AJ Styles Vs. Roman Reigns Continues

Aside from the drama with Shane and Stephanie McMahon, the Payback match between Roman Reigns and AJ Styles was more of what you were getting prior to the PPV. Anderson and Gallows showed up to help AJ. The Usos got involved. Reigns ended up winning. No heel turns. No debuts. No big swerves in this storyline.

The following night on Raw was once again more of the same. Roman Reigns & The Usos teamed up to face AJ Styles & friends. Styles won this time, but you once again had no heel turns or debuts. Styles is still being conflicted about embracing being a heel. He didn't want to attack Reigns with a chair. There was a brawl and some table action to help sell their match at Extreme Rules.

The fact that the feud is going on still is not surprising or something to complain about. What is a little disappointing is that the WWE did not really further the storyline at Payback. It was the same thing you were getting prior to Payback. It was the same thing you were getting on Raw last night. This will eventually go somewhere, but I feel they are just dragging it on. I do feel they could have developed this feud better to get more out of it between Wrestlemania and Payback, but I would still say they did enough to make the overall point that Anderson and Gallows are trying to be on AJ's side against Roman Reigns, but Styles is not willing to fully become evil.

There is something to be said for solid storyline development. That is important. But you also have to entertain. The entertainment value of this story rests mainly in whatever swerve the WWE is going to pull. If they don't pull any swerve at all, this whole thing falls flat. Will it be a heel turn? Debut? Whatever it is,wrestling fans were anticipating it even before Payback. The WWE didn't give them anything to get worked up for. I also think this is important in intriguing the wider audience. It will help to create some real buzz that should benefit the guys involved. Right now, the buzz isn't there as much as it could be.

Just look at this storyline for a moment and think about one of the simplest ways it can go. AJ Styles is not fully on the same side as his two friends. He's face, while they are clear heels. What if the WWE has Anderson and Gallows accidentally cost AJ the title match at Extreme Rules? AJ tells his friends to go their own way. He doesn't turn on them. He tries to be respectable about it. Anderson and Gallows get upset about Styles not wanting their help and attack him. Obviously, it is a 2-on-1 fight, so AJ needs a friend. It will probably be Roman Reigns. Or a debut. Either way, it is a linear storyline. No big swerves. And it would be flat.

Why did I bring that scenario up? Because it is the kind of story you had with Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus. Mickie James was the psychotic fan of Trish Stratus. She became a little too pushy and was starting to irritate Trish. Trish tried to be respectable and just have them go their separate ways. Mickie was the one that turned on Trish. She turned heel. The rest is history that no one ever talks about. Mickie James became the most over credible jobber the diva era ever had. And I frequently praise this storyline as the best pure women's storyline the diva division ever had.

This was a pretty linear storyline. It did not have any big swerves and it did not need any big swerves. It involved the debut of Beth Phoenix. In terms of the storyline, it was no huge thing fans were looking forward to. In terms of roster depth, Beth Phoenix became the only face credible jobber on Raw at a time even Trish was injured. Mickie turning heel wasn't a swerve. Given the story, it was obvious it was coming.

What made this elaborate storyline that never even saw a proper finish so good even without big swerves? They had big segments that were actually fun to watch. Mickie James has a great charisma. The development was playing out for everyone to see. It was easy to become invested in it.

How does this storyline between AJ Styles and Roman Reigns compare to that? First of all, not everything is playing out in the WWE. A lot of it is based on what happened in Japan with the Bullet Club. The WWE is using it and referencing it, but it isn't the same as seeing AJ Styles actually build that relationship with Anderson and Gallows. Wrestling fans may know all about it, but the casual audience can't appreciate it.

Second, the big segments here aren't that entertaining. It is mostly Anderson and Gallows attacking The Usos or Reigns and AJ Styles being hesitant to embrace the dark side. Yeah, people going through tables is always fun to watch, but you see this kind of stuff a lot whenever the WWE is developing a hardcore-style match for a feud. And I don't think the WWE having Anderson and Gallows kiss each other would suddenly take this storyline to a better place.

Lastly, you don't have anyone in this storyline that is as charismatic as Mickie James. AJ Styles is a great wrestler. He is a better wrestler than any other guy involved in his current storyline. He is better than any of the women that were involved in the Mickie/Trish storyline. But when it comes to charisma, he lacks that. Wrestling fans are not going to care too much for that, but it makes it harder to enjoy this extended storyline until it develops in a bigger way.

I would say the only thing that can make this feud great is whatever swerve the WWE has planned. They need that to create true buzz. As I have said, wrestling fans may be sold on this because they know about the Bullet Club and they love AJ Styles for his wrestling ability, but this storyline is missing mass appeal. A lot of fans have not seen much of its development, the segments aren't that entertaining, and you don't have performers that are very charismatic. You have a struggling centerpiece in Roman Reigns, a great wrestler that has not yet broken out on his own in the WWE in AJ Styles, Festus, and Karl Anderson. Once this story gets taken to another level, then it should get really good. And I would have done it already.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Did you know there was a site that archives web pages? It obviously cannot get them all. There is an infinite amount of pages on the Internet. More are made every day. It is called the Wayback Machine. I found out about it the other day and took a look at it. I had deleted my old diva blog when I made the full switch to this one in 2010. I looked to see if any of it still survived. Yeah, a few pages from the first half of 2009 are on there. Not a lot, but you can at least see that I was talking about the diva division since then. You can go to this link to see the dates they have archived and read some of my earlier blogs. I am going to talk about a few things about my earlier diva blog.

