The Rock Vs. John Cena: Twice In A Lifetime?

The main event for Elimination Chamber will have to be The Rock defending the WWE Championship against CM Punk. That is not how I exactly framed the title for this blog entry. The winner of this match will defend the WWE Championship against John Cena at Wrestlemania.

When The Rock and Cena went at it last year, that was sold as a match that you would see only once in your lifetime. After Cena lost and they sold this whole idea about 2012 being the worst year in Cena's life, the popular belief would be that Cena could turn it around by winning the title from The Rock at Wrestlemania. From the time The Rock announced he would go after the title, a lot of people were anticipating the rematch. However, Cena's promo after winning the Royal Rumble actually made the possibility of facing CM Punk at Wrestlemania a possibility. Cena has beaten Punk before, but he failed to beat him to regain the title. And there is definitely a great rivalry between those two. By having Cena give that promo and choose to challenge for the WWE Championship rather quickly, CM Punk does not get buried away under an obvious rematch between The Rock and Cena.

Should this big match happen again? Given the fact that they have given CM Punk vs. Cena some credibility, I would rather not see The Rock vs. Cena II. It's not because it would be obvious to go that route. I just think you should leave the first encounter alone. Never before, never again? Let's keep it that way. Besides, if they do go that path for the WWE title match, Cena would obviously be regaining it. Wouldn't that mean The Rock has a right to a rematch? Then what? Three times in a lifetime? It loses more of the hype.

Of course, there is another option. CM Punk wins back the title somehow. Punk vs. Cena at Wrestlemania, but what about The Rock's rematch? Waste it on a Raw before Wrestlemania? That might bring some ratings, but how about a triple threat at Wrestlemania? CM Punk has the title, The Rock has a rematch coming, and Cena has a title shot through winning the Royal Rumble. That would not be the same as Rock vs. Cena II. Cena made it sound like both CM Punk and The Rock were guys he could not overcome, so why not put them both in the match for Cena to overcome? Seems very possible.

Smackdown's Elimination Chamber 2013 Matches

Smackdown actually has two big matches at the Elimination Chamber PPV. One is the Elimination Chamber match to decide who will challenge for the World title at Wrestlemania. The other is the World title match between Alberto Del Rio and Big Show. You also have the wildcard of Dolph Ziggler and his briefcase.

The Elimination Chamber match will feature Randy Orton, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Kane, Daniel Bryan, and Chris Jericho. Kane and Daniel Bryan have their own issues, so it is not likely either of them will win. With the current gimmick Jack Swagger is running with, a feud with Del Rio would make sense. That does not mean it needs to be for the title. Mark Henry already has a ton of momentum, but would they give him a title shot at Wrestlemania? Randy Orton has not had a big title match in a while. It would be good to see him get that again. In the end, Chris Jericho seems like the best choice to win this. I'll get to why later.

Big Show gets another rematch against Del Rio. When this feud was first getting started, I was hoping it would not drag on. Although they have extended it, they have done it well. A lot of good segments involved in this feud. But it is going to have to end. Who should win the title? Really no point in handing it back to Big Show now, although having him feud with Randy Orton over the title heading into Wrestlemania could be interesting. Let Del Rio retain here. He probably won't hold it much longer.

Ziggler has that briefcase. Why not finally cash in after the match between Alberto Del Rio and Big Show? Big Show gets mad about not winning the title, lays out Del Rio, and Ziggler enters for the win. Combine that with Jericho winning the title shot like I said earlier. That feud between Ziggler and Jericho started last year. It would be fitting to take it to Wrestlemania as a title match. Look at it this way, just as much as the WWE can sell Cena having a bad year last year, they can also sell Jericho having a bad year last year. That was part of the issue between Jericho and Ziggler when the feud started. Had Jericho lost his touch? Just like things can turn around for Cena at Wrestlemania, the WWE can push that same story with Jericho. To me, that would be the best option. Too predictable? Maybe, but what better way to handle this situation? Ziggler finally cashes in, the feud between him and Jericho gets taken to another level, and you have a Wrestlemania-worthy World title match.

