SoCal Val Comments On The Negative Stigma About ‘Divas’ In Wrestling

In an interview with Just Alyx, SoCal Val gave her thoughts on the negative stigma around the term ‘Diva’, which was used in WWE for women’s wrestling before 2015.

She said: “I have no idea why anyone thought that was a negative term. I understand that word can be used, okay, someone comes in and demands things, they’re a diva. A diva, to me, was always a very empowering term. I would never be in wrestling if it wasn’t for the WWE Divas. And I don’t mean that just in terms of matches. With all due respect […] I would have never been in wrestling if it was just serious wrestlers. With all due respect to AJ Lee and others who are just casually dressed, and they’re not not super-sparkly and glamorous…all due respect, those aren’t my type of girls. They’re just not. I wanted to be a Torrie. I wanted to be a Sunny, I wanted to do the modeling shoots, I wanted to do the interviews and managing and things like that. The fact that we can’t look at that period of time and go, ‘there were some great people in that.’

Even the Divas Search, look how many people… People forget how many great talents came out of the Divas Search. Maria, Michelle McCool, Layla, so many great ones. Now, did it get a little out-of-hand with gravy matches and jelly pool matches? Sure. But when I wanted to wrestle at all, I wanted to be in an evening gown. I wanted to be in a lingerie match. I wanted to exude this sort of powerful sexuality, this feminism, that I thought was really empowering. So it’s a shame for me to hear that people don’t like it when we call them divas. Now, did I like it when the belt was a butterfly? I thought that was a little stupid personally, but the term diva to me was very empowering. So I find it very interesting that people have such a vitriolic heat against that term. That was my era! And because I didn’t want to physically wrestle, I was like, these were my girls!

Trish Stratus, for example. I’ve had this conversation with her. When she was a manager, managing T&A, that’s when I really connected. When she became a serious wrestler, and I mean this with all due respect, I was kind of like, ‘I can’t relate as much.’ Lita, I can’t relate as much. I didn’t want to be a very seriously taken female wrestler. I think that it’s great that they have that but that wasn’t personally what I wanted to do. So, the fact that we can’t have both now, I feel like is very anti-feminist in the sense that feminism, my friend, is about having a freedom of choice and if my choice wasn’t to be an athletic super serious wrestler, and my choice was to be sexy, be one of the Diva types, that’s my choice. And feminism is about supporting women’s choices. So you can’t sit there and say that if you weren’t a serious wrestler, you didn’t contribute to the business. Because people like Sunny, Sable, Torrie Wilson, Candice Michelle, these women were my idols. So I find it interesting that people hve such an issue about the Divas era, because if there were no Divas era, I would have lost interest immediately.”

If you use any quotes from this article please credit ‘Just Alyx’ with an h/t to 411mania.