First, a little self-critiquing. I definitely was not a great analyst of the diva division back then. I have definitely improved. There were a few things I said back then that I can now look back and wonder why I said that. I once said that Trish was used to give other women a rub and get them over? With more time to look at it and actually pay attention to which divas are truly getting over and how they are getting over, no divas ever got over because the WWE wanted them over and used Trish to get them over. Lita got over in the periphery prior to feuding with Trish. Mickie James getting over was not because the WWE wanted it. No other female wrestlers during the time Trish was there got very over. The eye-candy divas that worked with Trish didn't really need her, since it was their own sex appeal that was their main asset. And none of them really worked out as well as Trish. What is the point of giving some of these women a rub if you don't follow through properly? I think I was probably being a little too respectful towards Trish and not being realistic enough. In general, I sometimes don't like the tone I used back then. Not realistic enough. A little too much speculation at times.

I used to blog every day back then. And primarily about women's wrestling. I think it is good that I widened my subject matter and am taking a few days off a week. Don't force myself to blog. Moreover, it is good to pay attention to what happens in the men's division. Issues that exist there also exist in the women's division. Paying attention to that could have helped to sharpen my ability to read the diva division. There were a few blog entries I wrote on my old blog that might have been meaningless. Of course, the divas were my main subject, so anything related to what they were doing back then was open material.

Did I talk about Mickie James too much back then? Aside from being my favorite diva, what was going on with her was worth talking about. No one seemed to understand what was going on back then. The most over diva on the roster is not being pushed like it. Who is to blame? What is going on? Mickie James was for the women's division back then what Daniel Bryan is for the men's division in recent years. You have a man not being pushed as an A+ player that is going out there and connecting with fans better than a lot of guys meant to be ahead of him. That was the story of Mickie James. I always see people discussing Daniel Bryan. They talk about why the WWE mistreats him, whether he deserves that better career, what the WWE can do to make stars out of these other guys they actually want to push, how his fans are reacting, and so on. Not enough people were talking about this for Mickie James until it was too late.

On February 27, 2009, I talked about Mickie not being pushed as someone the WWE would want to be over and why they should want to do it. I "blamed" her for how she was being treated. I was being sarcastic. I tend to use that tone frequently. This was also the entry where I said Trish was used to get other women over, as I previously talked about. Moreover, I said that Mickie James rose the bar for the divas back then, or should have. Other divas actually have to work and step up if they want to get over and earn those better careers. Of course, the WWE was not even pushing Mickie at the time, so they didn't want to raise the bar. You can see that is obviously the case with the diva division now. The bar is so low, Eva Marie executing a dropkick properly would probably get her a standing ovation.

I would say Daniel Bryan is also a guy that raises the bar, or could be used like that. It is not enough to be pushed to be a star. You really want to get over? You have to steal it away from Daniel Bryan. If you want to be as over as him and earn the career he deserves, you have to be the kind of worker he is. You have to have the talent, you have to work hard, you have to be passionate, and you have to be something the fans love seeing. The WWE's ability to create stars has been weakened. They have not created a successful centerpiece in the diva division since Trish Stratus left. They are having issues developing Roman Reigns. Who should be blamed? How about Daniel Bryan? He can go sit in the corner with Mickie James. You can see how having someone you never intended to become that over can be a problem. This is two years in a row now that you have had a controversy around Daniel Bryan and how he is being pushed. Having someone like that just forces the WWE to work harder. They should allow their workers to work harder to compete against Daniel Bryan.

One more blog entry I want to bring up. On April 14, 2009, I talked about Mickie's 4th title reign, which she won one year prior to that. I called it a little "conspiracy theory" back then. In retrospect, I don't even like putting it that way. If you are ever going to examine what happened to Mickie James in the WWE, that fourth title reign cannot be overlooked. This is the reign that Ken Doane likes to say Mickie James slept her way to the top of and got over off of. Aside from what he says, this was the push that made it obvious to me the WWE did not want to push Mickie James as someone they wanted over.

That blog entry lacked proper historical analysis, which would have helped to support my point even more. Since the first dark age ended, the WWE never gave the title to an eye-candy diva not being pushed as centerpiece. It was one of the things that helped to keep the division respectable. Mickie James was the only face credible jobber at the time on Raw. Add in at least two more facts. First, she was already over prior to that push in 2008. Second, she was feuding with Beth Phoenix prior to Candice returning in early 2008. That feud never got a proper finish. If they had done anything else other than give Mickie James the push, it would have looked awkward and suspicious. Problem is, not handling the whole thing smoothly and killing her push when Candice Michelle would pop back up still points to something being wrong. I am glad that blog entry survived, even though I have probably brought it up again since then and argued it better.

Good to reread some of my old blogs. I wouldn't say I was wrong about everything back then, but I have gotten better. And some things definitely still hold true. Some things I once said for Mickie James years ago might apply to Daniel Bryan right now. Issues in the WWE that impact the divas also impact the men.

Grading On A Curve

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nikki, AJ, Brie

A lot of title changes happened in November. That includes Nikki Bella winning the Diva's Championship from AJ Lee. Brie Bella had a hand in her sister winning. There are a few things to talk about with these recent developments in the diva division.

First of all, what is going on with this storyline? Nikki Bella was the obvious heel. Brie Bella, a face, was forced to do what her sister wanted her to do. AJ Lee, a face that leans more to being a tweener with her character, held the title that Nikki Bella wanted. I pointed out before that this storyline was not being developed well even before the title change occurred. You have Brie Bella kissing AJ Lee to help her sister win at Survivor Series. Brie Bella hasn't really been acting like a frustrated face being forced to work with a heel recently. Moreover, Nikki gave a promo on Smackdown that led to her getting a face reaction. That promo was edited on the actual airing. What does the WWE really want to happen?

