The End

This will be my last day blogging. I do not imagine I will return to this. I just want to thank all the few regular readers I have had over the years, including the ones that left comments. Knowing that people actually cared enough to read what I was saying and kept coming back really helped. I probably would not have lasted this long without that.

I should say why I will not be blogging anymore. First, I am just not a wrestling fan anymore. It just doesn't entertain me anymore. When I first started watching regularly in 1998, it was because there was intrigue, interesting characters, and just a fun, exciting atmosphere. I don't feel any of that anymore.

Second, not only does wrestling not entertain me, it annoys me. The sloppiness of the WWE just turns me off. Even worse than that, how the WWE treats their workers is terrible. It is one thing to be inefficient, but not giving workers fair opportunities to succeed and earn better for themselves is disgusting. It is even worse when the WWE exploits those individuals that succeed when they are not scripted to be great for the benefit of those the WWE wants to be great. It has pretty much been confirmed that the WWE does mistreat their workers in this way. It is not just backstage rumors or smarks creating conspiracy theories. You have seen people get over and not get treated better. You have seen workers complain about it. It happens. And I refuse to have the WWE tell me whom I should like or define greatness for me.

Lastly, moving on might just be good for my peace of mind. When I first started blogging in 2008, it was an all-diva blog because I disliked how the WWE was treating Mickie James and the division as a whole. I knew they did not want Mickie James over. Anyone paying attention to how she was pushed in 2007 and 2008 could tell it was just filler pushes. The WWE never did anything to make me doubt myself. If anything, the blatant mistreatment of guys like Zack Ryder and Daniel Bryan confirmed what I was saying, as well as how they treat Mickie James right now. And we all remember how Mickie's career ended back then in the WWE.

As someone that has lived in New York City for a long time, a motto that pops up in recent years is: "If you see something, say something." I saw something wrong back then and I don't feel like I did enough to get people to understand it. That has been on my conscience for a long time. I have had some sleepless nights over it, especially when reading Mickie James blame herself for what happened or thinking about other women so passionate about being in the WWE that I could see are not treated right and might go through the same garbage Mickie James went through. It is bad enough to get treated like crap, but dirtsheets, another source of annoyance for me, rub salt on the wounds.

Whatever personal issues Mickie James might have had, the problems did not start in 2010, or even 2009. I have said it multiple times over the years. I will say it for the final time. Prior to Mickie James even debuting back in 2005, the WWE was running their diva division in a certain manner. Female wrestlers pushed as credible jobbers, used as jobbers to the centerpiece and interim centerpiece, would never get over off of that type of career and move on to better. They all eventually got phased out. Chyna and Lita got over in the periphery. Mickie James didn't debut into the type of career Chyna and Lita had. She debuted in the kind of career where you don't get over. And she did get over. But the WWE never stopped pushing her the same way. The reason she got pushed as much as she did is because of poor depth and centerpiece issues, like multiple injuries to the women that were groomed to be the stars. This just gets ignored. No one ever analyzes what is going on right in front of them. Why is the WWE treating Mickie James poorly? Could it have anything to do with the fact that they do not want her over, as supported by the fact they are not pushing her as someone they want over, and she is more over than the women that are being pushed to be stars?

Something people might bring up is all the title reigns she got in the WWE. Keep in mind one came off of a botched finish at a house show. Even then, what's the worth of a title reign? It is not always a reward for getting over, it does not make you over, it does not mean the WWE will push you as someone they want over during the reign, and it does not guarantee you anything after the reign ends. I have seen a ton of title reigns in recent years that just left me wondering why the WWE even bothered. The wrestler wasn't over. They weren't pushed well. It's not like there was some kind of injury issue to warrant the reign. It just seemed pointless. It is easy to get lost in a title win, but it is just a moment. It is more important to pay attention to what happened in building up to that moment and what the WWE does after.

Let me give an example I was holding back on doing for a while. The WWE giving these women title reigns is kind of like giving them a gift. But what does it really mean? I just got through saying it does not really mean anything. Imagine a man buys a woman jewelry and other expensive gifts. Okay, but what does that mean? Does it automatically means he does love her? What if the man takes advantage of her? What if he humiliates her, especially in public? What if he cheats on her? What if he tosses her aside when he is done with her? What if he makes her feel it was her fault? And what if he chooses another woman to do this to?

This kind of thing does happen. There are movies about it. I remember watching a movie where a teenage boy was in a relationship with a teenage girl that he ended up ordering around and physically abusing. He would give her flowers to make it seem like he really did love her. But does that give him the right to mistreat her? In the end, he ended up killing the girl. The movie was called No One Would Tell.

Am I really comparing how the WWE treats their women to abusive relationships? Yes, you want to make something of it? My point is that the WWE giving these women title reigns does not automatically mean that the WWE values them as stars or is giving them the opportunity to earn that kind of career for themselves. I am making the comparison between that and a jerk buying a girl a gift not automatically meaning that he really loves her, and certainly does not mean he can abuse her.

Look back at how the WWE treated Mickie James back when they were supposedly in love with her and so many fans say she was the face of the diva division. Did they take advantage of her? They frequently used her in feuds designed to put over other women, and also filler pushes when the woman they would rather have on top was not around. Did they humiliate her? Yes, they did that. I am sure you know what I am referring to. And it was public humiliation. Millions of people all over the world saw it. It will be on Youtube for people to see for a long time. Did they cheat on her? Is it fair to not give Mickie James a proper chance to earn that spot that women like Candice Michelle and Michelle McCool are being given? I am pretty certain they did not make it clear to Mickie James that they were just using her and she was not a top star. I think this unfairness and manipulation can be seen as cheating Mickie James out of something. Did they toss her aside? Even before they released her, they tossed her aside numerous times when they were done using her to serve a purpose. They left fans wondering all these times why Mickie James was not being pushed. Did they leave Mickie James thinking it had to have been something she did? Yes, even though they had treated numerous women like this before Mickie James, and none of them should blame themselves for this. The WWE runs the men's division the same way. Lastly, did the WWE continue doing this to other women even after Mickie James. Yes. Even in this new era, there are sometimes hints of the WWE still doing it now and then. You take this all in. You call that love? You call that the WWE being high on Mickie James? The title reigns mean nothing. The fact that they pushed her does not mean they were high on her if they were all filler and jobber pushes. The problems did not pop up in 2009. Sadly, no one could tell.

Instead of Mickie James getting any respect for what she had to endure and overcoming it to succeed in a way no other woman prior to her was able to, she will always have that stigma that she screwed herself. Even now, she is not getting the career she earned. She will obviously get into the Hall of Fame, but that's not saying much these days. There is more to her story that will likely never be brought up. Mickie James will never speak up for herself. Her fans won't do it. The WWE certainly won't let her drop a legitimate pipebomb on her career. Why should it even come to do that? Why do so many wrestlers have to complain to get things. That sour atmosphere just turns me off. Just realize what you have in Mickie James and give her a good career. Lastly, not wanting to have the whole situation with Mickie James on my mind anymore is a reason I just want to move on.

I would say Mickie James is the greatest female wrestler the WWE ever had. That isn't favoritism talking. I wasn't born a Mickie James fan. Greatness is based on what you accomplish and how you accomplished it. It is based on the obstacles you had to overcome and how you overcame them. She got as over as she did back in the day by doing what a pro wrestling performer is supposed to do. She entertained. She was good enough in the ring to connect with wrestling fans. She was attractive enough to connect with fans interested in that. And she had a charisma that many fans could get drawn into. It is a shame that this toxic environment in the WWE currently is not helping her, but you cannot take away what she did accomplish. More women should try to be solid overall performers like that. The WWE should want to bring that out of the women, as well. There have been some women around that I thought could have what it takes. Paige was someone I thought could have done it. But it is just wrong for some women in the WWE to do nothing more but wrestle. If you cannot make big bucks for the WWE, you might find yourself depushed for the sake of Alexa Bliss. All you can really ask is for the WWE to give you a fair shot to earn that better career. After that, you have to make the most of it.

I am not too worried about what is going right now. It is a mess on both Raw and Smackown, but the WWE is likely to screw themselves even more than they screw any one woman in this era. Their many issues are biting them. There is no need for me to analyze and critique this stuff anymore. And with that, I say goodbye.

State Of The WWE Women's Division: August 2017

This will be the last one of these I do. Why not post a pic of my favorite singer? The big developments this month all involve the titles. Both titles on the main roster changed hands. Even the women's title in NXT had to be given up due to injury, although I will not talk too much about NXT.

Just in general, I do not have a problem with either Sasha Banks or Natalya getting title reigns. They are solid in-ring workers that deserved to eventually get them. I just would not have had either woman win it at Summerslam. In the case of Sasha Banks, her feud with Alexa Bliss was just rushed and poorly developed. I would have given her the title after a few weeks of proper build. In the case of Natalya, this should not have been her time at all. There were women that could have made for a better, bigger feud with Naomi at the biggest WWE PPV of the summer. The WWE even did a poor job building the feud to help Natalya look better. Are these writers even here to come up with creative ideas? Or are they just game managers that just put the women out there?

Let me talk about some of these other women outside the title picture. I will start with Smackdown. Becky Lynch and Charlotte are not being utilized right. These are two inaugural titleholders. They sure do not look like it. I would be the first to say Charlotte was overpushed and does not look like she deserves to be centerpiece, but you cannot just put all that work into her and drop the ball so easily on her. At the very least, she can be used to put over other women in properly-built feuds. Becky Lynch is someone I feel has more potential to be the centerpiece, but she is also just floating around.

