Everyone knows Maryse was in the WWE before. She started out as the typical eye-candy periphery diva. She eventually got a title reign and became the centerpiece on Raw. She had some injury issues and her performance in the ring did not improve. Whether that had anything to do with it or not, when it came to unifying the titles back in 2010, Michelle McCool was the lone centerpiece. Maryse got depushed. Even after McCool retired, the WWE had an opportunity to go back to Maryse as their central focus, but they did not. Even though she would be listed in the category of failed centerpieces, the WWE still featured her well in the periphery. She had that angle with Ted DiBiase Jr. She was featured well in NXT, years before NXT became what it has become in recent years. But she left the WWE. Miz stayed. And now the couple is being featured together.
Maryse is still hot. I would also say she was one of the most charismatic eye-candy divas the WWE pushed as centerpiece. Definitely more charismatic than Michelle McCool. More charismatic than Trish Stratus. Going down the entire list of eye-candy centerpieces, I would argue Maryse is the most charismatic. But she never really got that over. She is an example of charisma not always leading to great popularity.
I would not have brought her back. I keep on saying this and I hate having to say it so often. But the WWE just keeps on bringing in more women. The fact that the wrestling careers of Brie & Nikki Bella may be over does not mean you need more eye-candy divas to take their place. There are so many women on the roster, without even having to take into account NXT. You have female wrestlers and you have traditional eye-candy divas. And the WWE just cannot be efficient with all these women. If the WWE did not have this issue, I would actually not mind having Maryse back. She could be great for the periphery. She has an appealing look and can play an entertaining character. If used right, she could definitely get more over than she did during her first run. But with the inefficiency of the current division, adding more women does not help.
The WWE has changed their women's division. "Diva" in now supposedly a bad word. You have a new Women's Championship, even though it will not have the same lineage as the original Women's Championship. Taking it all in, I am not impressed. What defines what the division is about isn't what you call it, what the title looks like, and what you call the title. What defines what the division is about is the women the WWE chooses to have on the roster and how they utilize those women. I didn't jump to talk about all this when I first read reports of the changes to the division and they debuted the new title. I wanted to wait to see how they actually handled things. After Maryse returned, I think I have seen all I really need to see.
It's still a diva division. I am still going to use the term. You have Maryse return this week. Last week, Eva Marie came back from NXT. Lana has been getting a push recently. Even with greater emphasis on wrestling and actual female wrestlers, there are still eye-candy divas and the WWE does not look like they are moving away from that. Can female wrestlers and eye-candy divas truly coexist? Or will the scale once again tip more in favor towards eye-candy divas sooner or later? An eye-candy diva pushed as a star held a title less than a year ago. To say that agenda is over so quickly is premature, especially with recent returns and everything else I mentioned.
Something I used to believe is that you can have only one eye-candy diva in the division and have all the other women be respectable female wrestlers. But if that one eye-candy diva is the centerpiece, it's still a diva division. That is not what you have now. What you have is a few female wrestlers being treated respectably, but then still a few eye-candy divas that are also being featured. Is Charlotte truly the new centerpiece? Or is all this because Nikki Bella got injured and the WWE is waiting on another eye-candy diva to work out? Could that eventually be Maryse?
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