Awesome Kong Gone From TNA, Again

Awesome Kong had some backstage issues recently. They have led to her being released by TNA. This would not be the first time TNA has let her go following physical altercations. It is the right decision.

What does this mean for the KO division? I feel it is for the best. TNA had some other women leave the company recently. Even then, it seems the same women are always being prominently featured. The company needs to add some fresh women to their primary rotation. And I don't mean Maria Kanellis. There are so many female wrestlers not getting featured well all over the world. Simply signing them is not enough. What are you going to do with them? A lot of these women in TNA never get pushed very well, frequently taking a backseat to women like Gail Kim, Velvet Sky, and Awesome Kong. Assuming TNA does not bring Kong back anytime soon, now would be a good time to start featuring another woman better. It would be nice if it was one with wrestling talent. Jade might be a good option.

Should Awesome Kong go back to the WWE? As for as the main roster goes, I do not think they should bring her back. The periphery was her only real option the first time she was there. They would not push her as the centerpiece. She lacks the look. She would not be a good credible jobber. She stands out too much. The periphery is all that was left. Her only match in the WWE was even in the Royal Rumble match. These days, however, the WWE is pretty terrible with the periphery. There aren't really any divas featured with unique gimmicks. There are no women being featured prominently alongside a top star. The main goal for the WWE these days for the diva division is actual wrestling. And Awesome Kong just cannot go in the ring like she used to. Many fans might love to see her come back to destroy The Bellas. Then what? Not many options for her. I do not think she is worth bringing back.

How about sending her to NXT? If I do not feel she can go in the ring well enough to fit the main roster, I definitely do not think bringing her in for NXT will be wise. There are even higher standards down there. It just wouldn't work out. Should they sign her as some kind of trainer? That's another issue. Given her age and health, it might be time to just retire.

I have seen some fans suggest Lucha Underground. Yeah, she might fit what they do over there. Character means a lot there and she definitely can play a character that stands out. Point is, she still has some options out there. But she has to watch her temper. Most fans were willing to side with her for that first incident years ago. This time around, things do not look good for her. There are stories all the time of backstage fights. Guys don't always get fired over it, but you cannot develop a reputation for this kind of thing.

State Of The TNA KO Division: January 2015

The major development for TNA's women's division is obviously the return of Awesome Kong. She returned during their first show on their new network to start a feud with Havok. She can obviously bring more credibility to a women's division that was already more respectable than what the WWE offers. TNA might even generate a little hype with her back. They need it.

How will Awesome Kong be utilized in this KO division? She was featured very well during the time she was there a few years ago. TNA is used to rotating around stars. During her final weeks of her last run, it looked like they were legitimately rotating her out of the KO title scene. Luckily, there were tag titles back then to make having more than one KO feud going even easier. Those titles have gone and TNA sometimes fails to properly keep the ball rolling with their women these days, despite still trying to feature respectable women's wrestling. After Awesome Kong wraps up her feud with Havok, I am sure it will be only a matter of time before her and Gail Kim feud again. I am sure many fans are looking forward to that. Another title reign for her will most likely also be on the table. Right now, there are many options for her.

How about the feud between Awesome Kong and Havok? On paper, this is a great feud. You have a dominant KO that has been doing great in recent months facing possibly the most dominant KO ever. I just feel it could have meant more. Havok has only been in TNA a few months. When you keep in mind that TNA stopped airing original content way before the year even ended, the audience has had even less time to really connect with her. They have still kept her dominant and protected her until what will happen now that she is feuding with Awesome Kong, but this feud could have been more epic. Can't blame TNA. They didn't really botch this. More time just would have been nice. You could have developed Havok to be something like a female Goldberg. For what it is, this is a good feud.

The decision in general to bring back Awesome Kong shows one of the good things about TNA's rotational system. They had women on their roster that they could push as their top stars. They had options. I talked about how someone like Taryn Terrell could be a diva-like centerpiece. They had women they could push in the periphery. Outside of that, all you need are credible jobbers to rotate around. Awesome Kong is not here to be a credible jobber. If this was a closed system like the WWE diva division, the people running the show would have the philosophy that they already have women they want to be stars and exclude signing someone like Kharma back, in addition to holding down their own talent on the roster they do not view as stars. I wouldn't be surprised if a promotion like this would also bring back Mickie James in time, regardless of whomever else they have on the roster. If they only did a better job creating and featuring stars, they might be even better than they are.

