The Other Bella Wins The Diva's Championship

The Diva's Championship changed hands last night on Raw. If you saw the match, you saw the awkward finish. Beth Phoenix hopped off the apron and landed awkwardly. Looks like an ankle injury. Reminded me of how Orton got injured a few weeks ago. Hopefully, nothing too serious. Beth has had bad luck with injuries. She was out for about a month while still holding the Diva's Championship.

And the new Champion? Nikki Bella. Did they toss her the title to convince the Bellas to stay? Were they never leaving? Giving them the title so they can drop it to Kharma, assuming she is ready to return? Whatever the case may be, will the WWE even do anything good with this title run? What did giving the title to Brie really accomplish for her last year? Aside from that little boost in credibility, it didn't make her more over or do too much for the diva division. I can say the same thing will happen with Nikki. And this is all definitely not a reward for getting very over.

How was Beth's title run? Aside from the month she was injured? They pretty much just built up various opponents for her to work with and go over. They created this partnership with Natalya, but that dissolved rather easily. People can talk about how great it is that her reign lasted so long, and she did come close to breaking Maryse's record as longest-reigning Diva's Champion, but so what? Being realistic, did it actually help her get over, entertain, or do anything to really draw for the WWE? I don't think so. It was a long reign, but the WWE did not invest good creative interest in it. That is exactly what you would expect in how they treat a credible jobber.

Does that make Nikki a centerpiece? Beth Phoenix is a credible jobber, which is one of those women whom the WWE has around for their wrestling ability, not to develop them to be over, and she lost the title to a woman who was obviously hired more for looks than wrestling ability. But Nikki is not a centerpiece. Just like the WWE did not do a proper job of wrapping the division around Brie a year ago, they are not going to do it with Nikki. The build to Nikki's title match was poor. She beat Beth a few weeks ago in a non-title match, didn't really do much since then to further the feud, and got the title shot. That's not how you treat a centerpiece.

The WWE diva division is still a mess. But you probably know that. They are still in this dark age. More interesting stuff is going on in the periphery than in the actual wrestling division. Eve is the Executive Assistant to John Laurinaitis. They are doing more for her than they had been doing for Beth Phoenix. They are developing Eve. If Eve should succeed in becoming over from this, they can insert her back into the diva division as the centerpiece. Go back to the first dark age of the diva division. That would be after Sable left. Sable was their first centerpiece of the diva division. After she left, it took a few months to get Trish Stratus, then it took even more time to develop her, but they eventually did get the division revolving around her. Remember one of the major things they did to develop her? Put her in a storyline with the McMahons. Eve is going in the same direction. I would be paying more attention to what they do with Eve in the coming months than Nikki.