20 Ways WWE Killed CM Punk And AJ Lee's Passion For Wrestling
15. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late
The night after Wrestlemania 30, Paige debuted out of nowhere and defeated AJ Lee for the WWE Divas Championship. While on the surface this appears wonderful, deep down it's an incredibly flawed concept. For 20 years, WWE has largely presented women's wrestling as a thing that buxom women kinda-sorta do well enough to cut up the monotony of men's grappling contests. AJ broke that mold, and was oftentimes cast against buxom women in a heel role because, lets face it, for WWE's purposes boobs = ratings and money. The idea of introducing yet another anti-diva as a cold character with minimal build, and then have her engage in actual technical wrestling contests may have been fun for AJ, but it was bad for business. It was a disconnect for WWE fans to have to believe why this mattered and why it was happening, thus making the entire concept problematic and ultimately dead in the water. For AJ, this had to be the most bittersweet of moments in her WWE career.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