I have seen some fans ask why Tamina is being pushed. Is she being pushed? You don't need to be in the title picture to be pushed, but is what Tamina is getting even a push? She has that storyline with Lana. Who is even supposed to be the benefactor there? Smackdown has done a terrible job putting focus on individual women since it became its own brand again. Becky Lynch had no proper focus on her prior to winning the title. I just brought up Natalya. Their idea of giving Naomi focus is just having her steamroll Alexa Bliss, despite her injury issues. Where is the proper creative development? I don't even know what to make out of this storyline Tamina and Lana are getting. Given Smackdown's history of tossing the title around, including rumors that Eva Marie was supposed to get a title reign, either one of these two women could get a title run. And neither of them deserves it. Outside of that, what is the payoff of this angle? They turn on each other? Not too interesting.

Carmella still has the briefcase and is hovering with it. I think she will win the title. And she should. Start the women's briefcase on a good foot. The WWE already failed to do that with the Ellsworth fiasco, but the WWE can avoid other mistakes going forward. Will Carmella cashing in on Natalya be a big deal? Maybe they should wait for a new face to win the title and Carmella cashes in on her. That could be either Becky Lynch or Charlotte. Naomi should not get the title back anytime soon. One thing that would be nice is to just have Carmella take a step back from trying to cash in. Let Natalya and Naomi, and whomever else, have a proper feud between themselves. Let Carmella feud with one of the other faces right now. Not only will that be good for Carmella, but it gives another woman something meaningful to do. You look at the men that have won the briefcase over years. They were not always this plastered to the title scene from the moment they got the briefcase to when they cashed in. They had other feuds. Do that with Carmella. Right now, the story being Carmella wants to cash in is just too easy.

Let me just say something general about the way Smackdown does things. I see a lot of fans giving Smackdown praise for giving all the women things to do. There are various reasons why it is not good, like an injury here and there possibly messing things up a lot. But let me bring up another. Just because these women have something to do does not mean they have something meaningful to do. It is like going to school, finding out the teacher is absent, and the substitute gives you busy work because the regular work plan was not left. Are the students getting something to do? Yes. Are they getting something meaningful to do? No. These women on Smackdown might be getting used regularly, but a lot of these feuds and storylines are just terrible. There is a lot of underutilized women. The writers are not really creating greatness. They are just sticking women in situations and having them work. They need to do more for these women. All the multi-women matches Smackdown has gone to far too much in the past year is an example of that laziness.

Onto Raw. Outside of the title feud, what is there really to talk about? Not much. Emma is getting an angle, though. She is getting TV time and is getting focus. Yeah, she is losing, but it is not unusual for these kind of angles to end in title reigns. The WWE should keep the title on Sasha Banks and have her defend it against Emma, and eventually drop it to her. That should quiet the fans complaining about Emma not getting a chance. There was a time when I would agree with them. But looking at Emma getting time recently, even if losing, that is better than what some people are getting. The fact is, Emma is getting a chance. If she has really won fans over like the people on Twitter might make you believe, have the live audiences roar for her. Have them regularly chant for her during other women's segments. Make her the female Daniel Bryan. The WWE is actually putting her out there for it to happen. Is she going to step up and get more over? Or is she just going to rest on her Internet popularity and give the WWE a reason to not follow up with her?

Mickie James has been seeing a little more TV time in the last month, since Bayley got injured. If Bayley had not gotten injured, I do not think Mickie James would have gotten what usage she has gotten. Bayley would be tied up with Alexa Bliss. Sasha Banks is the next priority in Raw's women's division. They would have found something for her. Maybe she would be the one working against Emma. Emma has just been going between losing to Mickie James and Nia Jax on Raw recently. Dana Brooke is obviously not good enough to push as priority above Sasha Banks or Bayley. Mickie James still lacks a legitimate storyline, but she is still around.

And what about Nia Jax? As far as I am concerned, she is still on probation. If she cannot keep it safe for at least the rest of the year, she should be fired. She is not a great worker. She currently does not have a proper feud. Should it be against Mickie James? Or does the WWE want to keep some women open to continue the angle involving Emma? Regardless, she will get TV time. I just hope she keeps it safe in the ring.

Outside of how the women are being utilized, how are the fans reacting to them? I think there is a problem. Everyone knows about the bad reactions Bayley would get. Even Sasha Banks has experienced a negative reaction at times. Is that just the Brooklyn audience? I am from Brooklyn, so I know how bad they can be. The Four Horsewomen, the NXT elite, all look bad right now. The two on Smackdown are not doing anything important. One of the two on Raw is injured, and has issues connecting with the fans. The other one got the title in a poor feud, and her own overness is in question. I remember getting my head bit off when I said these women were not that over. They were treated like automatic legends in NXT, but the main roster is something else. And it is not just them. All the women can be doing better.

Is it just the smarks? Smarks love heels. But the answer cannot be to just turn Sasha Banks heel. Heels do that edgy stuff that smarks typically love, but there will still be some fans that will not care.

I will say the issue is the women's revolution. It was fine when it first started and even last year. But it is time to stop talking about it and basing so many feuds and segments off of that. It is great that you are going to treat the women better, but stop talking about it. It is abrasive. Moreover, you might start wondering why you need to promote your good deeds so much. Is it just for the sake of your own ego? When Stephanie McMahon was plugged too much into the women's revolution the year it started, it definitely looked like an ego thing. Are you exploiting the situation? The WWE is definitely exploiting it in terms of promoting it and stroylines. Is this really a draw?

It is just not entertaining. TNA could run a respectable women's division without promoting too much that it was respectable. Did they promote it now and then and even use it for the sake of angles? Yes, but they did other things, as well, and did not do as terrible a job with it as the WWE. This is the reason some women like Lana and Alexa Bliss have gotten better reactions during the women's revolution era than you might think they should have. They are actually entertaining the audience, while these female wrestlers are doing their self-righteous screaming. The WWE needs to step back and make things fun again.

Look at the NFL. Last year, they had a dip in the ratings. Of the many reasons given, including it being an election year, some people said the NFL was just not fun anymore. Too many flags. Players were penalized for having fun out there and putting emotion into what they did. What has the NFL done this year? They are being less strict with touchdown celebrations. Players will have more freedom to enjoy themselves. It remains to be seen if viewership will increase for them, but this decision should bring some fun back into the game.

And that is exactly my point. The NFL realized that they should not stifle the enjoyment. That enjoyment is contagious. If players are having fun, that energizes the audience, both the live audience and the viewers at home. How about the WWE starts realizing that? Be fun again. Stop with the feminist screaming. I believe women should be treated fairly and equally, but making that the theme of the women's division is not fun. That is why some fans are dead for what is going on, or even completely sour for what is going on. The writers need to step up and create storylines that are more enjoyable. Enough of the complaining. The WWE will not be having women in their bra and thongs running around, but that does not mean they should not occasionally do some of the fun things that women used to do in the diva era. Face it, the diva era is not completely dead. Alexa Bliss holding the title was pretty much a throwback to Trish Stratus in the diva era. The WWE does not have one woman that is connecting with fans at an A+ level. I think some of these women have potential to be that great, but they need to step up and the WWE needs to do a better job pushing them. And, needless to say, certain arrogant fans need to give things a chance. Maybe the WWE will never be able to fix the problem. Some fans are just terrible.

The Sloppiness Of The Raw Women's Division

Both the Raw and Smackdown women's divisions have their issues that are resulting in fans getting irritated and women not realizing their full potential in terms of how they are being pushed and how well they are connecting with the fans. I talked a lot about the issues with Smackdown recently. I cannot let Raw off the hook.

A couple weeks ago, Raw had a very dumb interaction for their women that I briefly mentioned. Alexa Bliss defended the title against Nia Jax in a pathetic match. But that was not even the issue. Mickie James and Dana Brooke were out there because they are also not on good terms with Alexa Bliss. They end up going after her. Nia Jax pushed them out of the way because she wanted Alexa for herself. She attacked them again. The segment ended with Mickie and Dana just getting in the ring with Nia and letting her destroy them. That was bad writing. After Nia Jax already knocked them around a few minutes earlier, why would Mickie and Dana just get in the ring to stand there like they could trust her? Why wouldn't they at least try to get revenge? They could have even just stared down both Nia and Alexa from outside the ring. Mickie and Dana just looked stupid with that kind of writing.

And the stupidity continues. This week on Raw, Sasha Banks and Nia Jax had another match that was nothing to get excited about. Once again, however, that was not the issue. Another brawl broke out. It seems all the women hate Alexa Bliss. Emma came out to get some of Alexa, who did walk out on the other two heels the week before in a tag match. Nia Jax held Alexa for Emma. Emma accidentally hit Nia Jax. A little while after that, Emma and Alexa just shrug off their issues and attack Sasha Banks. I know two enemies might put aside their differences to attack a common enemy, but Emma was just focused on going after Alexa Bliss a few moments ago, how could you just shrug that off so easily? Alexa Bliss was her immediate target, not Sasha Banks. Mickie James and Dana Brooke then come out to go after the heels. Bayley runs out after. I was watching this segment on Monday. Part of me expected Bayley to attack Mickie James and Dana Brooke? Why? Because it would match the rest of the stupidity going on here.

There are various reasons why none of these women are as over as they could be. I think two of those reasons came up in this very segment from Raw.

