The End

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Looking Back At AJ Lee

I will spend today looking back at a former WWE female talent, AJ Lee. AJ Lee debuted during the second dark age of the diva era. The WWE had failed to create a successor to Trish Stratus. All their attempts flopped. And they never bothered to create another Lita. That is to say, a female wrestler pushed as a top star in the periphery. AJ was that new Lita. She had a huge push in the periphery, getting angles alongside Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, John Cena, and other men. That transitioned into her getting a couple runs with the Diva's Championship. She also took a few breaks from the WWE. During one of those breaks, The Bellas really rose in prominence. It would have been interesting to see whether Nikki Bella or AJ Lee would have been the long-term centerpiece the WWE would have planned to go with. Instead of ever finding out, AJ Lee retired and chose CM Punk over the WWE.

I would say AJ Lee was definitely overrated when her WWE career first started. Before she even debuted, dirtsheets sold her as the successor to Mickie James. AJ Lee had never even done anything up to that point. She then was involved in NXT, back when it was a competition. She didn't win. She didn't even get in the final two. When she came to the main roster, she didn't really look like someone that would break out.

What helped her was the WWE giving her the freedom to be a psychotic character. Unlike what happened with Mickie James, this was not a psychotic character designed to put over some other woman meant to be the centerpiece. This was a periphery angle. They made AJ Lee into a star. And you could see her become more confident with that character. Her in-ring ability was okay, but I do think some people overrate that. You could definitely list a number of women better than her in the ring. But it was her character that really helped her be a star. And because she had some pro wrestling background prior to the WWE, that helped to connect her with some wrestling fans.

Staying on things that are overrated, I would still say her pipebomb was overrated. She was holding the title at the time, had been pushed harder than any woman in years, already had more fans buying into her than any other woman on the roster, and she was going out there and slamming women that had never been given the kind of opportunities she had been given and were just trying to make the most of what they were getting. Isn't it better for a pipebomb to come from an underdog or some kind of victim of the system? AJ Lee was the top star of the division, with or without the title, and the system helped her to be that star.

Thinking about that promo again, however, I do have to give her some credit. I don't think I was that much of a fan of the execution back then. Looking at other women, and even men, these days that do these self-righteous promos, AJ Lee at least did a better job making it entertaining than a lot of what I see these days. "Entertaining" these days is just pandering to smarks and saying what they want to hear. All you have to do is remember your lines. Maybe a little difficult for Roman Reigns. Regardless, too many fans see being confident as being great on the mic. There is more to it than that. Even if you find wrestlers that have that confidence, a lot of them don't do enough to make their promos entertaining. A lot of the blame can go on the writers, but some blame also has to go on the workers for not at least trying to be fun. Then again, some fans would probably not appreciate it and even think the performer is drunk.

Overall, I now look at AJ Lee in a more favorable light than I did back then. She was okay in the ring. She was cute and had an appealing look. And she was definitely charismatic. What changed? Does absence make the heart grow fonder? I think the issue was that the way she was booked back then just annoyed me. Booking someone too strongly can hurt them. Annoying booking of Charlotte last year did not make me a fan of her. Annoying booking of Alexa Bliss this year has not made me a fan of her. Look at Roman Reigns. I remember a depush actually helping him get better reactions a few years ago. Now that time has passed, I can just think back on AJ Lee as a performer. My opinion has definitely changed.

I would say part of the reason for the change of heart is that the women today are just so bland. Most of them do not have proper gimmicks. They have nicknames. The have funny-colored hair. They have male legends they latch onto. In terms of their characters, they lack creativity. There are too many self-righteous, feminist characters. Too much complaining. A lot of hype, but a lack of real character substance. At least when AJ Lee did this kind of thing, she still kept some of that crazy personality she had developed in her periphery angle. That makes her fun to watch. More of the young women in the WWE today need to work putting more personality into their matches and promos. It isn't what you do. It is how you do it.

The WWE also needs to step up and present more women in unique ways like they did AJ Lee. I would say it definitely helped her. She would have flopped without that big push in the periphery. She just didn't look too interesting. Even if they did try to push her as a credible jobber, I don't think she was good enough in the ring to really work out with that kind of career very well. But she had potential to be a great character. A lot of other women today can be great characters. Getting them away from the inefficient women's division might help them. None of the women today are that over. Even if you want to talk about Alexa Bliss, a lot of wrestling fans have a distaste for her. And her booking is also a source of annoyance. Let her character shine in the periphery, as I have said before. Mickie James could also benefit from this type of push. She has shown potential for years to play entertaining characters. In that sense, she has been underutilized. The women's revolution is just not enough to create stars and create an entertaining women's division. The WWE should look back the success of AJ Lee, a success they wanted, and not be afraid to create that kind of thing again.

There are a few women I have not been that big of a fan of that I have softened on over the years. AJ Lee is definitely one of those women. Again, one of the reasons might just be that things are so uninteresting to me these days, that AJ Lee just looks better to me. I would not mind if she did decide to come back. Her in-ring ability may not be on the same level as the NXT elite, but her presence and character would be refreshing. The WWE might ruin her with too many storylines about the women's revolution, but I think she would still let her own personality shine with what she has to work with. And unlike Mickie James, AJ Lee would be someone more likely to be featured well by the WWE, if she returns.

Alexa Bliss Wins Back The Title

I wanted to to talk about the women in my last few days blogging, but this is not what I wanted to have to talk about. Alexa Bliss defeated Sasha Banks on Raw to win back the title. After that, Nia Jax attacked Bliss to start a feud there.

This is just garbage on so many levels. If they were not going to give Sasha Banks a proper run with the title, they should not have given it to her at all. The only thing the title change accomplished is stopping Alexa's reign before it topped Charlotte's first run with the Raw Women's Championship to become the longest-reigning titleholder. And it's not like that reign is so long that it cannot be topped easily. It probably will be beaten in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss has her resume inflated. Sasha, as well, but to a lesser degree. Alexa Bliss is the centerpiece, not Sasha. In less than a year, Alexa has won four title reigns between Smackdown and Raw. Again, that is just garbage. The WWE has to create some fresh feuds with women that are properly developed and deserve the push. Failure to properly build challengers is likely one of the reasons for so many women getting poor reactions that should not be getting those poor reactions.

