R.I.P. Chyna

Joanie Laurer (Chyna) passed away this week. Chyna obviously had various issues over the last few years, including drug issues. But she was a performer that stood out. She accomplished many firsts for women in the WWE men's division, including winning the Intercontinental Championship. She was one of the most popular women back in the Attitude Era. She was my favorite woman in wrestling at one point. She was one of my favorite things about wrestling back then.

What are her chances of getting into the WWE Hall of Fame? That was one of the things she was pushing for for a while now. Issues she had obviously kept her out. And she just kept on saying things and doing things that looked like it would make it harder for her to get in. The WWE would have a good reason to not want to give her a live mic. Now that she has passed away, however, the WWE might warm up to her induction. They are acknowledging her death. I don't know if it will be next year or some time down the line, but I believe she will get in. The WWE can just get someone close to her to give a respectable speech. The WWE does not have to worry about Chyna saying something to make them look bad. They might as well give her the induction and move on.

The Status Quo Of The Diva Division: What Is It?

What is the status quo of the WWE diva division? What is that diva division about? What is going on in that WWE women's division during the diva era? So many ways to ask the question, and also so many ways to answer it.

Let me start with something the status quo of the diva division is not. The status quo of the division is not simply this "diva" image. I bring that up because I have seen some people bring up Beth Phoenix in the same discussion as CM Punk because she is not the typical diva and defies the status quo in that regard. I have spoken about divas with "anti-diva" looks and gimmicks before. The WWE is not against having women like that, and has sometimes even developed women like that to be stars. I am not denying that there is a stereotypical image that is associated with the divas. Fine. But what about the image? It is how the WWE pushes these women that defines what the diva division is about.

That being said, the status quo can be put very simply. Whatever the WWE wants, that is the status quo. Whatever those individuals in power want to accomplish and are trying to accomplish, that is what defines what things are about. Whomever they want to build into top stars, that is whom they will develop to be top stars. Their agenda defines the status quo. You can even talk about the status quo of their agenda to really understand what they are about, but that might get confusing. Regardless, putting things like this is not exactly very specific. Are things really that random and fickle? Is everything simply a whim of Vince McMahon? A lot of things, possibly, but everything? John Cena would not be where he is if everything was random. Even though the WWE does choose what it wants, there is some consistency to what they are about.

Going for that more specific answer, what is the diva division about? Some people might say that the status quo of the diva division is not the same in recent years as it was under Trish Stratus and Lita. Things back then were better. The WWE had better women's matches and were pushing their women better. The quality was great. Most fans would grade it very well. Question is, was the status quo about maintaining that great quality or giving something the fans would grade very well? Was it about treating their women well, especially the female wrestlers? Or was something else going on?

When the diva division started, it was about developing Sable as the centerpiece. They would use female wrestlers to put her over. Chyna was the only female wrestler they were developing as a success, and that was in the periphery of Sable. You had a few other eye-candy divas being featured for their looks and not really being developed as serious wrestlers like they were trying with Sable until she left. When she left, the WWE really didn't develop a new centerpiece for a while.

When Trish Stratus arrived and the time was right with her, they started developing her as the new centerpiece. They used female wrestlers to put her over. The only female wrestler being developed as a success was Lita, and that was on the periphery of Trish Stratus. You had a few eye-candy divas being featured well. Does this story sound familiar? This is the same diva division they were running prior to the dark age that came after Sable left.

What has happened in the diva division since Trish and Lita left? What has the WWE tried to do? Their main goal for years was to take another eye-candy diva and develop her as the centerpiece, following in the line of Sable and Trish. Candice Michelle, Maryse, Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly, and Eve Torres have all been given that kind of push. It was not until a year ago that they pushed a female wrestler as a periphery diva. That would be AJ Lee. The WWE has continued to push female wrestlers as jobbers to the centerpiece and interim centerpiece when they are not around. However, with more eye-candy divas becoming solid in the ring, they are now starting to get the types of pushes that female wrestlers once held on a regular basis. Aside from that, the goal has not really changed. The means has not changed. Eye-candy centerpiece and women with wrestling credibility as credible jobbers.

