Grading On A Curve

Getting sick of the whole grading thing? Well, you probably shouldn't bother reading this. Grading on a curve is a technique to help the grades of students that may not have done too well. One common method is setting a new standard. If the highest grade on a test was only a 70, you give everyone 30 extra points. Those students that got only a 70 now end up with a 100 and some that might have completely failed at least now pass.

How does that relate to pro wrestling? It relates to assessing how well the workers are connecting with the fans. Especially when it comes to the divas, I don't feel any of these women really have a major, consistent connection with various types of fans. Smarks obviously feel very strongly about some of these women. But the wrestling world does not revolve just around their desires. Moreover, it doesn't seem like one diva is really running away with their hearts. At certain times, it seems like AJ is the most loved and Paige has too many haters. At other times, the reverse seems to be true. And don't forget The Bellas. A lot of work has been put into them. Brie Bella was getting some good reactions when working with Stephanie McMahon. Heel Nikki Bella got a face reaction when giving a face promo recently. And yet, none of these women seem to be connecting as well as Trish and Lita did.

Is it really fair to grade these current divas in relation to Trish and Lita? I don't mean because Trish and Lita are so great and no one can ever be as good as them. Trish Stratus and Lita are not untouchable. Thing is, Trish and Lita just had certain things around them to help them succeed that are not here these days for the current divas. Trish and Lita had women with solid wrestling credibility being used as credible jobbers around them when the golden age started. Standards have declined. Eye-candy divas are now used as credible jobbers. Some of them do show potential, but the same respectability is not there. Trish and Lita sometimes get all the credit from some fans for the diva division looking respectable back then. Trish and Lita also benefited from a great periphery. The midcard was great, the tag division was great, the main-event scene was great, and that all opened up opportunities for women to be used in interesting manners during the dark age that Trish and Lita debuted. And even after things got golden, there were still good things going on in the periphery because things were working out in the men's division. These days, the periphery is a mess. The men's division is not being run efficiently, so it is not shocking that would trickle down to the divas. Finally, the WWE had not experienced failure with their diva division back then. Sable left, but the system had not really failed. In recent years, that same system that worked a decade ago is no longer working. It all really started when Mickie James, a credible jobber, got over and the WWE decided to keep going in the direction of what they wanted to work out, instead of giving Mickie James the career she should have gotten and opening up the playing field for female wrestlers. The WWE choosing to go in the direction of what they want to work instead of giving the fans what they want? Sound familiar? And when it leads to failure, it is going to have an impact on how the management of the company handles things. They do not handle failure well. If Trish and Lita debuted at a time when the WWE was determined to go in a given direction, even if it led to failure, and they were on the wrong side of that status quo, how far would they have gotten? These days, more women seem to be on the wrong side than the right side.

Women today do not have the same solid foundation, do not benefit from a hot men's division, and have to work within a system that has not worked right since 2006. Is it fair to expect them to bring in an A connection with the fans in the same way that two women did that did benefit from a solid foundation, did benefit from a hot men's division, and did not have to be mistreated in a damaged system? I don't think so. What do you do? Grade them on a curve.

I have said before that I have a tough time saying that AJ Lee really has an A connection with the fans. Nevertheless, you might argue that she is among the most over divas on the roster. I have said before that she has a B+ connection with the audience. Grading her just in relation to her peers, you can say she is an A player. Bump up a few more divas. I would say Paige is an A/A-. The Bellas are an A-. Most of the other divas after that would fall in the B-tier.

No A+? A is as high as it goes. The way I look at it, for a wrestler to have an A+ connection with the fans, they either have to be extremely over or be bringing A-tier results from a mediocre or worse career. How can someone getting poor treatment possibly maintain that strong of a connection with fans on a consistent basis? If they can, they deserve the extra credit. I don't think any of the divas in that division right now are that extremely over and none of the credible jobbers or mistreated periphery divas are overcoming it to be considered A+ players.

This all isn't really about lowering your standards because you feel bad for the divas today. To hold them up to Trish and Lita's level just isn't fair. If Trish and Lita had to make it in this current diva division, they would probably not have gone as far as they did go. Instead of having this attitude that the majority of your workers suck and you are going to treat them badly because you don't believe in them, assess them in relation to their peers. Determine whom your most over workers on the roster really are. You might not have a Rock or Austin, but if you find someone that is the best you have got right now, develop them to be a star. They just might end up like a Rock or Austin. First things first, you have to know what you have.

What Impact Is Lita's Legacy Having Today?

Lita will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. I am glad about that. The first few years I started watching wrestling, she was one of my favorite women of wrestling. I liked Sunny, Stephanie McMahon, Chyna, and Lita. Lita had that high-risk style that none of the others had. She was also hot. She had a sexy, unique style. You could consider her one of those "anti-diva" divas. Of all the female wrestlers to be pushed in the manner she was in that diva division, as a periphery diva, she is the greatest.

