When Should New Day Break Up?

I was watching Let's Make A Deal last week and New Day popped up. They weren't too bad.

Obviously, a few days before that, New Day lost the tag titles to Sheamus and Cesaro. New Day is not finished yet, however. But they will eventually break up. The question is whether the WWE should do it quickly, like in the coming weeks, or let the group last a few more months.

As I have said many times in the last year during New Day's reign of terror, they don't need the tag titles to do their act. And their act obviously has entertainment value. They weren't parading around with tag titles on Let's Make A Deal last week. They were playing along for the Christmas episode. And they can still be a part of some great storylines and segments away from chasing the tag titles.

On the other side of that, why might the WWE want to break them up? Depth might be the issue. There are enough tag teams to run the tag division on Raw well enough for a while. New Day is not necessary there. But are there enough singles wrestlers to push? New Day is made up of at least two guys that can be very useful as singles wrestlers, Kofi Kingston and Big E. Xavier Woods is probably best suited as a manager, as I have seen many other fans point out. Kofi Kingston and Big E can be useful chasing after the United States Championship down the road or being used as jobbers to the stars.

How do I think the WWE should handle it? Let New Day last a few more months. They can start breaking them up after Wrestlemania. But there is no need to have them last another year together. And they definitely do not need the tag titles back so soon. They already made history and all that. Time to move on from that, although the group might still have some potential as entertainers.

A New Day In The Tag Division?

The WWE made the decision to put the tag titles on The New Day. This is a weak decision. It was just a few years ago that the WWE did a good job of passing the titles on to teams that had momentum on their side. In the last few months, they have stopped doing that.

Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E were faces when the group officially debuted. They didn't get a very good reaction from the fans. The WWE turned them heel. But they won't turn Cena heel after all these years? Anyway, is any reaction better than no reaction? Fans weren't reacting negatively because they wanted these guys to turn heel. They hated the act. If the WWE thinks they have something of value here, they need to realize that they need to put more into it. You can go on Twitter or some message board and see fans reacting a certain way to something. Vocal fans in the arenas might also make you believe that the fans feel a certain way about something. But there are a lot of casual fans that may not be buying into it the same way or buying into it at all. You have to invest in what those vocal fans are wanting and make them into true draws for you. And if those things really cannot deliver, then you have every right to drop it and move on.

The New Day is a joke. I thought they had potential when they started. Didn't go anywhere. I also did not think they should get the titles unless the WWE was serious about developing them. It does not look like it. They are still a joke. I know this is the PG era, but not all the heels need to be like this. It is about entertaining the fans, but a variety of different characters would help. The WWE is just getting too gimmicky. Besides that, by not developing the group as a more serious threat, you are not doing the tag division any favors. All the teams feel like they are made up of guys that were jobbers not too long ago. Just pushing them well for a few weeks and tossing titles on them does not make it better. You need to develop their credibility better.

This is Kofi Kingston's first heel run in the WWE. It is disappointing that it has to be as part of a stable turning. It would have been nice if it was treated as a bigger deal. He gets another title reign added to his name, but what is this doing for his connection with the fans? This was a guy that was pretty over. Not A+, but very respectable. The gimmick seems to have hurt that. If he had a serious heel role, that might be better for him. Instead, he has this stupid gimmick and is stuck in a poor tag division.

Been a while since I did an aside. Let me do one. It is NBA playoff time. Coaches are willing to pull out any trick in the book. That includes intentionally fouling certain players they know are horrible at free throws. That causes the opposing team to possibly have a possession where they get no points, if the player misses both free throws. These kind of players can be a real weak link for their team. Why not kick them off the team? Why not make them bench players? Because they are still so good at other aspects of the game, such as defense. That is why they are still valued. And some of them are still used as starters. Even with their weaknesses, they still get valuable playing time. And they help their teams to succeed.

What does that have to do with anything? When the WWE mistreats a worker the fans want to see get pushed, they always seem to have an excuse. He lacks mic skills, he lacks charisma, or some other thing like that. It is no excuse. Who is perfect? Cena? Reigns? If they were, I don't think they would have had issues connecting with fans when pushed as top stars. When you have someone that is really connecting with the fans very well, you should take advantage of that. So what if he has certain weaknesses? He still brings you great results to help your product succeed.

