Pros and Cons: The WWE Divas Championship

It's hard to believe that the now-defunct WWE Divas Championship first appeared on WWE television 15 years ago. It was during the summer of 2008 that the Divas Championship was added to WWE's collection of titles, originally serving as a title for the SmackDown's Women's Division for the first few months until the 2009 WWE Draft saw the title switch brands with the more prestigious WWE Women's Championship. The two titles became unified at Night of Champions 2010, and it was the Divas Championship that ended up as the sole title for WWE's Women's Division until WrestleMania 32 in 2016, when the title was replaced with the revamped WWE Women's Championship.

The Divas Championship has been subjected to many opinions from WWE fans, women's wrestling fans, and overall wrestling fans. I myself have my thoughts, and I will give them as I analyze the pros and cons of the WWE Divas Championship.

Pros

The ultimate pro regarding the Divas Championship involved opportunity. The Women's Championship returned to WWE in 1998, and when the Raw and SmackDown brands split in 2002, that title became part of Raw. For six years, the women of SmackDown had nothing to compete for, with the exception of a brief moment in 2005 when Melina (who was part of SmackDown) challenged for the title at that year's Survivor Series. Sure, there were some interesting feuds for the blue brand's women, but they were just feuds, no prize was available.

The addition of the Divas Championship changed that. The opinions may vary, but one cannot deny that the Divas Championship provided opportunity for women who had yet to hold a title in WWE. The first match was set up when Natalya Neidhart was awarded a spot in the one-on-one match, while Michelle McCool had to defeat the rest of the SmackDown women's roster to earn her spot. The bout took place at the 2008 Great American Bash event, and it saw Michelle McCool victorious in becoming WWE's first-ever Divas Champion.

Quite a few first-time champions won that exact title. Women such as Maryse, Eve Torres, Jillian Hall, and both Bella Twins went on to capture that title. AJ Lee held the title for 295 days, though Nikki Bella would eclipse that run by holding the title for 301 days. Former Women's Champions who would hold the Divas Championship included Mickie James, Melina, and Beth Phoenix. Eve and AJ share the all-time lead in reigns with three each.

Cons

The obvious con regarding the Divas Championship is the design. I've heard this a lot when it came to the title. "The Butterfly Belt." That's been the nickname for the Divas Championship, because let's face it, the centerpiece does resemble a butterfly. Here's my thing, though. I've never been really bothered with the design, but I understand why people don't like it. When you are trying to make sure the women of WWE are taken seriously, having a belt with that design doesn't really help matters.

I watched Night of Champions 2010, which saw the Women's and Divas Championships unified. I was quite dismayed that the Divas Championship became the sole title, because the Women's Championship belt that had been in WWE since 1956 had a lot of history. Yet they tossed that aside for the Divas belt, which stuck around until WrestleMania 32. At that time, the champion was Charlotte Flair, who was part of the then-named Divas Revolution when she, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch were called up. WrestleMania 32 took place on April 3, 2016, and it saw WWE Hall of Famer Lita unveil the new-look WWE Women's Championship, which would replace the Divas Championship, ending the "Butterfly Belt" after nearly eight years.

Like I said, I never had a problem with the title's design, but I understand why people did. You don't want a butterfly-looking belt representing your Women's Division. In spite of that, the Divas Championship did serve a positive purpose. It gave different women chances to rise up the ranks, and that's always a good thing. Recently, fans have been fondly looking back at WWE's "Divas" era, which included that title. That period definitely had its moments, but as for this women's wrestling fan, I'm very comfortable with the current era. The Divas Championship is not coming back, nor should it, but while the title did have it's negative points, we cannot ignore the positives.