Eva Marie Loses Her Top

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Stephanie McMahon Never Gets Shut Down

Roman Reigns isn't the only person in the WWE that has been on a rampage recently. Stephanie McMahon has also smacked people around. She's done that for a long while. I see some fans getting tired of it. She never really seems to get her comeuppance. She never seems to really get put in her place.

Fifteen years ago, it wouldn't be unusual to see Stephanie McMahon do her heel act and to actually be on the receiving end of a finisher for it. These days, it is extremely rare to see a man hit any kind of move on a woman in the WWE. You would think the WWE would still come up with better ways for some of these guys Stephanie has manhandled to stand up for themselves.

There have been moments where Stephanie McMahon has been embarrassed, like when she got arrested during her feud with The Bellas or when it looked like The Authority were out of power. Problem is, it never really hurts her that much. She comes back and slaps more people around. It just becomes overbearing for some fans.

Comeuppance for Stephanie McMahon has to be more than her just getting laid out by someone she is trying to intimidate. It has to be her actually being shut down, at least for a while. Make it look like the face that puts her in her place actually accomplished something. Have her take a break for a few months, be used less on Raw, or just act like she has been put in her place for a while. It has to be about more than a moment.

Since it likely won't be a man that shuts Stephanie McMahon down, you have to look to the divas. If AJ Lee was still around, she might be an obvious choice. Fans were anticipating some kind of feud when she called Stephanie McMahon out on Twitter earlier this year. That was not kayfabe. The Bellas have feuded with Stephanie before. The WWE can turn them face and revisit that feud. This time, have the sisters overcome Stephanie. Or they can push Paige against Stephanie. Have Paige call her out on who really started the revolution. If the WWE is going to continue to protect Stephanie so much, they can build her up to eventually put a diva over.

This situation with Stephanie McMahon reminds me of what you had with LayCool. With only them being featured prominently in the diva division for a long span, they just became overbearing. They would never really get shut down. There were moments where it seemed like a face put them in their place, like Mickie James or Natalya did. The two heels just always bounced back like nothing really happened. They were still featured as the top stars. That is because McCool was the centerpiece. After the two split and Layla went over her, the WWE just never followed up with Layla at a high level. Even after injuries, they had the opportunity to. Stephanie McMahon is not the centerpiece of the diva division like Michelle McCool was. That makes the WWE protecting her too much even more needless.

Even though fans are supposed to want to see heels get what they have coming, there are still instances where you would like certain heels to be dominant for a span just because there might be some great storyline potential there. Look at Bray Wyatt. How many major feuds has this guy won? How many storylines actually make him look like a winner? He seems to win just to be built up to put over someone else. A lot of fans want to see him actually accomplish some of the things he talks about. Or is he just a babbling loser? He would still be eventually used to put a face over, but he would look strong and intriguing until that time comes. Considering he is fresher talent than Stephanie McMahon, this is a character the WWE should feature stronger.

I like Stephanie McMahon. There was a span over a decade ago where she was my favorite woman in the company. But that was also back when she was put in her place more often. Her character never got as overbearing as it can sometimes be these days. She can go on the mic and she can be charismatic and fun, but as a heel, she does need to let a few faces shut her down more often.

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.

When A+ Leads To Failure

If you are being pushed as an A+ player in the WWE, you are being pushed as an absolute top star. The centerpiece of the company is an A+ player. The centerpiece of the diva division is an A+ player. You even have certain part-timers treated as big deals that can be considered A+ players. You are being hyped and pushed to be the best and be great.

How can such treatment possibly lead to failure? Is it an issue where certain wrestlers can't handle the pressure and just crumble? You might think that. But that is really not the issue. I have never seen an A+ player fail because of that. Various wrestlers have flopped as A+ players for various reasons. Funny thing is, they were actually doing better prior to being pushed so hard or could have done better if they were not pushed so hard. Let me bring up a few names.

John Cena is a good choice to start with. He is obviously the face of the company. He is the centerpiece. He is an A+ player. And he also happens to have an issue connecting with the audience. Certain fans out there hate him with a passion. And it is a large enough number to be noticeable and even get mentioned in promos and storylines. There was a time when Cena was not this hated. In fact, there was a time when he was very popular. That was back in his rapping days on Smackdown. I never liked him, but I will not deny his overness. What went wrong? They made him the centerpiece of the company. They changed his character to something they can hype as someone great that can overcome odds and little children love. People want him to turn heel. I doubt that will really fix him at this stage. Bring back the rapper gimmick? I don't know if that will work, either. How about depushing him slightly? That might kill some of his hate. He won't be as overbearing. In the end, John Cena is an A+ player that brings questionable results.

As far as divas go, there are a few examples. Let me start with Candice Michelle. I don't think fans even realize that she was supposed to be the one following in Trish's footsteps after she retired. The division was revolving around her. Credible jobbers were revolving around her. Because she got injured so much and regressed in her in-ring ability, they gave up on her. Prior to all that, she was sexy and charismatic. She was what you would want an eye-candy periphery diva to be. A lot of divas get over like that. But when you become the centerpiece, you have to wrestle serious matches more frequently. She just couldn't avoid injuries. If they had just kept her as a periphery diva, she could have had a very nice career. Instead, after failing as centerpiece, they never did anything meaningful with her again.

Michelle McCool was also centerpiece of the diva division. She is the only centerpiece since Trish to actually last a while in that position. Her issue wasn't really injuries. Her issue was connecting with the audience. I was looking at some of her matches back in around 2008 last week. She was hotter back than. Aside from that observation, I also saw she was getting some good reactions back then. A or A+ overness? I wouldn't go that far. Overness is about more than just crowd reactions. It is about how much fans are really willing to support you. Besides, if Michelle McCool was really getting A-tier overness, she wouldn't have lost it so easily, especially considering they started to treat her better, not worse. I would say she was showing a respectable B connection with the fans. What went wrong? She just didn't have the charisma to pull it off. Even though she became very solid in the ring, she was not amazing enough to get over and stay over with that. Prior to being pushed as centerpiece, she was pretty much in the spot Torrie Wilson held on Smackdown for a few years. Torrie Wilson was the top periphery diva on a show with no title. She was an A- player. What's wrong with being pushed like that? Nothing. Torrie Wilson got over with the fans and things worked fine. Michelle McCool was doing fine with this type of career. Maybe she never would have connected with the fans as well as Torrie Wilson did, but at least it was better than overpushing her and doing damage to the overall diva division. If she was connecting better with the fans as an A- player, then the fans would have bought into her more naturally when they hyped her up to be the centerpiece.