This is not the first time this year that a Diva's title feud had bad storyline development. I am not even talking about the string of feuds Paige had during her first title reign that were not developed properly. AJ Lee vs. Paige was not developed well. It looked like it was progressing to the logical end, heel Paige vs. face AJ. Paige had turned on AJ. Instead of running things from there, they regressed and just had the two play with each other for no good storyline reason. Bella vs. Bella was getting better focus at that time. They then paired Paige with Alicia Fox. That was nothing to make too much of. All it led to was a filler match at Survivor Series. It really only served the purpose of extending the feud between Paige and AJ so Paige could get her rematch. It wasn't that great. That is two elaborate feuds in a row to have questionable development.

In both those two feuds I just talked about, you had the WWE featuring some lesbian elements. Or at least teasing it in some situations. How PG is that? Besides that, it just seems like the WWE is throwing certain things into these storylines that are just not called for. Cheap tricks. It is a dark age, so it is not shocking that they would do these things. They are never going to have another golden age if they keep relying on these things, however. Is that how they have to keep fans interested? Is that how they have to try to get stars over? Lesbian elements, psycho gimmicks, finisher theft, and dressing up as your opponent. Sound familiar? Those were all things you saw in the feud Mickie James had with Trish Stratus. You can say those things helped to get Mickie James over, but how do you explain her staying over when left as a generic face diva? It comes down to the worth of the performer vs. how the performer is being pushed. Paige has been involved in the kind of storyline Mickie James had. Paige has not become as over as Mickie James. I think Paige has potential to do it, but the WWE is really in a better position to make sure no credible jobber ever does what Mickie James did again. Besides, Paige really needs to find her own groove she is comfortable with. She did that one promo a few months ago that made her look like a boss, but the WWE did not follow up with her. Never make too much out of one thing when analyzing what is going on.

While the rivalry between Trish Stratus and Lita was the greatest in the history of the diva division, the greatest diva storyline just might be the one between Trish Stratus and Mickie James. Unlike some storylines that are really extensions of things going on in the men's division, this was a diva storyline. The main players and main supporting players on the roster were all divas. It is like how fans credit Trish vs. Lita on Raw as the first diva main event on Raw, even though Stephanie McMahon vs. Lita happened years before that. The latter also featured The Rock, Triple H, and other guys indirectly involved, so that is why some fans disregard that. The reason Mickie/Trish was so good isn't just because of the players. It was developed well. The storyline made sense and was developed well. The lesbian elements fit into the storyline. The psycho gimmick fit. Finisher theft fit. Dressing up as the other person fit. It fit the character Mickie James was playing. And when Trish turned the tables on Mickie, it made sense for Trish to do some of that. The feud didn't even end properly and it was still that great. Injuries could have screwed it up, but it didn't. Lack of depth could have been an issue, but it wasn't. The WWE should look at that feud and remember how to tell a story. Instead, they seem to be looking at it and just taking some of the small elements out of it. It isn't that easy. If the progression of the storyline is not good, fans are not going to connect well, not know what to connect with, and might even connect the wrong way. Moreover, not all these women currently being pushed have the kind of charisma Mickie James had. The WWE didn't develop Mickie James to get over, so I hope they don't think they can just hand all these storyline and character elements to some other diva and expect the same results. Their execution is lacking.

Eve Torres was the last centerpiece of the diva division. She left. Kaitlyn got a title run. She was a credible jobber. She dropped it to AJ Lee, the top periphery diva in this dark age. AJ Lee and Paige traded it a few times. Paige is a credible jobber. Now, Nikki Bella is the Diva's Champion. Is this the WWE's first attempt at a centerpiece since Eve left? Nikki Bella is the kind of diva they like to push like that. There is also Brie Bella, but they are not really developing her outside of her sister's shadow right now. They could next month, after this feud with AJ ends. Even though depth is still bad, they have credible jobbers on the main roster already that they could revolve around Nikki. It doesn't mean that the dark age ends just like that, but they can go back to trying to step out of it.

Is Nikki Bella a good choice as centerpiece? She has improved over the years. Both Bellas have. To me, this second dark age started when they gave Brie Bella her first title reign. Michelle McCool was still centerpiece at that time. Kelly Kelly was in that spot after she left. Brie Bella was pretty much just a credible jobber. And she wasn't even doing anything with the title for a while. Moreover, she wasn't that great as a performer. That was a clear sign of collapse to me. Nikki Bella got a short reign a while after that. Now, things are different. They are better. Will they flop like all the other centerpiece attempts since Trish left? I doubt they will leave the company any time soon. Injuries are not a big issue with them. I doubt they will regress in their in-ring abilities. All that leaves is how over they will become. I could say that it all rests on their shoulders to get over, but it doesn't. As I pointed out before, the WWE is making some mistakes in how they are pushing these women. Those mistakes might screw them over more than the issue of their own skill and potential. Regardless of which Bella gets pushed as that A+ player, if either do, there will still be issues in this diva division.

Speaking of issues, where does all this leave AJ Lee? She is a top-tier periphery diva. She is an A player. She is in the position Lita had. The WWE can just put her back in the men's division alongside some top star. I won't brainstorm ideas of what to do with her. Of course, there is drama between the WWE and AJ Lee's husband, CM Punk. How much of a strain is that putting on things? Will she leave the company? There will always be speculation on that. I won't talk about whether or not this would be a huge loss for the diva division until she actually does leave. Should that not happen, and should a Bella get pushed as centerpiece, just don't be surprised to see AJ back to getting angles alongside the men.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spoiling The Women's Division

When someone spoils you, they give you that kind of treatment that you just love to have. Some people might feel guilty about getting that special treatment. Other people might love it so much that they don't want to lose that treatment. If you have ever seen a very spoiled individual, you know how annoying or demanding they can get.