First, the WWE's writers are not doing a proper job building characters, relationships, and feuds. Fans just don't know what to make out of a lot of what they are seeing. Emma comes out there focused on getting Alexa Bliss. Next thing you know, they seem to be on the same side again. You also have Mickie James and Dana Brooke together. That's fine, but they could have done a much better job creating that relationship to make it easier for fans to care about it.

The second problem I saw on Raw was that things are just congested. This has been an issue I brought up for the Smackdown women. Too many feuds and PPV matches involving too many women. That problem has really taken over on Raw recently. Things started out as Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax, with Mickie James and Dana Brooke also involved in the story. That was fine. The WWE could have done something good with those four women. Next thing you know, Sasha Banks is in the story and the spotlight seems to be on her more. Emma returns and is thrown into the story. This week, Bayley runs out. Is Alicia Fox going to get involved next week? This is just not good. The WWE has added way too many women to this thing and created a mess.

Let me focus on Bayley. I would be the first one to say that the WWE has not treated her right since she debuted on the main roster. And she looked terrible in her feud with Alexa Bliss. But she lost the feud and the WWE looked like they were moving on. She has to take a backseat. Either find her another angle or rest her for a few weeks. It isn't fair to other women to have her pushed back into the picture. I said the same thing about Sasha Banks. She deserved a proper title run. But if the WWE was unwilling to do that and just continued the endless feud with her and Charlotte, that was just unfair to other women. In this case, it was unfair to Bayley. Even when Bayley won the title, Sasha Banks was out there. What face woman was sharing the spotlight with Sasha when she won he first title? This is one of the reasons Bayley has not worked out better. She has not had that individual spotlight properly on her when her push started. But it is unfair to keep sending her out there when there are other women that could use some proper attention.

Not only can you talk about congestion in terms of women in this picture, you can talk about creative congestion. Everyone dislikes Alexa Bliss. Not only does she have a title everyone would like to have, but she has done things to ruin her relationships with various women, even though the WWE is sloppy with that. You also have the fact that everyone has to keep an eye on Nia Jax because she will attack both the faces and the heels. So what is the feud that is going on right now? It is not clean at all. The WWE can try to toss together some multi-woman match for Great Balls Of Fire, but they have not set this up properly at all. What is the story? All these women want the title? All these women want revenge on Alexa Bliss? Should the focus be on Nia Jax? Things were already messy even before Bayley ran out this week. What is her story? And will it properly fit in with anything else? Then again, stories don't seem to matter here. Everyone is just going to fight each other.

How would I do things? First, Sasha Banks should be the one getting a singles feud against Alexa Bliss. She has the freshness. It could have started this month and gone to Summerslam. There was no need to have this congested mess. If the WWE wanted to toss all the women together for a #1 contender's match, they could have just done that by now and without all the sloppy half-developed angles that they have been throwing out there.

Second, Mickie James, Dana Brooke, and Emma should be doing something separate. Emma is returning from her injury, so it would be nice if she could get some proper focus on her. Mickie and Dana have that partnership that can really be featured a lot better. Dana and Emma used to be partners. The story just seems to write itself. Instead of having all these women focused on either going after Alexa Bliss or defending themselves against Nia Jax, create an interesting storyline away from that which might help the character development of these women. The story could either lead to Dana turning on Mickie James to go back to Emma or Dana finally knocking her former partner to the curb. It would be something the audience would have an easier time getting behind than the sloppiness of the last few weeks. And Mickie James vs. Emma would be a good singles match, certainly better than just Emma vs. Dana Brooke.

What about the other women, namely Nia Jax and Bayley? They can either feud with each other or just take a backseat for a while. It happens. It happened all the time in the diva era. It just becomes hard to come up with an angle for everyone on a consistent basis in the women's division. If you force yourself to do it, you end up with the sloppiness you now have. What is wrong if these two women are just supporting players in another feud? Be there as tag partners for the Alexa/Sasha feud or to put these women over to give them momentum in the feud.

The WWE needs to fix the problems. Come up with clear angles for these women and stop trying to give them all something to do. It is just not practical. It makes it harder for fans to connect with a lot of what is going on.

Improving The Presence Of Mickie James

When you are talking about the presence someone has, that can mean a lot of different things. It can be based on someone's appearance or charisma. If a beautiful woman walks into a room, that can turn a lot of heads. On the other side of that, if a person that comes off as a tough guy walks into a room, people might want to stay clear of him. Both individuals have a presence.

In sports, presence also matters. And it usually has to be earned. In football, if defenders know they have to go against Tom Brady, that might make them a little worried. In baseball, if someone known as a good hitter steps up to the plate, the pitcher might pitch him very carefully, or just intentionally walk him. In basketball, a player with a great presence might draw extra defenders to him, which will open up opportunities for other guys on his team to score.

Wrestling is a funny business. Not only can you debate whether it counts as a real sport or not, the presence of a wrestler isn't just based on his own appearance, charisma, and overall greatness as a performer. How they are being pushed also has a lot to do with it. I would say how they are being pushed is even more important than their personal qualities. I have seen mediocre performers be pushed hard and connect with the fans mainly off of that big push. I have seen people that seemed to have a ton of potential be underutilized and have that hurt their success.

That brings me to Mickie James. She is obviously not connecting well with the fans. The way she has been pushed obviously has a lot to do with it. I have seen some fans think the return of Mickie James was a success a couple months ago, like this writer. He wrote that article shortly after Mickie James finally won a match since re-signing with the WWE. The fact that it took that long to give her a win was a sign that this was not a good start. And the mistake that writer makes is thinking too much in terms of in-ring value and not enough in terms of overness. I questioned even before she returned whether having her be La Luchadora and a heel was wise. She then had that poor feud with Becky Lynch. And she has been treated even worse since coming to Raw. No, the return of Mickie James to the WWE has not been a successful one. She will get pushed sooner or later. She is back for a good amount of years. But that push will likely be a mediocre, typical push that doesn't do much for her.

The WWE obviously does not care about doing anything to help Mickie James, but let me bring up something they could do to help her connection with the fans, anyway. Improve her presence. Right now, she just looks like a loser. Not only has she lost every televised match she has been in on Raw, but she has frequently been laid out in every appearance she has made in the last few weeks. The commentators can put over all the titles she won in the WWE and say she helped the women's revolution, but when she's jobbing like she is and looking so bad, the words mean nothing. Her presence does not match the empty hype. It is hard to get excited for someone like this.

I don't mean just a gimmick change. I keep on seeing fans roll their eyes at how many opportunities The Colons have gotten with various gimmicks. They have had a lot of gimmicks, but I don't know how many opportunities they have had. Their presence has never been that great. They have never been pushed as that big of a deal, especially during the title run Epico & Primo had. The WWE just sends them out there for a while, then doesn't follow through. The same thing with Brodus Clay. They gave him a dancing gimmick that no one expected and got people talking. He had a win streak for a while, but the WWE never really developed a proper feud for him when he had that momentum. His presence was that of just a gimmick. He wasn't going anywhere. And there are other examples of people with gimmicks that just didn't seem to be actually pushed properly during those gimmicks.

Right now, a lot of fans can look at Mickie James and think she's nothing special. And that is terrible. The WWE is simply not presenting her as anything special. I am going to bring up four ideas of how to present Mickie James as something special. And this is without inventing anything out of thin air. Just based on things Mickie James already has associated with her, it is possible to treat her in a unique way. Again, the WWE isn't likely to do any of these, but if they ever did have a change of heart, here are some ideas.

First, she has that music career. It isn't like she abandoned it. She came out with a new single last year. TNA obviously did a real job making something of her country music career. They could have done better with Mickie James in a lot of ways, but they did do some good things. They let her perform her theme song on Impact. They sold her second CD on their website. I also remember reading that Mickie James would sometimes do music shows right after some TNA house shows back then. Some fans got a "2 for 1" experience.

The WWE can obviously do more than just mention her music career on their website. Present her as something more than just a wrestler on Raw. That can help her get more fans interested in her. While Mickie James is out there furthering her music career, she might be able to win over people that like her music into wanting to watch Raw to see her wrestle. I am not saying she will be a huge draw, but presenting her in this way could widen her appeal. The WWE frequently brings in part-timers like The Rock and Brock Lesnar, hoping their appeal in Hollywood and the MMA community, respectively, will draw for them. I am not saying Mickie James will work out as well as them, but they have a full-time performer that has potential to at least draw some interest outside of wrestling that is not being utilized.

Second, Mickie James is married to a wrestler, Magnus. Once again, TNA did a better job with this than I expect the WWE would. Two years ago, Mickie James was involved in two big feuds for Magnus. People can roll their eyes at what TNA had done in the James Storm angle, but it still got people talking and led to a nice moment of Mickie giving her DDT to Storm. I always wanted periphery angles for Mickie James and being married to Magnus just makes for a convenient option. And they wouldn't always have to be involved with each other. Magnus can have some solo feuds against the men. Mickie can have some solo feuds against the women. But the two can then come together for some good storylines, feuds, and segments. A lot of women in the WWE became stars in the periphery, so presenting Mickie James here would not be bad for her.

Why do I not think the WWE would do a good job with Mickie and Magnus? Even if Magnus comes to the WWE, I expect him to not go that far. The two of them might end up just being a jobber couple. They might job to Miz & Maryse. Mickie and Magnus would just be treated better together in TNA. Not only were they treated well back in 2015 together, but Magnus has held multiple titles in TNA, including the TNA World Championship. I doubt TNA would put a title-reigns limit on Mickie James like the WWE might still be keeping on her. They would be willing to do some interesting things with her. And when you include her husband in the mix, there is the potential for a power couple to be presented. I don't think Mickie James would have that presence in the WWE with Magnus.