It is ridiculous that the WWE cannot come up with ways to keep Alexa Bliss relevant outside the title picture. Okay, she sells merchandise. Fine, that is a reason to feature her. But not like this. I have said this about Roman Reigns in recent weeks. The guy has not held a main-event title in over a year. He is on a PPV losing streak. He is not looking like a top guy, in terms of booking. In terms of hype, he obviously still is a top guy. He is in a big feud with John Cena. I see some fans upset this isn't happening at Wrestlemania. It probably should. Give more time to rebuild Reigns. What about Bliss? There are obviously less top performers for her to work with in the women's division, due mainly to the WWE's failure to properly feature the women, but they could still find something else for her to do.

Let me once again explain the system the WWE ran in the diva era. The WWE liked to have a woman they would push as their top star and to regularly be featured in the title scene. That was their centerpiece. They would frequently build up women with wrestling credibility to trade the title with the centerpiece and be an obstacle for her to overcome or someone to draw heat off of. These were credible jobbers. They frequently got tossed aside when done doing the job. They were also sometimes used as interim centerpiece when something happened to the real centerpiece or the real centerpiece was getting an angle away from the title. Outside of that, there were periphery divas, or stars featured in the periphery of the title matters. They might sometimes get title reigns, but the bulk of their time was meant to be outside the title picture. Lastly, this system was run with the idea that an eye-candy diva would be the centerpiece. That was what made the diva era what it was.

Smackdown obviously doesn't have a centerpiece. They just go in different directions. But Raw is that centerpiece-driven division. You saw it last year with Charlotte. She got that annoying booking of frequent title wins and other women, mostly Sasha Banks, not getting pushed right. Charlotte is now Ms. Irrelevant on Smackdown, while Alexa Bliss has come and taken her place on Raw as the centerpiece. She is getting that annoying booking. Sasha Banks was recently once again the victim. Bayley has also been a victim of the bad booking designed to help Alexa Bliss.

The thing is, centerpiece booking was never this annoying during the diva era. Trish Stratus won 7 women's titles in roughly 5 years. If Charlotte had not gone to Smackdown, it looked like she might have won 20 titles in 5 years. Alexa Bliss is now the one on pace to win 20 titles in 5 years. It will obviously not happen, but this is annoying. And you never had this many short title reigns for the credible jobbers back in the golden era. Barring an injury, this should not happen. The women were typically allowed to have some successful title defenses. There were even spans where Trish took a break from the title scene. The most memorable was her angle involving Chris Jericho and Christian.

That is another problem, the terrible periphery. You have some periphery women today, like Maryse, but they are not featured as well as they were back in the day. Chyna, Lita, and AJ Lee were all featured very well in the periphery, and all before ever winning a women's title in the WWE. The WWE obviously cannot do certain things today, but AJ Lee's push in the periphery came in the PG Era. There is still potential to do something. And that is where Alexa Bliss should be pushed outside the title scene. Give women like Sasha Banks, Emma, and Mickie James a chance to freshen up the title feuds. Alexa Bliss's best attributes are her looks and her character. That screams periphery. That is where they need to push. Find an angle alongside the men.

Lastly, how about Nia Jax seemingly next in line for a title feud? Horrible. How about the WWE stops awarding women for underachieving, having injury issues, and even being dangerous in the ring? If you are underachieving, step up and get over, or at least put some good effort into it. If you have injury issues, do your best to change your style to stay healthy and show you can be trusted. If you are dangerous in the ring, you just got to clean that up. It was not long ago that Bayley got injured while working with Nia Jax. All the blame cannot be put on Nia, but there was at least one spot in that match where it was obvious she was being clumsy with an injured Bayley. And that was not her first instance of being dangerous in the ring this year. Nia Jax needs to be held accountable, not be given title feuds. Needless to say, match quality will not be good between Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss. Even if you toss in Sasha Banks, it will likely still not be what some fans were hoping for when this women's revolution started.

State Of The WWE Women's Division: August 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Previewing The Summerslam 2017 Women's Championship Matches

First of all, August 31st will be my last day blogging.

Onto Summerslam. There seems to be an overall theme with this PPV. So many of the feuds heading into this Sunday just feel underdeveloped. Considering this is one of the WWE's big four PPVs of the year and their biggest of the summer, the mediocrity is a little surprising. Both of the women's title matches are in this category.

Let me start with Raw's title match. It was obviously supposed to be Bayley getting this push. I would not have gone to her, but that is what the WWE chose to do. The WWE obviously had some time to work a story between Bayley and Alexa Bliss. They could continue the same story from the last time they feuded a few months ago, even though it was a pretty bad story. Problem is, Bayley got injured. The WWE was now in a tough situation. It was obvious Sasha Banks was the woman to push. She even won the title opportunity this week. Problem is, no time is left to develop a proper story between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss. All you have is a basic title feud. This is exactly what you had when these two feuded for the title before Bayley got put back into the picture. It is very dull.

I am surprised the WWE doesn't go with the obvious story. Have Sasha Banks call Alexa Bliss out for hurting the women's revolution. Alexa Bliss represents the diva era. Sasha Banks is all about the women's revolution. I see a ton of fans on the Internet blaming Alexa Bliss for the quality of the women's division taking a dive recently. I am not denying Alexa has her fans, but she has her critics, as well. The WWE is not ignorant to the Internet and social media these days. They have to know that a lot of fans dislike how Alexa Bliss is pushed. They know all about Twitter wanting Emma to get a chance. But the WWE seems scared to run with the obvious storyline, so they go with this story-less feud between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss. I guess they do not want Alexa Bliss to look weak, even though it would be up to her to prove she really can hang with Sasha Banks. Some fans were impressed with their last match. I don't think the WWE really has an excuse for not doing better between Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks.

Who wins? Once again, Sasha Banks was obviously not even supposed to be in the story right now. The WWE could have Alexa Bliss retain here and eventually drop the title to Bayley or Sasha Banks, after the feud between Sasha and Alexa actually becomes more heated. I would pick Sasha. The sooner the title goes to a face, the more likely Emma finally gets a title feud. Whether she wins it or not is not the issue. The WWE should just go with it for the sake of freshness, to give Emma a chance, and to shut up a whole bunch of people on this issue. Right now, though, Alexa Bliss should retain.

