Melina Weighs In On the Negative Stigma Around the Diva Era

Melina was a part of the women’s division in WWE during the “Divas Era,” and she recently reflected on the stigma against that period. The WWE alumna spoke with MCW Backstage Pass for a new interview and talked about how the era is unfairly associated with the Diva Search. You can check out some highlights from the discussion below:

On the negative stigma toward the Divas era: “It’s a weird thing, because ‘diva’ gets tied up with the model search and that’s not it. And that’s the hard part where the term ‘diva [era]’ is thought of as ‘model days’ right when it wasn’t even that — well kind of, but irregardless, each woman who held that title did their best, gave it their all. I mean, blame the — I’m kind of blaming Diva Search. But it was really, you can’t blame them for getting an opportunity. It’s like Tough Enough, I mean you can’t blame the people who did Tough Enough, and that’s what the Diva Search was.”

On the attitude changing over the years: “I feel like I got a great perspective. Like, I’m never gonna change and look down on my time, because everyone’s like, ‘Okay, do you wish that you were in this era because of all the opportunity?’ No, I love what I went through from the fact that, the perspective that I have. Because sometimes I’ll meet women who have all the opportunity in the world. They’re athletic, they got taught by the right schools. They just don’t care about psychology, they don’t have heart, they wanna have everything given to them. Then I explain things to them, and it’s just in one ear and out the other.

“I’ve had conversations where I‘d say, ‘I’ve worked with women who were models and had no wrestling ability at all, they never got taught. They worked harder and had more passion and conveyed more emotion. They were so much more into the match, like they were hungry, and they wanted to learn so much. That you cannot teach. That is just incredible. I look at the girls who were models and they had that heart, and it makes me sad that these ladies who have all of opportunity and have teachers and have schools, why don’t you want it as much as they do? Why are you just waiting for your turn and want it to be given? Fight for it, earn it. When you’ve been held down and treated like crap, you know how to fight in the sense of working hard and giving your all. That means so much. That’s when beauty happens, and when you get given something, when you earn something, it means so much.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit MCW Backstage Pass with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.