My one problem with AJ

[Sephiroth]

Don't get me wrong, I love the the girl-everything about her, from her quirky interviews to those deliciously short shorts. But at this stage her title reign is feeling a little gratuitous. Like any title holder, it gets a little boring if she does not have a plausible opponent, and WWE has built the division so thoroughly around her at this stage that it is difficult to envision any of the divas actually posing a threat to her. But I blame booking more than I blame her for that. There are only three ways I can see this play out; they have to take one of their current divas and totally rebuild her from the ground up (not my preferred scenario), they need to bring back a major diva from the recent past (Lita, Trish, Mickie) or they need to bring in someone new (Angelina Love, Kharma?). I hope I am not alone in this feeling.

[Ben Wyatt]

They need to invest in a divas program that ISNT centered around the reality show. They need an actual coherant storyline. The problem is, as you said, they havent put much effort into building up a credible challenger or 2

[Sephiroth]

D'oh, forgot the other option: start calling up some of the girls from NXT. Only problem with that is that they would probably have to release some of the other divas to make room for them.

[Sparkybob]

Nov 20, 2013 7:57:13 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

D'oh, forgot the other option: start calling up some of the girls from NXT. Only problem with that is that they would probably have to release some of the other divas to make room for them.

No you really don't. Divas that don't get booked like Fox/Rosa aren't stopping the WWE from calling up anybody. Unless the WWE has some weird limit on how many girls they allow on the roster at one time.

[Chip]

Nov 20, 2013 7:57:13 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

Only problem with that is that they would probably have to release some of the other divas to make room for them.

I don't see how that is a problem.

The thing with the Divas division is that it doesn't really work on normal wrestling logic. AJ could lose the belt on Monday via rollup after Survivor Series and it wouldn't be an abnormally for the Divas division. The idea that they'd need to build up a credible contender doesn't apply.

[Sephiroth]

Nov 20, 2013 8:01:31 GMT -5 Sparkybob said:

Nov 20, 2013 7:57:13 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

D'oh, forgot the other option: start calling up some of the girls from NXT. Only problem with that is that they would probably have to release some of the other divas to make room for them.

No you really don't. Divas that don't get booked like Fox/Rosa aren't stopping the WWE from calling up anybody. Unless the WWE has some weird limit on how many girls they allow on the roster at one time.

Actually I think of it more as a money thing. Makes little sense financially to keep some girls around when they are not going to even have room on TV for them.

[Sparkybob]

Nov 20, 2013 8:05:05 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

Nov 20, 2013 8:01:31 GMT -5 Sparkybob said:

No you really don't. Divas that don't get booked like Fox/Rosa aren't stopping the WWE from calling up anybody. Unless the WWE has some weird limit on how many girls they allow on the roster at one time.

Actually I think of it more as a money thing. Makes little sense financially to keep some girls around when they are not going to even have room on TV for them.

It hasn't really stop the WWE before. They keep people employ that they have little interest in using like Hawkins,Yoshi and JTG. Rosa being employ doesn't put a dent in the WWE budget.

[mrbananagrabber]

Right now Paige from NXT is the only diva that could challenge AJ and make anyone care.

[AdamAFL was sooooo wrong]

It is possible to do this. It's difficult to know how the casuals feel about diva's but lets look at how FAN sees them (this is going to be a generalisation, you have been forewarned). The diva's are generally seen as a replaceable commodity, something not worth taking seriously and thus when the division is in the shabby place it is today - i.e. very few credible challengers for AJ - people rarely bother to question it the way they do if the tag team or midcard divisions are in a similar state. However, if you play out a good story with believable characters and credible contenders then it will draw some interest out of the FAN community. Take a look at the AJ/Kaitlyn rivalry from earlier this year, at one point that was the best built feud on TV and people on here were actively praising the storyline and the players involved, both Kaitlyn and AJ were presented well - at least to begin with, the booking towards the end of the feud was questionable. Same for the Gail Kim/Tayrn Terrell matches in TNA earlier this year.

So I guess my point is, using FAN as a focus group, it's easy to see that they can build credible contenders without bringing anyone back/tearing someone down and starting from square one/bringing someone up from NXT. All they have to do is book the diva's properly with coherent stories and with different strengths on a consistent basis. But then again this is WWE so that's unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Seriously if they really wanted to in the few weeks build-up we'll have between Survivor Series and TLC they could easily build Natalya/Kaitlyn/Summer Rae/Anyone they wanted to be a threat against AJ, it wouldn't require that much genius booking. The problem lies in the fact that they won't do this any time in the foreseeable future so we're always gonna have the problem you're pointing out in the OP - no credible challengers for AJ.

[Hit Girl]

WWE's problem is that instead of building the division around AJ, they are focused on the reality show. Even in the musical chairs segment, they centred it on Total Divas vs those who aren't on Total Divas.

[Old Jack Burton]

You know, I'm not just better than all those interchangeable nobodies of Total Divas, I'm better than every woman in this locker room. I'm better than every woman who's ever wrestled for this company. I'm better than Trish Stratus, I'm better than Lita, I'm better than..."

*suddenly*

[bootytea]

They can always have a multi lady match where someone else eats the pin so AJ can go back to being a slut..

[BigWill]

Nov 20, 2013 10:54:36 GMT -5 bootytea said:

They can always have a multi lady match where someone else eats the pin so AJ can go back to being a slut..

Mmm, classy.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

Nov 20, 2013 8:24:23 GMT -5 mrbananagrabber said:

Right now Paige from NXT is the only diva that could challenge AJ and make anyone care.

I presume that this is the planned payoff, but they have no idea how to do it and have probably long forgotten that this is what they ever intended.

[bootytea]

Nov 20, 2013 11:09:08 GMT -5 BigWill said:

Nov 20, 2013 10:54:36 GMT -5 bootytea said:

They can always have a multi lady match where someone else eats the pin so AJ can go back to being a slut..

Mmm, classy.

Excuse me, I meant "experienced dater."

[Harry The Arrow was Wrong!]

Nov 20, 2013 10:46:57 GMT -5 Old Jack Burton said:

You know, I'm not just better than all those interchangeable nobodies of Total Divas, I'm better than every woman in this locker room. I'm better than every women who's ever wrestled for this company. I'm better than Trish Stratus, I'm better than Lita, I'm better than..."

*suddenly*

I've gotten so used to Hardcore Country Mickie that if she does return it'll be weird to hear her WWE theme song again

[Old Jack Burton]

Nov 20, 2013 11:25:02 GMT -5 Harry The Arrow was Wrong! said:

I've gotten so used to Hardcore Country Mickie that if she does return it'll be weird to hear her WWE theme song again

I think they won't use "Hey Mickie" if she returns, or it will be a remix of it. I think she will be much more similar to the country girl, bad-ass wrassler' gimmick she had in TNA instead of happy-bouncy Mickie.

Also, I'm not certain of it, but I think she has the rights to "Hardcore Country" and "Somebody's Gonna Pay", so she could conceivably use it for her WWE theme if management would allow it.