The Shield Vs. Cena & The Gang

At Elimination Chamber, The Shield will face John Cena, Sheamus, and Ryback. Ryback has been feuding with this group for months. Sheamus entered the picture a few weeks ago. Cena turned his full attention to the group after he was attacked by them after the Royal Rumble PPV. Will The Shield once again be victorious?

Before I look at the actual match, let me talk about the storyline development for this stable. It was already revealed that they were being paid to help CM Punk. That kind of kills this gimmick about fighting injustice. And yet, the WWE is still having the group push that idea. In terms of that gimmick, the group is looking pretty weak right now. They should just have them properly align with Heyman and Punk. There hasn't been any interactions between The Shield and Heyman and Punk since the reveal. Why not? They might as well go for it.

Storyline momentum is not the only thing that has been lost. The Shield has gotten beaten by Cena and his troops for the second week in a row now. There is still Smackdown for The Shield to regain momentum before the PPV, but they are really making the group look bad.

Who should win? I am not a fan of any of the three guys in the stable, but I wouldn't mind them winning this one. Would it really kill Cena's momentum that much? He is getting a title shot at Wrestlemania no matter what happens at Elimination Chamber. Cena always has to look like the hero, and he is teaming with some other strong faces, so a face victory would not be surprising. It would be a little refreshing if this did not end up like the Nexus angle. Have The Shield head into Wrestlemania with two big PPV wins under their belts. It could be a big Wrestlemania moment for Ryback to finally get his revenge against the group at the big event. The Shield can provide a great story heading into Wrestlemania, if they have momentum.

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.

Rhodes Scholars Breaks Up

Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes were two midcard heels who teamed up last year to steal the spotlight from the lower-midcard teams that had started the hype for the tag-team division revival. Blame the WWE for that, not the workers. And now, as you had to expect would eventually happen, the team is broken up.

Too soon? It seems like all they did was have a bunch of title shots and then break up. Cody's injury prolonged things. And now that the feud for the tag titles is over, they don't have a reason to team up together anymore, so they are going their separate ways. Seems reasonable, but I still feel they could have done more together. A true team remains together even outside those title feuds. That's how you make the tag division interesting. They were building these two up as a real team for a while. They had some kind of common gimmick and even a team name. Definitely could have done more.

How will they do as singles competitors again? It is going to be easier for them to get lost in the shuffle. They might get some random wins here and there, but also expect them to be used to put over stars above them. And this midcard you have now is not good with creating good midcard feuds and storylines. I would say that one of these guys should enter some kind of feud with Kofi Kingston, but I have no faith that it would be handled well. Since both midcard titles are held by heels, Rhodes and Sandow won't be entering a 1-on-1 feud for either title. You could just imagine the WWE eventually lumping together Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Kofi Kingston, and Bo Dallas in a feud for the Intercontinental Championship. Something like that will be a convenient way to get all these guys featured properly.

What happens to the tag division? The top heel contenders are now broken up. You have The Shield. It would seem Brodus Clay and Tensai are teaming up for a face comedy team, but how much can you really expect from that? That staleness is definitely returning to the tag division. Even Kane and Daniel Bryan seem to be feuding more with themselves again than getting a tag feud developed. Will the WWE fake another revival after Wrestlemania?

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.

Where Is Kofi?

Where has Kofi Kingston been since losing the Intercontinental Championship to Wade Barrett? I had a feeling he would get lost in the shuffle. He is currently not involved in any title feuds. While we're at it, he's currently not involved in really anything. He is being used to put over others. He did get his moment at the Royal Rumble.

At the time I last talked about Kofi, I was expecting Elimination Chamber to feature a multi-man match for the WWE Championship, or at least #1 contendership for that title. Neither of those are options now. If it still was, I figured Kofi would be involved in that. He usually is. The multi-man match for Raw looks like it will involve The Shield, John Cena, Ryback, and Sheamus. Kofi doesn't fit in there.

Wrestlemania might be even tougher to find a spot for Kofi. No Money in the Bank there. Can they make up some large tag match? Maybe something involving whatever is left of The Shield after Cena has his way with them? Kofi can get involved in that. If not, he'll probably get involved in some pre-show battle royal. I don't see the road to Wrestlemania featuring Kofi prominently.

