Getting rid of Mickie James did not fix the WWE's problems in the diva division. They still struggled to create stars out of whom they wanted to be stars. They soon started to get sloppy in how they were handling the division and just showed signs of losing interest. That led to the second dark age you now have. The first occurred after Sable left. It was in this dark age that you had the rise of AJ Lee. They took her and groomed her in the periphery since the start of 2012. With a lack of a traditional centerpiece, she soon moved into the title scene. She was clearly the top star of this dark age. She began a relationship with CM Punk. CM Punk had some serious issues with the WWE. The rest is history. AJ Lee retired.
Even before AJ Lee did anything major on even NXT, dirtsheets sold her as the replacement for Mickie James. After initially debuting on Smackdown, the WWE did not show any signs of being interested in doing anything big with her and it is questionable whether she would have gotten as over as she did become with that mediocre treatment. But look at how the WWE did develop her in the periphery. Psycho gimmick. She was skipping down to the ring. These are things Mickie James had in the WWE. You can even bring up AJ Lee wearing jeans shorts, which was the attire Mickie James started wearing in TNA. The WWE had essentially created their own Mickie James.
Mickie James was pushed in a manner from which no diva ever becomes very over. Female wrestlers pushed as credible jobbers might connect well with wrestling fans, but they certainly do not become the most over diva on the roster. Mickie James did. The WWE obviously did not like it. If they did, they would have been more open to treating female wrestlers better, not start getting used to pushing eye-candy divas more. AJ Lee did not overcome the mediocre, inconsistent treatment credible jobbers get. She benefited from the dark age and a strong push in the periphery.
AJ still did not appear to have cemented an amazing connection with the fans. I have brought up before that fans seemed to be more interested in chanting for her husband when she was out there than for her, Nikki Bella did a heel promo against face AJ that got cheered, and I have seen more support for Paige over the last year than for AJ. She was better off in the periphery than the title scene.
In terms of overness, AJ Lee did not do what Mickie James did in that diva division. Even with the gimmick and the best push a female wrestler had gotten in that diva division since Lita, it did not seem AJ Lee really got the level of overness she should have. Moreover, the success the WWE did get out of AJ did not seem to motivate them to be efficient again. There were fans complaining on Twitter at a scary level about how horrible the diva division was just a few months ago.
Think about loyalty for a moment. The WWE was definitely loyal to AJ Lee. I am not just talking about the level at which they pushed her. This woman had taken a few weeks off twice in the last year. Both times she returned, she got back a good push. She won back the Diva's title the night she returned last year. When she returned this year, she got put in a position for a Wrestlemania match, which she won. This is all despite AJ sometimes having some incidents that could have hurt her push. One of those incidents was AJ calling out Stephanie McMahon on Twitter during the #GiveDivasAChance movement. A few weeks after that, she gets another Wrestlemania win. A few days after that, she retires. The WWE definitely did not see that coming. If they had known she would retire, they would have planned some kind of angle. She chose her husband over the WWE.
Mickie James was loyal to the WWE. I would say she was more loyal than she should have been. Some workers might have gotten annoyed at having to wait for someone to get injured to get a filler push while they were away. And they humiliated her on Smackdown. And they released her soon after that. This is the most over diva on the roster at that time and the WWE is treating her the same way they treat women like her that do not get over. The only time Mickie James ever took any extended time off from the WWE was when she had a staph infection in her knee and required surgery. She was only gone a few weeks and came back in time for Wrestlemania. They did not treat her return as anything special and she did not even play a major role in her Wrestlemania match that year. Despite all they did to her, she never wanted to leave the WWE. She was not putting her music career ahead of the WWE. After she left TNA in 2013, she still wanted to go back to the WWE. Even while she was pregnant, she still showed signs of wanting to go back to the WWE. They were never pushing her right, and she still wanted to be there. If you really want to talk loyalty, she was out promoting Raw the day she got released.
As I have said many times, in terms of position, anyone and everyone is replaceable. In terms of how well they can get the job done in a certain position, not everyone can be replaced so easily. The WWE did not want Mickie James as a star when they had her. It was a time in the diva division when they were aiming for something else. After years of that not working out, they essentially made their own Mickie James with AJ Lee. And she has not turned out to be the kind of worker Mickie James was. You can coach someone in certain things, but you cannot do everything for them. You cannot hand them success. You cannot force them be loyal to you. That being said, you cannot take success and loyalty for granted. AJ Lee is not the first diva in the last few years to split. There are some divas that are more loyal to the company that either are not pushed well or are not bringing amazing results. If you have a worker that is loyal to you and can get the job done without even being treated as something fabulous, you should value that. The WWE has no one to blame for the situation their diva division is in but themselves.
You might say karma has come back to bite the WWE in the backside. They had a worker that got over on her own off a career in which she was not being pushed as a star. They never did for her what they would do for those they wanted to be top stars. And that didn't stop her from being loyal to that company. They released her. They continued along their path and still failed to get what they want. They end up trying to make their own version of what they let go. AJ Lee never got the kind of overness to match the kind of career she was getting. As far as loyalty goes, it looks like she did the kind of thing to the WWE that they did to Mickie James. The WWE pretty much used Mickie James and got rid of her when they were done. AJ Lee got what she wanted out of the WWE, then walked away from them when she wanted. You hear reports from dirtsheets that the WWE did not like the backstage attitude of Mickie James. Well, it seems AJ Lee had an attitude problem that she was not afraid to make public on Twitter. And they were still loyal to her. She didn't have the overness she should have. And they were still loyal to her. They should have put their foot down. But they didn't. What it all comes down to is whether or not they want you over. That is really what separates Mickie James from AJ Lee. If they want you over, you can get away with things. If they do not want you over, you don't even need to do anything wrong to be mistreated. The WWE had success in their hands. They didn't want it. They mistreated it and tossed it away. When they decide they wanted to recreate what they got rid of, they get back a little taste of their own medicine.
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