State Of The WWE Diva Division - August 2011

Melina is released and Gail Kim wants out. Look at their careers, you can see why this is happening. I had forgotten that I had wrote something back in February of this year where I said Melina's release might be likely. As for Gail Kim, she had just faded in and out of being an afterthought and getting mediocre filler feuds and angles. If she doesn't want to be in the WWE, they might as well not try to stop her. What can they do? Change the whole division for her benefit? Give her the Lita treatment? Give her a short push then bury her again?

Where does that leave the diva division? Beth Phoenix recently turned heel on Raw. Coincidence that heel Melina gets released? The Bellas are still heel over there. Maryse as well, but I do not think you can count on her for much when it comes to serious pushes unless she can get it together in the ring and stops getting injured. Your faces are Kelly Kelly, the centerpiece, and Eve, the top sidekick. Gail Kim was your low-level credible jobber. Picture a face version of Jillian. Over on Smackdown, Natalya just turned heel to add to the storyline Beth is now getting as she feuds with Kelly Kelly. Tamina is also heel. I can picture her getting the title eventually, once Beth and Natalya may have had a chance to put over Kelly Kelly. Thing is, Tamina is not over. WWE does not want her over. She was placed with Santino for a while, which may have helped her look cute and get a friendly reaction, but the WWE pulled the plug on that easily and she is back to mediocrity. That is how the overness with women like this is supposed to work. WWE gives and takes. Make and break. Alicia Fox is another heel on Smackdown I could see feuding with Kelly Kelly in time. Rosa. Rosa? She should have been released. Do you really need her as a low jobber on Smackdown? With Natalya going heel, they could have pushed Alicia down for at least a while to jobber status. Kaitlyn seems irrelevant to me. AJ got called up after Layla was injured. AJ has not been booked to do anything too vital on Smackdown since she came. NXT is irrelevant. And has anyone forgotten that she has prior wrestling experience before the WWE? Put it all together, she will follow in the steps of Melina and Gail Kim. I am not saying she will be released this year or next, but as long as diva rules apply in the WWE women's division, there really is little hope for her. Her managing to make herself the most over diva will not save her. WWE wants that to be Kelly Kelly. Layla may not be back yet, but it seems she may regain her spot as Smackdown's centerpiece, which she shared with McCool for over a year and held on her own for a short period before her hiatus. And what does Kharma have to look forward to? I don't think it will be as nice as what Kelly Kelly is getting.

What is on the horizon as far as future divas go? NXT losers. None of these women look like they will really make the division too much better, especially not how I think the WWE will use them. What is happening with the winner of that season, Kaitlyn? Again, nothing. What about the woman many thought would be the savior of women's wrestling, AJ? She's hanging out with Hornswoggle? Even worse, on NXT? That is where the bulk of her relevance lies right now? WWE does not care about her. Enough with NXT, the WWE needs women who can really follow in the line of Melina or Beth Phoenix. They have Tamina, but they need to start prepping for the next generation more. Problem is, with the dissatisfaction of women like Gail Kim and mistreatment of women like Melina, what can the WWE possibly do to make a ton of good women's wrestlers in the indies believe they will not just be treated like crap?

Do a little more foretelling. What happens if Kelly Kelly suffers a serious injury, flops, or decides to leave the company for some other reason? She's the centerpiece. Unlike what has happened in recent years when a centerpiece was gone for the reasons I just mentioned, there is no good replacement readily at hand at the moment. Layla is still injured, and time will tell how she is in the ring or whether she may be more prone to injury. I am not sure the WWE is serious about treating Eve as a centerpiece. Best thing that can happen, or worse is some sense, is that they can bring back McCool, the former centerpiece who still has obvious WWE connections. Forget what I said about best thing. Prepare for more overpushes and overhype if McCool returns. The WWE diva division is definitely fragile right now. This is more than karma paying them back. This is the WWE's own stupidity in handling the division putting them in a position that is quite simply horrible.