Look at the state of that diva division. The last few years have not been pretty. And yet, the WWE will not give up on it. What can possibly be their motivation for wanting it to continue? There definitely is motivation. The WWE diva division has definitely been successful. They have had successful centerpieces. Sable and Trish were successful centerpieces.

The diva division started with Sable. She was definitely over back then. I don't usually watch old segments or matches on Youtube, but I did pass by a segment involving Sable from just before I started watching wrestling regularly. They were giving her (and Sunny) an award for helping an issue of Raw magazine be the highest-selling issue ever. That's an indicator right there that sex sells. That image sells. And they ran with this woman as the first centerpiece when the diva division started. That success they had with Sable, seeing her work out as the centerpiece, is what you can say started to spoil the women's division.

If the WWE got spoiled with Sable, they got spoiled rotten with Trish Stratus. She lasted longer than Sable and was able to develop her in-ring ability even further. How many times was she Babe of the Year? Once again, shows that the image sells. The WWE was once again having success running that same diva division that started with Sable. Trish even got inducted into the Hall of Fame before Sable. After seeing how much success they were having, it is not hard to imagine why they tried to make a new centerpiece after Trish and Lita retired, not even bothering to develop a new periphery diva with a female wrestler.

And all those attempts to create a new eye-candy centerpiece failed. That raises the question, if Sable or Trish had flopped, would the WWE women's division be better today? Without that success that continues to motivate the WWE to push this same diva division and try to make it still work, would you see a better women's wrestling division right now? If the image had not sold, I think it is easy to believe the WWE would not be motivated to try to push it. To be a little more specific than that, what if the women themselves did not connect with the fans and failed in the same way as those women the WWE has attempted to develop as the new centerpiece. I am talking about getting injured too much, deteriorating wrestling ability, not being committed, and never getting the overness to match how you are being pushed. Obviously, this is just speculation. You can't know for sure what the WWE would have done. If Sable had flopped as centerpiece, I believe you would have had a good chance of the WWE not bothering to continue to push the diva division. They might have went back to pushing female wrestlers to be the top stars of the actual women's wrestling division. They liked what they had with Sable and continued it with Trish. If she had not worked out? I can't answer that one. No opinion there. I think it could really go either way. They had a number of female wrestlers on the roster at the time to still continue running a respectable women's division and make a star out of one of them, possibly Lita. On the other side of that, they started doing Diva Searches during Trish's run as centerpiece. Had Trish started to not work out, they could just wait for one of those eye-candy divas to get solid in the ring and develop her to be the centerpiece. No matter what, having more failed centerpieces than successful ones has not motivated the WWE to give up the diva division.

Let me throw a wild card into the discussion. What if a female wrestler accomplished what Mickie James did back when Sable or Trish started out? What fans don't realize, Mickie James was a credible jobber who got over on her own at the time when centerpieces were failing. They never stopped pushing her as a jobber to the centerpiece and interim centerpiece. Would things have been different for a female wrestler who accomplished this at a time the WWE was less spoiled with their diva division desires? If a woman accomplished this when Sable was the centerpiece, I think the WWE would have been more open to giving her the better career that she was earning. I would like to believe the WWE would have a more open mind back then. Moreover, the company was hotter back then. They had a better midcard, which would lead to periphery divas featured better. Things being so much better back then is what made the first dark age not as painful as the current one. And if this happened when Trish was centerpiece? I am talking about earlier in her centerpiece run. Mickie James obviously debuted during Trish's end of her centerpiece run. Once again, I have no real answer there. If the WWE was really eager to build a new eye-candy centerpiece after what they had with Sable, a female wrestler they are using to put over Trish may become a nuisance if she started getting over. All these years of failure sure are not making it easier for credible jobbers to succeed.

I am not trying to say that Trish and Sable should not have succeeded or did not deserve their success. The whole point of this post was just to talk about what can be the WWE's motivation for keeping the diva division going like this. And they definitely have had success with the diva division to be motivated. It is not really so much these two women that have spoiled the WWE, but the success of these two women. It is the success the WWE have had with these women. I don't blame these women. It is up to the WWE to see what the problem is and try to fix it. They are to blame for not moving on from that success they had in the past. It is not leading to success now. They are spoiled.

Speaking of Mickie James, I came across an article from Bleacher Report last week that said Mickie James has flopped in TNA. Really? The writer talks about how poorly Mickie James has been used. Fans were eager to see her join TNA, then no one cared a couple weeks later. She has been overlooked for Velvet Sky, Gail Kim, and Tara. I'm not even going to post the link to the article. Search the subterranean depths of Google, if you care to read it. I don't recommend telling a teacher something like that when she asks you to cite your source.

