Nikki Bella: A Story On Sexism In Wrestling.
If you were watching Monday Night Raw today, you are well aware that WWE Diva’s champion, Nikki Bella, defended her title and is now on the way to breaking the record for the longest reigning Diva’s champion in the companies history held by former employee — AJ Lee. There’s been a lot of criticism about the reign itself as people feel that Nikki is only where she is because of who she’s dating — John Cena — and because of the bad terms the company is on with AJ Lee’s husband, CM Punk.
It’s all fine and good to have negative feelings about a heel (villains) victories, but a lot of fans tonight on Twitter and elsewhere around the web took it way too far. The character of Nikki is a strong, athletic woman who claims she’s the best because she’s managed to hold the title for so long, despite the fans knowing that she’s only kept it due to interference from her twin sister and cheating. This is what makes her a heel. Never once has her character used a man or his influence to get a leg up on the competition and hold onto the title, which makes everything I read on Twitter even worse.
Some of the things I heard her called tonight: A cum bucket a cum guzzler; a slut, a whore, 5 cent hoe. It’d be one thing if her character was well known for being a whore, but this is never the case. The hatred for her goes beyond a fictional story and straight into her real life and that’s unacceptable.
I feel this is a blatant case of sexism because if you look at a guy I previously mentioned in this article — CM Punk — he’s also been known as a guy who broke records for holding titles a long time as a dastardly heel who cheated to gain victories and claimed he was the “best in the world” yet you know what he got? people calling him great, one of the best, the true champion. He might have heard some negative things from time to time like people telling him he’s a loser and a cheater, but not once did someone take out a personal attack on him despite his history of sleeping with almost every woman in wrestling, no one called him a man whore. Or if they did, they said it as a personal accomplishment.
“CM Punk bagged Maria? wow, what a brilliant guy.”
This is a blatant case of sexism and it made me ashamed to be a wrestling fan to hear all these people saying what they said and reading the replies agreeing with it.
What makes the attacks on Nikki seem even worse, is that outside the ring she seems like a better role model than most women on the roster. She’s often posting inspirational quotes on her instagram for her “Bella army” to read and get inspired from. She promotes positive body image by spreading the message that you can still care about how you look, wear make-up and dresses and high heels, but also be an athletic, strong woman. She promotes a lot of positivity.
Wrestling is meant to be fun … if you hate the character, fine — boo them, tell them they suck and that you hate them. That’s all well and good, just don’t go attacking them personally. They put their bodies on the line for you and you can at least appreciate that, whether you love or hate them, it doesn’t matter.
