Times are good if you are a diva in the WWE. Trish has impressed many, and will probably go down as one of the greatest women in wrestling history, while Lita has single-handedly helped a man gain the attention he needed and Torrie and Stacy continue to have vast amounts of popularity. In the meantime, the diva search women, as well as Melina, have quickly gained popularity in their own ways. Life is good if you are a woman currently employed in the WWE. Unless you're Lisa Marie Varon. Over the past couple of years, while the most popular divas have continued to impress and the new divas have carved out their own niche, Victoria has continually been given the shaft. It is just preposterous as how a woman who has as much, if not more ability than many of the other women currently employed by the WWE, can continuously be given the short end of the stick time and time again.

At the beginning of her WWE career, Victoria was given wide praise all around for her wrestling ability and her unique character. Her feud with Trish Stratus set the bar high for women's wrestling in the WWE, and many predicted that great things would come for this Southern California native. However, a series of decisions by the WWE over the past couple of years has left her with nothing to show for her abilities, as she has continually been left out of the spotlight in favor of other women.

Victoria's decent started at the beginning of last year, where she turned face. Instead of capitalizing on the growing popularity of her psycho character, the WWE wanted her to go in a whole new direction. As a result, many of her psycho characteristics were lost, and replaced with mannerisms of a typical female face. In addition, despite being give the women's title, she didn't always appear on RAW, as at one point, she was not on the show for four weeks and defended the title against Lita at Backlash without any build-up on her side. This wouldn't be the first time that she wouldn't appear on a RAW before a pay-per-view in 2004, as she also didn't appear on the RAW before the Bad Blood. In this case, she lost the title when Trish pinned Lita. To make matters worse, the match (which included Gail Kim) included Trish and Lita only at the last minute.

Her troubles didn't stop here, as she only appeared on RAW twice over the next couple of months, primarily due to an injury suffered by Trish, Lita's "pregnancy" and the start of the 2004 Diva Search. She also appeared at Vengeance, in a match against Molly that was only announced a couple of days beforehand, and was placed right before the main event. After SummerSlam, she feuded with a healed Trish, but by then, the WWE was setting up a Trish vs. Lita feud. This would not be more apparent on the August 23, 2004 edition of RAW, where Victoria was pushed aside by HHH while complaining about Lita's wedding, while during the wedding, Trish interrupted the ceremony wearing lingere. A Victoria vs. Trish match eventually took place at Unforgiven, where Victoria didn't appear on the RAW before the pay-per-view again, while Dave Meltzer himself wondered why the two were facing off without any build-up. Trish ended up winning the match, which was marred by the Steven Richards-Tyson Tomko match that occurred immediately after.

After Nidia, Gail Kim and Jazz were released in November, 2004, Victoria's luck got even worse. She would only make a limited amount of TV appearances over the next six or so months, as the Trish vs. Lita feud, as well as the new diva search signees, would take center stage. Among the "highlights" of this period include the fact that she was beaten up for five minutes out of a six in a tag match, lose to Trish for three straight weeks (the last of which being a squash), and lose out on a WrestleMania match after Lita went down with an injury less than one week after her third straight TV loss to Trish. With this limited TV time, along with word that wrestlers would soon be released thanks to the WWE's new TV deal, it seemed that her time was just about up.

It would not be the case, however, as on the May 30, 2005 edition of RAW, she turned back heel by attacking the Diva Search women (and Jerry Lawler) after losing a bikini contest. In an interview conducted after the incident, she would go off on how Christy received the WrestleMania match and a Playboy spread, among other things, to the absolute delight of the crowd. Suddenly, it seemed like she might finally get the recognition that she deserved.

Sadly, this wasn't going to happen. The next RAW, she would look completely weak, as Christy choked her out in a six-person tag match. Even though she would win in the eventual match against Christy at Vengeance (with the crowd turning on Christy over the course of the match), she was soon off TV again, with only one appearance on Heat in the month of July. After a brief feud with Stacy, she found herself without anyone to feud with, as both Stacy and Christy were traded to SmackDown in favor of Torrie and Candice.

One week later, Victoria would hook up with Torrie and Candice, as she was now aligned with one of the women she beat up back in May, as well as another woman who had already been on the cover of Playboy twice. To make matters worse, she has ended up receiving no time to talk, while the other two were given plenty to say. Finally, after Trish's return, Victoria now finds herself in the same position she has been for much of her career: always having Trish get the better of her.

It is completely unfair for someone as beautiful and talented as Victoria to always get the short end of the stick in whatever she does in the WWE. Even worse, given the WWE's current perception of women, the worst may yet to come for this raven-haired woman's WWE career. All things considered, there is absolutely no reason why after everything she's done, that she is on the road to nowhere.

by Erik S. ..