Divas Championship match set for Extreme Rules

After being completely ignored at Wrestlemania, the Divas Championship will be prominently on display at the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view when current Divas Champion Kaitlyn will defend her title against former best friend-turned-bitter rival AJ Lee. And, unlike the WWE Championship match at the pay-per-view, this one actually has a pretty lengthy build-up.

The entire angle started way back on the third season of NXT when the two were contestants on the pseudo-reality show, becoming on-screen best friends in the process. After the show ended and Kaitlyn was declared the winner, AJ was kept on television instead of being sent back to the then-FCW, maintaining her role as Kaitlyn’s best friend, even forming a short-lived tag team with her known as “The Chick Busters”. The team more or less broke up as AJ became involved with Daniel Bryan during his time as World Champion, and also during that time, the friendship began to crumble when AJ began the “crazy chick” persona that she currently uses as Dolph Ziggler‘s girlfriend. Since then, the two have more or less been feuding, trading wins in singles and mixed tag team matches along the way.

This time, there is a championship at stake. Not only that, but this will be AJ’s first chance at becoming the Divas Champion, surprising when you consider how long she’s been with the company. AJ won the right last night on RAW, outlasting Tamina Snuka, Layla, Naomi and Aksana in a 5-woman battle royal, last eliminating Layla after pretending to be knocked out the entire match.

There is actually a lot of potential for this match to be good. Kaitlyn and AJ are more over with the fans than pretty much every other diva on the roster combined. Not only that, but they are good at what they do in the ring. Both women are relatively inexperienced in terms of in-ring skills, but at the same time, are two of the fastest learners I’ve seen in the divas division in a very long time. AJ is not surprising, as she is a lifelong wrestling fan and takes the sport very seriously. Kaitlyn, however, went from being as green as grass in the ring to very crisp and well-rounded in a very short time. Although she is far from perfect, she is a fast learner and seems to get better with every match. She reminds me a little bit of Trish Stratus in that way, as the Hall of Fame diva was always trying to step up her game and get better. Kaitlyn still has a way to go, but it’s very obvious she’s doing what she can to get there.