What is the current landscape in the diva division? It is still not efficient and not respectable. This is still a dark age. And they still have not really done a great job utilizing all the women they have even in periphery roles, as they did during the first dark age. They are doing a better job by having The Bellas feud while AJ Lee and Paige finish their feud, but they could do better. Obviously, there is still no centerpiece. Staleness is also hanging over the division. It is also an issue in the men's division. How can they fix that? Either push fresh women or come up with better ways to prolong some of these feuds.
Total Divas is not only still around, it is growing. Paige and Alicia Fox are joining in. It is an extracurricular activity for them. Remember when a lot of wrestling fans were excited about Paige having some kind of "anti-diva" character and possibly bringing a little bit of something different to the diva division? It looks more like she is being assimilated. You can say that getting on this show will get her more exposure and help her get over. Keep in mind that only a fraction of the WWE's general viewership that tunes in for Raw on a regular basis actually watches Total Divas. Moreover, being on Total Divas does not mean you will be pushed well on the main shows. Natalya is on Total Divas. She is still a credible jobber. Eva Marie is on Total Divas. She is a periphery diva that is not getting used right at all. Whatever overness you see in The Bellas, it has come mainly from how they have been pushed this year, not so much from Total Divas. For Paige fans, a lot of them might be happy with her getting this. I would rather she be pushed right in the actual division. Extracurricular activities are not what count the most.
Speaking of Paige, her feud with AJ Lee continues. I am not going to do any analysis of that storyline. I have done that enough and the WWE has not really done anything since then worth talking about. Who wins at Hell in a Cell? They have already traded the title enough between these two this year. Unless there are some backstage shenanigans, AJ Lee retains and that should be the end of that feud.
Why don't I say that AJ Lee is the centerpiece? I have probably brought this up before, but it is worth bringing up again. There are a few reasons. First, the WWE has been developing women like Sable, Trish Stratus, and Candice Michelle as the centerpiece since 1998. They are very rigid when it comes to trying to maintain the status quo. Just look at the men's division. John Cena, a centerpiece that gets a questionable reaction from the fans, continues to be pushed as the top guy. Second, if they want AJ Lee as the centerpiece, why are they not going the next step and actually rebuilding the division around her. Start hiring more female wrestlers. Start developing those better feuds. Not only is a centerpiece pushed a certain way, other women are pushed a certain way around the centerpiece. I do not see them doing that with AJ Lee. Her first title reign did not feature great feud development. They were just running through the division. Her second and third title reigns were just shot to her quickly the night she returned from her hiatus and a few weeks after dropping it back to Paige, respectively. The storyline was not developed properly and that feud was getting overshadowed for a while by The Bellas. Another thing to keep in mind, the woman pushed to be the centerpiece is hyped to the best in the division. Hype is the most important ingredient in a centerpiece, while creative interest is the main ingredient for periphery divas. And AJ Lee has still been getting mostly a lot of creative interest. Her matches and feuds recently seem to be more about telling stories than actually developing a credible jobber to be overcome by a centerpiece like you have seen in years past. And the last reason I am not ready to say AJ Lee is the woman they want as centerpiece, they have so many eye-candy divas floating around on the main roster, in NXT, and are still hiring more. And they are developing these women to be wrestlers. The majority of them are not pushed well in the periphery, they don't make the best credible jobbers, and it is likely that one of them might be the next centerpiece.
I have seen some fans talk like either AJ Lee or Paige will be beating Trish's record for most women's title reigns in the WWE. AJ Lee has won 3 in about 2 years. Paige has won 2 in less than a year and is very young. Let me bring up Ivory. She won 3 title reigns in about 2 years during the first dark age. Her WWE career lasted a few more years, but she never won 4. That would have tied her with Moolah. One more after that would have broken that record. Trish ended up doing it. I wouldn't be so quick to say that either AJ or Paige will get it done. Paige is a credible jobber. They will likely phase her down, just like Ivory. And AJ? If the WWE does eventually start pushing another woman as centerpiece, AJ will be back in the periphery. Or back in Chicago. Who knows how that will work out?
I said earlier that there is still a "diva atmosphere" in the division. What did I mean by that? The feud between The Bellas is a great example of what I mean. A few weeks ago, it seemed like Brie and Nikki would be feuding over the "Bella" name. That just seemed so stupid. Now, you have a "slave" stipulation in the match. Oh, that's so much better! No, not really. There have been these kind of storylines before. Remember when Shawn Michaels and JBL had this kind of storyline? A face is forced to do what a heel wants. Nothing wrong with that kind of storyline, but the whole drama between Brie and Nikki has gotten kind of stupid. In terms of feud development, it is better than a lot of other things going on. In terms of the actual tone of this storyline, it is tacky and not connecting well with certain fans. Of course, Brie Bella using her husbands "Yes" chant is helping her to get over. Who wins this match? You can imagine all the fun segments you can have with Brie Bella getting revenge on her sister. For the sake of developing this storyline further, however, I think it would make sense for the heel to win.
You have AJ retaining and Nikki Bella winning the services of her sister. Can you imagine what would come next? Nikki gets into the title hunt and tries to force her sister to help her win. Will Brie help Nikki? I may be thinking too far ahead for a feud that may not happen, but I would not have Brie screw her sister in that title match. Aside from screwing her own sister, why would Brie want to help someone like AJ. With the kind of character AJ has, AJ is a loner. AJ and Brie are not friends. I doubt AJ will be coming to Brie's defense. It would go against her character. Shawn Michaels and John Cena have been in this position before where a heel was forcing them to do something they did not want to do. With the kind of character AJ has, would Brie really be conflicted in costing her the title? Again, screwing her sister would be the only reason to help AJ. But if Nikki wins the title, that can set up the title feud between Nikki and Brie.
Last thing I want to bring up, would it be possible to run a great women's division with The Bellas and AJ Lee as the top stars? Sure, why not? You can build a centerpiece with any one of these three women. You can rotate them around center stage and have a three-centerpiece diva division. You don't have to go the traditional route of one The Bellas being the centerpiece and AJ being top star in the periphery. And yet, is the WWE running a great women's division with these three? No. You need more female wrestlers to help this division look respectable and make it easier to be efficient. You need to actually utilize these other women better. You have too much dead weight in this diva division that is only relevant on Total Divas. And even with The Bellas and AJ, you need to develop feuds and storylines for them better. That is how you run a great women's division.
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