What Impact Is Lita's Legacy Having Today?

Lita will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. I am glad about that. The first few years I started watching wrestling, she was one of my favorite women of wrestling. I liked Sunny, Stephanie McMahon, Chyna, and Lita. Lita had that high-risk style that none of the others had. She was also hot. She had a sexy, unique style. You could consider her one of those "anti-diva" divas. Of all the female wrestlers to be pushed in the manner she was in that diva division, as a periphery diva, she is the greatest.

What is her legacy? How is her legacy being felt today? Divas and whoever else can do interviews about Lita and say how great she was and how she benefited women's wrestling, but that is the kind of thing you would expect people to say in these situations. I want to be a little more realistic than just handing generic praise to someone, even though I do respect and like the individual in question.

To me, a legacy is about more than just memories. I have memories of certain wrestlers that no one would consider legendary and really didn't make an impact. Lita is obviously not one of those individuals. And she is more than what the WWE booked her to be. Her legacy isn't simply the number of title reigns and how many times she was booked to be in main events. Her legacy is really her wrestling style and her unique style outside of wrestling.

The most obvious way a performer can have a legacy is to motivate others to follow in their footsteps. Lita has obviously done that. AJ Lee was a big fan of Lita. A lot of people motivate others like that.

I am really interested in talking about whether Lita's legacy is helping the current diva division. Let me start with the top star in the division today that Lita happened to inspire. AJ Lee happens to be getting the same type of career that Lita had. AJ has been pushed as a periphery diva. Should you be thanking what Lita did with a career of angles primary in the men's division and not being developed as the central star for that? Between Lita retiring and AJ Lee getting her big push, the WWE developed no female wrestlers to be major stars in the periphery. If the WWE was really happy with Lita's success, why would it take over 5 years to allow another female wrestler to get that kind of push and career? What led to the rise of AJ Lee was more the collapse of the diva division, not the legacy of Lita. Moreover, AJ isn't exactly wrestling the kind of style Lita would. As far as having a unique style, AJ Lee isn't exactly imitating Lita's style. Of course, some fans would point out that she is imitating other individuals with her character and style. Aside from divas, she has even been compared to CM Punk. I once referred to her as a "patchwork" diva. I don't consider Lita like that. Yes, she benefited from whatever gimmick the guy(s) she was working with had, but I think she made her style her own. I don't know what to make of AJ Lee. To put it simply, aside from Lita inspiring her and getting the same type of career Lita had, I don't consider AJ Lee too comparable to Lita.

How about the diva division in general? How has her risky, exciting wrestling style and unique character influenced things today? The divas aren't allowed to wrestle too risky. They injure each other just doing the simplest of spots. There isn't even one diva that really shows that high-risk style. I am not saying that none of the divas ever go to the top rope. Tamina obviously does. But none of them really do it like Lita did. And unique styles and "anti-diva" divas? I already mentioned that AJ Lee's character style and look are not really unique and she seems to be made up of patches of other popular workers. Compared to the other women on the roster, AJ Lee is  the closest thing you have to Lita. The majority of the other divas are your generic glamorous divas. Kaitlyn had an "anti-diva" style, but the WWE did not push her well. At the end of the day, this is not really a women's division that looks to be influenced by Lita.

You cannot blame Lita for what the diva division has become. The WWE has final authority over what happens with the division. They do not want to run a division where their workers, a lot of whom are inexperienced, might get injured too easily and make themselves look way foolish. As far as not much variety in style and character, that is just one of the main things about the diva division. It revolves around glamor. That is why an eye-candy diva is always the centerpiece. They are glamorous. As far as character goes, AJ Lee might be the closest thing you have to Lita, but she does not stand out to me as something different like Lita did. Moreover, her climb up the periphery ladder of success was not as natural as Lita's was. What will AJ Lee's legacy end up being? That is another issue. Until then, Lita still had a great career and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.