What about Bayley? Should she just get pushed again as soon as she returns? Fans have soured on her in recent weeks. I would say part of the problem is that they made her look terrible in her feud against Alexa Bliss, then decided to just push her again after she was wrecked. You can't treat someone terribly and expect the fans not to sour on them. The WWE humiliated Mickie James terribly a number of years ago. They probably would have loved it if her overness did suffer. It would have made Michelle McCool look like a stronger heel and made Mickie easier to toss aside. But Mickie James was genuinely over with the overall audience back then in a way Bayley is not right now. Even though the WWE did not intend to ruin Bayley, because there really was no good reason to, that is what they did. I do not think the answer is to turn her heel. Give her a secondary storyline. Build her back up slow. Do not toss her back against Alexa Bliss and certainly do not toss her back into a feud that makes her look like garbage. Doing this kind of thing with Roman Reigns a few years ago actually did him some good. When he stopped getting his monster push, his hate lessened a little. If the WWE gives Bayley an angle that actually presents her as fun and entertaining, that might warm up her overness again.

Onto Smackdown. Raw actually has an excuse for their women's title feud being mediocre. Smackdown does not. It will be Natalya vs. Naomi. Natalya is not the woman I would have went with. I have said this before. At a big PPV like Summerslam, the WWE should have just created a better feud. Even though it would have created a face vs. face situation, I would have gone with Charlotte, or even Becky Lynch. Becky was the first Smackdown Women's Champion, who has not done anything too important in months. Charlotte was the first Raw Women's Champion, who has not done anything too important in months. But both these women could have made for more high-profile feuds than Natalya getting the title shot.

Even though I would not have gone with Natalya, I really expected the WWE to do better with her these last few weeks to develop some kind of good feud between her and Naomi. They have not. Part of the problem is that the WWE has to feature Carmella and the briefcase. Carmella defeated Naomi last week. The week before that, Naomi defeated Carmella in a tag match. More focus needs to be put on Natalya. Smackdown is tonight, but I am not expecting anything too grand to make up for the mediocrity. I really expected better from Smackdown. They have taken workers that were not pushed well and made them look like bigger deals at times since last year. There are some exceptions to this, like Jack Swagger, but I would have expected better with Natalya for the sake of this feud. Ignoring Carmella and the briefcase, this is just a mediocre title feud between Natalya and Naomi.

Who wins? I am all for Natalya getting a push and even winning the title. Now is just not the right time. Natalya is still somewhat young. She is 35. I can see her lasting another few years, and she should be getting a "thank you" run at least down the line. Right now, it should be about women that are fresher and have more credibility. This is Summerslam. This feud was not worthy of this event when it started and they have not developed it to be worthy of this event since then. Naomi should not lose the title to Natalya.

Bigger question, should Carmella cash in and win? Yes, I think she should. Naomi has held the title for a couple months now. This is even her second reign this year. There are no good heels for her to feud with. Becky Lynch and Charlotte are the one that should be getting the title feuds. But if the WWE doesn't want to do face vs. face, a heel needs to get the title as soon as possible. Natalya is not that heel. Carmella is just the fresher option. Just have the submission specialist work over Naomi's leg, or whatever body part. Naomi manages to pull out the victory. Carmella sees Naomi hurt and cashes in to win it.

Overall, these are just two title matches that have had mediocre build. They are nothing more than basic title feuds. Again, ignore the briefcase for the Smackdown women's feud. Just looking at Natalya vs. Naomi and Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss, the feuds are not interesting. There are times when the WWE shouldn't get too fancy with title feuds. Just let it be a title feud. I would say that was the case for Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Gallows & Anderson from earlier in the year. The WWE tried to get too fancy with referee nonsense and it just was not needed. Just let these guys fight. That is their strengths. But I would say the WWE needed to do more with these two women's title feuds. This is Summerslam. These aren't kickoff-worthy matches. The feud between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss just felt like it had potential to be more than it is. Natalya needed better focus than she has gotten to make this feud seem like a bigger deal. The WWE is treating Summerslam almost like a Wrestlemania this year, but a lot of these feuds do not look worthy. And I'll be bringing this theme up again in the next few days.

How The WWE Chose To Handle Bayley's Injury

When I talked about Bayley's injury last week, one of the points I made was that the depth in Raw's women's division was still good. They had various women they could start utilizing in Bayley's absence. When I said that, however, I did not mean the WWE should just take all these women and dump them into matches on Raw.

Last night, they had two triple threat matches to decide the new #1 contender for Alexa Bliss at Summerslam. The winners of those two matches would face each other next week to decide who gets the title shot. It will be Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax.

Why do I dislike the WWE doing this? I do like the idea of tournaments and things like that. But there are various reasons why doing this kind of thing now is not good. First, it leaves the WWE with no time to build a proper feud between Alexa Bliss and the winner of next week's match, likely Sasha Banks. Summerslam is on August 20th. Next week is the last Raw before the PPV.

Go back to the last Raw PPV. Sasha Banks ended up getting the title shot against Alexa Bliss. But the WWE got there in a very poor way. They did not develop Sasha Banks well at all. When she finally did get the title shot, there was only one week left before PPV and the WWE really could not do too much to make the feud interesting. It was just a basic title feud. But there is one reason why I would not complain too much about that back then. I figured this feud would continue past Great Balls Of Fire. It didn't. They went back to Bayley. And now with Bayley injured, Sasha Banks is the logical choice to push, but the WWE is once again limiting the amount of time they will have to work with to make this title feud more interesting.

The second reason I dislike how the WWE handled things is that it really does nothing for the extra women that were involved in these matches. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax was just the likely match even before this week. They should have just gotten it over with and spent Raw next week properly developing Sasha vs. Alexa. And there was no swerve in the results of the triple threats last night. No surprise winner of either match. No Paige return. Nothing interesting. All those extra women were really just fluff.