The third idea for presenting Mickie James as something special has to do with her title reigns. Look at Ric Flair. This guy has been retired for almost a decade, ignoring the fact that he actually came out of that retirement to wrestle in TNA. But he still has a presence. He does not even need to show up for that presence to be felt. Whenever someone talks about breaking the record for most World Championship reigns, the number is 16 and the name is Ric Flair. Ric Flair won multiple titles in various promotions, not just the WWE. Years after he has retired, fans can still know he is a big deal and know other wrestlers are trying to chase his legacy. John Cena will break the record, but Ric Flair still saying he is a 16-time World Champion is something to be proud of.

Mickie James has won more major female titles than any other woman. But it means nothing. The WWE will not acknowledge her TNA reigns. Women like Charlotte are not chasing Mickie James. They are chasing Trish Stratus. If her true title legacy was acknowledged, that would help to present her as someone a lot more important. It is not going to happen in the WWE. The WWE knows TNA exists and will often play chess with them, but they will not acknowledge her titles there. Her title reigns become just something for her to be proud of and her fans to talk about.

Lastly, how about the impact Mickie James had on the status quo? During the diva era, she took a career in which she was being used to put over other women and being used as filler and overcame that to get more over than the women being pushed as stars. She never got the career she earned and the WWE continued to try to force the diva status quo. Back then, the WWE could not stop her. Obviously, today is a different story. But can being an enemy to the status quo help a worker stand out? Look at what it did for Daniel Bryan. He looks like a hero. CM Punk said what fans wanted to hear and became a rebel. He's a hero to smarks. To some degree, even Zack Ryder is still looked on as a guy that beat the status quo. And before all these guys did what they did, Mickie James did what she did and no one understands it and no one gives her credit for it.

How would you present Mickie James as this woman that beat the status quo? Have her go out and say it. Call it a pipebomb. Instead of having her go out there and give a bitter promo about women of today not giving her respect, which does not match reality or anything Mickie James said in sincerity in an interview, have her stand up for herself and shoot on the reality of her career. If nothing else, smarks will love it and she will definitely improve her overness. But the WWE will never acknowledge just how much the mistreated female wrestlers in the diva era. And if the diva era is sneaking back in, the WWE will not want fans to catch on that women like Bayley are just being used to put over the eye-candy centerpiece, then getting tossed aside. But if Mickie James ever was allowed to do this kind of promo, she would gain the kind of presence as men like Daniel Bryan  and CM Punk.

One thing I would not say is that Mickie James screwed her own presence. Back in the day, Lita had that affair with Edge and that hurt her presence. A lot of fans turned on her. She has since regained some of that respectability. Mickie James has had to deal with sour dirtsheet reports and other garbage since 2009. But that didn't hurt her overness. Fans still were upset when she got released. She worked as a face in TNA and the indies. A lot of fans were excited when she was coming back to the WWE.

I would say it is just the era. A lot of men, women, tag teams, cruiserweights and whatever else that you would expect wrestling fans to eat up just do not get good, consistent reactions. You need to be pushed hard to get that kind of reaction, like Roman Reigns, for better or worse. You need a huge gimmick, like New Day. Fads help, just as Chris Jericho. When it comes to the women, fans are once again getting drawn to the eye-candy, like Lana. Sadly, the WWE just gets lazy and sloppy with a lot of things.

But it is starting to look like the WWE's mistreatment of Mickie James is more deliberate than a botch. They have made her look needlessly bad recently. I remember having a conversation with someone somewhere on the Internet a long time ago. I told that person that the WWE would love to turn Mickie James into the next Victoria. This was during the end of Victoria's WWE career when she was essentially just a lame duck. That's what happens to credible jobbers. They don't win an infinite number of title reigns. And because they are not priorities, they do not get moved to great spots in the periphery. Beyond not winning too many title reigns, another reason they get treated so poorly is that younger, fresher credible jobbers are around. These older credible jobbers just get shuffled around until they get released, their contracts expire, or they leave on their own. That person I was talking to said that wouldn't happen to Mickie James because she was more over than Victoria and better than her. It is true that Mickie James was more over back then and was a better choice to be the centerpiece then over the divas that were failing than Victoria ever was in her career over Trish Stratus. But the WWE still viewed Mickie James as a credible jobber.

The WWE career of Mickie James has picked up right where it left off. Back in 2010, Mickie James had gotten 6 title runs. A lame duck credible jobber is not going to win as many as Trish Status, not to mention continue to be in the way of the chosen successor to Trish Stratus. Everyone talks like the WWE releasing Mickie James was the worst thing ever for her. It might have been the best thing for her. She was not going to accomplish much else in the WWE, if anything. Now that she is back, she seems to be immediately back to being the lame duck she was just becoming when they released her. Even if she will never win another title, I do think they can at least improve her presence to help her connect with the fans better. Moreover, some of these ideas can lead to angles that can have an impact in putting over other women and creating situations that sometimes draw. John Cena sometimes gives these promos where he makes it seem like his opponent's accomplishments mean nothing. Smarks usually hate that. Well, if all these accomplishments of Mickie James, whether you are talking her title legacy or her impact on the status quo, never get used to create the same drama that you have with Ric Flair's title legacy or storylines with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, what do they become? Nothing but things for Mickie James and her fans to be proud of and talking points. Her career does not have to go out with a whimper like this. There are still ways to present her as something better for the rest of her years in the WWE.

Smackdown Women's Money In The Bank

The WWE is going back to hyping history for their women. Money in the Bank, a Smackdown-exclusive PPV this year, will feature a women's ladder match for a briefcase. It will be Charlotte vs. Natalya vs. Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina.

The "cookie cutter" response would be to say how great this is for the women. They're getting to do something only men have been allowed to do in the past. History. Historic. Amazing. Yeah. That's nice.

I am not impressed. This is once again a situation where all the Smackdown women are tossed into the same picture. There is no creative depth and the booking is lazy. I have pointed out numerous times that Smackdown has a tendency to do this ever since the brand split returned.

You want to talk about being treated as equals to the men? Do you see all the men that have nothing else to do being tossed into the Money in the Bank Ladder Match for the men's briefcase? No. That's not the way it works. That has never been the way it works.

My issue is that the WWE is relying on hype and not properly developing any of these individual women to be stars. Where's the proper character development? Where are the great personal feuds?

The WWE can release every woman on the main roster and nothing of value would be lost. I honestly believe that. Just replace them with women from NXT and the indies. Tessa Blanchard can replace Charlotte. Melina can replace Mickie James. Mandy Rose can replace Alexa Bliss. The replacements might not come in all at the same time, obviously, but the WWE can just phase all these women currently there out and keep doing what they are doing. That is because they are just relying on hype to draw for them. They are relying on quantity over quality. In the case of Alexa Bliss, they are relying on sex appeal with character. Just help Mandy Rose develop a character. Or Lana can get some time being pushed as the new Alexa Bliss. There is a lot of underachieving in the women's division these days and no one is bringing A+ results. And a lot of the blame has to go on the poor way the WWE is handling these women. The WWE can just bring in these new women and start handing them whatever history is left to be had.

I have nothing against a ladder match. Women in TNA have had them all the time. And if the WWE had done a better job creating personal feuds for the Smackdown women prior to this, I would probably be all for it. But they have not, so I cannot get excited for more of the same that I have come to expect from Smackdown.

Lana made her Smackdown debut this week. She tried to get in the match. She ended up attacking Naomi. She will face Naomi in a singles match for the title. Will she win? Whatever way they go, they are putting her in the same picture with everyone else. Moving forward, there will obviously be some separation, but I hope it comes sooner rather than later.

What do you make of Lana? I would say she fits right in with the brand that is keeping the diva era alive. Of course, Alexa Bliss is bringing a diva revival over on Raw. How far will Lana go? She has been training to wrestle. She's beautiful. She has charisma and a great character. She can be another Alexa Bliss. That will appeal to many fans, but also annoy wrestling fans. I do see fans annoyed by how Alexa Bliss has been pushed on Raw. They feel the quality of the women's division there has been slipping in the last few months. The WWE switched a centerpiece that was very good and respected in the ring, Charotte, for one that just isn't, Alexa Bliss. And it shows. Smackdown isn't really as centerpiece-driven, so Lana will not have the same impact here as Alexa Bliss is having on Raw. That is, unless certain backstage officials love Lana so much that they start having everything revolve around her.

And just one aside to end the day. One thing really bothered me on Raw. Mickie James and Dana Brooke went out there to get some of Alexa Bliss. What happened after was Nia Jax just pushed them aside to get some of Alexa Bliss for herself. She then pushed them down again after when they confronted her about shoving them aside. And what does the WWE have Mickie James and Dana Brooke do? Just go and stand in the ring with Nia Jax as Alexa Bliss is walking away. And Nia Jax beat them up, again. Why would Mickie and Dana do that? It is just incredibly stupid. A woman that is not your friend and was just knocking you around is standing in the ring. What do you do? Go stand with her! What else would you do? How about just stare down Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax from ringside? How about get in the ring and at least try to fight back against Nia Jax for shoving you around? It was just incredibly stupid.

