WWE Survivor Series 2011: Eve Should Have Defeated Beth Phoenix

At Survivor Series, challenger Eve Torres lost clean to Divas Champion Beth Phoenix. Notably, the finish came after Phoenix delivered an absolutely brutal and scary-looking GlamSlam to her opponent from the top for the three count.

While the match was decent and the finish was spectacular, this nonetheless had to be a deeply disappointing setback for Eve. Indeed, this is the second straight pay-per-view loss for the former NBA dancer, and, knowing the fickle WWE writers, it is highly questionable whether she will get another title shot any time soon.

In this instance, Eve would be wholly justified to be frustrated by WWE's booking team: The babyface diva losing at this event was the incorrect decision that will surely have negative repercussions for WWE's already-struggling women's division.

First of all, as noted, it was a her second clean consecutive loss on pay-per-view (she also lost to Phoenix at last month's Vengeance event). Wrestling fans are trained to expect the smaller underdog babyface to eventually overcome the odds and defeat their larger foe. In these instances, the hero has to win. Otherwise the fans will grow disillusioned and lose faith in them entirely. Being beaten clean once could be forgiven; being beaten clean twice just makes Eve look like a loser who continues to falter in the important matches. 

Based on the potential Eve has shown in matches so far (mainly due to her extensive dancing and gymnastics background, the Diva Search winner is a far more smooth and polished performer than the vast majority of the woman in WWE), many had predicted that she could be the division's next top female star—something that has eluded WWE since both Trish Stratus and Lita retired from the business in late 2006.  

Regrettably, WWE's reluctance to commit to fully push her has meant she has followed the same path as Candice Michelle and Christy Hemme before her (both of whom showed huge potential as performers, but were let down by a largely indifferent booking team and eventually released).

Aside from the considerable damage done to Eve's career, leaving the belt on the stagnant Phoenix was also a mistake.

Phoenix, along with "Divas of Doom" partner Natalya, exuded menace and danger as a monster heel, tearing her way through the division throughout her feud with Kelly Kelly over the Divas Title earlier this year. But since being crowned champions at Hell in a Cell, she has seen her momentum falter greatly.

Indeed, the once promising "Divas of Doom" tag team has become stale and, rather than drastically shaking up the women's division and making it relevant again like was hoped, Phoenix's title run has only served to render the women even more of an afterthought. The near-silence that greeted both Phoenix and Eve at Madison Square Garden last night as they came out for their match illuminated this rather depressing fact. The audience didn't care at all about the women, regardless of how hard they worked (undoubtedly, the GlamSlam from the top rope at the end required a huge amount of guts from both girls). 

In this case, stripping her of the title and giving the hard-working Eve a shot could not have backfired for WWE in any way, since Phoenix's title reign has already flopped and a fresh start was needed.

By not putting the belt on Eve at Survivor Series, the WWE booking team missed a golden opportunity, something that has harmed both Eve's career and the overall state of the divas division. This is regrettable, but considering the shoddy treatment of the women in the past, it's not at all surprising.