What is her legacy? How is her legacy being felt today? Divas and whoever else can do interviews about Lita and say how great she was and how she benefited women's wrestling, but that is the kind of thing you would expect people to say in these situations. I want to be a little more realistic than just handing generic praise to someone, even though I do respect and like the individual in question.

To me, a legacy is about more than just memories. I have memories of certain wrestlers that no one would consider legendary and really didn't make an impact. Lita is obviously not one of those individuals. And she is more than what the WWE booked her to be. Her legacy isn't simply the number of title reigns and how many times she was booked to be in main events. Her legacy is really her wrestling style and her unique style outside of wrestling.

The most obvious way a performer can have a legacy is to motivate others to follow in their footsteps. Lita has obviously done that. AJ Lee was a big fan of Lita. A lot of people motivate others like that.

I am really interested in talking about whether Lita's legacy is helping the current diva division. Let me start with the top star in the division today that Lita happened to inspire. AJ Lee happens to be getting the same type of career that Lita had. AJ has been pushed as a periphery diva. Should you be thanking what Lita did with a career of angles primary in the men's division and not being developed as the central star for that? Between Lita retiring and AJ Lee getting her big push, the WWE developed no female wrestlers to be major stars in the periphery. If the WWE was really happy with Lita's success, why would it take over 5 years to allow another female wrestler to get that kind of push and career? What led to the rise of AJ Lee was more the collapse of the diva division, not the legacy of Lita. Moreover, AJ isn't exactly wrestling the kind of style Lita would. As far as having a unique style, AJ Lee isn't exactly imitating Lita's style. Of course, some fans would point out that she is imitating other individuals with her character and style. Aside from divas, she has even been compared to CM Punk. I once referred to her as a "patchwork" diva. I don't consider Lita like that. Yes, she benefited from whatever gimmick the guy(s) she was working with had, but I think she made her style her own. I don't know what to make of AJ Lee. To put it simply, aside from Lita inspiring her and getting the same type of career Lita had, I don't consider AJ Lee too comparable to Lita.

How about the diva division in general? How has her risky, exciting wrestling style and unique character influenced things today? The divas aren't allowed to wrestle too risky. They injure each other just doing the simplest of spots. There isn't even one diva that really shows that high-risk style. I am not saying that none of the divas ever go to the top rope. Tamina obviously does. But none of them really do it like Lita did. And unique styles and "anti-diva" divas? I already mentioned that AJ Lee's character style and look are not really unique and she seems to be made up of patches of other popular workers. Compared to the other women on the roster, AJ Lee is  the closest thing you have to Lita. The majority of the other divas are your generic glamorous divas. Kaitlyn had an "anti-diva" style, but the WWE did not push her well. At the end of the day, this is not really a women's division that looks to be influenced by Lita.

You cannot blame Lita for what the diva division has become. The WWE has final authority over what happens with the division. They do not want to run a division where their workers, a lot of whom are inexperienced, might get injured too easily and make themselves look way foolish. As far as not much variety in style and character, that is just one of the main things about the diva division. It revolves around glamor. That is why an eye-candy diva is always the centerpiece. They are glamorous. As far as character goes, AJ Lee might be the closest thing you have to Lita, but she does not stand out to me as something different like Lita did. Moreover, her climb up the periphery ladder of success was not as natural as Lita's was. What will AJ Lee's legacy end up being? That is another issue. Until then, Lita still had a great career and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.   

AJ Lee: Climbing Down The Periphery Ladder Of Success

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Could Lita Or Trish Have Done What Mickie Did?

I just finished a short series thinking about whether Mickie James, Lita, and Trish Stratus could have succeeded in this current environment of the diva division. It is definitely not easy to make it in these conditions, even for women with WWE support to be successes. But this is not the only difficult position for a diva to go through to succeed. Mickie James also had to overcome difficult circumstances to have her success. Could Trish or Lita have done what Mickie James did?

