The End

This will be my last day blogging. I do not imagine I will return to this. I just want to thank all the few regular readers I have had over the years, including the ones that left comments. Knowing that people actually cared enough to read what I was saying and kept coming back really helped. I probably would not have lasted this long without that.

I should say why I will not be blogging anymore. First, I am just not a wrestling fan anymore. It just doesn't entertain me anymore. When I first started watching regularly in 1998, it was because there was intrigue, interesting characters, and just a fun, exciting atmosphere. I don't feel any of that anymore.

Second, not only does wrestling not entertain me, it annoys me. The sloppiness of the WWE just turns me off. Even worse than that, how the WWE treats their workers is terrible. It is one thing to be inefficient, but not giving workers fair opportunities to succeed and earn better for themselves is disgusting. It is even worse when the WWE exploits those individuals that succeed when they are not scripted to be great for the benefit of those the WWE wants to be great. It has pretty much been confirmed that the WWE does mistreat their workers in this way. It is not just backstage rumors or smarks creating conspiracy theories. You have seen people get over and not get treated better. You have seen workers complain about it. It happens. And I refuse to have the WWE tell me whom I should like or define greatness for me.

Lastly, moving on might just be good for my peace of mind. When I first started blogging in 2008, it was an all-diva blog because I disliked how the WWE was treating Mickie James and the division as a whole. I knew they did not want Mickie James over. Anyone paying attention to how she was pushed in 2007 and 2008 could tell it was just filler pushes. The WWE never did anything to make me doubt myself. If anything, the blatant mistreatment of guys like Zack Ryder and Daniel Bryan confirmed what I was saying, as well as how they treat Mickie James right now. And we all remember how Mickie's career ended back then in the WWE.

As someone that has lived in New York City for a long time, a motto that pops up in recent years is: "If you see something, say something." I saw something wrong back then and I don't feel like I did enough to get people to understand it. That has been on my conscience for a long time. I have had some sleepless nights over it, especially when reading Mickie James blame herself for what happened or thinking about other women so passionate about being in the WWE that I could see are not treated right and might go through the same garbage Mickie James went through. It is bad enough to get treated like crap, but dirtsheets, another source of annoyance for me, rub salt on the wounds.

Whatever personal issues Mickie James might have had, the problems did not start in 2010, or even 2009. I have said it multiple times over the years. I will say it for the final time. Prior to Mickie James even debuting back in 2005, the WWE was running their diva division in a certain manner. Female wrestlers pushed as credible jobbers, used as jobbers to the centerpiece and interim centerpiece, would never get over off of that type of career and move on to better. They all eventually got phased out. Chyna and Lita got over in the periphery. Mickie James didn't debut into the type of career Chyna and Lita had. She debuted in the kind of career where you don't get over. And she did get over. But the WWE never stopped pushing her the same way. The reason she got pushed as much as she did is because of poor depth and centerpiece issues, like multiple injuries to the women that were groomed to be the stars. This just gets ignored. No one ever analyzes what is going on right in front of them. Why is the WWE treating Mickie James poorly? Could it have anything to do with the fact that they do not want her over, as supported by the fact they are not pushing her as someone they want over, and she is more over than the women that are being pushed to be stars?

Something people might bring up is all the title reigns she got in the WWE. Keep in mind one came off of a botched finish at a house show. Even then, what's the worth of a title reign? It is not always a reward for getting over, it does not make you over, it does not mean the WWE will push you as someone they want over during the reign, and it does not guarantee you anything after the reign ends. I have seen a ton of title reigns in recent years that just left me wondering why the WWE even bothered. The wrestler wasn't over. They weren't pushed well. It's not like there was some kind of injury issue to warrant the reign. It just seemed pointless. It is easy to get lost in a title win, but it is just a moment. It is more important to pay attention to what happened in building up to that moment and what the WWE does after.

Let me give an example I was holding back on doing for a while. The WWE giving these women title reigns is kind of like giving them a gift. But what does it really mean? I just got through saying it does not really mean anything. Imagine a man buys a woman jewelry and other expensive gifts. Okay, but what does that mean? Does it automatically means he does love her? What if the man takes advantage of her? What if he humiliates her, especially in public? What if he cheats on her? What if he tosses her aside when he is done with her? What if he makes her feel it was her fault? And what if he chooses another woman to do this to?

This kind of thing does happen. There are movies about it. I remember watching a movie where a teenage boy was in a relationship with a teenage girl that he ended up ordering around and physically abusing. He would give her flowers to make it seem like he really did love her. But does that give him the right to mistreat her? In the end, he ended up killing the girl. The movie was called No One Would Tell.

Am I really comparing how the WWE treats their women to abusive relationships? Yes, you want to make something of it? My point is that the WWE giving these women title reigns does not automatically mean that the WWE values them as stars or is giving them the opportunity to earn that kind of career for themselves. I am making the comparison between that and a jerk buying a girl a gift not automatically meaning that he really loves her, and certainly does not mean he can abuse her.

Look back at how the WWE treated Mickie James back when they were supposedly in love with her and so many fans say she was the face of the diva division. Did they take advantage of her? They frequently used her in feuds designed to put over other women, and also filler pushes when the woman they would rather have on top was not around. Did they humiliate her? Yes, they did that. I am sure you know what I am referring to. And it was public humiliation. Millions of people all over the world saw it. It will be on Youtube for people to see for a long time. Did they cheat on her? Is it fair to not give Mickie James a proper chance to earn that spot that women like Candice Michelle and Michelle McCool are being given? I am pretty certain they did not make it clear to Mickie James that they were just using her and she was not a top star. I think this unfairness and manipulation can be seen as cheating Mickie James out of something. Did they toss her aside? Even before they released her, they tossed her aside numerous times when they were done using her to serve a purpose. They left fans wondering all these times why Mickie James was not being pushed. Did they leave Mickie James thinking it had to have been something she did? Yes, even though they had treated numerous women like this before Mickie James, and none of them should blame themselves for this. The WWE runs the men's division the same way. Lastly, did the WWE continue doing this to other women even after Mickie James. Yes. Even in this new era, there are sometimes hints of the WWE still doing it now and then. You take this all in. You call that love? You call that the WWE being high on Mickie James? The title reigns mean nothing. The fact that they pushed her does not mean they were high on her if they were all filler and jobber pushes. The problems did not pop up in 2009. Sadly, no one could tell.

Instead of Mickie James getting any respect for what she had to endure and overcoming it to succeed in a way no other woman prior to her was able to, she will always have that stigma that she screwed herself. Even now, she is not getting the career she earned. She will obviously get into the Hall of Fame, but that's not saying much these days. There is more to her story that will likely never be brought up. Mickie James will never speak up for herself. Her fans won't do it. The WWE certainly won't let her drop a legitimate pipebomb on her career. Why should it even come to do that? Why do so many wrestlers have to complain to get things. That sour atmosphere just turns me off. Just realize what you have in Mickie James and give her a good career. Lastly, not wanting to have the whole situation with Mickie James on my mind anymore is a reason I just want to move on.

I would say Mickie James is the greatest female wrestler the WWE ever had. That isn't favoritism talking. I wasn't born a Mickie James fan. Greatness is based on what you accomplish and how you accomplished it. It is based on the obstacles you had to overcome and how you overcame them. She got as over as she did back in the day by doing what a pro wrestling performer is supposed to do. She entertained. She was good enough in the ring to connect with wrestling fans. She was attractive enough to connect with fans interested in that. And she had a charisma that many fans could get drawn into. It is a shame that this toxic environment in the WWE currently is not helping her, but you cannot take away what she did accomplish. More women should try to be solid overall performers like that. The WWE should want to bring that out of the women, as well. There have been some women around that I thought could have what it takes. Paige was someone I thought could have done it. But it is just wrong for some women in the WWE to do nothing more but wrestle. If you cannot make big bucks for the WWE, you might find yourself depushed for the sake of Alexa Bliss. All you can really ask is for the WWE to give you a fair shot to earn that better career. After that, you have to make the most of it.

I am not too worried about what is going right now. It is a mess on both Raw and Smackown, but the WWE is likely to screw themselves even more than they screw any one woman in this era. Their many issues are biting them. There is no need for me to analyze and critique this stuff anymore. And with that, I say goodbye.

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.

Alexa Bliss Wins Back The Title

I wanted to to talk about the women in my last few days blogging, but this is not what I wanted to have to talk about. Alexa Bliss defeated Sasha Banks on Raw to win back the title. After that, Nia Jax attacked Bliss to start a feud there.