First of all, Mickie's TNA career isn't even over yet. Second, about a year and a half ago, there was a report that Mickie James was the most searched female wrestler on Google in 2011. She accomplished that while in TNA. That is an indicator right there that Mickie James has drawn interest in TNA. How can anyone read that report and make the general conclusion that no one cared about Mickie James a few weeks after she joined TNA. She joined in 2010, people stopped caring by the end of the year, and she still had enough people interested in her in 2011 to look her up and see what's happening with her? If you can get fans to be interested in you like that, despite the mediocre treatment, you are not a flop. She has delivered for TNA. Third, even though I would be the first to say that booking accomplishments are not what it is about in pro wrestling, Mickie James accomplished things in TNA that the WWE would never allow her to have. They would never have booked a credible jobber to win as many title reigns as Trish Stratus. Mickie James has now held 9 major women's titles. Yeah, in case you missed it, she won the TNA Knockouts title again. She has also held the WWE Women's Championship, Diva's Championship, and TNA Knockouts Championship. The only woman to do that. That is going to be her legacy. That is something for her and her fans to be proud of. If she had not come to TNA and done that, what would her legacy have ended up being? Lastly, why should you criticize Mickie James as a flop in TNA when rotating women like this is just how TNA does things? They rotate everything in and out. What looks like a huge success one moment will look like a flop in a short time. I don't remember Gail Kim having any angles while Brooke Tessmacher was feuding with Madison Rayne and Tara. Recently, Gail has just been used to put over other women, who will most likely be rotated out themselves in a while. Where is Brooke Tessmacher right now? Mickie James is a flop because she is being treated like pretty much all the other women in that KO division? I don't think so.

I always say that a wrestler's job isn't to get me to like him or live up to my standards. Their job is to connect with their audience as best as they can. That is the best way to become an asset to the company. If they can't do that, they should try to make other talent look good that can get the job done and support the company in other ways. That writer who wrote that article obviously has standards I don't agree with. Yes, if you look at how TNA is using Mickie James, it would be easy to say Mickie James has flopped. The fact is, this woman was not supposed to succeed in the WWE in the first place. After that, she had a career where she should have flopped. And she still maintained the overness. In TNA, she has succeeded in drawing interest for the company and has created a title legacy for herself. I will not deny that this woman deserves better, but she has made use of her opportunities to still accomplish things. In the end, I once said that TNA appreciates Mickie James more than the WWE. I still stand by that. The problem is, TNA also cares about several other women in the same way. Unlike the WWE, you can say TNA won't get "spoiled" on anyone.

Could Lita Or Trish Have Done What Mickie Did?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Would Trish Stratus Have Succeeded Today?

I started with Mickie James, went to Lita, and I might as well end this little series of speculating whether past major successes in the diva division would have still succeeded today with Trish Stratus, the greatest centerpiece the division ever had and Hall of Fame inductee this year. I almost wasn't going to do it. I was going to just tack it on to what I was saying about Lita. Let me give the basic idea of what I would have said.

Would Trish Stratus still have made it today? Of course! She is the kind of woman they want to be centerpiece. She succeeded during the first dark age. It is with her that the WWE took the division out of the first dark age. She was a solid worker who became over. The WWE would love to have that kind of woman now.

After thinking about it, I realized that the answer might not be that simple. Trish and Lita both debuted in a dark age, but it was a different one from what you have now. Just like Lita benefited from a hotter company and male-female violence, so did Trish Stratus. I am not going to list all the things that Lita benefited from then that are not here now, which in turn might also apply to Trish Stratus. The career Trish Stratus had was different from that which Lita had. Trish was the centerpiece. This is not about simply whether Trish would get over or not. This is about whether Trish would still become as effective a centerpiece as she was.

Just like a quarterback needs reliable receivers to throw the ball to, the centerpiece needs good credible jobbers to help her look good. That is what really made me think twice about whether Trish Stratus debuting now and being developed as the centerpiece would have the same impact as it did over a decade ago. The diva division started with the use of female wrestlers as credible jobbers. When the WWE started pushing Trish as the centerpiece, that practice continued. After Trish left, the practice continued for a while. As centerpieces started failing, eye-candy divas started to become more numerous and solid in the ring, female wrestlers started to become more scarce, and a credible jobber developed herself to be the most over diva, the practice soon ended. Eye-candy divas are now used as jobbers to the centerpiece and interim centerpieces in a way that they have never been used before. That is a drop in standards.

How would that change impact Trish Stratus today? A decade ago, she had a ton of solid workers to work with her. That helped to bring the best out of her. Every woman she traded the title with had good wrestling credibility, a lot more than the current Diva's Champion. No offense to Kaitlyn. She still has time to improve. Nevertheless, how respectable a worker would Trish have become without solid workers like she had? How respectable would the division look?

There's also the issue of no centerpiece working out in about 6 years. What does that do to the WWE's enthusiasm to develop a new centerpiece? How about the woman being developed as the centerpiece? If she does not have confidence in how the WWE is going to treat her, based on the poor treatment the division has been getting, you can imagine her not being committed to this mess. Trish Stratus did not really have this issue a decade ago. She was inheriting the diva division from Sable. Sable did not flop as centerpiece. She just left at a time the WWE did not have a woman on the roster they were willing to develop as centerpiece. Commitment has been an issue lately. Who is to say that Trish Stratus would not have confidence in this diva division and quit for something better?

Do I think the WWE would be able to take the division out of this dark age with Trish Stratus if she was debuting now like they did a decade ago? No. This dark age did not just start when Eve left. By my analysis of things, the problems started when standards started dropping and women pushed to be the centerpiece could not deliver. Trish Stratus getting over will not be enough to fix anything. The WWE needs to start hiring and utilizing female wrestlers like they did a decade ago. Only those eye-candy divas who demonstrate a great talent in the ring should be used as credible jobbers. Leave the rest as periphery divas. Without good credible jobbers, you are not going to have a respectable women's division, no matter how Trish works out.

I am not going to do another blog entry for other past successful divas. Let me just rush through some. Eye-candy divas who got over years ago would most likely have trouble in this PG era where eye-candy divas are ineffective and not used properly. Chyna would most likely not be wrestling men regularly if she debuted today. Stephanie McMahon, just based on who she is, would succeed in any era they decided to bring her in.

