A year ago, the women were headlining pay-per-rviews as the peak of the Women’s Revolution in the WWE. The 2017 calendar year has halted that momentum.
It was only a year ago the WWE seemed to have broken new ground and realized the full depths of its celebrated “Women’s Revolution.”
Sasha Banks dropped the WWE RAW Women’s Championship to Charlotte, starting a back-and-forth title swap between the two. It was the rivalry that defined the back half of the 2016 calendar year. Sasha Banks and Charlotte set benchmark after benchmark. The duo main-evented RAW regularly. They were the first women to main event a pay-per-view. They competed in the first women’s Hell in a Cell match.
The storytelling and rivalry between the two was compelling. It was not some mere publicity stunt or call for equality (although it was from a company that has historically treated its women performers . . . less than ideal at times). These two wrestlers were headliners. Their matches were what everyone looked forward to each week.
The story had to end. The back-and-forth title switches every month and the repeated matches, the two needed to refresh things a bit.
In the meantime, the SmackDown women’s scene was gaining legs. It lacked the star power without Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Bayley, but it had depth. Every week, the storylines that featured Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Carmella and even Naomi were solid and engaging.
It seemed the women’s division was gaining a solid footing. There were talented women throughout the roster and fans genuinely cared about these characters and performers.
Things have gone south since that time at the end of 2016, unfortunately.
Bayley has been poorly booked since entering the title picture, winning it from Charlotte at the Royal Rumble in 2017. The always-babyface was even booed from the boisterous RAW crowd in Toronto earlier this week.
Charlotte, taken out of the title picture, has been a bit lost as a character. Humbled in the defeat to Bayley, she has not regained her regal status. A move to SmackDown Live has not refreshed her character enough, although she has turned from heel to face.
Becky Lynch had her title run and fell victim to the non-stop Alexa Bliss train. She is booked as the weakest of the Four Horsewomen (the underdog who never actually wins) but retains a devoted following.
And Sasha Banks has lost her “BO$$” persona in many ways as a face and best friend to Bayley. It seems inevitable she will get her title shot at SummerSlam, but she too has gone stale.
All these staling storylines came together in an underwhelming WrestleMania for the women. The fatal four-way match between Bayley, Charlotte, Nia Jax and Sasha Banks was underwhelming — and had its moments where it looked botch. And the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship six-pack challenge was a public relations mess — it was originally scheduled as the main event of the pre-show before public outcry got it moved to the penultimate match — and then ultimately too rushed to make an impact — it went a paltry 5:35, the second shortest match on the card.
And the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship six-pack challenge was a public relations mess — it was originally scheduled as the main event of the pre-show before public outcry got it moved to the penultimate match — and then ultimately too rushed to make an impact — it went a paltry 5:35, the second shortest match on the card and nowhere near as exciting as the hit-after-hit battle between Brock Lesnar and Goldberg for the WWE Universal Championship.
The excitement over the Women’s Revolution has waned significantly since then. The superstar shakeup brought Alexa Bliss to RAW and she has developed into one of the most well-rounded performers in the company. But not even she could save the terrible booking that was her “This is your life: Bayley” promo.
The SmackDown scene is crowded with Charlotte and Becky Lynch there, along with Carmella, Natalya and the current champion Naomi. It was the perfect ground for the first Women’s Money in the Bank matchup.
Of course, that was sullied to some by the fact James Ellsworth — a man, gasp! — handed the brief case to Carmella. While a great tool to generate heat on Carmella, it was not the best progressive move for the company.
Women have always had to fight for their time on these shows. Lately, it seems the women have once again gotten pushed to the side.
Last week, both RAW and SmackDown had just one women’s segment each on their shows. This past week, the women got three segments on RAW thanks in part to having to sort out who challenges Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam after Bayley’s shoulder injury. SmackDown pushed forward its storyline with Lana and featured a match with Carmella and Naomi.
But the time WWE is giving the women is not the only problem. A lot of the storylines and characters have gotten stale. The superstar shakeup did little to refresh many of the matchups. Every week, it seems the same matchups are getting trotted out — whether in singles form or in a six-woman tag match of some sort.
Bayley’s injury provided some scramble to get some of the lesser-seen women on television. Emma has had to lead a social media campaign to get some notice — and she took the submission from Sasha Banks for her trouble. When was the last time Mickie James was on TV before last week’s triple threat loss to Nia Jax?
The whole division has seemingly hit a rut. It is not clear adding more talent will change very much. Asuka too has kind of hit a plateau in NXT, although she has put in some incredible matches of late against Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross. NXT fans are certainly looking forward to her TakeOver Brooklyn III match against Ember Moon.
WWE will air its Mae Young Classic women’s tournament later this summer too. It is not as if the company is not continuing to make efforts to promote women’s wrestling. But, at the same time, there does not seem to be any interest in creating a “women’s show” in the same vein as 205 Live after the Cruiserweight Classic last year. And even 205 Live, despite its critical success in some areas, has struggled to keep the general WWE Universe interested.
And there is definitely still an interest in giving the women their time on the TV shows and pay-per-views. But this is also a group that is deep in talent. The fact Emma is largely on the bench and Natalya only recently entered the title picture again shows the group has plenty of talent.
At this point, the women seem to be struggling to use the limited time they have. There is the opportunity for them to expand in some way. But in general, the women need the opportunity to tell their stories.
SmackDown Live‘s success of late has been in its storytelling. James Ellsworth plays an annoying valet (flipping the typical gender roles seen in wrestling) and has helped build extreme heat for Carmella. And she plays the role well. The briefcase has made her the center of attention in the women’s division on the blue brand.
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But the reality is, the women will have two matches at SummerSlam. Likely another tag team match will get thrown together — likely from SmackDown Live — for the pre-show. There is far more talent on the women’s side than these three matches might suggest.
A year after the women were the headliners for several pay-per-views, they are struggling to find their footing. And the solution to restart the Women’s Revolution is not particularly clear right now.