Is Gail Kim the closest thing to a centerpiece that KO division has? I think so. They don't do it exactly like the WWE does it. The WWE would develop credible jobbers just to put over their centerpiece, then phase out that credible jobber. TNA will develop women just for the sake of making them look interesting. Everyone puts over everyone. It's not just about developing someone to put over Gail Kim. The WWE diva division tends to look dry or completely collapses when there is no centerpiece or a struggling centerpiece. TNA's KO division would look pretty much the same whether Gail Kim was there or not. The WWE diva division also revolved around making their centerpiece into a star, which includes getting her over. With what TNA does with Gail Kim, it seems to be just about passing around the title. They seem to be blind to overness.
TNA obviously wants to sell Gail Kim as the greatest KO. They even made a documentary about that. But does she deserve to be pushed this much? I like Gail Kim. She's in my top 10 favorite women of wrestling. If I had to pick a centerpiece for a women's wrestling division based just on wrestling ability, and not overall overness, I would pick Gail Kim. She has a great technical style and great agility. And she's hot, but that isn't about wrestling ability. TNA is trying to run a major wrestling promotion. You have to care about overness. You have to make and feature stars that can get you more viewers and people interested in you. As I just said about the WWE, the centerpiece there isn't just winning the title a lot. The WWE invests creative interest to make her look even better. TNA's creative interest in Gail Kim is lacking. If TNA wants to run a successful women's division that actually produces stars, Gail Kim isn't a great choice as centerpiece. And even if they really want her to be that great choice, a lot more creative interest would be nice.
There is a drought of first-time World Champions in the WWE. Haven't had one in years. The same thing can be said for TNA's KO division. When was the last first-time KO Champion? Brooke Tessmacher in 2012? You have other women to give it to. Give it to Taryn Terrell.
Look at their men's division. There is no one man being pushed like Gail Kim. You have a bunch of first-time TNA World Champions recently. Lashley just won it. Eric Young held it. Magnus held it. Their men's division still obviously lacks a centerpiece. They just rotate things there. Am I saying that the KO division should be run like the men's division? Or that the men's division should be run like the KO division? Balance would be nice.
Let me switch gears to the WWE. There is a rumor that AJ Lee is pregnant. Let me talk about that assuming it is true, just for the sake of discussion. Obviously, congratulations to her and Punk. But what does this mean for the diva division? That diva division just seems to be cursed. AJ Lee is their top periphery diva. She is the only real star that diva division created since Trish and Lita left. Without even talking about a possible pregnancy, the fact that she has been away all these months and married to a man that is currently in an interesting predicament with the WWE is kind of not allowing her to do anything for the diva division. If she is pregnant, including the few months she has already taken off, she is going to end up being away from the WWE for about a year. A year. And that is under the assumption she even comes back. The WWE just cannot catch a break. A lot of this they did bring on themselves, but a lot of it is just things out of their control.
This is the worst the diva division has ever been. I should probably put that on a coffee mug and sell it in the gift shop. I have no job right now. I can use that money. I say that a lot. What makes me say that the current situation is worse than any other situation this diva division has even been in? This division lacks stars. Stephanie McMahon is your only A-level player. And she's a non-wrestler. Vickie Guerrero was not being used for much for a while, but they featured her frequently recently for her farewell angle. You do not have a centerpiece being pushed. Go back to before the WWE pulled the trigger with AJ Lee in the periphery. They lacked any strong periphery divas. What they did have, however, was that they were pushing someone to be their centerpiece. That would be Kelly Kelly. She did not work out, but they were more efficient during that time. After they gave up on her, they reset. They slowed things down and built up AJ Lee and Eve Torres. Title matters were dry for a while, but the periphery was interesting. The periphery is not that great now. Summer Rae is being developed to potentially be the next centerpiece, but she is not there yet and the WWE probably should do more with her than just this angle with Fandango/Layla. Aside from the weak periphery, title matters are also rather dry. Cameron's heel turn is the top story.
I just had a shocking realization last night. Alicia Fox is the top heel credible jobber. Alicia Fox has definitely become more solid over the years, but she is no Beth Phoenix or Ivory. That is another reason the current situation is worse than times before. I thought the WWE was taking steps to fix the depth issues with credible jobbers. AJ Lee wasn't even a heel credible jobber. She was a heel periphery diva. But who took her place among the heels when she left? It wasn't Tamina. She wasn't pushed as a top heel credible jobber. Aksana was more of an eye-candy periphery diva than a true credible jobber. She got released. There really aren't any other options. Alicia Fox is it. Even with Cameron going heel, I don't think she has the credibility of Alicia Fox and will not even be featured as well as her in the ring. The WWE probably should not have debuted both Paige and Emma as faces. Or they probably should have turned one of them or Natalya into a heel in the past few weeks. Instead, they go with Cameron. Total Divas is probably the only thing this diva division has going for it right now. They might want to consider debuting a heel diva from NXT.
With the loss of their top star, no other real stars around, and poor credible jobber depth, the WWE might want to consider creating another top periphery diva. Even pushing Summer Rae up the ranks to be a main-event periphery diva might be nice, although I do not think it is likely. But do it for someone. You need more stars. They should just be running on the assumption that they cannot count on AJ Lee. They cannot wait for her. It isn't right for those women there now. If and when AJ returns, they can easily make her a priority again. Until then, do better with these women now. I never thought I would ever be eager to see The Bellas get a big push, but they would be a great option. Right now, it is not happening. Right now, this division lacks stars, is not doing enough to make them, and depth is still an issue.
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