If you are one of those fans that want to see Emma or Mickie James doing something more than they have been doing, you cannot settle for just seeing them on Raw used like they were. That's nothing. That's not a push. That's not being used in a creative way. Last night isn't going to help them or the other extras, Alicia Fox and Dana Brooke.

The WWE needs more creative depth in Raw's women's division. They need one other storyline besides Alexa Bliss and whatever she is doing. They have teased little things here and there, but they need to stop playing around and just develop some feud or storyline already. Creatively, the title feud is not that creative at all, and there is nothing else going on to talk about. It's just chasing after a title. Very dull. The WWE has to do more than that.

Bayley Injured

During Bayley's match with Nia Jax on Raw, it looked like Bayley had suffered a legitimate shoulder injury. It has now been confirmed by the WWE that Bayley is injured. Assuming Bayley is out for a long period of time, how does this impact things?

The first thing you have to talk about is the #1 contendership. Bayley was supposed to face Alexa Bliss at Summerslam for Raw's Women's Championship. Thankfully, the depth is good. The WWE can just go back to pushing Sasha Banks. I would say Sasha Banks never should have lost the push in the first place. Of course, they can't just hand the title shot to Sasha Banks. They can have her win some match to earn the title shot. She can beat Nia Jax.

Overall, how does the loss of Bayley impact the depth of the Raw women's division? Hopefully, Bayley recovers well and is back soon. Until then, however, there is no shortage of faces. Mickie James and Dana Brooke have just been floating there for weeks now. Dana Brooke is not good in the ring, but the WWE can lean on Mickie James to team with Sasha Banks in tag matches for the next few weeks, or use her as a jobber. I have seen fans completely forget Mickie James is even there. Hopefully, if anything good comes out of something as bad as Bayley getting injured, Mickie James gets more usage.

The other issue to consider is Nia Jax. This is not the first time she has been involved in a match with some scary botches. Just a couple months ago, Charlotte's final match on Raw was against Nia Jax. It wasn't pretty. All the botches cannot be put on Nia Jax. Some botches are the fault of the person executing the move. Some are the fault of the person taking the move. And some are the fault of both individuals. I decided not to make a big deal of Nia Jax back then, since I did not feel she deserved all the blame back then. I still feel you cannot put all the blame on her for what happened this week, but she definitely has to take some of the blame. Moreover, this might be becoming a theme with her. Clumsy botches are one thing. Botches that result in serious injuries are something else.

Nia Jax is not a great worker. She is not that great in the ring. She does not have an appealing look. She does not show any great charisma. The fact that she's not like most girls does not mean anything. There are a lot of women out there that do not have the stereotypical look that manage to be stars. Adele does not have the stereotypical look. But she has a powerful voice and makes music that has helped her become a success. Thing is, you have to be good at what you are doing. Nia Jax is not.

How should the WWE handle Nia Jax going forward? Some say she should go back to NXT. I would not do that. But it is time to hold her accountable. If she cannot clean up her matches and start being smarter, fire her. I know botches will happen now and then, but if another serious botch happens that causes an injury, and it is obvious Nia is at fault, she should just not be getting any TV time, while other women that are better than her in the ring, like Emma, don't get opportunities. A worker like this should not be on the payroll.

Natalya Gets The Title Shot

Of all the women that had a chance to challenge Naomi at Summerslam for the Smackdown Women's Championship, I believed Natalya was just the least deserving. She wasn't fresh. She didn't have an angle going for herself. She wasn't built up to deserve it. There was no interesting storyline that you could get from her winning. Naomi vs. Natalya was just not a big match for the WWE's biggest PPV of the summer. There just was not one good reason for Natalya to win.

And to the surprise of no one, Natalya ends up winning. Smackdown has a tendency to do this kind of thing with their women. From last year, Becky Lynch didn't really have any momentum or creative interest on her prior to becoming Smackdown's Women's Champion. She won it. Some believed there was no way Alexa Bliss would beat Becky Lynch for the title. She did. Naomi just returned from an injury and steamrolled Alexa Bliss for the title. She returned from another injury and got the title handed back to her. The WWE didn't even wait to see if she could stay healthy. They just do not build things properly in their women's division.

Obviously, I would not have had Natalya win it. This is nothing personal against Natalya. I just believe, if you are going to do it, do it right. Build her up to deserve it. Do it at a time when there aren't other women that are fresher or have some angle going for them that might make for a better story with Naomi.

I would say the problem is Smackdown trying to give too many women something to do. Of the in-ring performers, Naomi is Women's Champion, Natalya is the challenger, Carmella has the briefcase and her angle with James Ellsworth, Tamina and Lana have their angle together, and Becky Lynch and Charlotte beat them in a tag match this week. Everyone has something going. But does that mean they have something great going anywhere? I don't feel it. You need supporting players and that is hard to do when everyone is tied up in some angle already.

Of course, another variation of Smackdown's issue with giving everyone something to do is these multi-women matches. Let me go back to that six-woman tag they had on a PPV a few months ago. They made this heel stable, The Welcoming Committee. They even had that stable beat the faces. And what really became of that? Nothing. Carmella has obviously broken out. Now Natalya is getting a solo push. Tamina has a separate angle with Lana, who wasn't even in the group back then. What was even the point? Creating that stable just looks like flavored filler now. The story didn't go anywhere. The WWE will obviously have the commentators mention it and website writers talk about it, but in terms of building a great storyline, this was nothing. There are some women on Smackdown that have not won a PPV match in months, namely Becky Lynch and Charlotte. And that is because they have been caught on the wrong side of these multi-women matches. The Welcoming Committee storyline should have led to a moment where the faces eventually conquered a strong heel stable, if the WWE was interested in doing this right. If they had done it right, maybe Natalya might have even looked more deserving of her current push. Money in the Bank also got in the way. I would say telling a proper story matters more than screaming history to get fans to tune in. The WWE has really been fumbling around on Smackdown and not utilizing these women right.

Bayley Gets Another Shot At Alexa Bliss

Summerslam is starting to take shape. Challengers for the women's titles are already set. Over on Raw, Bayley defeated Sasha Banks to get another shot at Alexa Bliss.

