Looking Back At AJ Lee

I will spend today looking back at a former WWE female talent, AJ Lee. AJ Lee debuted during the second dark age of the diva era. The WWE had failed to create a successor to Trish Stratus. All their attempts flopped. And they never bothered to create another Lita. That is to say, a female wrestler pushed as a top star in the periphery. AJ was that new Lita. She had a huge push in the periphery, getting angles alongside Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, John Cena, and other men. That transitioned into her getting a couple runs with the Diva's Championship. She also took a few breaks from the WWE. During one of those breaks, The Bellas really rose in prominence. It would have been interesting to see whether Nikki Bella or AJ Lee would have been the long-term centerpiece the WWE would have planned to go with. Instead of ever finding out, AJ Lee retired and chose CM Punk over the WWE.

I would say AJ Lee was definitely overrated when her WWE career first started. Before she even debuted, dirtsheets sold her as the successor to Mickie James. AJ Lee had never even done anything up to that point. She then was involved in NXT, back when it was a competition. She didn't win. She didn't even get in the final two. When she came to the main roster, she didn't really look like someone that would break out.

What helped her was the WWE giving her the freedom to be a psychotic character. Unlike what happened with Mickie James, this was not a psychotic character designed to put over some other woman meant to be the centerpiece. This was a periphery angle. They made AJ Lee into a star. And you could see her become more confident with that character. Her in-ring ability was okay, but I do think some people overrate that. You could definitely list a number of women better than her in the ring. But it was her character that really helped her be a star. And because she had some pro wrestling background prior to the WWE, that helped to connect her with some wrestling fans.

Staying on things that are overrated, I would still say her pipebomb was overrated. She was holding the title at the time, had been pushed harder than any woman in years, already had more fans buying into her than any other woman on the roster, and she was going out there and slamming women that had never been given the kind of opportunities she had been given and were just trying to make the most of what they were getting. Isn't it better for a pipebomb to come from an underdog or some kind of victim of the system? AJ Lee was the top star of the division, with or without the title, and the system helped her to be that star.

Thinking about that promo again, however, I do have to give her some credit. I don't think I was that much of a fan of the execution back then. Looking at other women, and even men, these days that do these self-righteous promos, AJ Lee at least did a better job making it entertaining than a lot of what I see these days. "Entertaining" these days is just pandering to smarks and saying what they want to hear. All you have to do is remember your lines. Maybe a little difficult for Roman Reigns. Regardless, too many fans see being confident as being great on the mic. There is more to it than that. Even if you find wrestlers that have that confidence, a lot of them don't do enough to make their promos entertaining. A lot of the blame can go on the writers, but some blame also has to go on the workers for not at least trying to be fun. Then again, some fans would probably not appreciate it and even think the performer is drunk.

Overall, I now look at AJ Lee in a more favorable light than I did back then. She was okay in the ring. She was cute and had an appealing look. And she was definitely charismatic. What changed? Does absence make the heart grow fonder? I think the issue was that the way she was booked back then just annoyed me. Booking someone too strongly can hurt them. Annoying booking of Charlotte last year did not make me a fan of her. Annoying booking of Alexa Bliss this year has not made me a fan of her. Look at Roman Reigns. I remember a depush actually helping him get better reactions a few years ago. Now that time has passed, I can just think back on AJ Lee as a performer. My opinion has definitely changed.

I would say part of the reason for the change of heart is that the women today are just so bland. Most of them do not have proper gimmicks. They have nicknames. The have funny-colored hair. They have male legends they latch onto. In terms of their characters, they lack creativity. There are too many self-righteous, feminist characters. Too much complaining. A lot of hype, but a lack of real character substance. At least when AJ Lee did this kind of thing, she still kept some of that crazy personality she had developed in her periphery angle. That makes her fun to watch. More of the young women in the WWE today need to work putting more personality into their matches and promos. It isn't what you do. It is how you do it.

The WWE also needs to step up and present more women in unique ways like they did AJ Lee. I would say it definitely helped her. She would have flopped without that big push in the periphery. She just didn't look too interesting. Even if they did try to push her as a credible jobber, I don't think she was good enough in the ring to really work out with that kind of career very well. But she had potential to be a great character. A lot of other women today can be great characters. Getting them away from the inefficient women's division might help them. None of the women today are that over. Even if you want to talk about Alexa Bliss, a lot of wrestling fans have a distaste for her. And her booking is also a source of annoyance. Let her character shine in the periphery, as I have said before. Mickie James could also benefit from this type of push. She has shown potential for years to play entertaining characters. In that sense, she has been underutilized. The women's revolution is just not enough to create stars and create an entertaining women's division. The WWE should look back the success of AJ Lee, a success they wanted, and not be afraid to create that kind of thing again.

There are a few women I have not been that big of a fan of that I have softened on over the years. AJ Lee is definitely one of those women. Again, one of the reasons might just be that things are so uninteresting to me these days, that AJ Lee just looks better to me. I would not mind if she did decide to come back. Her in-ring ability may not be on the same level as the NXT elite, but her presence and character would be refreshing. The WWE might ruin her with too many storylines about the women's revolution, but I think she would still let her own personality shine with what she has to work with. And unlike Mickie James, AJ Lee would be someone more likely to be featured well by the WWE, if she returns.

And What About Paige?

When I talked about Impact Wrestling recently, I used a picture of Alberto El Patron and Paige. Those two are obviously in a relationship. Paige has had a bunch of injury and suspension issues in the last year, holding her back in her WWE career. Nevertheless, the WWE is making a movie about her. But then you have her being backstage at the Impact Wrestling tapings a couple weeks ago to support her man. That is the kind of thing that can get you in trouble with the WWE.

There seems to be mixed signals here. How good is the relationship between Paige and the WWE? On the one hand, they are still trying to do something with her. On the other hand, she might not be that interested in being as supportive of the WWE. She might choose her man over the WWE. This sounds familiar. Reminds me of the drama with CM Punk & AJ Lee against the WWE a couple years ago. We all know how that turned out. CM Punk walked out and AJ Lee retired abruptly. Like an RKO in the night, no one saw it coming. There were expectations that it might happen, but AJ Lee retiring when she did came out of nowhere. Will there be a similar end for Paige? 

I have seen some fans say that Paige is throwing her career away. They criticize her because this was her dream and she is just turning her back on it like this. Some say that the WWE should just fire her.

If Paige is not as in love with the WWE anymore, I do not blame her. She didn't debut during the start of the women's revolution era. She debuted during the dying days of the diva era. And her career shows it. She may have won the Diva's Championship in her first night on Raw, but the reign was terrible. Her feud with Tamina was not properly developed at all. Her feud with Alicia Fox featured Fox's crazy gimmick, which really did not serve a proper purpose in the feud. It just took creative investment away from Paige. Her feud with Naomi had to share the spotlight with Cameron and Naomi splitting. It was like they were more interested in putting creative focus on anyone but Paige. And she lost the title back to AJ Lee when AJ returned from her hiatus. She was finally pushed better, but that is because she was working with someone they wanted to be a star. The more you invest in a jobber, the better the star will look working with the jobber. She won the title back on her birthday, but the reign was short and just seemed pointless, as she dropped it back to AJ Lee.

Everything after that was just jobber pushes. The women's revolution era started. Some might say she was the leader of PCB, but she looked like more of the jobber of the group. She got that heated feud with Charlotte, but it was obviously a jobber push. And her career never looked that interesting again since then. Instead of being passed over for eye-candy divas, she was being overlooked for the sake of the Four Horsewomen.

Throughout all that, Paige has done a ton of extra-curricular activities for the WWE. She did Total Divas, Tough Enough, movies, and so on. Of course, these outside activities do not decide what kind of career you are getting in the actual division. And I already talked about the kind of career she was getting. Definitely not being pushed as an A-tier player.

Why should Paige be so loyal to the WWE when they are not properly reciprocating it in terms of how they push her? Even if this was Paige's dream to be in the WWE, it can very well be the case that your dreams don't always turn out how you would have liked. A woman might meet her dream man. Handsome, smart, funny, and all the other qualities she wanted. Problem is, he turns abusive after a while. Why should she stick with him? Because this is her dream guy? No, move on. It is the same idea with working in the WWE. A lot of people are eager to come to the WWE, but then some of them might not be happy with how they are treated. Why should they force themselves to stick around and be as loyal to the company as they might have first been when they came in?