First of all, what is it that Mickie James actually did? I'm not going to use the regular "credible jobber" and "centerpiece" terminology. You sometimes might get so lost in terminology, you lose the feel for what the words actually mean. Let me try to spell it out. From the time the WWE diva division started over a decade ago, the WWE has liked to develop a beautiful, glamorous eye-candy diva as the chief star of the division. They don't have any true wrestling training and experience when they get here, but they develop it over time while in the WWE. Where does that leave female wrestlers, those women who do come with actual wrestling skill and experience? The WWE typically uses these women to put over the eye-candy diva. They frequently get depushed, get mediocre treatment when not being used to make the main star look good or act as filler, and always get phased out. Only a few female wrestlers get great careers, always consisting a lot of angles with the men and on the side of the main star. And none of these female wrestlers to get these careers ever started out like the others, became very over off it, then got raised up. This is the division that Mickie James came to. She came in at a time when the WWE had a successful main star, a successful female wrestler developed as a star, no female wrestlers used to put over the main star ever getting too over, and no real problems at all. In time, Mickie James became the most over diva on the roster. The WWE never stopped pushing her the same way they always push the majority of female wrestlers. They continued to go to eye-candy divas to develop that main star. Despite mediocre treatment and being treated even worse later on, Mickie James remained successful. All other things being the same, could Trish or Lita have come into the diva division at this time, taken this type of career, succeeded, and survived the mediocre treatment that should dry up that overness?

I can knock Trish Stratus out of this discussion easily. Trish did not come in with wrestling experience. She was an eye-candy diva. If she debuted in 2005, they would not have used a woman like her to put over the main star of the diva division in the same way they did Mickie James. You can talk about the possibility of Trish eventually becoming amazing in the ring and getting the kind of career Mickie James had, but while she is developing that wrestling ability, she is going to have a grace period where she is connecting with the fans just through her sex appeal. Remember Ashley? Trish probably would have gotten the kind of usage Ashley got on Raw in 2005. That is not the career Mickie James had. The diva division may be more open now to using eye-candy divas to do the jobs that those kind of female wrestlers used to do back then, but they weren't doing it that much back then. Trish would not even be in the position Mickie James was in when she debuted.

Lita was hired having had wrestling training. If she debuted in 2005, she most likely would have been used to put over the main star of the division. She is the kind of woman they like to use for that and she would be coming at a time when their division is pretty much set and solid. Could she have succeeded? If the WWE did not start treating her better, could she survive?

One of the things that helped Mickie James connect with the fans was definitely her charisma. Even when she was just being pushed as a generic face diva, her charisma helped her to still stand out more. What about Lita's charisma? You look at the career Lita did have, her character was always benefiting from rubs she got from the guys. She was aligned with a high-flying luchador, the extreme brothers, and a guy who was rated R. She also had that big storyline with Kane. Whatever gimmick her guys had, Lita got a little bit of that too. Take that away. Could Lita make it as a generic face diva? Hard to consider, right? Even if Lita did get over through the big debut angle she would get if she had debuted in 2005, I don't think she would have the charisma to stay connected with the fans when the WWE stops developing her character well and does not bother keeping it fresh.

Injuries are also an issue. The longest Mickie James ever was away in the WWE due to an injury or anything with her health was a few weeks. A lot of people did not think she would be able to perform at Wrestlemania that year. She came back and was a part of that diva match. Lita's history with injuries is larger. Lita's style in the ring has always been risky. Because she would not be getting all those angles with the guys, she would be called on to actually wrestle diva matches more often. Just like the character development she got alongside the guys helped to make Lita a star, so did her high-risk style. What if they took that away? People always talk about the WWE having their divas do less in recent years. Would Lita's style still connect her with the fans? What if they did not limit her? Would injuries have been an even bigger problem with Lita? If she was in Mickie's position, she would have to wrestle more often against the divas than she did in reality. And when the diva division started deteriorating and eye-candy divas started seeing more time, how well could Lita perform with these women? Injuries could become a real issue. And that could make it even easier to bury Lita.

Do I think Lita could have done what Mickie James did? No. Lita would be left as a generic face diva. It would be up to her own charisma to stay connected with a lot of fans out there. Maybe it is just because I find it hard to picture her character without matching her up to the guys she's worked with, but I don't think she has the charisma. Moreover, her wrestling style that helped her to connect with the fans over a decade ago may become limited by the WWE if she had to work in recent years. And because she would be seeing more ring time than she did in her actual career, that would open up the possibility for more injuries with that style. Because the WWE was frequently still developing her character, lack of wrestling did not have to bury Lita. She still stayed fresh through storylines. She could not count on that with the kind of career Mickie James had. Lita would follow the path of Jazz and Melina, two women who suffered some injuries in their careers. Both were also phased out and eventually released.

To succeed when circumstances are in your favor or even just fair and balanced is one thing. To succeed when things are against you, that is something else. You cannot take success for granted and you should pay attention to how individuals manage to succeed. Trish and Lita were successful, but you cannot take it for granted that it would have worked out in any situation they were put in. On the other side of that, Mickie James was successful, but you cannot make the assumption that her path in the WWE was similar to what Trish and Lita had. There are different roads to success.

Would Lita Have Succeeded Today?