Let me bring up one last diva. Maryse was the centerpiece on Raw after Candice Michelle. She also looked like she was following in the path of Candice Michelle. Injuries became an issue for her and there were a few matches here and there after her return in 2009 where things got a little awkward. Sometimes, it just looked like she cared too much about showing her character than putting on a good match. How can fans connect with an eye-candy diva as the centerpiece when she cannot maintain a respectable performance in the ring? Instead of completely giving up on her, they pushed her back in the periphery. Not too hard, however. I would say she was a B+ player. I honestly believe she had potential to be better than that. Don't get me wrong, she annoyed me a lot when she was pushed as the centerpiece, especially in her final months as an A+ player, but when she was used differently, then I could enjoy her more. She is very sexy and she has a great character and charisma. She should have been pushed like an A- player. Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler had great careers in the golden age as A- players. And I think Maryse could have been better than them. I am not even talking about looks. She has a personality that stands out more in comparison to Torrie and Stacy. She has the French thing going for her and has a little attitude to her charisma that makes her fun. I am not saying she has the acting depth of Denzel Washington, but she had what it takes to get over. Problem is, trying to push her as the centerpiece just was not the place for her.

I talked about 3 divas and only one guy. Let me bring up Triple H. He was obviously the centerpiece at one time. These days, he is a part-timer. He is a part-timer that can find his way in main events whenever he wants. He is an A+ player. Prior to being pushed as centerpiece, I would say Triple H was connecting well with the fans. DX helped with that. Since being pushed as centerpiece? Well, he hasn't gotten Cena-like reactions. Nothing near that. There are a few fans annoyed with how he seems to hog the spotlight. Mostly smarks. There also seems to be a few wrestlers that are irritated with how A+ Triple H does things. Although it has not really screwed Triple H's connection with the fans too much, would these issues ever exist if Triple H was never pushed as top star and given the power he has? He would still win a few world titles here and there, but he would not be as overbearing as he seems to be to a few people. In the end, I think more people can put up with Triple H in the position he is in than they could put up with John Cena in the position he is in.

Moral of the story? Some people are just better off not being pushed as A+ players. I have brought up individuals that were connecting well with the fans prior to an A+ career ruining it or might have connected with the fans well had that A+ career not come up. Not everyone needs to be the quarterback on a football team or the boss in a company. You can do great from whatever position you hold. In some situations, a person getting an A- career might bring better results than a person getting an A+ career. Did the WWE have a right to push these individuals I brought up as A+ players? Sure, but the problem was not making better decisions when they saw things were not working out right. John Cena should have been depushed long ago. Maryse should have gotten a better career in the periphery than she did end up having. These bad decisions are what have led to the quality of the product going down and workers not being pushed right. Push the right workers in the right positions. If a C+ player in the diva division definitely deserves to be pushed as an A+ player, give her the opportunity. On the other side of that, if the A+ player of your entire company cannot get the job done, take him out of that position.

Would Michelle McCool Have Benefited From Being Pushed As A Top-Tier Periphery Diva?

I did this kind of thing for Mickie James a few weeks ago. What kind of top-tier periphery diva could she have been? Let me do this for Michelle McCool this time. Why bother? She did not have the overness to deserve such an amazing push. She has not shown the charisma that would make you believe she could be a great character in the periphery. Let's say you are a writer in the WWE and Vince McMahon comes up to you and demands you come up with an idea to finally get this woman over. Title reigns are not enough. Handing her history is not working. It will take some real creative interest to get her over, not just hyping her up as something great, which is essentially overrating her.

Look at how they are pushing Brie Bella now. That is almost exactly how I would have had Michelle McCool pushed in the periphery. Almost. Brie Bella's current push is obviously an extension of her relationship with Daniel Bryan. Michelle McCool was obviously in a relationship with The Undertaker back when she was around. But I am not saying they had to have acknowledged that and paired her with him. Might hurt Taker's gimmick, even if they tried to give McCool a similar gimmick. And it may not be believable. Brie Bella is a face working against heel authority figures. That is the kind of push McCool should have. How do you get her in that situation in the periphery? Put her in a kayfabe romance with a main-eventer or have her form some kind of friendship with a main-eventer. When that guy is being tormented by the heel authority figures, McCool would be at his side to get a rub and look good by standing by him.

Why a face and not a heel? I don't think she can play a great heel. Many fans might say she was an awesome heel during her LayCool days. Is that because of the kind of performer she was? Or because of how hard she was pushed and what the writers were having her do? Michelle McCool and Layla tried, but they could not garner a consistent, great reaction from the fans. They should not try to get this woman booed. Try to get the fans to like her. Try to get the fans to cheer what she is doing. You see Brie Bella standing up to both Stephanie McMahon and her husband. She's knocking around Triple H. Her own sister turns on her, which she will overcome. She is doing things that will get the fans connected to her. A lot of critics have pointed out that Brie Bella does not have a great acting ability or mic skills. In this situation, it does not matter. She is not getting over because of her own abilities as a performer, but by how they are pushing her. Imagine if Michelle McCool feuded against Vickie Guerrero back then. How about John Laurinaitis? How about Triple H and Stephanie? How about Vince McMahon, himself? Depends on how long McCool would have stayed around and what was going on at the time. To put it simply, I think it would have been better for them to try to make her look like a hero doing things that would get her cheered than a heel pushed hard and still not getting good heat. If they are getting some measure of success by doing this with Brie Bella, it would have been great to try this with McCool.

Women pushed as top-tier periphery divas hardly ever seem to fail to connect with the fans. They are being pushed in a unique manner, being pushed hard, and getting to do things on a consistent basis that fans are going to love seeing. You have had centerpieces flop in recent years, mostly because of injuries and failure to connect with the fans. Being sexy and glamorous is not enough to get over anymore. But women pushed as top-tier periphery divas go beyond that. That is why you have a better success rate with those kind of pushes.

