Eve was the centerpiece of the diva division. The WWE has lost another centerpiece of the diva division. If anything can possibly go wrong in the diva division, it looks like it will. Michelle McCool left in 2011. Kelly Kelly was let go last year. 2013 has just started and another attempt to recreate a centerpiece fails. I think Eve would have eventually worked out, at least better than Michelle McCool. Developing a centerpiece is like making an investment. You put something in and hope to get a good return. The WWE invests time, creative energy, and other workers to help the centerpiece look good. The centerpiece still has to work too, but the WWE usually ends up doing a lot of work for whom they want to be a top star, hence why it is usually easy to tell the difference between those pushed to be stars and those used to put over stars or act as filler when the stars are not around. You are going to get some filler now, but I'll get to that in a moment. Fact is, the WWE once again fails to get a good return on this centerpiece investment.
Is Kaitlyn the new centerpiece? She came to the WWE as a fitness model. Developing her as centerpiece would not exactly be the same as developing a woman who came to the company as a female wrestler as centerpiece, so you would still have the same diva division you have had for over a decade now. Female wrestlers would still not be featured properly. That's another issue. Even though Kaitlyn might still fit the basic profile of the kind of diva the WWE develops as centerpiece, I'm not convinced they want to push her in that position. I don't think she has the look they would want. I'm not saying Kaitlyn is ugly. I'm just saying I don't think this is who they would like to push in that way. There is also the fact that she is not great in the ring, but the story of a woman lacking wrestling experience being developed to be the best in the division is what the diva division is all about, in regards to the centerpiece position. Although Kaitlyn now holds the title, this may be a filler push.
Is Layla going to be centerpiece? Askana? Someone from developmental? If they don't have anyone they are willing to push as centerpiece under contract, you are going to be seeing a lot of filler. When the WWE gave up on Kelly Kelly as centerpiece, they had Eve to develop. Although Layla won the title, they were not pushing her well during that title run, which made it clear to see that she was not the centerpiece and would get lost in the shuffle like she has now found herself. You look back at Eve's run with the title, they featured her better than they did with Layla before her. Will they go to Layla as centerpiece now? She is the best option left. It wouldn't be shocking for the WWE to do this. Keep in mind that Eve had held the title twice before her recent run, but the first run came between the WWE giving up on Maryse as Raw centerpiece and moving onto Michelle McCool (LayCool) as overall centerpiece, then the second title win came when McCool was still in that position. Eve did not get featured well during those two reigns. It would not be out of the question for them to start pushing an eye-candy credible jobber as the centerpiece. It's not like they have a lot of other options. And yet, I don't think they will do it. I don't think there is anyone on the roster that they can really count on and are willing to give it to. The result? Filler. This is even the kind of division you are more likely to see AJ win the title in.
Needless to say, the WWE needs to start debuting more divas. They lost Beth Phoenix, a credible jobber, last year. They lose Eve, a woman being developed as centerpiece, just this week. You have a bunch of women already on the roster being wasted, but some of them are not exactly good enough in the ring to be a proper credible jobber or centerpiece. Of the three female wrestlers, only AJ is pushed well, and as a periphery diva. Tamina and Natalya are wasted. The WWE should debut someone with good wrestling ability, regardless of whether it is a female wrestler or eye-candy diva who became solid in FCW/NXT.
Let me end it with a comment on Mickie James. Mickie James was never the centerpiece. If you have never read my blog before, you are going to say I'm crazy. The WWE loved her! Always pushing her! She had to have screwed herself out of that great career! Take a second look at the situations in which she was being pushed. She was only getting legitimate pushes when being used to put over the centerpiece or act as interim centerpiece when the centerpiece was not around. That's not how you push someone you want to be over. In the roughly 6 years since Trish left, the WWE has gone through 5 centerpieces, and not one of them worked out as well as Trish. For years, the best thing they had was Mickie James, a credible jobber. She had the overness and earned it on her own. She is still active today. She has proven to be a loyal worker. She has not suffered an injury that has ruined her career. She is still solid in the ring. If the WWE had kept Mickie James and given her the career she had earned, you most likely would have had her still working out as the centerpiece today, instead of awaiting the WWE choosing their 6th centerpiece since Trish left. The division never would have collapsed like it did. I can't say whether or not the WWE regrets releasing Mickie James. It doesn't look like they have learned their lesson.
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