This is just garbage on so many levels. If they were not going to give Sasha Banks a proper run with the title, they should not have given it to her at all. The only thing the title change accomplished is stopping Alexa's reign before it topped Charlotte's first run with the Raw Women's Championship to become the longest-reigning titleholder. And it's not like that reign is so long that it cannot be topped easily. It probably will be beaten in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss has her resume inflated. Sasha, as well, but to a lesser degree. Alexa Bliss is the centerpiece, not Sasha. In less than a year, Alexa has won four title reigns between Smackdown and Raw. Again, that is just garbage. The WWE has to create some fresh feuds with women that are properly developed and deserve the push. Failure to properly build challengers is likely one of the reasons for so many women getting poor reactions that should not be getting those poor reactions.

It is ridiculous that the WWE cannot come up with ways to keep Alexa Bliss relevant outside the title picture. Okay, she sells merchandise. Fine, that is a reason to feature her. But not like this. I have said this about Roman Reigns in recent weeks. The guy has not held a main-event title in over a year. He is on a PPV losing streak. He is not looking like a top guy, in terms of booking. In terms of hype, he obviously still is a top guy. He is in a big feud with John Cena. I see some fans upset this isn't happening at Wrestlemania. It probably should. Give more time to rebuild Reigns. What about Bliss? There are obviously less top performers for her to work with in the women's division, due mainly to the WWE's failure to properly feature the women, but they could still find something else for her to do.

Let me once again explain the system the WWE ran in the diva era. The WWE liked to have a woman they would push as their top star and to regularly be featured in the title scene. That was their centerpiece. They would frequently build up women with wrestling credibility to trade the title with the centerpiece and be an obstacle for her to overcome or someone to draw heat off of. These were credible jobbers. They frequently got tossed aside when done doing the job. They were also sometimes used as interim centerpiece when something happened to the real centerpiece or the real centerpiece was getting an angle away from the title. Outside of that, there were periphery divas, or stars featured in the periphery of the title matters. They might sometimes get title reigns, but the bulk of their time was meant to be outside the title picture. Lastly, this system was run with the idea that an eye-candy diva would be the centerpiece. That was what made the diva era what it was.

Smackdown obviously doesn't have a centerpiece. They just go in different directions. But Raw is that centerpiece-driven division. You saw it last year with Charlotte. She got that annoying booking of frequent title wins and other women, mostly Sasha Banks, not getting pushed right. Charlotte is now Ms. Irrelevant on Smackdown, while Alexa Bliss has come and taken her place on Raw as the centerpiece. She is getting that annoying booking. Sasha Banks was recently once again the victim. Bayley has also been a victim of the bad booking designed to help Alexa Bliss.

The thing is, centerpiece booking was never this annoying during the diva era. Trish Stratus won 7 women's titles in roughly 5 years. If Charlotte had not gone to Smackdown, it looked like she might have won 20 titles in 5 years. Alexa Bliss is now the one on pace to win 20 titles in 5 years. It will obviously not happen, but this is annoying. And you never had this many short title reigns for the credible jobbers back in the golden era. Barring an injury, this should not happen. The women were typically allowed to have some successful title defenses. There were even spans where Trish took a break from the title scene. The most memorable was her angle involving Chris Jericho and Christian.

That is another problem, the terrible periphery. You have some periphery women today, like Maryse, but they are not featured as well as they were back in the day. Chyna, Lita, and AJ Lee were all featured very well in the periphery, and all before ever winning a women's title in the WWE. The WWE obviously cannot do certain things today, but AJ Lee's push in the periphery came in the PG Era. There is still potential to do something. And that is where Alexa Bliss should be pushed outside the title scene. Give women like Sasha Banks, Emma, and Mickie James a chance to freshen up the title feuds. Alexa Bliss's best attributes are her looks and her character. That screams periphery. That is where they need to push. Find an angle alongside the men.

Lastly, how about Nia Jax seemingly next in line for a title feud? Horrible. How about the WWE stops awarding women for underachieving, having injury issues, and even being dangerous in the ring? If you are underachieving, step up and get over, or at least put some good effort into it. If you have injury issues, do your best to change your style to stay healthy and show you can be trusted. If you are dangerous in the ring, you just got to clean that up. It was not long ago that Bayley got injured while working with Nia Jax. All the blame cannot be put on Nia, but there was at least one spot in that match where it was obvious she was being clumsy with an injured Bayley. And that was not her first instance of being dangerous in the ring this year. Nia Jax needs to be held accountable, not be given title feuds. Needless to say, match quality will not be good between Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss. Even if you toss in Sasha Banks, it will likely still not be what some fans were hoping for when this women's revolution started.

Maria And Her Husband Come To Smackdown

Even though she is married, I still refer to Maria by her maiden name. She is Maria Kanellis. Just one of my quirks. It seems I am not the only one doing that. The WWE is, as well. They are even taking it a step further.

Maria and her husband, Mike Bennett, made their Smackdown return/debut last week. And it seems to be all about Maria. Her husband is even called Mike Kanellis.

What do I make of this? My first reaction is that it is just dumb. It makes the guy look bad. It makes him look like he will be standing in his wife's shadow. I don't want to sound sexist, but it does seem unfair to Mike Bennett.

There are relationships where both the man and the woman look good. Look at Rusev and Lana when they first debuted. Lana looked like the brains of the duo and Rusev was the muscle. And the dynamic worked. Rusev could go out there and crush, while Lana had her sexy, entertaining character. Later on, however, there was a span where Rusev got much more of the focus and Lana was just there. And that was unfair to Lana.

Maria and Mike obviously do not have that dynamic. Mike isn't the kind of guy that go out there and be the brute, while Maria is his sexy, charismatic manager. They cannot both stand out in their own way like Rusev and Lana could.

But after my first reaction, I gave it more thought. How far can Mike Bennett really go? I have come across some of his past work. He just doesn't look like someone that will be a great star in the WWE. If that is the case, what's wrong with having him ride his wife's coattails? She was in the WWE before and will have an easier time connecting with the fans than him through her sex appeal and character. The WWE might be able to create something entertaining out of this.

People might still moan about this hurting Mike's credibility, but what is wrong with him just being a midcarder? He is definitely not main-event material. If he was, this gimmick would kill him. The midcard is not just a breeding ground for future main-eventers. It is also a place for entertaining gimmicks to get featured. The Godfather is in the WWE Hall of Fame. He was a midcard act. The WWE has a ton of guys to push as main-eventers and upper-midcarders. It is their midcard that needs life. If Mike and Maria can help that with this gimmick, I am fine with that.

One more thing to consider, and this has to do mainly with Maria. A point I have brought up a lot over the last year is the impact Maria had in TNA with their women's division. She got in the way of the respectability of that division, and at a time when the WWE was preaching respecting women's wrestling. It was really just bad timing. TNA didn't really lower their standards. They just ran a storyline that got in the way of their standards. Things have been fine since Maria lost the KO title.

What impact will Maria have in the WWE and this era in the women's division? During her first run in the WWE, Maria had the sex appeal and character to fit right in with the diva era, but was never good enough in the ring to be pushed as centerpiece. Even though this era is supposed to be about women's wrestling, they have already shown signs of leaning towards divas. It could be easy to say Maria will never get in the ring to wrestle, but she might.

Will Maria Kanellis hurt the WWE women's division? Unlike what happened in TNA, this is not likely to be a storyline getting in the way of respectability. The WWE has already lowered their standards and done some crappy things to hurt the respectable atmosphere they had created last year, although I will admit that it was too sour and serious and things needed to be made more fun. But the WWE should keep Maria out of the way of the other women. There are already too many women to be featured as priorities within the women's division. Naomi is holding the title. Lana just debuted not too long ago. Charlotte is likely to get a good push soon. Carmella has some interest on her. Some fans would love to see Becky Lynch get featured better. You cannot push everybody. Maria being added into this mix would not help. Not only would it be adding another woman into a congested scene, it would be adding a woman that is not a good wrestler. As of right now, I would draw the line and say no more adding women to Smackdown for the rest of the year. If they are going to do a trade with Raw, that's one thing. But Maria coming to Smackdown is it. Handle the group of women you have in front of you. The writers already have enough on their plate right here. 

Improving The Presence Of Mickie James

When you are talking about the presence someone has, that can mean a lot of different things. It can be based on someone's appearance or charisma. If a beautiful woman walks into a room, that can turn a lot of heads. On the other side of that, if a person that comes off as a tough guy walks into a room, people might want to stay clear of him. Both individuals have a presence.

In sports, presence also matters. And it usually has to be earned. In football, if defenders know they have to go against Tom Brady, that might make them a little worried. In baseball, if someone known as a good hitter steps up to the plate, the pitcher might pitch him very carefully, or just intentionally walk him. In basketball, a player with a great presence might draw extra defenders to him, which will open up opportunities for other guys on his team to score.

Wrestling is a funny business. Not only can you debate whether it counts as a real sport or not, the presence of a wrestler isn't just based on his own appearance, charisma, and overall greatness as a performer. How they are being pushed also has a lot to do with it. I would say how they are being pushed is even more important than their personal qualities. I have seen mediocre performers be pushed hard and connect with the fans mainly off of that big push. I have seen people that seemed to have a ton of potential be underutilized and have that hurt their success.