Let me get to the answer. What is the status quo of the diva division? The WWE is trying to take an eye-candy diva and develop her to be the primary star of their diva division. They choose whom they want that centerpiece to be, whom they want the credible jobbers to be, and whom the other stars of the division will be. Go back to Trish and Lita being around. If the status quo back then was really about maintaining a certain high-quality diva division, whether in terms of treating their women with a certain level of respect when they push them or always trying to please their fans, it makes you wonder what happened. However, if the status quo really did revolve around getting the woman they were pushing as the centerpiece to work out, it really is no mystery as to why the diva division has fallen. If the WWE cannot get what they want, they will not do better with what they do have for the sake of treating their workers right or giving the fans something that really interests them. The status quo back then could have been due to a number of reasons, but when there is a connection between how things are now and how things were then, that connection should be seen as the status quo of the diva division. That connection is developing an eye-candy diva as the centerpiece. The status quo has not changed.

Some people may completely disagree with me when I say that the status quo has not changed. How can I look at how the division is today and say that things are the same? The agenda is the same. Moreover, the same status quo may not always lead to the same results. Let me give two examples.

First, imagine a football team that wins the Super Bowl one season. The following season, they keep everything exactly the same. They don't cut any players and don't bring in any new players. The coaching staff stays exactly the same. Every position in the organization stays the same. They even keep the same playbook. And yet, they fail to even make the playoffs for that season after they had done so well. What went wrong? In terms of who they had and the plays they were doing when they had that great year, they maintained the status quo. The state of affairs for them remained the same. Problem is, age, injuries, and other personal problems may have become an issue for some of the star players. Moreover, the other teams may have gotten better and be better prepared for this team. A winning status quo one season leads to failure the next. If that team was smart, they would not cling to an arrogant belief that doing exactly what led them to that Super Bowl win one season will do the same for years to come.

Second, let's talk about SpongeBob! Did you ever see that episode where Squidward has enough of SpongeBob and moves to a community of people just like him, who also have the same tastes as him? When he first gets there, he loves it. He gets into this routine of always doing the same thing every day. Soon, he loses his smile. He gets bored with it. He goes a little crazy. He eventually leaves. What went wrong? Wasn't this pretty much Squidward's dream status quo? It definitely pleased him at one time. Some people just get tired of the way things are. If the status quo is so monotonous, a status quo that was enjoyable at one time may become painful in the future.

What has changed in the WWE diva division is not the status quo. What has changed is the ability of the status quo to get the job done, in terms of pleasing the WWE, the fans, and treating many of these women well. Just because the division was so great under Trish and Lita, that does not mean it was the WWE's goal to please people who say it was great. As I have said before, you cannot confuse an opinion of the status quo for what the status quo actually is. The same status quo may not always bring absolute results. That diva division is about making stars out of whom the WWE wants to be stars. They want a woman with that "diva" image as their centerpiece. That is what has defined the diva division from the start. Things are currently in a dark age, with AJ Lee getting the spotlight, but will the WWE eventually go for another eye-candy centerpiece?

Would Kharma's Return Bring Change?

There are rumors that Kharma might return. With The Bella Twins chasing after the Diva's Championship, that could easily pave the way for that feud between them and Kharma that was teased two years ago. I don't usually like discussing rumors, but assuming she does return, would Kharma lead to change in the diva division?

I don't think it will lead to change. Right now, the WWE is still in a dark age. Are they trying to look for another eye-candy diva to be a centerpiece? Or are they willing to start treating female wrestlers better? Looking at the current diva roster, I don't think they have enough to start running a women's division that treats women's wrestlers as the top stars. What would Kharma most likely do? She can really only dominate in about the same manner she did when she debuted. Tamina and Natalya might be worthy opponents for her, but the WWE doesn't seem too eager to push those women well even now.

Go back to the first dark age. Chyna was a top star then. It was during that time that she won the Intercontinental Championship multiple times and won the Women's Championship. It would not be too unprecedented for the WWE to consider bringing back Kharma and pushing her well now. Chyna pretty much dominated the women's division. No diva got a clean, decisive victory over her. And she left without losing the title. Kharma was pushed even more dominantly than her during her short time in the WWE. If she does return, she may dominate even more than Chyna did when she is pushed. That will have to come to an end sooner or later. And then? Periphery.

