Turning the Paige

On the Monday 21 September episode of Monday Night RAW is WAR, TV's longest running episodic action adventure soap opera (or something), Paige cut a scathing promo. Or, if you prefer, she dropped a pipebomb. Personally I don't prefer, finding the term trite and irritating when applied to anything other than the segment which originated the phrase, CM Punk's show-closing hijacking of RAW on June 27 2011.

Paige cut her promo during the in-ring celebration of new Divas champion Charlotte (let the record show she'd defeated Nikki Bella for the title at Night of Champions the previous evening). After claiming she was the one who'd made the upturn in women's wrestling in the Fed possible, calling the interaction between Charlotte and her pa Ric patronising, and reminding everyone that she'd won the Divas title on her first night on the roster Paige laid into every member of the roster. Alicia Fox was labelled a third wheel. All three members of Team BAD were written off as all flash and no substance¹. Natalya was sarcastically referred to as MIA. Charlotte was called a placeholder champ, Lynch irrelevant, and there was heavy implication that storyline Paige believes the Bellas only got to and keep their spots because of who they're romantically linked to². It was good stuff, believable, relatable and understandable. Charlotte's response was slightly disappointing because she undersold the betrayal she should have been feeling and simply lashed out angrily. But it was at least spiritied.

Paige there, working herself into a shoot.

It's not the specifics that are important here, it's what Paige's words set up. And they set up a lot. There's the obvious Paige versus Charlotte match for the title. It also created issues between Natalya and Paige and Becky Lynch and Paige, the reasons for each being pleasantly different. Natty has been positioned as the old guard whom 'The Anti-Diva' considers irrelevant/past her prime, which Natty will clearly want to prove wrong.

Meanwhile Becky was labelled "the least relevant" woman on the roster by Paige. Since Monday she's taken the initiative (or been ordered to follow up on the verbal assault) and launched a series of pun themed insults at Paige on Twitter. The pun aspect isn't doing anybody any favours but 'The Lasskicker' firing back as opposed to meekly accepting Paige's low blow or waiting until the next TV show to assert herself is absolutely the right thing for everyone involved. It creates an issue between two wrestlers that gives them a reason to have a match that doesn't involve a championship. That's rare in WWE, especially in their women's league.

In a little under a week WWE have set the decidedly non-progressively named Divas up to have an interesting, layered division. Charlotte has a rematch with Nikki to come as well as her fresh issue with Paige to resolve. Paige has matches ready with both Natalya and Becky, which could both be run through before she gets her title shot opposite 'The Nature Girl' (no way Nikki's getting the belt back for a while). Sasha Banks has also been quietly set up for a larger role with TV wins over Paige and the emphasis on her being an established rival of Charlotte from NXT.

Whether the writing team follows through on any of this is something else. History tells us they'll mishandle things and deliver an uninspired sequence of matches revolving around the Divas title. But thanks to Paige's promo and the work that's been put into the division we can dare to get our hopes up that the MSG Network special or the Hell in a Cell PPV could feature Charlotte v Nikki and Paige v Becky, instead of the standard issue lone title match.

***

¹ The only one that could possibly apply to is Naomi, although I think it would be an unfair statement. Tamina has neither flash nor substance while Sasha Banks has both.

² The irony here is that until a few weeks ago that seemed to be a largely unfair statement. Then rumours started doing the rounds about Big Match John pulling strings to extend Nikki's title reign.

Double the Butterfly, Double the Fun

Over the last few years there's been intermittent talk about a Divas tag team division being introduced to WWE. Much of this talk has come from the Bella twins in interviews with various non-WWE organisations, websites and magazines (and, for what it's worth, it tends to be more Nikki than Brie). The recent renovation of the Divas division has, predictably, led to the Bellas making another push for it.

Potential tag team champions.

In principle I think it's a good idea. A singles belt and tag belts would help the division to feel more like a rounded, competitive division rather than a bunch of wrestlers swapping one championship amongst themselves. It would also make sense considering the prominence of tag wrestling in general these days.

The trouble is that it feels far too early for the Divas division to be heading in this direction. Right now the focus should be on establishing that this really is the best Divas line-up we've had in years. That means continuing to highlight Sasha Banks,  Becky Lynch and Charlotte (Flair) as women every bit the equals of their more tenured peers. It also means continuing to give women's matches the time to impress and satisfy, as well as making the singles championship currently carried by Nikki Bella feel like a prize worth winning. The introduction of tag titles would detract from this process and it would throw the focus of the division off kilter.

It would also highlight the lack of depth to the roster. Yes, the additions of the three NXT stars is welcome but it only brings the number of active wrestlers up to nine. Throw in Natalya (who's currently taking time off to help husband Tyson Kidd recover from an injury) and that's enough for five teams, hardly enough for a thriving division despite what large stretches of the last decade of WWE's men's tag division would have you believe.

Stick Charlotte in a singles title feud with Sasha Banks,
have Paige and Becky as a tag team.

The good news is that there are two pairings that are obvious for carrying a Divas tag scene. One is the Bella twins. You really shouldn't need me to explain why but I will: they're sisters and therefore a natural tag team. The other is the pairing of Paige and Becky Lynch. Their shared background on the British indies provides a logical reason for the two to form a regular team (because they feel a kinship). Their real long-time friendship dating back a decade could be referenced to make their journey to the tag team titles seem more special and heart-warming, more of an achievement.

 

A third option worth touching on is the "family" connection between Naomi and Tamina, although Tamina's limited in-ring ability would make them a poor choice to carry the division.

If the Divas' roster can stretch to twelve or so strong (a perfectly achievable goal considering the number of women in NXT) then a Divas tag division would be entirely justifiable. Emma and Dana Brooke are a logical pair of call-ups to make should tag straps be introduced. Alexa Bliss could find someone to team with. The two newcomers who I won't name because they're currently rotating through various handles could be introduced as plucky underdogs. Bayley and Charlotte's friendship from NXT would be the good basis for a call-up and a title chase. The division just needs time to get its singles work right. Post-WrestleMania next year things could, and should, be very different.

Revolutionising the Divas Division

The July 13 RAW saw the main roster debuts of Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch. Hardly breaking news at this point I know, it's taken me a while to get a post together on the call-ups. Not doing a post simply wasn't an option: the significance of the three women being promoted from developmental simultaneously cannot be understated.

Paige and her NXT allies, the unofficially dubbed Powerbuff Girls.

Moving a number of women from NXT's women's division is a sign that WWE management recognise change is needed in the way women are presented by the company. Having them be three of the four best wrestlers (the fourth, to clarify, is Bayley) is a sign that this isn't just a case restocking a depleted division but a drive to improve quality. Had the former been what the company desired they simply could have gone with utilising existing bit part players Alicia Fox, Cameron, Summer Rae and Rosa Mendes. That wrestlers who have been receiving critical praise were chosen to join the division tells us that creating a competitive, layered and compelling division is the goal.

