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KELLY KELLY - THE CONCEPT WWE DIVA

Today, WWE wrestlers arguably have more stakes in the WWE product than ever before. Both the size of the women roster in the WWE and the screen time they have on the shows increased significantly. In general, women wrestlers are taken much more seriously, which was particularly evident at WrestleMania 35 in the form of the first female WrestleMania Main Event. However, that was not always the case. Less than ten years ago, women wrestling in the WWE was more like a diligent fulfilment of duties. The women's roster grew steadily after the turn of the millennium. However, especially at the beginning, the transitions between valet and wrestler were extremely fluid. In other words: Basically, nobody cared if they could wrestle. They just had to look good and be revealing, like women men would want to take to a casino. The latter was mainly due to the spirit of the Attitude era. But even beyond that, when the WWE became more family-friendly again, the "WWE Divas", as they were sometimes called, only played a very subordinate role. Their matches, even with PPVs, rarely lasted much longer than five minutes. However, there were more and more women who had very good skills in the ring (such as Gail Kim, Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, or Victoria).

From the bathing catalog to the WWE

However, it was precisely this neglected environment that gave some of the extremely untalented players in the ring too much space. Which did not help the advancement of women wrestling. The time before the WWE Women's Revolution was an odd mix when it comes to women's wrestling. On the one hand, there were clearly a handful of good female wrestlers in the WWE. On the other hand, the WWE Diven Roster also served as a run-through for talentless models who actually had little or nothing lost in a WWE ring.

Kelly Kelly, (real name: Barbara Jean Blank) can serve as a prime example. She was literally scouted from the swimwear catalog by the WWE. She may have been a wrestling fanatic all her life, but her run in WWE was literally put at her feet because of her looks. She herself had not shown any ambitions to become a wrestler before. As a result, Kelly Kelly had to learn the wrestling trade "on the job".

The good look as an entrance ticket

Barbara Jean Blank was signed by the WWE in 2006 and first had to earn her first spurs at OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling), a farm league of the WWE at the time. Even when she appeared in the shows at the WWE a little later, she still traveled regularly to the OVW to continue working on her skills. Consequently, "Kelly Kelly" was initially used more as a valet. But above all as a feast for the eyes. Kelly Kelly regularly pulled bare at ECW, the former Extreme Championship Wrestling Brand, which was then the WWE C-Show.

Kelly Kelly, then 19 (making her the youngest debut WWE diva of all time) did a weekly striptease segment on ECW - called "Kelly's Exposé". Much to the delight of the public. And much to the wrath of her (according to the WWE storyline) jealous friend Mike Knox, who finally would not let her leave his side - which Kelly Kelly was introduced as a valet reluctance. Later, her little striptease interludes received reinforcement in the form of Layla and Brooke. But then came the big PG turning point in WWE. A development in which stripping divas no longer really wanted to fit into the picture.

"Always trying"

Kelly Kelly's gimmick was radically cured as it returned to the family-friendly PG standard. Instead of the revealing exhibitionist, she became the beauty next door. Always smiling and waving to the fans, she was and remained a flawless babyface throughout her career. Indeed, it worked out well, with Kelly Kelly becoming one of the crowd's favorites in the WWE Diva Division. An amazing, but also telling development inasmuch as Kelly Kelly was still extremely green in the ring a few years after her WWE wrestling debut.

The WWE Diva Division of those days hosted quite a few women of questionable talent. But Kelly Kelly really only developed at a snail's pace in this regard and she should never let go of some obvious weaknesses. So she still looked physically like the model from the bathing catalog, as which the WWE had found her and did not radiate a bit of physique. Kelly Kelly's entire offensive always seemed as threatening as a wet match. She was also prone to botched actions with alarming regularity. Everything she did seemed timid and overly cautious - even running on the ropes. As a result, there was never a real bond with what was going on in the ring.

Her opponents flew around her as if by magic to sell her cotton ball-like offensive. In the course of time, Kelly Kelly could only be certified as having good babyface selling and a willingness for acrobatic acts.

Babyface Appeal stands out from everything else

Still, it should be enough for a title run. In 2011, Kelly Kelly won the WWE Divas Championship after a fan vote named her the next challenger. Kelly Kelly had previously competed for the WWE women's title several times but had never been able to fight for it. But this time it should work against Brie Bella. Three title defenses followed - one against Brie Bella and two against Beth Phoenix, who then wrested the WWE Divas Championship from Kelly Kelly on the third attempt after 104 days. It is telling that Kelly Kelly only had a single title run in the WWE, even though she was often booked as the winner and always seemed to be popular with the fans. But she was probably too prone to error and untrustworthy in the WWE ring to be a champion. Because judging by their popularity alone, there would have been more to it. But to save her honor, one can say that her matches with Beth Phoenix during her title run were probably among her best matches. Mainly because of the David versus Goliath dynamic that emerged all by itself against the powerful Beth Phoenix.

Kelly Kelly left WWE in 2012 to heal some injuries. Since then, she has only returned sporadically - most recently at the women's Royal Rumble Match (as of 2020). After turning her back on WWE, Kelly Kelly works as a model.

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