WWE: Are Beth Phoenix and the Divas Championship in Danger of Disappearing?

Beth Phoenix was the WWE Divas Champion for several months. This statement bears repeating because, with her low profile on television in recent times, many fans will have forgotten this fact.

Of course, as most will know, Beth lost the title last night on RAW to Nikki Bella following an ankle injury that may or may not have been a work. It was was the end of a boring, lukewarm reign that did neither Phoenix or the Divas Championship any favors whatsoever. 

As champion of the division, Phoenix should have—theoretically—been the leading female star in the company. Alas, the reality could not have been more different. 

After she won the title from frequent foe Kelly Kelly at last year’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, Phoenix was marginalized and mistreated by WWE’s apathetic booking team, making only sporadic appearances on RAW and SmackDown and being relegated to C-show Superstars.

Things briefly looked up for the former Shimmer star when she was placed in a WrestleMania program with Maria Menounos (host of NBC’s showbiz recap show Extra) for a tag match at the show.

Regrettably, despite getting some air time for once, Phoenix managed to come out of this looking even more irrelevant than before—she was pinned, with relative ease, by non-wrestler Menounos. 

Worst still, it was pushed on commentary that the Extra host had suffered two broken ribs while training for her spot on Dancing with the Stars. So not only did Phoenix lost to a non-wrestler, she lost to an injured non-wrestler. Terrific.  

The treatment of Beth—and the Divas Championship—became so mind-bogglingly abysmal that many fans greatly fear for the future of the women’s division.

Of course, the division has already been struggling for years—basically after Trish Stratus and Lita retired and WWE turned to signing models of magazines instead of women’s wrestlers—but lately things have seemed so much worse than usual.  In fact, Lita, at a Q&A session over WrestleMania weekend, openly admitted to thinking that the current state of the division was a “bummer” and in desperate need of a change.  

No wonder Lita was unimpressed. The women, while never a priority, have now become a complete afterthought, with most of them seldom seeing TV or being stuck on the Internet-only show NXT. Only two women have been provided with regular on-screen roles: A.J. and Eve Torres.

But it should be mentioned that both are more known as being managers than for their wrestling skills. Neither are exactly used in a respectable, female-empowered manner either: Eve is a heel diva who is jeered vociferously for her wanton behaviour and A.J. is Daniel Bryan’s mistreated, simpering girlfriend.  

Of course, some could argue this is just a down period, and that sooner or later things will improve and the Divas division will get back to prominence again.

However, since there is very little evidence that indicates WWE mentality towards their women has changed at all, this is far from assured. It also doesn’t help that chief operating officer Triple H (and next in line to run the company after Vince McMahon retires/dies) is reportedly not a fan of women’s wrestling and thinks it takes up time that could be better spent on the men.

With all this in mind, Phoenix and the Divas Champion, even with a new champion, are definitely at risk of sliding into irrelevance.  Indeed, it is scarily easy to see the Divas Championship becoming a defunct title like the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.   But, assuming WWE keep up their shoddy treatment of their women’s roster, it seems sadly inevitable.