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| Source: Diva-Dirt.com |
It was sneaky and dirty, no doubt. But we can hope this extra time will allow for some finishing touches to certain aspects of the game and perhaps the roster is one of those aspects. Every year Divas fans are shafted when only a handful of women are included as playable, and even then the same effort put into the male Superstars is just not there.
For example, last year we were promised that, despite so few Divas, the ones that actually were included would be amazing. WWE 2K14 only featured ten Divas and five of them were almost direct carbon copies of their models from the previous year (Stephanie McMahon, Lita, Layla, and the Bella Twins).So far, only eight Divas have been officially announced for WWE 2K15, putting things in an even worse spot than last year. Who else should be included, then? Here's a list of five WWE Divas for which there is no excuse to be missing from WWE 2K15.
PAIGE
With a solid following already behind her from her days in the independent scene, she skyrocketed her way to popularity in NXT and became the inaugural NXT Women's Champion. Fans were clamoring for Paige to make her way to Raw and Smackdown to show the WWE Divas just what a real women's wrestler should be.
Her debut on the main roster the night after WrestleMania was slightly mishandled. She came in as a surprise babyface challenger to AJ Lee's throne and ended her historic reign as Divas Champion in her first match. It was exciting, but over the following months it became clear she was not suited to the generic fan favorite role. Paige has since turned heel and shown a remarkable knack for it, often outshining internet darling AJ.
Paige has somehow managed to surpass AJ Lee as the epicenter of the WWE Divas division, which has been essentially built around her for the majority of the year. There is no way WWE 2K15 gets a pass if she doesn't make the cut.
EMMA
There's talk every year of a cutoff date - the point in the year at which the roster for the WWE game is finalized. That date is usually around WrestleMania, though sometimes it seems to be later. Even if that's not the case, Emma was introduced to the WWE Universe weeks before WrestleMania and certainly makes that cutoff date by a decent margin.
Emma thrilled down in NXT before coming to Raw and Smackdown and, though her debut was cooked up using a recipe for disaster by pairing her with Santino Marella, there's some charm there that keeps the audience enamored with her. That's beside the fact that she's a phenomenal wrestler.
She had great matches during her time in NXT. She's not broken prominent ground in WWE just yet, but she's frequently having amazing contests on Superstars and Main Event and, perhaps more importantly, she's shaken the recently-retired Santino. Emma is without a doubt someone needed to flesh out the WWE 2K15 Divas roster.
LAYLA
She's been a franchise regular for several years now, but so far there's no word of Layla's inclusion in WWE 2K15. She was featured as a downloadable character in WWE 13, so maybe that's the route they're going again this year. The co-founder of Lay-Cool took a quite lengthy sabbatical at some point over the last year, but she's been under contract as a WWE Diva for longer than almost anyone in history and, outside of said time away, has been consistently utilized in some form or fashion since she won the Diva Search competition in 2006.
Since returning months ago she's been involved with Summer Rae, beginning with their love triangle with Fandango and evolving into their new tag team sometimes referred to as the Slayers. Sure, it's all been completely terrible, but it's been featured pretty heavily and has been used as a sort of promotional tool for Total Divas. Then again, what storyline isn't used to promote that awful show lately?
The fact of the matter is that Layla is one of the most consistently relevant Divas in WWE and she's not been M.I.A. enough to be completely omitted from the game.
ALICIA FOX
If Alicia Fox is left out of WWE 2K15 I will be utterly devastated. She wasn't included in last year's installment and, while she was definitely not nearly as close to the forefront as she is now, it was a damned shame if for no other reason than there were only ten Divas total in the game and 2K couldn't even be bothered to copy and paste her previous model into the code the way they did for so many other Divas in that installment.
Fox has been featured this year in a high-profile feud with Paige for the Divas Championship and she's received a fantastic character rejuvenation that's made her a blast to watch. Alicia's been an active Diva for years now and she's one of the best athletes on the roster, male or female.
LANA
This one goes hand-in-hand with the conspicuous absence of Rusev, who will likely be part of the downloadable content which has yet to be announced. If Rusev makes the cut, then Lana certainly must because the Super Athlete is nothing without his mouthpiece. The presence of Rusev and Lana has been a loud and prevelant one for months in WWE and has been the source of much controversy. The pair certainly has its detractors but there's no denying the Bulgarian Brute and the Ravishing Russian have had a much bigger impact on the company than, say, Justin Gabriel or Xavier Woods (who are both confirmed for the game).
Lana need not be a playable character, though I do miss the days of everyone - including managers - being succeptible to being fed to a much larger opponent, regardless of wrestler status or gender. No Mercy, I'm looking at you.
Which Divas would you like to see in WWE 2K15?
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