That brings me to Mickie James. She is obviously not connecting well with the fans. The way she has been pushed obviously has a lot to do with it. I have seen some fans think the return of Mickie James was a success a couple months ago, like this writer. He wrote that article shortly after Mickie James finally won a match since re-signing with the WWE. The fact that it took that long to give her a win was a sign that this was not a good start. And the mistake that writer makes is thinking too much in terms of in-ring value and not enough in terms of overness. I questioned even before she returned whether having her be La Luchadora and a heel was wise. She then had that poor feud with Becky Lynch. And she has been treated even worse since coming to Raw. No, the return of Mickie James to the WWE has not been a successful one. She will get pushed sooner or later. She is back for a good amount of years. But that push will likely be a mediocre, typical push that doesn't do much for her.

The WWE obviously does not care about doing anything to help Mickie James, but let me bring up something they could do to help her connection with the fans, anyway. Improve her presence. Right now, she just looks like a loser. Not only has she lost every televised match she has been in on Raw, but she has frequently been laid out in every appearance she has made in the last few weeks. The commentators can put over all the titles she won in the WWE and say she helped the women's revolution, but when she's jobbing like she is and looking so bad, the words mean nothing. Her presence does not match the empty hype. It is hard to get excited for someone like this.

I don't mean just a gimmick change. I keep on seeing fans roll their eyes at how many opportunities The Colons have gotten with various gimmicks. They have had a lot of gimmicks, but I don't know how many opportunities they have had. Their presence has never been that great. They have never been pushed as that big of a deal, especially during the title run Epico & Primo had. The WWE just sends them out there for a while, then doesn't follow through. The same thing with Brodus Clay. They gave him a dancing gimmick that no one expected and got people talking. He had a win streak for a while, but the WWE never really developed a proper feud for him when he had that momentum. His presence was that of just a gimmick. He wasn't going anywhere. And there are other examples of people with gimmicks that just didn't seem to be actually pushed properly during those gimmicks.

Right now, a lot of fans can look at Mickie James and think she's nothing special. And that is terrible. The WWE is simply not presenting her as anything special. I am going to bring up four ideas of how to present Mickie James as something special. And this is without inventing anything out of thin air. Just based on things Mickie James already has associated with her, it is possible to treat her in a unique way. Again, the WWE isn't likely to do any of these, but if they ever did have a change of heart, here are some ideas.

First, she has that music career. It isn't like she abandoned it. She came out with a new single last year. TNA obviously did a real job making something of her country music career. They could have done better with Mickie James in a lot of ways, but they did do some good things. They let her perform her theme song on Impact. They sold her second CD on their website. I also remember reading that Mickie James would sometimes do music shows right after some TNA house shows back then. Some fans got a "2 for 1" experience.

The WWE can obviously do more than just mention her music career on their website. Present her as something more than just a wrestler on Raw. That can help her get more fans interested in her. While Mickie James is out there furthering her music career, she might be able to win over people that like her music into wanting to watch Raw to see her wrestle. I am not saying she will be a huge draw, but presenting her in this way could widen her appeal. The WWE frequently brings in part-timers like The Rock and Brock Lesnar, hoping their appeal in Hollywood and the MMA community, respectively, will draw for them. I am not saying Mickie James will work out as well as them, but they have a full-time performer that has potential to at least draw some interest outside of wrestling that is not being utilized.

Second, Mickie James is married to a wrestler, Magnus. Once again, TNA did a better job with this than I expect the WWE would. Two years ago, Mickie James was involved in two big feuds for Magnus. People can roll their eyes at what TNA had done in the James Storm angle, but it still got people talking and led to a nice moment of Mickie giving her DDT to Storm. I always wanted periphery angles for Mickie James and being married to Magnus just makes for a convenient option. And they wouldn't always have to be involved with each other. Magnus can have some solo feuds against the men. Mickie can have some solo feuds against the women. But the two can then come together for some good storylines, feuds, and segments. A lot of women in the WWE became stars in the periphery, so presenting Mickie James here would not be bad for her.

Why do I not think the WWE would do a good job with Mickie and Magnus? Even if Magnus comes to the WWE, I expect him to not go that far. The two of them might end up just being a jobber couple. They might job to Miz & Maryse. Mickie and Magnus would just be treated better together in TNA. Not only were they treated well back in 2015 together, but Magnus has held multiple titles in TNA, including the TNA World Championship. I doubt TNA would put a title-reigns limit on Mickie James like the WWE might still be keeping on her. They would be willing to do some interesting things with her. And when you include her husband in the mix, there is the potential for a power couple to be presented. I don't think Mickie James would have that presence in the WWE with Magnus.

The third idea for presenting Mickie James as something special has to do with her title reigns. Look at Ric Flair. This guy has been retired for almost a decade, ignoring the fact that he actually came out of that retirement to wrestle in TNA. But he still has a presence. He does not even need to show up for that presence to be felt. Whenever someone talks about breaking the record for most World Championship reigns, the number is 16 and the name is Ric Flair. Ric Flair won multiple titles in various promotions, not just the WWE. Years after he has retired, fans can still know he is a big deal and know other wrestlers are trying to chase his legacy. John Cena will break the record, but Ric Flair still saying he is a 16-time World Champion is something to be proud of.

Mickie James has won more major female titles than any other woman. But it means nothing. The WWE will not acknowledge her TNA reigns. Women like Charlotte are not chasing Mickie James. They are chasing Trish Stratus. If her true title legacy was acknowledged, that would help to present her as someone a lot more important. It is not going to happen in the WWE. The WWE knows TNA exists and will often play chess with them, but they will not acknowledge her titles there. Her title reigns become just something for her to be proud of and her fans to talk about.

Lastly, how about the impact Mickie James had on the status quo? During the diva era, she took a career in which she was being used to put over other women and being used as filler and overcame that to get more over than the women being pushed as stars. She never got the career she earned and the WWE continued to try to force the diva status quo. Back then, the WWE could not stop her. Obviously, today is a different story. But can being an enemy to the status quo help a worker stand out? Look at what it did for Daniel Bryan. He looks like a hero. CM Punk said what fans wanted to hear and became a rebel. He's a hero to smarks. To some degree, even Zack Ryder is still looked on as a guy that beat the status quo. And before all these guys did what they did, Mickie James did what she did and no one understands it and no one gives her credit for it.

How would you present Mickie James as this woman that beat the status quo? Have her go out and say it. Call it a pipebomb. Instead of having her go out there and give a bitter promo about women of today not giving her respect, which does not match reality or anything Mickie James said in sincerity in an interview, have her stand up for herself and shoot on the reality of her career. If nothing else, smarks will love it and she will definitely improve her overness. But the WWE will never acknowledge just how much the mistreated female wrestlers in the diva era. And if the diva era is sneaking back in, the WWE will not want fans to catch on that women like Bayley are just being used to put over the eye-candy centerpiece, then getting tossed aside. But if Mickie James ever was allowed to do this kind of promo, she would gain the kind of presence as men like Daniel Bryan  and CM Punk.

One thing I would not say is that Mickie James screwed her own presence. Back in the day, Lita had that affair with Edge and that hurt her presence. A lot of fans turned on her. She has since regained some of that respectability. Mickie James has had to deal with sour dirtsheet reports and other garbage since 2009. But that didn't hurt her overness. Fans still were upset when she got released. She worked as a face in TNA and the indies. A lot of fans were excited when she was coming back to the WWE.

I would say it is just the era. A lot of men, women, tag teams, cruiserweights and whatever else that you would expect wrestling fans to eat up just do not get good, consistent reactions. You need to be pushed hard to get that kind of reaction, like Roman Reigns, for better or worse. You need a huge gimmick, like New Day. Fads help, just as Chris Jericho. When it comes to the women, fans are once again getting drawn to the eye-candy, like Lana. Sadly, the WWE just gets lazy and sloppy with a lot of things.

But it is starting to look like the WWE's mistreatment of Mickie James is more deliberate than a botch. They have made her look needlessly bad recently. I remember having a conversation with someone somewhere on the Internet a long time ago. I told that person that the WWE would love to turn Mickie James into the next Victoria. This was during the end of Victoria's WWE career when she was essentially just a lame duck. That's what happens to credible jobbers. They don't win an infinite number of title reigns. And because they are not priorities, they do not get moved to great spots in the periphery. Beyond not winning too many title reigns, another reason they get treated so poorly is that younger, fresher credible jobbers are around. These older credible jobbers just get shuffled around until they get released, their contracts expire, or they leave on their own. That person I was talking to said that wouldn't happen to Mickie James because she was more over than Victoria and better than her. It is true that Mickie James was more over back then and was a better choice to be the centerpiece then over the divas that were failing than Victoria ever was in her career over Trish Stratus. But the WWE still viewed Mickie James as a credible jobber.