Let me make a football analogy. In football, a lot of the best plays the coaches draw up are the ones designed to confuse the other team. A little bit of trickery can fool a defense and lead to a big play. Just for the sake of the discussion, let's say that the end around typically leads to a gain of at least 20 yards 80% of the time. All you need to know is that the end around is a football play that involves some trickery to try to throw off the defense. It doesn't matter which teams are doing it or which players are doing it, it has this great success rate. Now, is that necessarily because the players doing it are just so awesome? Or is it because the way the play is designed leads to this great success? As I have laid out the situation, if it seems any players can have this level of success with the play, it really is in the actual play, not necessarily the performer. All you have to do is not be horrible or be up against some defensive players that are too good.

Being pushed as a top-tier periphery diva is like making that football play that seems to work almost all the time. The way the WWE has been acting in recent years, you might think crazy gimmicks are also a recipe for success. How about Alicia Fox? Not surprisingly, she's depushed. I have not seen anyone talk about her in a while. She was doing things that were getting people talking about her. Perfect example of why the manner you are being pushed is more important than a gimmick. After completely dropping Alicia, her momentum is all gone. Back to talking about top-tier periphery divas. Because they are pushed with so much creative interest and hype, working alongside top stars, and doing things the fans love seeing, it isn't hard to believe that they will gain A-level overness. Is it because they are necessarily amazing performers? Or is it in how they are being pushed? When you are being pushed like that, you don't have to be amazing. The manner you are being pushed is amazing. And that is what is ultimately getting some of these women over. They are being put in a unique position and being allowed to do unique things. Michelle McCool might have benefited from this.

Let me make one more point with that football analogy. With the situation I invented with the end around being so successful, just because essentially any idiot can look great doing, that does not mean they are great players. It just means the play is great. So what does define who the great players are? How well can these guys do with plays not likely to succeed? How well can they do with busted plays? How well can they do when it looks like they will get nothing? Can they take average plays and be amazing with that? If you can only succeed with plays with a high success rate, you probably are not an amazing player. But if you can still succeed in those situations I just brought up, that is when you are showing your own worth.

I am not going to say too much about tying what I just said back to pro wrestling. Let me just say, if Michelle McCool had gotten A-level overness off of being pushed as a top-tier periphery diva, it probably would not have been because she is so amazing. But the WWE wanted this woman to be a star. If I had to come up with an idea to make her a star, I just gave you the type of push I think would have worked.

Aksana Released

They released my precious Jinder Mahal! Who am I going to mention for no reason whatsoever now? Meh, I'll live.

I have been on a little marathon about the diva division in the last few days. WWE had some releases, which I am not too shocked they ended up doing, and a diva was released. Let me talk about her today.

Aksana was released. When the releases started, I had a feeling she might get released. They broke up her weak partnership with Alicia Fox. They had her lose to her. It's not like she's on Total Divas, which might have saved her. She just seemed like the likely candidate on the diva roster to go.

I'll probably end up saying a lot of the same things I said about Eva Marie a few days ago. Aksana was an eye-candy periphery diva. She has had better angles in the periphery during her time in the WWE than Eva Marie has had, but they really just started misusing her in the last year or so of her career. She is sexy. She should be in romance angles or used as a valet. She should not have been pushed so much in the ring. The WWE was being inefficient with her. As I have said many times before, they have become really inefficient with their handling of eye-candy divas. They should be putting these women in a position to do what they do best and succeed. Instead of doing that, they are putting these women in a position to knock each other's eyes out. Aksana gets blamed by many for the kind of in-ring performer she is, but I think blame should be put on the WWE for not putting her in the right position.

I don't want to make it sound like I am always on the side of these women. If the WWE does put them in a position to succeed and utilizes them efficiently, it is still ultimately the job of that performer to get over with those fans. If she fails, then she deserves the blame. If the WWE stick with her, and possibly push her even harder, then the WWE deserve blame, as well. Michelle McCool is an example of that. I could say that the WWE tried too hard to hype her up without getting her over, but she had opportunities in the periphery to get herself over before being pushed as the centerpiece on Smackdown. And the WWE pushed her hard for years. They gave her a gimmick. They gave her a sidekick. They handed her more hype. And she failed to connect with the fans properly. She deserves blame for that, while the WWE deserves blame for trying that hard with her. There were other women to push.

I am not going to cry about Aksana being let go, but they could have done better with her. Had they put her in a real position to succeed, it would have been up to her to do it. If she couldn't, I would definitely agree she should be released. Do I think she could have succeeded if used right? Yes, I think she has a sexy character that could have gotten her over. She just wasn't used right.

I was watching the San Antonio Spurs crush the Miami Heat last night. One thing that the commentators brought up during the game, and a theme that defines what the Spurs is about, is unselfishness. LeBron James, the greatest player today, could not carry his team to victory. The Spurs were playing with great teamwork. Gregg Popovich, the head coach for the Spurs, might be tough on his team, but that is because he wants them to succeed. And none of them really take his toughness personally and were still team players. Great leadership. Great players. Great team. I think they'll win the whole series.

Why do I even bring that up? Because I am looking at how the WWE is running that diva division and I don't see something I respect. They are not putting these women in a position to succeed. They are not even trying to succeed. They just want what they want to work out to work out. There is selfishness in this picture. It isn't coming from the divas. It is coming from the people calling the shots. And it creates an environment that is bad for the workers. They are creating a breeding ground for arrogance, not greatness. The players are not the only ones held accountable for the success of a sports team. The coaches have to be held accountable. I have said this before, if Vince McMahon was the coach of a team, he would have been fired years ago.

Like Moving Pieces Across A Board

I typically come up with analogies to explain the diva division. This time, I want to talk about a way you can think about what the WWE is doing in general.

Chess. It's been a long time since I had a good game of chess. In any case, there are different pieces with different moves. Everyone who has played the game knows how important the king is. That is what you have to protect. Checkmate ends the game. You know how powerful the queen is. And the bishops, knights, and rooks can come in very handy, to say the least. Lastly, pawns are pawns.

In the WWE, you have various wrestlers in various positions. John Cena is obviously the centerpiece. He is like the king in the chess comparison. The diva division currently lacks a centerpiece, but that is the queen. Besides the centerpieces, the WWE also pushes other individuals as stars. These are your bishops, knights, and rooks. And you have jobbers to those stars. Those are your pawns. Moreover, I sometimes use the term "pawns" to refer to supporting players of storylines mainly involving two others.

