Dana Brooke: The Next Layla?

Michelle McCool was not a great worker. Great workers get the job done. They don't just get pushed like they are getting the job done. They don't just have the talent and attributes to get the job done. They actually go out there and get it done through their own abilities. McCool never got over at the level she should have. But the WWE pushed her like she was great. She was solid in the ring, but one of her biggest issues was a lack of charisma.

One of the things the WWE did to help her was give her a sidekick. There was a span where Vickie Guerrero was involved with Michelle McCool, but McCool's real memorable sidekick was Layla. Layla was charismatic. Did it really help McCool or the duo to get over? Not really. But it was a tool the WWE used to help McCool get over.

Just a few years after McCool retired, there is another woman in a similar position. Charlotte is pushed as the centerpiece. She is very athletic. But her main issue is her lack of charisma. She is not as over as she should be. The WWE has already handed her history, much like they did with Michelle McCool several times. They used Ric Flair to give her a rub. You can say that is comparable to Vickie Guerrero giving McCool a rub. Use a non-wrestler that is getting a better reaction from the fans to help the woman you want to push as a star. Ric Flair is now out of the picture. But someone else just entered the picture.

Dana Brooke has aligned with Charlotte. With Emma injured, you had to wonder what the WWE would do with her. Dana's best attribute, in my opinion, is her charisma. It certainly isn't her wrestling ability. Layla was not a great wrestler when she started in the WWE. She improved. Maybe Dana will continue to improve. Regardless, Charlotte has a charismatic diva to help her look more interesting. In this way, Dana Brooke looks like the new Layla.

This kind of thing didn't really work for Layla and Michelle McCool. Will it work here? The WWE pushed LayCool with an overbearing gimmick and stifled a lot of the other things that could have been going on in the division. LayCool was all there really was to talk about for a while. Charlotte doesn't have a big gimmick, especially now with her father gone. There are also other minor periphery pushes going on, like Lana with Rusev and Maryse with Miz, but nothing too huge. Fans will talk about Charlotte, but how over will she actually become? A lot of people are talking about Roman Reigns. Most of it isn't always positive. Same thing here with Charlotte. Fans talking about Charlotte does not mean she is actually over.

Just to make it clear, Dana is there for the benefit of Charlotte. Charlotte isn't there to give Dana a big rub. The WWE wasn't trying to get Layla over back when she was with Michelle McCool. If they were, they would have done a better job pushing her the final years of her career after McCool retired. As long as Charlotte doesn't do anything to seriously screw herself, she will continue to be pushed at a high level until she leaves the WWE. Dana Brooke will eventually be phased out.

A lot of what has been going on recently seems very diva-like. I see some fans unhappy about short matches. Dana Brooke definitely is not someone with respectable wrestling ability. Sasha Banks has injury issues. Ric Flair was arguably taking too much of the attention for a while. Fans that were so eager for a revolution are not seeing a lot of the things they were hoping for. It is still a dark age. The WWE is definitely not efficient. Is a woman that is obviously not an eye-candy diva being pushed as a centerpiece a sign of things changing? Or is this just dark age shenanigans? I had some hope that the WWE might be doing something different. But they are showing signs of still sticking to their old ways. They had to go beyond this feminist-inspired division they were having for a while. The goal is to entertain, not get too self-righteous. At the same time, the WWE has to do a better job than they are. They are failing to create stars and create an entertaining women's division. Worse than that, they might risk another Twitter uproar if they keep going in the direction they are going.

Layla Retires

Layla has retired from the WWE. She was with the company for almost 10 years. She is currently 38, making her one of the oldest divas the WWE had on the roster. She had some title success, although never really being pushed as a top star. The highlight of her WWE career was teaming with Michelle McCool while she was pushed as centerpiece.

Layla definitely improved since she won the Diva Search almost a decade ago. She was pushed as just an eye-candy periphery diva before teaming with McCool. She improved in the ring and I would say she also became more natural with her character. No need to talk about looks. She was one of the hottest divas the WWE had. Even at 38, many fans would say she was the hottest diva on the roster.

Could the WWE have done more with her? I would say she was the best eye-candy diva to improve in the ring and be treated as a credible jobber. To put that another way, of all the eye-candy divas never pushed as the centerpiece, she deserved that top position the most. She improved in the ring. Fans find her sexy. She has charisma. The only thing that might make the WWE hesitant is her age, but she would have been a good choice to push after Eve Torres retired. Instead, Layla was juggled around some periphery angles in recent years and didn't do much at all in 2015. Retirement angle? Would have been nice. I am not saying they should have given her a title reign, but she was a good worker and might have deserved a proper sendoff.

Is this a blow to the diva division? Not really. Layla was one of those divas lost in the shuffle during all this #GiveDivasAChance stuff. You have 9 divas involved in the main diva feud and Summer Rae and Lana in a periphery feud. Outside of those women, Stephanie McMahon, and Lilian Garcia, how well are any other women featured on the main shows? There is no need to debut someone to fill Layla's spot. No need to discuss which NXT diva could fill that position. After all, the WWE did just debut 3 women.

What If The Bellas Left?

AJ Lee just retired. What if Brie & Nikki Bella were to leave the WWE now? I still do not watch Total Divas, but I have heard that they are teasing The Bellas might leave the company, again. I doubt that will happen. Regardless, just for the sake of discussion, what might happen if they did leave?

Without bringing up Stephanie McMahon, The Bellas are the only divas in an A-tier position. With AJ Lee gone, that might make it easier for the WWE to better develop them as the centerpiece of the diva division. Nikki? Brie? Both? They are more of a centerpiece unit than LayCool were. In fact, with AJ gone, you can say the diva division is back to that one-dimensional look it had back then. The WWE was only concerned with developing a new centerpiece back then. When Michelle McCool was their lone attempt and Layla was her sidekick, that made the division at that time very painful. If you did not like their annoying act, you didn't have many other options being pushed well. Even if another diva held the title, LayCool still often trumped them. That is why holding the title does not mean you are the centerpiece. The Bellas have shown signs of being like LayCool. Getting over was an issue for McCool. It is still an issue for The Bellas, but I think they are a little more over now than McCool was during her centerpiece run. But that is still not too impressive.

What happens if you take that away? What happens if you take The Bellas out of the diva division? I have seen some fans say that the only thing holding the diva division back is The Bellas. In a while, the division will be full of all those fabulous wrestlers from NXT. The Bellas leaving will not cause the WWE to give up on the diva division. Michelle McCool leaving did not lead to the end of the status quo. They started pushing Kelly Kelly as the new centerpiece, not Layla. There is another Diva Search coming soon. That should be the ultimate sign that the WWE has not given up on this philosophy for their women's division that revolves around model-type performers. The Bellas leaving will just lead to the WWE moving on to someone else.