How about the other KOs? First of all, TNA continues to be efficient and respectable with their women more than the WWE is with their divas. And TNA does not even have the number of women the WWE has. Not counting Christy Hemme, who doesn't wrestle anymore and doesn't get involved in angles on a regular basis, TNA has 9 KOs. The WWE has much more than that on their main roster. And yet, most of those women are not utilized efficiently and some are not great wrestlers. TNA could have continued running a solid division with just 8 women. Just rotate some fresh blood in now and then.

A lot of the women seem to have some angle going for them right now. I talked about Awesome Kong and Havok. Taryn Terrell is still holding the KO title. Brooke is back and feuding against her former Amazing Race partner. Velvet Sky and Angelina Love have a periphery angle going for them. Rebel has her periphery angle. Very few women have no real angle going and are just floating around. Gail Kim happens to be one of them. Not shocking. TNA does not run a true centerpiece system like the WWE does. TNA is just putting the spotlight on other women now. Gail Kim is still wrestling, but she is neither a major focus nor getting some kind of periphery angle. That will not last long.

Since I am on the subject of TNA, how about the ratings for their first show on the new network? Viewership averaged 263,000. That is worse than I was expecting. A loss was obvious. A bad loss was even obvious. But TNA has gone down to about a quarter of what they would typically get a year ago. The WWE would probably go out of business before seeing Raw's numbers slip that low. Keep in mind, this was a live show and there was some hype around it. What happens for those taped shows and when the product gets staler? It will get worse. Of course, it could get a little better if the product improves and the star power is there.

You obviously should look at how TNA Impact is doing in relation to other shows on Destination America. Moreover, the network could be viewing this program as something that can help them expand. Pro wrestling has that power to attract all types of fans. It can attract men and women. It can attract young and old. It can attract various races. It can attract people entertained by different things. If TNA can put out a quality product, that might get people who do not watch Destination America tuning in or people that don't even get that channel trying to get it. TNA can help Destination America. The network is doing a few things to help them. I wouldn't rush to say TNA has flopped just yet.

EDIT: I rarely do these kind of things. I have to make a correction. I said TNA did 263,000 last week. This report says they did 359,000 viewers. They cite TV By The Numbers as their source. I trust that source. I go there a lot. Going by the new number, that is more respectable and closer to where I was expecting. Still not amazing, but it was to be expected that there would be a drop.

Kharma Meets Kelly

Awesome Kong (Kharma) came out during Kelly Kelly's match and destroyed Maryse with one move. Super?

Let me just say one thing right now about Kharma. It is obvious that her little gimmick of attacking and destroying other divas cannot last for years and years to come. There is no way the WWE can go in that direction. It is after this current storyline ends that you will see whether Kharma will be credible jobber, pushed on the periphery, or centerpiece herself. I still doubt the last option is meant for her.

Thing is, it helps to be a credible jobber when a centerpiece is in place to be put over by the jobber. The WWE has lacked an over centerpiece who was a solid performer for years. As of right now, they lost even the Smackdown centerpiece who was flopping to get over. Time will tell what happens with Layla, but what about Raw? Kelly Kelly is the last obvious option to push as centerpiece. They have been pushing her on and off for years. This year alone, she tagged with Edge on various occasions. That is a main-event rub right there. Tonight, Kelly Kelly saw more time in the ring on Raw than either the Diva Champion and the former top face diva filler. I am talking about Brie and Eve, respectively. Moreover, Kelly Kelly did not get destroyed by Kharma. The storyline will involve her. Does this mean Kharma is here to be some kind of Nicole Bass? We'll see how WWE plays it out. In the end, you better keep your eye on how the WWE treats Kelly Kelly just as much as you do laughing Kharma.

Natalya Was Diva's Champ Just 3 Months Ago, Right?

Almost thought I was going to be talking about Lita being hospitalized for a drug overdose right now. If you have no idea what I am talking about, no worries. False alarm. Stupid rumor. Fake Facebook account. There is a lesson here somewhere about believing everything you read from wrestling news sites or supposed wrestlers' blogs and sites, no matter how credible they may seem, but I am going to keep this all in the back of my mind for another night.