Look at Mickie James. During her first run in the WWE, she took the career of a credible jobber and fooled many fans into thinking she was the centerpiece. She had the overness and talent to deserve it. She was loyal to the company. She had drive. She was the best option they had. But the WWE was still looking to create another eye-candy centerpiece. And that kept Mickie James as a credible jobber. If I remember correctly, Mickie James was released on a day she was promoting the Raw draft special in Richmond, Virginia. That's loyalty for you. Why was she so loyal to a company that never pushed her as a star and kept using her to put over other women and as filler, not to mention the humiliation? If the women's revolution never happened, I don't think the WWE would have ever given Mickie James a second run.

I am no psychologist. I do not know Paige personally. But I can understand the kind of situation she is in. She comes into her dream job with this idea that she can make something of herself and be great. She does a lot of projects for the company. She has some success getting over. But she gets pushed aside for other women that she might feel have not done the things she has done. It's like a great worker in a company that does a lot for them, but does not get rewarded in terms of getting promoted. Now, I can respect workers that shrug that off and just continue to do their job as best as they can because of a good work ethic, but there is nothing wrong with knowing your worth and not wanting to stick around in a situation where you are being mistreated, might be taken advantage of, or are just unhappy. This kind of mistreatment can just make you lose your drive. Your eyes might start to wander elsewhere. In the case of Paige, it looks like she's given some of that devotion the WWE once got to Alberto Del Rio.

People always talk about the WWE giving workers second or third chances. What about the other way around? What about workers that feel the WWE messed up with them and might not want to go back to them? Should they give the WWE a second or third chance? As I pointed out, Paige has done a lot for the WWE and they did not push her right. You can blame it on the dying days of the diva era being so bad. Okay, but Paige still stuck around. She was there as the women's revolution era got started. And she was not featured that well there. Should she give the WWE another chance and refocus herself into her WWE career? This era is still messed up. Both divisions have issues, although this era is looking like it will be better for women's wrestlers than the diva era. And Paige will likely not get lost in the shuffle like she has been in the past. But that is up to her whether she wants to still be with the WWE. I would say you can argue the WWE has betrayed her trust and loyalty in the past. Even if this was her dream job, they gave her a reason to lose interest. It's not like she turned her back on them after the first depush. She gave them multiple chances to treat her right. And if they don't value her, just let her go.

Does that mean she goes to Impact Wrestling with El Patron? It is an option. I already brought up AJ Lee & CM Punk. It is a very similar situation. AJ Lee was showing signs for a while that she was siding with her man over the WWE, but the WWE kept on pushing her well and still lost her. Paige is showing signs of choosing her man over the WWE. The WWE is showing they might still be interested in keeping her with this movie, but it might be too little, too late.

What would this mean for Impact Wrestling? Well, they need a successor for Gail Kim. She's 40 now and still looks like she is coming back for more. But the company really needs to plan for the future. They just can't keep bringing back ODB and Angelina Love. And I'm sure Velvet Sky will come back sooner or later. Outside of that, they rotate in women from the indies, but they never seem to make anything out of them. I have seen some people say that Jade would be the successor to Gail Kim. Yeah? How did that work out? Paige, who is still very young, can be that successor. Some people might roll their eyes at another ex-WWE performer getting a spot in TNA. You do realize Gail Kim was an ex-WWE performer before going to TNA, right? And she is still the most respected female performer the company has ever had. There is no shame in going from the WWE to Impact Wrestling. If Paige thinks she deserves better than the WWE, she might switch companies.

Last thing to consider, will losing Paige hurt the WWE? Not at all. Even though their depth is terrible, they have a ton of women in NXT to debut. And they just have to learn to be more efficient with what they have. Paige was pretty popular, but so are a lot of women these days in the WWE. No one woman seems to knock it out of the park these days. Paige was definitely someone that should have been pushed as a star, but it might just end up being their loss. That is, if they even care. They are doing a terrible job building stars in the women's division these days. I am not even sure if that bothers them.

Hypocrisy In The Roman Reigns Controversy?

I want to revisit the Roman Reigns controversy over his suspension. I have been looking at how a lot of fans are reacting to it. I also want to compare it to another controversial situation.

A lot of vocal wrestling fans obviously hate Roman Reigns. Looking around, a lot of these fans don't even think Roman Reigns should be allowed to wrestle at Battleground for the title after his suspension. They are groaning at the idea of him possibly winning the title back at Battleground.

I don't really have a big problem over him wrestling at the event. But I may be a little tougher than these fans. I think Roman Reigns should no longer be the centerpiece of the company at all. Regardless of whether or not he wrestles at Battleground, the WWE will likely still push him as the centerpiece. Regardless of whether or not he wins the title at Battleground, he will likely still be the centerpiece. But as far as him wrestling at this event, I do not think it is so terrible to let him wrestle. He would have already served his time. You can say the he doesn't deserve it because he wasn't around to help further the feud, but there have been feuds in the past where one person pretty much had to carry the feud because his opponent was a part-timer or was recovering from an injury. Not only does the person that was not around still get the match, you might often see them win the match.

Overall, the popular opinion with a lot of these fans is that Roman Reigns deserves more than a suspension. Whether they want to see him not get a rematch so soon after his suspension, not get the title back, or whatever, they seem to want him to get a punishment that goes beyond what someone breaking the wellness policy usually gets. I even saw one person say that Roman Reigns should have just been fired years ago to avoid all this.

Looking at how a lot of these fans were reacting to the Reigns controversy made me think back to how these same fans reacted during another controversy. Remember AJ Lee? There was a controversy there, as well.

AJ was pushed better than any female wrestler since Lita. She became the longest-reigning Diva's Champion, is addition to holding the title two more times after that. The WWE allowed her to remain undefeated at Wrestlemania, including one win in which she retained the title against everyone else in the division. I am not even going to mention all the big angles she got in the periphery. The WWE definitely pushed her very well.

AJ Lee did have issues, however. She did things here and there that left people speculating that she might lose her big push and not be allowed to have all the things the WWE was giving her. One of the things she did was calling out Stephanie McMahon on Twitter during #GiveDivasAChance. The WWE still allowed her to return from her hiatus, get booked in a Wrestlemania match, and even win that match. The WWE also seemed to be developing some kind of storyline for her beyond that. But she retired soon after Wrestlemania.

What did the WWE do? They eventually had Nikki Bella break AJ's record as the longest-reigning Diva's Champion. I remember how a lot of fans reacted to that. They acted like the WWE was being petty towards AJ. Some treated it like Nikki Bella getting the record because of her relationship with John Cena. The popular belief was not that AJ Lee deserved to have her record broken after everything she got away with in the WWE.

If I believe Roman Reigns should lose his centerpiece spot given all his issues, I think I would be a hypocrite to say AJ Lee did not deserve some kind of punishment for what she did. If nothing else, Roman Reigns has handled his suspension professionally and isn't showing signs like he wants to leave. AJ Lee was unprofessional, still got treated pretty well, and then just walked out. She didn't do it exactly like CM Punk, but the abruptness by which she retired is pretty much the same as walking out. The WWE couldn't really punish AJ Lee directly once she retired. Should a worker that did the things she did still be rewarded by being allowed to hold a record? I don't think so.

Both Roman Reigns and AJ Lee are similar. Both were pushed to be top stars. This isn't Zack Ryder getting over on his own out of nowhere and the WWE not wanting to give him even a proper midcard push. This isn't Mickie James getting over off of filler and jobber pushes and the WWE rewarding her with more filler and jobber push. Bother Roman Reigns and AJ Lee got big pushes to be stars. AJ Lee obviously worked out better than Reigns. But both had issues that should make you wonder if they deserved what they were getting. Roman Reigns has issues connecting with the fans. I have brought up that he does not seem like the best representative of the new era the WWE seemed to be heading toward. And now this suspension pretty much adds another reason why he should not be centerpiece. AJ Lee was unprofessional at times. I have brought up before that I do not believe she was connecting with fans as well as someone pushed at her level should be, although she isn't as bad as Roman Reigns. And then she just ends up leaving the company. The WWE never depushed her, even though reasons arose that could have led to at least a depush, if no other punishment. There are just some situations where you might feel someone is biting the hand that feeds them.

From the standpoint of how fans reacted to these two controversies, there seems to be some hypocrisy here. Roman Reigns suffers a suspension for doing something that numerous people have been suspended for and still went on to be pushed relatively well, but a lot of fans think he should be punished more. AJ Lee does things that might result in her losing her push, continues to be pushed well, ends up pulling the rug out from under the WWE to some degree by retiring suddenly, and most people think her losing her record is a tragedy. It comes down to favoritism. But if you look at things a little more objectively, the two situations aren't really that different. A top star has issues and is giving you a reason to depush them and possibly punish them more than that. But those vocal wrestling fans didn't seem to react the same way to these two situations.