There are options on the main roster for the WWE to go to. I just do not know how confident they would be in those women. Summer Rae? There is also Eva Marie. She has been showing signs of improving. I would not be surprised to one day see her holding the title and pushed as the next Trish Stratus. With AJ Lee leaving, filling her spot is optional. Should The Bellas leave, the WWE would definitely try to fill their spot. The diva division revolves around a centerpiece.

From the standpoint of everything the WWE has put into these two, would The Bellas leaving now make them a bad investment? I am not talking about Total Divas. I am talking about their worth in the actual diva division. When I talked about AJ Lee leaving, I felt the WWE could have gotten more out of her and she really wasn't connecting with the fans as she should. The Bellas also lack the overness you would want your top stars of the diva division to have. But I don't feel they have been pushed as hard as AJ was, despite the big push they had for much of last year. AJ Lee is a female wrestler. I would have expected her to connect with those type of fans even better than she has. The Bellas are eye-candy divas. They are connecting about as well as you might expect, but that still isn't too great. In general, I do not think it would be a huge loss if The Bellas did leave. They do not have a great overness that would leave a huge hole in the division and they are not extremely talented, although they have improved very well. The WWE can just start developing another eye-candy diva to be like them. In terms of position, everyone is replaceable. In terms of how well someone can bring results, not everyone can be replaced that easily. I am not taking The Bellas for granted. They are better than many of the centerpiece attempts since Trish left. But there can be better.

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.

State Of The WWE Diva Division: April 2014

After AJ Lee retained the title at Wrestlemania, I was thinking about once again bringing up Ivory's title reigns during the first dark age. I was going to argue why Ivory was not really the centerpiece of the diva division back then and why you should not consider AJ Lee the centerpiece now. I do not think I need to do that right now.

Paige made a sudden debut on Raw this week and ended the longest reign with the butterfly title any diva has ever had. That was a shocker. The feud between Paige and AJ Lee is obviously just beginning, but this is where you will start to see whether or not the WWE is serious about developing AJ Lee as the centerpiece or she will be shipped back into periphery angles. One push or one title reign does not make you the centerpiece. Since her feud with Kaitlyn, the WWE had not developed one good feud for AJ Lee. All her feuds were about inserting a ton of momentum into a challenger, having AJ retain, and moving on. Even her feud with Kaitlyn was also an extension of periphery matters, AJ's breakup with Dolph Ziggler and Big E getting involved. If the WWE is serious about developing AJ Lee as the central focus of the diva division, this is a perfect opportunity to develop a credible jobber to put her over. That credible jobber would be Paige.

Some fans seem to already be acting like Paige is the best thing ever in the diva division. They are already moving on from AJ. You have to love these neckbeards. Do I think the WWE will phase AJ out and start giving Paige the type of push AJ had a few years ago? No to both of those ideas. This is not the end of AJ Lee and I do not expect Paige to get a hard push in the periphery. If anything, it's beginning to look a little more like the first dark age. Emma and Paige have both debuted this year. The WWE might be going back to once again utilizing actual female wrestlers more as credible jobbers. Although some fans may be very excited about recent developments, I am not convinced the agenda that makes the diva division what it is is over yet.

After Paige did win the title, I did a little thinking ahead. Assuming they didn't just do this to cause some buzz and will be dumping the title back on AJ Lee, who is likely to take the title off face Paige? I am thinking heel Summer Rae. And a day after Paige won the title, the WWE did something with Summer Rae. They had her split with Fandango. That makes me believe even more that they are preparing her for her solo career. But what a horrible way to do it. On Twitter? This is the woman they could try to develop to be their new centerpiece. You should be doing things to really help this woman get over. I have said before that relying on Total Divas to do it will not work. It does not get as many viewers as Raw. And now you run an angle on Twitter for something that should be getting segments on Raw or Smackdown? Fandango has moved on to Layla as his dancer. You would hope that Summer Rae still gets some kind of feud against them, but that does not seem to be happening right now. You look at some of the storylines past centerpieces of the diva division have had. Sable stood up to Marc Mero. Trish Stratus stood up to Vince McMahon. These are storylines that help to build the character of these eye-candy divas and help to connect them more with the fans. Even AJ Lee got some of that, even though she remained a top periphery diva. Of course, doing it like that might make Summer Rae a face. They might not want to do that or turn Fandango face. But a simple Twitter angle is so dull. Another sign of what to expect out of the Reality Era? Fact is, with some kind of creative interest being put into Summer Rae, a woman who fits with the classic image the WWE wants in their centerpiece, I am not ready to believe the WWE is changing into a direction that is truly favorable to female wrestlers. If anything, it's beginning to look a lot like 2000. You have your top periphery diva in AJ Lee (Lita/Chyna), your possible future centerpiece in Summer Rae (Trish Stratus), and a credible jobber in Paige (Ivory/Jackie/Molly Holly).

Aside from the few women I just spoke a lot about, the rest of the division just seems buried. You had all those women getting a shot at the title at Wrestlemania. None of them did it. The next night, Paige does it in an instant. I am not implying AJ Lee buried them. The WWE is the one not developing great angles for them. Emma is still with Santino and Layla is now with Fandango, but it is only a matter of time before those two guys are lost in the shuffle again. And their divas will likely go with them. And that endless feud between Santino and Fandango is not exactly exciting. That lack of creative depth is still there. You had the opposite in recent years. The woman holding the title would sometimes not be getting anything meaningful to do, but you had interesting angles in the periphery with AJ Lee. Now, all the attention is around the title matters, but you have a boring periphery. When will things balance out?

Random WWE Thoughts

A lot of small things going on right now that I want to give my thoughts on. First, Brodus Clay is back to being a heel. He was a heel prior to the whole dancing gimmick. This has also coincided with the debut of Xavier Woods. The supporting players, R-Truth and Tensai, also end up with something to make them relevant for a while. Given the WWE's lack of pushing midcard workers consistently, I would not imagine them to go too far with anyone involved in this feud. What was Brodus Clay doing prior to this push? Nothing. He will be doing that again soon. The same goes for Tensai. And R-Truth. As far as Xavier Woods, I cannot imagine great things for him. Nevertheless, give the WWE some credit for creating a storyline for some workers that have not been pushed well for a while.

"Bad News" Barrett. Wade Barrett has himself a gimmick. It is getting him some segment time. I like it. I really like his character. Of course, the obvious problem is that he is not getting any feuds or actual storylines, yet. All he has is this gimmick and a small amount of segment time to do his promo. This is better than nothing. He has not been relevant since he held the Intercontinental Championship earlier in the year. But it shouldn't be too hard for this to branch into a feud for Barrett. Just have him say something that offends one of the faces. The face comes out to confront him, and there is a feud. How long before they do that? Normally, I would say that doing the same thing over and over again will lead to things getting stale and you have to know when to develop things. In this case, I think Barrett handles these segments well enough to keep this going for a while. That is, as long as they have fresh material for him.