Natalya. At the end of last year, they were feuding her against LayCool for the title. She wins the title from both of them. She goes on to win a diva tables tag match at TLC, which was supposed to be an answer to TNA having Mickie James and Tara compete in a cage match on Impact. She goes over heel Melina to retain the title. A short while after that, she loses it to face Eve. Aside from having Eve go over Natalya in the rematch on Raw, Natalya has not done much on the main brand. A few days ago on Superstars, which is now on WWE.com like Heat ended up, she lost to Maryse.

If you have read anything I have ever written about the diva division in my few years writing about it, you know this treatment of Natalya does not surprise me. If you have stumbled on my blog for the first time, I am going to explain the depush of Natalya anyway. If you stumbled along here because you were looking for Natalya pics, you are not reading anything I am writing here anyway. So why am I writing this?


Around October of last year, when Natalya's push was first starting up, I ended a blog entry talking about her by asking, and I quote, "what chances does Natalya have of real proper treatment, whether during the title feud, title reign, or anything that may come after? In the end, this may just be the rise of Natalya as a fresh new face tool." I think enough time has went by for me to assess how the WWE's treatment of Natalya has come through. I would say the title feud itself was pretty good. Yes, LayCool made fun of her, but that is the gimmick the WWE has decided to run with. Moreover, they did not have Natalya cry to put over the two as great evil heels. Just let them be annoying, childish, and hopefully as entertaining as certain heels have managed to be and get over. They did develop things pretty well.

Her actual title reign was pretty good too. It is true that her feud with Melina was the only televised successful defense she had, and that they were slowly and subtley rebuilding Eve for the title even while Natalya still had the title and had not even finished her feud with Melina as of yet, but she did get to put LayCool through a table at a PPV. Could more have been done? DEFINITELY. But I still believe it could have been possible for Natalya to start to get over, connect with those fans whose standards go beyond just needing to be a solid wrestler, through the build to her title win and some of the attention they were giving her during the reign.

I talked about the feud, I talked about the reign, and now what has come after? Superstars. No real storylines to keep her character fresh or move her up the card. Even better, she lost to Maryse. Needless to say, this is not proper treatment. Whatever overness Natalya may have been gaining during her push, it may be at risk of diminishing now. While nothing has been done to help Natalya's character look good over the last few weeks, resources have been used for Eve's benefit, and I will not even mention the Wrestlemania diva crap. I am not surprised this has happened in the least. Having the title go from face Natalya to face Eve was even more low than I thought the WWE would go. Face Natalya could have carried the title until the WWE wanted to drop it to a Bella, or whoever. It just goes to show, as long as the WWE can control the push, they can attempt to manipulate the overness. And that is what it is all about. Is this the rise of Natalya as a fresh new tool? If she does not get released, I would say it is.

Let me say a bit about Awesome Kong. First, when I compared the current state of the diva division to 1999/2000, I may have made it seem like it was all horrible. It was not that bad. It was during this period that a female wrestler debuted who the WWE did push with the storylines, rubs, and consistency to get over and stay over. If you look at how they treated her, you could tell they wanted her to stay over and helped her. You cannot say that for Natalya, not to mention a lot of other women. Point is, I am talking about Lita. However, people must realize that Lita was never pushed as a true centerpiece in the same way Trish Status or Michelle McCool have been. Lita was more on the side, on the periphery. She spent a lot of her time as a valet to the guys. Without going into her too much now, let me just say that this is a very strong possibility for how the WWE will treat Awesome Kong. She will not be treated as a true centerpiece. She does not have the look. I doubt the style and gimmick they seem to be pushing for her would make for a lot of great diva matches with the models. The only way they can push her as an effective centerpiece is to pretty much kill what makes the diva division a "diva" division. And if they were really interested in doing that, they would have done it with Mickie James. She had the overness and was able to get over against the grain of how a typical diva centerpiece does. They could have started pushing a regular women's wrestling division with her. That is not what they wanted. Aside from being pushed on the periphery, Kong may also follow in the path of Mickie James and Natalya and be used as a credible jobber. She has wrestling credibility, which is all it really takes to be a credible jobber. I think this would be a great waste of her, and I do not believe the WWE would be stupid enough to do that. Still, there is a better chance of this than having her be a true centerpiece.

