion Melina in its latest print issue, in which she talks about her thoughts on the current babyface / heel dynamic in WWE and her thoughts on WWE's change in mentality on women's wrestling. You can read the entire interview by clicking here, they sent us these submitted highlights:

Thoughts on the current babyface/heel dynamic in WWE:

"You have to question, 'are they really doing stuff that is categorized as a true heel or a true villain?' Who knows, I can't say WWE wants people to be "tweeners," maybe that is their decision to make it seem more like an MMA fight or to bring realism into it, but I feel like it is a lost art to be a true villain nowadays, you can be a true villain without crossing the line of PG.

"I did it, so it is possible; it's just all about how much you want to invest in that heel character. People worry about whether the fans will love you or cheer for you again and yeah they will, this is psychology, this is art, if we are learning as professionals and artists to be able to be that creative if you are true to your craft and you are a great wrestler and a great worker you will find a way to be able to do that. So in my mind I want to see a great villain, that's why in certain TV shows you love villains, because it is an art."

WWE's evolving approach to women's wrestling:

"When I first came in, we went from 'wrestlers' to 'Divas' and it seemed like, it was 'Divas' because you had a lot of model search girls but you also had a lot of wrestlers that came from the indies that worked their way up so it was not like it ever stopped being there it was just that for some reason, people did not see them for what they should be. Beth Phoenix, how can you see her as a 'Diva Search' girl? She was kicking ass and for some reason people forgot.

"I came in as a manager but a lot of people thought I came in as a Diva Search girl but I was working the indies, not as long as Mickie [James] did but I still came from the indies, so people forgot about that and they focused on the model search girls but I feel as if we kept it [women's wrestling] alive. We did some great work to build up a foundation for the girls nowadays but on that same note, everybody before us did, so I appreciate everything that those women did."