The WWE career of Mickie James has picked up right where it left off. Back in 2010, Mickie James had gotten 6 title runs. A lame duck credible jobber is not going to win as many as Trish Status, not to mention continue to be in the way of the chosen successor to Trish Stratus. Everyone talks like the WWE releasing Mickie James was the worst thing ever for her. It might have been the best thing for her. She was not going to accomplish much else in the WWE, if anything. Now that she is back, she seems to be immediately back to being the lame duck she was just becoming when they released her. Even if she will never win another title, I do think they can at least improve her presence to help her connect with the fans better. Moreover, some of these ideas can lead to angles that can have an impact in putting over other women and creating situations that sometimes draw. John Cena sometimes gives these promos where he makes it seem like his opponent's accomplishments mean nothing. Smarks usually hate that. Well, if all these accomplishments of Mickie James, whether you are talking her title legacy or her impact on the status quo, never get used to create the same drama that you have with Ric Flair's title legacy or storylines with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, what do they become? Nothing but things for Mickie James and her fans to be proud of and talking points. Her career does not have to go out with a whimper like this. There are still ways to present her as something better for the rest of her years in the WWE.

How TNA Does "Diva" Better Than The WWE

Eye-candy has always had a place in pro wrestling. WCW had the Nitro Girls, who danced around. ECW was more known for catfights than respectable women's wrestling. Even today, there are women in the indies that are obviously just there for their looks. They may take bumps and have matches here and there, but they are mostly valets and just personalities.

What made the WWE's "diva" agenda different was that they would often look for women with no pro wrestling training at all and develop women like that in the ring to be their centerpieces. They took women that were really models and cheerleaders and treated them like they were as good as, or better than, women that had more credibility. Some of these women eventually became very respectable in the ring, like Trish Stratus, but there have been more failed centerpieces than successful ones during the diva era.

This is supposed to be a new era. This is supposed to be the women's revolution era. Let's face it, the women's wrestling revolution is turning into the revitalization of the diva era. I have pointed it out before. I see more and more fans bringing it up. Alexa Bliss being pushed like she has is straight out of the diva era. And Lana now looks like she is bringing back more of that diva flavor to Smackdown's women's division.

Bayley and Alexa Bliss are just coming off a feud where Bayley looked terrible before their recent PPV match. Without even bringing up how much fans disliked that elaborate segment last week from Alexa Bliss, just sticking to the wrestling, their PPV match was not good. I talked about how the story would matter in that match. It was likely that Alexa Bliss would retain, but I said that Bayley needed to at least look good and give Alexa Bliss a little comeuppance. I am not a sadistic individual. I do not have a fetish for seeing women getting hit by sticks. I am talking in terms of helping the characters and telling a good story in the ring. And it was awful. Bayley looks terrible. I have pointed out multiple times in the last few months that Bayley has not gotten a fair shot. She had to take a backseat to Charlotte/Sasha at a time last year when it looked like she would finally get her shot. That did not make her look good. And the WWE has just not presented her character right. They have taken her and just expected her to be something that just doesn't work for her.

Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss had a "match" on Raw this week against Nia Jax. It was more stupidity that hurts the image that Raw's women's division used to have since last year. Alexa Bliss just should not be the centerpiece. I hear some fans justifying her push because she sells merchandise. Okay, why does she sell merchandise? It is because of her looks and her charisma. No sensible wrestling fan out there thinks she's a great wrestler. If she is valuable for her looks and charisma, why can't they push her as a periphery diva? Present her as something special there. Because pushing her in the ring is definitely damaging the development of women that are better in the ring than her and irritating a lot of fans out there.

Onto TNA (Impact Wrestling). TNA obviously has a history of taking former WWE workers. They have even taken some of their divas. I don't just mean female wrestlers taken from the diva division, like Gail Kim. I mean those women that were true eye-candy divas in the WWE, like Taryn Terrell. This is also a company that has a history of featuring respectable women's wrestling that goes back even further than the women's revolution in the WWE.

How can these two things coexist? How can you have a company that is going to push respectable women's wrestling, but also hire these women that only got into the business thanks to their looks? Because TNA has maintained their standards. Women like Taryn Terrell and Brooke Tessmacher had to train and put on solid, respectable performances before they got title reigns. Taryn Terrell and Gail Kim had a great rivalry that even wrestling fans respected. Might these former WWE eye-candy divas sometimes botch? Yeah, but so does Gail Kim. And Velvet Sky is also one of the least-credible women TNA has ever had, but you can't blame the WWE for bringing her up. But even Velvet Sky had to at least be presented as a serious competitor before finally winning the KO title.

Go back to the lowest point of the KO division. I would say that was last year. Maria Kanellis won the KO title. You look at the list of women to have held the title. Is any woman on that list less credible than Maria Kanellis? TNA did not even sell her as a threat. She was abusing her power, relying on henchwomen, and using weapons. Allie (Cherry Bomb) got a short title reign during this time that looked terrible in terms of how she won it and lost it, but at least she has shown she is a good in-ring worker in the indies. Indeed, I would say Maria is the worst woman to have held the title. To make matters worse, this was going on at the same time the WWE was touting their women's revolution. It was terrible timing. As the WWE was moving away from the diva era, TNA gave the title to a diva.

Thing is, however, you can argue that TNA did not really lower their standards. They did not try to sell Maria like she could hold her own in the ring as Gail Kim. It was just a storyline getting in the way of that respectability the women's division is known for. The whole storyline was even that Maria running the division was ruining it. Gail Kim got her revenge on Maria Kanellis and the KO division has gone back to being treated better.

How is that different from what has been going on in the WWE recently? They are actually trying to sell Alexa Bliss as a woman that can hold her own against women a lot better in the ring than her. She may be better than Maria Kanellis in the ring, but that isn't saying too much. And the WWE isn't doing it by maintaining respectable standards and having Alexa Bliss rise up to meet those standards. The WWE has lowered their standards. That is what have so many fans unhappy about the direction things are going. Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley just did not come off as Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim at all. Would it have at least been better if it came off like Maria Kanellis vs. Gail Kim? Gail Kim got her revenge on Maria and everyone moved on. Bayley didn't get her revenge on Alexa Bliss and it does not look like the WWE is planning to move on from going in the direction of Alexa Bliss. This is not a storyline of Alexa Bliss hurting the women's revolution. This is the WWE damaging the women's revolution through their desire to push Alexa Bliss. I am sure there is a good chance there might be a storyline of Alexa Bliss hurting the women's revolution when she feuds with Sasha Banks, but will that storyline really lead to the end of Alexa Bliss? Or at least lead to her stepping up and being more respectable in the ring? Or will this just be a storyline for the sake of exciting smarks and not really change anything?

So, how was TNA able to do "diva" better than the WWE? By actually putting the divas they took from the WWE in a position to be featured as serious performers. There might be some sloppy matches here and there and the whole situation with Maria Kanellis I just mentioned, but their identity has still remained respectable. Meanwhile, the WWE seems to lower the bar when they want the divas still on their roster to look good. Female wrestlers are made to look bad and match quality is definitely taking a hit. And this is not a storyline that these eye-candy divas are hurting this new era. This is the WWE letting old habits take over again.  

State Of The WWE Women's Division: May 2017

The brand split is less than a year old. It took a while, but you could start to see individual identities arise for the separate women's divisions on Raw and Smackdown. Raw was the more serious women's division. It got featured better at the major PPVs since the brand split. Only the NXT elite held the Women's Championship. History was being "made" right and left. Meanwhile, Smackdown was the last stand of the diva era. I don't mean to imply there is anything wrong with that. They let women that obviously were not hyped very much for their in-ring work get title reigns. But whatever you want to say about those identities, the trades last month shook it up.

Let me start with Raw. Alexa Bliss won the Women's Championship last night from Bayley. Ever since this title was created last year, only the NXT elite held it. That would be Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Bayley, three of the 4 Horsewomen. Alexa Bliss may have come from NXT, but she's not considered elite in the ring. I would say giving her the title was a terrible idea. The WWE should have maintained their standards. Alexa Bliss isn't as terrible in the ring as Dana Brooke, but she is not considered as great in the ring as she should have to be to win Raw's Women's Championship, especially after the women on Raw spent over a year creating that respectable identity for that title. And for someone like her to have already won more titles in less than a year than Becky Lynch has won since coming to the main roster 2 years ago is terrible, especially in this era that is supposed to be more about female wrestlers, like Becky Lynch, than divas, like Alexa Bliss.