Alberto Del Rio suffered a concussion that has kept him away from wrestling recently. This seems to be the only December injury, so far. December has proven to be the month in recent years where you get injuries to big stars or performers that were in the midst of important pushes. Del Rio is a former World Champion, but he wasn't doing anything too important. He was involved in that mini-feud with Sin Cara. Seems like basic filler. Now that there is only one World title, what is a guy like Del Rio to do? A lot of fans say that this guy has always been chasing after a World title since he debuted. He has spent a lot of time doing that. They are going to have to think of something else for him. I have always said this guy's character has a lot of potential. Will they finally start utilizing that more?

Big Show and Rey Mysterio are a tag team. Another instance of the WWE simply sticking two guys together that they want to feature, but cannot come up with good solo feuds for at the moment. Moreover, they are in the tag title hunt. I am not going to complain about trying to get these two something to do, but the WWE continues to keep more legitimate tag teams down in favor of having these kind of tag teams made up of singles wrestlers getting the title feuds. Some fans point out that the WWE has so many tag teams. Some say that this is great for the tag division. Problem is, a lot of these teams are just being used as filler. Have Los Matadores gotten a legitimate feud yet? Are The Usos ever getting the tag titles? What can you expect from Xavier Woods and R-Truth? Having Kane and Daniel Bryan dominate the tag division for a while was acceptable, since there was a good angle between them, but I hope Big Show and Rey Mysterio do not last too long as a team.

Finally, let me talk about Layla. Layla? She's not doing anything. What is there to talk about? Well, I think she should get something to do. Of the divas currently on the roster, she is my favorite. That was not true during her first few years. Maybe I just didn't like her hair? And I didn't like her during her run in LayCool. Not only did I not like the gimmick, but Layla and McCool did not perform it well to make me like it. They were often too dry and annoying in their execution. A little more arrogance/cockiness and youthfulness would have been nice. They were the kind of heels that made me want to change the channel, not like them, which I usually do for good heels, or see them get owned by the faces. Enough of that. Since then, Layla has grown on me. I liked her face run after that. Nice fresh spirit. She has definitely become very good in the ring. And she is sexy. Of course, she is an eye-candy credible jobber, so I don't need to ask why the WWE is not pushing her. Nevertheless, I still believe the WWE needs more creative depth in the diva division right now. Give Layla something meaningful to do. Periphery angle or an in-ring push? I don't know how well she would work in a periphery angle. If the WWE starts developing a better midcard, that might make things better for a periphery angle for her. Give her a feud. I would make her face. Given the WWE's desire to push eye-candy divas as the centerpiece of their diva division, I would have Layla get that position. Not happening. I wouldn't be surprised if Layla is not kept around by the WWE. They aren't exactly treating her as someone they would keep around.

Layla Goes Heel

Nothing happened at Summerslam to really grab my attention too much. Yeah, you had the big heel turns, but that was pretty much anticipated. Instead of anything having to do with last night, let me just briefly go over a topic a few weeks late. Layla is a heel again.

Layla turned on Kaitlyn and aligned with AJ Lee a while ago to turn heel. Should you make too much of that? I wouldn't. There was some speculation among fans that they might form a legitimate partnership between these two heel divas, much like Michelle McCool and Layla. I don't see that happening. It looks like they really only turned Layla heel to move her from being a face eye-candy credible jobber to being a heel eye-candy credible jobber. It's better than not being featured on the main shows at all, like some divas are.

Let me switch gears to something that has to do with the diva division in general. I talk about centerpieces and periphery divas. The centerpiece is that woman around whom the WWE wants to develop the division. The periphery divas are the stars developed and featured on the periphery of that centerpiece. I talk about jobber pushes and filler pushes. A jobber push might manifest itself in a credible jobber putting over a centerpiece in a title feud. A filler push may be a credible jobber playing interim centerpiece while the true centerpiece is injured. What would I say about divas involved in Total Divas? That does not really define what position they hold in the actual diva division or what type of push they might be getting while doing that. But what term would I give to that? Another term? Do I really need to come up with another term for something? This one won't be tough and I probably won't talk about this too much again. These women are getting extracurricular activities. If you have ever applied to college or will apply one day, you know that a lot of them look at your extracurricular activities to see what you are doing outside of the regular schoolwork. And that's what things like Total Divas are. It also includes Playboy, Tough Enough, charity events, appearances in other TV shows, and so on. A lot of divas have gotten these in the history of the diva division. Ivory was a part of Tough Enough. Mickie James did a lot of extracurricular activities for the WWE. It doesn't change the fact that these two women were still pushed as credible jobbers. These extracurricular activities do not determine automatically what is going on in the actual diva division. How the WWE actually chooses to push these women on the shows determines what the actual diva division is about. Yes, extracurricular activities do often lead to angles or at least segments on the shows at times, but it is still up to the WWE to make the decision to incorporate things like that. You can say that these extracurricular activities are on the periphery of true diva division matters. If that confuses you, just forget it. I only bring this up to point out that you should focus more on how the WWE pushes these women in the division to see what kind of career they are getting, not get lost in these extracurricular activities.

Actually Using LayCool To Make Stars

Last week, I mentioned that Michelle McCool was not working out as centerpiece and that the argument can be made that a heel is supposed to make other workers look good. McCool (LayCool) never led to any faces becoming major stars. Blame the WWE more than The Bride of Undertaker. They should have handled things better. I want to suggest a way they could have handled it.

Before I go into that, let me make a comparison. Go back to that epic feud between Stone Cold and Mr. McMahon. Some might argue that Vince McMahon was Austin's greatest foe during the Attitude Era, not The Rock. That feud put Austin at the top. Some people argue that the reason it worked out so well is because people enjoyed seeing Austin beating up and humiliating the boss. It connected with the audience. They loved seeing that. Now, change two things. First, after Austin had owned Vince once or twice, depush Austin back to the midcard, killing his momentum. Second, keep bringing back Vince McMahon to make life hell for another face, then have that face own Vince once or twice, and then depush him like you did Austin. Repeat until Vince gets tired and leaves. Or dies. How effective would that have been? For one thing, Austin definitely would not have gotten the great career he did get. Second, I don't think this cycle would be effective. Vince McMahon would be the constant more than any single worker who gets a chance to stick it to him. In the end, none of these workers would really be making it and Vince McMahon would be the one persevering through it all to keep coming. Are the fans really going to love that story? They may enjoy the moments Vince gets beaten up and looks bad, but they'll probably end up seeing moments of the boss making life hell for people more than anything else. After a while, they will see no individual is ever really overcoming the boss and it would be annoying.

Compare that to LayCool. Vince is obviously a much better heel than them, but what about the storyline and the actual way they were used? That's my point. LayCool were bullies who made life miserable for many divas. They frequently got owned here and there, but not one diva who did get a moment over them ever got developed after to become a major star. LayCool remained on top. This is exactly the same situation you would have had if the WWE had handled Austin-McMahon like I just said. After a while, the audience will just get the idea that the bullies are never really going away and no one who is getting these moments over them can ever really end them. Remember how that LayCool angle ended? McCool was leaving. Layla beat McCool. The group collapsed on itself. It didn't put over any face that went on to become successful off that momentum. The WWE did not even move on to developing Layla as centerpiece. They tried with Kelly Kelly.