As does, of course, the manner in which the three were promoted. They were introduced by Stephanie McMahon. Having a McMahon hype you up before your first appearance is a big deal, because they're the owners of the company and if they're going out of their way to talk you up it sends the message that you're worth attention¹. Te same goes for interacting with a champion in your first segment. Basically everything about the way the women were introduced was designed to let anyone unfamiliar with them know they're a big deal and reassure people who've enjoyed their work in NXT that they'll get the same kind of opportunities on RAW and SmackDown.

Naomi versus Banks could be great. Just saying...

Since the call-up the company has stuck to its guns on the revamped Divas scene. Charlotte, Banks and Brie Bella wrestled an eleven and a half minute three-way at Battleground. The following evening's RAW saw Charlotte defeat Brie in a nine minute match and Naomi and Banks topple Lynch and Paige in a little under fifteen minutes. The July 23 SmackDown saw a thirteen minute tag match, and the Monday 27 RAW a fourteen minute singles match between Paige and Banks. The newcomers haven't been booked to steamroll their more established counterparts but they have been made to look competitive, an intelligent approach that considers the long-term future of the division.

I'm not claiming the matches have all been classics. They haven't. The only one that can accurately be said to be n above average affair was the Banks versus Paige match, and that was at least partly due to Banks being the reigning NXT women's champion and 'The Anti-Diva's' history in the developmental league (and with that title) making for an interesting background to the meeting. But they have been longer than the average Divas match of the last few years, and they've been wrestled like the people involved have something to prove, presumably because they do.

The decision to form three factions is what I like most about the restructuring of the division. It keeps things simple and gives each Divas match a reason for happening. Going by the numbers there are now twenty-seven singles matches, eighteen tag combos, three six women tags, and the obviously climactic three-way trios collision that can be cycled through. That's easily enough to keep the division feeling fresh and exciting for months. If things are paced properly and the story is told right WWE could do something special with Nikki Bella edging closer and closer to becoming the longest reigning Divas champion ever².

Can Nikki Bella become the longest reigning Divas champion ever?
A strong maybe from me.

Whether Nikki achieves this feat or not, and personally I think she will because she seems liked within the company and the people that run the company are vindictive enough to want to take the chance to take an accolade away from AJ, she'll lose the title at some point. When she does it will be to a member of a rival faction, because these are the women who will form the focal point of the division for the foreseeable future. When that happens it opens up longer term stories of rivalries between people who are currently allies. Charlotte winning the title could set up a friendly series with Paige, for example, while Banks and Naomi seem destined to clash over "leadership" of their BAD stable.

It's taken WWE far too long to get back around to presenting its women wrestlers as athletes who have the same athleticism and competitive drive as their male counterparts but at least they got to it eventually. It was at least worth the wait as the situation they've created by going with three promotions at once has given us the most promising Diva line-up in years and dozens of potential storylines, matches and feuds. If they can meet half of the potential they'll be doing okay.

***

¹ we will at this point overlook the fact that Steph, while great on the mic, is nowhere near the level of her dad, the one and only Vinnie Mac.

² As things stand right now she will surpass AJ Lee's current 295 day record on September 15. That's the Tuesday before Night of Champions. It seems reasonably safe to assume that if Nikki leaves August's SummerSlam with the butterfly belt she'll make it NOC as champ, breaking Lee's record.

WWE Battleground 2015 review

Battleground was, amongst other things, a indication of Randy Orton's standing in WWE in 2015. This is a man who just under two years ago was positioned as the company's top heel and on-screen undisputed top star. Since splitting with his benefactors The Authority last year he's had an underwhelming feud with Seth Rollins and nothing else. After playing a relatively minor part at Money in the Bank this show saw him relegated to a thoroughly mid-card outing against Sheamus, and in his home town no less.

It's peculiar how the standing of someone like Orton can fluctuate so drastically. He's been on the roster for well over a decade now and despite this, and the fact that he's a favourite of the McMahons and is amongst the best wrestlers on the roster (when he's motivated) he frequently finds himself dropping down to programmes such as this, his momentum and focus drained. It's impossible to imagine this happening to John Cena, who is a close parallel to Orton in terms of years served and standing on the backstage pecking order.

But hey, this is a company that finds it a struggle to sustain a push for pretty much everyone. That's why Bad News Barrett defeated R-Truth on the pre-show (in a match that should make it clear why I don't write about pre-shows) despite having won the allegedly star-making King of the Ring tournament in April and Adrian Neville, the man who debuted to much fanfare the night after WrestleMania and who we're supposed to believe has been pegged as a future headliner, was nowhere to be seen on this show. For that matter it's why the Divas division which was given some fresh talent in a high profile and well received segment on RAW just six days earlier wasn't considered important enough to have its match announced in advance for this show.

Orty won his opening match against Shaymo with an RKO (outta nowhere!), an interesting outcome with Sheamus being the Money in the Bank holder but not exactly massively surprising. It was a pretty enjoyable match for the most part but we didn't see anything special. It would probably have been improved by losing a couple of minutes, to be honest.

After a recap of the main roster debuts of Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks we were shown Stephanie McMahon chatting to Jojo backstage. After pandering to the St Louis fans (to make it clear she was a face at this point) she announced that there would be a triple threat later in the night with a representative of each Divas team involved.

Five!

New Day followed that with some chatting of their own, only they did it on their way to the ring for their tag title match. They said they'd been tested for five weeks (prompting a nice call-back to Big E's obsession with the number five that he had in NXT) but they hadn't lost their way. They ended by saying they deserved to win and that they'd defeat the Prime Time Players. It was a great promo, mostly because they're such smug idiots. Big E in particular was great (again).

The more prominent New Day combo of Kofi Kingston and Big E represented the team in the match. It makes sense that they get to wrestle the most because they're the more capable members of the group and it frees Xavier Woods up to ran around the ring being a modern day Bill Alfonso. He came out with such gems as "Worst. Leg drop. Ever" after Titus leg dropped Big E, "What happened to you?" after Darren Young had been launched out of the ring by Big E, and "There it is again: triceps meat!"

The match followed the standard WWE pattern: the heels isolated D-Young and worked him over in the corner. After several minutes Young tagged out to Titus, who smashed his way through Kingston and Big E. The crowd were really into Titus at that point, which just goes to show that if guys are booked to their strengths people will react.

After being distracted by Woods Titus tagged back out. Young immediately hit a crisp overhead belly-to-belly on Kingston, walloped Big E with a rolling elbow, and back dropped Woods on the ring apron. Back in the ring he was caught with a spin kick by Kofi and set up for the Big Ending by Big E. He wriggled out of that, avoided a Trouble in Paradise, and hit the one-time 'Wildcat' with a gutbuster. Titus was then tagged back in to hit the match-winning Clash of the Titus.

