2013 WWE Championship Money In The Bank Ladder Match

Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Rob Van Dam, Sheamus, Christian, and CM Punk. I would consider that overkill. Those are the guys who will be in the ladder match at Money in the Bank for the briefcase for the WWE Championship title shot. All of these guys are top stars who have held a World title before in the WWE. And all these guys happen to be faces. The WWE has really piled it on with this match.

Should Chris Jericho be in this match? He is a face who has been World Champion before, so he fits in with the rest. I understand he is now feuding with Ryback, but could they have shuffled things a little differently so Jericho was in this match and someone else faced Ryback? Jericho fits Money in the Bank matches well. If I had to reshuffle the booking, I would let Jericho and Sheamus trade spots. Jericho does not have to win the briefcase, but he would fit in this match. And Ryback definitely does not deserve to have all the air let out of him after feuding with John Cena. A feud with Sheamus may not have been a demotion. Jericho is more of a jobber these days than Sheamus, but I don't think it is a lock that Ryback would be winning whatever feud he gets now. Just having Ryback work with top stars is a good thing for him.

Who wins this briefcase? Many think Daniel Bryan is the favorite to win. He has had this "weak link" storyline and having him win it might have made sense based on that. Problem is, the WWE hasn't booked that storyline very well. He picked up big wins the week before Payback. That storyline could have ended right there. They continued it. He beat Randy Orton is decisive fashion this week. That has to be it for that storyline. If they were going to have this storyline lead up to him winning the briefcase, they should have continued booking him to lose and get fluke wins. The frustration leads to him eventually winning the briefcase. That's his big moment. Whether or not he wins the title, that would be a different story. As of now, that should not be the story of this ladder match. But who wins? Let's see how they develop things further.

This match really shows that the WWE lacks depth when it comes to main-event heels. Without bringing up the possibility of turning one of these faces heel, you have very few top heels doing anything right now. Mark Henry is feuding with Cena, but he will have to retire sooner or later. He has been in the WWE for over a decade. Alberto Del Rio is currently World Champion. Brock Lesnar isn't here full-time. Guys like Ryback and the members of The Shield aren't at the level of these other guys. The Shield has been losing momentum. Should they keep Dolph Ziggler heel? I would say he has not fully turned face yet. He did attack Jericho this week. Retaliation for Jericho attacking him? Okay, but he still attacked him. It depends on how well the fans are connecting with him, but it would be worth thinking about to keep him heel just so you have more top heels. Turning to the faces in this match, who should turn heel, if anyone? I would say Randy Orton. He has been having issues with faces recently, mainly Daniel Bryan. Shouldn't be too hard to turn him.

The Status Quo Of The Diva Division: Reinforcing The Status Quo

Have you ever seen The Empire Strikes Back? I don't think I have ever seen it. I'm not a Star Wars fan. Thought I was a nerd, didn't you? Point is, the title alone symbolizes what I will talk about to end this series on the diva division status quo. The people in control have people unhappy with the way things are threatening to cause change to the status quo. Do the people in control just lie down and allow the change? No, they strike back. They try to reinforce that status quo.

Just look at what has been going on in the men's division for years now in the WWE. There has been an issue with John Cena. The WWE has a centerpiece that many people complain about for various reasons. As a whole, the company seemed to be going in the wrong direction with Cena being pushed so hard. What has been the WWE's response? They have just pushed Cena harder in that same direction. They play off of the hate he gets to sell him as a controversial figure and someone who can rise above the hate. There have even been storylines based on Cena not being liked and trying to turn him heel, like what he had with Kane over a year ago. Instead of actually changing, the WWE just seemed more determined to push the same Cena and find new ways to do it.

Seeing as how hard the status quo has been to change in the men's division, it is not hard to believe that the status quo would not fold that easily in the diva division. The problem in the diva division has mainly been the failure of the WWE to get their centerpieces to work out at all. And when a centerpiece fails, the WWE will not invest well in the interim centerpieces that they are just tossing the title on until they come up with a new plan. That has led to an inconsistent and poor-quality division.

How has the WWE tried to reinforce the status quo of their diva division since the problems started? I have said before that the status quo of the diva division is about more than just the "diva" image. It is about how the women are being pushed. Nevertheless, when you look at the women who are on the main roster, they really have been featuring female wrestlers less and these eye-candy divas more. Right now, there are only 3 true female wrestlers on the main roster. I am talking about those women who came into the company with real pro wrestling training and experience. Two of them are from wrestling families and have been used as credible jobbers. The other one is a periphery diva who never got very over while being pushed as a credible jobber. Women who come in as models, fitness models, actresses, dancers, and other such backgrounds are now starting to get more of the pushes that once went to female wrestlers pushed as credible jobbers. I am not against eye-candy divas getting opportunities, but what about the female wrestlers? With the status quo of the diva division not leading to desired results, the WWE has gone to eye-candy divas more. They are embracing that image or theme even more, but it still hasn't led to them pushing all these women better.

Is there a new hope on the horizon? This is something I actually wasn't thinking about mentioning when I first decided to do this series. Recently, however, there has been some signs of change. For the last two weeks, John Cena has not been the top focus on Raw. Last week, the main event was CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio. That match also involved Dolph Ziggler attacking Del Rio and Brock Lesnar attacking Punk. I figured it was really Lesnar getting involved that made that match worthy of being in the final segment. This week, however, the main event was Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan. Once again, no Cena. They are actually spreading the attention around better. People may not appreciate this, but this is actually a change in the status quo without changing Cena's character or taking the title off him. If they turned Cena heel and still had him dominate the main-event scene, would much really change? I see having these other guys get attention as a more important change. It is a structural change. Some people can say that it is because of changes in the writing staff, but the bosses above those writers still had to be willing to let these other guys get featured better. And as you can see, doing things this way isn't stopping Cena from still getting featured. Will it last? If these changes don't lead to the desired results, they may go back to the old way of doing things.

