Melina Perez is proud to have been a WWE Diva, despite what others may think of the term or of the Divas era.
In the 1990s, WWE introduced the term ‘Diva’ to address female talent, and would retire the phrase in 2016, with the women being called ‘Superstars’ like their male counterparts.
Despite the term once being a staple of WWE programming, Diva is now on WWE’s banned terms list, never to be uttered on TV.
Negative Stigma
The Divas era has faced criticism from fans, as the focus was more on soap opera-style storylines than in-ring skill.
The urban legend is that John Laurinaitis, then WWE’s Head of Talent Relations, would hire talent using a binder of modeling photos, instead of seeking established female wrestlers.
Speaking with MCW Backstage Pass, Melina addressed her time as a WWE Diva and the stigma around it (via 411 Mania.)
“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 regardless, each woman who held that title did their best, gave it their all.
“the term ‘diva [era]’ is thought of as ‘model days’ right when it wasn’t even that.”
Melina
“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.”
A Change in Perspective
Nowadays, WWE takes women’s wrestling more seriously, with female matches often headlining TV.
Speaking about the change, Melina said that she’s pleased that there are more opportunities now, but doesn’t regret her Divas era days.
“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.”
Melina last competed for WWE at the 2022 Royal Rumble, competing in the Women’s Rumble match in her first match for the promotion in over a decade.