I do not like it. Going back a few months, I would agree that Bayley was not treated right in her feud against Alexa Bliss. Losing the title is one thing, but the WWE made Bayley look bad. But they had to move on. And they did. To Sasha Banks. Even getting to her was not done smoothly and there was no time to develop a proper feud between her and Alexa Bliss. But sticking to Bayley, she wasn't even relevant for a number of weeks. All of a sudden, she is the one getting the title shot again. This is sloppy.

I would have stuck to Sasha Banks getting the title shot. She didn't exactly lose decisively to Alexa Bliss at their last PPV encounter. Sasha getting another shot just made sense. Some people were even expecting a triple threat when Bayley vs. Sasha Banks was made. That match would end indecisively and both would go on to face Alexa Bliss. Even that would have been okay. This kind of feud development of moving away from Sasha Banks before her feud with Alexa Bliss has proper closure and moving back to Bayley after the story has stopped being about her for so long is just not good. If Sasha Banks was injured and they had to go back to Bayley, then I would agree with what they did. But if there is no special situation right now, this is just bad development.

What people are expecting now is that this turns into a heel turn for Sasha Banks. Remember when Sasha was supposed to turn heel months ago? It didn't happen then. If it happens now, I don't think the ends would have justified the means. Heel Sasha Banks would obviously feud with face Bayley, but these two have wrestled each other multiple times on the main roster already. Another possibility is Sasha Banks going to Smackdown. Even then, it does not change the fact that the development recently has been terrible.

The WWE needs to stop this dance they have going on with Sasha Banks and Bayley. These two seem to be involved in every Raw Women's Championship feud since around this time last year. Throw in Alexa Bliss dominating the title scene for much of the year, regardless of which brand she is on. And the only other thing you have going on is the occasional insertion of Nia Jax being a monster and beating everyone up, which does not have any long-term value.

There are other women on the roster that can make for some fresh feuds. Smackdown has put the NXT elite on the back burner at times. Neither Becky Lynch nor Charlotte have been pushed very well these last few months. Smackdown could do better in a lot of ways with their women, but at least they aren't overdoing it by forcing one of two women into every title feud like Raw is doing. It is just getting ridiculous.

Emma got squashed by Nia Jax. Some say it is because she complained on Twitter about not being given a chance. She should keep complaining. Either the WWE will give her something to do or they will release her, freeing her to work somewhere else. There are multiple angles she could have gotten these last few weeks to feature her better on Raw. The story with Emma, Mickie James, and Dana Brooke is underdeveloped. That could have been a solid secondary feud. There was that point where Alexa Bliss walked out on Emma and Nia Jax and Emma came out to confront her. Something could have been made of that. Nothing. Is what is going on now a legit storyline they will follow through with? Instead of anything great, there is this sloppy juggling act going on that results in either Sasha Banks or Bayley getting the spotlight in these terribly-developed feuds.

Previewing The Battleground 2017 Women's Match

 

There just comes a point where you get sick of complaining about the same thing. I have frequently criticized Smackdown for having too many multi-woman matches at PPVs. They fail to properly develop good personal feuds a lot of the time, especially for the big PPVs since the brand split came back. Recently, there have been a couple Smackdown PPVs in a row to feature multi-women matches.

I saw a dirtsheet report in the past week mention that the WWE is doing a ton of multi-person matches because it is just convenient for the writers and they believe it gives everyone heat with everyone else, or something along those lines. Did you really need a dirtsheet report to know the writers were being lazy? Even then, I would not say it is that bad. Most of the PPV main events are still singles matches. Even other title matches outside the main event are mostly singles matches. It is a little annoying how they frequently toss everyone together for the sake of finding #1 contenders, but even that isn't done all the time. But this issue with the Smackdown women's division is really annoying.

Battleground will not be anything new. Five women compete to find out who faces Naomi at Summerslam. If there is any silver lining, it is that this match will lead to a singles match at a big PPV. Even then, that does not kill the bad habit. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte vs. Lana vs. Natalya vs. Tamina. I don't think there are any fresh, smooth options here.

Naomi is a face, so it might make you wonder if they would really let Becky Lynch or Charlotte win. Would a face vs. face feud really be interesting? Would they turn someone heel just for the sake of this feud? Even then, you have a heel, Carmella, looming with the briefcase. Neither Becky nor Charlotte would make for a smooth feud.

Would Natalya vs. Naomi be considered a fresh feud? Natalya is not really fresh. She does not have much attention on her, creatively. I just feel like the other women seem to have more going than her.

Normally, I would say Tamina is Tamina. But the WWE has decided to give her a storyline. This is another example of a person that has not earned something getting something. This angle involves Tamina training Lana. If there was not a women's revolution going on and the writing was better, the story to tell would be that Tamina successfully trains Lana to finally beat Naomi for the title. After that, Tamina could want a title shot. Lana refuses. And a feud happens between the two, with Tamina going face. But how likely is it that Lana wins this? And Tamina is not worthy of getting a title shot at Summerslam.

Who wins? I think it comes down to the fact that this is Summerslam, one of the biggest PPVs of the year. Charlotte has not been pushed well since coming to Smackdown, but she has the most title credibility in this match. The WWE would likely give her the push. As for the awkwardness of face vs. face, the WWE will likely have Carmella cash in on Naomi prior to Summerslam, possibly even this Sunday, and the Summerslam match becomes a triple threat. And Smackdown continues its streak of multi-woman matches.

Should Gail Kim Retire With The Title?

It is no secret that Gail Kim will retire from TNA/GFW this year. And they are having her set her sights on leaving on top. Specifically, will she be able to retire with the company's women's title?

Does Gail Kim deserve it? Some might say that Gail Kim has already had a storybook career in TNA. She was their first KO Champion. She has won the title numerous times. She held that title and the tag titles at the same time. She is the closest thing the company has had to a true centerpiece these last few years. She was the first woman in their Hall of Fame. They have done a lot for her. In return, she helped to develop the respectability that helped the KO division stand out for a number of years and gain a lot of praise from wrestling fans.

Trish Stratus retired in the WWE as Women's Champion. She was not the first Women's Champion. She was not the first centerpiece of the diva era. But if you think Trish deserved that honor of retiring on top, you can argue that Gail Kim also deserves it. Just like Trish Stratus was pushed as the greatest diva of that era, Gail Kim is just as legendary in terms of the KO division.