That is one of the reasons it is hard for many fans to care about Mickie James during her current run in the WWE. Her character is terrible. It was terrible on Smackdown and it might be even worse on Raw. Having her job so much is one thing. But putting her out there to be knocked around and do stupid things like what happened on Raw is not helping her. I would say it is doing even more damage than having her lose. She just looks terrible.

Emma Injured

Emma suffered an injury recently while the WWE was on their international tour. It still remains to be seen how serious it is and how long she will be out, if she will miss time at all. Just for the sake of discussion, let's talk about what happens if she does miss extended time.

This is not the first time Emma has suffered an injury. She suffered a serious one last year. The "Emmalina" angle then followed this year. That got dropped and she returned with the same character she had before her previous injury. She was getting a storyline with Dana Brooke, her former partner. It didn't look like it would be that great of a storyline, but it was still something to do.

It is bad luck for her. I am not going to put her in the same category as Naomi. For one thing, Emma has never been getting a serious push that got ruined because of injury issues. If she is out for a long time, she should be allowed to come back and get another angle. Just like I said with Naomi, however, the WWE should not be planning to rush any titles on her. She needs to stay healthy. First things first, I think it is more important to just get her over. I don't think most fans, beyond the smarks, have gotten to know her that well. With all the injuries, going back to NXT, and whatever other issues, she has never really gotten a chance to really get fans to know her on the main roster.

I would say that she should reinvent herself again. I know that will not be easy to do. A lot of fans who watch NXT fell in love with the heel character she developed there. Problem is, assuming she is out for a while, that character is now a couple years old. It has never gotten anywhere, although you can't blame Emma for that. I am not saying she come back as Emmalina, but this heel character just seems like it lost any freshness it had left.

Is the depth of the Raw women's division hurt? Raw still has a lot of women. You saw them all last week. Even with Emma out, they can just use Alicia Fox more, if they really need to.

Aside from roster depth, you have to think about creative depth. As I mentioned, Emma was getting a storyline going with Dana Brooke. Assuming Emma is out for a while, that storyline is now ruined and the only storyline going on right now is the one revolving around Alexa Bliss. It is always good to have multiple angles going. It gives multiple people something meaningful to do and gives fans more to talk about.

I would start a storyline with Dana Brooke, Mickie James, and Nia Jax. Dana Brooke isn't good enough to push as a serious in-ring worker. But she is there and she has character potential. Nia Jax is a heel that is arguably just under Alexa Bliss in Raw's women's division. The WWE would probably want to give her something. And Mickie James needs help with her character. She had a bad heel character on Smackdown and a poor face turn. Some people were still unsure whether she was face or heel until last week, when she teamed with the other faces. For the many fans that do not know who Mickie James is, it is time to give them a reason to care. I would have Dana Brooke vs. Nia Jax. Nia wins and continues to bully Dana. Mickie James comes out for the save. And just take things from there. Should Emma return before this feud ends, she can team with Nia Jax against Mickie James and Dana Brooke. That way, multiple women get something meaningful to do.

Previewing The Payback 2017 Women's Match

As of now, there is only one women's match for the upcoming Raw PPV. That would Alexa Bliss going after Bayley's Women's Championship. There are a couple things to talk about before previewing the match.

First, go back two weeks to when Alexa Bliss came over to Raw, along with Mickie James. That segment seemed to have been overbooked. Let me just focus on one thing. Did Sasha Banks turn heel in that segment? Fans have been anticipating that for a while. Sasha Banks finally starts looking like she might go after Bayley for the title. Next thing you know, three other women show up.

Is it fair to Sasha Banks to just overlook her like this for the sake of Alexa Bliss? I don't think so. If nothing else, there was a story brewing here between Sasha and Bayley. Even if the WWE eventually goes back to that story, the sloppiness may just hurt the value. Beyond the story, how does this make Sasha Banks look? This is not the first time she has been pushed hard for a while, then gotten lost in the shuffle. That is how you expect a credible jobber to be pushed, but you would have hoped the WWE would be doing better than this these days.

Next, go back to last week when it was Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks vs. Mickie James vs. Nia Jax. Who was the face in this match? Alexa Bliss is a clear heel, although they were in her hometown last week and she got cheered. Nia Jax is also a heel, although she is not an anyone's side. I just talked about Sasha Banks turning. Mickie James has had her character in limbo for a while now. I can't tell what she is. The WWE really needs to do a better job with the characters of these performers. I'm not even talking about gimmicks. I am talking simply presenting them as clear heels or faces. I am not saying they should never do tweener characters. And some tweener characters can be very entertaining. But you don't have that here. Nia Jax attacking both faces and heels is not that great. Sasha Banks having her heel character look like an afterthought so easily is not great. Whatever Mickie James has been doing in the last few months is definitely not great. The WWE needs to do a better job presenting these women.

Speaking of things that are not fair, is it fair to Mickie James that she has not been treated better since coming to Raw? The creative depth is not great with the Raw women right now. Yes, Dana Brooke and Emma are getting an angle outside the title scene. That's good. I have seen someone complain that Emma is being wasted. Emma is getting an angle, while certain other women have nothing to do. Mickie James is one of those other women. I have seen some people expecting Mickie James to feud with Nia Jax. And where's that? I think it is terrible that they have not made a better effort to create a feud for Mickie James for Payback. Even if it only gets on the pre-show, it can be the start of something that could last a few more weeks after April. Just dumping it on the card now is not the same as properly developing it prior to the event.

Onto the actual match. Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss will likely not be a classic. The respectable aura that the WWE had created on Raw's women's division may very well start to fade. I always felt it would be hard to sustain, but the WWE just better be careful with what they do. They might be entering another diva era.

Who wins? It should be Bayley. The WWE will likely have Charlotte win the title on Smackdown before Alexa Bliss gets any run on Raw. Besides that, I think it would be insulting to what has been created on Raw in the last year to give Alexa Bliss the title here. Yes, what she did on Smackdown might have been good enough to earn a title reign there, but Raw has had better standards. Alexa Bliss needs to show even more here. Then again, the WWE is terrible with maintaining standards. Nevertheless, I will stick with Bayley.

Playing With Your Back To The Wall

I have frequently made sports analogies when discussing various things about pro wrestling over the years. This is another one of those discussions.

Last season, the Detroit Lions won 8 games by coming from behind in the 4th quarter, an NFL record. They only won one game last season in which they did not have to fight back with their backs to the wall. Their 9-7 record was enough to get them into the playoffs.

Now, this was obviously something historic. The team got into the playoffs. And the fans of the team could be proud of what the team did. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of the team, wouldn't you like it if they didn't have to play with their backs to the wall so often? As I said, they only won one game without a comeback. They also limped their way into the playoffs and failed to do anything once they got there. You can blame it on Matthew Stafford, the starting quarterback, suffering a minor injury, but they still only got that far. It is great that they are capable of coming back like they did, it shows resilience, but it is less stressful on them and their fans if they had more games where they led from start to finish and just dominated. You don't get bonus points for all these comeback wins.

Bring this back to pro wrestling. Those Detroit Lions of the previous NFL season remind me of someone. Mickie James. From the time she debuted in the WWE on the main roster in 2005, she has never been pushed as a true star. During her first run, they gave her jobber and filler pushes. Even after she got over, she got this career of inconsistency, mediocrity, and just being used to serve various purposes and tossed aside. She went to TNA, where they do not know how to properly create stars. They pushed her with a serious face character that held back her potential. She soon got lost in the shuffle. She then had a short heel turn that looked good, but she left the company. I would say she finally got featured the way I had hoped when she returned to TNA for a few months, even though that featured the train angle that everyone hated. And now she's back in the WWE. Even though she is being featured regularly and allowed to do certain things she was not allowed to do in her first run, they are still mistreating her character and making her look terrible.

For a decade, Mickie James has been able to thrive without the treatment that a Trish Stratus or a Lita has had. She became the most over diva in the WWE and was able to maintain a solid connection with the fans in TNA. People cared about what Mickie James was doing. To me, this is like what the Detroit Lions had to do for much of last season. They had to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on multiple occasions. Mickie James had to snatch success from the jaws of mediocrity.

Of course, luck, or whatever you want to call it, runs out. For the Detroit Lions, it very well might have been their quarterback getting injured. Overall, you should just not want to be in this position. What about Mickie James? She is not as over as she used to be. To be fair, none of the individual women there today are knocking it out of the park. But what is the issue with Mickie James? It is obviously not an injury. She is as solid in the ring as she has ever been. There are some nights where she looks hotter than the other women she is working with, despite being older than them. And you can still see her charisma shine at times. She's still got it. She has all the tools to still be an A+ player. The problem is that she is still in the same position she has always been in, just a different variation. She is still not getting the treatment someone like Trish Stratus or Lita got. She is not the same kind of credible jobber she was a decade ago, but the WWE is still booking her poorly and giving her a bad character. While TNA gave her a dull face character that only cared about chasing titles and getting revenge against those that tried to screw her, the WWE has given her a boring heel character that only cares about talking about how great she is and has not been backing it up properly with wins and momentum. And her character has been in limbo for the last month. Did she turn face when she turned on Alexa Bliss? Did she come over to Raw as a face? The inconsistency in which they are presenting her character combines with the lack of booking support to just put her in an extremely terrible position.