Earlier in the month, I speculated on whether Mickie James would have still been able to shine in this current dark age of the WWE diva division. Staying with this theme of successful divas of the past being able to succeed in this type of environment, how about Lita? Lita debuted as a periphery diva during the first dark age, which occurred between Sable leaving and Trish starting to be pushed as the centerpiece of the division. She succeeded in that environment and the WWE continued to run with her as a periphery diva when things got golden. Would the same thing happen today?

First off, this isn't about considering whether Lita would be treated well if the WWE brought her back for one more angle. Lita is already a WWE legend. She will be in the Hall of Fame one day. If she was brought back for another storyline or feud, she would be featured well. This is about whether or not Lita would have made it if she was just starting her WWE career around this time.

You go back over a decade to Lita's debut. If people in the WWE were to say that they didn't really expect Lita to connect well with the fans when she started out, I would probably believe them. She wasn't being pushed as hard as AJ Lee was to get her connected to the fans. Lita was connecting with the fans through using her high-flying moves to get involved in matches against the guys. The WWE, however, were the ones who put her in that position to do these things and gave her the green light to do it. And they made the decision to be consistent with her and move her up the ladder after that debut with Essa Rios. Where did she start? In the periphery. Where were they consistent with her? In the periphery. I bring that up to point out that Lita is not an example of a credible jobber becoming very over, then moving up to being a periphery diva. Lita climbed that ladder of success as a periphery diva. She started at the bottom of that type of career and worked up, if you want to look at it that way.

Essa Rios was part of the light heavyweight division. Lita then transitioned to teaming with the Matt & Jeff Hardy, who were one of the top teams of the tag division. Those two divisions were strong back then. Lita went from being paired with a guy in the light heavyweight division that was being pushed well to teaming with a tag team that was being pushed even better. And Lita was allowed to continue her high-flying ways with Team Extreme. She was also allowed to continue to mix it up with the men.

Lita definitely benefited from the company being more open to male-female violence back then. Not only did you see Lita hitting moves on men, and occasionally beating them, but she took some beatings. Austin and Triple H destroying her in the main event of Raw seems to be remembered just as much as Lita beating Trish Stratus for the title in the main event of Raw. And how many finishers from men had she taken throughout her career? Fans respect seeing that. Being willing to do it is only part of the deal. The WWE has to allow you to do it. And they did.

What kind of company do you have today? I don't even need to consider too much about the diva division. Lita was a female-wrestler periphery diva. The diva division today is still not about letting female wrestlers be the centerpiece and only one female-wrestler credible jobber has ever become very successful, and her story has not gone well. This is about whether Lita would have had a successful periphery career today. So what is different with the company today as compared to 2000?

First, you have no light heavyweight division and your tag division is nowhere near what it was back then. These are the divisions where Lita's career really flourished when she started, not even so much the women's division. If Lita were to debut in this era, who would she be paired with? A midcarder? Midcarders aren't being treated too well.

Second, it is extremely rare for the WWE to have male-female violence today. Having Big Show run over AJ Lee last year was probably the first big step in the development of AJ Lee as a periphery diva, but not much bumps from the guys for AJ since then. And even less for the other divas. As I said before, it was Lita hitting these high-flying moves against the men and trading blows that really helped her to connect with the fans. If you take that away and still try to find someone to pair Lita up with today, she would most likely end up like Rosa or Natalya.

Speaking of AJ Lee, the WWE already has a periphery diva in her that they are investing a lot in. If Lita was showing interest in making it in the WWE today, would the WWE even waste time considering grooming another female wrestler in the periphery? It is true that Chyna was already there when Lita debuted, but Chyna benefited from a hotter company than you had today and from the green light to mix it up with the men, much like Lita. The company is not as hot today. They have to rely on The Rock, a star from that time, to bring them results. They have the headache of trying to figure out what to do with their guys to make stars like The Rock and Brock Lesnar. AJ Lee is the most well-pushed diva you currently have. I don't think the WWE would even bother trying to develop another female wrestler as well as her right now. Their top priority is probably finding the centerpiece that will save their diva division.

Would Lita even get to debut in this diva division? The WWE seems content with using eye-candy divas to serve the purposes female-wrestler credible jobbers once served. Just a few weeks ago, they released Buggy Nova. She was a female wrestler who had a unique look. Lita was a female wrestler who did not look like the typical diva. That could be an indicator of whether Lita would even have gotten called up in this current division.

