I want to talk about Chavo Guerrero's recent feud with Sin Cara. Not because I found the feud very interesting, Sin Cara's issues in adapting very interesting, or really care too strongly about either of the two guys involved. I'm being honest. I want to relate it back to the things I am always saying about the diva division.Chavo Guerrero recently had a push against the new Mexican phenom of the WWE, Sin Cara. I know, some people may call me crazy for calling what they did with Chavo a push. Going from 0 to 5 in 60 seconds may not be as impressive as going from 0 to 100 in the same amount of time, but at least you are still going somewhere. Even if you get sent back to 0 right after the 60 seconds, at least you still went somewhere. That cannot be denied. And that is what happened with Chavo.
Chavo was doing pretty much absolutely nothing prior to the small build and matches with Sin Cara. After he served his purpose, he is back to doing clearly nothing at all. What was his purpose? Why the push? I think that this is a very clear example in the men's division of a talent being used primarily to put over someone else. The WWE wasn't pushing Chavo against Sin Cara so Chavo could be the one getting as over as possible. That was not their aim. For months now, since he came on board, you could see and read the reports of Sin Cara not clicking with a lot of workers in the ring. Why not pair him with a WWE veteran who is more used to the style Sin Cara brings? Chavo could help him adapt a little better than someone like Kane might right now. They could have feuded Sin Cara with anyone on Smackdown for his first PPV match, but they did choose Chavo for a reason. Sin Cara has now moved on to aligning with Daniel Bryan against Rhodes and DiBiase. Those two reuniting is another issue I should talk about one day, but what about Chavo? Nothing. Even if the matches were 100% spotless and Chavo got monster over somehow from the feud, it would have still been likely that he would get this depush. He was only being pushed to serve the purpose of putting someone over. You can say he put Sin Cara over in two ways. Not only did he provide a victory for Sin Cara over a credible WWE wrestler, he also must have tried breaking in Sin Cara a little to the WWE's own style.
For months now, I have been saying that the majority of diva feuds, especially those involving a diva centerpiece and a title, revolve around a woman hired with prior wrestling ability being used to put over a woman hired for her looks whom the WWE wishes to build as awesome. Once the real wrestler (credible jobber) serves her purpose, she gets depushed. The eye-candy diva they wish to make into a star (centerpiece), on the other hand, continues to get hyped properly and get more feuds and storylines. This should be sounding at least a little like what I just pointed out about Chavo and Sin Cara. One major difference, it happens a lot more with the women than it does with the men. Of course, the WWE is not as mediocre in building the feuds for the women as they were with Chavo. The title is frequently involved. How else can the centerpiece get that title count up? Helps them to look awesome. And how would it look if Trish is losing her title cleanly to an Ashley, instead of a developed threat and credible jobber as a Mickie James? One of the things that I always point out about the men used like this is that there is always something else they can potentially do after they put someone over. In the case of Chavo, and much like the average diva feud, the WWE doesn't care about doing anything to keep the credible jobber as over as possible. I mentioned Cody Rhodes before. A few months ago, this guy feuded with Rey Mysterio. This guy beat Rey Mysterio, and at Wrestlemania. After they built him up as such a heel, they had Rey go over him. Rey Mysterio is still being pushed well over on Raw. What has Cody been doing lately? Better than Chavo. He at least has a tag feud going on. He has the opportunity, moreover, to still push his character. That will help him stay over and possibly get more over. Not so for Chavo right now. And that is what it is like for most of the women with real wrestling ability at the time of signing with the WWE. They get built up to put over someone else, do the job, then face a depush that. No diva pushed in this manner has ever been able to break through the cycle and achieve solid overness. And it is overness, that connection with the fans, that pro wrestling is supposed to be about, not the titles and wins and streaks and storylines that writers and bookers decide. Those are just means to an end. Did I say no diva has ever broken through this cycle and became a legitimate success instead of a pawn for the WWE's own desires? There was that one diva...think she's over in one of them other promotions now...I need not mention her name.
It surprises me how I have honestly never come across any other wrestling fans who have connected the dots about what the diva division is really about. Every week, I see people asking why Melina or Beth Phoenix are not being pushed. I see people acting like AJ has a chance to actually be treated better than the likes of those women I just mentioned. They believe every dirtsheet explanation for a diva depush, mistreatment, or release. I think a lot of wrestling fans can see the purpose of Chavo's push. Many might have predicted that he would get his depush even before the feud even ended. I do not think it is too hard to connect things back into the diva division like I tried to do here. I was also planning on writing a similar entry/rant for what just happened with Miz's big push. I may not now. But this is what I am going to be doing whenever I get the chance. I am going to analyze what the WWE is trying to do with their pushes with the men and tie it back to the diva division. I am going to keep doing it until I see someone finally getting it. It is going to get boring and repetitive. Yes, even more so than the lovechild of NXT and John Cena. Any regular readers I may have, that is what you're in for.
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