Alexa Bliss Wins Back The Title

I wanted to to talk about the women in my last few days blogging, but this is not what I wanted to have to talk about. Alexa Bliss defeated Sasha Banks on Raw to win back the title. After that, Nia Jax attacked Bliss to start a feud there.

This is just garbage on so many levels. If they were not going to give Sasha Banks a proper run with the title, they should not have given it to her at all. The only thing the title change accomplished is stopping Alexa's reign before it topped Charlotte's first run with the Raw Women's Championship to become the longest-reigning titleholder. And it's not like that reign is so long that it cannot be topped easily. It probably will be beaten in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss has her resume inflated. Sasha, as well, but to a lesser degree. Alexa Bliss is the centerpiece, not Sasha. In less than a year, Alexa has won four title reigns between Smackdown and Raw. Again, that is just garbage. The WWE has to create some fresh feuds with women that are properly developed and deserve the push. Failure to properly build challengers is likely one of the reasons for so many women getting poor reactions that should not be getting those poor reactions.

It is ridiculous that the WWE cannot come up with ways to keep Alexa Bliss relevant outside the title picture. Okay, she sells merchandise. Fine, that is a reason to feature her. But not like this. I have said this about Roman Reigns in recent weeks. The guy has not held a main-event title in over a year. He is on a PPV losing streak. He is not looking like a top guy, in terms of booking. In terms of hype, he obviously still is a top guy. He is in a big feud with John Cena. I see some fans upset this isn't happening at Wrestlemania. It probably should. Give more time to rebuild Reigns. What about Bliss? There are obviously less top performers for her to work with in the women's division, due mainly to the WWE's failure to properly feature the women, but they could still find something else for her to do.

Let me once again explain the system the WWE ran in the diva era. The WWE liked to have a woman they would push as their top star and to regularly be featured in the title scene. That was their centerpiece. They would frequently build up women with wrestling credibility to trade the title with the centerpiece and be an obstacle for her to overcome or someone to draw heat off of. These were credible jobbers. They frequently got tossed aside when done doing the job. They were also sometimes used as interim centerpiece when something happened to the real centerpiece or the real centerpiece was getting an angle away from the title. Outside of that, there were periphery divas, or stars featured in the periphery of the title matters. They might sometimes get title reigns, but the bulk of their time was meant to be outside the title picture. Lastly, this system was run with the idea that an eye-candy diva would be the centerpiece. That was what made the diva era what it was.

Smackdown obviously doesn't have a centerpiece. They just go in different directions. But Raw is that centerpiece-driven division. You saw it last year with Charlotte. She got that annoying booking of frequent title wins and other women, mostly Sasha Banks, not getting pushed right. Charlotte is now Ms. Irrelevant on Smackdown, while Alexa Bliss has come and taken her place on Raw as the centerpiece. She is getting that annoying booking. Sasha Banks was recently once again the victim. Bayley has also been a victim of the bad booking designed to help Alexa Bliss.

The thing is, centerpiece booking was never this annoying during the diva era. Trish Stratus won 7 women's titles in roughly 5 years. If Charlotte had not gone to Smackdown, it looked like she might have won 20 titles in 5 years. Alexa Bliss is now the one on pace to win 20 titles in 5 years. It will obviously not happen, but this is annoying. And you never had this many short title reigns for the credible jobbers back in the golden era. Barring an injury, this should not happen. The women were typically allowed to have some successful title defenses. There were even spans where Trish took a break from the title scene. The most memorable was her angle involving Chris Jericho and Christian.

That is another problem, the terrible periphery. You have some periphery women today, like Maryse, but they are not featured as well as they were back in the day. Chyna, Lita, and AJ Lee were all featured very well in the periphery, and all before ever winning a women's title in the WWE. The WWE obviously cannot do certain things today, but AJ Lee's push in the periphery came in the PG Era. There is still potential to do something. And that is where Alexa Bliss should be pushed outside the title scene. Give women like Sasha Banks, Emma, and Mickie James a chance to freshen up the title feuds. Alexa Bliss's best attributes are her looks and her character. That screams periphery. That is where they need to push. Find an angle alongside the men.

Lastly, how about Nia Jax seemingly next in line for a title feud? Horrible. How about the WWE stops awarding women for underachieving, having injury issues, and even being dangerous in the ring? If you are underachieving, step up and get over, or at least put some good effort into it. If you have injury issues, do your best to change your style to stay healthy and show you can be trusted. If you are dangerous in the ring, you just got to clean that up. It was not long ago that Bayley got injured while working with Nia Jax. All the blame cannot be put on Nia, but there was at least one spot in that match where it was obvious she was being clumsy with an injured Bayley. And that was not her first instance of being dangerous in the ring this year. Nia Jax needs to be held accountable, not be given title feuds. Needless to say, match quality will not be good between Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss. Even if you toss in Sasha Banks, it will likely still not be what some fans were hoping for when this women's revolution started.