I cannot see the WWE handling things right from here. I still believe Sasha Banks should have been the one turning heel and going after Bayley for the title. After Alexa Bliss finishes with Bayley, they can still go to Sasha Banks, but what would be the point? Sasha Banks is going to put over women's wrestling and talk about how women like Alexa Bliss are ruining the women's revolution? The WWE really needs to move away from those kind of storylines. Sasha Banks is pretty much a face RTC Ivory. Not only that, fans were anticipating that heel turn for Sasha Banks. I am not always a believer that a heel turn fixes everything, but they probably should have gone through with that for Sasha Banks. They teased it and never followed through.

Aside from that, Raw has the angle between Emma and Dana Brooke going on. It may not seem like much, but it is a storyline. Creative depth is a good thing, especially when handled right. Problem is, I don't know if they have the roster depth to make this angle good. They already dug up Alicia Fox last week as a jobber for this angle. After a while, though it may just go nowhere. It might end up like the angle between Carmella and James Ellsworth. It started out with some actual segments. Ever since, you just take it for granted that Ellsworth is there and will get knocked around by the women. I can see the angle between Emma and Dana Brooke eventually just lead to something mediocre. Nevertheless, still something to talk about.

Mickie James and Nia Jax are getting nothing to talk about. A feud seems obvious, but I don't like it. Mickie James deserves better than this. It just gets hard to book Nia Jax after a while. You can't always have her look so dominant. And she's also not a great in-ring worker, which makes you wonder if she even deserves to look so dominant. This would just be a very terrible feud. Mickie James needs help establishing her character. An angle in the periphery might be better for her than a feud, whether she wins or loses. At the same time, I wonder if the WWE even has space for this women's feud on Raw.

Over to Smackdown. The WWE has not given Charlotte the Women's Championship there yet. That is shocking. The WWE has overrated her a ton, including handing her history on multiple occasions. And they pass by the opportunity to do it again by making her the first woman to have held both titles? That just seems unlike them. They are obviously high on Alexa Bliss, but Charlotte has been featured as above her. Moreover, they did not even make enough out of the potential angle they had of Alexa Bliss and Charlotte racing to make history. The whole thing started and ended in less than a month. I just would have expected more out of them.

Charlotte did have a title shot last week against Naomi. This was the main event of Smackdown. Yeah, that seems like something the WWE would do for Charlotte. But this match had no business being in the main event. The last time Smackdown had women in the main event, it was a steel cage match, it was the culmination of an angle they were running for weeks, and it featured a return. Charlotte vs. Naomi had only been going on about 2 weeks before this match. It was hardly an interesting feud. It didn't have time to be an interesting feud. And then Natalya, Tamina, and Carmella attacked the two women. No offense, but is this the female Job Squad? It is hard to take any of these women seriously. And even when they win matches, they never seem to go anywhere. And the WWE decided to have Smackdown end with this group standing tall.

With all this, you can see Charlotte turning face. Is it a good idea? As far as Charlotte goes, she is not great when it comes to showing character. The WWE will have to help her with how she is portrayed to make the character work. As far as depth goes, they needed to do it. Your faces were Becky Lynch and Naomi, who has a history of injuries, whether you want to blame her for the injuries or certain women she has worked with. Nikki Bella is a face, but she is not around. Your heels were Charlotte, Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina. Terrible face/heel depth has been an issue with Smackdown's women's division before. But they made the right decision to do a face turn. Did it have to be Charlotte? It just seems like the most convenient option. I am not going to criticize them for what they did.

One thing Smackdown has been good about is creative depth. They frequently have had multiple angles going on for the women. Where is that now? All the women seem to be stuffed into this angle involving Charlotte. The only other thing you have going on is the debut vignettes for Lana, which looks like another throwback to the diva era. I don't think debut vignettes should really count. Smackdown has lost one of the things it has done right with their women. Will Charlotte bury the division? Or will Smackdown eventually get on track again and have multiple proper angles going on for the women?

Overall, the two divisions really do seem to have lost their identities. Don't get me wrong, both identities were imperfect. There was still a lot of room for improvement. But it seems like some of the things the two brands were doing right have been hurt. Raw doesn't feel as respectable as it used to be. Smackdown might become too centerpiece-driven. And I do think overall match quality will be hurt. I never believed the WWE could sustain what they were doing last year, but it will be interesting to see if fans keep on buying into what is going on as much as they did last year.

Lana To Smackdown

A few women were sent to Smackdown, but only one is worth talking about in any depth today. I don't mean Charlotte. I already talked about her moving a couple days ago. And I don't mean Tamina. Not much to say about her. She is not over and not a great worker. The WWE should use her as a supporting player on Smackdown. If she wants better, she needs to step up and do more. Of course, in this new era, and especially on Smackdown, they will probably try to give her some kind of meaningful angle even if she doesn't earn it.

I am talking about Lana. Rusev also moved to Smackdown. It would be easy to say that these two are simply filling the void Miz & Maryse left. Thing is, it looks like Lana will get some special individual attention. At least, that is what it looks like for now.

I have seen some fans question whether what they are doing with Lana is good or bad for the women's division. Some people just don't pay attention. Ever since Smackdown became its own brand again, it soon took up the identity of the diva era's last stand. They tried to do something meaningful with Eva Marie. Alexa Bliss got some runs with the Smackdown Women's Championship. Nikki Bella and Maryse got big pushes in the periphery recently. These are all divas. Smackdown's women's division has not been treated as being as elite as Raw's women's division. They still featured some female wrestlers feuding against each other, like Mickie James vs. Becky Lynch, but you have not gotten the hype that Raw has. I am not surprised at all that they would be willing to put some individual focus on Lana, and not be afraid to let that individual focus be based on her sex appeal. As far as I am concerned, this is just more of the same from the last few months.

Does Lana deserve it? I think so. Unlike some women, she has actually shown potential to connect well with the fans. Back when this new era was getting started and fans were complaining on the Internet for better treatment and respect for women's wrestling, Lana, an eye-candy diva that wasn't even wrestling, was having fans in the audience chanting for her. It just shows how polarizing this era is. Not everyone out there cares about it as much as some fans might think. Regardless, Lana has also been training in the ring. No one should expect her to be able to put on great matches, but Smackdown is the brand for her to be featured like this and not really ruin the identity they have.

Is she the replacement for Alexa Bliss? I talked about the fact that Alexa Bliss cannot really replace Charlotte on Raw. She is not good enough in the ring. Maybe that is why Mickie James also went to Raw. But who replaces Alexa Bliss on Smackdown? Charlotte doesn't have the look Alexa Bliss has, which is one of her best traits. But Lana does have the look and has been trying to improve her in-ring work. This just seems like a clear replacement.

Will Lana have the title success on Smackdown that Alexa Bliss had? Smackdown's standards would obviously make it more likely than if Lana was still on Raw. Problem is, Charlotte is someone I can picture the WWE booking to dominate the division, no matter which show she is on. Will Smackdown's identity trump her tendency to be pushed hard? Or will her tendency to be pushed hard impact Smackdown's identity? If it is the latter, it is less likely Lana has any title success. If all else fails, she can always lean on Rusev again. I think Lana is in a very favorable position.

Shaking Up The Women's Divisions

Less than a year after the brand split returned, the WWE is already going to shake up the rosters again. Rather than talk about every division, I am just going to focus on the women, a topic I have been talking about regularly since 2008. Whatever major moves happens for the men, I will talk about that tomorrow and later in the week.

It just seems like the obvious switch for the women will be Charlotte going to Smackdown and Alexa Bliss going to Raw. Both have been somewhat "written off" in the last week. They have jobbed. They have lost their momentum. If they are not being sent to the other brand, the WWE is probably setting them up to be released. I will say it is likely they are just switching brands.

As I have mentioned before, both Raw and Smackdown seem to have their own identities, although it has still been pretty sloppy on both shows. Raw has more hype and respectability to it. This is where the serious, history-making matches get most of the attention. The only women to have held the title on Raw since the brand split are the NXT elite. It has been the 4 Horsewomen. Over on Smackdown, it has been somewhat the last stand of the diva era. This division has frequently gotten the short end of the stick. As far as the title on Smackdown goes, Becky Lynch may have been the first woman to hold it, but the two other women since then cannot be considered in-ring elites. I am talking about Alexa Bliss and Naomi. Smackdown, moreover, has done a slightly better job with periphery angles. Nikki Bella and Maryse have been treated pretty well. Those two are obviously divas.

