Melina Says Gimmick Matches Were Used To Punish Divas

[Liz]

WWE's days of bikini matches and chocolate pudding bouts are over, but only after the company used these to punish Divas.

Before the Women's Revolution in 2015, WWE would often use gimmick matches which would traditionally see female Superstars compete in little clothing.

While speaking during a recent interview with WrestlePurists, Melina said the matches would often be booked if WWE felt a female Superstar needed teaching a lesson.

"It's like, how do we go about where we keep our job but kinda like push this in [and not get heat]. We'd kind of come together, and then it's like okay, pick your spots, and we'd get punished. Our punishment was, 'Hey, here's a lingerie match right after you did something extraordinary,' or here's like, I don't know, a swimsuit match. They would do stuff like that to kind of see what we'd do. It's like okay, what are they gonna throw at us at this point? I turned it into, in my mind, I turned it into like a game. Like okay, let's see what they're gonna have us do now. [Laughs]. Okay, they wanna see our reaction to this."

Melina made a one-off appearance with WWE at this year's Royal Rumble in her first match for the company in over a decade.