It was nice to see the Prime Time Players turn in another strong performance after years of being considers just another team. They've shown they have something to offer the division. It's just a shame they've not had the chance to work with Cesaro and Kiss, Harper and Rowan and the Usos, all three teams being afflicted by injuries. We do have a PTPs versus Lucha Dragons match to look forward to though. That could be interesting.

Backstage Paige talked about how she'd been wanting change for the Divas division for months and she's psyched to have Charlotte and Becky Lynch helping her. Lynch said they should tear the division down and rebuild the entire thing. Charlotte said they'd do with flair. I'd like weak, obvious puns to become her new gimmick.

Match three was Roman Reigns versus Bray Wyatt. One of the most interesting thing about the match was the video package that explained why it was happening. Mostly because it highlighted how weird the rivalry between the two is. Wyatt started off by talking about how it should have been him that won Money in the Bank, which made sense because wrestlers should want to win that as it gives them a world title match with a practically guaranteed victory. That he'd be jealous of Reigns being in the match and cost him the win made sense. What didn't make sense was that the feud quickly degenerated into mid-90's level Undertaker-esque mind games, complete with doppelgangers, promos about loved ones, and the apparent ability to teleport.

I like the Wyatt character and I'm not averse to Reigns as a top guy but none of this has done either man any favours.

Do you care? Do I? Who even knows anymore...

The match was slow and featured little to hold attention. Reigns started off by lumping Wyatt but had the tables turned on him with a punch to the mouth from the outside. From there 'The Eater of Worlds' controlled a brawl around ringside for several minutes, the highlight of which was him screeching with laughter at the Spanish announce team. Reigns would eventually make a comeback after being trapped in a sleeper for what felt like five minutes, battering 'The New Face of Fear' with right hands, clotheslines and other assorted basic power moves.

Reigns went for the Drive-By (the awful name for his running drop kick) but got caught with a clothesline by Wyatt. After giving Reigns a senton on the outside Wyatt rolled Reigns back into the ring and continued to work him over. Reigns would fight back, allowing the two to exchange signature moves and finishers in what was the hottest portion of the match and should have been the finishing sequence. Instead they had Wyatt kick out of a Superman punch, counter a spear with a kick to the face, and floor Reigns with a right hand for a two count before both men took a breather and the match continued.

The actual finish saw a lad in a hoodie jump the barrier and shove Reigns into a ring post as he was throwing chairs into the ring. Wyatt then hit him with Sister Abigail in the ring and pinned him. The hooded lad then joined Wyatt and revealed himself as Luke Harper. While run-in finishes are never ideal I was okay with this one. The Wyatt Family should never have been broken up. Putting them back together is the most sensible thing that could have been done.

After a SummerSlam hype video and a shot of the St Louis Cardinals (a team I care so little about I can't even be bothered to Google what they play) we got a segment of Jojo interviewing Beautiful and Dangerous (geddit? Because it spells BAD!) backstage. Jojo asked if they'd had trouble picking a representative for the triple threat. Naomi went the basic heel route and asked if Jojo was implying BAD were trouble. She then told us the strengths of each member: Tamina's the muscle, Naomi's the razzle and the dazzle (whatever that's supposed to mean), and Sasha's the NXT women's champion, which was presumably Naomi's backhanded way of admitting Banks is the best wrestler of the trio (because she is). Banks basically said she'd show what she was all about in the match. The three then wandered off and went straight into their entrance.

Your brand new Divas division.

Banks and Charlotte represented their teams. Nikki Bella teased that she'd wrestle for Team Bella before telling the crowd "Not tonight" and leaving the ring. It would be Brie that wrestled for the Bellas. In my opinion Alicia Fox would have been the best choice form that team in terms of wrestling ability. I suspect WWE wanted an actual Bella in the match though.

The match was essentially another Charlotte versus Sasha Banks match with Brie interfering every so often. The NXT girls were pleasingly over. The audience reacted strongly to Charlotte's Flair mannerisms and broke into a "Like a boss!" chant when Banks was in control. The match got over ten minutes and held the crowd's attention with solid wrestling work (mostly between Charlotte and Banks), high spots (mostly in the form of dives out of the ring), and by allowing everyone involved (including those at ringside) to get across something of their character. Charlotte won with the figure eight leg lock on Brie after Brie had broken up a Bank Statement on Charlotte.

The penultimate match (not the semi-event slot, as you'll read below) was Kevin Owens versus John Cena for Cena's United States championship. Owens was the heavy favourite with the live crowd, just as he had been in the previous two meetings. Both lads put on a great match, just as they had in their previous two meetings. Highlights included: Owens catching Cena as he attemptd a cross body block and giving him a version of the World's Strongest Slam; Owens rolling out of the way of the Five Knuckle Shuffle setup and luring Cena into position for a Swanton bomb, only to be met with knees; Owens stealing the Five Knuckle Shuffle for himself; Owens reversing the springboard Stunner into a German suplex; Owens' second rope fisherman buster; Cena reversing the pop-up power bomb into a hurricanrana; Owens hitting an AA and applying the STF; and Owens taking a springboard Stunner only to stay on his feet and floor the champ with a lariat.

Even though he's turning out great matches Cena's
still doing sloppy applications of the STF.

The finishing sequence saw Cena hit an Attitude Adjustment from the second rope. Despite it being the third of the match overall and WWE matches very, very rarely seeing someone kick out of a third finisher Owens kicked out. Cena sold absolute disbelief as Cole emphasised he'd not seen him looked so stunned since he lost to The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII. Owens was deadweight as Cena pulled him up but managed to sneak in a small package for a very believable two count. Cena then applied the STF, forcing Owens to tap out.

That Owens lost was disappointing. But he was kept strong in defeat, fighting against the STF and being allowed to kick out of the AA three times. It verges on amazing that Cena has been this good in 2015. It just shows that if he feels he has something to prove against someone he'll work hard to produce a cracking match. That's three match of the year contenders he's had with Owens now, in addition to the various TV matches he's had with Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Dean Ambrose and others. I wouldn't mind Owens v Cena IV at SummerSlam, even though this was framed as the final entry in their series.

Miz wandered out to the ring after that, just as Cole and company were talking about Ryback being pulled from his scheduled title defence due to a staph infection. 'The Awesome One' ran down 'The Big Guy' for getting injured and depriving him of his championship victory. He proclaimed himself the toughest man in the building and urged Big Show to retire, prompting 'The World's Largest Athlete' to waddle out to the ring. Miz tried sweet talking him but got a KO punch for his trouble. The audience enjoyed that. I was just happy that the segment was kept short.