This is also something for a lot of fans to keep in mind. They complain about certain performers not being great wrestlers. Okay, but they still have other attributes to help draw in other fans. For the most part, I don't really see fans saying Cena or Reigns should be fired. They just want them depushed or pushed differently. That's fair. It is only in those situations where these type of performers are really not living up to the manner they are being pushed that you should consider a hard depush and possibly letting them go. If you are bringing great results in connecting with certain fans, your shortcomings can be accepted. But if you are not bringing those great results in any area, why should you be kept around? With fans always complaining about you, you are just more trouble than you are worth.

Extreme Rules 2015: Final Preview

I have already said all I want to say about John Cena vs. Rusev and Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton. I will talk about the other matches today.

Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper. If Dean Ambrose can't win this feud, there has to be some kind of running gag here. There is no reason to bury him. He is over, but there is no heavy protest to see him get pushed. Luke Harper is not going anywhere. Give the win to Ambrose.

Tyson Kidd & Cesaro vs. Big E & Kofi Kingston. The tag division is looking almost as sloppy as the diva division. I am talking about how it is managed, not the quality of matches. I would expect Kidd and Cesaro to retain. If the WWE is serious about developing The New Day as something credible, and I mean really SERIOUS, I can picture them giving them the titles. I do not think they care. It does not matter whether they are heels or faces. They have been mediocre too long.

Daniel Bryan vs. Wade Barrett. Why don't I ever call him Bad News Barrett? Anyway, Daniel Bryan's health continues to be an issue. Is he badly hurt? If he is not that hurt, he will retain. If he is hurt but can still go, he will work the match and Barrett will regain the Intercontinental Championship. If he is too hurt for even that, you are going to have a repeat of what happened last year. Regardless of Daniel Bryan's health, I still feel he could have been utilized better in the last few weeks. There are some guys that are so over that just being out there is enough for the fans. They do not need to wrestle every night. The product has felt a little weak lately. Daniel Bryan could have helped fix that to some degree.

Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler. Sheamus just made his return a few weeks ago. They seem more interested in pushing him right now than Ziggler. Ziggler just seems to be in the position to put Sheamus over. I do not see them hurting the momentum Sheamus is developing. He likely wins this match. I do not want to imagine what will happen with the "kiss me arse" aspect of this match. Crass.That's the word I'll give it.

Roman Reigns vs. Big Show. There will be rowdy Chicago fans at Extreme Rules. You can imagine some of what they will do. They will love Cesaro and Kidd. Cena will get booed. As far as this match goes, you have two guys that smarks do not like. "Please Retire" chants for Big Show? Will Roman get mugged as he tries to make his entrance through the crowd? I usually get excited for Last Man Standing matches, but a lot of hardcore-style matches have been weak in recent years. The WWE is trying to be more edgy again. There is also no reason to be too interested in who wins. Roman Reigns is the guy they are developing to be a star. Big Show is a jobber to the stars. It will be more interesting to see how fans treat this match than anything else.

I have saved the diva match for last. Nikki Bella vs. Naomi for the Diva's Championship. Naomi is the heel and Nikki is the face. Paige had won a battle royal to get a title shot. Naomi turned heel that same night and took her out. Paige is out filming a movie. The WWE pretty much took out their top face right now. They fix it by turning The Bellas face. This is sloppy, inconsistent booking. I do not think you can put all the blame on AJ Lee retiring. They could have kept all the alignments the same and developed face Naomi to take on heel Nikki for the title. Have The Bellas take Paige out if she has to take time off.

How about the decision to turn The Bellas face? Given the hole the WWE dug for themselves, this is an okay move. You have two faces with one turn. There are still other divas they can treat as faces. More faces will eventually debut. The main issue is how randomly they did it. Not developed well. In one year, The Bellas have gone from being faces to being heels to being faces. Paige has gone from being a face to a heel to a face. AJ Lee was a heel, turned face, and if she had not left, would have turned heel again. Some people complain about how long John Cena has been face, but you can bring up the opposite complaint about the diva division. Stop turning them so much. A lot of these turns are done because of depth issues, not for the sake of good creative investment.

I would not make too much out of Paige starring in a movie for the WWE. Extracurricular activities do not determine your place on the roster. Brodus Clay also starred in a movie for the WWE. Where is he now? TNA. Things like movies and Total Divas usually do not do the most for helping you to get over. Not everyone can get over through extracurricular activities like Zack Ryder did. It comes down to how you are actually pushed. Let's see how Paige is pushed when she returns.

