Apologies to Scott Fishman, who wrote the blog on "The Layfield Report". I have corrected my mistake in the original draft of this article.
It looks like WWE Creative is going with the old heel turn/crazy pants routine for Paige as she faces off against Diva Champion AJ Lee this Sunday at Battleground. It's a little disappointing, because they probably could have entered some fresh territory with a genuine friendly rivalry type of storyline. Instead they are retreading worn ground by positioning Paige as a jealous contender on the verge of a heel turn. After a weird tag team match on Smackdown, which sowed the seeds of dissention between the two, Lee and Paige are headed for the dreaded "frienemy" storyline. At least now Lee, who is CM Punk's wife, is clearly putting to bed rumors that she is pregnant, and can concentrate on defending her belt against Paige on Sunday.
The face/heel paradigm is obviously a fundamental part of the storytelling toolbox in wrestling, but sometimes two wrestlers are both so talented and so over with the fans that they don't need to hate each other in order to put together a great match.
It's especially fresh to put female wrestlers in the position of letting their ring work tell a story instead of contriving pointless narratives that only perpetuate stereotypes (which, granted, seems to be the whole point of the Divas division). Lee and Paige are two amazing wrestlers, who would also work well as a tag team, except that now they have to hate each other and turn the title scene into just another cat fight (via Bleacher Report):
"On top of all that, the women's matches are given too little time to develop, and they're generally treated like afterthoughts. As bad as WWE announcing has been lately, it's at its worst during the women's matches, with Michael Cole, John Layfield, and Jerry Lawler all sounding bored out of their skulls to the point they sound like they're gonna fall asleep. They don't even try to hide it."
At least someone at WWE is paying attention. Scott Fishman wrote in his blog this week about the make or break nature of this match. If only he could take JBL's place and express that on television (via The Layfield Report):
"They both also have something to prove at Battleground to themselves, as well as each other and the WWE Universe. For Paige, it's that she can hang with AJ in a traditional fight and maybe show her first title win wasn't a fluke. Lee is looking to prove her victory didn't necessarily happen because she caught Paige off-guard, but because she is the better women's wrestler on that night."
Watch Paige defending the NXT Women's Title here:
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