Would Lita have succeeded in this current diva division? The conditions that helped her show what she can do back then are not here today. You have no light heavyweight division, the tag division is mediocre, male-female violence is not really there anymore, and the company is simply not as hot as it was back then. The WWE already has a top star they are developing in the periphery. Their treatment of female wrestlers is getting worse, not better. It is questionable whether or not Lita would debut, let alone be pushed properly. Even though Lita debuted and succeeded in the first dark age of the diva division, this dark age is a different creature. I honestly do not believe she would have made it today. Her best shot might be the WWE deciding Alberto Del Rio needs a valet and Lita debuts right alongside a main-eventer. How likely is that? And it certainly wouldn't look like the career she did end up getting. The career she did end up getting and what she did with it does deserve to be respected. It may be a long time before any female wrestlers get those kind of opportunities again.  

Strip The Gold Away

There are a few things going on in the diva division and KO division that I wanted to talk about. There was also something I have been wanting to talk about for a few weeks now. I will talk about what the WWE is doing with Eve/Kelly and what TNA is doing with Mickie James eventually. This time, I want to talk about a broader topic.

Have you ever heard wrestling fans talk about the "Golden Era" or "Golden Age" of the WWE diva division? Of course, they are talking about the years of Trish and Lita, particularly after Trish became centerpiece. I sometimes see people rate this era so highly, it annoys me. I want to talk about how I see the peak years of the diva division.

Do you know what it means for something to be gilded? It means it is covered in gold. Looks good on the outside, but does that mean there is something good on the inside? Not necessarily. You can cover Jinder Mahal in as much gold as you want, but at the end of the day, he is still Jinder Mahal.

There was a "Gilded Age" in American history. This was a time when many people became extremely wealthy. And they loved to show it off. Just looking at that, you would think that everything was wonderful and life was beautiful for everyone. It wasn't. There were tons of people who were extremely poor. During these years in American history, people say the rich got richer at the expense of the poor. People say the government was run by the wealthy. To put it simply, all those extremely wealthy people could not hide the fact that the country really was not great back then at all.

I think you can see where I am going with this. The diva division under Trish Stratus and Lita was not golden. It was gilded. On the outside, you had two extremely over workers. Just under them, you had eye-candy divas who can connect with the fans just by showing skin and through sex appeal, which the WWE would often help them with through the storylines and segments they gave them. If you consider Stephanie McMahon as part of the diva division, she too had success and was used well. Everything seems fine then, right? The WWE has successful workers, so why complain about the division back then? You should be thinking how the WWE is getting these women over. Stephanie and Lita got over through things they were doing in the men's world. Even though Lita spent a lot of time in the "Golden Age" injured, she spent roughly the last two years before retiring getting major storylines and rubs from top WWE male wrestlers, namely Kane and Edge. The eye-candy divas, like Stacy and Torrie, could get over just by being hot, so it isn't surprising that they too were frequently used as valets, managers, girlfriends, and so on, while sometimes getting into diva feuds with other eye-candy women. What about Trish, the woman the WWE centered the division around and built to be the greatest women's wrestler? How did they sell that idea? There is also another question you should consider. I talked about eye-candy divas, a female wrestler who got over through what she did alongside the men, and the boss's own daughter, but what about the other female wrestlers? What about those women who did not get the continuous, great treatment alongside the guys? Why didn't I talk about them yet? Well, so far, I was only talking about those women who became successful. There is a whole class of women in the division who never got major overness. Moreover, these were the women frequently used to put over Trish Stratus and bring credibility to the division. No one ever really talks about that enough. Why would they? People seem blinded by the gold. To put it another way, the division at this time had credibility and over workers. Problem is, the women who really brought wrestling credibility to the centerpiece and the division were never getting over.

Strip the gold away. You don't have to ponder what that would look like. Trish Stratus and Lita left. The WWE's top priority for years after that, as far as the diva division goes, has been to recreate a centerpiece to follow in the path of Trish Stratus. They want to take an eye-candy diva and build her up to be a great wrestler. Every attempt so far, however, has failed. Moreover, you really don't have them creating a woman like Lita. To top it all off, because the WWE has been PG and because they are now pushing eye-candy divas as wrestlers more regularly than they did in 2004, they don't have the same success that would come from eye-candy divas just pushing sex appeal. The most successful woman they had after Trish Stratus and Lita left was Mickie James, a credible jobber who made it on her own. They were never fostering her overness, and they even got rid of her. You can say that the WWE has the workers to try to run a credible, respectable women's wrestling division. You go back about a year, to before they lost both Melina and Gail Kim, and I would agree. However, as you can see by the WWE's actions, credibility is not their goal. Overness is their goal. They want to get who they want to be successful connected with the fans.

You look at the diva division you have had recently. In essence, it is the same division you had a decade ago. The only major difference is that the WWE has failed to accomplish what it did during the best years of the division. All that fancy gold covering is gone. The WWE has failed to properly cover up what lies beneath. What lies beneath? A division that revolves around trying to get the fans to buy into whichever workers the company want them to buy into. A whole class of workers who are being taken advantage of to keep things going and make the centerpiece look good, but are never allowed a fair shot at overness themselves. In the end, what lies beneath is not good business. It has failed to work out.

