30 Surprising WWE Facts You Probably Didn't Know
2. Smackdown Was Originally Going To Be A Diva-Only Show
Waaay back in the mists of time (well, spring 1999), the WWF was considering creating a Thursday night show to compete against WCW’s Thunder programme - never mind that Thunder was a disastrous idea in the first place. If WCW had it, Vince McMahon had to have it too.
In the meantime, the ridiculous popularity of Sable in the WWF had been the primary cause for the reinstatement of a women’s division in the company.
In April 1999, that division comprised herself, Jacqueline, Ivory, Tori, Marlena, Luna Vachon and Debra (Chyna was also featured on WWF programming, but rarely if ever against women at that time).
Sable had literally just coined the phrase ‘diva’ to describe herself, which was soon after co-opted into a catch-all phrase for all the WWF’s female performers, and initially the B-show that would become WWF Smackdown was set to feature purely female performers: it would be the 'Diva show'.
First ballot ideas for the name of the show included ‘WWF Female Fury’, ‘WWF Leather & Lace’, ‘WWF Ring Skirts’ and ‘WWF Glam Slam’.
Thankfully, saner heads prevailed… although it does make you wonder how long a women-only WWF show would have lasted, and whether the increased prominence of women would have been a more positive thing for the industry, or would have descended into random cheesecake instead.