Maxine Leaves WWE; Angelina Leaves TNA

She was my favorite from NXT, but it looks like Maxine is done with the WWE. I think she had some potential. Obviously, the WWE was not doing much with her for a while now. That is to say, not on the two major shows. Should she have waited it out? Considering that the diva division is currently in a dark period, waiting it out may have led to her getting some kind of angle on Raw or Smackdown sooner or later. However, this dark period isn't as productive as the one you had after Sable left, so the WWE still might have wasted Maxine.

Was anything of value lost? My personal bias aside, nothing of value was lost with Maxine leaving. I hope that doesn't come off as sounding rude. She had not become one of the most over divas in the company, she was not involved in anything too important, and her future really did not look too bright in this current messy diva division. I'm sad to see her go, but that is just another loss for the WWE that will not lead to them changing how they do things.

Angelina Love has left TNA. TNA was not doing much with her for a long time now. She was a multiple time Knockout's Champion and instrumental in the history of the division. TNA's inability to use her right over the last few months is another example of my point that TNA cannot keep the ball rolling properly for a lot of their workers. This is what damages them when it comes to creating draws. Angelina Love had a run as top face of the division in 2010, before Mickie James came in. After Mickie came in, they did not immediately kill Angelina off. She still had a storyline involving Winter going on. This eventually led to her winning the tag titles. They still kept the ball rolling, but it did not last. How hard could it have been to just book her in some relevant matches more often this year?

Was anything of value lost? On the one hand, Angelina Love has a great history in the division. On the other hand, they were wasting her. They have a lot of other women to use. I still think she has more value than some of these other women, but it was her choice to leave. If TNA is unable to start coming up with more storylines for their women that need it the most, they will be losing a lot more soon.

November Ratings Review

Before I look at the numbers for WWE and TNA in the major ratings for the last month, let me just touch on one subject of minor interest. Maxine has been getting used pretty well on NXT recently. Of course, that would be the same as getting used well on WWE's ECW. I'm starting to like Maxine a bit. I can say that I am looking forward to her getting called up, but there are two things to keep in mind. First, she has technically been called up. This is not really her season of NXT. The all-woman rookie edition was last year. Other rookies from that season are already scattered around, including some involved on Smackdown matters. Maxine only came in for her current role on NXT after Maryse stepped out. She has taken the place of a diva who can be considered a veteran compared to her. And yet, it is still only NXT. That is the second thing. What will happen when she goes to Raw or joins the other former rookies on Smackdown? I can see her get lost in the shuffle easily. Keeping her on NXT has one major flaw. Who really cares about NXT? She will not get very over with the general audience from there. I'm not saying she should debut in a title hunt or even enter one anytime soon, but I wouldn't mind seeing her do the same kind of thing she is doing on NXT now on one of the major shows in the near future. Isn't it a shame that something from NXT might seem more interesting than much of what is going on with Raw and Smackdown? I like it better than the angle being held down between AJ and Daniel Bryan.

0.99. That was Impact's rating on Thanksgiving. Just under the 1.0. Oh well, it still has done pretty well for the rest of the year. It bounced back up for the last show of November, which is not surprising. TNA is still on track to have the best yearly average rating in its history. With so few weeks left, I do not think they will fail. Smackdown has not had too horrible a rating in months. If you compare where it is at right now to the same point last year, nice improvement. Once again, this is all with Randy Orton not in the major spotlight regularly. Hopefully, the WWE learns from that. Pass the ball around more. Compliment it with good booking and interesting storylines and feud development. Not only did they hand the title to a guy that never held the World's Heavyweight Championship before, Mark Henry, but they build up great hype around him and pushed him well. Over on Raw, they handed a title to a guy who had never held one before in the WWE, Alberto Del Rio, but they smashed his character. Pushing John Cena too much at times, even when not in the title hunt, was also not necessary. Of course, the big problem on Mondays is the NFL. Raw has had a string of 3.2 ratings in the last few weeks of November. Overall, a 3.12 for the month for the WWE's top show. That is only slightly below the average for November 2010. Nevertheless, it all comes down to a 3.23 yearly average for Raw so far. I am willing to bet everything I have that they will not be able to save themselves from having the worst yearly average in a long time. Let's see how they react to the ratings. Changes for the better? Or more Cena?

NXT Diva Action - Maxine & AJ

Before I get into what I really want to talk about, there is one thing I would like to add about what I talked about last time. CM Punk has been depushed. Whether fans will find his current storyline more entertaining than what is going on with Cena and Del Rio or not, Punk is no longer working directly against the centerpiece and no longer in the direct title hunt. He has started to change direction away from that. What I would like to add is something I have brought up many times, yet it is one of the most important things to remember. What if this was going on in the diva division? What if a centerpiece lost to a credible jobber twice at PPVs, then beat that jobber on Raw/Smackdown, and the two went there separate ways, with the centerpiece staying in the title hunt? I left one thing out. The centerpiece goes after the title, but where does the jobber, who had been built up well, go after the feud? Look at the history of the diva division. In the vast majority of cases, the person who was being used to put over the centerpiece gets a depush even worse than what CM Punk is now getting. That is an understatement. They are really getting dehyped. One clear exception was when Lita and Trish feuded back in 2004. Trish went on to be the regular in title matters, thus making her the centerpiece, but Lita faded out of that, but still had an awesome position through storylines with the guys. In other words, she fell back on what the WWE typically had her do even before 2004. Lita was always treated differently from most women. She was a periphery diva, not a jobber. Most women do not have that to fall back on. Why? Because the WWE just cannot treat all the women that well. They also need jobbers and sidekicks. If the diva division was not a closed division, and that is my whole point of bringing this up, they could still be given a fair chance to get proper hype and interest invested into them, much like CM Punk is still benefiting from now. I have seen people ponder why the WWE ended the psycho gimmick Mickie James had. For one thing, where was she supposed to do it? Where on the card? There are rarely two or more true diva storylines going on at the same time on one show, and one usually ends up getting the shorter end of the stick sooner or later and the jobbers involved will always get what little attention they were given taken away from them. The difference between CM Punk's current gimmick and Mickie's psycho gimmick? There is still plenty of space on the card and major players for CM Punk to run with his gimmick. Back in 2006, the need for a face credible jobber led to Mickie losing the gimmick and turning. There was no space for her gimmick to be a priority. As time went on, and despite her overness, it was also obvious that there was no space for a jobber like her to stay as long as she wanted. Closed division. That is why CM Punk can still be treated well and the diva division is the way it is.

Speaking of diva division, NXT has a little diva feud going on. AJ Lee is feuding with Maxine. Keep one very important thing in mind. Before Maryse needed to take time off, this was her storyline on NXT. Not that NXT matters, but it is where they can treat unimportant people like royalty. Keep something else in mind. Before Layla got injured herself and needed time off, it looked like she would have been centerpiece of Smackdown. AJ debuted soon after Layla left. In other words, it is taking injuries for the WWE to call some of these women up. Moreover, I will not expect the WWE to treat either of these two women very well. Being pushed well only on NXT and debuting right after other women need time off are not two good signs to me. I will give WWE some credit. It is a storyline. Women are being given time to work. Coming back down to Earth now. On NXT? I just can't get over that element of it.

Assuming the hurricane does not wipe me out when it comes to New York, hope to be back Monday.