Kaitlyn: The Hybrid Diva

Kaitlyn is the hybrid diva. What does that even mean? Given the current state of the diva division and Kaitlyn's likely role right now, does a nickname even mean anything? There's probably a few things I can talk about off this. I never really talked about "anti-diva" gimmicks. I'll save that for another day. Since this is a dark age and Kaitlyn does not look like the centerpiece, let me go back to the first dark age.

The woman on the left is Debra. The woman on the right is Ivory. Those were the first two divas to hold the Women's Championship after Sable left. Debra was an eye-candy periphery diva and Ivory was a credible jobber.

Why would I bring those two women up in a discussion about Kaitlyn? I would say she might be viewed as a hybrid of those two. No, I'm not simply talking about a mix of their hair colors. I'm talking about her wrestling ability. She is showing herself to be more of a wrestler than Debra, but she is not at the level of Ivory.

What does it say about this current dark age that they let Kaitlyn win the title off Eve when Eve, their centerpiece, was leaving? The first dark age featured some questionable choices holding the title, including a mix of eye-candy divas and credible jobbers, as well as other periphery divas and a guy. This current dark age, they aren't doing anything too crazy, yet. I wouldn't say Kaitlyn was the best choice to give it to, as far as wrestling ability goes. Storyline-wise, she made sense. She was feuding with Eve. But this is still a step back for the diva division. An eye-candy credible jobber without great wrestling ability is interim centerpiece.

It might still be too early to call it, but I don't see the WWE doing anything with Kaitlyn to make me believe they want her to be the true focal point of their women's division. Development isn't there. Tamina is getting a push, which should please some fans who still have hope. I don't see anyone fitting the profile of what the WWE likes to develop as centerpiece getting built for the position. That makes this dark age even more like the first. I don't think they will go more in the direction of Debra as far as who they give the title to. Giving the title to a female wrestler might help make things look more respectable. However, they should also try to do something to actually entertain. The general audience won't always force themselves to cheer for something that is more respectable than entertaining. You want a hybrid? That mix of respectable and entertaining is what you want to go for. Where does that leave Kaitlyn? I don't consider her the hybrid diva that will help this diva division.

Trish Stratus will be inducted in the Hall of Fame. Does she deserve it? Yes. But now? That's what I have an issue with. The diva division is the worst it has ever been. It is neither respectable nor entertaining. You have less effective divas now than you did in the first dark age. And this is what Trish paved the way for? Speaking for myself, if I was ever being honored for something I helped to pave the way for, create, or had some significant impact on, I would not feel right about being honored at a time when that something is a mess. What kind of message would that send? I'm not saying you have to blame Trish Stratus for the mess. This is the WWE's fault for making poor decisions. But this is essentially the same division you had with Trish. Eye-candy centerpiece, women with wrestling credibility used as credible jobbers, and the only female wrestlers getting successful careers getting it in the periphery. The problem has been the women the WWE trying to develop to be the next Trish not getting it done, or the WWE not getting it done with them. So are you honoring Trish for paving the way to this current diva division or for the career she had? You can honor Trish for her career at any time. I just think it would mean more if you honored her at a time when you can legitimately say Trish paved the way for a great women's division. That's not now.

Depth In The Diva Division

There's this old episode of Yogi Bear where Yogi gets involved in a football game. As the guys on the team get taken out due to injury, the coach goes to the next guy on the bench. Guys keep on getting injured, the coach keeps on going down the line. Soon, no one is left. The coach is forced to send in Yogi.

That's the idea of depth that you hear about in some team sports. There is usually more than one person available to play a given position. When someone gets injured, ejected from the game, is playing badly, simply needs a break, or whatever, you have someone to take the spot. The person you start might usually be the best player and one you want to be out there. When he goes out, you want to go to your next best guy. Because of this, it isn't just replacing one body for another, but also trying to replace a good, prepared player with another who can get the job done.

Depth is obviously an issue in wrestling. When the WWE loses a top star, they have to call on someone else. This is usually not a huge problem in the men's division. You have so many men and top stars, you usually have someone you can go to when another top guy goes down, whether to injury, suspension, or what have you. When Cena got injured a few months ago, the WWE went with Ryback. When CM Punk got injured, The Shield got a PPV match. It is in the diva division that depth becomes a real issue. I have spoken about it many times, but I don't believe I have ever used this term to describe it. I think I'll start using it, so I that's why I'm talking about it now. If you are a sports fan, you might have already been familiar with depth. It might be easier to understand than me talking about centerpieces and the periphery. Let me just list a few instances where depth is worth discussing in the diva division.

First, I have to talk about Mickie James. How many times have I said that Mickie James was getting pushed mainly because she was the only convenient and qualified option around? If you look at the face options in the diva division at the time, there was not much depth. At one time, Melina, Beth Phoenix, and Jillian were the heels. You have good depth there. A lot of good options. The faces? Mickie James, Maria, and Ashley. This was when Candice Michelle, the centerpiece of the diva division, was out with an injury. Mickie James was most qualified out of all the faces to carry the division. That's how the WWE would use women with wrestling credibility. Could you imagine the situation you would have had if Mickie James suffered a serious injury around this time? Since the WWE did not have faith in pushing eye-candy divas as credible jobbers back then, they would have either have had to rush a face turn for a heel credible jobber or debut a new female wrestler from developmental. The WWE was lucky Mickie James was around.