Who wins between Nikki and Naomi? I would say Nikki. After that, you will probably eventually get a triple threat involving those two and Paige. Paige will still have a title shot coming and Nikki will probably still be face. Face vs. face? Insert heel Naomi. I would not be surprised if the WWE books Nikki to hold the title long enough to break AJ Lee's record. She's almost halfway there.

Extreme Rules 2014: Assorted Thoughts

I am just going to keep it short for the other matches on the card. After that, I want to talk about an article I came across about the WWE Network and PPVs.

El Torito vs. Hornswoggle. Yep.

Alexander Rusev vs. R-Truth and Xavier Woods. The winner in this is obvious. At least the WWE did a little to make Truth and Woods look credible against Rusev recently.

Paige vs. Tamina. Once again, the winner seems obvious. No need to end Paige's reign here. I have been talking about feuds that should last beyond Extreme Rules in the last few days.This is not one of those feuds. The WWE has not developed a great feud here and I don't even want to see them try. It will be painful. Just move Paige onto something better.

Big E vs. Bad News Barrett. If any title is likely to change hands at this event, it has to be the Intercontinental Championship. Big E has held it for months. He has been pushed pretty mediocrely for the majority of that time. Not surprising at all. On the other side of that, you have Wade Barrett, who has been rejuvenated with this gimmick. Bad News Barrett is great. He has a ton of momentum on his side. He can be a great thing for the midcard.

Cesaro vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Jack Swagger. The likely match you could have had for Extreme Rules would have been between just Cesaro and his former partner, Jack Swagger. You had Heyman and Zeb to add a little spice to things. The WWE took it one big step further. They inserted Rob Van Dam. And I think they did a pretty good job of inserting him into the mix. The story is there. I usually do not like triple-threat matches where nothing is on the line, but I'll let this one go. Cesaro should win. He is the one they seem most interested in pushing in this match.

I came across an article in the last week about a topic I have brought up a lot in the last few months. It can be found here. A lot of points to bring up.

First of all, reading the article, I realized I did not properly account for international buys when I was determining what kind of benchmark you should want to have for Wrestlemania XXX. I admit it, I botched. All it really means is I should have kept the benchmark higher. Like 800,000 total PPV buys. For the millionth time, the reason is that you would want to have high standards for a Wrestlemania that should have been treated as something special.

The article mentions that expectations were at 295,000 domestic buys. That is low. I understand you have the WWE Network, it does not include international buys, and all that, but I would have expected at least 400,000, which is around the number they ended up getting. Of course, the WWE really did not create a stellar PPV card featuring legends and celebrities that generated a ton of hype. Hulk Hogan returned, but they did not do anything exciting with him. When The Rock came back, they started developing a feud between him and John Cena. This Wrestlemania season did not measure up to what you had in the last three years. That is probably the reason expectations were so low. Poor build leads to low expectations. That is underachieving.

The writer of that article said one thing I found very interesting:

Buying a PPV the old-fashioned way instead of subscribing to the network makes no sense for even casual WWE fans. One PPV costs roughly $60 -- the same price as six months of the network, which gives you access to six PPVs, around 1,300 hours of archived WWE content, and tons of exclusive programming.

It makes no sense? Really? I don't think a lot of people understand casual fans. Fans do not come in just one flavor. Let me break it down into 3 groups. You have your casual fans, regular fans, and hardcore fans. Hardcore fans are really into whatever it is they love that much. You ever see people get tattoos of their favorite sports team or get it shaved into their head? That's hardcore. Regular fans support whatever it is on a regular basis, including spending money on it now and then. Casual fans are the ones that care about it, but really are not that into it.

Why would fans that are not that into it subscribe to the WWE Network? The archived content? Tons of exclusive programming? They can live without it. And that would be why they are CASUAL fans. They just want to pay for what they want. As I have said before, drawing in the casual fans is why Wrestlemania is the most successful WWE PPV pretty much every year. These fans don't care that much about seeing the five other PPVs included in the 6-month commitment. That is why all those other PPVs would get lesser buys. It really isn't shocking at all that the number of subscribers for the WWE Network fell short of initial expectations, while the number of PPV buys for Wrestlemania exceeded expectations. The number of subscribers exceeded my expectations, but I was expecting a lot of PPV buyers. And just for the sake of repeating myself, I still feel the WWE could have done better and should have tried to do better.