A couple years ago, Mickie James returned to TNA for one more match. Not only did she win that match, it was a nice moment for her. The way things are going for Mickie James in the WWE, it would not be surprising to see her back in TNA/GFW again. Ignoring that, Gail Kim is obviously a bigger deal in the company's history than Mickie James. If TNA let Mickie James have that moment, they can very well let Gail Kim have a moment to go out as a winner.

Overall, I think they should let Gail Kim retire with the title. There is no woman in the company more deserving. It is a respectful thing to do. If Gail Kim doesn't want to go out with the title, that's up to her. But TNA should want to honor Gail Kim now that she is retiring.

Will GFW continue to push a proper women's division without Gail Kim? They have done it before. I think they have enough women on their roster and free agents out there to supplement things. If they still want to create a centerpiece, which I think they should want to do, they can go with Allie. She knows how to wrestle. She is attractive. She can show personality. And she is going to be 30 in a few months. They can do some good things with her for a number of years.

Last thing to consider, should Gail Kim go back to the WWE? Even for just one match? Even if just in NXT? Some fans want it. I don't think she should. Leave the memories alone. The WWE mistreated her a lot. TNA was the company that was loyal to her. Don't be one of those people that has a huge farewell when they retire, then comes back for more, especially in a rival company. Gail Kim is 40. She was never over in the WWE and she has had some sloppy moments you cannot blame entirely on the WWE. As for coming back just for one match in NXT, what would that accomplish for the WWE? It might be something Triple H does to promote his love for women's wrestling, but there are a ton of women out there that would love to get a chance to shine in the WWE's developmental territory. Asuka has kind of been burying a lot of the division lately. If Gail Kim is going to retire, her final match should just be in TNA, not NXT.

Previewing The Great Balls Of Fire 2017 Women's Match

It will be Sasha Banks getting a title shot against Alexa Bliss. She won an over-hyped gauntlet match on Raw last week. It is not surprising that Sasha Banks is getting this push, but I do not like how we got here.

They could easily have had the gauntlet match two weeks prior to when they actually had it. Why does it matter? Because then they could have time to build a good feud between Sasha and Alexa heading into the PPV this Sunday. More importantly, the other women in the division would then be free to develop their own storylines in the remaining weeks, whether it leads to a match at Great Balls Of Fire or not.

Another reason they should have done this sooner is the fact that things were just a mess prior to Sasha Banks just getting the title shot. The first Raw after Alexa moved on from Bayley, it looked like they were starting some angle involving Mickie James, Dana Brooke, and Nia Jax all having issues with Alexa Bliss. Week after that, Sasha Banks becomes more involved and Emma returns. Alexa Bliss walks away from her heel partners in a match that night, Emma and Nia. You now might start thinking that might be a story they would develop. Week after that, Emma comes out to confront Alexa Bliss, but then ends up shrugging off her issues with her. Bayley, who had been mostly irrelevant during this time, runs out to save the day during a brawl. You have just had multiple angles being developed every week and it seems a lot of it has been killed off when the WWE just gave the title shot to Sasha Banks. Terrible feud development.

I was all for Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss since before Bayley lost her rematch. I anticipated the WWE going in this direction. But with the way the WWE handled things all these weeks, it just doesn't feel like something to become creatively invested in. I already mentioned all the other storylines that were brewing. Creatively, some fans might have started to get excited for Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax vs. Mickie James vs. Dana Brooke at one point, or some other multi-woman match. I am not a fan of too many multi-women matches, but it just feels like that is what the WWE should have done here. That would have somewhat justified the sloppy developments in the Raw women's division all these weeks. All these women have an issue with Alexa Bliss. All these women have to watch their backs with Nia Jax. This situation just calls for a multi-woman match. To just kill that off two weeks prior to the PPV to go with a singles match involving Alexa defending against a woman that has not been properly developed creatively in this picture all these weeks seems terrible. Not only might it be hard for some fans to care about, it is completely unfair to the majority of Raw's women. They lose out on proper creative development.

Alexa Bliss will likely retain here. This is not a one-PPV feud, especially with the rushed job it has had. Sasha Banks will likely win the title at Summerslam.

Lana Gets Another Shot

The Smackdown women's division has just become a saga in recent weeks. And I don't mean that in a good way. They are just stuck in the same situation and keep making a big deal out of it.

I already pointed out how Lana took issue to how her match ended on Smackdown last week against Naomi for the title. Daniel Bryan has granted her another rematch for the title. It will happen tomorrow on Smackdown.

Rematches happen, but this is kind of ridiculous. Should fans really get excited for PPV matches when they get rematches like this? Naomi should have already moved on to someone else. While Lana continues to get title shots, almost all the other women of Smackdown are stuck with just one thing to do. And that is be upset about Carmella and James Ellsworth breaking rules to win the briefcase. That is another saga I will not even get into right now. Those women just need to move on to something new. Less complaining, more entertaining. Less repeating what happened two weeks ago, more freshness.

Should Lana win the title here? If they don't let her have it, what was really the point of all this? To bring Rusev back? I am sure they could have came up with another angle to do that. Prolonging this feud has just not been good. And Naomi has a fancier title belt right now, so that might make you think that she doesn't lose it. I felt like Lana might win the first time. I went with Naomi the second. And I will go back to Lana this time.

Did Smackdown Accomplish Anything This Week?

In terms of drawing, Smackdown obviously did what it needed to do. Ratings aren't out yet, but they hyped big matches for this week's episode. Developing angles and promoting matches and segments will lead to people being interested. But that is not what I am talking about today. The booking last night, did that accomplish anything?

First, Lana got a rematch against Naomi for the Women's Championship. It was a short match. Lana hit her finisher and Naomi just kicked out and went on to win. That doesn't really make Lana look good. A lot of people have been critical of Lana's wrestling ability. I would be one of them to some degree. But there are fans that were hoping for competitive matches in this new era. The WWE definitely could have told a different story in that match.

And is it really over? Lana has had a lot to say on Twitter.