The WWE's luck soon ran out. After the WWE released Mickie James, the only credible jobber available on Smackdown was Beth Phoenix. Outside of her, you had Kelly Kelly and Tiffany, two eye-candy divas. What kind of depth is that? Your centerpiece is a heel, so it would have been smart to have more options in the face credible jobber position. To top it all off, Beth Phoenix got injured. The WWE actually pushed Kelly Kelly and Tiffany more. Tiffany then got suspended and eventually released. You are left with virtually no real depth at all. It is no surprise the WWE soon unified the titles and the divisions. It is also no surprise that the WWE would warm up to the idea of using eye-candy divas as credible jobbers. If they saw that they could keep the division going without female wrestlers being used as jobbers and filler, why not give the eye-candy divas those opportunities. That widens the depth they could possibly have now. Tamina and Natalya are the only two female-wrestler credible jobbers. However, because the WWE can use eye-candy divas like Layla as credible jobbers, that gives them added depth. It gives them more options now, even though they still have issues with the centerpiece position.

Speaking of centerpieces, how about the greatest centerpiece the diva division ever had? Trish Stratus was fortunate to be in the diva division at a time when they had a lot of female wrestlers. From the time she started to be pushed as centerpiece, Lita was the only female-wrestler periphery diva. All those other female wrestlers were credible jobbers. Trish had no less than half a dozen women with solid wrestling training and credibility revolving around her. The WWE was always bringing in fresh options for her to work against. They were running an effective women's division. Not only were they investing creatively and had a centerpiece that was working out, but they had a lot of options to go to. However, as great as some people view this time in the diva division, it was showing signs of the issues you have had in recent years. When Trish returned from her injury in 2005, the only face divas getting action in the ring were her and Ashley. The heels were Victoria, Torrie Wilson, and Candice Michelle. You have one heel credible jobber and two eye-candy periphery divas. Prior to Mickie James debuting, you did not have a face credible jobber. If Trish had gotten injured again during that time, the WWE would have been in trouble. If Victoria had gotten injured, the WWE would have been in trouble. Trish Stratus eventually did get injured again a few months later. Because that psycho storyline was so rich, the WWE could carry it on with just Mickie James for a while. They eventually debuted Beth Phoenix, who became the only face credible jobber, since Mickie had turned heel. Beth then got injured. Those are depth issues you have at the credible jobber position. The WWE had some options on Smackdown to keep things fresh and bring in if injuries really proved to be too much, but it's plain to see the "Golden Age" was starting to lose some stability even while Trish and Lita were there.

Everything I have spoken about so far has been about depth issues for the credible jobber position. A lack of depth caused the WWE to continuously go to Mickie James. There was a time when there was absolutely zero depth for female-wrestler credible jobbers on Smackdown. Even during the best years of the division, a shortage of credible jobbers was starting to arise. You also have depth issues with the centerpiece position. Michelle McCool left, so they went to Kelly Kelly. They gave up on her and went to Eve. She left, and now we see who is next on the bench. As I said before, it's not just about replacing one body with another. You want to go with someone you have confidence in. In the WWE's mind, it seems to be less about having confidence in them and more about being willing to develop that woman into a major star. You have women on the bench, you have women you can go to, but it means nothing if the WWE does not put them in there. Then again, with the luck the WWE is having with their centerpieces, they might go through the entire depth chart and they will all flop for one reason or another. What's left then? Send in Yogi Bear? How about Jinder Mahal? Whoever looks better in lingerie? My money's on Yogi.

Tainted Success

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cena's Year Away From The Title

Since there is a possibility that John Cena's year of not being WWE Champion could come to an end this Sunday, I decided to talk about that today. It also reminds me of something from the diva division. And to close up, I'll talk about the WWE title match at Survivor Series.

When CM Punk beat John Cena for the title last year, some people acted like this was the first time John Cena had ever lost the WWE Championship. CM Punk went on to lose the title, but he then regained it. He has now held it for almost a year. As far as Cena goes, that means he has not held the title for over a year. Unheard of? Just like John Cena losing the title to CM Punk last year was not the first time that happened, John Cena not holding the title for over a year has happened before.

Go back to 2007. Cena was having a title reign that lasted over a year. It ended when he had to vacate it due to injury. About a year after Cena dropped it, he suffered another injury. When he returned from that injury, he won the World's Heavyweight Championship from Chris Jericho. He ended up not holding a World title for over a year. Aside from the injuries keeping him away, Cena did feud for the title, have a brief run with the tag titles, feud with JBL for a few months, and have a brief feud with Batista. Meanwhile, the World Champions on Raw during this time included Randy Orton, Triple H, CM Punk, Batista, and Chris Jericho. On some nights, John Cena's feuds still trumped title feuds. He never really stopped being the centerpiece of the company. They just gave him a brief rest from title matters.

Compare 2007/08 to 2011/12. He is once again going a year without a title. Despite that, he has often trumped CM Punk's title feuds over the past year. Big difference between this period and the previous period, to me, is the variety of World Champions you have had during Cena's drought. You had 5 different guys trading around the WWE Championship or World's Heavyweight Championship in the previous period. In the current one, all you have is a brief run for Alberto Del Rio and Punk's long run. Couldn't some people argue that 2008's title scene was fresher? No Cena. Various guys were holding the title. And yet, people still act like what's going on now has never happened before in any way since Cena became centerpiece. Don't get me wrong, you can still argue things are stale and Cena is overpushed, but there are some criticisms people come up with that are really not true. Cena hasn't always been holding the title prior to Punk "saving" the WWE. He's had a 1-year drought before.