Let me get to the main point of that article. PPV providers are dropping the WWE. You might have noticed how the commentators handled things on Raw. Satellite providers are not offering Extreme Rules. I have Dish Network. I had DirecTV before that. I have not subscribed to the WWE Network. I am not going to. Well, looks like I'm screwed. That is, if I am ever interested in watching another WWE PPV. Right now, I can live without it. They have gotten pretty pricey.

This is not how the WWE would have liked things to work out. They are losing money. Fans are essentially paying just $9.99 to watch these PPVs that would normally cost more than triple that. The WWE only gets about half that, while the other half goes to the PPV providers, but that's still more than $9.99. The WWE has not even gotten enough subscribers to break even yet. And what happens when 6 months are up and people start dropping it? Will the flow of new subscribers offset the drop? They will most likely have to raise the price of their network. If the WWE makes roughly half of what a PPV costs for themselves, it would make sense to charge a little bit more than roughly half of what the average PPV would cost. Make your money for the PPVs and for the other content. You cannot count on PPV revenue when those providers start dropping you.  

Big E Langston Vs. Damien Sandow At TLC

Big E Langston will defend his Intercontinental Championship against Damien Sandow at TLC. Since getting done with Curtis Axel, this is Big E Langston's first feud with the title. As for Sandow, this is the best thing he's gotten since losing to John Cena when he tried to take the World's Heavyweight Championship away.

Who should win? I believe Sandow deserves a run with a midcard title. He is a good midcarder. Some midcarders that have not even been on the main roster as long as him have already had title success. Big E Langston would fall into that category. Problem is, Big E Langston just won the title a few weeks ago. Why take it away so fast? Sandow is deserving, but I cannot picture them ending Langston's title run now. I don't think they should do that. Big E Langston will most likely retain here, but I don't think that means Damien Sandow will be completely out of the picture after.

Let me switch slightly to talk about the other midcard title. That would be the U.S. Championship, which is held by Dean Ambrose. When he is the only member of The Shield with a title, it kind of makes him look like the leader. Is there really any contender in sight to take the title off him? He is always so engaged in whatever The Authority is having The Shield do, the title just gets lost in the shuffle. He has not gotten a good title feud in a while. If they ever get around to transitioning that title to a face, that might give Damien Sandow another title to go after. To put that in a broader sense, getting the title off Dean Ambrose might open up title feuds for other people. The title isn't doing anything right now on him.

Big E Langston: Big Face Jobbber To The Stars

One of the bad things about not following through with Team Heyman vs. Team Punk at Survivor Series is that guys that could have benefited from being supporting players in that feud are left with nothing important to do. One of these individuals is Big E Langston. He turned face during this storyline. He looked like he would enter a feud with Curtis Axel over the Intercontinental Championship. That didn't work out.

What has he been doing? Pretty much being used as a jobber to the stars. He wins here and there against guys at his level and under him, but he also got used to put over Randy Orton recently. No storylines or legitimate feuds. That is what it means to be a midcarder these days. It was obvious that this would eventually happen to Big E Langston after his face turn, but having him actually remain involved in the feud between CM Punk and Paul Heyman would have made him look more interesting for a little while longer.

What about the other supporting players in that feud? Some of them are in an even worse position than Big E Langston. Both Kofi Kingston and R-Truth feuded against Curtis Axel in recent months, and both would have been obvious choices to keep in the storyline. Nothing from them now. Ryback is lost in the shuffle just like Big E, while also being used as a jobber to the stars. And then there is Curtis Axel. He still has his title. Many are left wondering why. He is also not doing anything major. In the end, all this was to be expected. Would have been better if they booked Heyman/Punk better.

Has CM Punk Found Yet Another Friend?

If the WWE is planning to have the Punk/Heyman feud lead to a big tag match at Survivor Series, CM Punk may have found another member for his team. Big E Langston turned face on Smackdown last week to stand with CM Punk against Heyman's guys.

Is this a good thing for Big E? Obviously, in terms of a short-term push, this is great thing for the guy. However, in terms of the long-term potential of what will likely happen, I would not expect too much. How many years now has the WWE had an issue with keeping the ball rolling properly with midarders? Even though Big E is getting pushed and a part of a storyline, he is merely a supporting player in someone else's storyline. Don't make too much of that.