Let me close by saying that Kong may or may not get a title push straight off her debut. Should it happen, that would not necessarily mean that I am wrong and that they are pushing her as a centerpiece. Without listing numerous explanations and rationales right now, let me simply point back to Natalya. After you saw her win the Diva's title from LayCool, you might have thought that made her the centerpiece. After you saw her put them through a table, you may have thought that really proved it. And when she went over Melina, a multi-time Champion, you might have made yourself believe she was the next big thing. Where is she now? She was just filling a spot. LayCool didn't need the title for the storylines they were going to get. The WWE wanted to pass the credibility accessory, the butterfly title, to Eve. And now Natalya is in a position to be a credible face jobber. That is what she is. Higher up the ladder than Gail Kim, but she is not the centerpiece. Wait a while to find out how the WWE really pushes Kong. When the title feuds end, is she going to have something to fall back on, like a Lita, or is she going to be tagging up with a model on Superstars to face Natalya and her model partner for the evening? If the major diva feud on her brand always does involve her, or if she is getting a storyline that moves her up the card while filler divas feud over the title, THEN she would be a centerpiece.

Dark Days Have Fallen Upon The Diva Division

The Bella Twins have captured the Diva's Championship. Brie defeated Eve on Raw. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Eve's last match on Raw before StratusMania a title match against the other Bella? She really accomplished a lot in between that time, didn't she? Her reign was crap.

The title once again goes to a model-type diva. I do not believe Brie is meant to be a centerpiece. I do not recall if I ever made this observation on here before or not, but the current diva division is almost at the same level as it was in 1999/2000. Since the diva division was created, since the women's division took on the certain qualities that made it a "diva" division, there have been only two periods where they put the title on eye-candy divas not meant to be developed as a centerpiece. The first started in 1999. Sable, the woman meant to be centerpiece, left the company. The WWE had no proper replacement set up. They put the title on Debra and The Kat. These women were more looks than fight. They were valets. Moreover, the WWE never really tried pushing them as true centerpieces either. Saving time and skipping a few of the other interesting people to win the title at this time, they eventually gave it to Trish. From her first reign to her last, no other eye-candy diva held the title but Trish. After her, Candice Michelle was the first such model diva to get it. They were indeed trying to make her into Trish's replacement. Look at the booking and build they gave her. On the other show, Michelle McCool and Maryse won the prestigious butterfly title. Maryse was sent to Raw, where they did try to build her into the centerpiece there, filling the spot Candice left after her flop. Maryse flopped as well. Do I even need to discuss whether or not McCool is a centerpiece?

Back to Raw. Back to the current era. Eve, a Diva Search winner and eye-candy diva, has gotten two reigns with the title. Look at her most recent reign. They treated her like an afterthought, even though she had the title, for weeks while they pushed something else for Wrestlemania. The way I see it, they have also failed to push her and hype her as you would expect a true centerpiece. All this makes me believe that she is an eye-candy diva not meant to be a centerpiece. Then look at Brie. I hardly believe they will build her and her sister to be centerpieces. This is indeed another crappy diva division period, like 1999/2000.

Two things you have to keep in mind about why this era is the way it is. First, every woman the WWE desired to be the centerpiece has flopped either in maintaining a solid performance in the ring or in getting over. The only woman who had both solid ability and a great overness since Trish left was a woman only meant to be a jobber. That brings me to the other thing. During the rich era of Trish Stratus, the WWE had a steady flow of real wrestlers debuting to work with her and keep her looking at their level and bring credibility to the division. For the past year or so, you have not gotten that. That flow of real wrestlers to put over the the centerpieces is not coming. Tamina came to Raw last year, but what has she really done that is relevant? The WWE brought in Serena, had her head shaved, then released her. Natalya won the title recently. She was a valet before that, had a somewhat below average reign, and has done nothing of importance since then. Smackdown's centerpieces (LayCool) have been entertaining themselves, working with Trish and Snooki for Wrestlemania, and working around that with the likes of Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix. Beth is a jobber, and also losing what freshness and momentum she had. She has been around for years. Kelly is someone they may try building to be a centerpiece in the future. And that is part of the problem with what is going on right now. Models are getting more of the focus than the wrestlers, and all those models won't even be built to matter that much.

I will not say much about Awesome Kong now. Let me just say, it will be only a matter of time before she is teaming with those Barbie dolls and acting like they are her best friends ever. Either that, or she gets released before they even get that far.