As a Mickie James fan, I can appreciate what she has had to overcome to succeed in her career. How many fans even realize it? But I am sure Mickie James fans would rather she not have to be in this position. I know I wouldn't. I would rather she finally gets featured as something great or unique, like Trish Stratus and Lita were. All she is doing is talking about it, but the treatment from the WWE obviously does not support it. When does Mickie James stop performing with her back to the wall and have to put in more work to get fans to care about her than the WWE is doing to genuinely and properly help her to succeed? Because this is the situation where it looks like she can't overcome. And it isn't fair to always expect her to. It's like thinking a sports team can always overcome any adversity. It just isn't a fair expectation.

What makes it worse is that she gets no recognition for what she has had to overcome to succeed. As I said, the Detroit Lions made history and everyone in the football world knows it. It will be brought up for years and years to come. As I also said, they don't get bonus points for this. Pro wrestling is a funny thing. Things like this actually do give you bonus points. It's all about overness. In a lot of situations, that includes the hype surrounding you and how well your character is featured. It helps you to get over. You look at little kids loving John Cena or Bayley. If their characters weren't presented like they were, would kids still feel as strongly? With Mickie James, what would it do for her character if she was acknowledged as someone that was on the wrong side of the status quo and overcame that to get the job done better than those chosen to succeed? What did it do for CM Punk to let him drop a certain memorable promo a couple years ago? It made him a wrestling god. What about Daniel Bryan beating the status quo? You can even bring up Zack Ryder. In all these cases, you have men that will at least be talked about for years when discussing guys that were not seen as good enough that proved the WWE wrong. In the case of Mickie James, she will only be talked about as a woman that screwed herself due to her weight, backstage attitude, and whatever else. Obviously, she does deserve to be in the same discussion as CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and Zack Ryder. And if she ever was acknowledged for what she had to overcome, it will improve her respectability and make it very hard to deny her that better career she deserves. She's already a lock for the WWE Hall of Fame. With their standards these days, there is no denying that. But I would have liked to have seen her get featured as a genuine A-tier star before she does retire. Stop playing with your back to the wall. Be that team that dominates, not that team that has to always try to come from behind.

Shaking Up The Women's Divisions

Less than a year after the brand split returned, the WWE is already going to shake up the rosters again. Rather than talk about every division, I am just going to focus on the women, a topic I have been talking about regularly since 2008. Whatever major moves happens for the men, I will talk about that tomorrow and later in the week.

It just seems like the obvious switch for the women will be Charlotte going to Smackdown and Alexa Bliss going to Raw. Both have been somewhat "written off" in the last week. They have jobbed. They have lost their momentum. If they are not being sent to the other brand, the WWE is probably setting them up to be released. I will say it is likely they are just switching brands.

As I have mentioned before, both Raw and Smackdown seem to have their own identities, although it has still been pretty sloppy on both shows. Raw has more hype and respectability to it. This is where the serious, history-making matches get most of the attention. The only women to have held the title on Raw since the brand split are the NXT elite. It has been the 4 Horsewomen. Over on Smackdown, it has been somewhat the last stand of the diva era. This division has frequently gotten the short end of the stick. As far as the title on Smackdown goes, Becky Lynch may have been the first woman to hold it, but the two other women since then cannot be considered in-ring elites. I am talking about Alexa Bliss and Naomi. Smackdown, moreover, has done a slightly better job with periphery angles. Nikki Bella and Maryse have been treated pretty well. Those two are obviously divas.

I don't remember if I ever brought it up before, but I always felt the WWE should have two different identities for the two women's division and maintain those standards. Let one show be the place for serious women's wrestling. That could be Raw. Let the other show be for the divas and more character-driven and storyline-driven drama. That could be Smackdown. If a diva wants to end up on the show for serious women's wrestling, she needs to improve her in-ring work. If a female wrestler wants to go to the other brand to improve her overness with fans wanting more than just wrestling, she needs to show some personality that might make her valuable on the other brand. Obviously, there will be one or two female wrestlers on Smackdown to act as jobbers and supporting players, like Natalya and Tamina. On the other side of that, there might be a diva on Raw for a periphery role, like Lana. Overall, however, both brands maintain their own identity. And fans of different aspects of pro wrestling could choose what they want to watch. Right now, you just have some women on Raw that are obviously not good and it gets painful seeing them work with the better wrestlers. Dana Brooke is one of those women. Over on Smackdown, you have some women that can just be great characters, but the WWE doesn't develop it properly. Alexa Bliss falls in that category.

Even though the WWE does not really uphold the system I just talked about, let me talk about the likely switch in those terms I just laid out. Can they really switch Alexa Bliss for Charlotte? Raw has been the brand for these serious women's feuds and matches since the brand split came back, and it seems Charlotte has been involved in all those matches. Alexa Bliss has improved, but she is still not someone I consider being that great in the ring. How many matches can the WWE get out of Bayley and Sasha Banks for a year? Throw Emma into the mix. She's pretty good. Outside of that, there's not a lot of women to produce the same quality matches you had for the last year on Raw. You can send Asuka there, but some might argue Smackdown can also use her.

Is there a possibility Alexa Bliss might get lost in the shuffle on Raw? Unless the WWE lowers their standards for Raw's women's division to let her be treated as a credible threat that can put on highly-rated matches with the likes of Sasha Banks, she is definitely going to be treated more poorly than she was on Smackdown, at least. Raw has never been great with periphery angles since the brand split. What can they do with her?

What about Charlotte? The WWE will have her make history by being the first woman to have held each brand's title. They did the same kind of thing with Michelle McCool. That is probably why they wanted Smackdown's title on face Naomi so bad, although I would say Becky Lynch also might have been an option. And with Alexa Bliss on Raw, they could try to sell it as a "chase" to see who will make history first. They used Mickie James to serve that purpose back in 2009. Problem is, as I mentioned, standards are different today and Alexa Bliss getting that serious push just would not be right.

Since I do not like the potential move to Raw for Alexa Bliss, which Smackdown woman would I send there? You are looking for someone with wrestling credibility that can fill Charlotte's spot. Natalya, Becky Lynch, and Mickie James are all options. Mickie James is one of those performers that could work out on either a wrestling-first brand or a storyline/character-first brand. It is just a shame the WWE has done such a terrible job with her character. Even now, is she really a face? Or still in tweener limbo? Either way, they could send her to Raw and just take her character in either the face or heel direction.

Let's say what the WWE really wanted to do, for whatever reason, was get Alexa Bliss to Raw. What would be a good Raw woman to send to Smackdown? Dana Brooke comes to mind. You are not looking to replace a great wrestler here. You are just looking to replace a heel that can show emotion and personality. That is pretty much what Dana Brooke does best. She has been involved in some botched spots and terrible situations since her debut. Going to a brand that lets her character shine and does not put much on her in terms of wrestling might be good for her.

Wrestlemania 33 Preview: Part 1

I will be talking about the women's matches today. Cena/Nikki vs. Miz/Maryse will be talked about later this week. This is just about the women's-only matches.

First, the overall theme. Laziness. I have brought this up a few times over the years. Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James at Wrestlemania 22 was the last women's feud for Wrestlemania season that was personal and handled right. Everything since then has been tag matches, lumberjill matches, battle royals, and other multi-woman matches. You have had Playboy pushes and celebrity involvement. You might let some of this stuff go, but not having one heated singles feud for the women at Wrestlemania in all these years? Disgusting. This is an era where women want to be treated the same as men? Well, I see men getting heated singles feuds for Wrestlemania every year. There may be some multi-man matches, as well, but there are heated singles feuds. The women aren't getting this. No one is upset?

The laziness is most clear in Smackdown's women's match for Wrestlemania. Alexa Bliss vs. The World. Right now, it just looks like the other women will be Mickie James, Becky Lynch, Natalya, and Carmella.

There is speculation that the WWE might bring in Asuka for this match and/or women from the past. And I dislike that. What does that say about the WWE's confidence in the women they have now? They have mishandled the Smackdown women. The answer isn't to look over all of them and create hype through NXT or even more women from the past. The WWE needs to do better with the women they have now. If they bring in someone like Asuka and don't book her right, that's unfair to her. If they book her better than everyone already on the roster, that is unfair to those women already there that have been pushed poorly. Worry about fixing the issues managing the talent, then worry about debuts and returns. This is one of the reasons I said a couple months ago that Mickie James should not return. Smackdown is not as efficient as some fans make it seem. Being better than Raw isn't saying much.

Let me look at some of the women in this match. First, Carmella. She has her angle with James Ellsworth. Ideally, the story you would have is that Ellsworth helps Carmella win the title. Carmella can later reveal that she was just using Ellsworth to help her. But this just seems like a story better suited for a singles feud, and not suited for Wrestlemania. It could be a nice story, but with the way Smackdown handles things, I am not sure they would handle it right. They need to make better use of their depth.

Next, Mickie James. I wouldn't be surprised if she never wins a title in the three years she is back for. I am not saying they won't book it to happen. I am just saying I wouldn't be surprised if it never happens. I don't think it is anything personal. They might look at her and see whatever it is they saw in The Dudleys that got them booked like crap last year. They might also want to protect Trish's legacy until Charlotte breaks her record. When it comes to major World titles, the magic number for the WWE is 16 and the name is Ric Flair. When it comes to major women's titles, the magic number for the WWE is 7 and the name is Trish Stratus. Mickie James has already won more major women's titles than Trish, but the WWE will not acknowledge her TNA reigns. That is pretty unfair, since Ric Flair did not win all his World titles in the WWE. I have seen a Mickie James fan hoping she can get lucky number 7 and tie Trish's record. Instead of talking about getting to double digits, he only goes with the WWE only acknowledging the 6 title reigns. And if they want to bury the Diva's Championship reign, they will continue to say she is only a 5-time Champion.

