Why Is WWE Wasting Time with the John Cena/AJ Lee Angle?

In recent times, WWE’s flagship show has been dominated by the increasingly convoluted John Cena/AJ Lee angle.

Per the storyline, an upset AJ was forced to resign as Raw GM last month after the all-powerful Board of Directors accused of fraternizing with a WWE Superstar—later revealed to be John Cena.  She was swiftly replaced by Vickie Guerrero—who is now known as Raw’s “Managing Supervisor”, whatever that is meant to be.

Despite her removal from power, AJ has vehemently denied the allegations—which Cena has backed up. Both have insisted they are just friends and nothing more. (Although it has been strongly hinted they do have romantic feelings for one another, even if they haven’t acted upon them just yet).   

Not that this has stopped the newly empowered Guerrero, who has since made it her mission in life to expose the supposedly scandalous affair, aided in her quest by Dolph Ziggler.

Oh, Vickie has it all—in the past few weeks she has revealed paparazzi-style hidden pictures, grainy hotel room footage, illicit voice mails…etc., all offered to the WWE Universe as undisputed “proof” of the secret affair.

It’s unknown what WWE is attempting to accomplish here. Maybe it’s just to keep Cena busy while they try and come up with ideas for him. Or they are once again trying to turn AJ, still recovering from her dire run as GM, into a big star? It may even be an attempt to court female viewers, who are often drawn to wrestling angles with soap-opera elements. 

While there was initially some intrigue to the “are they having a relationship?” storyline, this has since been lost as the storyline descends into a silly and badly acted melodrama that is fast polluting WWE’s flagship show. Dynasty, it is not.  

For one thing, it does not make terribly much sense. Vickie is so determined prove this relationship, she’s now neglecting Raw as she attempts to put the pieces together. Assistant SmackDown GM Teddy Long has actually stepped in and served in the authority role in recent times.

Considering how desperate she was to get back into power—and the knowledge she must have that the Board of Directors, who have been quick to replace other GMs, are surely watching her every move—this is nonsensical.

Why can’t Vickie just be happy she’s back in charge and leave it at that? It’s not like AJ is even desperate for her GM spot back, she looks happy to be back wrestling, so where exactly is the power struggle?

There’s also the question of why anyone would care even if AJ and Cena are carrying on a relationship. Both have been presented as single in the storyline, so why is this a big deal?

Another thing the storyline has going against it is its similarity to TNA’s Claire Lynch angle from earlier this year. In a newsworthy story, Kurt Angle  publicly slammed WWE on his Twitter for ripping off their competitor recently. Although considering how truly terrible that angle was you’d think people in TNA would be pleased if WWE is now borrowing heavily from it. 

Note to WWE: This angle was dire the first time, a repeat won’t be much better.