I believe the WWE should have put their foot down in both situations. Suspending Roman Reigns was obviously necessary. But I would also stop pushing him as centerpiece. He isn't right for the job. Keep him in the main-event rotation or as an upper-midcarder, but he should not be the top guy. As for AJ Lee, I would have made the same decision to have her lose the record. Had she not retired, I would have depushed her a a few months. No need to fire her. She is very good at playing a character. She can be a great asset, but the WWE needed to let her know she can't do some of the things she was doing and still expect to be pushed at a high level.

Nikki Bella Wins Diva Of The Year

The Slammy Awards were last night. Unlike last year, nothing stood out as too awkward in terms of the winners. Last year, Roman Reigns winning "Superstar of the Year" was awkward. Before I do get into Nikki Bella winning a Slammy last night, let me go back to last year and talk about the Slammies in general.

The way I see some fans reacting, they think the WWE predetermines every Slammy winner, despite the fact that the awards are supposed to be voted on by fans these days. I wouldn't go that far. First of all, some of these awards are really meaningless. You have lower-midcarders winning some of them. No push needs to be attached to them. It just leads to a segment and everyone moves on in many situations. Even at a time when the WWE did decide the winners, no big push needs to come of it. Beth Phoenix was the winner of "Diva of the Year" in 2008. That wasn't decided by fans. She got pushed as a credible jobber in 2008. She got pushed that way in 2009. She never stopped being pushed like that. The Slammy didn't mean too much.

Another thing to keep in mind is that whatever is likely to win is something or someone that was popular or talked about the most in a given year. There are also situations where something that just happened might be fresher in people's minds and they would vote for that. There are multiple explanations why something or someone might get an award as voted on by fans.

And then you have Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns winning that award last year was very suspicious. He had not accomplished anything memorable in 2014. He was over, but obviously not as over as the WWE would have liked. He was out for weeks prior to the Slammy Awards last year, so you can't say that he had just returned and done something to get fans interested in him. Seth Rollins winning that same Slammy this year makes sense because he held the WWE Championship longer than anyone this year and retained it against some big names. He is not extremely popular, but I can buy into him winning. Fans bought into his booking. But would those same fans that voted Roman Reigns last year really pick Seth Rollins this year? If popularity is supposedly the driving force behind the "Superstar of the Year" Slammy, you might expect someone like Dean Ambrose to win this year. He has never been World Champion, but neither was Roman Reigns when he won the Slammy last year. And if Roman Reigns was supposedly popular enough to win it last year, when he didn't really accomplish anything and was out for a while, why wouldn't he win it again this year? He was here all year. He actually won the WWE Championship, twice. He seemed to win his haters over at TLC and the night after.

Why would the WWE rig the Slammies for Roman Reigns last year? To hype him up prior to his big push. People could see his big push coming even before he won the Royal Rumble this year. Problem is, he was out for a few weeks, which hurt his momentum. Giving him that Slammy would be a way to hype him up big again as the WWE continued his big push, which ended up backfiring. I do not think the WWE rigs all their polls, but this is a company that tries to build stars, sometimes forcibly, and is known to screw people. I definitely believe the WWE would take advantage of a Slammy win, or non-win, to make someone look great, or sell that someone else is not that popular.  

Onto Nikki Bella. I do not find her winning a Slammy suspicious. If you can accept fans voting for Seth Rollins because he was WWE Champion for most of the year, you can use that same logic to buy Nikki Bella winning her Slammy. She broke the record for longest reign with the Diva's Championship. PWI named her #1. Some fans buy into booking for awards like this.

Just to make it clear, this is not a sign that Nikki Bella is popular. I remember fans on Twitter being very against her breaking AJ Lee's record. And even a hashtag about her deserving to break the record was full of more negativity towards her than positive comments. But if you want to talk about which diva has had the best year, it is Nikki Bella. I have seen divas win polls based on how well they were booked at the time or for the year. It doesn't always come down to a popularity contest.

Another reason I do not find Nikki Bella winning suspicious, who is really the most over diva on the roster? There isn't one diva knocking it out of the park right now. Sasha Banks obviously has her fans, but I have said before that those chants do not mean she is as over as some people might expect. Paige is also liked by many fans. Charlotte is currently holding the title and there was a time when people were actually looking forward to seeing her debut and get pushed. I think her support has died down a bit. Despite fans wanting to say that Nikki Bella slept her way to the top, there are still people that like The Bellas out there. I am not surprised Nikki Bella won. I can imagine a lot of fans looking at how she was booked all year and hearing about her beating AJ's record and deciding to vote for her. There was really no one diva in the whole roster that was so over that you would expect her to win instead, despite Nikki's booking.

The fact that there isn't one diva that is that over is a problem. If the WWE had a worker with the in-ring talent to connect with wrestling fans and the charisma and look to appeal to a wider audience, they can build around her. That's the centerpiece. Push other eye-candy divas in the periphery to also appeal to viewers that want to see something sexy or glamorous. Push a female wrestler in a unique way in the periphery to draw some unique interest there. Have a strong foundation of credible jobbers to keep things respectable. The WWE really had a great system at one time, but it has unraveled. They have not had workers they were willing to push as stars connect with the fans at a great level since Trish and Lita.

Even going back a year to when AJ Lee was still around, they did not have someone bringing A+ results. I remember paying attention to polls in 2014. After Paige debuted and won the title from AJ Lee, I would see fans voting Paige as hotter and better than AJ. Soon after AJ returned and won back the title, that love went back to her for a while. I have seen this kind of swing just on one message board. AJ was obviously the diva they wanted to push as a star, while Paige is a credible jobber. Some fans have criticized AJ's wrestling ability. They say she just wasn't interested during her last year in the WWE. I think part of that was her aloof character. And yet, she was the closest thing to a great star the WWE created in the diva division since Trish and Lita.

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Yeah, I would not mind seeing AJ back in the WWE. But she is just at her best as a periphery character. Pushing her in wrestling matters just ruined her edge. I already pointed out many fans criticizing her wrestling ability. And her character just made her hard to buy into for some feuds and storylines. In the periphery, however, she wouldn't be that annoying. She works well as a character performer. She has charisma. She is attractive without looking like the typical diva. Depending on how they would handle her, AJ Lee might have ended up a better periphery diva than Lita.

To top it all off, I do not even mind Nikki Bella coming back. The diva division has been sour the last few months. Most of the blame should go to the WWE and their creative ideas. Moreover, things probably still would have been bad even with The Bellas pushed during that time. But I am starting to think even The Bellas can be more useful and possibly get over. But it will take more than a long title reign and a Slammy to get it done.

Paige: The Next AJ Lee?

I once talked about whether Paige would be the next Mickie James. What does that mean? The WWE has a history of running the diva division in a certain way that most female wrestlers just get used to put over the eye-candy diva being pushed as the centerpiece or get pushed as filler. I call female wrestlers pushed like that credible jobbers. Because of the inconsistent and mediocre treatment these divas get, they don't really get very over. Mickie James took that career and became the most over diva on the roster, while the eye-candy divas pushed as centerpiece flopped. But the WWE continued along the path they wanted to work out.

When Paige debuted last year, it looked like she was getting the same career Mickie James had. There was no eye-candy centerpiece in place when she debuted. Dark age right now. But Paige was still used as filler and to put over AJ Lee in 2014. And I felt she had what it takes to overcome this kind of career to get very over. She has wrestling credibility, she has the look, and she has charisma. And there was really no stars in the diva division knocking it out of the park to bury her.

This year is different. AJ Lee, the only female wrestler the WWE has pushed as a star since Lita retired, left the company. You also have the rise of the diva revolution era. Since it is mostly wrestling fans that were complaining about the quality of the division, the WWE should push someone for them to really get behind. I have said before that Paige might be a good option to replace AJ Lee. What has happened in recent weeks to suggest the WWE might develop Paige to be the next AJ Lee? Paige dropped a pipe bomb. AJ Lee did one of those promos a few years ago.

What does it mean to be the next AJ Lee? As I said, AJ was the first female wrestler the WWE pushed to be a star in the diva division since Lita. All the others have been credible jobbers or didn't last long enough to go in any direction, like Kharma. AJ got her big push in the men's division, where just about every periphery diva is born. She was pushed alongside multiple main-eventers, including a few months as Raw GM. She then went on to hold the Diva's Championship a few times.

Even though Paige did that promo, she hasn't yet been pushed at the level AJ Lee was. She has not gotten anything in the periphery. Then again, one of the things about the diva revolution era is that there is all this interest in the actual diva division. Those vocal fans are that interested in the wrestling matters of the division, not so much the periphery matters, like Summer Rae and Rusev. It is possible to make stars off of regular wrestling feuds in the diva division. The WWE has never created a star like that. They have all come from the periphery. The eye-candy divas came from the periphery. Chyna, Lita, and AJ were made in the periphery. Mickie James got over on her own. Moreover, the WWE never pushed her as a star even after that. Without exception, the periphery has been where the WWE creates stars in the diva division. If the WWE is serious about Paige being the next AJ Lee, they can just bypass pushing her alongside Cena, The Authority, or any other top stars in the company.

