Since I am going to talk about AJ Lee, I'll start with her connection to CM Punk. They were dating. A lot of fans are asking how long it is going to take before the WWE buries AJ for what CM Punk just did. I think most fans saying that kind of thing are just joking. Will the WWE punish AJ for this? It would be stupid if they did. AJ Lee is someone the WWE has actually developed to be a star. I don't think they will mistreat her as badly as someone they didn't want over. If she was in that category, then the WWE might use what has happened as some kind of excuse. Then again, does the WWE even need an excuse to bury someone they don't want over?
Moving on, AJ Lee has been feuding with Naomi for a few weeks now. It is a simple feud of developing momentum for Naomi, who will then most likely be used to put over AJ Lee. Nothing interesting. Why is this even worth mentioning then? This is continuing in the string of nothing too interesting as far as diva feuds go. This is filler. Even if Naomi does win the title, her reign will most likely be just as mediocre as AJ Lee's has become. It'll probably be even worse. Look around that diva division. AJ Lee is still being pushed better than any other diva. She is pushed with the best consistency. And yet, it is still so dry. That should tell you how horribly the other women are being used. No great hype or creative interest for anyone. This is a feud that could have ended at the Royal Rumble, if they tried to squeeze a match in there. This feud obviously won't be taken all the way to Wrestlemania. It is too mediocre for that and I doubt the WWE will inject anymore hype into it. Assuming AJ does retain, she would have gone through The Bellas, Natalya, and Naomi. How many more credible face challengers does she have left in the current diva division?
Should either AJ or Naomi be developed as the centerpiece. Being the centerpiece of the diva division isn't the same as being centerpiece of the entire company. Things regularly revolve around the men's matters more than it does the divas' matters. Nevertheless, the centerpiece of the diva division should still have the wrestling credibility and overness to deserve the spot. AJ Lee is not currently being pushed as the centerpiece. I am not basing that simply on the WWE's history of developing eye-candy divas to hold that position. If she was the woman they wanted as their centerpiece, they would be pushing her with better attention and rebuilding the division around her. Instead, they are just going through filler pushes. How about Naomi? Not to sound racist or accuse the WWE of being racist, but they have not developed women of various races to be the centerpiece over the years. Will that all change if the right woman came along? We'll see. I will say that it would have been better if they kept Naomi in some kind of periphery angle to keep her interesting. I could say the same for AJ Lee. As far as Naomi goes, she wasn't getting much in terms of character and storyline development alongside Brodus Clay, but they could have kept her somewhere to still let her entertain. Right now, she will most likely get lost in the shuffle once her filler push is finished. Should either of these women be the centerpiece? Obviously, neither are as over as Daniel Bryan, the guy I brought up as a potential new centerpiece earlier in the week, but it is unfair to hold them by that standard. As I said, being centerpiece of the whole company is a more important position than being centerpiece of just a division. AJ Lee has wrestling credibility and Naomi is improving. A lot of fans have connected with Naomi, but I would still say AJ Lee is more over. Nevertheless, I don't think either has really solidified their overness to deserve the spot. How over is AJ Lee outside of vocal wrestling fans? Is she still over with that general audience? That is what matters. It would help if the WWE pushed her better.
Let me go back to CM Punk and Daniel Bryan for a moment. With their popularity, they have certain leverage. Neither guy is pushed as the centerpiece, but they now have overness that makes the WWE want them around. That makes them important. How about the diva division? How does leverage work there? Mickie James became the most over diva off of being pushed as a credible jobber, being used to put over the centerpiece and used as interim centerpiece when the true centerpiece was not there. Why did her popularity not give her that kind of leverage? Look at that diva division. Look at what has become of it. Look at how mediocrely the WWE is pushing AJ Lee, someone they have developed to be over. When the WWE is not afraid to let things collapse like that, getting over just does not give you any leverage. They are not afraid to lose you. You might sometimes see in movies where the bad guy holds someone hostage to try to get the hero to do what the villain wants. That hostage gives him leverage. You might also see some movies where doing that does not work. In a Bond movie, I believe it was Goldeneye, the bad guys held a girl hostage, but James Bond called their bluff and pretended he didn't care anything about her. Later on, the tables were turned and it was the girl that does that to Bond, pretending she didn't care about him. Point is, if the WWE doesn't care about the diva division unless it can get its way, someone they never wanted over getting over will not force them to treat that woman better. Why are things different in the men's division? As I said before, things revolve more around the men's matters than the divas' matters. A collapsed diva division is not stopping the WWE from still having overall success with their male stars.
Finally, let me end things with a tangent on Daniel Bryan. Let's go back to what happened at the Royal Rumble. Did the fans overreact? Technically, the WWE never hyped Daniel Bryan would be in the Rumble match. They were hyping his feud with Bray Wyatt. That feud had been getting developed for months. I am not saying Daniel Bryan should be mistreated. I even said a few weeks ago that I would have put him in the title match at the Royal Rumble. I have been saying that he deserved better around this time of year than a feud with Bray Wyatt. Nevertheless, I think fans did overreact. And it doesn't help that certain individuals stirred the pot with what they said prior to the PPV. So what if he wasn't in the Rumble match? Do those fans want him to come out just so Batista can eventually toss him out? I know he did not win the feud, but his storyline with Bray Wyatt received more attention in weeks prior to the Royal Rumble than most of those guys in the Rumble match were getting. Daniel Bryan does deserve better, but fans just reacted too strongly to what was going on. Did anyone say that Daniel Bryan was booked to win the Rumble, then the WWE ended up screwing him out of it? Is it written somewhere that the most over guy when January comes around automatically wins the Rumble? If there are rules like that, then the fans might have reason to be so angry. As it stands, fans got way worked up for something I don't think was that horrible. The WWE still had time to develop a good feud for Daniel Bryan heading into Wrestlemania. With all these negative things happening this week, he might end up with something even better than originally planned.
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