How Goes Things For Paige?

It has been a few weeks since Paige won the Diva's Championship in her debut match. It was definitely a big moment for her. Many fans felt things were heating up in the diva division after that. Now that some time has passed since that moment that caused so much buzz, what direction is the WWE going with Paige?

Are they pushing her as the centerpiece? They certainly aren't developing her in the periphery. So far, she has been getting a lot of random matches. I know she has a title defense against Tamina. I'll get to that in a second. This is dry booking. The centerpiece doesn't just hold the title. Those individuals pushed as the centerpiece are pushed better than the rest on a more consistent basis. Others are developed to put them over. The WWE not developing any strong opponents and great title feuds for AJ Lee is one of the main reasons I was not convinced she was being groomed to be the centerpiece. And Paige appears to be getting pushed even more dryly than that. She is a credible jobber. She is a C+ player. I am talking in terms of career, not her talent and potential.

And what about Tamina? AJ Lee takes a break. It gets annoying when women the WWE is pushing to be the stars decide to leave the company or take a break shortly after the WWE starts pushing them in that position or after a title reign. On the other side of that, you have credible jobbers waiting around for something to do, leaving after not being used right, getting released, and all that fun stuff. But that is another issue. Back to Tamina. A lot of people were anticipating a great rematch between AJ and Paige. It might have been a submission match. AJ's bodyguard will get a push while AJ is away. Can you even call it a push? I talked about the centerpiece getting opponents developed well to put her over. Tamina has gotten no development at all. This is hardly a feud between the two. The commentators are doing more to make this seem like a feud than the WWE is doing by having these women interact more. And there is not a lot of time left to make this feud great. The outcome of this title match seems obvious.

I think it is safe to say that the division has not really picked up that much momentum with Paige as the Diva's Champion. She is not being pushed in a great manner. They aren't really putting her in there against quality performers. They are not developing opponents well. I am not sure if I am ready to say that this is worse than AJ's reign was for a few months. Some fans complain that AJ lost all the time. Well, she was typically losing to those women being developed to lose to her in title matches. I don't believe having Paige win is bad, but developing her opponent better would be nice. The WWE will need to eventually step it up and stop with these random matches. That is something you see when no centerpiece is around.

Let me give my personal opinion of Paige. Not as a critic, just as a fan. I am liking her. She has a unique look. She is hot. She does show some potential in the ring. If they put her in there against better opponents, she might look better and be able to properly showcase her moves outside of her finishers. I'm not going to watch her NXT stuff. You want to get over with those fans watching the main shows? You don't do it by telling them to watch your past stuff. Some fans complain about the WWE killing the character she had in NXT. Versatility is a sign of greatness. Yes, being pushed as a generic face diva is quite possibly the worst position to succeed from, especially when pushed as a credible jobber. It will be up to Paige to make it work. At least she does not look like a generic face diva.