As a plucky underdog Diva, Kelly Kelly was a perfectly fine Divas champion. Unfortunately, it was completely unbelievable that the young woman brought into WWE as an exhibitionist could defeat her top challenger at the time, Beth Phoenix, as frequently as she did in both tag team and singles championship bouts. That she also scored wins over Natalya did little to convince fans that her wins were credible. Making matters even worse for the reign of the beautiful blonde bombshell was the fact that her only other competition came in the form of The Bella Twins, who were nowhere near the level of performers they are today. Kelly's run atop the Divas division was one hurt by a lack of challengers and a rivalry that saw the relatively inexperienced performer put over one of her peers that fans respected and valued as a real wrestler. The hardcore fans never bought into her as championship material and it severely hurt her run. By the time Phoenix beat her to take the title in October's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, fans rejoiced, the title back on someone that could be trusted to carry the belt and deliver quality matches at the same time. Much like Chyna, Kelly's reign ranking on this list was very much the result of being put in a position she had no business being in. She worked hard to live up to what the title stood for but at the end of the day, she was not prepared or equipped to be champion.
Erik Beaston is a freelance pro wrestling writer who likes long walks in the park, dandelions and has not quite figured out that this introduction is not for Match.com. He resides in Parts Unknown, where he hosts weekly cookouts with Kane, The Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. Be jealous.
