Kelly Kelly Rages

The WWE pretty much had to raise the stakes with this Kelly Kelly feud against Beth Phoenix. Just tossing the title to Beth and having a blow-off match with Kelly was not going to happen. Beth is not the important one in the WWE's booking. Beth is the tool. Kelly Kelly is the centerpiece. How may she benefit?

The WWE has already proven that Kelly Kelly can endure Beth Phoenix and squeak out a victory. They did that twice. They ruined a potential undefeated streak for Beth at Summerslam and had her lose in her own hometown at another PPV to do it. But what now? Eve and Kelly took on Beth and Natalya on Raw. I think this match sounds a little familiar. My memory is too horrible, but I believe this same match may have happened before. Just maybe. Point is, this time around, no match really happened. They used the segment to have Kelly Kelly show a vicious side. That is part of what they have to show. It is obvious that she is hot. You can look at her and see that. You did not need her stripping on ECW to sell that, but they did that anyway. But if you are going to push her as a centerpiece, you have to develop other aspects of her character. Build that she can wrestle, can show a vicious side, is charismatic, is respected, and do whatever you have to do to have her connect with as many fans across the board. Don't let Michelle McCool's run as centerpiece fool you, a diva who the WWE chooses to center the major focus of the division around is not getting that treatment to connect with 2% of the fans. How exactly did Kelly show this vicious side? She brutally attacked Beth Phoenix just after the match had started. She had to be pulled off Beth. Would this same thing have looked as impressive if Kelly Kelly raged against Alicia Fox? Kelly would still be showing that anger, but the target does help to make the picture more impressive. John Cena beating up Hornswoggle would not look too impressive. But John Cena doing the same to Big Show? Not backing down to Big Show? Showing he can handle Big Show? Taking down Big Show? That makes him look stronger. My example was extreme, but my point is that Kelly Kelly is meant to look impressive at Beth's expense. Credible jobber.

Will the stakes be raised for the rematch? The stakes have been raised in the feud itself. But the match? You have to make it a No DQ, Street Fight, or something along those lines. Whether Kelly wins or not, they will have to give her the space to show that same vicious side without getting a DQ. If not, it would be stupid to have Kelly just go back to the regular smiling act. The WWE wants to develop Kelly Kelly to connect with the fans. They know that this is a great opportunity to do it using Beth Phoenix. I doubt they will pass it up.

One last thing. What development has Beth Phoenix really had for her character? She turned heel, but is that supposed to help her connect with the fans? Remember Melina's final heel turn? That was not done to help her connect better with the fans. They needed a new Jillian. And Beth? They needed a new heel to work against Kelly after The Bellas. Turning heel was not done to help Beth's character connect better with the fans. Okay, what else has the WWE pushed with Beth's character? They had her team with Natalya and run this angle where they are sick of the eye-candy divas. Is that supposed to help them connect with the fans better? I know there are groups out there who hate the eye-candy women getting pushed too, but these same people are usually Beth and Natalya fans whether or not the two are heels attacking eye-candy faces or faces teaming with eye-candy faces. What about the rest of the fans? The average fans? The majority? The WWE wants Beth to be hated. They will settle for people not caring too much about her at all. Is this angle doing anything for Beth with the average fans, whether to get her massively hated or somehow over due to Beth's own ability to connect or fans being sick of the diva division? I don't think so. I'm not talking about a hometown crowd or hot PPV audience. I don't feel the fans really rallying behind Beth, whether to hate her or love her. They are not supposed to. The storyline is designed for Kelly Kelly to go over a credible wrestler and develop her own character in relation to the gimmick Beth and Natalya are now doing. Just want to make that difference clear. Real character development is meant for Kelly Kelly, not Beth Phoenix.