Hey TNA! How About Getting the Knockouts in Playboy?
|I have to vent on a subject that’s been talked about on a lot of wrestling sites for a few months now. WWE’s new plan to be TV-PG, family friendly, whatever. It just gets worse and worse and really hit when news spread that WWE was no longer working with Playboy due to their new direction and most recently Vince McMahon straight up said that WWE was done with Playboy due to the WWE’s now family friendly direction.
I personally think it sucks. WWE was cool in the late 90’s and into the 2000’s because WWE changed direction and made it cool to be a WWE fan. There was adult stories, foul language, obscene gestures, and lots of hot women in skimpy outfits. Sable and Sunny were huge parts of the WWE Attitude movement when it first started and the Divas as a whole were a great element of the Attitude Era. Then, when it was announced Sable would be doing Playboy, it was official that adults could be WWE fans and WWE would give adults the kind of entertainment they wanted.
Now? WWE is going back in time to a dark period around the mid-90’s when WWE had cheesier than ever gimmicks, and most adults hid being wrestling fans because it was so cartoony and obviously aimed at kids. This era was also a time when WWE was doing record low ratings, and they eventually had to change everything or face demise.
The Attitude Era is what saved WWE from this period, so why WWE would go back is beyond me. Sure they want to sell merchandise and kids want merchandise, but the adults won’t last very long if you don’t give them something of their own. WHICH brings me to TNA. A couple of years ago, the TNA Knockout division was born, and were a huge hit mainly due to the awesome matches between Gail Kim and Awesome Kong, and also great new acts like the Beautiful People.
The main marketing campaign for the Knockouts once they were a hit was they weren’t “Divas,” didn’t do bra and panty matches or basically flaunt their boobs to entertain, all shots at the WWE Divas. The TNA Knockouts were all about ass kicking, great matches, etc. Well that was fine, but now WWE’s new direction has the divas in competitive matches, no skimpy outfits, no bra’s or panties, so basically they’re going for the same thing TNA has had for awhile. So TNA can’t knock WWE’s girls anymore since they’re fairly similar, so I think it’s time for TNA to further their attempt to separate themselves from WWE which they’ve already done by being anti-TV-PG with use of blood, violence, foul language, and more adult style storylines, so why not give Playboy a call and take WWE’s spot!
TNA wants to pull WWE’s adult audience away, then they should give them something WWE won’t. TNA already has former Playboy Cover girl Christy Hemme and plenty of candidates to choose from if Playboy came knocking such as Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, Traci Brooks, Taylor Wilde and others (maybe even ODB and Awesome Kong for some of you…..or maybe not.)
I think TNA can make a huge statement by showing their female wrestlers can kick ass and be hot too without being all nicey nice for the kids, come on. WWE expects us to watch Divas like Mickie James, who once wore sexy outfits and did a lesbian angle with Trish Stratus that included a girl on girl kiss, come out in nice covered outfits and be a nice girl who just wrestles in regular matches every week now? Boring. One of the wrestling companies has to realize that guys want to see sexy women be sexy, not play nice. WWE has refused and wants to be family friendly only, so the door is wide open for TNA to make yet another impact in the battle with WWE and give the adult demographic the wrestling promotion they want, and at the same time gaining the company some obvious major publicity.
Am I wrong here? Do any of you readers miss seeing a Diva in Playboy every year? Or are you just happy with the state of women’s wrestling as it is now? Share your thoughts in comments.