What should the WWE have done? As I have said before, I'm sometimes a bit of a pushover. I would give the WWE a chance to see if it works, but when they see the experiment is not working, they should have used LayCool to put over someone they could eventually develop as a major star of the diva division. Do something along the lines of what you had between Austin and Vince. I would have developed Natalya consistently after she beat them for the Diva's Championship. Remember when she put McCool and Layla through a table? That was a big moment. If they had been consistent with Natalya after that, that could have been an iconic moment in Natalya's success story. I'm not saying she would have ended up as big as Austin, but it would have been better strategy than overpushing two annoying heels in an annoying fashion. The WWE could have also tried this kind of thing with Kelly Kelly, but I think Natalya would have been the better choice. That's not my bias towards female wrestlers getting better, fairer opportunities talking. I think it would be more believable if a female wrestler had crushed the two bullies.

I already said what I thought of the LayCool angle from the standpoint of an analyst. It was not productive and not handled smartly. Speaking as a fan, that angle was one of the most draining things I have ever seen in the 15 years I have been watching pro wrestling regularly. I found it annoying, lame, and stupid. In a word, it was draining. I don't even find Vickie Guerrero as bad as LayCool. I am a fan of great heels. When I started watching, my favorites happened to be heels at the time. Unlike so many others, I didn't like Austin during his feud with McMahon. I did not find LayCool to be great heels. They tried to be great heels, and the WWE certainly did more than they should have in pushing them, but it was just a painful overload from them. I'm not saying that I would have liked them if the fans started booing them regularly. I'm not that kind of fan. I am saying that they were not the type of heels that I am entertained by. They were not the kind of heels that make me want to see them get owned, as I was discussing before. They were the kind of heels that make me not want to be a WWE fan anymore. I sometimes hear people saying that Cena annoys them so much that they want to stop watching. Cena isn't even a heel, but that's the best way to put how I found LayCool.

Would Mickie James Have Survived Today?

Recently, the development you see in the diva division that was not there for years is the usage of eye-candy divas to put over the centerpiece and act as filler when the centerpiece is not there. Years ago, those pushes went to female wrestlers almost exclusively. The eye-candy divas were mostly not as solid in the ring in years past as they are now. To put it another way, the WWE did not have confidence in the eye-candy divas back then for those kind of pushes in the same way as they do these days. Back then, most of those eye-candy divas were just used as periphery divas (valets, romance angles, assistants, and so on). The centerpiece was the only eye-candy diva developed consistently as a great wrestler. With eye-candy divas getting these opportunities, that has led to even less opportunities and more mediocre opportunities for the few real female wrestlers left that are credible jobbers.

Mickie James was a credible jobber. She was a female-wrestler credible jobber. Most people might say the WWE was pushing her well, but that ignores what other things were going on during that time in the diva division. During the time Mickie was there, you had centerpieces retiring, getting injured, flopping, needing to be replaced, and needing to be put over. These are the situations where you call on a credible jobber to be interim centerpiece or jobber to the centerpiece. Back then, the WWE was still giving these kind of pushes to the female wrestlers. Aside from Mickie James, Melina and Beth Phoenix were the primary credible jobbers being used. Gail Kim and Natalya were also used here and there to put over the centerpiece during this time. Fact is, Mickie James was frequently the only face credible jobber available when the need arose, which is why she got pushed so often. Let me give just one example. Remember when Candice Michelle got injured in 2007? That is the woman being developed as centerpiece. Who does the WWE push to take her place until she returns? The only other faces on the show were Maria and Mickie James. Maria was an eye-candy periphery diva and Mickie James was a credible jobber. It is not surprising that Mickie James got the push. Look at all the other situations Mickie James got pushed after that. She was frequently in the right spot at the right time to get the push. The WWE was not high on giving eye-candy divas those kind of pushes back then, although they did start to warm up to it near the end of Mickie's WWE run.

Even though Mickie James was getting pushed, this is not the kind of push that leads to success for the woman getting it, let alone lead to the woman getting it becoming the most over diva. Mickie James did that. What you witnessed the WWE doing with Mickie James in her final year is still be able to take advantage of her and hurt her overness at the same time. They were never pushing her as the true centerpiece, and definitely not as a periphery diva. But because they were low on options, Mickie James saw more time getting pushed, even though it was still credible jobber pushes.

Could Mickie James have endured the current diva division? As I said before, the WWE is not against giving eye-candy divas the pushes they usually only gave women with a lot more wrestling credibility. The two female wrestlers pushed as credible jobbers, Tamina and Natalya, have not had anything too important to do in a long time. Eve Torres is the current centerpiece. Layla and Kaitlyn have been used as credible jobbers. You can imagine Alicia Fox being used in this manner. The WWE does not even have to give a meaningful push to Natalya, the only face female-wrestler credible jobber. Now, what if Mickie James was still in this diva division? What if she still had the overness? Would the WWE have been successful in burying Mickie James in this diva division? There are two ways to look at this.

First, yes, they would succeed in burying Mickie James. Mickie was getting a lot of pushes back then mainly because the need kept on coming up to push a face credible jobber and she was often the only option. Things are different now. The WWE could get away with pushing Layla or Kaitlyn over Mickie James. They can just argue that they are giving these women fair opportunities. Without even being featured at all, except maybe on Superstars, large tag matches, and mediocre treatment that is always ending abruptly, you would assume Mickie's overness would dry up. She would become an afterthought, much like Gail Kim did.

The second way to look at this, what if not giving Mickie James even the usual credible jobber opportunities fails to bury her? This woman was not supposed to get over in the first place. They were never pushing her with the proper consistency, hype, and character/storyline development after she did get over, but she maintained the overness of a diva you would think was being pushed well. They treated her even more poorly, but she survived that. Keep in mind that Mickie went through 2 periods where they were not pushing her for at least 5 months. The first came when they started pushing Candice Michelle as centerpiece. The second came after Candice Michelle had flopped as centerpiece. They did give Mickie mediocre storylines during both periods, but they all ended abruptly without a proper finish and did nothing for Mickie James. It is comparable to how the WWE has recently been using Natalya. If Mickie James was in this current diva division, you would probably see her getting those mediocre opportunities again. Remember how fast Rosa's angle with Del Rio ended? Have any faith in Natalya's angle with Khali? That's what Mickie would be in for, and was even the kind of thing happening to her during those 5-month dry spells. Mickie James survived those periods and maintained the overness. It's not hard to imagine she might maintain the overness if she was being overlooked in this current diva division where it is even easier to overlook female wrestlers than it has ever been. If she did, the WWE would be in some trouble. Back then, because the WWE would still push Mickie James, everyone thinks they loved her and wanted her to succeed. They don't pay attention to the circumstances around those pushes and realize those were not the kind of pushes that lead to the woman getting it becoming that successful. In this diva division, if Mickie maintained the overness, people would definitely know something is wrong. Your most over diva is being blatantly under-pushed for the sake of models lacking that overness? The WWE would be on the spot a lot worse than they were back then.

