Eva Marie Loses Her Top

Eva Marie once again found a way to back out of a match on Smackdown against Becky Lynch. This time, she had a wardrobe malfunction. This week, however, the WWE actually went through with two women's matches. Becky Lynch took on Alexa Bliss. Bliss won, thanks to Eva Marie. They also had Natalya vs. Carmella. Carmella won. But I am just going to talk about Eva Marie today.

As a fan, I am enjoying what Eva Marie is doing. It's the best thing in the women's division right now. It's different. You have a continuation of a title feud on Raw that has been going on for months. Nia Jax squashing people isn't too creative. Natalya attacking other women is also getting a little old. The storyline between Eva Marie and Becky Lynch actually has more creative investment to it. And it is easily making me like Eva Marie more. She is probably my favorite woman on Smackdown.

As a critic, however, I am not going to make the mistake of grading Eva Marie too highly. I have seen a few other fans enjoying what the WWE is doing with Eva Marie. And the smartest ones are the ones that point out that it isn't Eva Marie they are really enjoying, aside from her looks, but the way the WWE is using her. Anyone, even Jinder Mahal, can be treated like Eva Marie is now and get talked about and get a few smarks loving it. Give him an elaborate entrance. Have him chicken out of matches in different ways. It is the storyline/gimmick that really holds the power, not the performer. All you have to do is not completely mess it up and you will draw interest.

Just ignoring the role and looking at the person playing the role, how is Eva Marie doing? She's not really knocking it out of the park. The guy that does her entrance is carrying her more than she is carrying herself. But I wouldn't say she is as stupid as some fans sometimes make her out to be. All she has to do is pose and be sexy. Her acting ability is not amazing, but I wouldn't say she has ruined the few segments she has had so far. I would say she is doing a C+ job.

This kind of reminds me of Michelle McCool. McCool was a solid in-ring worker, but not amazing enough to get over through that alone. She was attractive, but not hot enough to get over through that alone. As far as charisma goes, that was her greatest weakness. How did the WWE remedy that? They gave her a charismatic sidekick. They gave her a huge gimmick. They pushed her act like it was the only show in town for a span. You had to be dead to ignore her. Although what she was doing was talked about, she really wasn't getting over. I have seen a few fans say she was an awesome heel. No, she was booked as an awesome heel. Push any other woman like that, and as long as she does not completely mess it up, she will get talked about and some people will believe she is an awesome heel. That is how you hand a Hall of Fame career to someone that really isn't great enough to deserve it.

I believe Ric Flair once said that the title doesn't make the man; the man makes the title. Nice sentiment, but wrestling promotions, especially the WWE, use titles to build stars. Nevertheless, going by that same idea, the gimmick shouldn't make the performer; the performer should make the gimmick. The performer should add his own abilities and attributes to own the role and make it his own, hopefully in a positive way. Of course, the WWE even uses gimmicks to make stars, not just to entertain. Despite that, if you have a performer that is good enough to add value to a gimmick, that performer should also be able to add value to most other reasonable gimmicks. Greatest challenge of all, that person might even be able to handle being pushed in a generic way and still keep fans interested. Just let those abilities and attributes that made you great with the gimmick still shine through. Michelle McCool isn't that kind of performer. Neither is Eva Marie. They need gimmicks to enhance them.

Analyzing the situation, I still see issues. Eva Marie is an eye-candy periphery diva. The atmosphere in the WWE right now is one of treating wrestling with more respect. They are going to make a Women's Championship for Smackdown. I don't think they should. And if they didn't, what they are doing with Eva Marie would be perfect. If they are going for that respectable women's division, how they are pushing Eva Marie just takes away from that. Alexa Bliss and Carmella are also eye-candy divas, but they at least are wrestling since coming to Smackdown. I wouldn't say they are amazing, but at least the storylines with them are not as annoying as the one Eva Marie is getting can be for true wrestling fans.

This is similar to why I would say Roman Reigns should not be the centerpiece of the company. Given the era they seem to be heading in and how Reigns connects with the fans this era will most appeal to, he is just not a good fit. Given all the hype over a women's revolution, Eva Marie is just not used best in getting women's feuds and this storyline she is getting seems more diva-like than something that will excite women's wrestling fans.

Let me bring up a crazy idea. Is the WWE grooming Eva Marie to be the centerpiece of Smackdown's women's division? I brought up Michelle McCool, who got a lot of creative interest put into her to try to get her more over. Eva Marie has better creative focus on her now than any other woman on Smackdown. Or is she only getting it to eventually put over Becky Lynch, and will then be depushed, while Becky continues to be featured well? I know wrestling fans would love for that to happen. Let's see where the WWE goes with it.

