WWE Elimination Chamber 2012 Results: Why Tamina Should Have Won Divas Title

At WWE's 2012 Elimination Chamber, Tamina Snuka (daughter of wrestling legend Jimmy Snuka) was defeated by Beth Phoenix in her challenge for Phoenix's Divas Championship.

The action-packed, well-executed bout was a notch above most of the botch-filled and short women's matches that occur in WWE these days, even if the (largely lethargic and dead) crowd in Milwaukee were unappreciative of the women's efforts.

To her credit, the feisty diva put up a good fight, even delivering an impressive Snuka Splash at one point, but was ultimately put down for the count by Phoenix's powerful GlamSlam.

The decision to allow Beth to retain her title was, for several reasons, a mistake on the part of the WWE booking team. 

First of all, Phoenix's title reign has been a dreadful flop. "The Glamazon" won the title from Kelly Kelly at last year's Hell in a Cell and then proceed to...well, do nothing really.

Oh, she had some forgettable matches with Eve Torres, Alicia Fox and Kelly on various episodes of Raw and pay-per-views, and formed a terrible heel tandem, "Pin-up Strong," with Natalya Neidhart, which never came close to living up to expectations. But Phoenix has largely been an afterthought on WWE television in recent months, often missing from Raw entirely and relegated to the B-show Superstars (which about eight people watch).

While some of the blame undoubtedly goes to the booking team, Phoenix should shoulder some of the responsibility too. Maybe the shoddy and indifferent booking got to her, but she has been a shell of herself, seemingly going through the motions and lacking the drive that previously made her the best women's wrestler in the promotion.  

That is why it was time for a change. The Divas Championship has become badly tainted by its association with Phoenix and a title change was desperately needed if the floundering division could hope to be remotely relevant again.

And the talented Tamina was the perfect candidate for a new champion.

With her good looks, wrestling skills—having been around the business her entire life, she is a far superior worker to most of the other girls in the company—and unique charisma, she could have helped revive a stale, boring women's division. And, certainly, having the title would have helped the oft-overlooked Tamina become more relevant in the eyes of the fans. 

Summarily, WWE chose to stick with Beth Phoenix, ignoring all the evidence that indicated "The Glamazon" is a giant flop as Divas Champion. This was a mistake, but considering the multitude of mistakes WWE have made with their women's division in the past few months, fans should not be terribly surprised.