I think it is a relatively simple comparison, but let me go a little further and explain why I like the analogy. First, those chess pieces don't move themselves, do they? The player has to come up with his strategy and execute that strategy. The same logic holds true in the WWE. These wrestlers don't push themselves. Even those who have creative control only have it because the company allows it. Look at John Cena, the centerpiece. So many say Cena will never turn heel. If the person with the power to control that company wants it to happen, he can make it happen. Moving that king when you are playing chess is always something you have to think about before doing it. You don't want to put yourself in position for an easy trap in a few moves. That is the same kind of thinking that makes it hard for the WWE to pull the trigger on turning Cena heel. And yet, if you ask me, doing something like that might be a shocking move that can actually make things more intriguing. I don't hate John Cena for not turning heel. It isn't fair for anyone to hate Cena for that reason. Hate the person moving the pieces across the board who refuses to make that certain move. If you want to hate Cena for how he actually performs, that is a different story. Does he deserve hate for being an annoyingly stale face performer?

Michelle McCool said in some interviews a few months ago that the WWE would sometimes be unhappy with her for trying to wrestle good matches. First of all, that never stopped them from pushing her as the centerpiece. How you are being pushed over time determines what kind of career you are getting, and they were pushing her as centerpiece from 2008 to the night she left. But does all this pretty much imply that the WWE was trying to groom her into what they wanted her to be? Shocking! No, not really. They want her to be the centerpiece, but they want her to be the centerpiece they want her to be. That queen on the chessboard, despite how powerful she is, is still moved around by the player. In the end, I don't think not holding Michelle McCool back, as she says they were, would have done much with getting her over. I see some divas during this era of holding them back that actually wrestle an entertaining style. Your job is not to just appeal to those fans who want to rate your performances out of ten. I believe Michelle McCool was very solid in the ring, but not good enough to get over on that ability alone. If wrestling ability alone will not keep Antonio Cesaro getting pushed, why should it with Michelle McCool? Now that I think about it, compare Antonio Cesaro yodeling to Michelle McCool doing push ups when she first turned heel after her centerpiece push started. How do you make boring people seem interesting? They really should have done with Michelle McCool what they did with Cesaro. Depush her. She had a lot more opportunities than Cesaro.

Last remark I want to make about this chess analogy, who are you playing against? Who ever plays chess against themselves? I learned the game by playing against myself. Got bored during winter recess when I was around 10, had a chess set I never opened, and just read the instructions and taught myself the game. Of course, it's not the same unless you are playing against someone else, whether an actual person or a computer. Who is sitting across that chessboard from the WWE? Their closest competition is TNA. In theory, TNA can have a centerpiece of their entire company, centerpiece of their women's division, other top stars, and jobbers. In practice, what they have does not compare to the WWE. They have all the pieces, I honestly believe that, or at least the potential to make the pieces, but their execution sucks. They don't seem to know how to play the game. People say that the WWE would be doing better right now if they had some legitimate competition to light a fire under them. Without any proper competition to keep you on your toes, your ability might worsen over time. You still know how to play the game, but you don't do it as well as you used to. I haven't had a good chess game in so long, I definitely feel rusty. Beyond rusty. Better competition would lead to the WWE utilizing their workers better.

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.

Tainted Success

You are probably aware of the recent controversy with  Lance Armstrong. The other week, I read about some major names in baseball being left out of induction in the MLB Hall of Fame. In both situations with Armstrong and the baseball stars, you have individuals who accomplished great things having their legacies tainted by the same thing, drugs. They cheated. They took shortcuts. The result is a tainted legacy for many of these individuals.

Let's start with the obvious question. Should wrestlers who took drugs be left out of the WWE Hall of Fame? Of course not. Wrestling is not a competitive sport like cycling or baseball. These wrestlers go out there to perform to give the fans a show. That is what it is all about. There are definitely some guys who took steroids currently in the Hall of Fame. Keep them there. More than likely, they still earned their legacies.

Now onto what I really want to talk about. Taking performance-enhancing drugs is viewed as taking a shortcut in many fields. Is that the only shortcut to success in the world? Of course not. In pro wrestling, can you consider it a shortcut for those wrestlers given great careers that they did not actually earn? The idea the WWE sells is that they push what the fans want to see and you have to get over to get the great career. That's the way it should work. That is the way it sometimes works. Some wrestlers start out with mediocre careers for years, they prove themselves through the midcard, and they get the better career eventually. That is like what happened with Eddie Guerrero. However, you also have some guys who seemed to have a great career the moment they debuted, then got over after already being pushed well. That's Brock Lesnar. He was getting a big push right from the time he debuted. What kind of overness did he have to warrant that kind of push? The WWE rigs the playing field for certain individuals. They use people to put over these individuals, never giving these people those same opportunities and treatment. Does that count as a shortcut? Does that taint the success of these guys who got these great careers and earned the overness after the fact?

I don't think it should taint their legacies. They still earned their success. Those guys who are used to put them over, they still usually get other opportunities to still show what they can do and connect well with the fans.

The diva division is a different creature. Women who are used to put over whom the WWE is developing to be a success usually don't get opportunities after that are better or just as good. Most of what they get after is mediocre. Trish Stratus will definitely be in the Hall of Fame, but how many of the credible jobbers used to put her over will? Maybe more for what they did outside of the WWE? They definitely don't deserve it for the mediocrity they received in the WWE. They definitely never earned the overness while in the WWE, with the exception of Mickie James. Should this kind of diva division taint the success of Trish Stratus? There is no denying that she succeeded, but she was the kind of diva the WWE likes to push as the centerpiece and she was never getting the kind of treatment of a credible jobber prior to the WWE pushing her well to get over with the fans when she was just eye-candy periphery. And you look at the current diva division. It is basically the same agenda. The WWE is attempting to have an eye-candy centerpiece, women with wrestling credibility are used as credible jobbers, and the only female wrestler supported to be a success is in the periphery. The only real change from then to now is eye-candy divas being less effective as periphery divas and used more as credible jobbers. Same diva division, but look at the quality and the failure to create stars. This is what Trish paved the way for? I think this current division should be seen as more of a slap in the face of Trish's legacy than the fact that the WWE developed her to be a success. She did succeed. For that reason, she will deserve her spot in the Hall of Fame.