What do I think would have happened? Would the WWE have had an easier time burying Mickie James in this diva division or would she have beaten it and put the WWE on the spot? A lot of it depends on whether or not these other women are getting over. You have AJ Lee around. Could a successful diva created by the WWE help them get the fans to forget Mickie James? If this was the diva division they had back then, I believe they would have had the best chance of burying her. But after Mickie had solidified that overness, I don't think the WWE could get away with doing this to her without people wanting to know what happened. It wouldn't be as sharp as humiliating her like they did, but it would still stand out to treat a woman that over like this.

One last thing I want to say. Prior to this current development of giving eye-candy divas the kind of pushes you would give female wrestlers pushed as credible jobbers, you had eye-candy centerpieces getting injured too much and deteriorating in their wrestling ability. What does seeing eye-candy divas not working out in the ring motivate the WWE to do? Push them even more in the ring! Well...okay. I would agree that you shouldn't condemn all eye-candy divas too fast after a few bad results, but to hand them even more opportunities and to give real female wrestlers even less, and still not developing any of them to be centerpiece, just seems like a crazy decision to make after the bad luck they have had recently. Layla has improved very well in the ring and I do not consider her injury-prone, even though she was out for a year with an injury. She doesn't seem to be getting injured often. In general, however, I do not have that much faith in a lot of the other eye-candy credible jobbers. Who cares if I have faith? The WWE has faith, and that is what matters.

Layla Has Gotten Better

Layla is definitely the most improved eye-candy diva in terms of in-ring ability to be used as a credible jobber, never as a true centerpiece. Of course, 2012 has not been the year where she has been used the best. The WWE featured her best when she was teamed with Michelle McCool. That angle lasted over a year, but the bulk came in 2010. I want to compare that period in her career to the current one.

Teaming Layla with Michelle McCool was the biggest thing to happen to Layla. Prior to that, she was just a minor periphery diva. Alicia Fox was originally Michelle McCool's sidekick. Alicia went to Raw. McCool was still having trouble connecting with the fans in the manner you would expect of a centerpiece. It is not surprising that they would find another sidekick for McCool. And they actually treated her and Layla as a team. LayCool. Together, this pair was treated as the centerpiece. Layla won some titles and started to improve in the ring. When McCool left in 2011, the WWE tried developing Kelly Kelly as the centerpiece. Layla was soon out with a long injury.

Layla came back this year. She has really shown that she is better in the ring. Thing is, what are they pushing her as? LayCool was pushed as the centerpiece. When you take away McCool, who was pushed as centerpiece before Layla joined her, where would that leave Layla? Even though Layla won the title as soon as she returned and had a long reign, she was not featured properly during the run and has been lost in the shuffle since putting over Eve. That is pretty much the career of a credible jobber. The WWE is going to show more consistency with the centerpiece, less with the credible jobber. It reaffirms whom the WWE really wanted to be the top star of LayCool. If they really viewed Layla as McCool's equal, they would have featured her better during her last title run, at the very least. And I would imagine that they would try to find some periphery angle to keep her fresh and develop her. She doesn't need to be pushed as hard as AJ.

Out of Eve and Layla, who should be centerpiece? This is one of those situations where the woman you don't choose would definitely still have the ability to be a good centerpiece. Neither of them currently have the overness to be a truly successful centerpiece, but the WWE will eventually be successful in making it happen.

No Help From The Sideline

I don't remember if I ever made the analogy between what it is like to be the interim centerpiece in the WWE diva division and what it might be like for a backup quarterback to not get the same support in an NFL game as the starter. If I didn't, I'll be talking about it for the first time now. If I did, I at least have a little visualization to illustrate my point this time.

That cartoon was created by cartoonist Rob Tornoe earlier this month after a game in which Eagles quarterback Michael Vick was hurt and his rookie backup, Nick Foles, had to play the rest of the game. The tall guy in the cartoon is Foles. The guy that looks like all hope is lost is Andy Reid, the head coach. The cartoon implies that Foles is taking over a team in which the head coach has already given up.

In football, the quarterback is allowed to get ideas for what play to try from the coaches on the sideline. In the NFL, there is a communication device in the helmet to facilitate this. The quarterback still has the overall control on what he does out there, but getting some help from the sideline does alleviate some of the stress of trying to think up of everything on the fly. It's not cheating.

Now, could you imagine how fair it would be for the coaching staff to just completely give up after the main quarterback gets injured? Go back to the example of the Eagles. Let's say the coaches were giving full support to Vick to deliver. After Foles takes over after the injury in that same game, the coaches either then completely don't help him or don't give him proper support to help him deliver. The cartoon seems to comically imply that kind of thing happening. Foles, obviously, did get some support from the coaching staff. Reid is playing for his own job.

Would it be fair to compare the performance of a veteran starter with support from the sidelines to that of a rookie backup not getting any support from his coaches? There is an obvious imbalance there. And what if the backup quarterback did go on to do it all on his own? Winning the game? That didn't happen in the case of Nick Foles, who lost the game in which he took over for Vick and a game where he took Vick's place for the entire game the following week. Nevertheless, that would be a truly impressive accomplishment.

Tie that back into what goes on in the diva division. I have said before that the WWE successfully creating a centerpiece is like scoring a touchdown. In terms of what the centerpiece represents in the diva division, you can say she is the quarterback. Just like the quarterback can get injured and need to be replaced by the backup in a football game, the same kind of thing does happen in the diva division. Aside from injuries, you also have flops and centerpieces leaving the company that leads to a backup being needed prior to the WWE planning and developing on who they want to take the spot regularly.

You don't really need to ask what would happen if the WWE does not show the same support to the interim centerpiece that they would to the woman they really wanted to be centerpiece. It happens all the time. Prior to Eve winning the title, Layla was being pushed as an interim centerpiece. She was holding the title, but was not being developed to be a star or even featured regularly on TV. That is not how you properly push a centerpiece. That makes it harder for Layla, as well as so many other divas, to deliver for the company. That makes it harder for the diva division to be as great as it could possibly be. These are problems that are coming from the sidelines, or backstage in this instance. The bosses are not delivering properly for the workers. If that wasn't bad enough, they have this kind of attitude at a time when the diva division is at its lowest, much like many can say the Eagles are at their lowest now. Being like this will not help matters at all.

