I never said she was good. I never said she was a great wrestler or even passable actress. The point I'm making and made since day one that this came out was that WWE would miss her. The fact is I'm not her biggest fan, not a hater, just an observer. She will and would have been missed by wwe as she is the girl thy put in the cups, on the trucks that come to town, on the talk shows, and so on. They would miss her is what I said, they would miss her because she is a pillar and representation that they want, and they showed it.
Let me point out Orton as a comparison. He is a guy who the company pushed down our throat much like Kelly. He doesn't draw. He can't sell out arenas as seen in SD, he loses viewers whenever he has had the title in his career and isn't feuding with Cena, Dave or HHH. That is the truth behind the guy, good solid wrestler or not, they are just what makes him him once you go past the facade to the business side, that said they can't lose him either because he is young, has some thread on the tires, they have invested in him, and while the tv time they have given has never and will never payoff like it did with Cena, HHH, Edge, or Batista, much like Kelly will never payoff like Trish or Lita did, he is essential because the talent pool is shallow and they need him to be one of the blue brand pillars like Kelly has to be the pillar associated with the butterfly belt division.
I'm not saying the divas are used right, I'm not saying there are not divas who are better than her on the ring as Natalya and Tamina are, but you don't give them the same licensing basically because they are mannish looking and not over. There are girls who are better actresses but it doesn't matter if they can't get over like a AJ is now doing. She also doesn't fuck up plans as she knows how to use birth control, unlike Kong who they wasted so much time on, only to do nothing but bleed money to her for going on two years now without a payoff. Kelly is essential simply because of what the other girls are not and wwe had to show that they value her.
They showed that, she stayed on where others were told kick rocks and theres the damn door which is a double standard they only exercise for those they value as we all know, and at the end of the day all that matters in the grand scheme is that she is viewed as a commodity by the company and Vince. Like it or not once that happened and was solidified which it was now, she reached into a Mysterio, Orton, Punk, Bryan, and so on group as opposed to being just one of the crowd.
I feel the same way you do about Kelly when it pertains to Jericho, Orton, and even Punk/Bryan on most nights. They aren't good enough to be where they are on the card, with the machine behind them, and so on and the facts and figures shows they aren't. That said I get that wwe values them because while they will never be Taker, Cena, HHH, Batista, Edge, Mysterio, or HBK talent and commodities, they are still the best that they have now. The talent pool now is shallow so what should be a mid carder or upper mid card transition guy is now the guys in the world title scene and main eventing the b brand in Randy's case out of necessity. Just like how Kelly would have been so low on the totem pole in the glory days behind a Trish and Lita in the division or even a Stacy and Torrie on tv doesn't matter now because none of the other girls are good enough to get over on their ring, mic skills, or look along so she gets over values since she is already over, a looker, young, good with pr, and so on. It is more about attrition than anything else, but the fact is she is needed and valued by the brass and I can see why she would be and is just like I see why guys like Orton, Punk, Bruan, and Jericho are used in higher profiles now than they would have ever dreamed of