What should the WWE try to do with Kofi now? Honestly, I think they have a good reason to not be pushing Kofi Kingston well right now. It's tough this time of year. Moreover, the WWE has a right to also feature some of these other guys. Kofi Kingston is a good worker and is over, but he is not at the level of a Chris Jericho or CM Punk. You could try forcing him into a feud with Cesaro for the U.S. title, but it is not really necessary. You would just be trying too hard. Kofi has worth outside of these title feuds. Hopefully, they start using him better after Wrestlemania. Right now, no tears needed for Kofi. He's not being punished. 

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.

The Shield And Brad Maddox Reveal

It was finally revealed on Raw where The Shield and Brad Maddox fit into this whole drama involving CM Punk. Paul Heyman was indeed the mastermind. Vince McMahon had video evidence to prove that they were all working together to save CM Punk's title reign the numerous times they did. It wasn't for the weak reasons that The Shield and Maddox were trying to sell, which just about everyone figured. As you would guess, I have some complaining to do.

First, I am going to say what I like about what happened. There are two things I like. I'll get to the second one at the end. First, I was feeling for a long time that the WWE was under-utilizing Paul Heyman's character. I actually like how the story ended up. While Paul Heyman seemed to be not doing too much in front of the camera, he was actually scheming and up to no good behind the scenes. Clever. That actually paid off well. The ends justify the means.

Now, time to complain. The WWE went with the obvious direction with The Shield angle. Why were they attacking people? Because they were helping Paul Heyman and CM Punk. No swerve. That was kind of flat. I'm just glad they didn't try to drag this on any further. It was not a believable gimmick.

What's next for The Shield? That's something else to complain about. Cena now finds himself as one of the three guys feuding with the three-man heel stable. This wouldn't be the first time a threat is developed, fed to John Cena, and then dropped back to mediocrity. I wasn't liking this group, but going the obvious pattern by having them feud with John Cena doesn't make it better.

What about Brad Maddox? He got beaten up by The Shield. That's another guy I wasn't really caring too much about. At least The Shield can still serve some kind of purpose and then move on to possibly having good singles or tag-team careers after this storyline ends. I don't feel Maddox really has a place. He definitely served a purpose in the storyline, but what do you do with him now? I can imagine him going the route of Alex Riley.

After Vince revealed all this, he was prepared to fire Paul Heyman. What happens? The return of Brock Lesnar. That's the other thing I liked about all this. Brock laid out Vince. That should lead to Triple H returning for a rematch. This could actually lead to a better stable. A while back, I thought about whether The Shield should add members. No, I don't think Brock should join that stable. I think they should all combine with CM Punk and Heyman. The Heyman Guys? Call it whatever you want. I don't think now is the time where The Shield has to go rogue against Heyman. CM Punk does not need to go on his own now too, either. Let them all stay together for a while. What about Maddox? I don't think he's too necessary. You can have a strong, main-event stable at a good time of the year to have one. That is the best option, in my eyes anyway.   

Would Lita Have Succeeded Today?

Earlier in the month, I speculated on whether Mickie James would have still been able to shine in this current dark age of the WWE diva division. Staying with this theme of successful divas of the past being able to succeed in this type of environment, how about Lita? Lita debuted as a periphery diva during the first dark age, which occurred between Sable leaving and Trish starting to be pushed as the centerpiece of the division. She succeeded in that environment and the WWE continued to run with her as a periphery diva when things got golden. Would the same thing happen today?

First off, this isn't about considering whether Lita would be treated well if the WWE brought her back for one more angle. Lita is already a WWE legend. She will be in the Hall of Fame one day. If she was brought back for another storyline or feud, she would be featured well. This is about whether or not Lita would have made it if she was just starting her WWE career around this time.