But what about the diva division? Is change coming there? AJ Lee, a female wrestler, is currently the Diva's Champion and pushed well. Is she the new centerpiece? I wouldn't jump to that conclusion too quickly. It hasn't even been a full 6 months since Eve, the last centerpiece, left. The diva division entered a dark age that was even more similar to the first one when that happened. During those months, AJ was still pushed well in the periphery. She still has a periphery angle now. When you look at what may be on the horizon, I frequently hear that the WWE is signing more eye-candy divas. Some of them are said to have martial-arts experience, but that is not the same in my book as working your way up as a pro wrestler and coming into the company that way. Are there no female wrestlers left in the independent circuit? I am not convinced that the WWE is ready to give up on the status quo of the diva division. They seem to be wanting to reinforce it even more. And speaking honestly, AJ Lee would be the last female wrestler I want to see as the centerpiece of the diva division. After how hard the WWE has already pushed her to be a star, I would rather see someone earn it while being a credible jobber and move up the ranks. Those women are the ones who need the fairer opportunities.

The Status Quo Of The Diva Division: Beating The Status Quo

When you find yourself within a status quo that is not in your favor, there are a few things you can do about it. You can complain or protest what is going on. Zack Ryder is getting attention for complaining on Twitter these days about how the WWE is using him. You can try to change the status quo or bring an end to it. A lot of wars have been fought by people who had enough of the way things were and wanted change. In between complaining and ending the status quo, I would place beating the status quo. The status quo is against you, but you overcome it to still succeed. That is not necessarily the same thing as ending the status quo. You can beat an undefeated boxer, but that does not necessarily mean he stops boxing right after that one loss.

Mickie James did beat the status quo of the WWE diva division. If you look at the type of career she was getting throughout her time in the WWE, she was getting the same type of pushes as those female wrestlers who would be used to put over the centerpiece and be used as filler when the centerpiece was not around. No woman pushed this way ever became very over. And the WWE is all about getting over the performers they want to be their top stars and featuring them to be stars. They were never doing that with Mickie James. That did not stop her from becoming more over than the eye-candy divas the WWE was trying to develop as the new centerpiece. If you view the status quo as a pattern, Mickie James broke that pattern of female wrestlers being pushed as credible jobbers not becoming too over. If you view the status quo as an agenda, Mickie James beat the WWE's agenda by becoming more over than the individuals they wanted to be their top stars in the diva division. The WWE doesn't push a woman like Michelle McCool as hard as they did just to watch the kind of woman they use to put her over become more over than her.

How has the status quo reacted to tasting defeat? I will get more into that tomorrow, but let me just say for now that the diva division has obviously not been able to go back to what it was before Mickie James debuting. The WWE has tried to maintain the same status quo, but it just does not bring the same results.

Some readers, especially those who do not like Mickie James, might say that I am just a blind Mickie James fan handing her praise. She beat the status quo? Really? Not a bit much? Look at it objectively. If you have a situation where everyone is not getting equal opportunities and some people are being used to make others look good, what would it mean for one of those individuals not getting a fair opportunity and being used like that to get the job done better than those individuals that are getting the better opportunities and being developed to succeed? If you do not want to call that beating the status quo, what would you call it? Whatever your answer is, Mickie James did that.

There are a lot of people out there who say that the WWE did not appreciate Mickie James and did not utilize her properly. The problem is deeper than that, but no one seems to show any proper appreciation for what Mickie James accomplished in the diva division and utilizes that. This isn't about handing praise to Mickie James. It is obvious that the status quo of the diva division no longer works. You need change. What better way to argue for change than bring up the woman that beat the status quo? If Mickie James can accomplish what she did with the career of a credible jobber, why shouldn't the WWE be giving female wrestlers fairer, better opportunities? Utilize what Mickie James accomplished to argue for change. Of course, how can you utilize that when no one knows about it and even appreciates it, right?

The Status Quo Of The Diva Division: What Is It?

What is the status quo of the WWE diva division? What is that diva division about? What is going on in that WWE women's division during the diva era? So many ways to ask the question, and also so many ways to answer it.

Let me start with something the status quo of the diva division is not. The status quo of the division is not simply this "diva" image. I bring that up because I have seen some people bring up Beth Phoenix in the same discussion as CM Punk because she is not the typical diva and defies the status quo in that regard. I have spoken about divas with "anti-diva" looks and gimmicks before. The WWE is not against having women like that, and has sometimes even developed women like that to be stars. I am not denying that there is a stereotypical image that is associated with the divas. Fine. But what about the image? It is how the WWE pushes these women that defines what the diva division is about.

That being said, the status quo can be put very simply. Whatever the WWE wants, that is the status quo. Whatever those individuals in power want to accomplish and are trying to accomplish, that is what defines what things are about. Whomever they want to build into top stars, that is whom they will develop to be top stars. Their agenda defines the status quo. You can even talk about the status quo of their agenda to really understand what they are about, but that might get confusing. Regardless, putting things like this is not exactly very specific. Are things really that random and fickle? Is everything simply a whim of Vince McMahon? A lot of things, possibly, but everything? John Cena would not be where he is if everything was random. Even though the WWE does choose what it wants, there is some consistency to what they are about.

Going for that more specific answer, what is the diva division about? Some people might say that the status quo of the diva division is not the same in recent years as it was under Trish Stratus and Lita. Things back then were better. The WWE had better women's matches and were pushing their women better. The quality was great. Most fans would grade it very well. Question is, was the status quo about maintaining that great quality or giving something the fans would grade very well? Was it about treating their women well, especially the female wrestlers? Or was something else going on?

When the diva division started, it was about developing Sable as the centerpiece. They would use female wrestlers to put her over. Chyna was the only female wrestler they were developing as a success, and that was in the periphery of Sable. You had a few other eye-candy divas being featured for their looks and not really being developed as serious wrestlers like they were trying with Sable until she left. When she left, the WWE really didn't develop a new centerpiece for a while.

When Trish Stratus arrived and the time was right with her, they started developing her as the new centerpiece. They used female wrestlers to put her over. The only female wrestler being developed as a success was Lita, and that was on the periphery of Trish Stratus. You had a few eye-candy divas being featured well. Does this story sound familiar? This is the same diva division they were running prior to the dark age that came after Sable left.

What has happened in the diva division since Trish and Lita left? What has the WWE tried to do? Their main goal for years was to take another eye-candy diva and develop her as the centerpiece, following in the line of Sable and Trish. Candice Michelle, Maryse, Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly, and Eve Torres have all been given that kind of push. It was not until a year ago that they pushed a female wrestler as a periphery diva. That would be AJ Lee. The WWE has continued to push female wrestlers as jobbers to the centerpiece and interim centerpiece when they are not around. However, with more eye-candy divas becoming solid in the ring, they are now starting to get the types of pushes that female wrestlers once held on a regular basis. Aside from that, the goal has not really changed. The means has not changed. Eye-candy centerpiece and women with wrestling credibility as credible jobbers.