They could, but I don't think they should. One reason, just because those vocal wrestling fans will react to Paige if she is pushed well within the diva division, that does not mean the wider audience might buy into her as well. You just usually have divas pushed uniquely in the periphery. That can really help Paige. Another thing to keep in mind, the diva division is just so congested right now. 3 vs. 3 vs. 3 was bad enough, but turning Paige heel just made things more problematic. She has not aligned with any other group. Natalya has taken her spot alongside Charlotte and Becky. The three stables still have issues with each other. You now have Paige having issues with everybody. The result? 3 vs. 3 vs. 3 vs. 1. Even though the WWE could now make stars through diva feuds, they are not going to do it with things this congested and sloppy. It might not be easy to think of a smooth way to do it, but I would get Paige out of this mess and push her alongside a top star in the men's division.

Or did the WWE just turn Paige heel and break her away from everyone else to make it easier to bury her? I don't think she was over enough that the WWE would need to go out of their way to bury her. But that is another thing about the diva revolution era. The WWE can easily bury any diva. They can just give someone a meaningless win without any direction, like they have Sasha Banks, or stick someone as just a sidekick, like Becky Lynch. These women are still getting featured, but they are not really getting pushed. The WWE can just juggle around these women as they see fit. No one treated like that will really get over. It is like an evolved version of how credible jobbers are typically treated. It is being done with more women at the same time. The WWE has not followed up with Paige well so far. Is that simply because they have so many divas to push? If Paige was the new AJ Lee, she would be pushed as a priority over almost all those women. The only exception would be The Bellas.

If the WWE is serious about pushing Paige as a star, I do not see this as an example of a woman overcoming being pushed as a credible jobber to get over and the WWE giving her the spot she earned. Even though I felt Paige had the qualities to do what Mickie James did, she never really got that over, yet. #GiveDivasAChance wasn't started for her. I have seen some fans this year get sick of her being pushed. Fans weren't really going crazy for her to force the WWE to push her better.  I have seen fans more eager for Sasha Banks to get pushed. If they give Paige the push, the fact that AJ Lee is gone and it would be smart to push some female wrestler as a star during the diva revolution would likely be the driving force for the push. AJ Lee got her big push at a time the WWE was failing to make stars and in between centerpieces. Circumstances helped her. Circumstances might be right once again for a female wrestler to get a big push. If the WWE sees it like that, Paige might be the female wrestler to get the big push.

If AJ Lee was still here, what would she be doing? They would definitely push her as a rebel. She wouldn't be getting meaningless wins or just playing a sidekick for long, if at all. This is someone they would want to stand out. She would be the one to do the promo bashing the other divas and the diva revolution. She would be the "1" in 3 vs. 3 vs. 3 vs 1. I don't know how well she would coexist with The Bellas and the overall diva revolution.

Paige Drops A Pipe Bomb And Turns Heel

Paige did a stinging promo on Raw during Charlotte's celebration segment after winning the Diva's Championship at Night of Champions. She has broken away from her team and has turned heel. Pipe bomb? Similar to what you had with AJ Lee a few years ago? Let's compare them.

First, in terms of the overall message of the promo, I think Paige's promo was more of a pipe bomb than what AJ Lee did. There is no definitive definition for what a "pipe bomb" is, but I think it is a promo that lays down cold, hard truth. AJ's promo against Total Divas was more about putting herself over and slamming women that had never been pushed as well as her at that time. The Bellas have gone on to be pushed better, but that is another story. Paige's promo was more about knocking the actual diva division. She talked about Charlotte being a placeholder, which is likely, given what the WWE has a history of doing. Becky Lynch is pretty much the least relevant of the group. Natalya has been lost in the shuffle. Would Charlotte even be in the company if she wasn't Ric Flair's daughter? Paige wasn't just putting herself over and burying other women. Of course, should Paige get the credit for this? Or the writers?

Next thing to look at is the actual execution. I think Paige did a good job. She was no CM Punk out there. AJ was arrogant out there, which is what you are supposed to be during these promos, but I think Paige showed a little better wit with how she handled the promo. Did her accent make it hard for some to understand her? I saw some fans bring that up. I understood her.

I would also say that who is doing the promo matters. If John Cena went out there and dropped a pipe bomb slamming other guys on the roster and putting himself over, it wouldn't be the same as Cesaro doing that same kind of promo. John Cena is the top guy. If he puts himself over and puts down those pushed worse than him, that would just sound heelish. Cesaro is a guy with a lot of potential that is not pushed to that potential. When AJ Lee gave that promo, she was holding the Diva's Championship and no one on the roster at that time had been pushed as well as she had. And she slams women that are making the most of what the WWE is letting them do. I am not a fan of Total Divas, but I will acknowledge that it brought some depth in the division for a while. While AJ was feuding with Kaitlyn, the women on Total Divas had their own thing going. Jump to Paige. She is not holding the title. She has not been pushed at the highest level. She has been losing to Sasha Banks a lot. She wasn't simply overrating herself in that promo. She took shots at those women that appeared to be ahead of her and questioned why they were ahead of her. She brought up women being pushed worse than her. It wasn't as great as what CM Punk did, but Paige was in a similar position as someone not being pushed as the top star that might deserve the push.

Last thing to consider, what will come of this? Nothing came of AJ Lee's pipe bomb. No real change came from CM Punk's pipe bomb. And no real change will probably come of this storyline. Paige looks like she will have a feud with Natalya, while Nikki gets her rematch. I can imagine Paige winning that feud, Charlotte retaining the title against Nikki, and then Charlotte feuding with Paige. Charlotte would retain there, then Nikki, or some other eye-candy diva, gets it back.

How about Paige turning heel? When I first heard Paige had turned heel, my initial reaction wasn't that they were grooming her to be the new AJ Lee. I thought about what happened to Melina when she turned heel to feud against Natalya. That feud got buried under Michelle McCool, who was still the centerpiece. Eve Torres ended up winning the title. She got buried under McCool. The whole diva division back then was bad. Melina was just used to put over a woman they weren't pushing to be a top star. That is the initial reaction I got here. Paige will be used to put over Charlotte, who is just another credible jobber, as well. The Bellas will be pushed better in the long run. Of course, it would be wise if the WWE did build Paige to be a star. AJ Lee isn't around. Those fans complaining on the Internet might be drawn to Paige.

What about Sasha Banks? She had beaten Paige a few times already. Shouldn't she be getting a push? I remember some fans saying the fact she made Nikki tap weeks ago should  have led to her getting a push. What do those fans think when they see a woman that lost a lot to Sasha recently getting featured better now? Sasha and her group have no clear direction. Sasha is still winning matches, but having direction means more. I remember when Mickie James would be winning meaningless filler matches. I knew they were not pushing her as someone they wanted over, but part of me did content myself with those meaningless wins. When they did get around to pushing her, it was filler and jobber pushes. And everyone knows how Mickie's career in the WWE ended. All I'm saying is, don't settle for Sasha Banks getting a win streak with no real creative direction.

Nikki Bella Breaks The Record

Nikki Bella tied the record for longest-reigning Diva's Champion on Monday. She needed one more day to break it. The WWE made things a little interesting by having her defend the title against Charlotte on Raw. It appeared Charlotte had won the title, but there were shenanigans. Without getting into the mess, Nikki retained the title. She has broken AJ Lee's record. Charlotte gets a rematch at Night of Champions.

I have already said that I would have made the same decision to have her break it. It isn't about honoring Nikki or being petty towards AJ. It is about sending a message that workers cannot get away with the kind of things AJ Lee did during her WWE run. The WWE was more loyal to her than they should have been. They deserve part of the blame for being foolish enough to think she would be as loyal to them. I see nothing wrong with sending the message that loyal workers that bring great results will be pushed the best. Nikki Bella is not the greatest example of that, but I would have still done it to send the message to keep the workers in line. You want to create an environment that gives your workers fair opportunities to succeed and earn better, but you cannot let some of them get too pushy and possibly ruin that environment.