Lastly, Alexa Bliss. She should not even be holding the title now. Naomi's injury led to her getting the title back. I have seen some Naomi fans dreaming that she returns and Wrestlemania and gets the title back. With her injury issues, she seriously needs to prove she can stay healthy. As for Alexa Bliss, she might as well retain the title. Lose the belt in a singles feud after Wrestlemania.

The Raw women's match has had better build than Smackdown's women's match, but it isn't too hard to have better build than a match where every available body is thrown in. But this feud is still pretty mediocre, and it is once again a multi-woman match.

Compare it to last year's triple threat. Fans were pretty hyped for the feud. It was Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks. Women's revolution! Death to the butterfly title! High expectations for a great match! Lita with the new title! Okay, that's nice. Now, take away all the hype. What do you really have? It was just a title feud. There was no rich story. They could have had one with Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch, but they inserted Sasha Banks and that story got diluted. And I would say the feud development was actually pretty sloppy. But when you buy into hype, you typically overlook things like that. And that is what happened last year. This feud did have issues, but fans overlooked it because of all the hype.

This year, it is Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley vs. Nia Jax. This year, the same hype is not there. Without that hype it is even easier to see this feud for what it is. It is another lazy title feud. At first, it was Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley. Instead of just trying to build that feud, they just inserted distractions. Charlotte has had to deal with Dana Brooke turning on her. Bayley had to deal with Nia Jax, which eventually led to Nia getting in the match.

Should Nia Jax even be in this match? It seemed likely for a while that it would happen, but should the WWE have changed their mind? As I said, it feels like including her has just been a distraction that has taken away from the feel of the feud. The WWE has done a terrible job keeping Nia consistently in the picture. If they had done a better job, things would have been smoother and I would not be bringing this up. You also have to think about match quality. Nia Jax might be good for a few spots during the match, but she might hurt the match quality, overall. Problem is, Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley happened just a few months ago. It was not a stellar match. I am sure these three can put on a better Wrestlemania match, but the match did happen. Adding in Nia Jax does create a fresh match. Then again, what's wrong with doing Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley again? Do it once with Charlotte as Champion, then with Bayley, and then with Sasha Banks. Make it a series. In the end, having Nia Jax involved does make a fresh match.

Who wins? Bayley. She can then feud against a heel Sasha Banks. The WWE has already taken steps to fix the depth issues a heel Sasha Banks would make. Dana Brooke went face recently. Emma can also eventually return as a face. Or Asuka can debut on Raw as a face. Until all that, there is no PPV streak to keep in tact here.

And What About Paige?

When I talked about Impact Wrestling recently, I used a picture of Alberto El Patron and Paige. Those two are obviously in a relationship. Paige has had a bunch of injury and suspension issues in the last year, holding her back in her WWE career. Nevertheless, the WWE is making a movie about her. But then you have her being backstage at the Impact Wrestling tapings a couple weeks ago to support her man. That is the kind of thing that can get you in trouble with the WWE.

There seems to be mixed signals here. How good is the relationship between Paige and the WWE? On the one hand, they are still trying to do something with her. On the other hand, she might not be that interested in being as supportive of the WWE. She might choose her man over the WWE. This sounds familiar. Reminds me of the drama with CM Punk & AJ Lee against the WWE a couple years ago. We all know how that turned out. CM Punk walked out and AJ Lee retired abruptly. Like an RKO in the night, no one saw it coming. There were expectations that it might happen, but AJ Lee retiring when she did came out of nowhere. Will there be a similar end for Paige? 

I have seen some fans say that Paige is throwing her career away. They criticize her because this was her dream and she is just turning her back on it like this. Some say that the WWE should just fire her.

If Paige is not as in love with the WWE anymore, I do not blame her. She didn't debut during the start of the women's revolution era. She debuted during the dying days of the diva era. And her career shows it. She may have won the Diva's Championship in her first night on Raw, but the reign was terrible. Her feud with Tamina was not properly developed at all. Her feud with Alicia Fox featured Fox's crazy gimmick, which really did not serve a proper purpose in the feud. It just took creative investment away from Paige. Her feud with Naomi had to share the spotlight with Cameron and Naomi splitting. It was like they were more interested in putting creative focus on anyone but Paige. And she lost the title back to AJ Lee when AJ returned from her hiatus. She was finally pushed better, but that is because she was working with someone they wanted to be a star. The more you invest in a jobber, the better the star will look working with the jobber. She won the title back on her birthday, but the reign was short and just seemed pointless, as she dropped it back to AJ Lee.

Everything after that was just jobber pushes. The women's revolution era started. Some might say she was the leader of PCB, but she looked like more of the jobber of the group. She got that heated feud with Charlotte, but it was obviously a jobber push. And her career never looked that interesting again since then. Instead of being passed over for eye-candy divas, she was being overlooked for the sake of the Four Horsewomen.

Throughout all that, Paige has done a ton of extra-curricular activities for the WWE. She did Total Divas, Tough Enough, movies, and so on. Of course, these outside activities do not decide what kind of career you are getting in the actual division. And I already talked about the kind of career she was getting. Definitely not being pushed as an A-tier player.

Why should Paige be so loyal to the WWE when they are not properly reciprocating it in terms of how they push her? Even if this was Paige's dream to be in the WWE, it can very well be the case that your dreams don't always turn out how you would have liked. A woman might meet her dream man. Handsome, smart, funny, and all the other qualities she wanted. Problem is, he turns abusive after a while. Why should she stick with him? Because this is her dream guy? No, move on. It is the same idea with working in the WWE. A lot of people are eager to come to the WWE, but then some of them might not be happy with how they are treated. Why should they force themselves to stick around and be as loyal to the company as they might have first been when they came in?

Look at Mickie James. During her first run in the WWE, she took the career of a credible jobber and fooled many fans into thinking she was the centerpiece. She had the overness and talent to deserve it. She was loyal to the company. She had drive. She was the best option they had. But the WWE was still looking to create another eye-candy centerpiece. And that kept Mickie James as a credible jobber. If I remember correctly, Mickie James was released on a day she was promoting the Raw draft special in Richmond, Virginia. That's loyalty for you. Why was she so loyal to a company that never pushed her as a star and kept using her to put over other women and as filler, not to mention the humiliation? If the women's revolution never happened, I don't think the WWE would have ever given Mickie James a second run.

I am no psychologist. I do not know Paige personally. But I can understand the kind of situation she is in. She comes into her dream job with this idea that she can make something of herself and be great. She does a lot of projects for the company. She has some success getting over. But she gets pushed aside for other women that she might feel have not done the things she has done. It's like a great worker in a company that does a lot for them, but does not get rewarded in terms of getting promoted. Now, I can respect workers that shrug that off and just continue to do their job as best as they can because of a good work ethic, but there is nothing wrong with knowing your worth and not wanting to stick around in a situation where you are being mistreated, might be taken advantage of, or are just unhappy. This kind of mistreatment can just make you lose your drive. Your eyes might start to wander elsewhere. In the case of Paige, it looks like she's given some of that devotion the WWE once got to Alberto Del Rio.

People always talk about the WWE giving workers second or third chances. What about the other way around? What about workers that feel the WWE messed up with them and might not want to go back to them? Should they give the WWE a second or third chance? As I pointed out, Paige has done a lot for the WWE and they did not push her right. You can blame it on the dying days of the diva era being so bad. Okay, but Paige still stuck around. She was there as the women's revolution era got started. And she was not featured that well there. Should she give the WWE another chance and refocus herself into her WWE career? This era is still messed up. Both divisions have issues, although this era is looking like it will be better for women's wrestlers than the diva era. And Paige will likely not get lost in the shuffle like she has been in the past. But that is up to her whether she wants to still be with the WWE. I would say you can argue the WWE has betrayed her trust and loyalty in the past. Even if this was her dream job, they gave her a reason to lose interest. It's not like she turned her back on them after the first depush. She gave them multiple chances to treat her right. And if they don't value her, just let her go.

Does that mean she goes to Impact Wrestling with El Patron? It is an option. I already brought up AJ Lee & CM Punk. It is a very similar situation. AJ Lee was showing signs for a while that she was siding with her man over the WWE, but the WWE kept on pushing her well and still lost her. Paige is showing signs of choosing her man over the WWE. The WWE is showing they might still be interested in keeping her with this movie, but it might be too little, too late.

What would this mean for Impact Wrestling? Well, they need a successor for Gail Kim. She's 40 now and still looks like she is coming back for more. But the company really needs to plan for the future. They just can't keep bringing back ODB and Angelina Love. And I'm sure Velvet Sky will come back sooner or later. Outside of that, they rotate in women from the indies, but they never seem to make anything out of them. I have seen some people say that Jade would be the successor to Gail Kim. Yeah? How did that work out? Paige, who is still very young, can be that successor. Some people might roll their eyes at another ex-WWE performer getting a spot in TNA. You do realize Gail Kim was an ex-WWE performer before going to TNA, right? And she is still the most respected female performer the company has ever had. There is no shame in going from the WWE to Impact Wrestling. If Paige thinks she deserves better than the WWE, she might switch companies.