What about Michelle McCool? Aside from Trish Stratus, her run as centerpiece lasted longer than any other woman pushed in this manner since the diva division started. But does she deserve to be viewed in the same way as Trish? McCool never got over. Some people can argue that McCool was a heel for most of her centerpiece run and heels are meant to make other people look good. Yeah? And how many faces actually became big successes off Michelle McCool? And even after a face got one over on the annoying LayCool, the centerpiece still got pushed hard consistently after. The WWE were not pushing a division that could deliver. The wrestling critics can look at how they were pushing McCool at this time and say they were pushing her very well. Yeah, that's true, but that's not the point. You don't push someone well for the sake of pushing someone well. You push them like that in hopes that they can connect well for the fans. McCool was a solid worker, but does that mean she should be inducted into the Hall of Fame? If a woman being a solid wrestler was a rarity in the world, then she should be. It isn't. Michelle McCool's career deserves to be inducted more than she does. She never did with it what a centerpiece is supposed to. And I wouldn't be surprised if she is inducted one day. The WWE cannot keep overpushing people the fans don't really care for. And they wonder why their ratings suck and they have to rely on stars from a decade ago to save them? Anyone pushed hard to be a success throughout their career who never earns the overness at all deserves to be in a Hall of Failure. It is not solely to insult them, but to remind the WWE of their own mistakes.

Mickie James and tainted success. What can anyone possibly say about that? Her ex wants people to believe that Mickie James slept her way to the top of a filler push back in 2008 and started to get over with the fans after that. He overlooks the fact that Mickie started to get over during her debut push and was maintaining the overness while she was not even being pushed prior to Candice's injury in 2007. That sure looks like an attempt to taint one's success. He's not the only one. Dirtsheets have said much to make Mickie look like she screwed herself out of the WWE, but they fail to see that she was never being pushed as Trish Stratus or Michelle McCool. She was being pushed as one of those women used to put over who the WWE wants to succeed. Should that be a chief reason why the success of a woman pushed as centerpiece should be tainted? Even when a credible jobber does do the impossible and get over with this kind of career, the WWE still pushes who they want to be a success and they screw the credible jobber. The playing field is rigged hard in favor of the centerpiece. Not only is there no real competition for the best worker to get the best spot, but a centerpiece who is not succeeding will still be pushed hard until she gets the overness to be a success. Or flops. Or quits. It never ends well these days. Mickie James took a career in which no woman had ever reached that height of success and she did it. Instead of being seen as a legitimate success, she has this legacy of tainted success.

Just to go back to the original thing I was talking about, how do I feel about the controversy with Lance Armstrong and the baseball players? I wouldn't have taken away Armstrong's titles and all that. I would induct those baseball players. You can say I'm a bit of a pushover. I'm more sour about people who are handed success than people who take shortcuts to succeed. If someone succeeds, I don't like denying them of their success. Let it be known their success was tainted, but don't take it away.

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.

Chris Jericho Hits Hard Against CM Punk

That segment they had between Chris Jericho and CM Punk after Punk beat Miz was so similar to what happened to Mickie James against Michelle McCool, I had to talk about it now. Jericho brought up the reality about why Punk does not drink. He talked about his father. It was real and it was personal. Of course, it was part of the storyline feud. CM Punk sold it by acting upset, much like Mickie James did in 2009 when McCool called her fat.

I'm glad I talked about HHH vs. Taker a few days ago, saying it was a feud between equals. This feud between Jericho and Punk is a feud between equals. Last year, I compared CM Punk to Chris Jericho, and I was not talking about their abilities or the fact that they call themselves the best. I was talking in terms of how the WWE treated them. They were both at the same level in terms of how the WWE used them, as well as both being very over and great in the ring and on the mic.

Both equals, so why have Jericho take such a hard hit at Punk? This feud already has the title on the line, as well as the hype over who the best in the world really is. Did it really need to get even more personal? Looking at the build for this feud so far, Jericho has looked the best physically, since he attacked Punk badly a while back and pinned him recently, but CM Punk has pretty much all the momentum on the mic. Jericho came back and said everyone was trying to be like him. Punk pretty much made Jericho look foolish. Jericho did not invent everything. Did they really feel they had to give back Jericho momentum in the promos? Well, they definitely did that.

I want to reiterate why I do not like what the WWE did with Mickie James against Michelle McCool. It is why they were doing it and the intensity and timing in how they were doing it. Rather than repeat everything I have ever said about it, let me just follow the path I just mentioned. Taker and HHH are equals to the WWE. Jericho and Punk are equals to the WWE. Mickie and McCool were not equals. McCool was the centerpiece and Mickie James was a credible jobber. While the four men I just mentioned are all very over with the fans, McCool, a woman they wanted over, had trouble getting a reaction. Mickie James, a woman they did not make to be as over as she was and was never treating properly, had no trouble staying connected with the fans. They were blatantly using one to benefit the other, in my analysis of the situation. They attacked her very image. Bullying in wrestling is one thing, but you have to draw the line somewhere. And doing it at a time when Meltzer was saying that Mickie James was being punished for her weight? The WWE pushed it with so much intensity, some people believed that the reports of her being punished were true.

Is what is happening with CM Punk a punishment? Obviously, it is not. I already said that this looks like a strong way to get Jericho back some strong momentum in the promo battle. It is for the storyline. Makes you wonder, taking another look at what dirtsheets said about Mickie James being made fun of back then, what if that really was a storyline as well? I mean, CM Punk did act the same kind of way after Jericho hurt him with his sharp words that Mickie James did in 2009. Of course, the difference is, as I just mentioned, what the overall goal of the WWE with the storyline is. And it all boils down to how the WWE views the workers involved. Running the same kind of storyline with CM Punk as the victim does not bury what the WWE did to Mickie James. For one thing, I don't think this will be damaging to Punk's overness at all.

Just because I don't feel they are punishing Punk, that does not mean I like what they are doing. First, as I mentioned before, is it really necessary? I think there was already good hype and directions they could have gone. Second, the idea that Jericho will cause Punk to start drinking after losing the title is kind of a stretch. Punk has been World Champion many times before. He has won and lost titles. If he was going to ever start drinking because he lost a title, he would have done it already. Obviously, it is just meant to be another mind game from Jericho. CM Punk obviously agreed to have this storyline go like this, just like Mickie James obviously agreed to the bully storyline she had with McCool. But if he has no problem doing it, why should I? It's not a huge problem for me. It won't hurt Punk and will help Jericho look stronger. Still, I feel it is respectable to draw the line at some places. Was this one of those places? Maybe? Maybe not? End of the day, it doesn't make me change my view of what they did to Mickie James.