Let me get to the answer. What is the status quo of the diva division? The WWE is trying to take an eye-candy diva and develop her to be the primary star of their diva division. They choose whom they want that centerpiece to be, whom they want the credible jobbers to be, and whom the other stars of the division will be. Go back to Trish and Lita being around. If the status quo back then was really about maintaining a certain high-quality diva division, whether in terms of treating their women with a certain level of respect when they push them or always trying to please their fans, it makes you wonder what happened. However, if the status quo really did revolve around getting the woman they were pushing as the centerpiece to work out, it really is no mystery as to why the diva division has fallen. If the WWE cannot get what they want, they will not do better with what they do have for the sake of treating their workers right or giving the fans something that really interests them. The status quo back then could have been due to a number of reasons, but when there is a connection between how things are now and how things were then, that connection should be seen as the status quo of the diva division. That connection is developing an eye-candy diva as the centerpiece. The status quo has not changed.

Some people may completely disagree with me when I say that the status quo has not changed. How can I look at how the division is today and say that things are the same? The agenda is the same. Moreover, the same status quo may not always lead to the same results. Let me give two examples.

First, imagine a football team that wins the Super Bowl one season. The following season, they keep everything exactly the same. They don't cut any players and don't bring in any new players. The coaching staff stays exactly the same. Every position in the organization stays the same. They even keep the same playbook. And yet, they fail to even make the playoffs for that season after they had done so well. What went wrong? In terms of who they had and the plays they were doing when they had that great year, they maintained the status quo. The state of affairs for them remained the same. Problem is, age, injuries, and other personal problems may have become an issue for some of the star players. Moreover, the other teams may have gotten better and be better prepared for this team. A winning status quo one season leads to failure the next. If that team was smart, they would not cling to an arrogant belief that doing exactly what led them to that Super Bowl win one season will do the same for years to come.

Second, let's talk about SpongeBob! Did you ever see that episode where Squidward has enough of SpongeBob and moves to a community of people just like him, who also have the same tastes as him? When he first gets there, he loves it. He gets into this routine of always doing the same thing every day. Soon, he loses his smile. He gets bored with it. He goes a little crazy. He eventually leaves. What went wrong? Wasn't this pretty much Squidward's dream status quo? It definitely pleased him at one time. Some people just get tired of the way things are. If the status quo is so monotonous, a status quo that was enjoyable at one time may become painful in the future.

What has changed in the WWE diva division is not the status quo. What has changed is the ability of the status quo to get the job done, in terms of pleasing the WWE, the fans, and treating many of these women well. Just because the division was so great under Trish and Lita, that does not mean it was the WWE's goal to please people who say it was great. As I have said before, you cannot confuse an opinion of the status quo for what the status quo actually is. The same status quo may not always bring absolute results. That diva division is about making stars out of whom the WWE wants to be stars. They want a woman with that "diva" image as their centerpiece. That is what has defined the diva division from the start. Things are currently in a dark age, with AJ Lee getting the spotlight, but will the WWE eventually go for another eye-candy centerpiece?

The Status Quo Of The Diva Division: Introduction

A special time of year is coming up. My nephew is graduating from kindergarten and my mother celebrates a birthday on the same day. Oh, and we're approaching the 2-year anniversary of CM Punk starting that big summer storyline about how bad the status quo was and ranting about ice cream. For the 1-year anniversary, I looked at whether the WWE "botched" CM Punk's big push. This year, I want to talk about the status quo of the WWE diva division. I have spoken about the diva division dozens of times, but never through a discussion of the status quo, specifically. There are a lot of ideas connected to the status quo. Hopefully, I'll end up saying something with worth. Because there is so much to talk about, I will break it into four parts.

First of all, what is the status quo? It is the state in which something is. What does that even mean? It is the way things are. So vague, isn't it? It is general. People can say that the status quo is pretty much anything. Some people can say that the status quo of the government is this agenda that they are always pushing. You might say that the status quo when it comes to fashion is this pattern of always wearing certain things. Agendas and patterns.

Let me start talking about some things that the status quo is not. The status quo is not one person. You can say that the status quo is decided mainly by one certain individual or that one certain individual is the chief benefactor of the status quo, but the status quo is more than just that one person. The reason I bring that up is because I have seen some people say that John Cena was the status quo back when CM Punk was talking about the term. Okay, what about Cena? The fact that he held the title so much? As 2012 proved, Cena doesn't need the title to be pushed hard. And if it really needs to be said, the status quo is not simply what one person says it is, including CM Punk.

You should not confuse an opinion of how things are with how things actually are. The status quo is not your opinion on whether things are great or not. Think about how things are for you in whatever city you live in. Are you happy with the way things are, upset, or completely indifferent? Do you think things are the way they are just so you can be happy, upset, or indifferent? Think about how a neighbor of yours might feel about the way things are in your city. If he has a different opinion of the status quo, does that mean the status quo is really different? I don't think so. I would say that the status quo just impacts different people differently. Imagine if people suddenly just started warming up to John Cena and his hate diminished. The WWE doesn't change how they are pushing him, but fans just start getting used to him and accepting him. The status quo of the WWE wouldn't have changed, but fans' attitude towards the status quo of the WWE would have. I will definitely bring this idea of not confusing an opinion of the status quo as the actual status quo back up when I talk more specifically about the diva division.

Last thing I want to mention, some people seem to have this attitude that the status quo can just change easily. They thought that CM Punk beating Cena for the title meant that real change would immediately come. When CM Punk lost the title, turned heel, or some other thing like that happened, they acted like the same old status quo was returning. Unless you are in a volatile environment, a place where big, sudden changes seem to be the norm, you cannot act like every single event means that things might be going in a new direction. You will drive yourself crazy. You have to understand what the norm is if you are going to appreciate what the status quo of whatever you are talking about really is.

McMahon Vs. McMahon Vs. The Guy Who Married A McMahon

The seeds are being planted for that big summer angle you usually get from the WWE. For the last few weeks, there has been some tension between Vince McMahon and Triple H. Stephanie McMahon was caught in the middle. This week, things developed even more. Vickie Guerrero found herself unable to do anything right to please all her bosses. Vince wants this done, Triple H wants that done, and then Stephanie McMahon also made her presence felt during the show.

