Looks like we aren’t the only ones noticing Maria has slowly been fading off SmackDown. According to sources, Maria’s stock has dropped with management, hence her lack of use over the past couple of months.
While most of the Divas on the brand are seeing an upsurge in ringtime, Maria has noticeably been disregarded or relegated to the odd backstage segment. The feeling is that Maria hasn’t shown enough improvement in the ring given her tenure and putting her in the ring could compromise the quality of matches, which is why WWE has opted to use less tenured Divas such as Alicia Fox, since the Draft two months ago.
Though we were only namechecked Alicia Fox, I think the same theory applies to the likes of Layla and Eve Torres in particular. I think it’s funny that Maria was an active performer and they decided to give Eve – an inactive performer – a storyline. I’ll admit I’m not the biggest Maria fan, so I guess I take a little pleasure in hearing that WWE is finally on my wavelength.
As I said last Friday in the SmackDown Redux, I was toying with the idea of doing a blog about Maria and her next career move. I think I’ll include the gist of it here: One can’t deny though, that Maria is one of the most popular Divas in WWE right now. But the truth is, she’s a horrible performer and I think the women’s division has passed her by. I think the company needs to find other uses for her, I wouldn’t out-and-out release her because she is popular, but maybe have her replace Eve as the backstage interviewer or perhaps as Teddy Long’s assistant.
Another thing to point out is that Maria can be seen as co-host on the new Macho Man DVD released by WWE. I guess that could be in line with the new direction for her; maybe move her away from in-ring stuff and move her into a broadcast role.
