I have been on a little marathon about the diva division in the last few days. WWE had some releases, which I am not too shocked they ended up doing, and a diva was released. Let me talk about her today.
Aksana was released. When the releases started, I had a feeling she might get released. They broke up her weak partnership with Alicia Fox. They had her lose to her. It's not like she's on Total Divas, which might have saved her. She just seemed like the likely candidate on the diva roster to go.
I'll probably end up saying a lot of the same things I said about Eva Marie a few days ago. Aksana was an eye-candy periphery diva. She has had better angles in the periphery during her time in the WWE than Eva Marie has had, but they really just started misusing her in the last year or so of her career. She is sexy. She should be in romance angles or used as a valet. She should not have been pushed so much in the ring. The WWE was being inefficient with her. As I have said many times before, they have become really inefficient with their handling of eye-candy divas. They should be putting these women in a position to do what they do best and succeed. Instead of doing that, they are putting these women in a position to knock each other's eyes out. Aksana gets blamed by many for the kind of in-ring performer she is, but I think blame should be put on the WWE for not putting her in the right position.
I don't want to make it sound like I am always on the side of these women. If the WWE does put them in a position to succeed and utilizes them efficiently, it is still ultimately the job of that performer to get over with those fans. If she fails, then she deserves the blame. If the WWE stick with her, and possibly push her even harder, then the WWE deserve blame, as well. Michelle McCool is an example of that. I could say that the WWE tried too hard to hype her up without getting her over, but she had opportunities in the periphery to get herself over before being pushed as the centerpiece on Smackdown. And the WWE pushed her hard for years. They gave her a gimmick. They gave her a sidekick. They handed her more hype. And she failed to connect with the fans properly. She deserves blame for that, while the WWE deserves blame for trying that hard with her. There were other women to push.
I am not going to cry about Aksana being let go, but they could have done better with her. Had they put her in a real position to succeed, it would have been up to her to do it. If she couldn't, I would definitely agree she should be released. Do I think she could have succeeded if used right? Yes, I think she has a sexy character that could have gotten her over. She just wasn't used right.
I was watching the San Antonio Spurs crush the Miami Heat last night. One thing that the commentators brought up during the game, and a theme that defines what the Spurs is about, is unselfishness. LeBron James, the greatest player today, could not carry his team to victory. The Spurs were playing with great teamwork. Gregg Popovich, the head coach for the Spurs, might be tough on his team, but that is because he wants them to succeed. And none of them really take his toughness personally and were still team players. Great leadership. Great players. Great team. I think they'll win the whole series.
Why do I even bring that up? Because I am looking at how the WWE is running that diva division and I don't see something I respect. They are not putting these women in a position to succeed. They are not even trying to succeed. They just want what they want to work out to work out. There is selfishness in this picture. It isn't coming from the divas. It is coming from the people calling the shots. And it creates an environment that is bad for the workers. They are creating a breeding ground for arrogance, not greatness. The players are not the only ones held accountable for the success of a sports team. The coaches have to be held accountable. I have said this before, if Vince McMahon was the coach of a team, he would have been fired years ago.
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