Wednesday, April 8, 2015

What If The Bellas Left?

AJ Lee just retired. What if Brie & Nikki Bella were to leave the WWE now? I still do not watch Total Divas, but I have heard that they are teasing The Bellas might leave the company, again. I doubt that will happen. Regardless, just for the sake of discussion, what might happen if they did leave?

Without bringing up Stephanie McMahon, The Bellas are the only divas in an A-tier position. With AJ Lee gone, that might make it easier for the WWE to better develop them as the centerpiece of the diva division. Nikki? Brie? Both? They are more of a centerpiece unit than LayCool were. In fact, with AJ gone, you can say the diva division is back to that one-dimensional look it had back then. The WWE was only concerned with developing a new centerpiece back then. When Michelle McCool was their lone attempt and Layla was her sidekick, that made the division at that time very painful. If you did not like their annoying act, you didn't have many other options being pushed well. Even if another diva held the title, LayCool still often trumped them. That is why holding the title does not mean you are the centerpiece. The Bellas have shown signs of being like LayCool. Getting over was an issue for McCool. It is still an issue for The Bellas, but I think they are a little more over now than McCool was during her centerpiece run. But that is still not too impressive.

What happens if you take that away? What happens if you take The Bellas out of the diva division? I have seen some fans say that the only thing holding the diva division back is The Bellas. In a while, the division will be full of all those fabulous wrestlers from NXT. The Bellas leaving will not cause the WWE to give up on the diva division. Michelle McCool leaving did not lead to the end of the status quo. They started pushing Kelly Kelly as the new centerpiece, not Layla. There is another Diva Search coming soon. That should be the ultimate sign that the WWE has not given up on this philosophy for their women's division that revolves around model-type performers. The Bellas leaving will just lead to the WWE moving on to someone else.

There are options on the main roster for the WWE to go to. I just do not know how confident they would be in those women. Summer Rae? There is also Eva Marie. She has been showing signs of improving. I would not be surprised to one day see her holding the title and pushed as the next Trish Stratus. With AJ Lee leaving, filling her spot is optional. Should The Bellas leave, the WWE would definitely try to fill their spot. The diva division revolves around a centerpiece.

From the standpoint of everything the WWE has put into these two, would The Bellas leaving now make them a bad investment? I am not talking about Total Divas. I am talking about their worth in the actual diva division. When I talked about AJ Lee leaving, I felt the WWE could have gotten more out of her and she really wasn't connecting with the fans as she should. The Bellas also lack the overness you would want your top stars of the diva division to have. But I don't feel they have been pushed as hard as AJ was, despite the big push they had for much of last year. AJ Lee is a female wrestler. I would have expected her to connect with those type of fans even better than she has. The Bellas are eye-candy divas. They are connecting about as well as you might expect, but that still isn't too great. In general, I do not think it would be a huge loss if The Bellas did leave. They do not have a great overness that would leave a huge hole in the division and they are not extremely talented, although they have improved very well. The WWE can just start developing another eye-candy diva to be like them. In terms of position, everyone is replaceable. In terms of how well someone can bring results, not everyone can be replaced that easily. I am not taking The Bellas for granted. They are better than many of the centerpiece attempts since Trish left. But there can be better.

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