For the past year, the WWE has been able to come up with little tricks to help Roman Reigns win over his haters, even if just for a minute. He got cheered when he beat up Triple H last year. He got cheered when he speared Stephanie McMahon this year at Wrestlemania. Some fans seem to have lightened up on him again with his feud against Rusev. It isn't that shocking that the WWE would come up with little tricks to help Eva Marie seem more appealing. But true overness isn't based on the reaction you get after doing something likely to get you a certain reaction. It is about how much fans care even when you are not doing it. The WWE still has work to do for both Reigns and Eva Marie.

A Weak Night For Smackdown's Women's Division

This is the second week since the brand split really took effect. How did things go for the women this week? Not that great, if you are a wrestling fan. They teased two matches and neither ended up happening. Becky Lynch was supposed to face Eva Marie, who faked an injury to get out of the match. Carmella was supposed to face Natalya, who did her heel act of just attacking Carmella before the match.

This is one of the reasons I do not think Smackdown should have its own Women's Championship. It will get one eventually, but it is not something that is a good idea. What happened last night is obviously not going to be the norm. It would be funny if it just became Eva Marie's gimmick to find ways to back out of matches, but that won't happen. This is the kind of thing that can upset wrestling fans and cause them to go to Twitter and make the WWE look bad, again.

Does the WWE have confidence in some of these women on Smackdown? It seems like there are just too many eye-candy divas on the show. Becky Lynch and Natalya are the only legitimate female wrestlers. If the WWE just exposes some of these other women as inferior, that ruins the competitive feel of the division, if they want to push a division that is going to have a title. How do you avoid making them look inferior? Having Natalya and Becky dumb down? I saw fans dreading that Becky would job to Eva Marie last night.

One of the reasons the diva division died was because of the poor depth that started to become an issue during the brand split. Making two titles just made it worse. The WWE often lacked fresh credible jobbers to push. Injuries just made things worse. Eye-candy divas started to get these pushes and title reigns off these pushes. These women would never get title reigns during the golden age. Only Trish Stratus was getting title reigns during that time, as far as eye-candy goes. Even before Trish was the centerpiece, the WWE would never push an eye-candy diva to a title reign as a credible jobber. Fans don't always buy into these women the same way they would women hired with wrestling training. Moreover, the WWE just started to dumb the division down and lose interest as they used eye-candy credible jobbers more. It finally reached a boiling point at the start of last year.

If the WWE is going to have women like Eva Marie and Alexa Bliss on Smackdown, they have to do something meaningful with them. If they can't push them productively in women's wrestling feuds, they have to find something for them to do in the periphery. If they can't do even that, why have them? Release them.

I would not have made Smackdown get a Women's Championship. Let this be the brand that builds stars in the periphery. Feature the next Torrie Wilson here. Build the new AJ Lee here. Have this women's division be about something other than just respectable women's wrestling. Leave that to Raw. I'm sure some morons might say that is a waste of Beck Lynch. She'll never get a title! Uhh, you do realize she can eventually be traded/drafted to Raw, right? Or maybe whichever woman is holding the title can be sent to Smackdown and that can become the division that is about women's wrestling, while Raw becomes more about the periphery. This doesn't have to be the screwjob of the century for anyone.

Overall, I would have liked Raw and Smackdown to have different philosophies. People always talk about how great NXT is. Okay, let one brand be run with that kind of philosophy. Let the other be run the way the WWE has been doing things. Let one brand cater to wrestling fans. Let the other be more about entertaining the general audience. However you want to break it up, let them develop their own identities. And may the best philosophy win. Or just keep letting both shows run their separate styles. Smackdown should be more than just a two-hour version of Raw with a different roster, which doesn't even matter because trades will change the rosters as time goes by.

Let me do a slight aside about Raw this week. They finally had a mixed-tag match. How can you wait a year to have such a basic match? Take a man. Take a woman. Put them together. Take another man. Take another woman. Put them together. Have the two sides fight. Sasha Banks and Enzo took on Charlotte and Chris Jericho. And that was a good opening segment they had. Better than some self-righteous, feminist speech.

I saw one fan on a message board complaining about it. Why have two men get involved in Charlotte and Sasha's issues? It's like someone has been trapped in a cave for years and is finally let out to see the sun. That is going to hurt his eyes. Men and women have been interacting for years and getting involved in each other's storylines. But there are a few reasons why this kind of thing is good.

First, it gives Charlotte and Sasha a rub from two hot acts. These women may appeal to wrestling fans for their wrestling ability, but this whole revolution isn't for everyone. They need to show some character. And they got a good chance to do that on Raw. I am not saying it is impossible for a woman to get over without rubs from stars in the men's division, but this era can use more of that, and so can some of these women.

Second, it helps to keep the feud going between Charlotte and Sasha without doing stale matches. Sasha has already beaten Dana Brooke a number of times. And that was before the brand split took effect. The depth in the division is now a real issue. Nia Jax is doing her own thing, so it would not be likely she gets tossed into this feud right away. There are not a ton of options to keep this feud fresh. A mixed-tag match like the one they did on Raw was a fresh choice.