I also have to give the WWE credit for how they handled the situation. They hyped that Nikki was near to breaking the record. They created a situation on Raw where Nikki might have failed to accomplish her goal. There were some shenanigans, which you would expect from a heel. And Nikki ends up still making history. That is how you build up to something. It might not be productive. That is to say, it might still fail to draw against a good NFL game on Monday. I believe the title match came on right against the closing minutes of that game. It might also fail to help Nikki get more over. A lot of fans are still bitter about the situation. They hyped a celebration on Smackdown. Again, another good thing to do, since they need to do more interesting things on Smackdown, but we will have to see how it plays out and how well it draws. TNA should take note of what the WWE did. You do not just hand someone a record. You use it to add to a feud or storyline. You use it to build to elaborate segments. You use it to develop stars, especially those that deserve it. How the WWE has handled Nikki Bella breaking a record is better than how TNA handled Taryn Terrell breaking a record.

As I said, some fans are unhappy about what happened. It isn't because a heel just accomplished something. It is because many say Nikki is sleeping her way to the top and Charlotte was screwed. This issue has been talked about a lot in the last few weeks. The wrestling journalists have stirred the pot.

When you analyze, you should never make too much out of one moment. That is probably good advice for a lot of things. I think some fans are making too much out of a moment. Nikki Bella retaining the title on Raw and breaking the record does not mean Charlotte will never win the title. She is the daughter of a legend that is on great terms with the WWE. Some fans also read reports that Charlotte would have won the title when she debuted, she and the other NXT divas would dominate the diva division, and whatever else. Given what the WWE has a history of doing in the diva division, and seeing as how the status quo is still alive, it would not have turned out as well as some fans think. The WWE putting the title on Charlotte does not mean she will be pushed as the new centerpiece of the division.

Is Night of Champions the night for Charlotte? I think so. Nikki Bella has her record. A few more days will be added to it until this Sunday. Why not give it to Charlotte now? The only way I can see her losing is Paige turning on her. Paige has not had a good time the last few weeks. If having her tap to Sasha does not lead to a heel turn, it was pretty much just filler matches. Sasha maintains momentum, but where is she going? If Nikki does lose the title, it will be interesting to see how the WWE pushes The Bellas moving forward.

A Bunch Of Charismatic Psychos

Earlier this week, I talked about Cesaro and charisma. I said that charisma can come in different forms. Cesaro does not need to act a specific way to be charismatic. I want to follow up with that by talking about some women that have played psycho roles.

And I am not just talking about female wrestlers playing psycho roles. Earlier this year, I watched Sleepaway Camp 2. I really enjoyed it. I saw the third part after. I found the original on Youtube and watched that. That was also enjoyable. The series is about this girl, Angela Baker, that goes crazy and kills people while camping. But the character is portrayed in different ways. The original has a mysterious feel to it, where you don't know who the killer is until the end, while the two sequels I watched were more comedic. There was also two different actresses that played the role of Angela between the three movies I watched. There are more movies in the franchise, but I have not seen them. Anyway, these two actresses and their psycho characters reminded me of two women in wrestling with psycho gimmicks.

The original Angela Baker was played by Felissa Rose. She played a young girl that did not talk much and just seemed completely innocent. I liked her, but I never really considered her portrayal charismatic until I read someone say that he preferred her over the other actress because she was charismatic in her own way. I stopped to think about it, and he had a point. Charisma is a quality that draws people to you. Felissa did have a certain vibe to her. The camera would often show her just staring up at someone bullying her. No real emotion. It's like being drawn to a dog with them sad eyes. And she had a mysterious element to her, which some people are drawn to. The face she makes after she is found out in the end is also epic. It was creepy. As a horror fan, I am not a hater of creepy.

Which female wrestler does she remind me of? AJ Lee. AJ obviously has the face down. Go back to when AJ first debuted and into her angle with Daniel Bryan mistreating her. There were times when she looked like a victim and you can be drawn to her for that. As time went on, she turned creepy. Even after it appeared the gimmick was done, she still retained certain elements of that creepy psycho character. The gimmick is one thing. Her portrayal of it was fine. I just think the biggest issue was pushing her in the title scene. She has a character where she often seems aloof to what is going on, ruining the feel of some of her feuds. Not that the WWE needs any help ruining feuds. AJ Lee was made for the periphery. She would be a perfect character there. She can be creepy. Her unstable character brings an element of mystery to her. And if the WWE ever did go back to having her play a victim, she had already shown she could do that.

Pamela Springsteen played Angela Baker for the next two Sleepaway Camp movies. Springsteen? Yeah, that's his sister. This Angela Baker had the kind of personality I think more people look for when talking about a charismatic individual. Pamela Springsteen's Angela Baker definitely had more confidence than Felissa Rose's Angela Baker, although it was obviously two different roles. She was peppy and witty. But she wasn't a complete clown. She could get serious. Even while killing someone, she still had a pleasant attitude. She didn't come off as completely evil. She was likable. Great character.

This Angela Baker reminded me of Mickie James. Mickie James played an energetic psycho. But she could turn it off when she had to and play whatever emotion she had to for the sake of that storyline. And the same is true for after they took the gimmick away. Her psycho run did not last as long as AJ Lee's psycho run. Mickie James was left as a generic face diva. One that would be inconsistently pushed. Not a recipe for success. One of the reasons she was able to remain as over as she was is her charisma. It wasn't tied to that psycho gimmick, although it made it more fun. She just had a pleasant, likable vibe, but wasn't a complete comedy character.

Two actresses playing the same character can portray it in different ways. Two wrestlers playing a psycho gimmick can portray it in different ways. Part of it is obviously different storylines, but part of the difference is in charisma. It is in those qualities of the character. Felissa Rose played a quiet girl with a hidden, creepy psycho side. AJ Lee started out with that innocent character, then later went crazy. Pamela Springsteen played Angela Baker with a fun spirit. Even though she was killing people, many of whom were jerks, she still was a likable character. Mickie James played an energetic psycho character. Despite a storyline that had her annoying Trish Stratus and eventually be the one to turn on her and attack her, many fans liked her better than the face.

And that takes me back to my point about Cesaro. He does not need to act one specific way to be charismatic. You can be charismatic without being flamboyant. You do not need to be too showy. Some people have a subtle charisma, like the original Angela Baker played by Felissa Rose. Some people have an energetic charisma, like Mickie James. All you can ask is that Cesaro finds his groove naturally. Forcing him to play something that is not natural might ruin him.

Diva Beat The Clock

Raw featured some diva "Beat The Clock" matches this week. That was the first time the concept has been used with the divas. I do not see it as too big of a deal. Charlotte won it and will get a title shot.

There are some people that feel Paige should be getting the title shot. Her match, which came after Charlotte had set the time to beat, ended in shenanigans. Naomi and Tamina pulled Sasha Banks out of the ring when Paige was about to beat her. Shouldn't that be a DQ? Heartbreaking moment for Paige, but no heel turn, yet.

Some also feel Sasha Banks should be getting a title shot. Why? She made Nikki Bella tap out a while ago. Some people might make the argument that beating the Champion like that means you should be getting a title shot. But that just isn't what the WWE wants to do right now.

I have not been a fan of the 3-way stable war that has been going on. If that is the way they want to do it, however, I think they should have kept it up for Night of Champions. Make it a triple-threat match. I would have had two battle royals heading up to the PPV. The winners of these matches would face Nikki at Night of Champions. It is a PPV dedicated to the titles, so it would be nice to have more than one challenger developed for some of the matches. I would have had Charlotte and Sasha Banks win these battle royals. Each stable would be represented.

The WWE has a countdown going for Nikki Bella breaking the record. You just get the feeling that the WWE will do something to at least tease spoiling it. They already have Charlotte trying to get her title shot before Night of Champions to stop Nikki from breaking the record. Having Charlotte win the title early is one option. I can also imagine Nikki and her gang celebrating that she is going to break the record, then Charlotte does something to spoil that celebration. It would be similar to how Sting ruined Seth Rollins's moment a few weeks ago on Raw. Obviously, the WWE will not handle it the same exact way. Even if Charlotte does get her match moved up sooner, which is something that might have been better if it was treated as a surprise sprung on Nikki when she least expected it, the match might end in a DQ. Brie Bella and Alicia Fox might interfere. Paige might interfere, jealous about Charlotte getting the spotlight. Team B.A.D. might get involved. But it is better to at least tease that Nikki might not make history. Go back to Michelle McCool being the first woman to hold both the Diva's and Women's titles. If they didn't treat it like Mickie James had a chance to possibly do it, it wouldn't have been that big of an accomplishment. It would have been simply Michelle McCool walking her way to history. Of course, she still did walk her way to history, multiple times. It all comes down to how the WWE wants to book it.