It made me think about Trish Stratus and her centerpiece run. Trish is obviously the greatest centerpiece the diva division ever produced. Remember how she got her first four reigns. She won the vacated title, lost it to Jazz, won it from Jazz, lost it to Molly Holly, won it from Molly Holly, lost it to Victoria, won it from Victoria, and lost it to Jazz. That is how she won 4 title reigns in about 2 years. I wasn't an Internet wrestling fan back then, but I wondered if people complained about that. Regardless, after losing the title to Jazz for the second time, Trish didn't regain the title again until the following year. Meanwhile, Trish got angles involving Lita, Chris Jericho, and Christian. The women who did hold the title during that time included Jazz, Gail Kim, Molly Holly, and Victoria. Fresh. Four credible jobbers held the title. You look at the five guys who held the World title on Raw during Cena's first year away from the title. All are legends. People can debate whether what I am about to say is true for Batista, but all those guys will one day be in the WWE Hall of Fame. Can you say those kind of things for the four women who held the Women's Championship during Trish's break from the title? You can say it, but who would really buy it? Point is, giving John Cena a break from the title is nothing unheard of. It has even happened in the diva division with the centerpiece there. A break from the title doesn't mean you stop being the centerpiece. More than likely, they will eventually regain it. Trish went on to win 3 more title reigns. Cena has won about triple that number since his first drought.

Who wins at Survivor Series? If they were going to put the title on Ryback, Hell in a Cell would have been the place to do it. If they do not put the title on Cena, then the whole switch they made in their plans would have been stupid. You put John Cena in a title match just so CM Punk can retain the title, instead of following through with your original Survivor Series plans for Punk and Mick Foley? The sloppiness would have been for nothing. I know the popular response is Cena being in the title match is a draw. Well, if Cena is such a draw, shouldn't the fact that he was going to end up on the card facing Dolph Ziggler as part of an elaborate storyline involving Vickie Guerrero and AJ Lee still draw? It would make it worth it if this was all done to get the title on Cena. If not, what a waste. And keep in mind, Cena's title drought in 2008 ended with him winning the title at Survivor Series. Will the same thing happen?

Strip The Gold Away

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eve Goes Heel

If you keep coming to my blog regularly for what I have to say about the diva division, you are probably getting ready to drive an ax into my skull. Why am I talking about Barrett? Why am I wasting time on Mr. Excitement and Otunga? And Zeke? Seriously? Zeke? Did I run out of things to say about Jinder Mahal? Yes, the big diva news this week is Eve Torres turning heel on Raw. They followed up with a promo that was taped on Smackdown this week. In case you did not watch it online, Eve basically teases an apology, but then cements her heel turn.

Eve was humiliated in that segment on Raw. She basically got caught admitting she was using Ryder for attention and was going to try to use Cena too. She then followed Cena to the ring, where she still tried to follow through on her plan, and humiliated herself some more. I know a lot of people feel bad for Eve, but I really don't see it as that bad. No, I'm not heartless. First of all, this is a kayfabe humiliation. This idea that Eve is using over men for her own success is all part of a storyline. They are not attacking her real image or real self. If they were humiliating her based on how she looks, her ethnicity, or something like that, then I would criticize the WWE for what they did. Second, this humiliation is not part of Eve being used to put over some other diva, or even guy. As I said before, this is a periphery storyline for Eve. This is not a straight diva feud. I don't think even John Cena, the centerpiece of Raw, even really benefited from that segment that much. He didn't need it that much. The WWE could have easily have found some other way to smooth over his relationship with Ryder. And that brings me to the last reason why I'm not feeling too bad for Eve right now. It got Eve the best reaction of her career. She never got too over as a face. Even while with Ryder, even though she said in her segment that using Ryder got people talking about her, she still really wasn't that over. The way they turned her heel, the way they are having her handle it, she is finally getting that good reaction. To sum it up, it's not an attack on her real image, she was not simply being used as a tool for some other worker's benefit, and it is bringing good results for her, so far. This is not a tragedy.

In a way, this is similar to what happened with Trish Stratus, just slightly reversed. When Trish Stratus first turned face about a year after she first debuted, she did it in an epic way. They were running this storyline where she was using her sex appeal to get into a comfortable position with the boss, Vince McMahon. As they ran it, she was acting like a dog. That led to the infamous humiliation scene with Vince and Trish in the ring. After that, Trish eventually stood up to Vince and Stephanie, turning face in the process, and the WWE never looked back with her. Over a decade later, things are reversed. Eve had been face her entire career. Even though she is a good worker in the ring, she never got over. Not only did they turn her heel in an elaborate way, she did it in a segment involving the top guy of the company. This might be the best storyline rub John Cena gave a diva. Depends on how the WWE follows through, as well as how Eve does herself.

Even though I don't feel bad for Eve's humiliation and see it as something positive for her, I still don't think they should have done it like that. I'm not against her turning heel. I just feel it would have meant more if she did it in a segment involving Zack Ryder. It might not have had the same feel as doing it with Cena, but it would have fit the storyline better. Also, having her turn heel like they did this week just seemed kind of random. It came out of nowhere. There were some moments where it looked like she really did care for Zack Ryder. The title match she had against Beth Phoenix on Raw comes to mind. They sold it as Eve being too emotional about what happened to Ryder to concentrate, and she ended up losing the match fast. In terms of kayfabe, her plan involved her not being focused in a title match? Then you have the fact that siding with Ryder was putting her in the path of Kane. That was part of her plan too? Kane definitely could have done some damage to her at some points, if the storyline went that way. I'm not saying that it will be revealed that Eve and Kane were working together the whole time, but the storyline was not too smooth. I would have spent a little more time drawing it out. As long as it gets a reaction for Eve, who cares, right?