First, the overall theme. Laziness. I have brought this up a few times over the years. Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James at Wrestlemania 22 was the last women's feud for Wrestlemania season that was personal and handled right. Everything since then has been tag matches, lumberjill matches, battle royals, and other multi-woman matches. You have had Playboy pushes and celebrity involvement. You might let some of this stuff go, but not having one heated singles feud for the women at Wrestlemania in all these years? Disgusting. This is an era where women want to be treated the same as men? Well, I see men getting heated singles feuds for Wrestlemania every year. There may be some multi-man matches, as well, but there are heated singles feuds. The women aren't getting this. No one is upset?
The laziness is most clear in Smackdown's women's match for Wrestlemania. Alexa Bliss vs. The World. Right now, it just looks like the other women will be Mickie James, Becky Lynch, Natalya, and Carmella.
There is speculation that the WWE might bring in Asuka for this match and/or women from the past. And I dislike that. What does that say about the WWE's confidence in the women they have now? They have mishandled the Smackdown women. The answer isn't to look over all of them and create hype through NXT or even more women from the past. The WWE needs to do better with the women they have now. If they bring in someone like Asuka and don't book her right, that's unfair to her. If they book her better than everyone already on the roster, that is unfair to those women already there that have been pushed poorly. Worry about fixing the issues managing the talent, then worry about debuts and returns. This is one of the reasons I said a couple months ago that Mickie James should not return. Smackdown is not as efficient as some fans make it seem. Being better than Raw isn't saying much.
Let me look at some of the women in this match. First, Carmella. She has her angle with James Ellsworth. Ideally, the story you would have is that Ellsworth helps Carmella win the title. Carmella can later reveal that she was just using Ellsworth to help her. But this just seems like a story better suited for a singles feud, and not suited for Wrestlemania. It could be a nice story, but with the way Smackdown handles things, I am not sure they would handle it right. They need to make better use of their depth.
Next, Mickie James. I wouldn't be surprised if she never wins a title in the three years she is back for. I am not saying they won't book it to happen. I am just saying I wouldn't be surprised if it never happens. I don't think it is anything personal. They might look at her and see whatever it is they saw in The Dudleys that got them booked like crap last year. They might also want to protect Trish's legacy until Charlotte breaks her record. When it comes to major World titles, the magic number for the WWE is 16 and the name is Ric Flair. When it comes to major women's titles, the magic number for the WWE is 7 and the name is Trish Stratus. Mickie James has already won more major women's titles than Trish, but the WWE will not acknowledge her TNA reigns. That is pretty unfair, since Ric Flair did not win all his World titles in the WWE. I have seen a Mickie James fan hoping she can get lucky number 7 and tie Trish's record. Instead of talking about getting to double digits, he only goes with the WWE only acknowledging the 6 title reigns. And if they want to bury the Diva's Championship reign, they will continue to say she is only a 5-time Champion.
Lastly, Alexa Bliss. She should not even be holding the title now. Naomi's injury led to her getting the title back. I have seen some Naomi fans dreaming that she returns and Wrestlemania and gets the title back. With her injury issues, she seriously needs to prove she can stay healthy. As for Alexa Bliss, she might as well retain the title. Lose the belt in a singles feud after Wrestlemania.
The Raw women's match has had better build than Smackdown's women's match, but it isn't too hard to have better build than a match where every available body is thrown in. But this feud is still pretty mediocre, and it is once again a multi-woman match.
Compare it to last year's triple threat. Fans were pretty hyped for the feud. It was Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks. Women's revolution! Death to the butterfly title! High expectations for a great match! Lita with the new title! Okay, that's nice. Now, take away all the hype. What do you really have? It was just a title feud. There was no rich story. They could have had one with Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch, but they inserted Sasha Banks and that story got diluted. And I would say the feud development was actually pretty sloppy. But when you buy into hype, you typically overlook things like that. And that is what happened last year. This feud did have issues, but fans overlooked it because of all the hype.
This year, it is Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley vs. Nia Jax. This year, the same hype is not there. Without that hype it is even easier to see this feud for what it is. It is another lazy title feud. At first, it was Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley. Instead of just trying to build that feud, they just inserted distractions. Charlotte has had to deal with Dana Brooke turning on her. Bayley had to deal with Nia Jax, which eventually led to Nia getting in the match.
Should Nia Jax even be in this match? It seemed likely for a while that it would happen, but should the WWE have changed their mind? As I said, it feels like including her has just been a distraction that has taken away from the feel of the feud. The WWE has done a terrible job keeping Nia consistently in the picture. If they had done a better job, things would have been smoother and I would not be bringing this up. You also have to think about match quality. Nia Jax might be good for a few spots during the match, but she might hurt the match quality, overall. Problem is, Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley happened just a few months ago. It was not a stellar match. I am sure these three can put on a better Wrestlemania match, but the match did happen. Adding in Nia Jax does create a fresh match. Then again, what's wrong with doing Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley again? Do it once with Charlotte as Champion, then with Bayley, and then with Sasha Banks. Make it a series. In the end, having Nia Jax involved does make a fresh match.
Who wins? Bayley. She can then feud against a heel Sasha Banks. The WWE has already taken steps to fix the depth issues a heel Sasha Banks would make. Dana Brooke went face recently. Emma can also eventually return as a face. Or Asuka can debut on Raw as a face. Until all that, there is no PPV streak to keep in tact here.
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