Which just left the WWE world championship match, Seth Rollins defending against Brock Lesnar. Everything immediately before the match, the hype video, the entrances, was excellent, perfectly building anticipation for the big fight. At the bell Lesnar rushed Rollins into a corner and hit him with shoulder tackles. Rollins managed to slip away and left the ring. 'The Pain' followed him and got caught with punches as he rolled back in. He shrugged those off and tried a suplex. Rollins clenched the ropes and got in some well-placed kicks on the challenger. He headed to the top rope and launched himself off, hoping to daze the big man.

Suplex city. Population; Seth Rollins.

It didn't work. He got caught. And then the suplexes began. Rollins absorbed five German suplexes before he rolled outside the ring, grabbed the title belt ad tried to leave through the crowd. Lesnar leapt out of the ring, launched himself over the crowd barrier and through Rollins back into the ring.

Rollins took another German suplex and some elbow strikes before reversing a suplex and wobbling Lesnar with a super kick and some strikes of his won, all aimed at the hamstring. Lesnar was taken down to his knees and took four super kicks as he staggered back up. The champ tried for a Pedigree but Lesnar turned it into an F5 attempt.

Rollins escaped that and kneed 'The Beast' out of the ring, following him out with a suicide dive. He returned to the ring to go for a second but Lesnar slipped in after him and met him with a belly-to-belly suplex off the ropes, Rollins' seventh suplex overall. Lesnar hit five more German suplexes on Rollins. Rollins responded by slapping Lesnar. Lesnar smirked and gave Rollins (unsurprisingly) another German suplex.

After that Lesnar scooped Rollins up and blasted him with an F5. The count went as far as two before the lights cut out and a gong sounded.

Yes, he first ever singles match between Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins was interrupted by the return of the fifty-year-old Undertaker.

To his credit Lesnar sold the appearance like The Undertaker was the scariest sight he'd ever seen. That was the best approach to take but considering his standing within the company there was no guarantee he'd do it. He had, after all, beaten 'The Dead Man' with relative ease in their last encounter a year and a half earlier and been on a tear ever since. If anyone on the roster could justifiably stare down 'Taker and treat him like a washed up has-been it was Lesnar. Not doing so retained the air of credibility that's needed for whatever Undertaer does next.

Still over after all these years.

Based on what we see next that seems like a rematch with Lesnar at SummerSlam. 'Taker went for a choke slam. Lesnar escaped and went for an F5. Undertaker escaped that, kicked Lesnar low, and gave him both a choke slam and a Tombstone piledriver. He went to leave but returned to hit a second Tombstone when Lesnar dragged himself up to his feet. The response was wild, but a few boos stood out amongst the pro-Undertaker cheers and chants.

The show went off the air with Undertaker marching backstage and Heyman tending to Brock Lesnar in the ring. The fate of Seth Rollins was left unknown.

As a show Battleground was pretty good, on the whole. The main event was great and although it went to a non-finish it did so for the right reasons and provided something that satisfied in place of a hot match. Owens v Cena III was every bit as good as their previous two encounters, the Divas were finally presented as a serious division again on pay-per-view, and the tag titles were attached to another enjoyable match. There were less  good additions like Orton v Sheamus and Wyatt v Reigns but they were never actively bad. It stopped short of being a top notch show but it was a highly enjoyable couple of hours.

***

Results summary:

Randy Orton defeated Sheamus
The Prime Time Players defeated New Day to retain the tag team championship
Bray Wyatt defeated Roman Reigns
Charlotte defeated Brie Bella and Sasha Banks
John Cena defeated Kevin Owens to retain the United States championship
Brock Lesnar v Seth Rollins went to a non-finish when The Undertaker returned and attacked Lesnar

That RAW Recap 13.07.15

In my opinion the July 2015 edition of Monday Night RAW deserves to go down as one of the best episodes of recent times. As usual it featured both good things and bad but unlike usual the good things outweighed the bad and, more importantly, when things were good they were really good. And things were never better than when Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins faced off and when the Divas division finally got the shot in the arm it's needed for what seems like years.

Lesnar and Rollins was great because everyone involved knew exactly what was expected of them and made sure they were on top form. The pair were given the standard  issue WWE trope of a contract signing to play with but got to do something different with it. Rollins played the cocky heel who claimed to have a plan to take down his more dominant foe. Lesnar played the super-cool face not at all rattled by Rollins' bravado. Both were excellent, as were their respective seconds Kane and Paul Heyman.

I still love Lesnar even though they're going OTT with this Suplex City stuff.

What made the exchange truly great was the brawl (because there's always a brawl). Rollins tried to sneakily palm a weapon he'd stashed under the desk. Heyman noticed and called him on it. 'The Future' denied the accusation, playing up the affront for all it was worth. Lesnar's response was to flip the table over and pull out the stick¹ Rollins had hidden there. He then calmly placed it on the table and sat back down, gesturing for Rollins to make his move.

Rollins showed caution but did make his move, beaming with pride after he'd grabbed his stick back. He began taunting 'The Beast' but didn't get far before Lesnar sprang to his feet and lobbed the table in Rollins' face. A German suplex followed before Kane got involved, briefly helping Rollins to give Lesnar a kicking. Naturally this didn't last: Lesnar would shrug off Kane's efforts and F5 him outside the ring before smashing his ankle with the ring steps.

Once Lesnar had left Rollins would return to the ring and cut a promo on him, promising to "slay" him (because he's a beast, y'see) at Battleground. He then turned his attention to Kane, telling him he was nothing and stomping on his injured ankle.

Rollins left this segment looking like an opportunistic coward who people should be desperate to see receive his comeuppance. Lesnar left looking like an unstoppable juggernaut. Which is exactly what he should be. Along the way we were reminded that Lesnar is not just freakily strong but impossible to intimidate and smart, all excellent qualities in a take-no-prisoners type babyface. Basically it's stuff like this that reminds you just how great Lesnar is.

As good as the Lesnar-Rollins stuff was it's the stuff with the Divas².

Let's start with (an attempt at) a succinct summary with what happened. Divas champion Nikki Bella strolled out with her sister Brie and Bella groupie Alicia Fox. The usual routine of Nikki talking about being a strong champion only to be interrupted then played out. Paige being one of the people interrupting was not a surprise. Stephanie McMahon being the other, however, was.

Steph, inexplicably playing babyface³,  talked about Paige wanting to bring about a revolution in the Divas division and made it clear she thought this was commendable (and in fairness she couldn't have done this as a heel). She then introduced NXT stars Becky Lynch and Charlotte as Paige's allies. Charlotte, being the daughter of Ric Flair, naturally got the louder reaction of the two but not by a huge amount. That this can be said of Lynch shows how far she's come since she was entering to stereotypical Irish music and doing awkward jigs in the ring.