Lastly, it was just entertaining. That was the most entertaining segment I have seen with the women in a while. No self-righteous feminism. No bringing up dead family members. No putting NXT on a pedestal. The overall message of the segment was none of that. Pro wrestling is supposed to be about entertaining. I have believed for a while that getting men more involved in the women's matters would help things. The WWE did it right on Raw this week.

Smackdown's Women's Division: The Diva Era's Last Stand?

Smackdown really got down to business last week. That was the first episode after the brand split and draft really took effect. They had a segment to introduce the women on the roster. First, Becky Lynch beat Natalya. They had Natalya win at Battleground, then had Becky get the win two days later. No need to talk too much about that booking decision. Wins and losses do not matter, especially in a feud like this. After that, however, the other women of Smackdown made an appearance. Naomi returned from injury. Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Eva Marie then made their debuts on their new brand. Of course, Maryse is also with Miz.

Many fans have said that this division looks like the old diva division. And I would agree. You have more women that were hired as eye-candy divas on the roster than women hired as female wrestlers. You have some former cheerleaders. You have Eva Marie. Maryse is a former centerpiece of the diva division.

Despite some fans groaning at this roster, you have to give the WWE some credit for changes they have made this year. Jacqueline, a credible jobber from the diva era that never even got that over, was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. Becky Lynch, who would likely have been a low/mid-tier credible jobber ten years ago, was the first woman drafted to Smackdown. If the status quo was like it was during the diva era, someone like Maryse might have been the top draft pick, as far as women go. Or AJ Lee, the top periphery female wrestler for a few years, if she was still around.

In a way, this is the real Diva's Revolution. Fans may not like hearing that. When they started #GiveDivasAChance, they didn't mean women like Summer Rae and Eva Marie. They meant Emma and Sasha Banks. They meant female wrestlers. The WWE wasn't ignorant to that. They made changes to let these women get more time to wrestle and have been promoting them a little better. Problem is, you still had divas. You had them on the main roster. You had them in NXT. And you even brought one back a few months ago, Maryse. You can't just underutilize these women. Problem is, pushing them too much in the ring is not how you utilize them properly, especially those that are not great in the ring. You have to utilize these women creatively, with good storylines and character development. And I'll say it, give divas a chance! Not everything is about entertaining wrestling fans.

Let me single out Eva Marie. She was the last diva introduced and she had an elaborate entrance. I liked it. It was over the top. She gets heat, probably for the wrong reason, but the WWE can utilize that to build her character and for the sake of storylines. She is not someone that should be wrestling too much. And she probably doesn't have what it takes to be a good manager. But she can still be used as a valet. Lana has been demoted to pretty much that status now alongside Rusev. Lana deserves better than that, but it could be a good way to get Eva Marie reintroduced on the main roster. Stand there and look pretty, come in now and then in segments and to help some storylines. Build that character to one day be more than just a valet. To just toss her into the ring would not be utilizing her right.

Another complaint wrestling fans have is that these women have nothing to fight for on Smackdown. No title. So what? You don't need a title to treat these women in creative, entertaining ways. And that is what is important. The diva division's best years came when there was only one title for the women to fight for. While that was on Raw, the WWE pushed women in the periphery on Smackdown. Part of the declining years of the diva division involved them trying to maintain two titles. They couldn't. Injury issues and women flopping led to the WWE losing interest in the division and treating it less respectably. This was also a time when the WWE was not doing a great job in the periphery. They were too caught up trying to make new centerpieces. The WWE shouldn't go through that again. If the WWE can't make a creative women's division without a women's title involved, they really have lost it.

Look at other sports. There will always be certain games in sports like baseball, basketball, or football where nothing is on the line. Both teams don't have a shot at making the playoffs and the game doesn't really matter too much. You can say that the coaches or players are playing for their jobs, but that's not usually a draw. And yet, fans would still watch these games. Not as many as big games where something is on the line between two great teams, but fans still watch.

Let me bring up one example. Last year, the Baltimore Ravens faced the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football. Both teams had losing records with just a few weeks left in the season and were going to miss the playoffs. To make matters worse, Joe Flacco, the Ravens quarterback that led them to a Super Bowl win, was out with an injury. On the Brown's side, Johnny Manziel was out of the game due to one of his many issues. ESPN had actually promoted this game as featuring Manziel. With him not starting, there was just less reason to watch. But the game ended up being competitive. It came down to an exciting big play at the end. Needless to say, it still got more viewers than Raw that night. And that is why fans will still watch these meaningless games that lack star power, even if they are not big fans of either team. There can still be amazing plays. There can still be hilarious mistakes. There can be controversy. There can be something that gets talked about for years to come and changes the game.