Just want to switch to something slightly related. I haven't given up trying to get other people understanding my diva theory yet. It isn't an easy thing to do. I just want to toss something out there, in the hopes you might get an idea of how tough it can be explaining this to someone. If you ever feel like doing it, if you ever find yourself talking to a wrestling fan on the Internet, at school, or wherever, just ask them one question. Do you think the WWE ever wanted Mickie James to be a success? That's all. Just look at how they respond. No, you don't have to tell me how they responded. And no, I'm not asking to advertise my blog. I'm certainly not asking you to start a war that might cost you a friendship or kicked off a message board. Just think about how that person responds, then think about what it would be like to try arguing this with complete strangers on the Internet, and sometimes on Twitter, Youtube, or message boards where it will not remain a 1-on-1 discussion. From what I have seen, no one else really sees the diva division in the terms I have put it. It can make someone really doubt whether he is right or not at times. Definitely daunting. I'm not asking you to lose sleep over it, but if you just want to know why I'm not rushing or having an easy time, just try asking that one question I put out. In case you are wondering what my new strategy is, since the one I tried on the Wrestlezone forums many months ago flopped, I ask the question about whether or not whomever I am talking to thinks the WWE wanted Mickie James to be a success, already assuming that the person will either say that the WWE obviously did want her to succeed or think I'm an idiot for asking, and then I will ask another question. If they wanted her to succeed, why were they always pushing her as they did the women who never succeed? From there, I branch out to what I have to say about the overall diva division. How long will it take me to flop this time?

Lita's Raw Return Benefits Kelly Kelly

Lita returned on Raw to hand out a Slammy for "Divalicious Moment of the Year". Divalicious? Yeah, it pretty much had to go to Kelly Kelly, didn't it?

Nice to see Lita back, but this is the second time this year that Kelly Kelly has been even slightly associated with one of the legendary divas the WWE created after Sable first left the company. Trish Stratus returned earlier this year to compete at Wrestlemania. She ended up tagging with Snooki, but it was Kelly Kelly who was involved in the creation of the feud before the WWE decided to bring in Snooki to counter TNA using stars from that particular reality TV show. Nevertheless, the WWE still followed through with making Kelly Kelly centerpiece of the diva division, despite dropping the full benefit of the rub. Back to last night, just the image of Lita holding up Kelly Kelly's hand in the air, while the other hand holds the Slammy, that is a very good shot of Kelly Kelly. Thing about rubs, it only really counts if the WWE plans to push you consistently and well. If they only plan it to be a one-shot deal, the association with a star bigger than you is meaningless. In some cases, you might have only been used for the benefit of that bigger star. In that case, the rub was definitely not there. You would still be depushed in the end. That will not be happening with Kelly Kelly.

Should Kelly Kelly have won it? Of course not! If this is supposed to be an award for a big diva moment of the year, how can it not go to Kharma? She came in and took out divas left and right. This got a lot of people interested in what was going on, much like Nexus did in 2010. Not surprisingly, that storyline seemed to be heading in a direction to put Kelly Kelly over. Nevertheless, the storyline they were running around Kharma was still a bigger deal than Kelly Kelly winning her first title in the WWE. And yet, Kelly Kelly will get the hype and attention for it. It isn't even like Kelly Kelly was the only woman in the WWE to win her first title this year. Remember Brie Bella? So what makes Kelly Kelly's moment worth so much, other than the WWE wanting it to be worth so much? Had they developed the feud better or done more to put over the idea that Kelly Kelly was really working up to this moment for years and years, you might have had something that really was worth the award. Then again, who really takes that award seriously? A lot of fans out there might, but I believe the WWE is continuing to develop Kelly Kelly.

Slammy and slight rub from Lita. I had a feeling that the WWE had not given up on Kelly Kelly as centerpiece yet, and recent events continue to point in that direction. She continues to be built up in the direction of Trish Stratus. As long as she does not flop like Maryse or Candice Michelle, she will do it. She is already not suffering from what made Michelle McCool fail, a lack of overness. If they can continue to sell Kelly Kelly as a wrestler, her overness will be solidified in time.

TNA's Poor Booking Of Mickie James

Is there a clause in the TNA contract of Mickie James that says she can never win at PPVs?

From the time Mickie came to TNA last year, they have beeen having her push the idea that she was out to make history my winning the Knockouts Championship. They give the title to heel Madison Rayne, who has Tara as a sidekick, and sets them up as a strong obstacle for Mickie James to overcome to reach her goal. Fine? Boring. But I'll get back to that.