As Paige and her designated pals had a staredown with Team Bella the entrance music extravaganza continued and Naomi, the forgotten woman of the division, sauntered out with Tamina. Naomi said she had unfinished business with both Nikki and Paige before being told, almost patronisingly, by Stephanie that she absolutely deserved to be in the ring. Sasha Banks was then introduced as the new playmate of Naomi and Tamina and joined them in the ring to face off with Team Bella.

Finally, an exciting Divas scene.

Which is where things broke down. Nikki, Brie and Alicia turned around only to find they were also being confronted by Paige, Charlotte and Lynch. A brawl broke out. It was lengthy and a bit sloppy but it drew the audience in and it made it clear that all nine women were equals. It also ended exactly as it needed to, with Lynch trapping Brie in the armbar, Charlotte applying the figure eight leg lock to Alicia, and Banks giving Nikki the Bank Statement. It was the perfect introduction for the three women from NXT, and it was particularly nice to see women's champion Banks paired up with Divas champion Nikki.

What made all of this work is that WWE have spent so long getting around to it. It's would be misleading to say that they've done a slow burn build because they've have an awful main roster women's division for much of the last decade, but they have taken a more deliberate pace over the last few months. Team Bella has been built up as a dominant force ruling over a stagnant division. They've played on the fact that their women's division is weak as well as the common view that Nikki and Brie "don't know how to work" and written in a sensible story about a lone crusader, Paige, trying to instigate change.

With just one fifteen minute segment WWE made their main roster women's division interesting. There are so many directions they could take and matches they could present. I'm excited about the Divas division for the first time in years. And for that alone this episode will always be memorable for me.

***

¹ That it was a stick, albeit a very nice one (by which I mean it was nicely smoothed and had some varnish on it), was the only disappointing thing about this segment. With the current story being that Rollins is becoming increasingly like his on-screen mentor Triple H it would have made far more sense for him to have hidden a sledgehammer under the table.

² Look, I'm aware of how unprogressive it is to refer to women as Divas. I think we all are. But that's the label WWE (by which I mean Vince McMahon) has chosen for its female wrestlers so I'm going to use it. I'm nothing if not accurate when it comes to this sort of meaningless stuff.

³ To be fair Steph rapidly switching between heel and face is not new. She was doing it as long ago as 2003 during her time as GM of SmackDown, where she would happily play both good and bad on the same show. At least these days she tends to have the good grace to leave a few days between her turns.

Naomi Uso's New Look

Naomi's heel turn last month came out of the blue. Which is hardly a surprise as it wasn't something WWE had been planning to do. Naomi's new status within the Divas division was necessitated by the gap left by AJ Lee's sudden retirement and the decision to take Paige off TV for a month so that she could go and make a straight-to-DVD movie with The Miz¹.

Want to be a heel? Put on sunglasses. Instant heat.

It's generally accepted that had AJ stuck around she would have turned on Paige and been the heel challenger to a babyface Nikki Bella at Extreme Rules. I'm not sure this would have worked out well. While AJ had previously flourished as a heel I think fans would have been loath to boo her over Nikki. With Extreme Rules taking place in Chicago (the home of AJ's wrestler-turned-UFC prospect husband CM Punk, for those not in the know) I think Vince and co. would have stuck with the safer option of keeping AJ a face and Nikki a heel for that match. Things could easily have been reworked so that Nikki and Brie were the ones sending Paige packing for a month. AJ could have gone bad on Paige's return, allowing the Bellas to transition gradually into a face role. 

Things have worked out better than they likely would have with AJ around. We had seen every permutation of matches possible involving Nikki, AJ and Paige (and everything involving Brie Bella except a four-way match). A change up in the heel-face alignments could have refreshed things but not drastically. Someone new being moved up the women's ranks is preferable, and that's what AJ's retirement facilitated.

Naomi was the obvious choice from the current batch of main roster talent. Aside from Natalya she's the best wrestler of the bunch. Layla, Summer Rae, Cameron and Alicia Fox aren't in her league while Emma has been stalled by her ham-fisted call-up and around a year of drifting. Rosa and Eva Marie don't even qualify as wrestlers at this point. It's questionable whether they ever did. An argument could be made that the opening up of a high profile spot was the perfect opportunity to move Charlotte from NXT. The timing was good, no question, but I think WWE were right to wait and introduce her in exactly the fashion they desire, whatever that turns out to be. Had they tried to rush her up in the wake of AJ's departure it likely wouldn't have ended well.

Naomi's been impressive in her new role. She's displayed a viciousness and a cockiness that weren't even hinted at with her babyface persona (and despite WWE's black and white approach to booking these are attributes that babyfaces can display, as long as it's done right). The promo material she's been given hasn't been great but she's done what she could with it. She's switched up her look, getting a new hairstyle and new ring  gear. That includes some frankly amazing trainers that change colour during her matches. Basically, she's done everything in her power to make herself stand out and separate her current work from that of her non-entity babyface persona.

Looking forward to that Naomi and Tamina v Bella tag match, playa! Holla!

The recent addition of Tamina as her bodyguard is promising. It gives Naomi access to the classic smaller-wrestler-with-bigger-hired-muscle trope that is hard to get wrong. It also indicates that WWE see her working out in this new role long term. Which is good. Because Naomi is talented but mostly blank slate in terms of character. Which means she can fill any role and continue to improve over time.

Now if we could just get a couple of call-ups from NXT the main roster women could be in a great position.

***

¹ That movies are prioritised over wrestling, the only thing WWE and, more importantly, Vince McMahon have ever made money doing, is a wonderful example of what's wrong with this company.

WWE Extreme Rules 2015 review

The Extreme Rules card didn't do much to fill me with positivity in the weeks leading up to the show. There were some odd stipulation choices and a handful of matches that seemed hastily put together to fill up the minutes. The announcement hours before the show that Daniel Bryan would not be defending his Intercontinental title as advertised didn't help matters, although it did at least see the New Day v Cesaro and Tyson Kidd match bumped up from the pre-show to the pay-per-view proper. All four men deserved that and it was nice to see but it wasn't enough to change my feelings on the show.

The replacement pre-show match pitted (don't call him Adrian) Neville against Bad News Barrett. Nev won with the Red Arrow. The PPV got underway with the Dean Ambrose versus Luke Harper street fight. It struck me as an odd choice for the opener but I can't really say why. Both men are established in their respective roles, with Ambrose being particularly popular, and the stipulation allowed for a crowd-pleasing, arena-touring brawl. Part of the reason for the decision became clear around ten minutes into the fight. After using chairs, ring steps, and kendo sticks on one another the pair brawled up the aisle, through the Gorilla Position and into the backstage area where Harper hijacked a car and drove off with 'The Lunatic Fringe' dangling out of the window. The commentary team feigned incredulity and laboriously conjectured that the match would continue because there were no count outs in a street fight. Meanwhile the crowd chanted for CM Punk.