What is this leading to? The easy answer would be some kind of match for overall control of the company at Summerslam. Why waste something like that for Money in the Bank? How about the Board of Directors making the decision that none of the McMahons are running things properly and bringing back in John Laurinaitis to call the shots? That could lead to the McMahons uniting against a heel a lot of fans hate. What would draw good interest? That is the whole point of developing these big summer angles. And if the McMahons are involved as much as they have been, they have to be aiming for something big.

Christian Returns, Mark Henry "Retires"

That was a very good Raw last night. Many good segments. A lot to talk about, but I will only cover two things today.

Christian finally returned. Injuries have been a real issue for him in recent years. And when that isn't the issue, how to use him properly is the issue. He had a good return by beating Wade Barrett, but what will they do with him as the weeks go on? Intercontinental title feud? It looks like Curtis Axel has others in line to feud with him. The U.S. title? Dean Ambrose has been feuding with Kane. There has not been a proper finish to any of the title matches they have had. There should be proper closure to that feud, regardless of who wins. If Ambrose does win, have him feud with Christian. What does Christian do until then? Let's see if the WWE can have a good midcard feud without a title involved.

My favorite segment was Mark Henry's "retirement" promo. He teased it on Twitter. It got people talking. Most fans bought it. It's not out of the question that a guy who has been in the WWE as long as Mark Henry and has his history with injuries would finally hang it up. Swerve! He laid out Cena. He wants the one World title he has not held in the WWE. Mark Henry definitely pulled off that promo well. I hope this feud is good.

As good as the last two days have been, the real issue will be how they can keep it going. The last two days featured a lot of turns and returns. Are they going to keep that going every single week? They can't. They have to find other ways to keep the momentum going in realistic ways. How many face or heel turns can you possibly have? How many people are waiting to return? They can't rely on those things regularly. Let's see what happens.

RVD To Return

Not the person I expected to be talking about the day after Payback. Rob Van Dam is officially returning to the WWE. He will be at Money in the Bank.

RVD is definitely a popular individual and can go in the ring. Age is definitely a factor, but even at his age, he is still more fun to watch than certain guys the WWE does feature a lot. Having him back will certainly be a good thing.

Let me give the negative side of his return. This is another situation where the WWE has to rely on past stars to try to create hype and draw for them. How are they really doing with the current roster? If a guy like Sheamus was to go away for a few years and come back, would he draw as much buzz as Brock Lesnar returning? That is an extreme example. Let me just stick to RVD for a moment. He is not at the same level as The Rock or Brock Lesnar. It will be good to have him back, and he will certainly get a warm welcome, but I wouldn't expect too much when it comes to ratings or PPV buys as you would The Rock.

Who should he enter a feud with? I could probably run down an entire list. However, if it only came down to one person, I would like to see him feud with Randy Orton again. It was Orton who ended RVD's WWE career in kayfabe. Is it time for Orton to turn heel again? Possibly so. And if he does, feuding with a face RVD would be good. It would be better than having RVD randomly beat Chris Jericho in his return match.

Top Searched Wrestlers For My Blog

I don't usually blog on the weekends anymore. I have something different that I wanted to do that I didn't think I would be able to make time for during my regular blogging days, so I'm taking the time to do it now. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Mickie James was reported to be the most-searched female wrestler of 2011. That got me thinking of my own stats for this blog. My usual habit is to go on my Google Analytics account right after I write a blog entry just to see how I did for the previous day. I never actually looked at what drew the most interest for me in a given year or all time. I did that now and decided to share it and talk about it a little.

Let me first explain how I'm going to present the data. I spent some time trying to figure out how best to do it. There's a ton of information and I really have to pick and choose. And I'll probably botch explaining things right now. I'm not good with this blogging stuff. First, I'm going to be providing what the top keywords people used when they came to my blog were in 2010 (starting from April), 2011, 2012, this year so far, and all time, and the number of visits from those exact keywords. Second, I am going to give an estimate on how many visits certain selected wrestlers brought me for those five periods of time. Why is that relevant? Some people may search for "mickie james" and end up on my blog, while some people may also search for "is mickie james still in tna?" and come to my blog. How do you find out how many visits people interested in something concerning Mickie James made to my blog? You have to add up the visits for all those keywords. Analytics provides a feature where you can search how many times a specific term comes up in your list of keywords. I can just search "mickie" and it will give me a list of all the visits I got off of people visiting me with something having to do with Mickie James and the total number of visits. I will do this for a few wrestlers. And there are a few reasons why I will give an estimate and not the actual number. One is  because some fans sometimes spell the names wrong. They might spell "mickey james" by mistake. I botch names all the time, so I'm not judging. People visiting my blog from a misspelled search will not show up when I look up data based on the correct spelling. Because of that, I'll round up to the nearest 10. When I provide the numbers for the actual keywords, that will be accurate as of the time I'm writing this. Now that I am done boring you with the explanation, let me bore you with the numbers.

2010

1.	aj lee	240	AJ Lee- 300
2.	rosa mendes	49	Mickie James- 20
3.	killeroflegends	24	John Cena- 20
4.	drew mcintyre	13
5.	a.j. lee	12
6.	aj lee wwe	10
7.	mickie james	10
8.	killeroflegends 2010	9
9.	a.j lee	8
10.	wwe aj	8

2011

1.	killeroflegends	487	Mickie James- 630
2.	mickie james	203	Kelly Kelly- 420
3.	aj lee	186	AJ Lee- 310
4.	gail kim	106	Gail Kim- 200
5.	kelly kelly	80	John Cena- 190
6.	rosa mendes	70	Sting- 160
7.	(not provided)	52	CM Punk- 90
8.	joker sting	51
9.	sheamus	46
10.	alberto del rio	45

2012

1.	killeroflegends	850	Mickie James- 700
2.	(not provided)	441	Kane- 630
3.	zack ryder	240	Kelly Kelly- 620
4.	kelly kelly	216	AJ Lee- 380
5.	mickie james	149	Zack Ryder- 340
6.	kane 2012	147	John Cena- 270
7.	wwe kane 2012	96	Gail Kim- 160
8.	gail kim	77
9.	natalya	73
10.	kane 2012 wwe	62