Some people are unhappy that Becky Lynch is stuck on this title-less brand. First of all, there can be trades. She will likely end up on the same show with a title eventually, even if the WWE doesn't make a new title. And I don't think they should. Until then, however, the WWE can build her character more and help her to stand out as more than just a wrestler. I actually would have had Paige in this position, but Becky is the one that is there. I am not saying the WWE will definitely rebuild a strong periphery, but they should. And pushing Becky Lynch as the top star in the periphery would not be wasting her. Pushing her to be the next in line to women like Chyna, Lita, and AJ Lee is underutilizing her? These women did a lot more than just win women's titles. There was great storyline and character development for them. They were pushed alongside top stars. Becky Lynch, if pushed right on Smackdown, could end up looking more epic than whichever woman is holding the title on Raw. Given the WWE's reliance on wrestling these days, however, I do not feel it is likely to happen.

In the end, is the diva era really over? There are still divas. The Bella Twins are still hovering around, winning awards like they are respectable women's athletes. I always wanted to stop blogging once the diva status quo was no more. Remnants of the diva era aside, the real problem is not giving women fair opportunities and not utilizing them properly. Even if the WWE does start juggling around who holds the Women's Championship between only women with a certain elite level of wrestling talent, that's not how you make stars. TNA juggling people around has not helped them, so how is it going to make real stars in the women's division? It might not be a matter of screwing anyone in particular, but they are botching.Let Smackdown be something different. Let that have the women's division that utilizes these women beyond just wrestling feuds. You can entertain without a title.

Previewing Wrestlemania 2016: The Diva Matches

It is not often that Wrestlemania will have two diva matches. Both of the matches this year are multi-woman matches. It is also not often that the Diva's Championship will be on the line at Wrestlemania. This is only the second time it has happened.

I'll start with the 10-diva tag match. Brie Bella, Alicia Fox, Paige, Natalya, and Eva Marie vs. Lana, Summer Rae, Emma, Naomi, and Tamina. Eva Marie? Where did she come from? NXT. The face team was short a member. Some fans speculated that it might be Bayley that joined the team, since she is a face. But many fans also did not want that, believing Baylay deserves a better debut than that. It ended up being Eva Marie. The face team also happens to be Team Total Divas.

There is talk that Brie Bella's retirement might be coming sooner than expected. If that is the case, and assuming Nikki is done wrestling, I would say the WWE really didn't need to debut (or bring back) women from NXT just to fill their spots on the roster. They already have so many women and are not using them efficiently. The WWE should be hoping some women leave just to make it easier to manage the women that are left. After they do a good job with that, then start bringing in new women. In any case, if the WWE is looking to create a new eye-candy centerpiece, they might have two options in Eva Marie and Lana.

Who wins this match? Brie retiring would obviously influence things. You would think the WWE lets her win her last match. She is a face and on good terms with the company. But I could imagine her team losing at Wrestlemania and Brie winning her final match on Raw the next night. The other thing to consider, this is Lana's in-ring debut. Would they have her lose? She wouldn't be the one to get pinned. That would probably be one of the heels on the team that the WWE has not shown to be too high on. You have four possibilities right there. But I will say Lana wins her debut.

The match more wrestling fans probably care about is Charlotte defending the Diva's Championship against Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. These are the three women that debuted from NXT last year. It seems fitting that they should get this match. It helps that no healthy centerpiece is around. I would like to see what the WWE would have done if Nikki was healthy.

The development of this feud has been pretty simple. Nothing amazing. I might even say it has been a little lackluster. But expectations are high for the match these three can put on at Wrestlemania. And that hype is enough to make it worthy for the big event. Hopefully, they do not disappoint.

Neither of the challengers have looked too much stronger than the other. If the WWE is planning a title change, they have not really built up a new Champion well. Title changes at Wrestlemania are usually something special. I do not feel they have built up anything special here. There will still be tears if Sasha or Becky win. But I would not be surprised if the WWE lets Charlotte hold onto the butterfly title and drops it in a singles match down the line to either woman. That will likely be Sasha. The WWE had potential for a great feud between Charlotte and Becky, but they have ruined the momentum. The WWE might as well go with Sasha, who some wrestling fans view as the greatest wrestler in the world. I do not think most fans would be unhappy with Sasha getting the push.

Dolph Ziggler Waiting To Return

Dolph Ziggler has returned to house shows. The WWE is not ready to bring him back officially yet. When he does officially return, he will obviously be right back in his feud with Rusev and storyline also involving Lana and Summer Rae.

I usually dislike it when wrestlers take time off to make a WWE movie. It usually ruins the flow of what was going on. A perfect example of that is Paige taking time off a few months ago to be in a movie. Not only did that mess up the feud she was in a bit, but it left the diva division with pretty much no face divas. They had low-tier divas they could have utilized better. They didn't do that. They could have brought in a face from NXT. They didn't do that. What did they do? Turned The Bellas face for a few weeks. After that, they turned them back to heels. And I do not think the WWE handled the feud that should have been there between Paige and the woman that took her out, Naomi, very well. The whole thing was a very sloppy situation.