They have Mickie fail at two PPVs to defeat Tara, then have her get the win in a cage match on Impact. They have Mickie fail at two PPVs to win the title from Madison Rayne. This too is fine. Look back at Lita's first path to the Women's Championship against Stephanie McMahon. She failed on the first two attempts to beat Stephanie. Tori cost her the match the first time. Kurt Angle laid out Ltia the second time. In the third run, which saw Lita win the title in the main event of Raw, Angle, Triple H, and The Rock himself were all involved in the match. Not only did the WWE raise the bar in terms of the roadblocks Stephanie was using against Lita, the rubs Lita got during this feud was just one of the advantages the WWE gave Lita to help connect her with the fans within just her first year in the WWE. This helped to get Lita very over.

Back to the future and down to TNA, they are prolonging giving Mickie the title. If they were actually building the stakes higher, I would see no problem in this. I love how the issues between Jarrett and Angle and between Bully Ray and Devon are being built up. Angle got brutally attacked by Jarrett at last months PPV. This month, Jarrett got a win against Angle in a match with interesting stakes. With Team 3D, Ray turned on Devon last year. Last month, Devon could not get proper revenge at Genesis. At Against All Odds, Devon had to watch his own sons get destroyed. The heels are looking strong. When they get what is coming to them, that can be a moment the crowd can really be built to appreciate. Moreover, this is all personal stuff that can get people talking. With Mickie and Madison, you have Mickie losing the same exact way at both PPVs. She is close to winning, Tara causes a distraction, Madison uses a foreign object to win. Unlike the situation with Lita and Stephanie, Mickie James is not getting rubs from main-eventers. More obstacles are not being put in her way. It is the same thing again and again. Unlike Lita in 2000, Mickie James in 2011 is already very over. She has connected with the fans through something that goes beyond booking and rubs and hype from the company for which she works. That does not mean I am going to say she does not deserve some of this stuff. Prolonging the feud like this is not helping Mickie James.

That was an understatement right there. TNA is not even pushing Mickie James every week. If TNA's booking of Mickie James injures her overness, I must congratulate them. They would have accomplished what the WWE could not do. You know what is really ironic? The WWE was trying to damage it, while TNA is actually the promotion who wants Mickie James.

The issue is not even just Mickie James. TNA is flopping all over the place with their women. The clearest example is Velvet Sky. Who is she supposed to be developing a feud with? Winter or Sarita? They are just moving across back and forth. Which are the fans supposed to connect with? Which are the little girls on Youtube supposed to make feud movies for? Which are the perverts supposed to be expecting when they get ready to exercise their left hand over? If the two feuds were somehow linked in an interesting way, I would not complain. They are not. And it should be possible to push to different knockouts feuds in one impact in some way. Who does TNA really want their fans to connect with? Mickie James? TBP? Sarita? Madison? Tara? End of the day, there is not one woman they are pushing consistently well. This hurts many of the knockouts from connecting with the fans, whether TNA wants to push them or not, and doesn't make fans of certain over women happy.

What would I do? Either give Mickie James the title already, keep it on Madison and push both women in separate directions, or, if the feud must continue, bring in more elements to make the moment really worth something for Mickie James. Right now, TNA is not helping Mickie's overness. I do not believe the payoff will bring that much more value than giving Mickie the title already would have done. Most importantly, I think they ruined the ability of this possible title change to really be a worthy draw that people want to see. It is getting stale. "Serious Woman Who Wants To Accomplish Something" Mickie James is fine and well for her first title hunt, but this is not the Mickie James TNA should be pushing after this current feud. The Mickie James that can really draw the fans to her is the one who can show her charisma and face women better than Madison Rayne. You need to give her more interesting storylines. If that means Mickie James can never win a title, I would not cry too much. The true goal is overness. If a wrestler is really over, people will want to see them. There you have entertainment. There you have a draw. Until TNA goes down this path, they are not using Mickie James correctly. Worse than that, they are killing Mickie's true accomplishments in pro wrestling.

The WWE Career Of Mickie James - Conclusion

I have been writing that the WWE did not like Mickie James as much as some people may have assumed since 2008. The evidence goes back even before I started talking about it. If you just ask why Mickie was even brought in to begin with and look at why and how the WWE pushed her after that, it seems clear as well. Her release did not catch me that off guard. I should have even saw it coming better. I was still upset about it. It is like when an elderly relative dies in your family. You know it is going to happen sooner or later, but it still can hurt.