You go back over a decade to Lita's debut. If people in the WWE were to say that they didn't really expect Lita to connect well with the fans when she started out, I would probably believe them. She wasn't being pushed as hard as AJ Lee was to get her connected to the fans. Lita was connecting with the fans through using her high-flying moves to get involved in matches against the guys. The WWE, however, were the ones who put her in that position to do these things and gave her the green light to do it. And they made the decision to be consistent with her and move her up the ladder after that debut with Essa Rios. Where did she start? In the periphery. Where were they consistent with her? In the periphery. I bring that up to point out that Lita is not an example of a credible jobber becoming very over, then moving up to being a periphery diva. Lita climbed that ladder of success as a periphery diva. She started at the bottom of that type of career and worked up, if you want to look at it that way.

Essa Rios was part of the light heavyweight division. Lita then transitioned to teaming with the Matt & Jeff Hardy, who were one of the top teams of the tag division. Those two divisions were strong back then. Lita went from being paired with a guy in the light heavyweight division that was being pushed well to teaming with a tag team that was being pushed even better. And Lita was allowed to continue her high-flying ways with Team Extreme. She was also allowed to continue to mix it up with the men.

Lita definitely benefited from the company being more open to male-female violence back then. Not only did you see Lita hitting moves on men, and occasionally beating them, but she took some beatings. Austin and Triple H destroying her in the main event of Raw seems to be remembered just as much as Lita beating Trish Stratus for the title in the main event of Raw. And how many finishers from men had she taken throughout her career? Fans respect seeing that. Being willing to do it is only part of the deal. The WWE has to allow you to do it. And they did.

What kind of company do you have today? I don't even need to consider too much about the diva division. Lita was a female-wrestler periphery diva. The diva division today is still not about letting female wrestlers be the centerpiece and only one female-wrestler credible jobber has ever become very successful, and her story has not gone well. This is about whether Lita would have had a successful periphery career today. So what is different with the company today as compared to 2000?

First, you have no light heavyweight division and your tag division is nowhere near what it was back then. These are the divisions where Lita's career really flourished when she started, not even so much the women's division. If Lita were to debut in this era, who would she be paired with? A midcarder? Midcarders aren't being treated too well.

Second, it is extremely rare for the WWE to have male-female violence today. Having Big Show run over AJ Lee last year was probably the first big step in the development of AJ Lee as a periphery diva, but not much bumps from the guys for AJ since then. And even less for the other divas. As I said before, it was Lita hitting these high-flying moves against the men and trading blows that really helped her to connect with the fans. If you take that away and still try to find someone to pair Lita up with today, she would most likely end up like Rosa or Natalya.

Speaking of AJ Lee, the WWE already has a periphery diva in her that they are investing a lot in. If Lita was showing interest in making it in the WWE today, would the WWE even waste time considering grooming another female wrestler in the periphery? It is true that Chyna was already there when Lita debuted, but Chyna benefited from a hotter company than you had today and from the green light to mix it up with the men, much like Lita. The company is not as hot today. They have to rely on The Rock, a star from that time, to bring them results. They have the headache of trying to figure out what to do with their guys to make stars like The Rock and Brock Lesnar. AJ Lee is the most well-pushed diva you currently have. I don't think the WWE would even bother trying to develop another female wrestler as well as her right now. Their top priority is probably finding the centerpiece that will save their diva division.

Would Lita even get to debut in this diva division? The WWE seems content with using eye-candy divas to serve the purposes female-wrestler credible jobbers once served. Just a few weeks ago, they released Buggy Nova. She was a female wrestler who had a unique look. Lita was a female wrestler who did not look like the typical diva. That could be an indicator of whether Lita would even have gotten called up in this current division.

Would Lita have succeeded in this current diva division? The conditions that helped her show what she can do back then are not here today. You have no light heavyweight division, the tag division is mediocre, male-female violence is not really there anymore, and the company is simply not as hot as it was back then. The WWE already has a top star they are developing in the periphery. Their treatment of female wrestlers is getting worse, not better. It is questionable whether or not Lita would debut, let alone be pushed properly. Even though Lita debuted and succeeded in the first dark age of the diva division, this dark age is a different creature. I honestly do not believe she would have made it today. Her best shot might be the WWE deciding Alberto Del Rio needs a valet and Lita debuts right alongside a main-eventer. How likely is that? And it certainly wouldn't look like the career she did end up getting. The career she did end up getting and what she did with it does deserve to be respected. It may be a long time before any female wrestlers get those kind of opportunities again.