I am not going to complain about Ziggler taking time off. For one thing, you don't have the depth issues in the men's division that you had in the women's division back when Paige left. Beyond that, it actually adds to the story. Rusev had suffered an injury months ago. Even though Dolph Ziggler did not cause it, it became part of the storyline. You can say Rusev got back at Ziggler by taking him out a few weeks ago. I would not say the flow of this feud was ruined with Ziggler taking time off. Lana is still there to continue things. Rusev has not been left out in the cold. There has been no sloppy face or heel turns because of all this. This has been a solid story, even if one of the main players had to take some time off. And when Ziggler is officially back, there will be more heat to the feud. He'll want revenge on Rusev for taking him out.

Just one last thing about Lana. A while back dirtsheets said Lana and Eva Marie were in line for huge pushes. They are now saying the WWE has given up on Lana and are giving her push to Eva. What were these writers really expecting to see? Lana doesn't wrestle. Even if she had picked up some wrestling ability, the WWE is currently having Nikki Bella likely break AJ Lee's record with the Diva's Championship. Even if the WWE did want to push Lana against Nikki Bella, Internet fans would complain about it. They want to see women with real wrestling credibility get pushed. The only place to push Lana is in the periphery. And as far as "huge" pushes go there, I could only see them putting her in an angle with Cena, putting her in The Authority, or making her an authority figure. They never went with any of that. They have gone with a storyline involving her splitting from Rusev, which is obviously the logical option. Can some people say the feud has been mediocre? Well, one of the performers suffers a legitimate injury and another has to take time off to film a movie. That is going to slow things down. Even then, Lana is consistently pushed, something you have not seen with eye-candy periphery divas in a while. I do not see this as a matter of the WWE giving up on Lana. I would say this is just dirtsheets expecting to see something that the WWE was just not in a position to do and now saying some other woman will get that huge treatment. If Eva Marie stays on NXT for more than 5 seconds, will dirtsheets say the WWE has given up on her and are giving her push to Renee Young?

On Ryback And Eva Marie

When Daniel Bryan and John Cena won the midcard singles titles at Wrestlemania, a lot of fans got excited for what might happen in the midcard. As far as Daniel Bryan goes, his injury made things a little depressing. He didn't really get a chance to do anything with the title. Ryback has now won it.

I think Ryback is a good representative of the midcard. He is a good choice to be Intercontinental Champion. His current feud is said to between both Big Show and Miz. They have already shown some interaction. I am not excited for this feud. I would like to see midcarders feuding for these titles. Let these former World Champions do something else.

Not that I expect Ryback to drop the belt so soon, but what good would either of those two heels winning it do? Miz gets too many needless title reigns whenever he comes back from doing a movie. Big Show certainly does not need it. I remember when Kane won his first Intercontinental Championship. It didn't feel like Kane was being demoted to the midcard. It felt like the Intercontinental Championship was in a good place. Nowadays when a former World Champion wins a midcard title, it does feel like he has been demoted to the midcard in most situations. The current title reign for Cena is obviously an exception. But most of these guys feel like they are taking the spot of guys that have not had the kind of title success they have had. As I said, I would expect Ryback to retain the title. I would still rather see a title feud between him and Bray Wyatt.

Eva Marie has been training. But NXT fans gave her a horrible reaction recently. Is that fair? Is that #GiveDivasAChance? I have seen what some fans had to say about it on message boards and Twitter. There is a mixed reaction. Did a wall-of-tweets for about an hour. First time I did that in a while. I really did intend to do it more often. The motivation just is not there. When people don't seem to care, that can ruin your motivation. And I know I might end up looking stupid or crazy with what I am saying. I'm not ignorant. Why even bother speaking out?

Eva Marie does seem to have motivation. There are clips of her training. Of course, as I have seen some fans point out, she needs to prove it in the ring in front of the audience. I remember when the WWE showed some clips of Maryse training and tossing around some guy. It was stupid. This was around the end of her centerpiece run in 2010. Nice to know she knows how to defend herself, but you need to put on quality matches in front of those wrestling fans to get their respect. Eva Marie has not put on quality matches in the past. But how many opportunities has she had since #GiveDivasAChance started? How many has she had since training seriously? And very negative reactions can screw her up early.

When #GiveDivasAChance started, I felt fans would, or should, wipe the slate clean and actually give these divas a fair shot to prove themselves with an open mind. One of the reasons the diva division, and the company in general, is in bad shape is that they have all these people on the roster that they do not utilize properly. Because of that, it often feels like they have no one fresh to push and you see stale feuds and matches. The WWE has pretty much made up their mind on certain individuals, like Emma, and they are stuck where they are. Fans were complaining about these other women not getting featured. They are essentially asking for the WWE to wipe the slate clean and approach these women with an open mind. Give them a chance to be pushed. Thing is, how can you demand that of the WWE when you are not willing to do it yourself? Yes, Eva Marie has been bad in the past. But you start complaining about the WWE treating their divas unfairly, then you don't let a diva that has been training to improve get a fair shot. It seems hypocritical.