I don't remember if I ever brought it up before, but I always felt the WWE should have two different identities for the two women's division and maintain those standards. Let one show be the place for serious women's wrestling. That could be Raw. Let the other show be for the divas and more character-driven and storyline-driven drama. That could be Smackdown. If a diva wants to end up on the show for serious women's wrestling, she needs to improve her in-ring work. If a female wrestler wants to go to the other brand to improve her overness with fans wanting more than just wrestling, she needs to show some personality that might make her valuable on the other brand. Obviously, there will be one or two female wrestlers on Smackdown to act as jobbers and supporting players, like Natalya and Tamina. On the other side of that, there might be a diva on Raw for a periphery role, like Lana. Overall, however, both brands maintain their own identity. And fans of different aspects of pro wrestling could choose what they want to watch. Right now, you just have some women on Raw that are obviously not good and it gets painful seeing them work with the better wrestlers. Dana Brooke is one of those women. Over on Smackdown, you have some women that can just be great characters, but the WWE doesn't develop it properly. Alexa Bliss falls in that category.

Even though the WWE does not really uphold the system I just talked about, let me talk about the likely switch in those terms I just laid out. Can they really switch Alexa Bliss for Charlotte? Raw has been the brand for these serious women's feuds and matches since the brand split came back, and it seems Charlotte has been involved in all those matches. Alexa Bliss has improved, but she is still not someone I consider being that great in the ring. How many matches can the WWE get out of Bayley and Sasha Banks for a year? Throw Emma into the mix. She's pretty good. Outside of that, there's not a lot of women to produce the same quality matches you had for the last year on Raw. You can send Asuka there, but some might argue Smackdown can also use her.

Is there a possibility Alexa Bliss might get lost in the shuffle on Raw? Unless the WWE lowers their standards for Raw's women's division to let her be treated as a credible threat that can put on highly-rated matches with the likes of Sasha Banks, she is definitely going to be treated more poorly than she was on Smackdown, at least. Raw has never been great with periphery angles since the brand split. What can they do with her?

What about Charlotte? The WWE will have her make history by being the first woman to have held each brand's title. They did the same kind of thing with Michelle McCool. That is probably why they wanted Smackdown's title on face Naomi so bad, although I would say Becky Lynch also might have been an option. And with Alexa Bliss on Raw, they could try to sell it as a "chase" to see who will make history first. They used Mickie James to serve that purpose back in 2009. Problem is, as I mentioned, standards are different today and Alexa Bliss getting that serious push just would not be right.

Since I do not like the potential move to Raw for Alexa Bliss, which Smackdown woman would I send there? You are looking for someone with wrestling credibility that can fill Charlotte's spot. Natalya, Becky Lynch, and Mickie James are all options. Mickie James is one of those performers that could work out on either a wrestling-first brand or a storyline/character-first brand. It is just a shame the WWE has done such a terrible job with her character. Even now, is she really a face? Or still in tweener limbo? Either way, they could send her to Raw and just take her character in either the face or heel direction.

Let's say what the WWE really wanted to do, for whatever reason, was get Alexa Bliss to Raw. What would be a good Raw woman to send to Smackdown? Dana Brooke comes to mind. You are not looking to replace a great wrestler here. You are just looking to replace a heel that can show emotion and personality. That is pretty much what Dana Brooke does best. She has been involved in some botched spots and terrible situations since her debut. Going to a brand that lets her character shine and does not put much on her in terms of wrestling might be good for her.

What To Do With Lana

Rusev once again is out with an injury. When this happened a couple years ago, he still showed up to try to help the storyline he was involved in with Dolph Ziggler and Lana. This time around, he wasn't involved in anything too important. His partnership with Jinder Mahal is nothing worth talking about.

But what about Lana? Without her man, she serves even less of a purpose on the main roster. Yes, she is training in NXT, but I'm talking about the main roster right now. Last year, there was a span where she was pretty much an afterthought. She gained relevance again when Rusev feuded with Roman Reigns, and then the storyline with Enzo & Cass. It was good stuff for a periphery diva, but it is obvious she is really tied to her man.

One option might be to give her more people to manage. Jinder Mahal? Unless they plan to properly push him, it is pointless to seriously pair Lana with him. Find someone else on the roster? Debut someone from NXT and have Lana manage them? I don't like any of the options right now.

They could try putting her in matches on the main roster now. With the women's revolution, I don't know how wise that would be. It might just lead to poor matches. This women's revolution shouldn't just be about forcing women into the ring or forcing them to follow a certain path. It should be about fair opportunities and using these women to the best of their own abilities and characteristics.

The option I like is one I have brought up before. Use her as an authority figure. Now would not be the best time. Stephanie McMahon and Triple H are tied up with Wrestlemania matters. But in a couple weeks, they might consider it. Lana has already looked like a boss in the past with her strong heel character. It is one of the reasons she did get over for a while.

It might be refreshing for when Triple H and Stephanie take a break. And they should take a break. They can be overbearing after a while. But what do you do when they take that break? Bring in a legend to run things? Yeah, or you can #GiveDivasAChance. Women have held authority roles before, besides Stephanie McMahon. Why waste Lana when Rusev is hurt?

The fact that she is training to wrestle will only add to her as an authority figure. She can take some bumps and occasionally wrestle the other women. It will add value to her matches. She can be a younger, fresher Stephanie McMahon. Could be very good for her.

Beth Phoenix Inducted Into The WWE Hall Of Fame

Beth Phoenix is this year's female representative in the WWE Hall of Fame. The customary response would be that it is well-deserved. No, I do not agree. Beth Phoenix should not be going into the Hall of Fame, especially now.

Look back at her career in the WWE. It got started in 2006. Some people might not even remember that. She debuted as part of the storyline between Mickie James and Trish Stratus, but got injured in her first official match on the main roster.

She returned one year later and quickly found herself in a title feud against Candice Michelle. It is not unusual for credible jobbers to find themselves getting a big push so soon after debuting or even returning from an injury. Candice Michelle got injured, and that hurt Beth's push. There were some weeks where she held the Women's Championship and they had nothing for her, a clear sign that you are a credible jobber. Candice Michelle returned and got injured again. Beth lost the title to Mickie James, then won it back when Candice looked like she was ready to go again. Mickie James wasn't the only woman getting pushes in 2007 and 2008 that were dependent on what was going on with Candice Michelle. 2008 was the year that Beth won a Slammy, which some people are bringing up like it validates her being in the Hall of Fame. This was not even a fan-voted award at the time. The WWE just gave it to her, and with the poor way they pushed her during the year, and in 2009, you have to wonder why. This was the year PWI honored Awesome Kong, so the WWE might have wanted to take the opportunity to put some hype on their diva-version of a dominant female wrestler.

Of course, as I just mentioned, 2009 ended up being pretty much a dead year for Beth Phoenix. If they really cared so much about her, that would not have been the case. She got overshadowed by Santino, then spent much of the year without any real direction.

Things picked up again in 2010. She was in the Royal Rumble, although not the first woman to do that. A few months later, she would win the Women's Championship from Michelle McCool. And she would suffer another injury just a few days into her reign, forcing her to drop the title and take more time off. She would come back later in the year, but soon once again find herself lost in the shuffle.

She would get a run with the Diva's Championship later on. Of course, she got injured again during that reign. You can blame Alicia Fox for that. The WWE kept the title on her this time, but she did miss some time in action. They took the title off her before she could become the longest-reigning Diva's Champion. Her reign was long more out of the WWE not having a woman they were willing to push as centerpiece, not their desire to push Beth as a star. There were really no epic feuds through much of the reign. Some wrestling fans can bring whatever matches they want during the reign, but I am talking feud development. If the WWE is building someone to be a star or featuring them as a star, it shows through feud development, not match quality. And after that, she never really did anything else major until retiring in October 2012.

Does this really sound like a career worthy of the Hall of Fame? It was filled with time spent away due to injury or just not doing anything important. Don't get me wrong, if Beth Phoenix overcame this to became very over, I would probably be on her side to go into the Hall of Fame. She would have done the kind of thing Mickie James did. But she didn't. She didn't become very over at all. Wrestling fans love her and her hometown fans love her, but she never became one of the most over female workers the diva era ever had. She would probably be better received in this era, but we will never know for sure.

Not only do I question the induction of Beth Phoenix, I question them doing it now. There are multiple women that I would induct before her. Let me bring up three.

Wrestling fans would definitely disagree with this. Sable? Rena Mero? Brock Lesnar's wife? People don't realize that she helped to start the diva era. "Diva" may be a bad word now, but the WWE shouldn't act like they were always above it and always treating female wrestlers great. If Sunny is in the Hall of Fame, Sable also deserves a spot. She helped to pave the way for Trish Stratus. It was the success they had off her that led the WWE to look for another eye-candy centerpiece.

Sable was also a star during the Attitude Era, the hottest time in the WWE's history. This era definitely preceded the era Beth Phoenix was a part of, but there are still a number of women from this era not in the Hall of Fame that should be. That does not seem right to me.

Here is a choice wrestling fans might love. Victoria, Tara, Lisa Marie Varon, whatever you want to call her, she's a respected female wrestling talent. She won two Women's Championships in the WWE, and then had a little more title success in TNA.