Should he win the Intercontinental Championship from Curtis Axel? I wouldn't be surprised if he did, but I would have chosen to give it to R-Truth. Big E is still in his rookie year on the main roster. R-Truth as never held this title before and he has been almost as solid a midcarder as Kofi Kingston. Do more with R-Truth. Big E will still have time to solidify his overness. If they rush the title on him, I can picture things going for him as they did Big Zeke. Remember his run with the Intercontinental Championship? No? If they do give Big E the title, hopefully they make his reign a little more memorable.

AJ Lee: Climbing Down The Periphery Ladder Of Success

Lita started off with a cruiserweight at a time when he was getting pushed and won a title. She moved on to being a member of a stable with a popular tag team that won multiple tag titles. After an injury, it was only a matter of time before she found herself paired with a monster that once held the WWE Championship. That transitioned to her being involved with a man who has held multiple World titles and is currently in the Hall of Fame. When she did retire, she was part of a group with that individual and another man who has held numerous World titles and will likely be in the Hall of Fame. Lita spent the majority of her WWE career getting angles with the guys. She spent it in the periphery. That is what I would call climbing the ladder of success in the periphery.

And then, there was AJ Lee. After AJ Lee officially debuted on Smackdown, the WWE really started developing her alongside Daniel Bryan, who was World Champion at the time. Not bad. That soon moved into her being involved in a feud between Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, and Kane over the WWE Championship. That's a step up. They made her Raw GM. How many female wrestlers can say they were Raw GM for all those months? She then had a storyline with John Cena, the centerpiece of the company. Things started to go downhill since then. She was involved in a stable with Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston. Ziggler did eventually win the World title, but his injury ruined the chances of AJ getting a good rub from that. Ziggler has since been depushed. With those two breaking up, AJ is left with Big E, who is now feuding with Ziggler. AJ Lee is a periphery diva, much like Lita, but her career hasn't taken that steady rise to the top as Lita's did. That's not her fault, of course. The WWE developed her hard to make her a success. They just couldn't keep the ball rolling properly.

Of course, no need to feel bad for AJ. Not only does she still have a spot in the periphery, she is holding the Diva's Championship still. In time, they will come up with something better for her. They didn't put all that effort into her to drop it just like that. She has never been pushed as a jobber to the centerpiece, so none of her development has been for that. But which direction will show go on that ladder in the coming months alongside Big E Langston?

What about the WWE diva division in general? What is the landscape currently like? Everything seems to be in the periphery. What do I mean by that? All the diva angles seem to be on the sidelines of the title matters. AJ Lee, the Diva's Champion, has her angle against Ziggler currently going on. Those divas involved in that reality show, which I don't care to watch, don't have a proper wrestling feud going on. And Mrs. Fandango, Summer Rae, is still out there with Mr. Fandango, who has been depushed. She is still a likely candidate to one day be centerpiece. In terms of actual wrestling, there are no good feuds going on. Periphery divas are getting featured a lot. There are once again rumors that Kharma might be returning. Why not? This is the time in the diva division that would make the most sense and when she is likely to be treated as more than just a tool to put over a centerpiece. The WWE does not seem to be ready to develop a new one yet.

Alberto Del Rio Vs. Jack Swagger At Extreme Rules

Dolph Ziggler is indeed out for Extreme Rules. How does the WWE fix the situation? Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio will now face each other in an I Quit match for the #1 contendership at the PPV. This should be a good match. Both of these guys have submission finishers. Combine that with the possibility of some hardcore spots. This could potentially be one of the best matches of the night, regardless of the outcome.

Is handling things this way the best option? Technically, both of these guys were getting title shots at Extreme Rules, but now only one will get the shot at Ziggler's title. I am not implying that either of the two should be bitter about this. I'm just thinking about good booking, not necessarily hurt feelings. It would be good to see the triple threat still happen down the road. I may not have been too enthusiastic about this 3-way feud in comparison to other options for 3-way feuds, but proper closure would be nice.

