During the highest point of WWE’s ‘Attitude Era’, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin cemented himself as one of, if not the greatest superstar in professional wrestling history. He had several quality feuds during those few years of his career, but none more important to both Austin and wrestling in general than the feud he had with Vince McMahon. Since that era, WWE has been desperately trying to fill the void left when Austin called it a career. Many have tried, none have succeeded, with only John Cena and CM Punk coming close. The interesting thing, and one that is rarely discussed, no one has been able to step up and fill Vince’s spot either. HHH has tried, Stephanie has tried, Johnny Ace even made a valiant effort, but no one has been able to match that fire and venom that made Vince McMahon such a completely hateable character.

This will most certainly not be a post dedicated to burying former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly, nor will it be a post expounding her greatness. For my personal taste, Kelly Kelly never did much for me, but you can’t knock success, and holy hell did she have some serious success during her years with WWE. This article will instead focus on which direction WWE can potentially go to breathe new life into a Divas Division now at an apparent crossroads.

WWE has proven they have little to no interests in making any of their championships mean anything at all, save for the WWE Title. The Tag Team Titles are rarely defended, and when they are it’s typically against a cobbled together pairing of singles wrestlers rather than a legitimate tag team. Truth be told, the current Tag Team Champions aren’t even a legitimate tag combination. The World Title is currently being carried around by a guy to whom the fans are largely indifferent, despite WWE’s best efforts to change our minds. Personally, I think Sheamus is much better off working heel, but that’s a topic for another time. Cody Rhodes did everything he could to make the Intercontinental Title relevant again, only to have it handed over to Big Show and made instantly worthless.

I once rode a train from Longview, Texas to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota carrying nothing but a bag of clothes and the September 1987 issue of Superstar Wrestler Magazine. I’d picked it up because Kerry Von Erich was on the cover and when I was 10 years old, I’d all but decided I was gonna be just like him when I grew up. The long hair, the big muscles, chicks hanging off of him at all times, it all seemed very, very cool. Add to all this his asskicking feuds with the Fabulous Freebirds and the loud rock music that played every single time he hit the ring, and Kerry seemed to have the complete package. As I got older I realized differently, of course. Kerry had some severe issues and ultimately put himself in such a bind emotionally, physically, and legally, he saw the only plausible way out was to stand in front of the wrong end of a shotgun. His suicide in 1993 opened my eyes to the sometimes seedy underbelly of the industry, and actually drove me away from wrestling for a few years, but on that train ride in 1987, he was still bigger than life.