Last thing to consider, will losing Paige hurt the WWE? Not at all. Even though their depth is terrible, they have a ton of women in NXT to debut. And they just have to learn to be more efficient with what they have. Paige was pretty popular, but so are a lot of women these days in the WWE. No one woman seems to knock it out of the park these days. Paige was definitely someone that should have been pushed as a star, but it might just end up being their loss. That is, if they even care. They are doing a terrible job building stars in the women's division these days. I am not even sure if that bothers them.

Mickie James Turns On Alexa Bliss

The interesting developments on Smackdown this week, for me, involve the women. Mickie James turned on Alexa Bliss. Coinciding with that, it was announced that every available woman on Smackdown would get a title shot at Wrestlemania against Alexa Bliss. Two things to talk about right there.

First, Mickie James was disrespected a little by Alexa Bliss. That led to Mickie James kicking her in the head. Going by the interview Mickie James gave later on to explain herself, they are still keeping her heel.

I have said many times that I would not have brought Mickie James back the way the WWE did. I do not like her being heel. I do not like her playing this heel character. I do not like her being a sidekick. But if you are going to do it, there was potential to do a really great job with it. They could have built up a great feud between Mickie James and Becky Lynch, which Becky would have eventually won. They could have built a great relationship between Mickie James and Alexa Bliss, which would have really helped Alexa's character further shine. And the WWE just seemed to have ruined everything. The feud between Mickie and Becky was not built up to be as great as it could have been. And now the partnership between Alexa Bliss and Mickie James ends in a very mediocre fashion.

You can say all this is because Naomi got injured. The WWE obviously cannot do what they had planned with Naomi gone. She was supposed to be holding the Smackdown Women's Championship right now. The blame goes on the WWE, not Naomi. They were the ones that were wrong to rush the title on Naomi and they were the ones that chose to handle things like they have in response to it.

And with Naomi out, the WWE loses a face. You would think the smart thing to do would be to have Mickie James finally go face now that the depth issues in the division obviously call for it. But they still want her to be this bitter heel character. That is just incredibly stupid. Nikki Bella is getting an angle with John Cena. The only free face on the active roster right now is Becky Lynch. So are we doing Becky Lynch vs. everybody that's a heel in the next few weeks? Is it Alexa Bliss vs. everybody that's going after her title? Or is this just going to be a jumbled mess because there are not enough faces to run proper storylines and matches?

Let me talk about Mickie's heel character. First, her promos. Some fans hate her promos. She is dragging out her words. I can see what she's doing. She's trying to play a bitter, condescending heel. You look at how she talked during her 2006 heel run. She didn't talk like this. You look at how she talked during her 2013 heel run. She didn't talk like this. It's because she was playing different heel characters back then. She was a psycho heel in 2006 and playing a more delusional heel in 2013. And that's the difference, the character. This character she is playing now is just not good. It's not that Mickie James doesn't know how to talk, or whatever else some fans are saying. She has proven herself before.

There are also some fans out there I see that enjoy her promo work since coming back. She is putting that emotion into it that a lot of workers don't. They just talk. And that might be a reason why some fans don't appreciate what Mickie James is doing. This is not something she has done before and this is not something the other women on Smackdown are doing. It just looks weird in comparison to other women's promos and Mickie's own promo work in the past. I see mixed reviews on The Usos' promo work. Some people think they are botching their promos. Some people love it because they are trying to stand out. Same kind of thing with Mickie James.

Mickie James wasn't in the WWE when the Reality Era started. That's where a lot of promos just became about these self-righteous rants. It is a shame that some fans view the value of promos more on what is said than how it is said. All you really need to do is talk. If you say what the fans agree with, they will cheer. You don't need to put that extra work in to make your promos unique for these kind of fans. Mickie James is trying to be different, but she doesn't need to be. Of course, the promos the WWE wants her to do aren't even based on reality. She's not bitter. That's another reason this whole heel character is just not good for her.

In the end, if a lot of fans can't appreciate what she's doing, is it worth doing? Why try to stand out? Just talk like everybody else. I don't like saying that. Mickie James is a woman that got as over as she did because she stood out. She took a character and a type of treatment in which she should have just gotten a mediocre connection with the fans and did better than the WWE wanted. If she loses her drive to stand out, then that would just be terrible. The WWE is already failing on their end to use her properly. Personally, I do not like these promos, although I can appreciate what Mickie is trying to do. But the problem isn't Mickie James. The WWE needs to give her a better character.

The second thing I want to talk about her heel character is her emotion outside of these promos. She is still showing that charisma I have brought up before. And that emotion just does not match the character the WWE wants her to portray in terms of her booking and promos. If anything, I would say that charisma just screams to turn her face. This is a person fans enjoyed watching back in the day, and without the hype and creative investment stars would get. That is because she had the wrestling ability to connect with wrestling fans and other attributes to connect with other fans. And that includes her charisma.

Again, I am not saying she should never be heel. Turn her heel when her character gets stale, when there is a great storyline reason for her to go heel, or when a depth issue calls for a heel turn. There wasn't any of that when they brought her back in January. The depth in the division at the time called for her being face. Her character wasn't stale. She was just coming back. Fans were eager for it. And there was really no good storyline reason for her being heel. Instead of having her say that the women of today are not respecting her, just have her come out and say she's here to throw her hat in the ring and remind the women of today what she is about, without sounding like a heel. Now that the WWE is back where they were before Naomi returned in January, that is even more reason to turn Mickie James face.

There are some people that might say someone is a child stuck in a man's body. I was often told I was an old man stuck in a kid's body when I was younger. Regardless of that, when I look at Mickie James, I see a face stuck in a heel character. And it is a bad heel character. To make matters worse, the WWE has not even handled this bad heel character properly for the sake of those she is working with. You can talk about being out of touch, but it means more than just not knowing what your fans want. How about not even knowing what you have right under your nose? How about not being able to properly evaluate your own workers and properly utilize them? The WWE is just doing what they want and not doing things right.

Onto the Smackdown women's match for Wrestlemania. Essentially, just take every woman that has nothing to do and stick her in this match. Terrible. Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus at Wrestlemania 22 was the last great Wrestlemania women's match that wasn't a tag match, a triple threat, a battle royal, a lumberjill match, or some other match that involved sticking more people into the picture that really belonged there. Where are the personal feuds for Wrestlemania between two women? The WWE could have had one last year between Becky Lynch and Charlotte. They stuck Sasha Banks into the picture. Having a valet or manager at ringside is one thing. But this kind of booking is just terrible. And it has gone on now for over ten years.

Even ignoring the comparison to previous years, compare Smackdown's women's match to Raw's women's match. Smackdown has everyone being thrown into the match without much fuss over it this week. Meanwhile, Raw actually did more work than that. They had that promo this week that led to Sasha Banks defeating Bayley to earn a title match. It looks like it might be a triple threat. Regardless of whether or not Nia Jax gets added, there are less bodies involved than Smackdown's match, there is actually some development to building this match, and it was not just thrown together as lazy booking.

Let me just do a quick aside about the women's segment on Raw. Some people have criticized me in the past of undervaluing the overness and ability to draw of Sasha Banks and Bayley. These two wrestled in the third hour this week, which had that large third hour drop some fans have been talking about. Not only that, I was watching the end of the match on Monday, and Sasha Banks didn't get that great of a reaction when she won. That's because them Chicago fans never react to anything, right? Let's just be realistic. Face it, all these women can do better. In most cases, the fault goes on the WWE for mismanaging them. But I don't think I was wrong to question the overness and ability to draw of Sasha Banks and Bayley. There is a toxic environment in the WWE right now that will ruin the potential of a lot of workers. These two women have potential, but they are not there right now.

Back on track, let me continue to compare the Smackdown women's division to the Raw women's division. I would obviously say Smackdown has gotten the short end of the stick for Wrestlemania as far as the women go. But this is nothing new. Look at every major PPV since the brand split came back. I am talking about the big ones that featured both brands. Summerslam had Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte as Raw's women's match. Smackdown had a multi-woman tag match. Survivor Series had Raw vs. Smackdown, which was won by Raw. The Royal Rumble had Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax and Charlotte vs. Bayley for Raw, while Smackdown had another multi-woman tag match. And now Wrestlemania will have Raw's Women's Championship match be featured better than Smackdown's Women's Championship match.

This is terrible. It is becoming a theme. You might forgive them for Survivor Series, but this is still three PPVs since the brand split where Raw's women are being featured better than Smackdown's. And is there an end in sight? Okay, so the WWE wants separate women's divisions. I can even agree with running them with different philosophies. But these divisions are separate, but not equal. The WWE has to be able to spread the spotlight better than this.

While Raw is featuring certain women as elites and prominently, Smackdown is just juggling multiple women around. I think that is one of the problems. Smackdown doesn't have anyone being pushed properly as a star should. And if the WWE looks at the women on Smackdown and don't respect them as elites in the same way they view some of Raw's women, it is no shocker to see this questionable booking for the last few months.

The WWE needs to start developing stars out of the women they have on Smackdown and stop juggling them. If this was their preseason to assess what they have, okay, time to make the tough decisions. I would build around Becky Lynch, Mickie James, and Alexa Bliss. You have a woman that has the potential to be the centerpiece of the division now, a woman that earned it ten years ago, never got it, but can still be featured as a star now, and a woman that may not be a great wrestler, but could be a great character. Carmella and Natalya can be supporting players. What about Nikki Bella? If she sticks around, send her to Raw. Send Emma or Nia Jax to Smackdown. For all the respect Smackdown gets over Raw, they still do some terrible things on the blue brand. There is room for improvement.