Victoria did not get that over in the WWE and she got the same type of career Beth Phoenix had, a credible jobber. But this is an era where they are doing some revisionist history and acting like these type of performers are more worthy to be in the Hall of Fame than they might have been under the old status quo. And you might say Victoria paved the way for Beth Phoenix. She relied on power moves, much like Beth Phoenix did. I would say Victoria was a better overall in-ring performer. Regardless of that, she preceded Beth Phoenix. With the women's revolution era here, she is obviously going in one day. But why is Beth Phoenix ahead of her?

This one just seems obvious. I mentioned that Beth Phoenix was in the Royal Rumble, but she was not the first woman to do it. The first woman to do it is not in the Hall of Fame. That would be Chyna (Joanie Laurer). Chyna was a part of multiple firsts for women in the men's world of wrestling. She held the Intercontinental Championship. Beth Phoenix never did that. Chyna was also one of those female stars from the Attitude Era that have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame. You can say Chyna paved the way for the kind of things Beth Phoenix did.

Of course, the big reason Chyna has not been inducted in the past is her personal issues. The WWE would have to be worried about giving her a live mic. But she past away last year. And the WWE already acknowledged her after that. It would just have seemed fitting to induct her, either this year or in the near future. I think that it will happen one day. But until it does, it seems a little insulting to put Beth Phoenix in there first. Beth Phoenix didn't pave the way for Chyna. Beth Phoenix was really just the credible-jobber version of what Chyna was back in the day.

Let me bring up a name that is in the Hall of Fame. Look at Trish Stratus. She was the greatest diva the WWE ever produced in the previous era. The WWE pushed her very well and have protected her legacy. She was even the youngest Hall of Fame inductee at the time in 2013. She was 37. She had to wait 7 years to get inducted.

Compare that to Beth Phoenix. Beth is 36. She retired in 2012. That was 5 years ago. Beth Phoenix is getting inducted at a younger age than even Trish Stratus and even faster than Trish Stratus did.

Tell me, what has Beth Phoenix ever done to deserve this? What has she done to deserve being inducted at a younger age than even Trish Stratus? What has she done to get inducted faster than even Trish Stratus? What has she done to get inducted ahead of women that you can argue paved the way for her, and some of whom were doing their thing in the WWE before even Trish Stratus? Nothing. Beth Phoenix does not deserve to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this soon, and ahead of many women that are not in there yet. I didn't even list all of them. Some of them from eras before the diva era should still get in ahead of Beth Phoenix. Some fans want Miss Elizabeth in.

I would also question whether she deserves to be inducted at all. She never got that over. I looked at her career and pointed out how inconsistent it was due to injuries and depushes. She never had a big impact on the status quo. And she never accomplished anything big outside of the WWE, whether in wrestling or some other industry.

I would say Beth should come back for one more run, if she or her fans really want her to be worthy of the Hall of Fame. I know she has kids, but she is still young. She's younger than Mickie James, another woman that has a child. Mickie James still came back for another run. I don't think Mickie James even needed to come back to be worthy of the Hall of Fame. She was the most over female performer the WWE had for a number of years, won more major women's titles than any other woman, and had an impact on the status quo. All she had to do was wait a respectable time to get inducted. But Beth Phoenix still needs to do more, in my eyes. This is the perfect era for that. They value female wrestlers more.

Where are the respected veterans? In a lot of sports, you will see players that are respected and have lasted a long time. These are the respected veterans. But they are not really the elites of their field. They are not the big names. Some of them might get into the Hall of Fame, but no one would be shocked if they didn't. In basketball, everyone knows Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. These are the legends. But I sometimes hear the commentators talking about guys I never heard of. They stood out, had some good years in some regards here and there, but they were not the top stars.

Should Beth Phoenix be considered a respected veteran? I certainly do not consider her someone that should be getting inducted at a younger age and faster than Trish Stratus did. Trish Stratus is featured as a true legend. Inducting Beth Phoenix now is like saying she is in the same class as Trish Stratus. And she isn't. I would say she didn't even last long enough in the business to be considered a respected veteran. And let me repeat it again, to put her in there before women that helped to pave the path for her is just terrible.

I just want to make it clear, this is nothing personal against Beth Phoenix. When there were rumors Mickie James might get inducted 2 years ago, I said she should not. I am a Mickie James fan. She would have gone in at age 35, even younger than Beth Phoenix now. Even though I pointed out that she has a career worthy of the Hall of Fame, she should wait. She hadn't retired yet. I even would have viewed it as a little insulting if they did seriously want to induct her. Are they implying her career is over?

This is just a sign of the times. It is one of the bad aspects of the women's revolution era. They are trying too hard to honor female wrestlers, even ones from the era where most of them were mistreated. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure someone like Vickie Guerrero will be inducted one day, but there are still so many other women being left out right now that are more deserving than Beth Phoenix.

One last thought. I read someone on a message board say last week that the WWE should induct more than one woman every year to get in more women that deserve it. Terrible idea. After a couple years, you are going to have everyone in the Hall of Fame that actually deserves it. After that, they are pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel for a while. Don't force these inductions just to meet some quota.

Is It Still A Dark Age?

The diva era in the WWE lasted roughly 17 years. That is the span where title matters were meant to center around eye-candy. During that era, you had different stages or periods. You had the beginning of the era. That led to the first dark age. The golden age followed. The era of failed centerpieces followed that. That led to the second dark age. And the WWE was never able to get the diva status quo out of that dark age.

This is a new era. You can't refer to this as the "new era" of the women's division forever. This is the women's revolution era. Not only is the WWE featuring the women better, but they are going to scream really loudly to make sure everyone knows it. That is, figuratively speaking. But they will mention it more than they really need to and utilize it more than they really need to for storylines. Aside from that, what stage are we in for the women's revolution era?

First, I would say we are past the beginning of this era. It started in 2015 when fans on Twitter destroyed the WWE for how they were handling the women's division. A few changes started from there. A few months after that, three respected women's wrestlers debuted from NXT in one night. A few months after that, the butterfly title, a symbol of the previous era, was dumped and "diva" became a bad word (except for Total Divas). Since then, there has been a ton of history crammed into a span of less than a year and Smackdown has its own women's title again. The general idea of what this era is about has already taken shape. No, I would not say we are still in the beginning stages.

Is it a golden age? What makes that kind of era so great, in my mind, are two things. First, efficiency. You have to be handling things smoothly and without too many mistakes. That is what puts you in a position to best be successful. Second, it has to be bringing great results. In the case of pro wrestling, which falls in the category of entertainment, it has to be popular. That doesn't mean everyone loves it. You will always have some people disliking what is going on, whether for a good reason or not. But are the majority of fans loving it?

Look at the golden age of the diva era. A lot of people praise this era for the wrestling quality. For the most part, the WWE had a good group of credible jobbers to help create a strong foundation and be efficient. And the booking was pretty good. Beyond that, it was a popular era, and not just with wrestling fans. Some of these wrestling fans seem to forget that this era featured the dreaded Bra & Panties matches and other matches and segments that they would riot for if the WWE tried it today. Not only did you have an era that wrestling fans could enjoy, but fans drawn to the fun diva-related angles could have things that they could enjoy.

Look at the current product in the women's revolution era. Is this the best you can imagine for this new era? I don't think so. They are not efficient. On Raw, they have been rolling with a centerpiece that is not connecting properly with the fans to deserve her monster push. Doing this kind of thing was something you saw in the era of failed centerpieces. On Smackdown, they don't even seem to have a centerpiece at all. They just juggle attention around numerous women. And they do not have the depth to properly do what they are doing. As far as how popular this era is, yes, there are fans loving what is going on, but there are also fans that just don't care for it or even dislike it. I have seen fans that wanted change even critical of some of the things going on. All of these women coming out of NXT seem to lose their luster on the main roster. The WWE is trying hard to hype these women and what is going on in the division, but it doesn't have that wide entertainment value.

Is it a dark age? Just look at what I said about the golden age and consider the opposite. That is what a dark age is. And I would say that is what you have. Raw and Smackdown seem to have two different agendas going on, and neither one is as efficient as it should be. No woman is as over as she should be, and the WWE is to blame in most cases for their sloppy booking. And the overall atmosphere they have created is not as popular as it should be to warrant the WWE continuing to hype it so much. It is abrasive. It is as polarizing as John Cena. Some fans love what is going on, but there are also a lot annoyed by it.

Part of the problem is that this era was born from a dark age. That is not shocking. From the death of one era comes the birth of a new era. But the WWE never got around to really fixing their efficiency problems. In fact, the whole company was really in a funk. To make matters worse, they decided to do a brand split, crippling the roster even more.