2013

1. (not provided) 373 2. killeroflegends 266 3. big show 53 4. mickie james 38 5. christian mid card hero 22 6. kelly kelly vs 21 7. http://killeroflegends.blogspot.com/ 8 8. kelly kelly vs layla 7 9. mark henry 7 10. mickie james lesbian 7
Mickie James- 120
Kelly Kelly- 70 Big Show- 70 AJ Lee- 40
John Cena- 30
Kane- 30
All Time 1. killeroflegends 1,627       Mickie James- 1460   2. (not provided) 866       Kelly Kelly- 1100 3. aj lee 439       AJ Lee- 1020 4. mickie james 400       Kane- 740 5. kelly kelly 301       John Cena- 500 6. zack ryder 272       Gail Kim- 390 7. gail kim 187       Big Show- 240 8. kane 2012 148 9. rosa mendes 137 10. big show 104

To start, people searching for "killeroflegends" are obviously looking to read my blog, specifically. I also have some readers who search specific terms whenever they want to find my blog, such as "christian mid card hero". What I am going to be discussing will have to do with wrestling fans who come to my blog looking to find something about a particular wrestler, not looking to specifically read my blog. For the most part, I will be talking about searches that bring in at least 90% new visits. This is going to be an analysis of what wrestlers the searchers are interested in, not in how regulars are coming to my blog. 

Starting in 2010, it seems a lot of people were interested in AJ Lee. What is noteworthy about that is that she wasn't even really relevant until the last few months of the year. There is also the fact that I didn't have much content on this blog yet since I didn't switch over fully here until April.

In 2011, a lot of people started talking about Mickie James. That is the year she won the Triple Crown and ended the year having been Champion 8 times. Gail Kim walked out on the WWE and headed back to TNA. Aside from those two women, TNA seemed to create a lot of interest with Sting, particularly a certain gimmick he had for a few months that year. My blog didn't seem to draw in a lot of readers for what I had to say about CM Punk's epic push that year. Fans were definitely talking about that, even if not many visited my blog to read anything about it.

What should jump out at you for the data in 2012? How many times does "kane 2012" pop up in that list of top 10 keywords? Not only are people interested in Kane, but they specifically got excited for his return and the new look, including that metal mask. I had a few visits from people searching Kane's feud with Zack Ryder, which really didn't go anywhere. Speaking of Zack Ryder, there was a ton of interest in the guy during the first two months of the year, while he was involved on that feud between Kane and John Cena. Interest fell slightly to around Wrestlemania. After that, barely anything. Not surprising. The WWE has not provided much for the guy and I don't blog about him that regularly. No reason to. Nevertheless, there were a ton of people interested in Zack Ryder for a few months. If they had continued running with him, how far could he really have gone?

Although this doesn't show up in the numbers I gave, it was in 2012 that I had the most visits in one day. That came on January 9, 2012. 80 total visits. On that one day, I got no less than 30 visits for the same reason. What monumental event occurred that shook the very foundations of the pro wrestling community? A pipe bomb? The return of a huge star? It was the debut of the Funkasaurus, Brodus Clay. Yeah. I'll just leave that there.
Looking at 2013 so far, nothing really stands out. More people are coming to my blog searching for Big Show than I would have expected. People searching for Mickie James visit my blog more often than any other female wrestler I write about. And I do talk about AJ and Kaitlyn when I have to. I give them time.
And looking at the overall numbers, I did not expect Mickie James to be the wrestler to draw the most interest when people visit my blog off their searches. I honestly thought it would be John Cena. That is why I provided the number of visits I had gotten off Cena searches. I definitely have written more blog entries about Cena than Mickie James. John Cena is the top guy in the top wrestling promotion in the world. I definitely talk about the WWE more than TNA. Even if I did talk just as much about TNA as I do the WWE, TNA doesn't push any single individual like the WWE pushes Cena. John Cena is pushed regularly and usually gets the biggest, best storylines. Even when he is not around due to injury, that is something to talk about. Even if he is around and not used for just one night, even that is something to talk about. People searching for Mickie James, who is not even pushed regularly in TNA, visit my blog more often. And the fact that she is not pushed often is definitely one of the reasons people search her. People aren't just coming to my blog looking for pictures. They want to know if she's still in TNA. Is she turning heel? I talked about the interest her title wins gained. If TNA could properly keep the ball rolling with her, they would have something. Of course, no one should base too much off my blog stats. Just because people aren't visiting my blog when they are looking up various wrestlers, that doesn't mean those wrestlers aren't getting looked up. I am simply not providing something that those searchers are interested in enough to click that link and visit my blog. If you have studied statistics or have an interest in stats, you know getting a large sample size makes it easier to get accurate information. The more information you have, the better. I'm just one blogger. I didn't write this up as a confirmation of any report or to contradict what someone else is saying. This was just meant to give you an idea of which wrestlers people are searching for when they come to my blog.

Payback 2013 Title Matches

The Intercontinental Championship match for Payback was originally supposed to be Fandango vs. Miz vs. Wade Barrett. An injury took Fandango out. Had it not been for that injury, Fandango was the favorite to walk out with the title. Given the attention he has gotten thanks to that fad, a title run would be a good way to continue pushing him. Miz didn't seem likely to take the title. Miz has been away here and there in the last 12 months, but he has still managed to win the Intercontinental Championship twice. Another reign from the guy he already traded the title with was not likely. Enter Curtis Axel. He is taking Fandango's place. If they are developing this guy as something special, there is no doubt that they are not going to have him lose so soon. All his wins against stars above him have been flukes, but they do not seem to want to bury him. A title reign is likely for him. Even though this was one of the last people I would want to see get this big of a push, this is the kind of guy I would like to see hold the Intercontinental title. I don't like seeing former World Champions holding midcard singles titles too much. And I also don't like seeing the same people winning those titles. Moreover, Curtis Axel isn't the kind of guy I picture them handing the title to and then losing him in the shuffle easily. I actually think the WWE would do a good job with a title run for him.

Dolph Ziggler has returned to defend his title against Alberto Del Rio. Based on how boringly this feud has been handled while Ziggler was out, it would be easy for me to say that Del Rio won't win it. If he was going to win it, they would develop him better. On the other hand, how good to go is Ziggler? If he is not, they may put the title back on Del Rio more out of necessity than actually wanting to. Having a World Champion that can go in the ring is worth more than having one that cannot.

