Let me start with this booking decision. Okay, Becky Lynch cannot compete. Okay, you will still go with a second women's match. Okay, it is going to be Naomi taking Becky's place against Alexa Bliss. Here is where the "okays" stop. Alexa Bliss lost? That is not okay. The WWE did this same thing at the previous Smackdown PPV. It was supposed to be Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt. Randy Orton had a medical issue and did not have the match. They went with Kane vs. Bray Wyatt. Wyatt lost. That guy loses needlessly at times. Alexa Bliss, the #1 contender, losing to Naomi is not good for maintaining her momentum. You can talk about not wanting to be predictable, but there are some booking decisions you just have to do to help someone look good for a feud. I have already pointed out that this feud between Becky and Alexa seems a bit off. Alexa is not credible enough to really deserve this push. And this booking decision is not helping her. Does it even do anything for Naomi? Is she going to be treated as a serious contender now or soon? More than likely, Alexa Bliss will get her win back against Naomi on Smackdown.
Onto the issue of another medical issue popping up in the women's division. A few weeks ago, it was Sasha Banks needing to take time off and dropping the Raw Women's Championship back to Charlotte. She has since taken the title back, but it has been sloppy booking. Becky Lynch will defend the title in a few weeks against Alexa Bliss during the European tour, but the WWE definitely could have considered stripping her of the title. That would be the second inaugural titleholder to have that happen in the last few weeks. It happened to Finn Balor after he won the Universal Championship. You can say that her medical issue is obviously not as serious as Balor's injury, but the division is still being held up when the person holding the title cannot compete in scheduled title matches, especially PPV title matches. If you are a Becky Lynch fan, you are glad they aren't taking the title away from her so soon. As an analyst, however, this is a problematic situation and the WWE did not handle it in a way that was best for the division. Short-term, it looks ugly. Long-term, things will hopefully work out.
If there were two issues that could legitimately make the WWE reconsider some of the things they are doing with this women's revolution, those two issues would be how well it is connecting with the fans and injury issues. It has gotten mixed reviews from the fans. In terms of injuries or other medical issues, this is just another thing to add to the list. Count how many medical issues there have been with the women in the last year. Nikki Bella had a serious injury that could have ended her career. She's back now. Sasha Banks has had multiple injury issues, including the title mess I just brought up. Paige has been out with an injury for a while. Natalya had some teeth knocked out, although that wasn't too serious. And now this Becky Lynch issue. And there are more things I am not even mentioning.
One of the reasons the diva era started to fail was because of injuries. Centerpieces got injured. Credible jobbers got injured. The depth in the division was hurt. The WWE started to make stupid decisions. And injuries are starting to become an issue again. I would not say these are isolated incidents. You also have injuries piling up again in the men's division. Seth Rollins, the man that was involved in that injury to Finn Balor, has his own injury issues. And with the WWE shooting themselves in the foot by allowing certain workers to take time off now and then for outside projects and movies, their depth will be challenged again, both in the women's and men's divisions.
This is one of the reasons I felt the WWE should not make a second Women's Championship for Smackdown. All it takes is an injury here and there to key players and things become a mess. The WWE ends up pushing people they might not want to push. Women that are getting pushed have their pushes ruined or botched. And the WWE could just lose interest as things continue to look sloppy. And there is an added pressure now that wasn't there during the diva era. It is that pressure to feature women's wrestling. The WWE has a poor periphery right now. You can extend the careers of some of these women if you gave them angles alongside the men or just storylines with themselves that did not lean so much on being physical. Moreover, these periphery angles might help these women show more character and help them get over beyond wrestling fans and smarks. It might also save the WWE from stale feuds and matches. Face it, the women's rosters are too limited to just continue to push all these women as in-ring performers. They cannot debut women fast enough to keep things fresh. The answer isn't to bring in local jobbers. These are obvious filler matches that the majority of viewers will not appreciate. The WWE needs to slow down, both for the health of these women and for the quality of the division.
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