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Last night, WWE made the following changes to the Diva rosters:
- Melina traded from Smackdown to Raw.
- Eve traded from Smackdown to Raw.
- Brie & Nikki Bella traded from ECW to Raw.
- Beth Phoenix traded from Raw to Smackdown.
- Mickie James traded from Raw to Smackdown.
- Rosa Mendes traded from Raw to ECW
So, if you count the Bella Twins as one person, WWE actually kept the same number of Divas on each brand that existed prior to the changes. Here's a look at the current Diva rosters:
RAW
Melina - Her feud with Michelle McCool has now been abruptly dropped (unless you consider the Decade Of Smackdown lumberjack match to be a fitting conclusion to it), and she is the Divas champion on Raw. As it stands now, there's only three potential heel challengers for her on the show: Jillian Hall, Alicia Fox and the soon-to-be-returning Maryse.
Eve - The former Diva Search winner has made a lot of improvement in the ring over the last eight months, and after her loss to Michelle McCool on Smackdown this past Friday, there wasn't really anything else for her to do on that brand (well, except for the never-ending Cryme Tyme-Hart Dynasty feud). The change of scenery should do her good.
Brie & Nikki Bella - It was probably surprising to find out they were being "moved" to Raw, since they've been popping up regularly on Monday's as the arm candy of various Raw guest hosts. How many times can you watch them do the "switch" bit during matches? I imagine most of their appearances will be of the backstage variety on Raw.
Alicia Fox - Having had her quick feud with Mickie James, it would not have been a shock to see Fox moved off Raw. However, WWE opted to keep her on Mondays, and right now, she is looking like the logical number-one contender to Melina, at least until Maryse makes her return.
Gail Kim - Kim still hasn't been given a good chance to erase the image of her trainwreck match with Mickie James a few weeks ago. Now, she is a babyface on a brand with a babyface champion. Unless a heel turn is coming, I see a lot of tag matches in her future.
Jillian Hall - Jillian has always been that "solid hand" for WWE, putting over Divas that the company wants to elevate, filling out tag matches, being comic relief, etc. It was nice to see her get rewarded, for about two minutes, with a Divas Title reign. I expect Jillian will continue to be that solid hand on Raw. Look for her to be putting over Eve soon.
Kelly Kelly - Months ago, it looked like Kelly might have been in line for a big push. Her in ring work was improving, she was given a nice promotional gig with 7-Eleven for Summerslam ... and then nothing happened. She's just been a background player, and with Melina as champion, it doesn't look to be changing for her.
Maryse - Provided she is back in the ring soon (and reports are she will be), Maryse is walking into a great situation. She will easily leapfrog Fox and Jillian as the top heel Diva on the show, and probably go right into a program with Melina for the Divas Title.
ECW
Courtney Taylor, Savannah, Tiffany - Three of WWE's developmental Divas, none of them actually have wrestled on TV yet. Courtney and Savannah have been doing the interviewer bit, while Tiffany is the General Manager.
Katie Lea Burchill - Is probably grateful that she doesn't have to wrestle the Bella Twins every three weeks in the same exact match over and over anymore. Obviously, there is no championship for her to work towards, but at least she will get her TV time in as she accompanies Paul Burchill to the ring.
Rosa Mendes - Rosa definitely got the worst end of the deal on the trade this week. Her brief alliance with Carlito is now over, and she's on a brand that rarely has women's matches and has only one possible opponent for her (and she's a heel too). Looks like Rosa is heading back to a valet role.
SMACKDOWN
Beth Phoenix - Moving to Smackdown is probably going to be good for the Glamazon, as Smackdown usually allows more time for their Diva matches than Raw does. However, with the current heel-babyface balance off-kilter, it would benefit Phoenix if she was turned into a kick-ass babyface, something that was teased in the past.
Mickie James - I'm sure a lot of people will see Mickie James losing the Divas Title, being shoved to the side for Melina's Raw return, and being moved to Smackdown as some sort of message to James. Well, it probably is. There's no denying that Mickie's recent performances have been well below her previous standards. As of right now, she's the top babyface on Smackdown, but if the above babyface turn happens, Mickie will be playing second fiddle.
Michelle McCool - The Women's Champion had wrestled Melina and Eve, so having them shipped off and bringing in Phoenix and James gives her two new perspective opponents to have fresh matches with. There's a lot of potential in a heel-heel feud with Phoenix, although I think the fans would get behind the Glamazon pretty quickly.
Layla - Layla has shown a lot of improvement, and hopefully won't find herself buried on a show that, as of right now, has a lot more heel Divas than babyfaces. Perhaps she will end up with the babyface turn, since it seems inevitable that someone will turn "good" on the Friday night brand.
Natalya - Can she wrestle more now? Please? Then again, she probably will see a lot more TV time as the mouthpiece of the Hart Dynasty than she ever will as an in-ring competitor.
Maria - Dolph Ziggler dumped her, and Melina is off the brand, so Maria now finds herself with no "boyfriend" and no potential feud. She's not on the level of the other five wrestling Divas on the show either. Hard to see what WWE does with her now.
Vickie Guerrero - Vickie doesn't wrestle, she just gets heat.
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