Go back to what I said about it not being fair to compare a starter with support from the coaches to a backup not getting that kind of support. How does that work out in the diva division? It comes down to comparing centerpieces and periphery divas to credible jobbers. Credible jobbers are those women the WWE pushes mostly as filler or to put over the centerpieces. They don't get the proper support to be over. It is obviously not fair to compare a woman like that to someone being developed to be a draw, whether they are pushing them to be great or a unique character.

You look at the career of Mickie James. She was always a credible jobber. She came in to put over Trish Stratus, had multiple pushes as interim centerpiece when the women they would rather be pushing got injured or retired, and had her career end by putting over Michelle McCool. She was not getting the same kind of support throughout her career as Trish Stratus and Michelle McCool. And what did she do with that career? She gave every reason in the world why the backup should have become the starter. It didn't happen. And the WWE still continues to deny women like her, female wrestlers, the legitimate opportunity to be the centerpiece.

Last comparison to make, the Eagles are currently having the worst losing streak under Andy Reid that they have ever had. It's like a sinking ship or wrecked car, going back to the cartoon. I think it is very easy to relate that back to the diva division. They have never witnessed failure to recreate a great centerpiece like they have been having since Trish Stratus left. Whether it is because of injuries, flopping in the ring, not sticking around long enough to solidify the position, or just failing to get over, none of the chosen divas to be centerpiece have gotten it done. It's not so much the women failing more recently as it is the company not making the right decisions. Andy Reid will most likely lose his job at the end of this season. Who in the WWE loses his job for this failed women's division? How about that same guy who probably came up with the idea to create the diva division in the first place? It won't happen.

Eve Torres Vs. Layla Vs. Kaitlyn At Hell In A Cell

I was hoping for a triple threat for the tag titles, but it seems that the PPV coming up will have a triple threat for the Diva's Championship. Eve will defend against both Layla and Kaitlyn. It was revealed that she was the attacker on Raw. There are a few points I want to make about all this.

First, looking at Raw, the segment that featured Kaitlyn finding evidence against Eve happened backstage. I don't really like that. Major segments almost always happen in the ring. That is the way it should be. What you have going on here is an elaborate diva storyline, albeit a weak one. I feel the reveal should have happened in the ring. They obviously would have had to write it differently, but I think it could have been possible. Eve comes out to do a promo about AJ's situation, Kaitlyn confronts her, and then Layla joins in. Give it that focus.

Next, I really don't like the pacing of this feud. Earlier this month, I talked about the state of the diva division. I mentioned that Beth Phoenix's last act may be putting over Eve in this storyline. I wrote that on a Monday. On that Monday's Raw, Eve beat Beth. They should have drawn it out more. They could have given at least one more week to develop Beth's involvement in the story, then have Eve go over her. Since then, Eve has also faced Kaitlyn and Layla. Definitely rushing through things. I would have had Layla get her rematch at Hell in a Cell. Drag on the drama of the storyline a little. Have the reveal happen after the PPV. If they still want a triple threat, rather than Eve vs. Kaitlyn, go for it. I realize that they don't have a ton of workers to have many filler matches, but you have enough to not rush things so fast. They definitely could have spread it out and made this a more intriguing elaborate diva storyline.

Should it have been Eve? She was the obvious choice. But they are really low on credible jobbers. Layla is being used to put over Eve. So is Kaitlyn, but I don't think she is solid enough in the ring yet to be considered a true credible jobber. They could have used this situation to debut a henchwoman for Eve. Debut someone from NXT. In a few months, Eve and her henchwoman can have issues, then that leads to Eve feuding with whoever that woman would be. Altogether, if you do things the way I would have done them, the diva division would be set for the rest of the year and into 2013, as far as centerpiece issues go.

Who should win? Eve is the centerpiece. She just won the title last month. Although she has had some title defenses, I see no reason to end it, especially when you consider who the other choices are. I mean no disrespect to Layla. She is solid now and deserves to be treated properly, but she just had a long title reign. I see no reason to give it back to her so soon, especially when she is not the centerpiece. As for Kaitlyn, as I said before, she is not solid enough in the ring. I don't think she should win. In the typical elaborate diva storyline, you would have the title change hands. Since Kaitlyn is the victim of heel Eve, it would make sense, storyline-wise, for her to eventually win it. I don't know if they will eventually do it, and I'm still not sure of whether they should, but Eve seems to be the safe choice to retain here.

Layla Vs. Kaitlyn, With Eve Nearby

I am not going to go back to that battle royal and try to figure out whether or not the match ended the way it was supposed to. Fact is, they are running with Layla vs. Kaitlyn for Night of Champions. Eve has been involved in this storyline, as well. Without that, you would have gotten a basic title feud for the Diva's Championship.

This is really not even about Layla or Kaitlyn. Although Layla is holding the Diva's Championship, she has not been given the treatment to consider her the centerpiece of the division. If there was not a PPV coming up where all titles are defended, you have to wonder whether they would even bother featuring as much of her as they have recently. Kaitlyn is even less featured. She had a minor purpose alongside AJ earlier in the year. More recently, they were using her with Eve. Even though she is now getting a title shot, I don't expect much to come after it. Even if she does win the title, they will not run with her.

Eve is the one to keep your eye on. I have said before that she is a better choice to be centerpiece than Kelly Kelly. In terms of wrestling ability, she is better. She started out the year in a storyline involving Zack Ryder and John Cena. She moved on to aligning with Laurinaitis. She got another spot on the periphery recently. They did not need to throw her into title matters. They could have had her get more involved in Booker T's current storyline issues. This face turn you are seeing is most likely a fake turn. Act like a face, then strike when the time is right or mock the faces that believed in you. But it is an angle that puts interest in Eve. I believe they are about ready to pull the trigger on pushing a new centerpiece.

Who wins between Kaitlyn and Layla? Layla should retain. Eve is obviously the one on the horizon to get the title shot after the coming PPV. Eve vs. Layla or Eve vs. Kaitlyn? The former will make for a better match. The latter, moreover, has already been done in recent weeks. Go for the better match and fresher option.

Layla: Not The Centerpiece

I had said that what would really show whether or not the WWE wanted to develop Layla as centerpiece would be how they push her after her current title reign ends. Would they continue to revolve the major diva matters around her? You don't even have to wait that long. The WWE has pretty much already shown that they do not currently want to develop her as the top diva.

Go back a few weeks. Beth Phoenix got another title shot at a PPV. Before they brought this feud back to the main shows the week prior to No Way Out, it was pretty much nonexistent. When they did bring it back, it was just to hand Beth two wins to build momentum before losing to Layla, again. This match was more diva filler for the PPV card.

Where has Layla found herself since then? No credible jobber looks to be on the horizon. They can definitely try to push a heel Tamina against her, but they aren't. She has a brief encounter with AJ this week, including what happened on Raw and what will happen on Smackdown, but AJ is already tied into something more important. Layla is the one who does not seem to have a clear, great direction. And yet, she is Diva's Champion. But not the centerpiece.