I obviously did NOT get pined! I want a FAIR title match! Clearly the ref & all of @WWE are cheaters & favor @NaomiWWE over me! #SDLive pic.twitter.com/puUUrbWIap

— CJ (Lana) Perry (@LanaWWE) June 28, 2017

Does this lead to Lana complaining next week and getting another rematch? Should it? On one hand, it would be nice to just move on already, especially if the WWE is not planning to give Lana the title right now. On the other hand, it is at least a real possibility that the WWE continues this, especially now that fans on social media have gotten wind of Lana not having both shoulders down.

Second, the briefcase ladder match. No Ellsworth this time. Of course, he still got involved. This time, however, Carmella took the briefcase down herself. Ignoring the Ellsworth ban and it being violated, this is how the match should have ended at the PPV a few weeks ago. Ellsworth tries to cheat. He gets taken out. Carmella gets the briefcase. The whole controversy of a man grabbing the briefcase in a match that is supposed to be about the women does not exist.

Once again, is this really the end of it? There was once again a controversial finish that might lead to another segment featuring the women complaining. And they would have a point. James Ellsworth was banned. He violated the rules. Shouldn't something happen?

This is exactly like what happened last year with Seth Rollins. Rollins was getting way too many title shots. On an episode of Raw, he got a shot against Kevin Owens, with Chris Jericho banned from ringside. Jericho ended up still finding his way to ringside and he interfered. Owens ended up retaining. As much as I hated Seth Rollins getting so many title shots, isn't this a situation they created where he should have gotten a rematch? There was a rule and that rule was broken, resulting in Rollins losing the match. It just seems like bad writing.

It seems like the WWE has once again written themselves into a bad situation. They obviously should not do the ladder match for a third time, but it does seem pretty stupid that they created this rule, the rule was broken, and Carmella ended up benefiting to win the match. The previous situation with Seth Rollins was not handled in the smoothest way, and I expect this situation to not be handled in the smoothest way.

I made a point last week that there would be no reason to redo these two matches if the outcome would be the same. And it seems the outcome was exactly the same. Not only did the same woman win both matches, but both matches ended in a possibly indecisive or controversial fashion that makes you wonder if it is all over yet. That is why I would say the booking of these matches did not accomplish anything. It was just a bunch of hype for no big developments in these storylines. They could have used the situation to give the briefcase to someone new, while Carmella carried her momentum from the whole controversy into a title feud with Naomi, who could have definitively been free from Lana, who is complaining on Twitter about how the match ended.

Moving on to the men, Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley took on The Usos. If the faces won this match, they would have gotten a shot at the tag titles. I was all for this happening. But the WWE had The Usos win. A triple threat feud also involving New Day would have been good. It would have made things more interesting.

It just feels like everything is as it was coming off Money In The Bank. The women's ladder match ended with Carmella winning and controversy involving Ellsworth. That is where we are at right now. The women's title match ended with Naomi retaining and Lana having a complaint she believes warranted a rematch. That is where we are right now. The tag title match ended in a way in which it was obvious New Day was not finished with The Usos yet. And that is where we are right now. Nothing has changed. All Smackdown accomplished last night was maintaining the status quo. It remains to be seen what direction they will go with this, but last night's Smackdown didn't serve to progress anything in a fresh direction.

Maria And Her Husband Come To Smackdown

Even though she is married, I still refer to Maria by her maiden name. She is Maria Kanellis. Just one of my quirks. It seems I am not the only one doing that. The WWE is, as well. They are even taking it a step further.

Maria and her husband, Mike Bennett, made their Smackdown return/debut last week. And it seems to be all about Maria. Her husband is even called Mike Kanellis.

What do I make of this? My first reaction is that it is just dumb. It makes the guy look bad. It makes him look like he will be standing in his wife's shadow. I don't want to sound sexist, but it does seem unfair to Mike Bennett.

There are relationships where both the man and the woman look good. Look at Rusev and Lana when they first debuted. Lana looked like the brains of the duo and Rusev was the muscle. And the dynamic worked. Rusev could go out there and crush, while Lana had her sexy, entertaining character. Later on, however, there was a span where Rusev got much more of the focus and Lana was just there. And that was unfair to Lana.

Maria and Mike obviously do not have that dynamic. Mike isn't the kind of guy that go out there and be the brute, while Maria is his sexy, charismatic manager. They cannot both stand out in their own way like Rusev and Lana could.

But after my first reaction, I gave it more thought. How far can Mike Bennett really go? I have come across some of his past work. He just doesn't look like someone that will be a great star in the WWE. If that is the case, what's wrong with having him ride his wife's coattails? She was in the WWE before and will have an easier time connecting with the fans than him through her sex appeal and character. The WWE might be able to create something entertaining out of this.

People might still moan about this hurting Mike's credibility, but what is wrong with him just being a midcarder? He is definitely not main-event material. If he was, this gimmick would kill him. The midcard is not just a breeding ground for future main-eventers. It is also a place for entertaining gimmicks to get featured. The Godfather is in the WWE Hall of Fame. He was a midcard act. The WWE has a ton of guys to push as main-eventers and upper-midcarders. It is their midcard that needs life. If Mike and Maria can help that with this gimmick, I am fine with that.

One more thing to consider, and this has to do mainly with Maria. A point I have brought up a lot over the last year is the impact Maria had in TNA with their women's division. She got in the way of the respectability of that division, and at a time when the WWE was preaching respecting women's wrestling. It was really just bad timing. TNA didn't really lower their standards. They just ran a storyline that got in the way of their standards. Things have been fine since Maria lost the KO title.

What impact will Maria have in the WWE and this era in the women's division? During her first run in the WWE, Maria had the sex appeal and character to fit right in with the diva era, but was never good enough in the ring to be pushed as centerpiece. Even though this era is supposed to be about women's wrestling, they have already shown signs of leaning towards divas. It could be easy to say Maria will never get in the ring to wrestle, but she might.