If the WWE does bring back Kharma and use her to inject some momentum into their diva division, this could be a sign that they are looking for quick, easy fixes. I almost want to say that they are getting a little bit desperate, but I wouldn't go that far, yet. Last year, AJ Lee got a huge push to develop her as a star in the periphery. The WWE could very well be looking for something new this year. That doesn't fix their problems at the core of the division, when it comes to centerpiece matters.

The "Anti-Diva" Divas

The "anti-divas" some people sometimes talk about are those women in the WWE who do not follow the typical mold of what a WWE diva is. They are not these glamorous models. They are often very different. Chyna, Serena, and Kharma are some examples of women who fit that profile in the WWE. There is that difference in looks, style, and gimmick.

The main reason to bring up this kind of diva is to point out that the WWE isn't entirely against them being successes. They are not all just credible jobbers meant to put over the glamorous eye-candy centerpiece. Chyna is a great example of that. When the diva division really started, Chyna was not exactly being poorly pushed. She was a part of DX. She soon found herself mixing it up with the men. They ran with her. After Sable left, Chyna was one of the top stars of the diva division, as a periphery diva. Even though she did eventually get a run with the Women's Championship, she was still booked as someone more dominant than the typical diva. You look at Kharma, she most likely would have followed in the path of Chyna to some degree. She was not going to be the centerpiece and she would not easily become a credible jobber. She would have been a periphery diva, if they had kept her or brought her back. Even though Serena did not last long in the WWE, the gimmick she had would qualify her as an anti-diva. They most likely would have turned her into a credible jobber after that debut angle, but they never got that far.

What would you call Mickie James? She definitely isn't exactly like Chyna and Kharma, but she wasn't exactly in the same league as Trish Stratus and Michelle McCool. But that isn't really the point I want to bring up. In terms of how the WWE runs their diva division, or used to run it back when it had not collapsed, women pushed in the manner Mickie James was are not meant to succeed. These are the women pushed to put over the centerpiece and act as filler when the centerpiece is not around or getting something else. Outside of that, they get poor treatment. With that kind of treatment, it's easy to see why so many female wrestlers would not become too over throughout the history of the diva division. Only periphery divas would succeed at that certain level. And Mickie James was not a periphery diva. And she was not the centerpiece. She was a jobber to the centerpiece and an interim centerpiece. What did she do with that career? She made herself into the most over diva on the roster. Does that make her an anti-diva? "Anti-diva division" diva? She definitely beat what the diva division was about. In the end, it wasn't exactly a gimmick. And while the WWE may not have a problem with some women having unique looks and gimmicks from the standard diva, they just might have a problem with the wrong women getting over and failing to succeed with the women they do want to be over. Mickie James was definitely not the typical story, but no one talks about it.

Kurt Angle's Mistress and More Thoughts On The Christian Situation

Since I am in the mood to spoil stuff, I am going to talk about who TNA has signed to be Kurt Angle's "mistress" in his feud against Jeff Jarrett and Karen. It was revealed at the TNA tapings a few days ago, which will air next week.

Let me just say that I am glad that it was not Isis. There are a number of reasons why, and none of them are anything personal against this woman. Reports were saying that she was not too impressive during her TNA match a few months ago, but that was not such a big deal for this storyline. They just wanted someone intimidating that Karen would think twice about bullying, which Velvet Sky is not. Isis could have done the job. No great wrestling needed. Would you even expect it with Karen Jarrett? Next, TNA's little mistress angle was pretty much an answer to WWE teasing Awesome Kong's debut. If they had gone with Isis, most fans would have seen that as lame. She is a poor man's Kong. Not much hype to her, even though TNA was hyping the mystery. Lastly, I am glad it was not Isis because it means dirtsheets were WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! One of the major things I like pointing out in my blogs is that you cannot trust these sites blindly every single time. This example here once again proves it. It does not matter if Diva Dirt confirmed that Isis would be debuting at last week's set of tapings, it did not happen. An assumption is not the same as a confirmation. Even when you do have a source, they can be wrong or deliberately trying to mislead you. Now these sites can say that TNA changed plans at the last second, and I have heard that before, but it does not really matter. For whatever the reason, the report was untrue.