Even if Nikki does not break this record, she might still be in a position to break other records. The record for most reigns with the butterfly title is 3, done by Eve Torres and AJ Lee. Nikki has held the title twice. If she is the woman the WWE wants the division to revolve around, she will regain it. The record for most combined days with the title is 406 days, held by AJ Lee. Nikki is at 291 days right now, in terms of combining her first reign and this current reign. If she wins the title for a third time, she only needs to hold it a few months to break this record. It is not a record the WWE usually brings up, but it is something wrestling fans will definitely acknowledge. It all comes down to whether she is the diva they want as the centerpiece.

The Longest-Reigning Diva's Champion & The Longest-Reigning Knockout's Champion

AJ Lee still holds the record for longest reign with the Diva's Championship. That stands at 295 days. Nikki Bella is knocking on the door, and it looks like she will just walk right through. She has held it for 281 days. Unless she loses it before Night of Champions, she is going to hold it at least until September 20th. And that will give her the record.

Should AJ's record be broken? You have probably heard all kinds of talk as to why Nikki has been holding the title for so long and will likely beat the record. It's Vince McMahon's ego. It's her boyfriend playing politics. It's Total Divas ruining the diva division. There is no denying Vince McMahon has an ego. A woman he pushed extremely well and allowed to get away with certain things essentially walked out on him. Yeah, I can imagine someone being bitter about that.

I would make the decision to have someone else break AJ's record. It has nothing to do with ego or backstage politics. It is about sending a message to your workers. AJ Lee was given a ton in just a few years. I do not think any diva has been pushed that hard in such a short time. She had backstage issues and they still treated her well. She took a shot at Stephanie McMahon on Twitter and they still let her get the win at Wrestlemania a few weeks later. Right after that, she retires. What kind of message does that send to your workers? That workers can get away with acting like that? I would sometimes read reports that Vince McMahon saw the "bigger picture" with AJ Lee. Really? Vince might need glasses. He couldn't see this woman was likely going to side with her husband and leave? A lot of people were expecting it since last year. I never would have even let AJ do all the things she did. If you are going to act like that, you better be someone I should be afraid to lose. I like it when wrestlers being mistreated stand up for themselves. When a wrestler being pushed very well and the company is very loyal to complains or causes issues, it sometimes comes off like they are being greedy or betraying that loyalty. I believe workers that are bringing great results and are loyal to the company should be allowed to make history and have the major accolades. Send that message to your workers. Don't let a worker that is not bringing the results that match her push and might not be loyal to you walk all over you.

Nikki Bella might not be the poster girl to deserve the record. But if the WWE wants to take a shot at AJ Lee by giving the record to someone else as quickly as possible, she is the obvious choice to have break it. She was holding it at the time AJ left. She had already held it a few months. Don't forget she is the likely new centerpiece of the diva division. I wouldn't be surprised if she gets the record.

Fans are not liking Nikki Bella breaking the record. #ThingsBetterThanNikkisReign was trending a few days ago. That was soon followed by #NikkiDeservesTheTitle. Even then, a lot of the tweets were still negative. Will this cause the WWE to put an end to Nikki's run sooner? Unless that Twitter negativity turns into something from the crowds in the arenas, I doubt it will. But it would be interesting to see Nikki bragging about beating the record the Raw before Night of Champions, then having some diva come out, talk Nikki into defending the title right there, and Nikki ends up losing. That would tie AJ's record, not break it. In terms of just storytelling, that is the kind of thing you would want to see a heel experience. But this is a diva division. This is the WWE. I don't think the WWE will end the reign early.

How about that negative fan reaction? Honestly, if it wasn't for those recent diva matches not being respected by the live audience and that report that John Cena was the reason Nikki was still holding the title, I don't think a lot of fans would be complaining about Nikki Bella as hard as they are and saying the diva revolution is failing. They would still be mesmerized by the longer matches, new NXT divas, and everything else the WWE has been doing. The fact that things are not working has brought an end to the honeymoon.

Prior to 2015, Gail Kim held the record for longest reign with the Knockout's Championship at 210 days. Taryn Terrell entered the year with the title and went on to break Gail Kim's record. Her reign ended at 279 days. She lost to Brooke, with some help from Gail Kim.

Does it matter? Does it feel important? Does Taryn Terrell feel like she has gone to another level by getting this record? This isn't even a question of whether or not she deserves it. It is a question of how TNA has handled it. And I would say they dropped the ball. How can you have someone make what should be considered a major piece of history and not follow through better? Taryn has just looked like a coward since losing the title. She has looked very weak. They are not putting proper individual focus on her. And Brooke? The woman she lost the title to? Gail Kim has since gotten back the title.

The whole feud has been handled poorly. Why not have Gail Kim win the title from Taryn? Brooke wins it? I have seen some fans question why Awesome Kong did not win it. She was the one screwed out of the title the night Marti and Jade aligned with Taryn to form The Dollhouse. It would have made more sense for her to finally get what she was screwed out of. And they really didn't do anything much with Brooke during her run. Next thing you know, Gail Kim ends up with it again. And the way her feud with Taryn Terrell ended was just mediocre. A backstage segment? This was arguably the best feud the KO division had going this year. It was very heated. It should have ended a lot better than that.

Back to Taryn Terrell breaking Gail Kim's record and TNA not handling it properly. I do not care if Gail Kim is okay with it, suggested it, or whatever, the woman that breaks her record should be someone the company intends to push as the next top star of the division. This should be considered a major record and accomplishment. It should be followed up with a lot better. Instead, they break Taryn down and continue to just juggle around their women.

This is an example of why I say TNA does not really have a centerpiece and does not do a good job creating stars. If Gail Kim was the centerpiece of the KO division in the same way Trish Stratus was the centerpiece of the diva division, the woman that beat her record would be someone the company would follow up with at a high level. Moreover, Gail Kim would have been booked to win the title from Taryn. You develop credible jobbers to put over the centerpiece. I can't say that is what TNA has done in this situation. Gail Kim is obviously a legend in the KO division, but they are not booking her efficiently, and the same goes for everyone else in the division.

Let me give another example. Look at Brock Lesnar ending The Undertaker's undefeated streak at Wrestlemania. A lot of fans say the WWE botched by doing that. It could have been worse. Let's say that happened, then the WWE follows up by making Brock's next feud against Sheamus. Sheamus looks godly during the entire build up of the feud. When the match comes around, Sheamus wins cleanly and decisively. Basically, Brock gets buried. Fans would be wondering what Brock did wrong. He had to have done something wrong for the WWE to do that. This is just not something the WWE would do. They handed him one of the biggest accolades they could. How can you follow up by having him feud with someone like Sheamus? And have Sheamus dominate the feud? And beat Lesnar cleanly? Just to make it worse, let's say they do that with Sheamus, then go back to treating him as mediocre. It's just not what the WWE does. They followed up with Brock by having him destroy Cena for the title. He has gone on to continue his feud with The Undertaker, which had better hype to it around Summerslam than Wrestlemania last year. This is what the WWE does.They use these accolades to build stars and build up to bigger feuds. I am not saying they never seem to drop the ball. The first-ever Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner was Cesaro. Yeah, they dropped the ball with him. But The Streak is a lot bigger deal than that.

I am not saying being the longest-reigning TNA Knockout's Champion is the same as ending The Undertaker's undefeated streak at Wrestlemania, but it is one of the biggest accomplishments a woman in TNA can be given. How do you not properly follow through with the woman that breaks the record and use the situation to create a better feud with a better payoff between the woman that breaks the record and the woman that held the record before her? These are wasted opportunities that define TNA.

Let me just look at Gail and Taryn. I once talked about Gail Kim playing a ninja-like character. Gail Kim is not great when it comes to charisma. It is her only real weakness. She needs a gimmick to help her look more interesting. The gimmick she has had since returning to TNA has been something like I had in mind. She is playing a serious character, but her attire and the whole appearing and disappearing thing works. She is sexy and is playing a cooler character. I'll give them credit for this.

How has Taryn Terrell been doing as a heel and with this gimmick? Once again, I will give them credit. She has been doing a better job than I expected. She has the sex appeal and the charisma to pull it off. Always having her run away from Gail has not been good. Booking Seth Rollins as a weasel and having Kevin Owens walk out on matches aren't helping those two in the WWE. But at least Taryn Terrell is more entertaining with her cowardly act. And The Dollhouse is not done yet. Hopefully, TNA can come up with some fresh stuff for Taryn to do, for however longer she is with them.

The WWE, AJ Lee & Mickie James: An Example Of Karma?

While Mickie James was in the WWE, she was a credible jobber. She was a diva with wrestling credibility used primarily to put over whom the WWE was developing to be the top diva, while also being used as filler when that top diva was not around. After Trish and Lita left, the WWE was not focused at all on developing another female wrestler to be a periphery diva like Lita. Their concern was creating a new eye-candy centerpiece. That strong determination plus the poor depth in the diva division and issues with those women being developed to be the centerpiece is what led to Mickie James being pushed so much, not a desire to develop her as a star. Mickie won 6 title reigns off this type of career. Not surprisingly, they released her soon after that. She ended up in TNA and is still there now.