Backstage Triple H asked Kane to go and find Harper and Ambrose. 'The Game' neglected to say how he expected Kane to accomplish this. Not that that matters: Kane didn't interact with Harper, Ambrose or Tripper again on the show. Rollins showed up and bickered with 'The Big Red Machine'. Trips took Seth's side and said he wanted to be able to rely on Kane as "the gatekeeper". Kane said he'd do what was best for business. Basically Kane was set up as a face. Because what 2015 needs is Kane in a world title feud.

Get your roots done, Ziggler mate.

The "Kiss Me Arse" match went on second. Jojo did a wonderful job of butchering the pronunciation. She'll go far. The match was slow in places, the result of a few too many rest spots, but on the whole it was good. Ziggler and Shaymo work well together, their respective super-selling and slobber-knocking offence meshing nicely. In a surprise result it was 'The Show Off' who got the win with a desperation small package, Sheamus having dominated the match.

Sheamus did an amazing job of selling the loss. His facial expressions were perfect. After a great deal of stalling and teasing that he'd go through with it, during which the audience chanted "Pucker up!", Sheamus got down onto his knees and gave Ziggler a low blow and a Brogue kick. He then rubbed the unconscious Ziggler's face against the cheek of his backside and wandered backstage. He got heat for attacking Ziggles but the crowd cooled off a little for the "kissing". Maybe this isn't the guaranteed heat generator it was a decade ago, guys. Try something a bit less ridiculous.

That wasn't followed by a tedious advert for WWE Network programming, including a Jerry Springer show "too hot for TV", a Mick Foley comedy special, Jericho's nauseating podcast, and the return of the King of the Ring tournament. In what must come as a surprise to absolutely nobody JBL, Cole and 'King' were excited by all of this. Sadly, they stopped short of having Lawler talk about he likes things that are too hot for TV.

I'm a big fan of Natty.

Match number three was for the tag team championships. Heat magnets New Day, represented by Big E and Kofi Kingston, challenged Cesaro and Tyson Kidd, accompanied by a fetishwear-clad Natalya. This was the match of the night. With no silly stories or stipulations to work with the four men in the ring, and Natalya and Xavier Woods outside of it, could concentrate on telling a fun story using the fact that New Day are genuinely disliked. This is what WWE's mid-card should be like all the time. It's depressing that they so rarely get it right.

It was great to see Kofi feeling to play heel after he's apparently wanted to try that out for years, while Big E looked more confident than he has since his time as Ziggler's bodyguard. A highlight of the match saw Cesaro catch Big E in mid-air, drop him with a suplex and then give him a firm double stomp. He followed up with a subtle "Heeeeeey!", a treat for the more hardcore fans in the building. Kidd was as proficient as always, making Big E's big spear off the apron look particularly good.

The finish played into New Day's new found willingness to cheat, getting over their characters and giving people another reason to hate on them. Cesaro and Kidd blasted Kingston with the drop kick-Big Swing combo. Woods leapt onto the apron to distract the referee, saving the match for his team, before being pulled down to the floor and slapped by Natalya. Kidd, Big E and Cesaro eliminated one another from proceedings before Kingston finished things off with a roll up and a handful of tights on Cesaro. This was the right result with the right finish. New Day are a hot act and WWE are right to capitalise on that. Cesaro and Kidd should work nicely as the chasing babyfaces.

C-Z-dubb! C-Z-dubb! C-Z-dubb!

As the new champions cut a promo backstage with Renee Young (they were happy, obvs) a car pulled up and Luke Harper tumbled out. New Day gathered round him as Dean Ambrose leapt off the car. Harper ran off and New Day took Ambrose's elbow. The pair headed back into the arena and filled the ring with chairs. Harper power bombed Ambrose onto one. Ambrose kicked out. Harper buried him in chairs then lumbered to the top rope for a splash but Ambrose scrambled to his feet, threw him onto the pile of chairs (well, sort of) then gave him Dirty Deeds (not on a chair) for the win.

The Russian chain match was up after that. The rules were that the chain was legal (clearly) and that the winner would be the first man to touch all four ring posts in succession. To help with the clarity of the ring post-touching lights were installed, lighting up to signify who'd touched what. Rusev's light was red, naturally. Because he's a communist. Good work, creative team!

The match did not match up to Cena and Rusev's previous two PPV encounters. It wasn't drastically worse though. And I enjoyed it more than the awkwardly split street fight. Around five minutes before the match was won the audience started chanting for Lana. She got up onto the apron and waved. This incensed Rusev, who ordered her backstage. Lana, like Sheamus earlier, did a superb job of making the moment work with her facial expressions. She looked genuinely distraught and suitably chastened.

It's the immoveable object versus the immoveable object.

After the pair had run through the Five Knuckle Shuffle routine and Cena had hit an AA, Rusev locked on the Accolade. Cena broke it by powering to his feet and slamming Rusev into two turnbuckles. This led to a teased Rusev victory as the breaks had counted as corner touches. Moments later there would be a similarly forced tease. Ultimately it was Cena who won: he and Rusev touched three corners apiece and had a standoff. Rusev, that foolish, impulsive communist, dashed for the final corner. Cena, that smart, plucky American, pulled him back to the centre of the ring using the chain and flattened him with an AA, allowing him to touch the turnbuckle and win.

In the back Roman Reigns told Renee Young he could get knocked down but couldn't be kept down. It was one of his better promos, which isn't to say it was especially good. Be'lee dat.

Nikki Bella and Naomi had a sloppy but energetic match for the Divas championship. Despite being faces the Bellas cheated to win: Brie gave Naomi a roundhouse kick, allowing Nikki to hoist her up for a Rack Attack. Perhaps the most notable thing about the match was that newly established face-heel dynamic between Nikki and Naomi was accepted. That bodes well for both women, especially when you consider that they were in Chicago, a notoriously awkward town for less appreciated performers like Nikki.

That was followed by a backstage segment in which Rusev screamed at Lana, presumably for being a daring to acknowledge the audience's chants for her instead of standing at ringside and offering him encouragement. He stormed off and Lana went and knocked on The Authority's door. How do I know it was their door? Because not only did it say so, it had a little coat of arms attached to the wall.

This does not keep Roman strong.

