Let me look at AJ's efficiency. Many view her as the savior of the diva division. Is that based mainly on her talent and potential? Or how the WWE has been pushing her? She has been extremely fortunate to run with a gimmick for as long as she has. And pushing her as a heel is better than leaving her as a generic face. Enough of critiquing her treatment. Can you tell I don't want to critique her? Can you trust a Mickie James fan to be impartial? This is the woman many said was going to be the next Mickie James. AJ hasn't exactly overcome being pushed as a credible jobber to succeed, but enough of that. Wrestling ability. She obviously had wrestling training prior to coming to the WWE. She demonstrates a wide range of styles. I like that she uses submissions. Let me talk about execution. I said my main problem with John Cena's wrestling ability was his execution, not necessarily the number of moves. And I'm not really drawn into AJ Lee's matches. She looks like a preteen running around the ring. You can say that is more her look than her actual wrestling ability. I think it is somewhat related. Your build will influence how well you perform. Some people criticize large wrestlers for wrestling boring styles a lot. What do you say about small wrestlers? If she incorporated more cruiserweight-type moves into her arsenal and pulled them off well, I might be able to buy into her better. Let me talk about her look. A lot of fans love her. She is cute. And creepy. I would like to see them push her as a normal diva again just to see how she would conduct herself and look. There is no going back now. She isn't absolutely horrible on the mic. People praise her "pipe bomb" against Total Divas as her best work. As I have said before, her execution of that promo was fine, but the message was an issue. Not going to criticize her for that. Some of her promos when she was a psycho face were a little awkward. Her overall charisma? She doesn't come off as natural to me. That is my only real criticism in that regard. She can show various emotions. She has some energy to her. She has some wit. But where would she be without the gimmick and being given the creative focus she has been given? I would give her a B+. And just to put things in context, there is no diva on that roster I would grade any higher.
Before I go into analyzing AJ Lee's productivity, let me just say a few things about grading how well divas are connecting with the fans. When I graded John Cena, I said there had to be higher standards when looking at the results the centerpiece of the company is bringing than you would have for the other guys. You are not hyped that hard on a consistent basis just for the sake of getting over. You are pushed that way to draw. I would not hold the centerpiece of the diva division by those same standards. No centerpiece of the diva division will ever be pushed as hard as the centerpiece of the entire company. Trish Stratus wasn't. If the centerpiece of the diva division was so vital, you would have had one at all times and never enter a dark age. And you would never rely on a woman that cannot connect with fans well at all as the centerpiece. You couldn't afford to. What really makes the centerpiece of the diva division an A+ career is that this is a woman that has to connect with fans very well and be able to carry the division as a wrestler. The WWE frequently goes to eye-candy divas to fill this position. In past years, these women could connect with the fans so well based on their looks and sexy characters. The challenge is getting them to see you as a great wrestler. Trish Stratus succeeded with that career.
In general, it is not fair to hold the divas by the same drawing standards as you would the men. The company has never revolved around the diva division. Trish and Lita faced each other in the main event of Raw. In the weeks prior to that, the company did not revolve around diva matters. It didn't revolve around diva matters after that match. I wouldn't make too much of that one match in trying to argue the WWE values the diva division as much as the men's division. If they did, they never would have let things collapse like this. Even though the men's division is messy these days, especially in the midcard, they still rely on guys to be the top stars.
There are not just separate standards between the women and the men. Even within the diva division, you can say that there is something. That is to say, when things are working right and particularly in the past. You have eye-candy divas and female wrestlers. Eye-candy divas sign with the company lacking wrestling training and having this glamorous look. Female wrestlers obviously have wrestling credibility and usually lack the look. In the past, it was the eye-candy divas that could connect so well and so easily with the general audience. Actual wrestling fans would drool over them, but they usually gave more respect to female wrestlers, who would not always get over with the rest of the crowd. This imbalance in terms of talent they possess when they are signed is not the only problem. The WWE does not allow female wrestlers to have the most important position. They can never be pushed as A+ players in a diva division. Female wrestlers usually get pushed as C+ players, at best. Occasionally, they get great careers in the periphery (A players). And the eye-candy divas? In the past, they were not pushed as serious wrestlers, except the centerpiece. These days, they are being used to do the same jobs credible jobbers would do. It makes for a messy, inefficient diva division.
Given this inequality in how these women are being pushed, it might be fair to judge them based on what they are being pushed as. In the men's division, you have wrestlers all up and down the card. The centerpiece is an actual wrestler, other main-eventers are actual wrestlers, upper-midcarders are actual wrestlers, and so on. In the diva division, when it was running the way it was supposed to, you have actual wrestlers and eye-candy divas. Someone like Torrie Wilson may get very over, but because she is not held in high regards by actual wrestling fans, does that mean you have to give her a B+? It isn't really fair. She definitely could have been pushed as centerpiece, which would have helped her connect better with all types of fans. On the other side of that, Ivory may not get very over, but she was never actually being pushed as well as others in a division that does not revolve around women like her. When you analyze productivity of some of these women, just keep in mind that you are not always looking at their productivity as wrestlers, as you would with most men in the men's division. How am I grading diva productivity? I am still paying attention to overall overness. But if an eye-candy periphery diva becomes very over without becoming a solid wrestler, I will likely not give her an A+. Those wrestling fans still matter. How well can these women bridge that gap?
AJ Lee is not an eye-candy periphery diva. She is a female wrestler who has gotten a great periphery career during this dark age. She was pushed extremely hard during 2012. There was no way the WWE would keep that going forever. It is still shocking that they have gotten this lazy with pushing her. No need to blame CM Punk, since the mediocrity started even before he left. A lot of fans were talking about her back then. How horrible would it been to push her that hard and not have people talk about her? They still talk about her now, but a lot of it is talking about how they are mistreating her and reminiscing about the days AJ Lee was in 5 segments every Raw. How over is she? I don't hear a great reaction for her on a steady basis. I cannot give her an A. Blame it on how lame she is being pushed? Blame it on her being a heel? Fans these days will cheer for whomever they want, regardless of whether that person is a heel or a face. They even cheer for jobbers. If AJ Lee could bring that kind of great connection despite the mediocre treatment, I would give her an A+. "A" for being so over and the "+" for going beyond the call of duty. I am not going to say she has done a horrible job. She has made a connection with the fans. Keeping it going at a high level is what needs to happen. In terms of her overness, she is a B+ player.
As for Wrestlemania, the WWE is going to have AJ Lee defend the title against pretty much everybody. This is the first time the title will be defended at Wrestlemania, and this is it? They are sacrificing quality for quantity. I will talk about it more next week. I've already written too much today.
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