Who is the mistress? Someone Jarrett has worked with before. Someone Angle himself has worked with. Someone who is a better choice than Isis. Chyna! Where do I even start with this? Let me say why she is a better choice than Isis. First, she is more well known. Yeah, another WWE reject that shows up in TNA, but still a big name who fits the role they were looking for. Second, shock value. While many people were spreading rumors that it would be Isis, and wrestling news sites were busy confirming that she would be debuting and it remained to be seen whether she actually would be taking the spot or not or whatever else, no one was seriously expecting Chyna at all. TNA did a good job there. While I would also like to talk about this in comparison to WWE signing and debuting Kong, I am going to put it off right now. But I will still give TNA credit again for actually pulling off something shocking that might potentially help a storyline and the company.

Let me talk more on Christian. I said that I wanted to wait until the WWE furthers the feud between him and Christian before I spoke more about it, but then I see Chris Jericho pointing out that fans may be getting worked up over nothing and Orton seemingly viewing the fans like they are ignorant morons. So I decided to say why I don't have faith that the WWE will do things properly.

A bigger storyline. That is what Jericho says may be coming. A lot of fans seem to believe that is possible too. I even held back to wait and see if that might be the direction it would go. Thing is, for whose benefit? Christian? He is going to regain the title? I can point to a lot of diva feuds where one woman wins the title, but the feud was really more for the benefit of the other woman. Moreover, just having the title is not enough. Christian can be World Champion, feuding with Cody Rhodes in the midcard, while Orton feuds with a returning Jericho or some other star bigger than Cody Rhodes in the main event. Yes, there are stars bigger than Cody Rhodes.

I hear someone will turn heel. That makes sense. Which one? It would make sense for Christian to turn heel. The fans were the ones who gave Orton the shot in a sense. Christian can blame the fans. They were pushing the idea that this situation was unfair to Christian. Christian can complain about it. Heel move right there. I do not think Orton really did anything himself to warrant him turning heel so far. They can still go in that direction, but I would like to see how they do it without it looking too forced. Issue is, if Christian does turn, will the WWE still build his next title win to mean as much as his first one did? I know some people are trying to sell the idea that Christian's win at Extreme Rules was for the benefit of making a moment for Edge. I do not see it like that. Edge did not really take Christian's attention. The commentators did not overshadow Christian for the sake of Edge. It really does seem like Edge was there to help make Christian's moment. If Christian is going back after the title as heel, his moment of winning may not be as good as the moment for the reign that just got killed off. On the other hand, besides Orton turning heel possibly being less fluid in the storyline, that move leaves few top faces. Meanwhile, a bunch of heels who are near the main event are not getting the push.

It is ignorant to hate on the WWE so soon for what they have done to Christian's reign? Is it also not ignorant to watch what the WWE is doing year after year and still blindly believe that Christian losing the title like he did, and to the type of superstar he did, is a sign that Christian will get a fair shot in the coming weeks? Smackdown has traditionally been the brand where one top guy does not dominate all the main-event matters for an eternity. They are usually good with passing the ball around. Orton goes to Smackdown. He pretty much is given the major spotlight right away. I am not saying anything bad about the guy. I am talking about what the WWE is doing. If the WWE could not even hold off a little to give Christian a fairer chance, what hope is there really? Yeah, maybe the little backlash from the fans may change a few decisions here and there, but will Orton still be top guy? When Christian was going for the title, I wanted him to have that top spot to go with the title. A feud with Orton would not have been bad to give him a rub, but taking the title off him like they did was just not good. It is a sign that Orton is meant to overshadow Christian.

To wrap it up for now, I am really just waiting for the WWE to give a legitimate reason why they had to take the title off Christian so fast. If it builds to him regaining the title in a bigger moment, it would have been for the best. I doubt they can do it. If it builds to a title reign where he is given the ball to really run with, I can accept it. But where would that leave Orton, who the WWE seems to want to have the ball? It does not really matter if Christian is fine with all this deep down inside. This is also about the fans. Seeing a new version of Cena on Smackdown in Randy Orton may not make a lot of fans happy. Seeing a guy who is popular to some degree get treated lowly is obviously not pleasing all the fans. This is also about making new stars. Is Christian really being made into a star or a jobber to top stars, somewhat like a John Morrison or Khali? While Orton and Christian are tied together, what about heels waiting for a push who could have gotten a rub from feuding for the title with Christian and from a feud with Orton? If the WWE had shown more faith in Christian and broken up the feuds better, I think a lot of things would look better for Smackdown. Then again, I would still like to wait for what happens next.