Warning: When I started writing this, I had no idea it would turn out this way. I was simply going to do a recap like always, but then personal feelings and opinions poured out, and there we go. I just want to state that this is just MY opinion and it DOES NOT necessarily reflect the opinions of the rest of the staff here at Diva Dirt. This is all me and has nothing to do with Melanie, Erin, Steven, Bobby, Katelyn, and Jake.
I can sum up Monday’s Raw in one word and that word is without a shadow of a doubt, brilliant! From the opening segment, to the inclusion of Eve Torres, to the way the show ended and left us hanging, Raw hit a homerun this week. This entire storyline has been a grand slam in my humble opinion and AJ has shown that she is most definitely a star. She posted on her Twitter today that she remembered wrestling in high school gyms for ten bucks a night and that having two women main event Raw was, in other words, a dream for her. It was also a dream for the fans. You can argue that AJ and Eve have been given the most to work with this year, and have the two best characters on the roster. To be fair, they are the only two Divas who have a defined character on the roster. The WWE misses the ball more often that not, but tonight they got it right. And I’m so, so happy.
Raw kicked off with AJ coming to the ring, hopefully looking to explain her actions from SmackDown. Instead of a clear cut explanation, what we got is two of the most ridiculous surprises I have ever seen.
I’ll be honest, when AJ dropped to one knee and proposed to CM Punk, I cringed. You know when you have second-hand embarrassment for someone because you know they are absolutely about to make a fool out of themselves? Well yeah, that’s exactly how I felt when AJ decided to go all out. You just knew it wasn’t going to go over well. That whole scene brought me back to high school when I decided to profess my love to this ignoramus at an Alma Bryant/MGM football game. Needless to say I was politely turned down (he just didn’t see my Khaleesi appeal I guess) but it stung, and at the time, it hurt. There was someone he wanted that was prettier and a hell of a lot more popular than me, and thus it wasn’t meant to be. At the time, I didn’t quite understand it, because when you’re in high school you take absolutely everything to heart. I just automatically assumed I would never be good enough for anyone. But some ten years later, with many many, more rejections under my belt, and having broken a few hearts myself, you come to realize that there will always be someone out there who is prettier, skinnier, and more popular than you are. But you also know that you will find that one boy who just doesn’t care and only wants you.
Whoa, what the hell? When in God’s name did this turn into a personal blog about the voices inside my head? Ahem, anyway…
I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this storyline in their own way. CM Punk is that good guy who doesn’t want to lead anyone on. AJ is that vulnerable girl who just wants someone to love her, and to need her, and she goes about it in all the wrong ways. Daniel Bryan is this vicious predator who sees a way to get back to the top and he doesn’t care if he has to use people in order get there. And Eve is the queen of mean, the head cheerleader so to speak. She just sits back and laughs at how incredibly pathetic this whole situation is turning out to be. It’s bloody beautiful and I honestly have never seen a better storyline in all the years I have watched WWE programming.
When the anonymous Raw General Manager decides that there’s going to be a mixed tag match and Daniel Bryan is put on a team with Eve, his reaction is pretty priceless. These three people have worked absolute magic together. It doesn’t matter that we know damn well they’re not connected together in any way off camera. It doesn’t matter that Twitter, Facebook, the Internet, and everything else out there makes sure we have easy access to these people. None of that means a thing. These three people have put everything into this storyline to make it so entertaining, so exciting, and so, so fresh. I’m not even going to lie. I know that I’ll be devastated if it reaches its conclusion come Sunday.
My thoughts are all over the place on Raw tonight, so I really do apologize for the lack of structure in this Redux. It just feels right to finally put my feelings about this thing to paper, so to speak. A lot of people have criticized this storyline, saying how demeaning it is that AJ is being forced to play a ‘stereotypical crazy girl’. They’ve called her an abuse victim, they’ve said it should be Kaitlyn in this storyline helping AJ out; it’s definitely struck a nerve with everyone. I’m not going to call anyone out for not having the same opinion as me. I don’t expect people to agree with me. AJ was absolutely victimized by Daniel Bryan when she was with him. That’s something a lot of women go through in relationships. It just happens. At some point or another, we’ve all fallen for the wrong man or woman. But the thing people fail to realize is that this is entertainment and in the entertainment industry people play a variety of roles. The great Trish Stratus was once forced to bark like a dog for the Vince McMahon. How many times did we see Melina get humiliated by guys pulling down her skirt or other women slapping her across the face? Everyone in the WWE plays some type of stereotype. Sheamus is the stereotype of what many people believe all Irish people are – brutish drunks who love to fight. Alberto Del Rio is an over-the-top Mexican aristocrat who even has his own personal ring announcer. John Cena is Superman because so many little kids love him. Kelly Kelly is a bubbly, happy-go-lucky All-American girl next door. Kharma, thanks to her size, is this larger-than-life monster who will destroy everyone who gets in her way. The great Mr. Perfect was absolutely perfect at everything he did. He could throw a football, run all the way across the field, and catch the football before it touched the ground. It was amazing. AJ, at the moment, is a girl who is reacting badly to a break-up and acting out, trying so desperately to get attention. She’s a character – everyone plays one, whether it’s a positive character or a negative one.