Diva Division Recovering From Slow Start In 2012?

If you just took a look at what has been going on recently in the diva division, you would see a lot of women getting storylines and getting things to do. You would think that this would be good. If you look a little closer, however, you would notice that women's wrestling is not improving in the division. What is going on?

There is a lot of periphery things happening recently. Kharma, who obviously had her baby, returned to participate in the Royal Rumble match. Eve Torres has her angle with Zack Ryder continuing. AJ Lee has her angle with Daniel Bryan still going on. In all three of these, there is no real diva feud connected. Kharma was in the ring against men a few days ago. Eve is pretty much just a supporting character in the bigger storyline between Kane and Cena. I will talk more about that in a second. AJ is being used to make Daniel Bryan's heel turn more interesting. In all three situations, the involvement is more in the men's world than the women's. That is usually how periphery treatment will work. If the WWE continues to push these women in the men's world to get over(Kharma mixing it up with the men and Eve and AJ getting romance angles), then you would have periphery divas on your hands. Time will tell whether or not they do it with Eve and AJ, but I cannot imagine them centering the diva division around Kharma. They are definitely going to keep her on the side. Having her enter the Rumble was not surprising to me. Was I expecting it to happen this year? Since I did not know she had the baby yet, that part was surprising.

I want to talk more about Eve's storyline because it gives me an excuse to talk about recent title matters. Beth Phoenix, after being sidelined with an injury and being kept off Raw for about a month, had her first title defense on Raw since that injury this week. As you saw, it was against Eve. Alicia Fox was actually the last woman to pin Beth Phoenix, and injured her, but Eve gets the shot. That's fine. Obviously, it wasn't even about furthering diva matters properly. Eve vs. Beth Phoenix was the last match on the show. Such an honor? No, not really. Look at how it went. It didn't even last a minute. I know, the story was that Eve was distracted by Zack Ryder's recent drama, so she couldn't handle herself emotionally. That's kayfabe. That's the storyline. The reality of the situation is what I do not like. Look at what happened in the earlier squash match with Brodus Clay winning. I think that match actually lasted a few seconds longer, but that is not even my point. What happened after Brodus won? He danced. He celebrated. Focus still on him. What happened after Beth Phoenix won? Out the ring. Time for Kane. Focus no longer on Beth. For the moment, it was still only about Eve. That quickly turned into Kane/Cena. That is my major issue. It isn't even so much that the match was so short and not interesting. It was that the match was completely overshadowed by something the WWE obviously cared more about. A Diva's Championship match was basically used as just a means to set up Cena brawling with Kane. You can say that the women will benefit from this, but Eve actually stands to benefit from all this than Beth. I can picture fans connecting with Eve's character. Beth is being used in a boring way. At the end of the day, it's still all for Cena at the moment.

There is something going on right now on Smackdown that I want to talk about. No, not AJ. Natalya. If you watched last week and this week, you know what I mean. I don't even want to say it. You want to talk about crass? What they are doing with Natalya isn't even crazy and fun. It is not intriguing and exciting. It doesn't draw me, unlike a certain other act involving a diva that Vince McMahon did say was crass. Natalya is being humiliated. Is it necessary? I don't care if this is supposed to lead to a split between Beth and Natalya, there are more entertaining or respectful ways to do it. Some people can say that humiliation happens in pro wrestling, so don't take it too seriously. Nevertheless, there are some forms of it that are not entertaining and disgust your fans. Moreover, you have to think about why it is even being done. Let me talk about the two biggest instances of diva humiliation. You have Vince McMahon forcing Trish Stratus to strip and bark like a dog, and Michelle McCool making Mickie James cry by calling her fat. The main thing I want to bring up in comparing these two right now is what the WWE was trying to accomplish. How were they going about it? Starting with the segment in 2001, this was part of an elaborate, main-event storyline that Trish Stratus was getting. Trish was not there simply to help Vince look like a good heel. Vince doesn't need that kind of help. But Trish Stratus turned face for the first time through this storyline. How many women can say they turned face in a storyline involving Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, and other top names? They had Trish Stratus stand up for herself. This happened in the first quarter of 2001. By the end of 2001, Trish was holding her first Women's Championship. She was the centerpiece. You know the rest. And Mickie James? Why was she humiliated? She wasn't exactly in there against someone able to gain their own heat well. Michelle McCool was quite the opposite. But McCool got the best heat of her career while Mickie was there to put her over. And that was the point. The WWE never really did anything to properly sell the idea that Mickie James was not fat. They never even had McCool stop bullying her after Mickie won the Women's Championship. And you know what came after that. While the WWE continued to develop an epic career for Trish Stratus after her humiliation against Vince, the WWE tossed Mickie James aside after using her for McCool's benefit. Back to Natalya. This humiliation obviously will not benefit her. What makes it even more stupid is that they are not even using her for the benefit of some other diva. It's just plain stupid.

The last thing to talk about? Where's your centerpiece? Kelly Kelly? Is she still the centerpiece? She sure isn't being treated like it. I still can't tell why. Bad driving? That would be stupid. She obviously did not have the solid in-ring ability as other centerpieces, but I don't think she had flopped yet. She was over, but not all the wrestling fans were buying into her. This all could still be a rest period. But if they have given up on her, don't plan to push Layla as centerpiece, and don't have any other option on the horizon, then you will definitely be having a period like you did right after Sable left. Periphery diva storylines and usage was very common back then. Already showing signs of that now.

The promise I made myself is that I would stop writing a pro wrestling blog when I see the WWE diva division end. Meaning, I want to see them stop pushing models as the best wrestlers in the world at the expense of real wrestlers. If you look at the division right now, would you say there is improvement? As I said before, more women are getting used well. However, match quality is not improving. There may be no model centerpiece currently, but this has happened before. The WWE can very well coast the division like this until they have chosen a new centerpiece, assuming Kelly Kelly is no longer it, and developed that new woman. And the cycle will continue. All that being said, I don't think I will be retiring from this blog in the near future.

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?