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.

Paige Gets A Title Shot, While Naomi Turns Heel

There was a diva battle royal on Raw to determine the next challenger for Nikki Bella's title. Some fans were predicting Charlotte to debut in this match and even win it. That did not happen. Paige won. Naomi, whom the WWE was pushing in recent weeks, turned heel.

I do not really like what happened. The major issue is depth. AJ Lee, a face, just left. Naomi, a face, now turns heel. Who are your faces now in the diva division? Paige. And? Natalya has been treated as a tweener. Emma can play a face on the main roster, although it seems she is being utilized better on NXT. Charlotte will still eventually debut. The brand split is gone and depth is still pretty poor in the division.

You can say that AJ would have ended up turning on Paige had she not retired. Does that mean they still needed to turn anyone at all? I do not think so. It looks like Naomi is in the spot AJ Lee would have been in, but I will not be quick to say she is now an A player. She has not gotten the kind of build AJ Lee had from 2012. It looks like they are just doing this for the sake of the storyline they intended to do. I would have scrapped that storyline. It just would not work as well now. I never really liked how they developed the relationship between AJ and Paige, but Naomi filling the role of AJ is even weaker. They just should have come up with a different storyline.

How about Paige once again getting a title shot? I like Paige. I just do not feel she needs to be in the title scene so much. I felt the same way about Mickie James. In that WWE diva division, the title scene is sometimes the worst place to be. That is particularly the case for female wrestlers. They are usually not pushed there to be developed to be stars. They are pushed there to put over stars or used as filler. It is an eye-candy diva that the WWE likes to develop as the centerpiece, like The Bellas, although the WWE has not shown they are really committed to them as centerpiece. Of course, this is a dark age, so the WWE does not have the kind of division they want right now.

How would I have done things? First of all, I would not debut Charlotte now. No need. Save her for the summer. Meanwhile, push some of the other divas on the main roster against Nikki in title feuds. That includes Naomi. Let Naomi stay face and get a title shot. Paige would not be left with nothing to do. Push her in the periphery. Since she debuted, she has not gotten anything good in the periphery. She has had no angles alongside the men. She has not feuded with other periphery divas in non-title feuds, like how The Bellas faced Stephanie McMahon. The only thing she's had outside the title scene was that feud against Alicia Fox to kill off their partnership. It was filler. Find a guy you are willing to push well and consistently. Pair Paige with him. It will be good for her.

What If The Bellas Left?

AJ Lee just retired. What if Brie & Nikki Bella were to leave the WWE now? I still do not watch Total Divas, but I have heard that they are teasing The Bellas might leave the company, again. I doubt that will happen. Regardless, just for the sake of discussion, what might happen if they did leave?

Without bringing up Stephanie McMahon, The Bellas are the only divas in an A-tier position. With AJ Lee gone, that might make it easier for the WWE to better develop them as the centerpiece of the diva division. Nikki? Brie? Both? They are more of a centerpiece unit than LayCool were. In fact, with AJ gone, you can say the diva division is back to that one-dimensional look it had back then. The WWE was only concerned with developing a new centerpiece back then. When Michelle McCool was their lone attempt and Layla was her sidekick, that made the division at that time very painful. If you did not like their annoying act, you didn't have many other options being pushed well. Even if another diva held the title, LayCool still often trumped them. That is why holding the title does not mean you are the centerpiece. The Bellas have shown signs of being like LayCool. Getting over was an issue for McCool. It is still an issue for The Bellas, but I think they are a little more over now than McCool was during her centerpiece run. But that is still not too impressive.

What happens if you take that away? What happens if you take The Bellas out of the diva division? I have seen some fans say that the only thing holding the diva division back is The Bellas. In a while, the division will be full of all those fabulous wrestlers from NXT. The Bellas leaving will not cause the WWE to give up on the diva division. Michelle McCool leaving did not lead to the end of the status quo. They started pushing Kelly Kelly as the new centerpiece, not Layla. There is another Diva Search coming soon. That should be the ultimate sign that the WWE has not given up on this philosophy for their women's division that revolves around model-type performers. The Bellas leaving will just lead to the WWE moving on to someone else.

There are options on the main roster for the WWE to go to. I just do not know how confident they would be in those women. Summer Rae? There is also Eva Marie. She has been showing signs of improving. I would not be surprised to one day see her holding the title and pushed as the next Trish Stratus. With AJ Lee leaving, filling her spot is optional. Should The Bellas leave, the WWE would definitely try to fill their spot. The diva division revolves around a centerpiece.

From the standpoint of everything the WWE has put into these two, would The Bellas leaving now make them a bad investment? I am not talking about Total Divas. I am talking about their worth in the actual diva division. When I talked about AJ Lee leaving, I felt the WWE could have gotten more out of her and she really wasn't connecting with the fans as she should. The Bellas also lack the overness you would want your top stars of the diva division to have. But I don't feel they have been pushed as hard as AJ was, despite the big push they had for much of last year. AJ Lee is a female wrestler. I would have expected her to connect with those type of fans even better than she has. The Bellas are eye-candy divas. They are connecting about as well as you might expect, but that still isn't too great. In general, I do not think it would be a huge loss if The Bellas did leave. They do not have a great overness that would leave a huge hole in the division and they are not extremely talented, although they have improved very well. The WWE can just start developing another eye-candy diva to be like them. In terms of position, everyone is replaceable. In terms of how well someone can bring results, not everyone can be replaced that easily. I am not taking The Bellas for granted. They are better than many of the centerpiece attempts since Trish left. But there can be better.

AJ Lee Retires

AJ Lee has retired from the WWE. The possibility that this would happen was alive for about a year now. Ever since CM Punk, the man she is now married to, walked out on the WWE, the issue of AJ leaving and what would happen next was there. I have discussed it on a few occasions. I might end up just repeating a lot of what I have said before now.

First, I do not see this as that huge of a loss. AJ Lee was a top periphery diva during this current dark age. She had her big rise in the periphery, getting angles in the men's division, in 2012. She had worked with top stars for about a year after that. That transitioned to her winning the Diva's Championship. This was the first star the WWE created in their diva division since Trish and Lita left. But there were issues. After they did stop pushing her so hard in the periphery and started having her in the title scene, I feel some of that overness died down. Being involved with CM Punk led to fans often chanting for him whenever she was out there more than they would for her. Paige seemed to have started to connect with fans better than AJ, despite the fact that Paige was only being pushed as a credible jobber. I have brought up that heel Nikki Bella promo against AJ Lee on Smackdown that got cheered. I have seen some fans say she was phoning it in during the last year with the company. They say she wasn't giving it her all in the ring. As I have said before, she was better off in the periphery. If she had stayed, that is where I think they should have put her back.

One of the reasons the WWE has failed to create stars in their diva division in recent years is that some of those women they develop to be stars leave before they can really get over properly. I am not necessarily putting AJ Lee in that category. She had gotten over. But I do not think the WWE got the most out of their investment in her. She has not even reached 30. She still could have been active for another 10 years. And pushed as a periphery diva, an injury would not have screwed her over at all. Lita suffered many injuries during her run in the WWE, but was frequently getting angles alongside the men to help keep her looking interesting. After everything the WWE has put into AJ Lee and how they have pushed her in such a short period of time, they should have gotten more out of her. I wouldn't consider her a true flop, but this did not turn out as great for the WWE as it should have.

I do not think she is going to end up in TNA or ROH or Lucha Underground. Her husband has become a legend. He is in the UFC now. The two of them are pretty much set. If AJ Lee did want to wrestle again, I am sure the WWE would take her back. She was a creation of the WWE. She has come and gone and the WWE has still pushed her well. She has taken public shots at her bosses and they still bring her back and let her have a Wrestlemania moment. Just as much as I believe they would love to take CM Punk back, the same goes for his wife.

Now that she is gone, depth in the diva division is looking bad. Losing someone you rarely see on TV would not be a huge blow. The WWE just lost someone they treated as a star. They have The Bellas. As far as top-tier stars go, that's it. Lana is an eye-candy periphery diva. Paige is a credible jobber. Stephanie McMahon is on another level. The WWE could try running an efficient division with The Bellas as the centerpiece. They do not need to fill the void AJ has left. But I think they should. I see that there are some fans that are easily satiated just by the WWE giving these women 10 minutes to work on most Raws. Regardless, there are some fans that want a female wrestler to support. The Bellas are not liked by many of these fans I am talking about. AJ Lee was a hero to many of these fans. Paige or Charlotte are the top candidates to fill that spot. Charlotte has become solid in the ring. I would personally go with Paige. She has already started to connect well with the fans on the main roster. As I mentioned before, many fans were choosing her over AJ even before AJ retired.