As a fan, I can like Eva Marie because she's hot. As a writer, I would push her as an eye-candy periphery diva (valet, romance angle, etc). As an analyst, I understand how dangerous the situation can be. If she is horrible, then the quality of the diva division will suffer and a lot of fans will complain. If she is very good, that might motivate the WWE to continue this division that shows favoritism to eye-candy performers over legitimate female wrestlers. If she is just average, which might be the best scenario, things just continue regularly. As a critic, I'll approach her with an open mind. I know she has a history of being bad, but she's been training seriously and if you are going to talk about giving divas a chance, I think it is the right thing to do. Wipe the slate clean. Give them all a second chance. Start proving yourself now.

State Of The WWE Diva Division: May 2015

There are no signs that the WWE is ready to quit on the diva division. They still want to run a women's division that leans towards eye-candy divas. I have read all these reports of eye-candy divas the WWE is high on. Looking at how the divas are being pushed, it also seems like no female wrestlers are in a great position. At the same time, this is still a dark age. The WWE has not become truly efficient again.

Paige has her plate full when it comes to extracurricular activities. She's getting things to do outside of actually performing on the wrestling shows. Never make too much of that. The WWE builds the people they want to be stars on the wrestling shows, not just in their movies and Total Divas. I would like to believe the WWE wants to start pushing Paige better with AJ Lee gone, but I will wait to see it actually happen.

Reports say the WWE is high on Lana and Eva Marie. I have spoken a little about Lana already. How about Eva Marie? I once had a conversation with a guy on Twitter that was talking about how bad the division was after Lita left. He pointed out Ashley and how bad she was. I brought up Eva Marie as this era's answer to Ashley. He said it doesn't count because the WWE does not push Eva seriously. I wonder what he would say now. Of course, Eva Marie is getting great training and showing signs of improvement. That is the overall story of the diva division. Hot model-type performer develops wrestling skills and becomes the greatest in the division. I just wonder if she can overcome some fans that have already made up their mind about her and may not be willing to give her a chance. #GiveEvaMarieAChance? It isn't just about sitting through all her segments. It is about having an open mind. A lot of fans I have seen seem impressed by her training. But I wouldn't become a fan of anyone just by how they train. They have to make it work when it counts the most.

Aside from reports, you can just look at the division and see the WWE is still pushing The Bellas. Nikki is still holding the Diva's Championship. Is the WWE serious about sticking with them as the centerpiece? Lana and Eva Marie aren't the only ones that have the look and the background. But you might eventually have yourself a congested division. The WWE was able to balance things better back a decade ago when they had the brand split. These days, they need a better periphery to be able to push their stars well outside of their centerpiece.

Nikki is still feuding with Naomi. Tamina returned to side with Naomi. There is a family connection there. It could be interesting, but the WWE usually drops the ball with divas that are not priorities to them. I am not convinced Naomi and Tamina are priorities. They are credible jobbers.

Credible jobbers still win titles. Will Naomi win the title? She lost the encounter a few weeks ago. It is not unheard of for the centerpiece to drop the title in the second encounter. You also have the fact that Paige had won a match to get a title shot and Naomi took her out. Forgetting what the diva division is about for a moment, just thinking about how you might develop a feud, it would make perfect sense for Naomi to win the title and eventually feud with Paige. It writes itself. But this is a company that buries what might make sense for the benefit of what they want. Paige and Naomi can end up with a non-title filler feud, while Nikki continues to hold the title. I would not be surprised to see that.

What Do You Do With The Eight?

A few days ago, I talked about how cutting down on the number of divas featured on the main shows could help the division. With the way the WWE utilizes their divas, you might think they have cut down. Regardless, they are still not efficient. Even if you do cut down to the 8 divas I recommended, what do you do next? How do you utilize them?

You are obviously not in a position to run a great women's wrestling division with the women I would feature. That is not the point. The point is to utilize these women efficiently, entertain the fans, and regain some momentum to eventually get back to a diva division that also features respectable women's wrestling. That is why I selected a range of divas. You have twins, a pair of female wrestlers with "anti-diva" gimmicks, two eye-candy divas that have no great wrestling credibility, and two eye-candy divas that do have wrestling credibility. I think that is a great mix.

Go back to the first dark age. It was obviously not as respectable as the golden age that came after, but stars were made in this era and it was entertaining. One of the reasons it worked out is because you had a lot of periphery angles. You had a lot of mixed-tag matches. Start doing that again.  You have seen some of it, but you can do more. You will not see much in terms of male-on-female violence, which I would say helped a lot of women gain respect points back in the day, but you do not need it if these women are getting good rubs and actually getting involved in storylines in the men's division more. You have seen some of that over the years with AJ Lee and The Bellas. It might be time to return there more often. The hottest thing a few years ago in the diva division was what they were doing with AJ Lee in the periphery. The actual title matters were an afterthought at times. When The Bellas started to get their big push involving Stephanie McMahon last year, it was AJ Lee getting the shorter end of the stick while in the title scene.