The WWE Career Of Mickie James - Part 6

I have talked about that infamous storyline on Smackdown a lot in the past year. This ended up being the farewell angle for Mickie James. Funny how that was one of the ideas they were pushing in it. And I don't think it was a coincidence.

As soon as Mickie James arrived, they pushed this angle in which Michelle McCool and her sidekick at the time, Layla, were bullying her. With the diva trade and Maria on leave, Mickie was the only face diva on Smackdown anyway. They ruined her clothes, cost her a match, and then started the weight angle. Dirtsheets had talked about weight being one of the reasons why Mickie James was "punished" by going to Smackdown like she did. The WWE pushing the storyline like they did fed dirtsheets, fueling that Mickie James was being punished. The timing of the whole thing was very insulting. But why should WWE care? Their mission was to get McCool looking great at the expense of any tool.

It was obvious Mickie James would win the title. Diva bully angles had occurred in the past with Chyna/Ivory and Lita/Trish. In those cases, the faces always win the title from the bully. Not so much an honor as it is how the story is meant to progress.

Mickie James had an infection which caused her to drop the title after just a few weeks. She worked the match to give it back to McCool and had surgery the next week. Many people doubted she would make it back in time for Wrestlemania, but she pushed herself to do it. She did it. But look at how the WWE hyped her return. They didn't. They just randomly placed her into the large, lackluster diva tag match at Wrestlemania. They just had her show up on Raw and stand by Kelly Kelly to watch a match. On Smackdown, they had her run out with the rest of the face divas to run off a bunch of the heels, leaving Beth Phoenix the sole face to get attention. This is not how you treat your most over diva. This was the first and only time Mickie James missed time from traveling with the WWE for an extended period of time due to anything health related. Yes, it only amounted to 3 weeks, but remember when Michelle McCool got injured in 2009? She was only gone for 2 weeks before they hyped when she would be returning. She did not even wrestle for over a month after that on Smackdown. Before she did return, they only mentioned her infrequently in backstage segments to say she had a knee injury. Boring reason leads to boring return. But then again, why would you hype a woman you knew you never liked and would be getting rid of soon enough? Mickie James was always just an option, not something to be treated as a priority.

And that is Mickie's 6th and final title reign. They did not even keep her around for more than a month after that. Their worst nightmare would have been realized if they had. Beth Phoenix injured shortly after. Kelly Kelly almost seriously injured at a house show. Tiffany suspended. They would have had to push Mickie James again to a 7th title reign. Remember who was closest to reaching Moolah's record before Trish eventually did and broke it? Ivory. WWE never let her do it. History repeats with Mickie James. They insulted Mickie James a lot worse than they did Ivory. She even got released while promoting the WWE's own Draft in her hometown. I cannot even measure how that slap in the face must feel.

A nice bit I hear is that "storylines happen". People who say that are missing the kicker. Storylines happen FOR A REASON. And that reason is not always entertainment. The current storyline involving Nexus and Cena is a means to inject credibility in the members, especially Barrett. This guy is getting a bigger rub in the main event than some guys who have been around for years have gotten. What reason can be found in what they did to Mickie James on Smackdown? Do whatever it takes to make Michelle McCool look like a great heel. Mickie James was the most over diva and a very strong worker. McCool was getting that heat. Fans were loudly chanting that she sucked. WWE and McCool have to blame themselves for it fading. They pushed the envelope too far and McCool was just too lame in the end to be a serious heel well enough. Once Mickie served her purpose, they got rid of her completely. Remember when Melina returned to Smackdown last year? Outside of feuding with McCool, she really got no true feuds or meaningful storylines with anyone else. They just used her and spat her back to Raw. She still had a few more reigns in her. Look at what they did to her recently. Put the title on her, used her to make McCool make history again, then immediately kicked her aside to give Natalya a push. You see who the centerpiece is. It is McCool. This storyline was done for her benefit, not Mickie's. Arguably, Mickie James even lost the feud against McCool. The whole thing about weight and being bullied continued after Mickie James won the title. They even added Vickie Guerrero, who served to add more to both the weight aspect and added to the bullies against Mickie. McCool got back the title. Mickie James was never treated with proper hype again after that. They never wanted her to be the centerpiece.

The Rise And Fall Of Gail Kim In Early 2010

In August, I mentioned a hypothetical "closed division". Not surprisingly, I was really alluding to the women's division. Women competing against men and for titles traditionally held by men is not the norm, it is the exception. Especially in this era in the WWE, you do not see it often. The WWE would rarely push two diva storylines/feuds on the same show without one getting the short end of the stick sooner or later. Look at Natalya's "feud" with Tamina. It went on while Diva title issues also did on Raw. Great? Few problems. First, the feud between the two women was really just an extension The Usos and Hart Dynasty battling over the tag titles. Second, aside from the beatings the heels gave the faces, nothing great was really invested in this feud. That leads to the third thing. It did pretty much nothing great for either woman. Tamina and her guys quickly got depushed. Natalya did not really gain much. She would have had credibility for the push she now has based on the fact that she was hired as a wrestler, feuded with McCool before, and, if it must be said, she's related to Bret Hart too. What's more, and I am not saying the matches were horrible, the interactions between the two really were not good enough to put either on the map more than they already were from being credible wrestlers and relatives to legends. You also had divas feuding for Raw's Diva's Championship. All you had during this time was the passing of credibility through the passing of the title. Once again, I would not say the WWE invested very well in getting either Eve or Alicia properly over. Maybe they did give it a good try, but it still failed. I would say both diva matters that were going on got the short end of the stick in terms of potential and bringing results for the women involved and true entertainment value. There is more I can say on this, but my point is that the WWE's treating of the diva division in this manner is one of the reasons it does suck.

I am going to talk about Gail Kim here. In my opinion, there is no better, clearer example of how the WWE views women like Gail Kim, Melina, Mickie James, Victoria, and the past credible wrestlers who revolved around Trish Stratus than what they did to Gail Kim earlier this year. I know I probably talked about this in my dead diva blog, but I want to revisit it since it will also help in developing the larger topic for the future. On a small scale, it illustrates it very well.

