The Diva Dish: This is the go-home for Night of Champions?!

This is a real comedown from what I saw at NXT Takeover II--from the Divas as well as the rest of the booking. The Divas on the developmental show get one match and sometimes some promo time spread out among the female roster, and good stories are told in entertaining matches. Coming out of Summerslam, the main roster was riding the momentum of an improving product with some surprises and general improvement across the board.

(More of this and less Springer please. Credit: WWE.com, Bella-Twins.net)

The AJ/ Paige feud took a turn for the weird that, while at times monotonous became interesting. We had a surprisingly good setup for a continuing scuffle between Brie Bella, Stephanie McMahon, and the evil twin Nikki. Then the twins talked. Then Total Divas premiered. Now the booking on the main shows has spiraled downhill squandering most of the momentum sparked by AJ Lee's return in June.

The Jerry Springer segment from the 9/8 Raw was kind of fun, but dragged as we knew what was coming – a less interesting rehash of the rehash that Springer's show has been for over a decade. What potentially could have been a fresh twist adding the undeserving Nikki Bella into a triple threat for the title has resulted in a buried championship and another abrupt scuttling of the narrative path to promote Total Divas.

The final Raw gave us pretty much nothing to be interested in for the Divas title match at NOC. AJ never even got in the ring, as Nikki bounced her head off the mat at ringside to enable Paige to pin her sister. I expected AJ after the bell rung to emerge as Nikki went up the ramp to lay a beat down on the Heel Bella, but Nikki just strutted back unharmed. AJ only emerged to skip around the ring making Paige afraid to step out between the ropes, which scuttles any of the story buildup between these two leading up to their burial into the twins thing. The most infuriating thing about this is that Michael Cole started referring to AJ and Paige as frienemies once again, when AJ long ago punched through that facade before they became a Bella Twins subplot.

(Angry, passive-aggressive skipping leaves this once vibrant feud flat on its back, much like Brie. Credit: WWE.com, Bella-Twins.net)

Later on, on the overall limp donkey dick of a Raw, we got a purely tangential match between Naomi and Cameron. I'll give Cameron credit. In recent weeks on Superstars, as well as the main show, she's improved enough to take what's given her by superior workers, but their feud was over, dead. WWE just will not learn from their mistakes letting Total Divas book the main shows. It should be there as a self-contained reality show in its own right that also promotes the Divas and WWE as a whole to lure in new audiences.

I will watch Night of Champions, but compared to Summerslam, there's not much Divas action to get excited about. Being the professionals that they are, however, I'm sure AJ and Paige will carry the double fun of Bella deadweight as best they can.