Big Show and Roman Reigns' Last Man Standing match was not the brisk, one-sided affair it should have been. That would have done Reigns a lot of good, establishing him as a focused, efficient ass-kicker who can demolish mere mortals who aren't in his league (and we're meant to see Show as beneath Reigns, despite WWE's weird booking choices). What we got instead was a near twenty minute affair that saw the 29-year-old powerhouse Reigns dominated for lengthy stretches by the 43-year-old slouch Big Show. Despite the use of tables and Reigns spearing Show through the crowd barrier the highlight of the match was Show seeing "Big Show needs to lose weight" written on JBL's notepad and shouting at him about it.

The finish was memorable, if fairly ridiculous. Reigns speared Show through the Spanish  announce table then tipped the English announce table on top of him. He then stood on it to stop 'The Giant' from getting up. Apparently this is supposed to encourage people to buy into Reigns as a credible headliner.

The tease of a Kane face turn continued after that. Randy Orton got in his ear, reminding him that he's a monster and that The Authority are just using him to keep the world title on Rollins. It was a nothing segment. I only mention it because it played into the main event.

Before that main event Bo Dallas walked to the ring and cut a spectacular cheap heat promo on Chicago. Ryback came out to save the city's honour. That was risky considering the comments made about 'The Big Guy' by beloved Chicagoan CM Punk but it worked out okay: the audience chanted "Feed me more!" and popped for Ryback's spinebuster. I really wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason this was booked was to show Punk that Chicago could be enticed into cheering for a guy he doesn't personally rate.

The filler continued with Lana informing Rusev that his feud-ending encounter with Cena would come at Payback in an I Quit match. 'The Super Athlete' was very pleased with this. He said that this stipulation will allow him to demonstrate that the USA is a country of quitters. He didn't specify how it would allow him to do this though. My early thoughts on the match are that it could be pretty good but that it's not really necessary. Cena has beaten Rusev in two of their three matches. The feud is, to all intents and purposes, over and Cena's won it.

The Orton v Rollins cage match was not as good as I'd hoped it would be. With a bit of effort this could have been a memorable match. As it was it didn't even get match of the night honours. The pace was closer to the Orton norm than the Rollins norm, meaning it had a lot of stalling and rest holds. This was particularly disappointing given that they were in a cage (traditionally a more wild environment, jarring with the sleeper-fest) and they're both capable of very athletic showings. Plus they were going for pinfalls, something I'm never a fan of in cage matches. It should be win via escape or nothing.

The match was also bogged down with Kane-related foolishness. He first got involved when Noble and Mercury appeared at ringside and asked to be let into the cage. He told them no so they tried climbing in. Orty disposed of them by throwing Rollins into the cage and knocking them to the floor. Next he glared at Orton when Orton went to leave the cage. Orton glared back and turned around to give Rollins a draping DDT and a Pedigree. The latter was one of the nicer touches of the match, both playing into the stipulation that the RKO was banned and Orton's history with on-screen boss and Rollins endorser Triple H.

Orton went for his punt kick but 'The Future' moved and gave him a Pele kick. Kane opened the door when Rollins asked him to but Orton gave him a backbreaker before he could escape. The door was closed, quite politely considering the circumstances, when Orty tried to walk out moments later. Then Rollins ruined everything by diving into the cage door and knocking Kane over. Because if there's one thing a twenty year wrestling veteran doesn't like it's being knocked over while standing at ringside.

Seth wins lol.

Orton and Rollins fought in the doorway as Kane got back up and smashed the door on their heads. 'The Devil's Favourite Demon' got into the ring and loomed over Rollins. J&J tried stopping him but got double choke slammed. Kane then choke slammed Orton and Rollins and pulled Rollins on top of Orton. 'The Viper' kicked out, which seemed to surprise the crowd. Orton got back up, escaped a Tombstone attempt and dropped Kane with an RKO. Then Rollins gave Orton an RKO and rolled out of the cage to retain his title.

The show ended with JBL, Cole and 'King' bickering about whether the RKO was legal. JBL felt that the move was legal for Rollins while Lawler and Maggle felt it had been banned from the match as a whole. This confusion sums up how I feel up Extreme Rules: how did it end up this bad?

***

Results summary:

Dolph Ziggler defeated Sheamus
New Day defeated Cesaro and Tyson Kidd to win the tag team championship
Dean Ambrose defeated Luke Harper
John Cena defeated Rusev to retain the United States championship
Nikki Bella defeated Naomi to retain the Divas championship
Roman Reigns defeated Big Show
Seth Rollins defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE championship

AJ Lee Retirement... Outta Nowhere!

On Friday 3 April it was announced that AJ Lee had retired, with immediate effect, from in-ring competition.

Pregnant? Irresistable offer from TNA?
Heading to UFC? Find out what's next for AJ
when she hits the shoot video circuit!

Despite the large amount of time she's taken off over the last year and the persistent rumours that she was leaving, or had decided not to re-sign when her contract expires, this news came as a surprise. AJ had only returned to the company in February and had been involved in a storyline opposite Divas champ Nikki Bella. She had, in fact, made Nikki tap out at WrestleMania. That's an indication that WWE believed she'd be around for a while. Had they known, or even suspected, she would be retiring less than a week later it's likely Nikki would have found herself tapping out to Paige's PTO instead.

The initial response from many people has been to label this a huge loss. "#ThankYouAJ" trended on Twitter within minutes of the news being announced and was still trending a day later. It is a loss, no question, but I don't think it's quite the blow people think it is.

For starters it's important to note that, rightly or wrongly, the Divas division is not that important in WWE right now. AJ may be one of the main names attached to it but it's still a very minor part of the overall product. The division isn't presented with any legitimacy so it doesn't really matter if one of the women who has legitimacy leaves. It won't change the way the division is viewed the way, for example, a Lita or Trish Stratus departure would have done in 2002. Then the women's division was well-booked and they were two of its most popular contributors. Now there aren't any fans of WWE's Divas division, just fans of individual Divas.

There's also the question of AJ's ability. She's frequently credited as being one of WWE's best female wrestlers. She's good, but is she really head and shoulders above the rest of the women under contract? On the main roster Paige and Natalya are easily as good as her, if not better. Naomi isn't far behind, and I don't think the Bellas (on a good time with some time behind them) are either.

If you widen things and consider the women in NXT too then AJ's status takes a further hit. In the last year Emma, Bayley, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks have all had better matches than I can ever remember AJ having. They benefit from more time than AJ has ever done for her matches, true, but that only further highlights how little AJ is able to contribute as part o the Divas division. Alexa Bliss is rough around the edges but improving. The only women on televised NXT that can definitely be said to not come close to being as good as AJ are Becky Lynch and Carmella. That's hardly glowing praise.

Less AJ means more Natalya and Naomi. I'm down with that.