As for AJ, her storyline continues to revolve around 3 main-eventers. They are pushing her hard. This is the hardest they have pushed a diva in the men's division since Lita. Depending on how much longer it lasts and what more they have her do, this might top what the WWE did with Lita. Because the WWE is not yet showing any interest in developing major diva division matters around her to hype her as the best diva in the division, she is not the centerpiece. It just goes to show that a diva does not need to be Trish Stratus for the WWE to develop her as a star. It is a smart move to shift to building divas in the periphery after years of failures with creating a centerpiece. AJ is definitely getting over.

Speaking honestly, I find it a shame that Mickie James will have to end up with this tainted legacy, while a woman hyped by many as her replacement is getting built to be a success. Comparing AJ's career in the WWE to Mickie's is comparing the career of a periphery diva to a credible jobber. Mickie James earned her overness the hard way and a better career than she was given. As I just mentioned, AJ is really benefiting from years of inability to recreate Trish. They are not even pushing their Diva's Champion as well as they are AJ.

Final point, what about Beth Phoenix? If you have ever read my blog before, you probably guessed that this depush and poor treatment would be coming for Beth even before she won the title last year. If you have never read my blog before, let's just look at the history of Beth's recent push. Before she got the push last year, she wasn't doing anything. She had no storyline or feud going. The WWE even had to turn her heel the very night she won a title shot and started her feud with face Kelly Kelly. After Beth did win the title, they never really developed any great feuds for her and often pushed her inconsistently. Good focus was not on her. It should have been easy to see that this push for Beth would end like all her other pushes in the past. She is back to being lost in the shuffle.

Layla: New Diva Centerpiece?

Layla returned a few weeks ago to win the Diva's Championship. She now finds herself in a feud with Beth Phoenix for the title.

The important thing, is she being developed as the centerpiece of the diva division? Is she the one following in the path of Sable and Trish Stratus? She has the background that the WWE likes in their centerpieces for the diva division. She is currently in the typical feud a centerpiece will find herself, feuding against a credible wrestler. Of course, what matters most is whether or not the WWE will continue to revolve the major diva division issues around her. That is what is going to separate her from being the centerpiece to being just another filler push in this dark period the WWE finds itself.

Layla is not a bad choice. She has definitely improved in the ring over the years. She has some potential to her. Beyond that, she already has some build to her. Back in the LayCool run, she was teamed with Michelle McCool, whose centerpiece push failed to get her over. The WWE deciding to continue to develop Layla would not be a shocking choice.

In another diva matter, periphery action is still running wild. In the few years I have been blogging, I don't think there have been better examples of what I mean when I say that the WWE can develop stars in the diva division outside of the diva division. Vickie Guerrero was probably the only good example I usually had, but how else would they push a non-wrestler? Currently, the WWE is still developing Eve and AJ. Both of these women are getting storylines in the men's world. Eve has not had a match on Raw in a while. Does she need it? No. They are developing her character. That is what will really get her over. And AJ? She has seen a little more action in the ring recently than Eve, but she is neither a centerpiece nor a credible jobber feuding against a centerpiece or acting as filler. Her matches have been part of her larger storyline involving Daniel Bryan. Yes, it is not over. It seems they want to sell that she is going psycho. I'll probably talk about that and Eve's role another day. I just wanted to point out that the WWE is developing more divas than just Layla, and they are doing it in the periphery. In case anyone ever gets confused by what I mean by that, you are seeing it play out right now.

Brief Raw 4/30/12 Notes

A lot has been happening recently, so I am going to have to touch on a lot of subjects on one go.

First, Brodus Clay went back to the jobber circuit on Raw. He beat JTG. Of course, this was a special Raw. Most of the matches were dedicated to finding a new #1 contender. Next week, the WWE should be back on track to something. He can continue his feud with Jack Swagger. But after that? The WWE really seems lost with this guy. It's not like he's a major priority. Just give him time to dance and do his act, and everyone will be happy. I would have had Miz win the U.S. title and feud with Brodus. It seemed like they were finally going somewhere with the guy. Just pick a direction and go with it.

New Tag Team Champions are Kofi Kingston and R-Truth. Giving them the tag titles is not shocking at all. I would have given them the tag titles long ago. What about Primo and Epico? I really don't think they will be going anywhere special with Abraham Washington, but it will be interesting to see what the WWE at least attempts.

Layla returned at Extreme Rules and won the Diva's Championship. On Raw, she retained in a quick match against both Bellas. Later on, it was announced that Brie and Nikki were fired. Obviously, their contract did run up and they are not staying. The firing is a kayfabe way of writing them out. Could they have just let them leave and be forgotten? Probably, since they have done things like that before. I'm not going to criticize them for the way they handled things. Waste of time. However, the recent title changes just seem like a mess. This is an even more awkward exchange than what happened last year at the beginning of 2011. The title went from heel Beth Phoenix to Nikki Bella, then to face Layla. Why did they bother with Nikki at all? Makes you wonder why they didn't give John Morrison a reign last year before he left. He was more deserving. Did the WWE think Kharma was going to be back? And I read those reports that Beth's injury was fake. That makes things even more awkward. Why would you fake an injury like that? And in a Lumberjill match, where they could have easily have had the same kind of injury made from a shot to Beth's ankle during a bunch of divas attacking her? And the fact that Beth being taken out of the picture doesn't really do much? Beth is out and The Bellas are gone. Those are three heels right there. This is a mess.

Speaking of a mess, John Cena seemed to be taking a break after Extreme Rules. Having him return to Raw to give an update and say a farewell would have been one thing, but they actually build who he will be facing at the next PPV? John Laurinaitis was definitely a shocking choice. I, like many others, felt it would be Tensai going against Cena, so Cena could avenge that loss from a few weeks ago. Having Cena face the GM is more interesting. But what about that injury? The guy gives this emotional speech, then pops back up like everything is okay and will be competing at the next PPV? What? And they beat him down again on Raw, focusing on his arm. Can he stay down this time? Just for two weeks? Let's really see how the WWE can do with CM Punk as top face of Raw, without Cena on the show. Can two weeks really kill you?

And That Leaves Kelly Kelly

I've been noticing Smackdown's diva matters being used for the benefit of Raw's diva feud lately. That may not sound too important, and it isn't, but it is a sign of a change in the diva division.

Who is the centerpiece over on Raw? Even though she lost the title, it is Kelly Kelly. Who is the centerpiece over on Smackdown? None. Smackdown has been used to further the feud between Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix. No centerpiece, or even interim centerpiece, has been getting attention. When Michelle McCool left, it looked like they would still treat Layla as the center of attention on Smackdown. Raw had Kelly Kelly. Layla got injured. AJ Lee's debut followed. It looked like she would get the spot Layla left. The WWE was working on some kind of angle featuring AJ, Kaitlyn, and Natalya as the faces. Alicia, Tamina, and Rosa were heels. Things sure have changed since then. The biggest change is that Natalya turned heel and joined Beth Phoenix. Whatever feud was brewing there is gone. Smackdown has no true diva feud of its own being furthered. They have Aksana, but that is another topic for another day.