Overall, this is not a huge loss for the diva division, considering they were still inefficient and AJ Lee did not seem to be connecting with the audience the same way she was when she was pushed harder years ago. However, losing the first real star you had created in about 5 years is a blow. It will be interesting to see how much motivation the WWE shows with their diva division now. They can get lazy and just rely on fans being content with longer matches. It would be better if they give another diva the huge push AJ Lee got back in 2012. It would make the division a lot more exciting.

Wrestlemania 31 Preview: Part 1

I'm going to spend the rest of the week previewing Wrestlemania. I will start with the least important matches first.

The diva match is the least important match on the card. That is not a shot at the women in the match. The WWE has just not made a great match here. Nothing is on the line. No legends are involved. It just hasn't been treated as anything too important. They have tried to tie in #GiveDivasAChance into it, but that protest has lost momentum, not gained it. I would say the faces should win. Let me take it one step further. While surveying #GiveDivasAChance last week, I saw a fan say she hoped AJ Lee got her Wrestlemania moment this year. I told her AJ already got her moment last year. She said AJ should have another one. Okay. That's nice. Not that it matters at all, but I would let Paige get the pinfall/submission for her team, if they are winning. Just a nice gesture.

The tag titles are on the line in the pre-show. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro defend against Los Matadores, New Day, and The Usos. The Champions just won it last month. No need to shoot it back to The Usos, who are the only team I think has the credibility to win it. The Prime Time Players and The Ascension should have been in this match. Not that it matters. A lot of sloppy development in the last few weeks.

The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal is in its second year. Winning this isn't anything too major, but things like this can still be fun. Who wins? A lot of possibilities. Axel? Sandow? Mark Henry? Miz? These are the guys I think have a good shot to win it. I would like to see Mark Henry win it. Of course, I can also see him being the last guy eliminated. Axel or Sandow would get a big pop for winning. Let's see if this year's winner ends up with a better push after Wrestlemania than last year's winner.

The Right Amount Of Aggression

When I am watching a basketball game, I sometimes hear the commentators praise players for being aggressive. They also praise players that pass the ball well, allowing someone in position to make a better shot get that opportunity or just to be nice in some situations. Of course, I do sometimes hear them criticize a player for not taking a good shot and passing the ball to someone that ends up not scoring. When it works, it works. Passing the ball is nice, but you have to be aggressive and try to score, as well.

The WWE has issues. TNA has issues. They do not have the same issues. In fact, I would say that their respective main issues are completely opposite. I am going to discuss it in terms of being aggressive.

The WWE and being aggressive? I do not think it is hard to believe that their problem is that they are too aggressive. If they really want a certain thing to work out, they will force it, even if it does not work out. In the last decade, they have not been aggressive to try to give the fans what they want. They have been aggressive to push what they want to work out. John Cena was the best example of that for a while. He was connecting well with the fans prior to his big push. Soon after getting that push, fans started to become split with him. He gets a bad reaction. Ratings have not been strong with him. You can just see he is not the greatest performer to be pushed as the centerpiece. And the WWE has just continued to force him.

In case you ever wondered if it was possible for things to be worse than they have been under John Cena, you have the rise of Roman Reigns. They are being more aggressive with him than they were with Cena during this stage of his career. Cena was not even getting these issues back at this point of his career. Fans are already treating Roman Reigns like he has been centerpiece for years. The WWE still had him go over Daniel Bryan at Fast Lane. They are having people put him over big time in promos, as well as interviews outside of kayfabe. They are really defending their decision to stick with him and forcing it, even though many vocal fans dislike Reigns. He is obviously not a great performer, and there are better choices available. They can let Reigns win the title from Lesnar, but that does not mean they should push him as the new centerpiece. They are being too aggressive. They should pass the ball and give another performer a chance to be the top guy.

There was a time when the WWE was too aggressive with their diva division. These days, it is easy to say they don't care. They can't even push women they want to be stars properly. Fans have to protest just to get them pushed better. Between the time Trish and Lita left and the division really collapsing into this dark age, you had the era of failed centerpieces. Creating a new Trish was their top priority. They had Playboy pushes and other short-term things like that, but their primary concern was a new centerpiece. They were not developing a new Lita during this time. And what happened when they were so focused to create a new centerpiece? They all flopped. Whether due to injury, deteriorating in-ring ability, failing to get over, or just not sticking around long enough to get anywhere, all the eye-candy divas pushed in this position flopped. Even Roman Reigns looks like an awesome option to push standing next to some of these women. And the WWE just kept forcing it for years. What impact did all these years of failure have on their drive to run a successful diva division? Well, you are currently in the worst dark age the diva division ever had.

While the WWE was being so aggressive with getting the diva division to work the way they wanted it to, Mickie James, a woman pushed to put over the women meant to be the centerpiece and used as filler when they were not around, became the most over diva. They didn't even start pushing her in the periphery, like they did Lita. They just remained focus on what they wanted to work. Mickie James being more over than the women meant to be the stars is not going to make her a great asset to what the WWE wanted to accomplish. People often overlook this when talking about why she was released. Fans talk about the WWE being so aggressive with Roman Reigns leading to guys like Daniel Bryan being held back. In the diva division, the problem is worse than just being held back.

A year or so into this current dark age, you had the rise of AJ Lee. She got over through angles in the periphery, much like Lita did. In fact, AJ has been pushed better than any female wrestler since Lita. Difference is, Lita's push was more natural and not as forced. With AJ Lee, it was obvious the WWE wanted her to be a star. They were aggressive with her. She was consistently pushed in the main-event scene for months. She was GM. She was involved with a lot of top stars. Of course, that would have to come to an end sooner or later. They took the training wheels off. They sent her out there in the Diva's title hunt. She has benefited from this dark age. But how over is she? Looking around, I would say Paige, a credible jobber, is more over than AJ. Heel Nikki Bella once cut a promo against AJ and got cheered for it. AJ is more likely to get fans chanting for her husband when she is out there than her on most nights. The WWE is so aggressive to make someone into a star, but when it comes to that person actually delivering, they don't seem to get the job done as well as they should. I am not saying AJ should be a top draw, but her overness with the audience should be better.

TNA is not as aggressive when it comes to making stars. They don't shove people down the throats of their fans in an attempt to make them into huge stars. On the contrary, they just pass the ball around. They make someone look good for an amount of time, then they pull the plug and move on to something else. They do this in both their men's division and women's division. It is like they are just going through the motions. And these men and women that were pushed as something amazing for a period of time, they do not have that momentum once they get unplugged. How can you push someone well for a certain amount of time, get your audience invested in them, and then just move on to something else? You are relying on wrestling itself to be a draw, but you should also be relying on creating and featuring stars.

There are many guys that win the TNA World Championship that obviously did not deserve it. Most of them are very good wrestlers and connect with the wrestling audience, but does every solid wrestler deserve a World title? No. You have to have more appeal to be pushed at the top. TNA does not even have a centerpiece like the WWE has. They do not groom top stars. Instead, they just pass the title around. Some guys just did not deserve to win the title. Chris Sabin is one. He didn't even hold it long. They didn't even develop him as well as the WWE would.

The KO division is not handled much better. It is respectable. As long as they maintain this status quo, you are unlikely to have fans protest how the women are being treated the same way the WWE has experienced. Regardless, this women's division has issues. Are you actually creating stars? Are you properly featuring them? I read in the results for the next set of tapings that Taryn Terrell seems to have turned heel. Okay. Is that to help her connect with fans better? Or are you just building her up for a face to conquer and get her few months in the spotlight? Is Taryn going to lose her momentum? Probably. Every woman in this division is interchangeable. 

When you are being aggressive with something, you better hope what you are doing is working out. If not, you are forcing something that is likely hurting you. There is a difference between being determined and being pigheaded. The WWE needs to learn this. It has cost them their diva division and it is leading to the development of men to be top stars that are not deserving. As for TNA, they need to stop passing the ball and make a shot. In basketball, you have a certain amount of time to get that shot off. You can say TNA has all the time in the world. You can also say that not getting their act together will eventually lead to them going out of business.

What do you do? Find a middle ground. Do not be so aggressive that you will force something that is just not working. At the same time, pay attention to who is working out and build around those individuals. Just like in any sport, if a coach sees that one strategy isn't working, he tries something else. He does not force what is not working out. Both the WWE and TNA have issues and nothing is being done to fix those issues. TNA needs to be more aggressive when it comes to making stars, while the WWE needs to be less aggressive.