John Cena vs. Ryback. Three Stages of Hell. This match will most likely end the feud. Who wins? The answer to that one is obvious. But should Ryback win it? Does he deserve to be the first new World Champion in the WWE in over a year? If this was back when he was feuding with CM Punk, my answer would be different. He had so much momentum back then. That would have been the best time to give him the WWE Championship, even though it would mean giving CM Punk's big title reign a sooner demise. Now, however, Ryback does not have that same momentum anymore. He is there to put Cena over. Not that it matters, but if I were to predict who takes each fall, Cena wins the first, Ryback wins the second, and Cena wins the third to retain the title. What about the potential swerve of CM Punk hiding in the ambulance? He doesn't show up for his match with Jericho, but does show up later in the main event. That is an idea many fans have mentioned. It can be a way to restart the feud between CM Punk and Cena. That epic feud between the two started around this time of year. What better time to restart it? I'm not expecting any swerves in the main event. Let's just see what happens.

The Shield At Payback

There are a lot of title matches at Payback that I was interested in talking about. My original plan was to talk about the majority of them today and end on Friday with Cena vs. Ryback. Something happened on Smackdown this week that is making me change my plans. In case you don't want what happens on Smackdown spoiled, you can just turn back now. Just stare at that picture up there and imagine how The Shield would look if Jinder Mahal was in Dean Ambrose's place.

On Smackdown, The Shield continued their feud with Kane, Daniel Bryan, and Randy Orton. Kane is getting a shot at Ambrose's U.S. Championship and Daniel Bryan and Orton are going for the tag titles. How do they further the feud on Smackdown? 6-man tag. That is what you would come to expect from feuds with The Shield. And what happens? The faces defeat The Shield and hand them their first loss as a 3-man team. The Shield is no longer undefeated.

I don't like it. It's no surprise that the heels lost to this kind of team. Orton, Bryan, and Kane are all top guys who have been World Champion before. This is the kind of team I was expecting to eventually beat The Shield. And I am a fan of both Orton and Kane. Daniel Bryan is definitely over and deserves a big win. I'm not even really a fan of The Shield. So what is my problem? I don't think it was developed properly. You waste it on a Smackdown? I was saying months ago that Wrestlemania would have been a great time to have a top face team beat The Shield. It didn't happen. That's fine. Developing The Shield's credibility and momentum could eventually lead to that big moment when they do lose. Not only was it wasted on a Smackdown, but the story here really wasn't about overcoming The Shield. The real storyline involving all these guys recently was Daniel Bryan being the weak link and having issues with Kane and Randy Orton. A lot of people were speculating who would turn heel out of the three. Even if they did not want to turn anyone heel, there were still ways to end this storyline by making Daniel Bryan not look like the weak link and keep The Shield undefeated as a unit. Having Daniel Bryan win on Raw was a start.

All The Shield really had for a long time was that momentum from being undefeated. Aside from their fancy entrance and wrestling gear, their gimmick was dead. There was no real character development. In terms of storyline development, they have really just been used as supporting players in the storylines of others. I just talked about how they were being used in the storyline between Kane, Daniel Bryan, and Randy Orton. Before that, they were involved in Cena's feud against Ryback. Before that, while they were feuding with Sheamus, Big Show, and Randy Orton heading into Wrestlemania, the real story seemed to be whether Sheamus and Orton could trust Big Show. They had that feud against Cena, Sheamus, and Ryback, which lacked any kind of unique storyline. And if you just look at how they started out and spent their first few months, they were being used to help CM Punk retain his title. Throughout all these months, their undefeated streak as a team was all the story they had for themselves. I'm not saying that they should never have lost ever. I am saying their loss should have come off a feud that was more about beating them and not as a paragraph in the larger story involving three other people and their issues with each other.

Where does that leave The Shield for Payback? Prior to recent developments, what I was prepared to say was that I could imagine one title change occurring and The Shield retaining the other title. If Kane won the U.S. title and Daniel Bryan failed to win the tag titles, that could further the storyline that Daniel Bryan was the weak link. If Daniel Bryan won the tag titles and Kane did not win the U.S. title, that could lead to Daniel Bryan saying Kane was the weak link. Since The Shield would still be undefeated as a 3-man team, there would be no need complaining about a short title reign for the member(s) who lost their gold. That streak as a team was where their real value lied.

What do I have to say now? Given how they booked Daniel Bryan this week, there is no need to continue the storyline about an inferiority complex. Combine that with the fact that the undefeated run is officially over for The Shield, that really changes a lot. I really can't give a good prediction for this one. I will admit it. The Shield's credibility has taken a huge hit. It would be nice to keep the tag titles on them to give some teams further down the card time to feud against them, like The Usos. I think it would be less likely to see Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton feuding with those lower-midcard teams. As for Kane vs. Ambrose, Kane doesn't really need the U.S. title that badly. I know he has never held that title, so it would look good on his title resume, but it is not necessary. Let Ambrose hold it. Let all the members retain their titles for now. Unless they are in trouble for something, there is no need to take away their win streak and all their titles in such a short time. Without all that, I can picture The Shield getting buried down the card very easily. It was going to happen eventually, but I just think it is not the right time.

Kaitlyn Vs. AJ At Payback

Kaitlyn has held the title for a few months now. There is really no point in prolonging it much longer. They have not developed her well for the majority of her reign, so it doesn't seem she will be pushed as centerpiece. Where does that leave her title defense against AJ Lee?

AJ will most likely be winning the title. Whether it happens at Payback or the PPV after or a title defense on Raw, it is only a matter of time. They are not going to have Kaitlyn break the record for longest-reigning Diva's Championship. There is still over a month until that becomes an issue, but now seems like a good time to end her reign. And why not let it be AJ Lee? This is her big push. I would rather the WWE spread things around better in the diva division, especially considering AJ already has her angle alongside the current World's Heavyweight Champion, but she is their top diva during this dark age and giving her the title makes better sense in that regard than handing it off to a Bella.

What will become of Kaitlyn? They just had this bullying segment on Raw where AJ sold the idea that no one would want Kaitlyn. Big E was revealed as the mystery man. It was a trap. Perfect situation to have some other guy come in and stand by Kaitlyn? Cody Rhodes turning face? Whatever the case may be, Kaitlyn could easily have an angle after her reign ends. I don't feel bad for her. As I said before, she does not seem to be the one they want to be centerpiece. The only reason she has been given the big attention she has gotten over the last month is because she is feuding with the top periphery diva. Before that, she was lost in the shuffle around Wrestlemania. Before that, she had a filler title defense against Tamina, a credible jobber. And before that, she was being pushed against Eve, who was the centerpiece until her departure. Is Kaitlyn going to get released shortly after her loss? No. She may be getting treated as a credible jobber, but there is no centerpiece. She is not in anyone's way and the WWE can still use her for other things. It's a dark age. The WWE isn't in the same situation that they were in in 2010. They are still in the kind of situation they were in in 2000.