Once again, I only did this little series to offer a response to those who buy what wrestling news sites offer as to why Mickie was released. I see a number of strong flaws in what they are arguing. I do not even feel like going over all of it now. It has been over 2 years and I am still waiting for a credible and neutral source to verify that Mickie James and John Cena actually dated. The evidence I see dirtsheets like to use is that John Cena said in an interview/live chat on WWE.com that he would have liked to continue the relationship with Mickie. First of all, the fact that it is a chat done on the WWE's own site, and combine that with the fact that Cena is a kayfabe supporter, it seems more likely he was talking in kayfabe and about his storyline with Mickie James. Second of all, he is the one expressing regret that the relationship is over, if you want to even take him seriously. So what did he do to Mickie James? The rumors also said that Mickie was being punished by being sent to Smackdown. Is that why she got used in the same vein as when she debuted? She was being used to eventually put a centerpiece over in some way. She even won the title. They never respected Mickie James as anything more than a tool. If she was really guilty of so many things, why would they not release her out of the blue? They released her at the same time as other people they simply didn't need or want around anymore. That was Mickie James.

I am not saying all this just for the sake of Mickie James. I see the same crap going on still. I see the WWE doing the same thing. I see dirtsheets doing the same thing. I see ignorant fans doing the same thing. Look at what the WWE did to Melina. Dirtsheets recently gave a stupid report that she is in the doghouse. Some fans obviously bought it. Melina commented on it herself. Mickie James commented on a certain rumor that came up shortly after her TNA return that tried to bury her. These women and men should not have to live their lives responding to every little rumor. I said before that Melina would be treated like this. I am not surprised some people fall back on the oldest excuse in the book to explain her depush. Smarten up. Melina is not a priority to the WWE. She is just a tool. They last used her as a credible face to allow McCool to unify the titles a few months ago. They didn't want McCool going over some mediocre face like Nikki Bella, or some heel. Once Melina served her purpose, she got depushed. Things are going to get even more interesting after AJ gets promoted to the main roster. Do I think they will release Melina or Beth Phoenix? Unless the WWE is afraid of feeding TNA all these women or these women have strong enough contacts with those high up (is Morrison important enough in the eyes of the WWE to keep Melina around?), they will be released. They have already used Natalya to phase out Melina a bit. Whatever happens, women like Melina and Beth are just meant to be tools in the end of the day. They are not the centerpiece. Who cares? If you are a fan of women who are tools and are complaining about it, I suggest you either start understanding this or shut your mouth.

But it will not be as hard when Melina gets released or becomes a lame duck, which is what happened to Victoria before she decided to leave. She is not that super over. Mickie James was. That is what made them releasing her so shocking for so many. I said before that I should have seen it coming better. I made the mistake of thinking her popularity would keep her around. Her popularity was one of the reasons they had to let her go. How do you explain that a woman so over is only a sidekick to women less over and less credible than her? How do you explain that a woman who was given 6 title reigns in 5 years is suddenly not getting the title at all year after year? There was no place they could push her outside of the title picture where they could properly bury her. I already noted that Mickie James NEVER got one storyline outside of the title picture that saw a proper finish and ended up doing anything real for her. Even a lot of her title feuds between her first and last were not that intricate or developed well. They never treated her in this respect as well as they did Lita. They did not want to add to Mickie's legacy at all. She was just in the way of the women they wanted to get over. That's right. The WWE decides who they want to get that great treatment to become monster over, not you or me. We are just supposed to follow like sheep. But you stand up for that company, right?

I see some people want Mickie James to return one day to the WWE. Unless the WWE changes their ways, I say she would be stupid to want to go back there for anything more than a one-day appearance. Lita returned to Raw tonight. Glad to see her back. And I was laughing. No, I was not laughing at what she did to those other divas. I was laughing at her. Did Lita not comment last year that the huge battle royal they had for the divas was a joke? Did she not say they were like prostitutes or something along those lines? Did dirtsheets botch reporting what she said or quoted from an impostor? Wouldn't be the first time. Assuming Lita actually thought that way about it, I find it hilarious that she would just pop in for a comedy diva segment to knock down some face divas and Mark Henry. Contributing to guest star crap. If she wanted to be a part of THIS diva division so bad, she should have pushed harder to be a part of the prostitutes last year.

Until the future tells what Mickie James and the WWE do, Mickie James still earned her spot in the WWE more than the WWE ever wanted. Let me end it with something I am told Jim Ross once said. He once said that many did not think Mickie James would make it in the WWE. Let me not spin his words around and misquote him, but is it really hard to imagine that many did not WANT Mickie James to make it. Even after she achieved what all pro wrestlers really want to achieve in this business, the WWE still kept looking for someone to replace her. There was no good reason not to continue to run with her for her own sake. They didn't care. They were always counting on something else. More than 6 months later, no one they have been counting on has gotten the job done. They cannot connect with those WWE fans like Mickie James worked to do.