This is not to knock AJ. She's very good. It's certainly not to knock the impact she's had on WWE. Since her debut on the third season of original format NXT (the unfortunate Vince McMahon experiment that gave us the Nexus) she has become one of the most important female wrestlers of the last decade. She was a believable character who got to interact with guys at the top of the card, something which may still prove to be a significant point of progression for WWE in the long run. At a time when women in WWE are marginalised and have their work presented as filler material AJ managed to get over and make herself a meaningful character. That was impressive and speaks to her ability. It's something others will benefit from in the future.

But in terms of match quality AJ Lee's retirement is not the monumental loss it's being treated as. This is one of those periodic shifts wrestling companies actually benefit from. An established star leaves and creates a spot for someone else. A new addition was probably going to get called up to the main roster soon anyway, so AJ's departure means we could get two instead. Imagine how much better the Divas division could (important to note I'm saying could, I'm not confident WWE will actually start giving their main roster female performers the time they deserve) be if Sasha Banks got brought up alongside lead candidate Charlotte.

AJ's impact over the last few years has been important. I think we'll see that when we look back in years to come. But at this point, with the Divas still not getting much air time and the entire division feeling overly familiar, AJ's departure is for the best. It allows fresh names to come in and shake things up. There could be no end more fitting to her legacy than the Divas division flourishing in the wake of her retirement. I hope it's allowed to and I hope she enjoys whatever she gets up to next. Let's just hope it's not a move to UFC. I don't think a fight against Ronda Rousey would end well for her.

AJ Lee's Search for (WW)Equality

On Monday 23 February Stephanie McMahon took to Twitter to congratulate Patricia Arquette¹ on striking a blow for women's rights by speaking in favour of equal pay for actresses. It was the sort of thing Steph does from time to time, designed as much to try and capitalise on the latest trending topics on social media as to express any genuine sentiment. It was a non-issue.

Two days later that changed when AJ Lee responded to Steph's tweet with the following message across two tweets:

Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise and have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times, and yet they receive a fraction of the wages and screen time of the majority of the male roster. #UseYourVoice

Steph acknowledged the tweet and thanked AJ for her opinion. The following RAW played host to a Nikki Bella versus Paige Divas championship match which was noticeably different to the average WWE women's offering. Both wrestlers hit harder and used a wider variety of moves than they usually would. After the match AJ Lee returned and united with Paige to clear the ring of the Bellas. Although no mention was made of AJ's tweets to Steph it looked as though the desired effect had been achieved.

Main event draws?

On the one hand AJ has a fair point. Matches featuring WWE's female performers are routinely positioned as toilet breaks before pay-per-view main events, get short TV matches, and are generally presented as inferior to their male counterparts. Companies like Shine and SHIMMER, the once great Knockouts division in TNA, and the way women's wrestling has been and continues to be appreciated in NXT show that a modern audience can appreciate women wrestlers as more than eye candy and filler material. The presentation of women on the main WWE roster is behind the times.

Unfortunately some of Lee's points are questionable. Not knowing the pay scale of WWE's main roster performers it's impossible to comment on whether or not women are paid fairly. What is known is that the majority of the women in NXT are paid more than the average male performers there (that's basically everyone who's not Owens, Zayn, Bálor, Itami or Neville). The reasoning behind this is that it's tough to maintain the "look" the company expects from its female performers on a developmental wage. It's not progressive reasoning but it is still more money.

The merchandise sales are harder to comment on. Most important to note is that (as revealed in an interview given by Nikki Bella) all WWE performers receive the same percentage of merchandise sales. It's also worth noting that there haven't been any reports of fans being unable to purchase the T-shirts of female performers at house show booths, as was the case with Randy Orton's shirts last year. That indicates that WWE are managing to keep up with whatever demand there is. It's also worth noting that no wrestling shows ever see an overwhelming number of T-shirts for female wrestlers in the crowd. Bullet Club's dominance in that field is safe for the time being. Basically, any deficiencies AJ detects in her merchandise cut can be attributed to her not being as popular as she thinks she is.

The biggest question regarding Lee's comments can be levied at her claim that female wrestlers have "starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times." This is true but put into context it's a far lesser deal than Lee would like it to be. First of all there are only two women currently under contract who have been in these segments: Stephanie McMahon and AJ Lee herself. In Stephanie's case she is almost always interacting with male performers. While this doesn't disprove Steph herself is an effective, believable character it doesn't prove she is either. People are just as likely watching because Triple H or John Cena or Seth Rollins are also involved, or because she generally appears in the opening and closing of the show, which are always positioned as the most important parts of WWE television shows.

To find proof of AJ's history in high rated segments you have to go back to 2012. At the time she was one of the most over performers of either gender in the company. She'd gained this popularity through a combination of having a character that was different from the norm and by being involved in a storyline with the supremely over Daniel Bryan and WWE champion CM Punk². It's entirely accurate to say she was involved in the highest rated segments of RAW at this time, but anyone in her spot would have been because they were in segments with Bryan and Punk. The success was only partially attributable to her. I think it's fair to say it was primarily attributable to Punk and Bryan: Punk remained popular until he left WWE while D-Bry remains popular to this day.

AJ herself was over at this time. I'm not claiming that she had no effect on the success of the storylines or segments she was involved with. But I don't think they would have been any less well received without her involvement. At the time I saw it as a forward-thinking move by WWE, getting audiences used to female performers associating with the male main event stars. Looking back I still see it that way, it's just a move they failed to follow through on (hardly a surprise as they fail to follow through on so much).

"Come on, Nikki. Let's practice our staring!"

On the issue of screen time Lee has a point. The main roster is (very) roughly twenty-five per cent female. Based on this it could be argued that a quarter of every show could be dedicated to women's wrestling. In practical terms this simply wouldn't work because of the fourteen women on the main roster only four definitely have characters that the majority of people care about: the Bella twins, Paige and AJ Lee (and even Paige is a shaky claim outside of Britain). Beyond them only Natalya, Summer Rae and Naomi have a semblance of character. These aren't enough names to construct a division around.

WWE's programming is currently structured around the guys who headline pay-per-views. As the success of any pay-per-view not named WrestleMania generally rests on the popularity of the wrestlers in its top one or two matches this is a sound approach. There is an argument to be made in favour of fleshing out the women's division with more interesting characters and giving them more screen time but that's a gradual process that rushing won't help with.

Lee is right in her sentiment. WWE doesn't treat its female performers as fairly as it could. Looking back to the early naughties³ and seeing the way in which Trish Stratus, Lita, Mickie James and Victoria were booked shows us that it can, which only makes the current situation even more frustrating. But her view that the current batch of female wrestlers are proven draws is incorrect. They can be, and should be given the chance to prove it, but they're not there yet.

***

¹ She's an actress. I mention this because I've never heard of her and I'm assuming other people may be in the same position. Maybe she's related to the former WCW champion...

² Kane was also involved.

³ Do we have a better term for this yet? No? Okay, can someone just shoot me, please? Thanks.