This is somewhat like how things went before separate brands and two distinct titles. Let me just go back to 2008. From the time the Diva's Championship was created, Michelle McCool was the centerpiece of Smackdown, while Candice Michelle, even though she was injured at the time, was centerpiece of Raw. Candice flopped as centerpiece. Raw went a few months without a true centerpiece. Maryse moved to Raw with the Diva's Championship, sending Melina to Smackdown with the Women's Championship. Maryse was Raw's new centerpiece. McCool was still centerpiece of Smackdown, and had pretty much become the main focus of the whole division. Maryse flopped in 2010. The two titles were soon unified under McCool, surprisingly? Through it all, she failed to get over. In a kind of reverse to the bad luck Raw has had with finding a centerpiece since 2008, Smackdown is now the show without a focus. And the WWE does not seem too interested to get one. Using Smackdown to help further Raw's diva feud seems to be working for them. They get to build up more momentum.

Thoughts On Jeff Hardy And Diva Matters On Raw

Wow. First TNA PPV of the year I did not order, and I'm not sure whether I regret it or not. The fans were screwed out of a real main event, but the circumstances are so controversial, it was definitely something I wouldn't have mind seeing as it happened.

Sting vs. Jeff Hardy. Whether this was some kind of work or not, it definitely felt real. Jeff comes out looking like he is not at 100%. Sting comes out ready to entertain the fans. Eric Bischoff comes out to change the match. Of course, he sold it as making it No DQ to screw Sting. When he held the mix away, he spoke privately to the men involved. He was changing the match. Sting was definitely not happy about it. Jeff Hardy seemed somewhat defiant about it all. Quick and awkward finish. Poor main event.

Fans gave the "Bullshit" chant. Sting said that he agreed. Got to give him credit for that. After a disaster like that, you can't pretend like it was awesome. You want to go out there and give an entertaining performance the fans want to see. A guy like Sting knows that. That wasn't entertaining.

As for Jeff? I find the whole thing both hilarious and sad. If this is all real, Jeff needs to get himself together for the good of himself, his family, his fanbase, and the good of TNA itself. At the same time, this has a Charlie Sheen air to it. So many people are getting a laugh out of that guy's antics. And Jeff was such a moron out there.

As for TNA, if they are using this just to get people talking, just another low for them. And how about how they handled the situation? The commentators played it off as a respectable thing for Sting to win like that. Let them. That's their job. Sting showed more respectability to the business, as I said before.

I didn't even plan on talking about anything WWE related here. But that diva angle was worth mentioning. Snooki got a better reaction than Trish Stratus. Vickie got a better reaction than Trish. The commentators and everyone else were hyping Trish as a legend and quite possibly the greatest diva of all time. Jim Ross got a better reaction than her. Del Rio had more fans behind him in his match against Cena than Trish. Maybe Trish should go back to being a blond? In any case, Trish, John Morrison, and Snooki (NOT KELLY KELLY) will face LayCool and Ziggler at Wrestlemania. Trish gets another Wrestlemania match. McCool gets the rub from working with Trish AND a major celebrity. You know, there's one person Trish did get a better reaction than tonight. Michelle McCool still continues to fail. And what are all these rubs and attention going to do for her? Will she walk out with the same level of reaction Trish garnered tonight?

Let me talk about the match specifically. I got a little bit of my old diva blog still in my veins. It was a comedy match. What would you expect from a match with Vickie Guerrero? They played with Vickie's shoes. Yes, shoes. Trish spanked her with it. As far as comedy matches go, Vickie was the star here. She made this match work. She puts the heart into her work and has being annoying and taking humiliation down. That helps to make her a great heel. Trish, honestly, was just there. Vickie won thanks to LayCool. Vickie is now officially on Raw. There you have diva movement in between the Drafts, although not what I had expected, as I said before.

To wrap it up, the WWE should really rethink what they are doing with their diva division. The most over person, in terms of who can get a great reaction, is a manager. She doesn't wrestle. It's Vickie Guerrero. Their current major centerpiece is getting pushed for more than she is worth and is failing. This is Michelle McCool. The woman they hype to be the greatest diva of all time, the woman they have treated other real wrestlers like jobbers for, got rid of women who might have stepped out of her shadow, and truly is a product of the WWE, came back to a Raw she was hyped to be a part of and did not get the reaction of a legend at all. Should I find this more pathetic than the Jeff Hardy thing?

Diva/Women's Unification

One of the last points I made back when I wrote a diva blog was that there would be another movement of divas before the 2011 Draft. My rationale for this was that things would simply get stale on either brand after a while.

I was right and wrong. Things did get stale, especially for Smackdown. In the case of Smackdown, divas have been dropping like flies since the 2010 Draft. Beth Phoenix was injured. Tiffany was suspended. Kelly Kelly is left as the only face on the show, and she almost got seriously injured herself at a house show. The WWE released Serena, but she was not directly involved in main title issues anyway, and I doubt they were going to push her in that direction well as long as a certain someone else was top heel on Smackdown. Rosa is a joke. Everything revolves around LayCool. Even if you split them up, Michelle McCool is still the constant. Over on Raw, they keep things fresh by passing the title between women with very little credibility and no good build. The title was meant to give Eve and Alicia that credibility. The matches were nothing to be too proud of. Alicia got screwed with the return of Melina. It was not a strong division at all.

I was wrong in thinking that the answer to this staleness would be a diva trade. How could I have predicted Beth getting injured and the stuff I just mentioned? A trade would just look awkward. Smackdown loses Rosa Mendes and gains 4 or 5 women in her place? And who do they send back to Smackdown? All the main players have been there already. There is nothing fresh left in the whole division at all. Judging by how the WWE treated Eve and Alicia, they are on a path of failing to build divas properly. The answer to the problem? Title unification.

The obvious choice to win, if you want what is right for the division, would be Melina. The Unified Women's Champion will surely be able to work both shows, just like the tag titles can supposedly be defended on either show. Even though there is diva movement in that, I do not count that as an actual trade of any sort. Have Melina show up on Smackdown to add more options to matches. Make tag matches again. If Tiffany ever shows up, you may even have 6-diva tags for a while. When those NXT divas are ready to go to the main brands, then you could hand the title back to McCool. Just send many of the women to Smackdown. Then again, we are dealing with Michelle McCool here. The type of match it is also makes me wonder, as well as the fact that Melina has been built too well so far.

In a related issue, when those title do combine, how do you treat women who have held the defunct title? Just like both World titles are combined when you say Triple H is a 13-time World Champion, the two diva division titles can combine the same way. Why bring that up? That would make Melina a 5-time Champion. McCool is a 4-time Champion. Mickie James is a 6-time Champion. I believe that ties into a certain belief I hold. I would be interested to see how the WWE starts pushing Melina after her 6th reign.