At this point, we have no idea where this storyline is going to go. For all we know, this is some huge grand plan of AJ’s. She has been the single person in this storyline who has always managed to come out on top and looking better than ever, and I find it heartbreaking that people refuse to see the positives in all of this. AJ is a Diva that people care about. She’s a Diva who is getting huge reactions from all the crowds she appears in front of. She’s someone who came from absolutely nothing and made herself just as big as CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. Those people who hate on this storyline seem to forget that what AJ is doing is living her own personal dream. I find her inspiring. There’s not another girl on that roster who could have pulled off this storyline, and that is something I stand firmly by.
Then there is Eve.
Earlier this year, all we could do was talk about Eve. Overnight this woman went from a face to a seductive, vivacious heel. Another Diva who was giving a dream storyline, took the ball, ran like hell with it, and was put down for her efforts because the storyline was considered “slut shaming.” Wrestling fans are NEVER happy. It drives me to the point where I don’t want to watch the programs anymore. All I hear is give the Divas a chance, but when they are given the chance, it is never good enough. It’s making them look bad because they have to be “slutty” or “crazy.” What the hell do people want? They are not going to build a girl up to be the female John Cena, and if they did, all of you would hate on her too. When Beth Phoenix was dominating everyone in great matches and held the championship for months and months, everyone complained that it was nothing short of boring. When Melina was a face, everyone wanted her to go back to being a heel (I am guilty of this). God forbid we even mention Lay-Cool. Michelle McCool couldn’t do anything right and the whole Lay-Cool storyline was oh so awful because they bullied the other Divas.
Are you kidding me?
We all have the right to our opinion. God knows, I express mine and stand by it, fight for it, and shove it down the throats of others, but there has got to be some kind of happy medium. If you don’t like something, then don’t watch it. If you don’t agree with something, don’t support it. But don’t sit there and bitch at other people who are enjoying whatever it is that you seem to find so much contempt for. I don’t condemn Melanie to hell for her crappy taste in wrestlers. A lot of people like Randy Orton, he just isn’t my cup of tea these days. I don’t sit around and fawn over matches that feature the likes of Jennifer Cruz, Mickie James, Gail Kim, LuFisto, Sunny and Courtney Rush because I’m not a fan of them. But I also don’t care if other people get excited for them because that is their prerogative. We all like different things and different people, and we shouldn’t be judged for having different tastes. I certainly don’t judge Bobby for loving everything his jobber army does when they get on television.
Okay, so that last part did sound judgey, but Bobby and I have that type of relationship. He ruined my future relationship with Prince Dawlf back in Miami and was there when my relationship with Sheamus started.
It’s all good fun.
Damn, it feels good to vent.
Moving on with Raw, there was a backstage segment featuring Eve and CM Punk.
What I love, love, LOVE about this is that Eve absolutely nails this with everything she says. CM Punk has seemingly been the forgotten WWE Champion over the last six months or so. After his beautiful Summer of Punk 2011 storyline, he has been placed on the back-burner, it seems. He has been overshadowed by John Cena, The Rock, Triple H, Undertaker, and even Brock Lesnar. Now, at this particular time, he is being overshadowed by AJ. It was so, so amazing to have Eve point that out to him in the sweetest way possible right before their match.
The match itself was pretty fantastic. It wasn’t some big classic, but what do you really expect? It left me really, really wanting a singles match between AJ and Eve.
skip ahead to 1:47
The ending of this was glorious. I knew the minute Eve wanted that tag that DB wasn’t going to have anything to do with it. This man is so disgustingly wonderful as this jackass heel. I want him to win every single title right now. Eve deserved to get screwed over and there is so, so so much they can do with this angle. Eve can get jealous and angry over this spotlight AJ has, and we can have an all-out, Trish/Lita type of rivalry between the two of them. At the end of the day, all personal feelings aside, isn’t that what we all want?
CM Punk, bless his heart, is so good at trying to do the right thing. AJ just isn’t having it. Daniel Bryan’s face when CM Punk got slapped was absolutely priceless. His reaction afterwards was even better. He just looked so sleazy opening his arms to AJ. I’m surprised he didn’t utter the phrase, “Come home to Daddy.” Uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh. But you know, like always, AJ had the last laugh. Daniel Bryan got the taste slapped out of his mouth as well and it was AJ who led the crowd in the infamous “Yes, yes, yes” chant as she made her way out of the ring and onto the stage. Punk looked bewildered. DB had his hand over his heart like AJ had just ripped it right out of his chest. These three people are everything right now in the WWE and not even John Cena competing in his very first Money in the Bank match can compete.
I feel like I probably offended a ton of my readers with this week’s edition of the Redux, but you guys know that I have never been one to hold my feelings back. I don’t ask for you to like it. The majority of you probably won’t. But at the end of the day, I can write what I want in this column because that’s my job. You can write what you guys want in the comments. Fair is fair, right?
Money in the Bank is this Sunday and there is a heck of a lot on the line for Daniel Bryan, AJ, and CM Punk. Someone is leaving with the WWE Championship. AJ is going to have to make a choice. You all know where I stand. Yes, I still want her to turn heel and align with Daniel Bryan. But if her declaring this match a no-contest and leaving with the title herself means it will continue on and piss off even more, then I say do that. SummerSlam is right around the corner and why not have the pay-off of this summer’s hottest storyline take place at the biggest party of the summer?
I’m just sayin’…
Until next time (unless I end up fired)… Cryssi out!