The Usos Getting Pushed

The Usos have been more relevant recently. They even got featured on Raw last week, and not to job to someone higher up the card than them.

What is the meaning of this? Big plans for the duo? More than likely, they are being developed to be fed to The Shield. The tag titles are now held by a heel team. With Daniel Bryan separating from Kane, who is left to feud with The Shield? The WWE could just continue putting together random face teams consisting of upper-midcarders and main-eventers to challenge for the tag titles, but that would take away from other plans they have with those top stars. Top stars will eventually be the ones to beat the trio in a 6-man tag, but that doesn't mean that people down the card can't feud for the titles and possibly win them.

The Usos will most likely not be winning the titles, but it is good to feature them. The tag-team division revival is dead. Nevertheless, you have some teams on the roster to make use of. Seeing as the fans are connecting well with The Usos, their push may last longer. But it won't last forever.

No Need For The Truth?

R-Truth returned from injury earlier this year. At the time, it looked like he would enter a feud with Damien Sandow. However, Sandow also had another feud going for him at the same time. Sandow has continued to be featured well, while R-Truth is lost in the shuffle.

What should be done with R-Truth? He is obviously a popular midcarder. With Kofi Kingston injured, that should open up the need to push someone else in the midcard in his place. Continuing that feud with Sandow is obviously not an option for R-Truth right now. Sandow has a feud with Sheamus. Wade Barrett is currently in a feud. How about the U.S. title picture? It would be sad if they just put all those titles on The Shield for decoration. The Shield may look good holding all those titles, but will the WWE book them to help the tag division and midcard? Have Ambrose feud with R-Truth. R-Truth doesn't need to win the title, but a title feud would be nice. Right now, I would say that is the best way to use R-Truth in the midcard. After whatever the WWE has planned for The Shield at Payback, start a feud between Ambrose and R-Truth.

Sandow Vs. Sheamus

Sheamus has entered a feud with Damien Sandow. Looks like this will actually be a good feud. It is about more than just beating each other up. I like feuds like that. They have been having these segments where Sandow tries to show off his intelligence and Sheamus just comes in and does what he does. It is similar to the feud Sheamus just had with Mark Henry. Mark Henry went out there to show how strong he is, then Sheamus makes a fool of him. I just hope this doesn't become the regular pattern for Sheamus. Might get predictable after a while, even though it does give other guys a chance to showcase their own gimmicks.

You have a feud that is obviously not between equals. Demotion for Sheamus? Big push for Sandow? This is not a punishment for Sheamus. Just because he is not in the World title hunt, that doesn't mean the WWE is not high on him. At the same time, I don't feel they are developing Sandow for a bigger push after this feud. Sheamus will likely go over Sandow, continue to be an upper-midcarder, and Sandow will still be lost in the midcard. Sandow might at least get a win against Sheamus during the feud. Maybe? Hopefully? But when he does eventually get depushed, you don't need to believe it is because he did something wrong.

Changing topic, Raw got a 2.66 in the ratings this week. They were up against the last game of the NBA playoffs. Nevertheless, that number is significant. That is the lowest they have ever done this early in the calender year in over a decade. They did not do this badly for Memorial Day. They did score lower on July 4th, 2011. That makes 5 weeks in a row under 3.0. And it isn't even football season yet. With the WWE getting these kind if numbers now, what can they expect when NFL competition is a factor?

Triple H Feuds With Curtis Axel

The WWE actually brought back Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon to Raw this week. LeBron James must have been on their minds. The McMahons were united to stand against Triple H facing Curtis Axel. The rematch did not happen, but supposedly will next week.

It is an interesting storyline. They have made it personal. They are treating it as something major. You have Stephanie even referring to Triple H by his real first name. The way they are setting the whole thing up is something I like.

What don't I like? They are doing all this for Curtis Axel? Who has this guy legitimately beaten? Sin Cara? This kind of storyline would be believable if Brock Lesnar was the heel involved. When Brock broke Triple H's arm last year, I don't remember Vince and Stephanie absolutely refusing to let Triple H face him. I don't remember them blocking it from happening this year in their two matches. Brock Lesnar has proven to be more dangerous. Curtis Axel just benefited from Triple H still hurting from what Brock had done to him. I understand very well that the idea is Triple H may not be prepared to compete after what happened to him during his first match with Axel, but he is obviously going to recover sooner or later. He has been injured before. It is a nice storyline to have, but seems wasted at this moment.

Of course, on the other side of that coin, it is good that they are developing some kind of feud for Curtis Axel. Depending on how they handle this injury angle, they might even let him beat Triple H in a more decisive fashion next time. Triple H can always take the win back down the road. Curtis Axel has gotten too many cheap wins against top stars. His win against Cena this week is another example of that. How about actually having him pin one of these guys?  It does not have to be a clean win. How can you build up his credibility with these joke finishes?

Spoiling The Women's Division

When someone spoils you, they give you that kind of treatment that you just love to have. Some people might feel guilty about getting that special treatment. Other people might love it so much that they don't want to lose that treatment. If you have ever seen a very spoiled individual, you know how annoying or demanding they can get.

Look at the state of that diva division. The last few years have not been pretty. And yet, the WWE will not give up on it. What can possibly be their motivation for wanting it to continue? There definitely is motivation. The WWE diva division has definitely been successful. They have had successful centerpieces. Sable and Trish were successful centerpieces.

The diva division started with Sable. She was definitely over back then. I don't usually watch old segments or matches on Youtube, but I did pass by a segment involving Sable from just before I started watching wrestling regularly. They were giving her (and Sunny) an award for helping an issue of Raw magazine be the highest-selling issue ever. That's an indicator right there that sex sells. That image sells. And they ran with this woman as the first centerpiece when the diva division started. That success they had with Sable, seeing her work out as the centerpiece, is what you can say started to spoil the women's division.