What do you do with the actual title scene? Don't try to force it. If you downsize the diva division the way I am saying, you are obviously not going to have enough credible wrestlers to run a great women's division. Even now, do you have that? Whether you do or you don't, the will is not there. The WWE does not have the drive to be efficient. During the first dark age, you had eye-candy periphery divas with worse wrestling credibility than The Bellas holding the Women's Championship. Right now, the Diva's Championship cannot be the crown jewel of a great women's wrestling division. How about you use it more for storyline purposes and less as a "reward" for being a great wrestler or trying to make stars? That might involve putting the title on someone like Eva Marie, or even Lana. I can hear the complaints already. You have to feature these women.

They should do a lot more with Paige. During the first dark age, you had Chyna and Lita being featured very well without even looking at the months they held the Women's Championship. During this dark age, only AJ Lee has been pushed at that level. And she hasn't had that in a while. Paige has never been pushed like that. Give her some of those main-event storylines. It will really help her to get over.

How about Layla and Naomi? The Bellas, AJ Lee, and Paige are the divas I would treat as the top stars. Lana and Eva Marie are primarily eye-candy divas. Layla and Naomi are hybrid divas. You can treat them as eye-candy periphery divas, but they also have the wrestling credibility to be pushed in the ring. And I would let them do a little bit of both. Give them some angles alongside midcarders. They don't need the main-event rubs. They can also be pushed as credible jobbers.

Even if you are doing more in the periphery and not even trying to give that half-hearted attempt to maintain the wrestling aspect of the division, you might not be able to go far with only 6 divas with actual wrestling credibility. Luckily, you have NXT. You can pull women from there when needed for jobber duties. How about to be extra bodies in 12-diva tag matches? No. No more of those right now. Some women that I have not included in my 8 divas I would keep on the main roster would end up on NXT. No need to release them all. Women like Natalya and Alicia Fox would go there. It might sound insulting, but these women are pretty much credible jobbers already and are not going anywhere. If they are content with their current usage, they should be content with doing more to help the women on NXT and doing their part to help the main diva division be efficient again. How do these divas and women currently on NXT become priorities on the main roster? By either making the most of their opportunities when they are utilized on the main roster or really being amazing on NXT. Besides that, when the diva division does regain momentum and is ready to grow again, you will definitely need these women.

Will this work to get some momentum back into the division and help some women to get over? It wouldn't hurt. You are basically trying to do what you did during the first dark age. You are cutting down the main roster divas to women you are going to commit to featuring on a regular basis. You are going to feature them primarily with periphery angles. Right now, the title is not a priority. Work to entertain and get these women over. Once you have that momentum, keep it going. You will have women's matches. As you regain momentum in terms of making stars and featuring them properly, you can separate those that are good wrestlers from the eye-candy divas. You will obviously need women with wrestling credibility to put over your stars with wrestling credibility, so bring those women out from NXT. If everything works out, you have another golden age. They should try something different. After how hard they pushed AJ Lee, it is amazing to see them start pushing her mediocrely in comparison to back then. And the same is even true for The Bellas now. A lot of these title feuds are just boring. And it gets even worse when you don't give these women a lot of time and the storylines and feuds you develop are bad. Just stop trying to force it and focus on entertaining and making stars and featuring them for now. Be efficient. It will help you to be productive.

Cutting Down To Eight

Recently, I talked about how TNA is able to run an efficient women's division with even less women than the WWE has. Downsizing might help the WWE diva division right now. If the WWE could only keep 8 women on the main roster, whom should they pick? Before getting to that list, have to cover a few things.

First, why a pic of Shakira? Because I felt like it.

On to the stuff that matters, why eight? Because I felt TNA was capable of remaining efficient with just that number. Even if Awesome Kong had not returned, they could still be respectable and utilize the women they have like they usually do. If TNA can do it with a low number, how about the WWE try it?

Aside from going small like TNA, this is not about turning the diva division into the KO division. I am still keeping the same philosophy and system the WWE likes to run. It has major issues, but if you try to change too much at one time, it might be a bit of a culture shock for some people. First, get the diva division efficient again. After that, you can go back to getting female wrestlers legitimate opportunities. From there, you should be getting respectable women's wrestling again and never have to experience another dark age like this.

Another thing to keep in mind, I am not including women like Lilian Garcia. I am only including women that are regularly involved in angles or serve some purpose in the actual diva division. Stephanie McMahon will also be left off the list. Just take it for granted that she is going to be around. This will be 8 actual divas that I think should remain in the division.