Gail Kim returned to the WWE last year. She had become the centerpiece of TNA's highly-praised female division. By buying her out, the WWE did a small bit in crippling it. Fans were hyped for months, thinking Gail Kim would do some kind of magic in the WWE. Where is she now? In any case, when Gail returned, she laid out both Michelle McCool and Maryse on Smackdown, setting her sights on the Diva's Championship. Funny how she was the closest one to making history by becoming the first woman to hold both titles by this time, isn't it? Victoria had left, no one else on Smackdown had held the Women's Championship before, and no one on Raw had held the Diva's Championship or had a shot at getting it while it was on Smackdown. In any case, Gail's push got destroyed pretty easily. Also, Gail Kim was easily depushed and not very over. What went wrong? Three things. First, Gail Kim's overness did not carry over from TNA to WWE. Second, the WWE did not invest in her hard or well enough to try to make her over. Third, as much as I do like Gail Kim, she does not have what it takes to get over or stay over independent to how she is treated by the promotion. WWE just moved her around as they felt, using her as a low-level tool. She had more credibility than some in that she had held the WWE's Women's Championship before and was an actual wrestler, but she was still just there to put people over.

At the end of 2009, Diva's Champion Melina got injured. As 2010 started, a tournament was announced to crown another. As the year progressed, which diva had the best win-loss record for televised matches? Who was undefeated, getting wins pretty much every week? Not Michelle McCool, Mickie James, or Maryse. This diva the WWE must have loved so much was Gail Kim. They had to love her, right? Why else would they give her the wins? Because they wanted to develop a credible wrestler to feed to Maryse. That is what Melina was. She got injured. Who is left as the most credible face on Raw? Kelly Kelly? She is the most over face at the time there, not the most credible. Eve? She was who the WWE was going to pump credibility into through a title reign in the near future, but not the most credible at the time to put Maryse over. Bella Twins? Prostitutes for guest hosts. I already said where Gail got credibility from. Gail also went over every heel diva on Raw. The mission with Maryse at that time was always to try to get her looking like a credible wrestler by associating with them. She didn't need help getting monster heel heat, since the WWE would want a woman with her sexy gimmick to actually be somewhat liked, not hated like a Michelle McCool around this time.

Speaking of gimmicks, the WWE also pushed a minor storyline at the same time in which Maryse would speak face English and heel French, as if Gail could not understand the latter. This was meant to push Maryse's sneaky and conniving side. Fans were supposed to find that somewhat cute. Some even read lesbian undertones. It's Maryse! Of course pervs would read lesbian undertones! In any case, the story ended when Gail finally revealed she could speak and understand French too. HAH! TAKE THAT MARYSE! GAIL WAS SO....so....what? Entertaining? Were fans supposed to feel sympathetic for Gail because Maryse was trying to make her look stupid, then fall in love with Gail after she revealed she was not fooled? If the WWE honestly had this storyline to try to turn Gail into a monster over face diva, it is the absolute worst attempt I have ever seen in any diva angle. Obviously, it was not what they wanted. They wanted people talking about Maryse. People were. What was she telling Gail? What is her plan? Is she turning face for real?

On the same night that Gail supposedly won the storyline against Maryse, the two were supposed to face each other to crown that new Diva's Champion. Gail still had that undefeated streak and momentum. Who got the pinfall win that night? Who else? Michelle McCool! Wait, what? The match was changed into a tag match. McCool/Layla vs. Gail/Maryse. Michelle McCool, centerpiece of the whole damn division, was the first woman to pin Gail Kim and give her the first official loss. Next night on Raw, Maryse picked up the scraps to win the title from Gail Kim. It was a pretty mediocre performance from Maryse, which is another reason to be glad the WWE went with a credible wrestler like Gail as the tool. Could have been worse.

What has become of Gail since then? She worked Wrestlemania and Fatal Fourway, but she has never gotten the attention that she got when the year started. Why should she? The WWE moved on to Eve. Melina returned. Natalya is pushed now. Do not shake off that Gail only got that treatment in the first place because the face they would have rather had pushed against Maryse got injured. If the WWE really loved Gail Kim, her treatment since then would have been a lot more respectable than just using her when they need a face diva for some reason. It is clear that she was only being used for Maryse's sake. The WWE was definitely high on Maryse being the centerpiece of Raw's division at one time, and may still be. Tool putting over centerpiece. That is what you had. The wins were not a sign of respect for Gail in so much as they were really building her up for Maryse's, or McCool's as it turned out, benefit. The storyline, as mediocre as it was, was meant to do more for Maryse's character than Gail's, even though Maryse "failed" to outwit Gail in kayfabe. The entertainment value was still on Maryse. Even right now, Maryse is still in a better spot as valet to Ted DiBiase than Gail Kim is as...as...pretty much the same place she was in before her 2010 push. It did nothing lasting for her. Wasn't meant to.

Once again, this example is on the small scale, but it is clear how the WWE didn't really care much about Gail for her own sake. They handed her wins. On a larger scale, they hand some women titles. I know a lot of people believe the WWE must love someone to give them a title. Is it hard to believe this same way of thinking can be used to say that the WWE must love a wrestler to give them a win? Especially an undefeated streak like they did for Gail? Love must be relative. Just like you need to stop thinking about wins meaning the WWE is completely on the side of a wrestler, you need to think about title reigns/wins in a similar way. Wins help to build credibility, as do titles. It is just an issue of scale. Titles are higher up than straight wins in matches. Look at what the WWE just did to Melina. They handed her a title, crammed title defenses in a few short weeks, didn't develop any of those "feuds" very well, built Melina's character very little, fed her to McCool, had her lose a clean finish to Layla, and she has been replaced by Natalya. If the WWE really cared about Melina, they would have found something better to keep her fresh since then. How long did it take the WWE to pair Maryse with DiBiase after her last real shot at the Diva's Championship at Fatal Fourway? A day. You can tell they care about this woman a lot more than certain others. The title was not a real honor or sign of WWE support for Melina. Fans will read it as if it is, just like some would read Gail's wins earlier this week as being done for her benefit in the end. Wrong. Melina has not even gained any real overness through all this. The only real difference between Melina and Gail in respect to all this is that Melina is a higher level tool than Gail.

I have been talking much about the diva division here. It is a closed division that relies on the creation of tools to put over the women the WWE wants over. Injuries sometimes lead to the WWE having to push women it would rather have not pushed, giving them "honors" they would otherwise have not gotten. This is not the end story. In a week or two, I will get to the real topic I want to discuss. Yes, it will be on Mickie James.