If the WWE got spoiled with Sable, they got spoiled rotten with Trish Stratus. She lasted longer than Sable and was able to develop her in-ring ability even further. How many times was she Babe of the Year? Once again, shows that the image sells. The WWE was once again having success running that same diva division that started with Sable. Trish even got inducted into the Hall of Fame before Sable. After seeing how much success they were having, it is not hard to imagine why they tried to make a new centerpiece after Trish and Lita retired, not even bothering to develop a new periphery diva with a female wrestler.

And all those attempts to create a new eye-candy centerpiece failed. That raises the question, if Sable or Trish had flopped, would the WWE women's division be better today? Without that success that continues to motivate the WWE to push this same diva division and try to make it still work, would you see a better women's wrestling division right now? If the image had not sold, I think it is easy to believe the WWE would not be motivated to try to push it. To be a little more specific than that, what if the women themselves did not connect with the fans and failed in the same way as those women the WWE has attempted to develop as the new centerpiece. I am talking about getting injured too much, deteriorating wrestling ability, not being committed, and never getting the overness to match how you are being pushed. Obviously, this is just speculation. You can't know for sure what the WWE would have done. If Sable had flopped as centerpiece, I believe you would have had a good chance of the WWE not bothering to continue to push the diva division. They might have went back to pushing female wrestlers to be the top stars of the actual women's wrestling division. They liked what they had with Sable and continued it with Trish. If she had not worked out? I can't answer that one. No opinion there. I think it could really go either way. They had a number of female wrestlers on the roster at the time to still continue running a respectable women's division and make a star out of one of them, possibly Lita. On the other side of that, they started doing Diva Searches during Trish's run as centerpiece. Had Trish started to not work out, they could just wait for one of those eye-candy divas to get solid in the ring and develop her to be the centerpiece. No matter what, having more failed centerpieces than successful ones has not motivated the WWE to give up the diva division.

Let me throw a wild card into the discussion. What if a female wrestler accomplished what Mickie James did back when Sable or Trish started out? What fans don't realize, Mickie James was a credible jobber who got over on her own at the time when centerpieces were failing. They never stopped pushing her as a jobber to the centerpiece and interim centerpiece. Would things have been different for a female wrestler who accomplished this at a time the WWE was less spoiled with their diva division desires? If a woman accomplished this when Sable was the centerpiece, I think the WWE would have been more open to giving her the better career that she was earning. I would like to believe the WWE would have a more open mind back then. Moreover, the company was hotter back then. They had a better midcard, which would lead to periphery divas featured better. Things being so much better back then is what made the first dark age not as painful as the current one. And if this happened when Trish was centerpiece? I am talking about earlier in her centerpiece run. Mickie James obviously debuted during Trish's end of her centerpiece run. Once again, I have no real answer there. If the WWE was really eager to build a new eye-candy centerpiece after what they had with Sable, a female wrestler they are using to put over Trish may become a nuisance if she started getting over. All these years of failure sure are not making it easier for credible jobbers to succeed.

I am not trying to say that Trish and Sable should not have succeeded or did not deserve their success. The whole point of this post was just to talk about what can be the WWE's motivation for keeping the diva division going like this. And they definitely have had success with the diva division to be motivated. It is not really so much these two women that have spoiled the WWE, but the success of these two women. It is the success the WWE have had with these women. I don't blame these women. It is up to the WWE to see what the problem is and try to fix it. They are to blame for not moving on from that success they had in the past. It is not leading to success now. They are spoiled.

Speaking of Mickie James, I came across an article from Bleacher Report last week that said Mickie James has flopped in TNA. Really? The writer talks about how poorly Mickie James has been used. Fans were eager to see her join TNA, then no one cared a couple weeks later. She has been overlooked for Velvet Sky, Gail Kim, and Tara. I'm not even going to post the link to the article. Search the subterranean depths of Google, if you care to read it. I don't recommend telling a teacher something like that when she asks you to cite your source.

First of all, Mickie's TNA career isn't even over yet. Second, about a year and a half ago, there was a report that Mickie James was the most searched female wrestler on Google in 2011. She accomplished that while in TNA. That is an indicator right there that Mickie James has drawn interest in TNA. How can anyone read that report and make the general conclusion that no one cared about Mickie James a few weeks after she joined TNA. She joined in 2010, people stopped caring by the end of the year, and she still had enough people interested in her in 2011 to look her up and see what's happening with her? If you can get fans to be interested in you like that, despite the mediocre treatment, you are not a flop. She has delivered for TNA. Third, even though I would be the first to say that booking accomplishments are not what it is about in pro wrestling, Mickie James accomplished things in TNA that the WWE would never allow her to have. They would never have booked a credible jobber to win as many title reigns as Trish Stratus. Mickie James has now held 9 major women's titles. Yeah, in case you missed it, she won the TNA Knockouts title again. She has also held the WWE Women's Championship, Diva's Championship, and TNA Knockouts Championship. The only woman to do that. That is going to be her legacy. That is something for her and her fans to be proud of. If she had not come to TNA and done that, what would her legacy have ended up being? Lastly, why should you criticize Mickie James as a flop in TNA when rotating women like this is just how TNA does things? They rotate everything in and out. What looks like a huge success one moment will look like a flop in a short time. I don't remember Gail Kim having any angles while Brooke Tessmacher was feuding with Madison Rayne and Tara. Recently, Gail has just been used to put over other women, who will most likely be rotated out themselves in a while. Where is Brooke Tessmacher right now? Mickie James is a flop because she is being treated like pretty much all the other women in that KO division? I don't think so.

I always say that a wrestler's job isn't to get me to like him or live up to my standards. Their job is to connect with their audience as best as they can. That is the best way to become an asset to the company. If they can't do that, they should try to make other talent look good that can get the job done and support the company in other ways. That writer who wrote that article obviously has standards I don't agree with. Yes, if you look at how TNA is using Mickie James, it would be easy to say Mickie James has flopped. The fact is, this woman was not supposed to succeed in the WWE in the first place. After that, she had a career where she should have flopped. And she still maintained the overness. In TNA, she has succeeded in drawing interest for the company and has created a title legacy for herself. I will not deny that this woman deserves better, but she has made use of her opportunities to still accomplish things. In the end, I once said that TNA appreciates Mickie James more than the WWE. I still stand by that. The problem is, TNA also cares about several other women in the same way. Unlike the WWE, you can say TNA won't get "spoiled" on anyone.