Will Maria Kanellis hurt the WWE women's division? Unlike what happened in TNA, this is not likely to be a storyline getting in the way of respectability. The WWE has already lowered their standards and done some crappy things to hurt the respectable atmosphere they had created last year, although I will admit that it was too sour and serious and things needed to be made more fun. But the WWE should keep Maria out of the way of the other women. There are already too many women to be featured as priorities within the women's division. Naomi is holding the title. Lana just debuted not too long ago. Charlotte is likely to get a good push soon. Carmella has some interest on her. Some fans would love to see Becky Lynch get featured better. You cannot push everybody. Maria being added into this mix would not help. Not only would it be adding another woman into a congested scene, it would be adding a woman that is not a good wrestler. As of right now, I would draw the line and say no more adding women to Smackdown for the rest of the year. If they are going to do a trade with Raw, that's one thing. But Maria coming to Smackdown is it. Handle the group of women you have in front of you. The writers already have enough on their plate right here. 

The Sloppiness Of The Raw Women's Division

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Redoing The Money In The Bank 2017 Women's Matches

The last few days have not been very smooth for the Smackdown women's division. Money In The Bank featured two women's matches. Carmella won the briefcase, thanks to a controversial assist to James Ellsworth. Lana failed to beat Naomi for the Women's Championship. This week on Smackdown, the outcomes of these two matches seem to have been voided. Carmella was stripped of the briefcase and there will be another ladder match next week to decide who gets it. Lana gets a rematch for the Women's Championship against Naomi.

First, let me start with the controversy. The controversy isn't really that Ellsworth grabbed the briefcase. He didn't go rogue and do anything he wasn't supposed to do. The controversy is that the WWE had this happen. A moment that should have been about the women ends up being about a man that got in the way. But the WWE is acting like mere interference is the issue. As Carmella mentioned in her promo and Daniel Bryan also brought up, these matches are No DQ and interference has happened before. But that was not what made how this match went down so annoying.

The WWE has done this kind of thing in the past. There is a kayfabe controversy that the WWE tries to push over the legitimate issue. Remember when Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble? He got an assist from The Rock. The fans gave that match a nuclear reaction. They hated it. The WWE tried to sell the controversy as The Rock getting involved. No, the issue was that fans hated how the match was booked, including Roman Reigns getting that big push over Daniel Bryan, besides the growing resentment against Reigns.

Mistakes are going to happen. The women will botch in the ring. The writers will come up with dumb ideas. Vince McMahon will want something done that fans just hate. But you should try to limit these things. As I have mentioned before, the women's revolution has not gotten over as well as it should. The WWE is not helping with some of these dumb things that they do, like having Ellsworth be the most talked about individual coming out of that women's ladder match. Fans have more of a reason to get excited for this guy doing something than the women doing anything. This is not the kind of controversy the WWE should be doing.

I mentioned that promo Carmella did. I went back to look at it. Fans were talking about how great it was. It was decent, but nothing that great. It was the typical self-righteous speech a person gives about being held back and slamming those people that are supposedly ahead of the individual. Smarks eat this stuff up, so I am not surprised they like this. Just talk about working your ass off and scream for respect. You don't even need to try to be entertaining. AJ Lee, Paige, and other women have done similar promos.

How about the decision to redo two PPV matches next week? Well, Smackdown's viewership was terrible last week. It got the second lowest number since the brand split came back. And there was no good reason for it to be so low. It did not go against any major sports competition. No huge political drama that night, even though news shows did well that night. And yet, Smackdown flopped in terms of viewership. I can see why they would try to drum up some controversy to draw for them this week, and then create some big matches for next week.

But does redoing these matches hurt the value of anything? I see a lot of fans complaining about all these rematches. Why bother watching PPVs? Were the matches meaningless? Does this hurt the value of the first-ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match? The second one is coming so soon. I can understand fans being annoyed by the situation. Some rematches are obviously going to happen, but redoing the ladder match, and on free TV, is kind of awkward. The WWE just better hope it draws.

Another thing to consider, what is the point of redoing these two matches if both end in the same way? Carmella wins the briefcase back and Naomi once again retains against Lana. Seems like a whole lot of trouble for nothing. There is a chance at least one match might end differently.

A lot of people are talking like Carmella was screwed. I don't feel that way at all. It isn't like she's lost a push. Focus is still on her. The only reason I was okay with Carmella winning the briefcase in the first place is because the WWE needs to develop a fresh heel that can go in the ring to work with the faces. Natalya is a veteran. Tamina is not that great and not fresh. Lana isn't great in the ring. Smackdown doesn't structure their women's division very well. They seem to try to push too many women and they can't do it. Raw's division is looking even more like a mess these days, but that is a different story. Carmella should just be built as a credible jobber. If attention is now on her for the cheap way she won the briefcase and she is starting to get a reaction and even smarks are feeling bad for her, she is set for a push, with or without the briefcase. I would have no problem with another woman getting the briefcase.

Getting down to it, if another woman is going to get it, it should be either Becky Lynch or Charlotte. Whether you like it or not, Charlotte has gotten the career of a star. Getting the briefcase is something you would expect the WWE to do for her. Personally, I do not think she has proven she deserves to be the centerpiece and some other woman should get a legitimate shot. I would go with Becky Lynch winning the briefcase next week. For all the talk about her being the first woman drafted to Smackdown and being the first Smackdown Women's Champion, her career has been mediocre. She lost a PPV match to Natalya. She had no proper focus heading into the match where she won the title. Her reign was short and mediocre. She won a feud with Mickie James and went nowhere from there. She has not regained the title. She has not won the briefcase. She has not done anything noteworthy. She should be the top female star of Smackdown. Some people can talk like she is, but she is not booked like it at all. Getting the briefcase can be a good start.

What about the other women's match? Lana gets another shot against Naomi. The fact that Lana is not great in the ring might not necessarily stop the WWE from giving her the title. You would think in an era that is supposed to be about women's wrestling, standards would make it unthinkable that Lana would get the title, but she could. And it just feels like Naomi has run out of steam in this title reign. They made her look untouchable when feuding with Alexa Bliss, but she has looked more human since Alexa Bliss left Smackdown and Charlotte came. I will say Naomi retains. If Carmella fails to get the briefcase back, she can get a title shot against Naomi.

Will the woman that wins the briefcase cash in that same night? Probably not. The ladder match will likely be the main event, not the women's title match.