It is obvious that some women are only relevant because of Total Divas. For the purposes of what I am doing here, forget Total Divas is going on. This is about keeping women that you can use efficiently to help the diva division regain momentum. Total Divas is an extracurricular activity that has not had too much of a positive impact on how the divas in the actual diva division are being handled. It might make it easier to create certain feuds and angles, but the WWE has not been handling it in a great manner to really entertain and create stars.

Downsizing is not necessarily a bad thing. It is not a sign of weakness. You can talk about the financial benefits of downsizing, but this is about being efficient. Smaller class sizes are usually praised. With less students in a classroom, the teacher can give each student more individual attention and help them better. That is the same idea with downsizing the diva division. You have too many divas on the main roster. A lot of them are irrelevant. Even many that are being pushed are being pushed inefficiently.

All that out of the way, let me talk about the 8 divas I would keep.

The first two happen to be twins. The Bella Twins have been in that diva division for a long time. They have improved in their wrestling ability over the years. Being twins makes for some interesting storylines and angles the company could do with them. They have also been pushed hard recently. I am not going to say they have amazing overness, but they certainly had to have grown on some fans over the years.

Paige is still very young and has a lot of potential. Of the female wrestlers on the roster right now, I would say she is the best. She has a unique look and could be a unique diva, if the WWE allows her to be. And she also has a good connection with wrestling fans right now. Her presence might hold down their complaining about the diva division for a bit.

After everything the WWE has invested into AJ Lee, you cannot just cut her loose. Forget the CM Punk drama. If she wants to be there and they want her, she should be there. I think Paige makes a better "anti-diva" diva, and how many of those do you really need at one time? And I also think Paige is better in the ring. Regardless, having two female wrestlers like that won't hurt too much.

Lana doesn't even wrestle. It doesn't matter. As I said, I'm not changing the diva division into a KO division right now. I am just trying to run this type of women's division efficiently again. And women like Lana help. She is an eye-candy periphery diva. She is exactly what an eye-candy periphery diva is supposed to be. She is hot and has an interesting character. When the sun does eventually set on Rusev, the WWE should continue to utilize Lana.

The most useless diva on the roster? Am I serious? Eva Marie is the same type of diva as Lana. She is an eye-candy periphery diva. She does not have the wrestling ability to be anything else. Eva Marie can be useful if utilized right. Besides, if you are going to keep around two "anti-diva" female wrestlers, why not keep around two eye-candy periphery divas? Eva Marie has a different look from the typical blonde and she is definitely sexy.

Let me get to some eye-candy divas that have become good in the ring and have gotten the kind of pushes you would expect of credible jobbers. Those are the true hybrid divas. Layla is one of the best in that category. She has become good in the ring, is beautiful, and has charisma. It is a shame she is not more over than she is. She would be a great choice to develop as centerpiece, although not likely. Even though she is 37 and will likely be out of the WWE soon, she is still one of the divas currently on the roster I would want to keep around.

Naomi has become an entertaining in-ring performer. She has great agility that can make her matches fun to watch. And like some of the women I have mentioned, she happens to be in a relationship with a superstar on the roster. That can make for some interesting storylines. You are seeing some of that now. The WWE could do better.

Eva Marie

What's worse than Jinder Mahal jobbing to a midget bull? Eva Marie doing pretty much anything. That is the attitude many fans have about Eva. I have never really spoken about her. Let me say a little today.

Eva Marie is an eye-candy periphery diva. She certainly doesn't have the wrestling ability to be a credible jobber. She certainly isn't getting developed to be the centerpiece. She's an eye-candy diva. She's there for her looks and Total Divas. And she is beautiful. I am not that drawn to her, although her hair does stand out, but I will admit she is beautiful. I would probably like her if she went with her natural color.

If this was the first dark age, Eva Marie would be having catfights and running around in her bra and thong. She would be in the same position as women like Terri or The Kat. Just go back to about 5 years ago. Eva Marie would be in the place of someone like Maria. What has changed? First, the WWE is now PG. Things that helped eye-candy divas get over so easily back then are not done now. Moreover, the WWE has become inefficient with their eye-candy periphery divas. They do not utilize them right. There is no good development of their characters. Eva Marie has not exactly gotten any consistent treatment in her short time in the WWE.

Do I think Eva Marie gets a lot of unnecessary hate? Yes. If she was overpushed and doing a horrible job connecting with the fans and me, then I would hate her. You don't even see her that often. Yes, she has some awkward moments, but she is not really a major part of the division. I wouldn't make a big deal out of her. If the WWE just stopped putting her in the ring and found a good periphery purpose for her, fans might start connecting with her just for her looks and whatever character she may end up having. Women like her got title reigns during the first dark age. If those same women were here today and being utilized like Eva Marie is, they would be hated by many fans, as well. If Eva was in their place back then, I think she would be more liked.