Another reason this era is not yet as great as it could be is that it is too much hype. Everything is history. They did a dual contract signing on Smackdown two weeks ago and hyped that as history. Really? That was just dumb. Yes, it is good that the WWE wants to treat the women better, but don't harp on it like this. The WWE obviously didn't do all this because they genuinely care. They did it because they were pressured to do it and continue to hype it like this more out of ego than trying to be smart. You can treat these women better without making a theme out of it. It is one of the reasons some people have soured on what is going on.

Will this dark age give birth to a golden age like the first dark age of the diva era did? Not if the WWE doesn't smarten up. You need proper depth in both divisions, if they insist on continuing the brand split. You need to handle these women smarter. You can't feature everyone prominently. Some people will get the short end of the stick. They need to change the overall atmosphere of the division. Less bitterness. Less hype. Less self-righteousness. Let the wrestling speak for itself, but come up with storylines and feuds that allow these women to show entertaining characters. You will have good wrestling going on to please wrestling fans and entertaining characters being featured to please the wider audience. That will produce results. You will have a women's division that is efficient and has appeal to a majority of your fans. And that's a golden age.

Renee Young Gets An Angle

Renee Young has really just been an interviewer/host for most of her time in the WWE. She is dating Dean Ambrose in real life. She is also now a part of Total Divas. She now seems to be doing even more. She has gotten involved in an angle with Miz and Maryse, along with Ambrose.

This is obviously a periphery angle. It seems like it has been a long time since I talked about an angle like this. Renee Young and Maryse are obviously not there for their wrestling ability. This is an angle on the periphery of the major focus of Smackdown's women's division. And there is nothing wrong with angles like this. The diva era produced stars in the periphery. Smackdown has shown a lot of the elements you would expect from the diva era. Alexa Bliss is arguably a diva. She is holding Smackdown's Women's Championship.

Or is this just purely Total Divas shenanigans? Total Divas, much like other WWE programming has been doing not so great in the ratings. Does the WWE feel they need to further promote the individuals on the show and the drama viewers can expect to see on the show? So far, it is at least not getting in the way of the women's feuds wrestling fans might be more interested in.

What does this mean for Maryse? For the most part since coming back, she has been just a valet for her husband, Miz. She would get involved in segments here and there, but storylines never really included her that much. This is a storyline that does put more focus on her. Nothing wrong with that. Maryse has the potential to be a great character. She never put it together during her first run in the WWE to get a proper reaction from the fans, but maybe she will do better this time.

And Renee Young? Back in the day, Lilian Garcia would sometimes get some angles here and there. Nothing wrong with that. Just don't make it a regular thing. It could get annoying. Not everyone that works for the WWE needs to eventually get in the ring. This angle might do some good for Renee Young, but she does not need to become Ambrose's valet. Both can move on after this angle ends.

State Of The WWE Women's Division: December 2016

The band split is back, so I have two divisions to talk about. Aside from that, I will talk about the overall direction of the WWE when it comes to the women.

Let me start with Raw. The title shot back to Sasha Banks last week. Beyond that, Ric Flair came back. It just felt like the WWE went back a year. We are back to Ric Flair being involved in the women's division because his daughter is getting a big push. Everyone is expecting Ric Flair to turn on Sasha Banks and help Charlotte regain the title. Enough of Ric Flair. Start better utilizing the full-time talent already on Raw.

How about the WWE just juggling Raw's Women's Championship around? I find it disgusting. There are other women that have just been hovering around in limbo for the last few months. Bayley has not gotten a proper push. Nia Jax is just there. I see people making jokes about the debut of Emmalina. Is she going to show up with a dancing gimmick, like Brodus Clay? The debut is supposed to be coming next week, but you can never tell with this company. And forcing so much "history" between Sasha Banks and Charlotte is also disgusting. Save some for the rest of these women. People are going to look back and say that this feud did so much for women's wrestling. This feud was forced.

I have seen other fans talk about it and there is a point that I like that I have seen them bring up. This feud has had no real development to it. It is just these two women swapping the title and talking about history. The addition of Ric Flair only adds another supporting player in the same story. The creative interest here needs work. Too much hype. These women can wrestle, but there are a lot of fans that are not going to be interested based on wrestling alone. And there are also some fans that are annoyed by all the hype and this feud still going on. The WWE just cannot keep it fresh in a proper way.

Outside of the female wrestlers, you have Lana in the periphery. She has that angle with Enzo. Some fans are entertained by these segments they have been having. Some are annoyed. It is kind of like the angle with Ziggler, Summer Rae, Rusev, and Lana last year. Most fans hated it, but it had potential. At least Rusev and Lana are getting a storyline.

Over to Smackdown. Alexa Bliss won Smackdown's Women's Championship at TLC. That is not what I would have done. I have said Smackdown's women's division looks like the diva era's last stand. I am not too shocked that they would allow a diva to hold a title. Over on Raw, it has just been a show between Sasha Banks and Charlotte, two women with solid wrestling credibility. Alexa Bliss is not at their level. She has an interesting character and an appealing look, but I don't think she is at the level of Trish Stratus at her prime. Nevertheless, I do not see any heavy complaining from wrestling fans about her getting the title.

What about Becky Lynch? She just lost her title to her first real challenger for the title. Is this just so she can eventually win it back? I don't think so. That kind of booking is just annoying and it is bad enough that Raw is doing it. Alexa Bliss is just not a credible challenger. The WWE should have had Becky Lynch run through this feud and lose the title to a stronger heel. The fact that the WWE instead went with this title change may suggest that they have something else planned than just using Alexa Bliss to put over Becky Lynch. But the WWE should make an effort to still give Becky Lynch a proper push. She doesn't need the title to be featured well. She made history by being the first woman to hold that title. She wasn't getting that fantastic of a career prior to the big win. She wasn't even pushed well in the weeks leading up to Backlash where she won the title. She didn't really have a great overness to deserve the moment as a reward. The only way they can justify this booking decision is giving her that big career now. If not, it is just a wasted booking decision. Push her well until you have a good reason not to. I do not see that good reason.

Some people say Alexa Bliss won the title just to lose it to Nikki Bella down the road. Nikki won her match against Carmella. I would not be against Nikki getting a title reign. The WWE put a lot of work into her for a few years. She came back from a serious injury. She is more over than some people might like to admit. She is also more solid in the ring than some people might like to admit. The WWE has done well in featuring her well without the title these last few months. A title reign next year would not be horrible.

Over in Smackdown's periphery, Maryse is still with Miz. But she has not been utilized as well as Lana has recently. Is that a good thing or bad thing? As I said, some fans just dislike these periphery angles. But they can be done well. Whether or not the WWE comes up with something better for Maryse, she just remains some eye-candy to look at.

In general, both divisions lack a strong identity. What does the WWE want to be when it comes to women's wrestling? If they want to be about serious women's wrestling, giving Smackdown's Women's Championship to a Alexa Bliss so soon is not a move that makes sense. And if their goal is to push women's wrestling, why put so much focus on just Charlotte and Sasha Banks on Raw? They are not the only women that know how to wrestle on Raw.

And I didn't once bring up the word "centerpiece" when going through the two women's divisions. What does the WWE want in terms of a central focus, if there even will be one? I could say it is Charlotte on Raw, but then the WWE continues with this endless feud between her and Sasha Banks. Can you picture a world in 2017 where these two are not feuding? Over on Smackdown, it is even worse. By giving Becky Lynch the Smackdown's Women's Championship first, you would think she would be the centerpiece. But her development prior to the title win was poor, her title reign has not been that amazing, and now there is a chance she will be pushed out of the title scene. Is Nikki Bella the centerpiece? If so, why not just have her be the first Smackdown's Women's Champion? Or is the WWE going for the younger option, Alexa Bliss, to be the centerpiece of this diva-friendly women's division?

As I have said before, you have to wait a while to get a feel of what the women's divisions will look like in this new era. So far, it seems like even the WWE does not know what they want to be. You have Becky Lynch get poor development heading into Backlash and still winning the title. You have Bayley looking like she will finally get a title feud, then get ditched so Charlotte/Sasha can continue. The WWE has to be more decisive. That does not mean being stubborn. If you see someone is not really working out in getting over, don't force it. But they just look like they can't commit to things properly right now. And that is a huge problem.

A lot of fans are talking about women the WWE can sign, including Mickie James. I am a Mickie James fan, but I would not bring her back. Not right now. The WWE needs to look at the roster they have right in front of them and decide what they want to be and how they are going to go about becoming what they want to be. The WWE is just looking for easy answers to cause buzz for them, without actually improving how they manage their talent. No Ric Flair. No Mickie James. No Trish Stratus for just a guest appearance. Their primary concern should be what they have now. Even with the brand split, it is possible to be more efficient with the rosters they have. Without improving there, it is very likely that whatever other women they bring in will not be handled properly, and that will hurt their overness. Mickie James is only 37. She still has a few good years left. Let the WWE spend a couple months to a year getting their act together, then bring her in.