Some people might have been thinking about putting Big E Langston to substitute for Ziggler in the triple-threat match. If Big E wins, Ziggler retains. I don't like that idea. This would be a huge match and win for a guy who is still a rookie. Judging by the fact that they have not vacated the title and made Sunday's match to crown a new Champion, Ziggler would most likely have been booked to still be Champion after the PPV if they had inserted Big E. That means Big E would go over two former World Champions. That is a big win to not even be able to properly follow up on. Big E would just go back to being Ziggler's muscle. They could start a feud between the two, but it is too soon for that. If they are going to keep the title on Ziggler, I think it is the right choice to make the PPV match a #1 contender's match. Having Big E retain it for him would most likely be pointless in the end.

Who wins? The logical choice would be Alberto Del Rio. Face vs. heel. Swagger winning would mean heel vs. heel. Swagger could still interfere in the title match, which would finally lead to the triple threat to end the feud for good between the three.

Ziggler And Big E Langston Vs. Kane And Daniel Bryan

Dolph Ziggler doesn't seem to be lost in the shuffle anymore. It also looks like Kane and Daniel Bryan have something else to do other than feud with each other. Putting it all together, Ziggler and Big E are teaming up to feud with Kane and Daniel Bryan.

Should they have stuck with a feud between Kane and Daniel Bryan? The tension between the two was definitely coming up again. They could have gone in that direction. Even though it can be seen as a little bit of inconsistency, having a tag team feud is better. And if Ziggler won't feud with Jericho now, this tag feud is better than nothing. And the fact that AJ Lee has that history with both Kane and Daniel Bryan makes the story more interesting and more worthy of Wrestlemania.

As far as AJ Lee goes, it just goes to show that the only reason why she did seem out of the way for a while was because Ziggler had no real direction for himself. You can see that she is a lot more relevant now. She hasn't been getting lost in some multi-diva feud. Attention is on her in this tag team storyline. That is one of the great things about being in the periphery.

Ziggler & Company Losing Speed

It's not unusual for the guy with the briefcase to get a bit of a losing streak prior to cashing in. It happens sometimes. Dolph Ziggler hasn't exactly been on a huge roll right now. He lost to Ryback this week and doesn't even seem to have a feud brewing heading into Wrestlemania. Again, no need to panic for Ziggler. And yet, I think the WWE is stupid for doing it.

A few months ago, Dolph Ziggler was getting pushed so well, I was wondering if there would be anything left for him after he eventually did win the title. After winning Money in the Bank, he was looking impressive against some big names. He retained his briefcase against Chris Jericho and John Cena. He was looking like something major. They could have kept that momentum going by having him win the title at any time in the last few weeks. Instead, they let all that momentum fizzle out. I find that stupid. You invest all that in him to make look credible, then you make him look this mediocre again? It was all to make Cena look good, right? If and when Ziggler does win the title, going by the recent trend of rotating centerpieces on Smackdown, Ziggler should get a good push again. Until then, they could be using him better as they head into Wrestlemania.

I have never really said anything about Big E Langston. What can I say? I like that pose he does by the barricade after he gives someone Ziggler is facing a cheap shot. You sometimes see a heel the WWE is developing to be a big star get a sidekick. Miz had Alex Riley. Ziggler has Langston. That's more than a sidekick. That's some muscle. I can't say I picture anything great for this guy's future after Ziggler, but when Ziggler does get his run as Smackdown's top guy as World Champion, Langston will be more relevant than he is now.

What about AJ Lee? For almost all of 2012, she was the best pushed of all the divas. She was developed as a periphery diva. She still is a periphery diva. But her momentum has definitely taken a hit. I frequently say that a periphery diva will benefit from whatever the guy she is aligned with is doing. She gets a rub by association. The bad side of that? What happens when the guy she is with starts getting booked poorly? Ziggler isn't being buried. If anything, the entire company is having trouble keeping the ball rolling for all the guys they want to push. I can understand that. They have a lot of guys to push and cannot always come up with good ideas. They also have trouble figuring out who to prioritize at times. No matter what suggestions people can come up with to fixing the diva division, it seems it will never be as great as it was until the WWE can also fix the problems with their men's division to make things as hot as they were prior to this recent staleness and reliance on past stars to help draw. Nevertheless, the WWE put themselves in this position with their diva division. It did not have to be this bad. A decline may have been unavoidable, but it did not have to look like the diva division you have today. And I don't feel bad for AJ Lee. With the exception of Vickie Guerrero, AJ is still in a better position than any woman on the roster.