Signing a retired female wrestler to a contract after she hasn't been active in-ring for eight years may seem strange. But, when you consider that the nearly all-female cast of "Total Divas" drew as many as 1.3 million viewers on the E! Network, the need for the company to potentially invest in showcasing the Divas division as a more developed part of their marketing plan could make sense. Of the ex-divas available to the company, Ivory (with experience dating back to portraying Tina Ferrari in Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling in the mid-80s) is the perfect example of a diva who lived the life that the current crop of female workers is living, and has enough of a scope and range of history for it to make sense. Ideally, the concept of having her as a pre-"Total Divas" show host on the WWE Network, as well as providing running Twitter commentary throughout the show, could potentially be entertaining. Not only would there be the prerequisite road stories, but it would also a great way to showcase the history of women as wrestlers (and wrestlers overall) in a positive light. While there is no significant research that has been made public regarding the number of non-WWE fans who are viewers of the program, there's my own (totally non-scientific) sample of friends and professional colleagues who, upon watching one episode of the show not only just watch the season of "Total Divas," but also watch other WWE programming (in order to have "full access" to the in-ring lives of the show's stars). Building out the Divas division not just from an in-ring standpoint, but from a branding one, too, could potentially pay major dividends. Hiring Ivory as a "Goodwill Diva" gives this rapidly growing brand vertical the depth it needs to become a sustaining source of revenue for the company.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
