Raw 1000 - the night AJ Lee jumped the shark
by , 12-19-2012 at 05:42 AM (9088 Views)
I'm going to say this right off the bat - I've never, and I mean NEVER, been a fan of AJ Lee. I've never understood her appear. Her wrestling skills are overrated, her mic skills are terrible, her character (even before she turned into a "crazy chick") is annoying, and in terms of beauty, I find her to be one of the least attactive Divas to ever grace the WWE roster.
But oh well, apparently I'm in the minority. Fact is, alot of WWE fans do like AJ...or at least they did.
In terms of Divas, 2012 definately was the year of AJ, and she rightfully deserved to win the Slammy for Diva of the Year. But how people viewed AJ at the beginning of the 2012 is not how people are viewing her as we head into 2013. When she was paired with Daniel Bryan, people viewed her as a breakout star that may be the next face of the Divas division. She appealed to young fans, especially girls, and had the popularity been put into competition with Eve or Beth Phoenix, she could've revived the Divas division to pre-2008 standards. Literally, she could've been this generation's Trish Stratus or Lita.
The entire storyline with Daniel Bryan was like an unintentional GOLDMINE. The fans were eating it up, and when CM Punk and Kane got involved in it, AJ's popularity hit it's peak. People bought into the whole "emotionally abused" schtick that left a timid and innocent Diva now mentally unstable. I think in the eyes of many, it was only a matter of time before she got stopped playing mind-games with the men and became a competitor. Momentum was at an all time high, and the cheers and chants were never louder...
And then Raw 1000 happened.
The moment Vince made AJ the General Manager of Raw is the moment the hype started to die down and the momentum began to fade. AJ's reason for being crazy no longer had a point to it. Now she was just crazy for the sake of being crazy. She no longer had a reason to hate Bryan, Punk, or Kane, but decided to make their lives hell anyways. The fans started to scratch their heads, and week by week, the cheers got a softer and softer, until it became apparent AJ as GM wasn't working out.
So then creative introduced the storyline that killed AJ's momentum completely - Vickie Guerrero and "The AJ Scandal". Apparently, AJ had the hots for Cena, and they may or may not have been sleeping together. Did we ever find out? No. But that didn't stop WWE from dragging it out week after week, repeat after repeat, Raw and SmackDown, for months on end. By being associated with John Cena, AJ became the female equivalent. Her positive reactions from the crowd, which had decreased when she was GM, were now mixed reactions. The young fans still cheered her because she was a "good guy", but the older fans turned on her.
And now we've reached the final nail in the coffin - AJ's heel turn. As we learned on Miz TV last night, AJ never deserved our sympathy in the first place, and she isn't crazy. Ziggler says she's passionate, but to translate Miz's PG jokes - she's just an attention seeking slut who will try to sleep with any guy that gives her the time of day. A hoeski who gets nothing but heat.
In the span of a year, WWE destroyed the most popular Diva they've had since the Ruthless Aggression Era. It took six months to build her up, and six months to bring her down. Well done, creative. Pat yourselves on the back. I guess we'd better start looking to Paige or a SDR-trained Diva to revive the Divas division, because it certainly isn't going to be AJ that will do it. The woman has been typecast for the rest of her career as a slutty lunatic, and if she does win the Divas title, it won't be as it's top star.







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