Kaitlyn Is Latest in Long Line of Wasted Talent in WWE Divas Division

It's hard to blame Kaitlyn for leaving the WWE behind considering how neglectful the company is of the Divas division.

Forcing women to sit on the bench and wait around for promised opportunities which may or may not ever materialize is a surefire way to have talented wrestlers look for work elsewhere. The WWE Divas division struggles to maintain a high level of talent because of this.

After a year that saw her capture the Divas Championship from Eve Torres on the 20th Anniversary of Raw, have the best Divas feud of the year against AJ Lee and then all but disappear from the view of the camera, Kaitlyn has decided to call it quits.

She told fans via Twitter that the choice to leave was hers:

After just a few years in the business and at just 27, Kaitlyn had her farewell match on the Jan. 8 episode of Main Event. It came against her friend, former tag team partner and greatest rival, AJ. 

Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline.com offered some insight into the situation:

"

Kaitlyn is done with WWE as of today. The word we got from people in WWE was that there were a lot of storylines involving her that she was wanting/expecting that never came to fruition, and that essentially she was just over it.

"

The first half of 2013 saw Kaitlyn battle Eve and become involved in a compelling drama opposite AJ. The second half of the year belonged to the cast of Total Divas: Eva Marie, The Funkadactyls and The Bellas became the focal point of the division.

Aside from AJ, all the other women were forced to stand in the background.

From SummerSlam to TLC, AJ and stars of the reality show were on every pay-per-view. Kaitlyn's only shot during that span was her brief involvement in a hurried elimination tag team match at Survivor Series.

Kaitlyn got lost in constant large-scale tag team matches where she was often afforded just a minute or two to impress. 

As much as Kaitlyn improved her ring work in the last year or so and as often as her nerdy charm endeared herself to fans, it didn't matter. Total Divas became the centerpiece; Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox and Layla El were essentially superfluous.

Not every wrestler, especially one on the female roster, can be the star of the show, but being shoved so far down the totem pole has to be frustrating. Only a small percentage of the Divas division receives any focus at one time, which leaves women like Kaitlyn waiting around to do their thing.

Beth Phoenix reportedly left due to frustrations over how the division is run. Per F4WOnline (via WrestlingInc.com), Phoenix was "just mentally finished with the promotion and the start-and-stop pushes that happen in the Divas division."

In an interview with British paper The Sun (via PWTorch.com), Gail Kim sang a similar tune. She said she was disappointed in how the Divas were treated, adding, "It's so frustrating to be working so hard and know that it's not going anywhere and it doesn't matter."

It got to the point where she eliminated herself from a Battle Royal.

Kim left for TNA, a company that has been a new home for a number of former WWE Divas such as Lisa Marie Vachon (Victoria/Tara) and Mickie James. Maria Kanellis chose Ring of Honor after she left WWE behind. Regarding her WWE run, she told Raj Giri of WrestlingInc.com, "I didn't get as much time in the ring as I would have liked."

She is clearly not alone in that sentiment.

The Divas' inconsistent activity is going to keep the turnstile turning in the division. Once Emma, Sasha Banks and Paige make their way from NXT to WWE, they are destined to experience what Kaitlyn, Phoenix, Kim, Kanellis and others already have.

WWE.com

Underused and underappreciated, WWE's women are bound to eventually explore greener pastures.

If the company kept all those women happy by effectively juggling the female portion of the roster, fans would have seen a Divas division that pits Kim against AJ, Eve against Mickie James, Kaitlyn against Phoenix. Instead, the field has thinned once again. 

Juggling the many wrestlers, both male and female, on its roster is admittedly an extremely difficult one, but WWE can't expect its top women wrestlers to just wait around indefinitely for a taste of the spotlight. 

How long before AJ grows tired in the same way that so many women before her have? How long before we're reading that Natalya thought it best to quit WWE in search of other challenges? 

Kaitlyn was not a priority for the company. She's now off to make her mark somewhere outside the WWE world.

Continued inattention to the Divas division will have a flock of women follow behind her.