If female wrestlers was hired less on their looks, but more on wrestling ability, would you or the average wrestling fan still respect them?

I think the average wrestling fan not only would accept it, but craves it. Promotions like SHIMMER and SHINE thrive off of this sort of fanbase. Places like Chikara have men and women fighting and rarely even get a bat of an eyelash from their fans when the woman goes over. People enjoyed Chyna, even though she essentially was just a body, even if it wasn't a pretty one. They enjoyed what she represented as change. Men equal to women, or simply women being treated seriously.

Likewise, in the past TNA's Knockout matches and segments have been their highest rated, and that was even during a time when ODB, Nikki Roxx, Gail Kim and Awesome Kong dominated the programming.

There are plenty of talented women out there that look nice, that, for whatever reason, the WWE wont even look at. Cheerleader Melissa might be one of the best female wrestlers in the world and she isn't an ugly woman by any means, but the most she's gotten from mainstream wrestling is a tryout on Velocity and/or Heat, a short-lived run in TNA as Alyssa Flash, a longer one under a dashiki as Raisha Saeed, and a similar run in Ring Ka King. Then you have Mia Yim, Su Yung, the now retired Allison Danger, and a boatload of the unconventional and downright hot on the indies who simply don't get a chance because it's not what the WWE wants for whatever reason. But the fans do. The fans gravitate toward AJ and Lita and even Trish and the like because they were and are positive, unique, role models for female fans, but apparently the WWE doesn't think they can have more than one or two of those iconic females on the roster at one time. But again, the fans crave a reason to care about the diva's.

I consider myself a hardcore wrestling fan, and to be honest with you, I'm not one of those guys that go out there saying they are just models and they can't wrestle and whatever. I think those models should be given a chance to train and to become better wrestlers.

Wrestling for me is entertainment in a lot of forms, and even though in-ring competition is one of the most important things...looks, charisma, mic-skills are also very important. And anyone who says this ain't true, they're lying because they would be watching another sport, and not a scripted sport like professional wrestling.

If that change happen, I would keep liking the divas as long as they would be good perfomers for the business and they made the Divas division get better, but it's obvious that the one with the better looks would distinguish herself as much as the one with better in-ring skills. That's just how it is. Being the most down to earth as I can be, I'll say that the perfect diva in wrestling is the one that can be an amazing performer and at the same time be an atractive woman.

I'm not gonna lie, I marked out when Kharma arrived in the WWE scene, for the change that she could bring and how that could shake things up in the Divas division...but my favorite diva in that time was Maryse, and she was and still is a gorgeous lady, maybe the sexiest diva I've ever seen.

But the thing is...Maryse could wrestle and was a great talker. I may consider Eva Marie to be a VERY sexy woman, but I think it's a shame that she is being allowed to go out there and wrestle in front of crowds with her little experience in wrestling. She is embarassing herself, the company and some other divas that don't get as much exposure as she does.

At the end of the day, it's about connecting with the crowd and being different from everybody else...that's why Paige is becoming my favorite diva right now. She is gorgeous and sexy (in my point of view) and she is also a GREAT wrestler.

Great question actually... I'll be honest, I don't think the average Wrestling fan would respect a Diva if she wasn't visually appealing to look at. Sad but true. The average Wrestling fan just watches WWE casually and and to be honest I don't think Wrestling Skills are at the top of their priory list. I think only the really hardcore Wrestling fans would appreciate a Diva who could wrestle regardless of how attractive she is. Look at Diva's such as Kelly Kelly, she can't wrestle worth a damn, but because she's very attractive she's really popular.

Women in the media are frequently portrayed as just eye-candy. The average WWE fan probably doesn't even care about the women's division and just likes to watch some of their matches once in a while to gawk at their looks.

But on the whole if Diva's were valued more on their in-ring abilities instead of looks, then the Women's division would not be taken as seriously. People are superficial like that. But me personally, I value in-ring abilities and charisma more than anything. For the Diva's division to be taken seriously they NEED to be visually appealing to look at. That's just the way it is.

I don't care if divas are hot. When I'm watching wrestling I want to watch wrestling. Them being hot doesn't matter. Look at Karma. She's not hot and people loved her. When she came in the WWE I thought she was going to save the divas division. Sadly she wasn't there that long but the time was was there the divas division was more exciting. I think woman can wrestle and if WWE got some real woman wrestlers I would watch the divas matches.Sadly I don't care for the divas. (For Now)

Definately. I have always supported women's wrestling and it is the characters and good wrestlers that I respect and want to see taken to the next level.

Being gay I don't care about seeing models in skimpy outfits.

I would like to see women's wrestling get respected like male wrestling does.

I would rather see Paige, Kharma and Sara Del Rey put on great matches rather than see Eva Marie looking clueless and embarrassing women's wrestling.

My opinions would not change. I might not even notice the change. People have different opinions on looks, so this question is a bit illogical. You have people dissing paige for being ugly, while you have others calling her hot.

Same with AJ, some say she looks like a 14 year old, others say she is the hottest women ever.

Also space out the question, nobody wants to read a wall of text.

Once again, attractive or not, people have 100% different opinions.

Eve Marie is the worst female wrestler of all time and some would say she is good looking (i'm not one of them).

So yeah in a way I think female wrestler have to have looks to be hired. Unfortunately thats how it works.

But on the bright side look at AJ, she's gorgeous and a good wrestler

I think people would still be intressted into the womens division. Looking at the past, WWE/F had very slutty women wrestlers, but they weren't pretty at all. Women like Lita, Victoria, Molly, Jazz, Jaquline ect were great wrestlers and wrestling fans appreciated their skill. So if WWE starts hiring female wrestlers for wrestling (not looks) the IWC would bash if for a few months because women are (ugly), but their abilites would be respected, because afterall, we are watching wrestling, not americas top model on the E netwoerk

Lita, Trish, Mickie James and Melina could wrestle and still looked good so WWE can find beautiful talented women to wrestle.

even though they wont your typical looking diva i liked watching Jazz and Kharma matches

Miesha Tate is hot and shes a UFC fighter. So i think they can be attractive and talented at the same time as while as the WWE Divas for example PAIGE is hot and talented!!