State Of The WWE Women's Division: August 2017

This will be the last one of these I do. Why not post a pic of my favorite singer? The big developments this month all involve the titles. Both titles on the main roster changed hands. Even the women's title in NXT had to be given up due to injury, although I will not talk too much about NXT.

Just in general, I do not have a problem with either Sasha Banks or Natalya getting title reigns. They are solid in-ring workers that deserved to eventually get them. I just would not have had either woman win it at Summerslam. In the case of Sasha Banks, her feud with Alexa Bliss was just rushed and poorly developed. I would have given her the title after a few weeks of proper build. In the case of Natalya, this should not have been her time at all. There were women that could have made for a better, bigger feud with Naomi at the biggest WWE PPV of the summer. The WWE even did a poor job building the feud to help Natalya look better. Are these writers even here to come up with creative ideas? Or are they just game managers that just put the women out there?

Let me talk about some of these other women outside the title picture. I will start with Smackdown. Becky Lynch and Charlotte are not being utilized right. These are two inaugural titleholders. They sure do not look like it. I would be the first to say Charlotte was overpushed and does not look like she deserves to be centerpiece, but you cannot just put all that work into her and drop the ball so easily on her. At the very least, she can be used to put over other women in properly-built feuds. Becky Lynch is someone I feel has more potential to be the centerpiece, but she is also just floating around.

I have seen some fans ask why Tamina is being pushed. Is she being pushed? You don't need to be in the title picture to be pushed, but is what Tamina is getting even a push? She has that storyline with Lana. Who is even supposed to be the benefactor there? Smackdown has done a terrible job putting focus on individual women since it became its own brand again. Becky Lynch had no proper focus on her prior to winning the title. I just brought up Natalya. Their idea of giving Naomi focus is just having her steamroll Alexa Bliss, despite her injury issues. Where is the proper creative development? I don't even know what to make out of this storyline Tamina and Lana are getting. Given Smackdown's history of tossing the title around, including rumors that Eva Marie was supposed to get a title reign, either one of these two women could get a title run. And neither of them deserves it. Outside of that, what is the payoff of this angle? They turn on each other? Not too interesting.

Carmella still has the briefcase and is hovering with it. I think she will win the title. And she should. Start the women's briefcase on a good foot. The WWE already failed to do that with the Ellsworth fiasco, but the WWE can avoid other mistakes going forward. Will Carmella cashing in on Natalya be a big deal? Maybe they should wait for a new face to win the title and Carmella cashes in on her. That could be either Becky Lynch or Charlotte. Naomi should not get the title back anytime soon. One thing that would be nice is to just have Carmella take a step back from trying to cash in. Let Natalya and Naomi, and whomever else, have a proper feud between themselves. Let Carmella feud with one of the other faces right now. Not only will that be good for Carmella, but it gives another woman something meaningful to do. You look at the men that have won the briefcase over years. They were not always this plastered to the title scene from the moment they got the briefcase to when they cashed in. They had other feuds. Do that with Carmella. Right now, the story being Carmella wants to cash in is just too easy.

Let me just say something general about the way Smackdown does things. I see a lot of fans giving Smackdown praise for giving all the women things to do. There are various reasons why it is not good, like an injury here and there possibly messing things up a lot. But let me bring up another. Just because these women have something to do does not mean they have something meaningful to do. It is like going to school, finding out the teacher is absent, and the substitute gives you busy work because the regular work plan was not left. Are the students getting something to do? Yes. Are they getting something meaningful to do? No. These women on Smackdown might be getting used regularly, but a lot of these feuds and storylines are just terrible. There is a lot of underutilized women. The writers are not really creating greatness. They are just sticking women in situations and having them work. They need to do more for these women. All the multi-women matches Smackdown has gone to far too much in the past year is an example of that laziness.

Onto Raw. Outside of the title feud, what is there really to talk about? Not much. Emma is getting an angle, though. She is getting TV time and is getting focus. Yeah, she is losing, but it is not unusual for these kind of angles to end in title reigns. The WWE should keep the title on Sasha Banks and have her defend it against Emma, and eventually drop it to her. That should quiet the fans complaining about Emma not getting a chance. There was a time when I would agree with them. But looking at Emma getting time recently, even if losing, that is better than what some people are getting. The fact is, Emma is getting a chance. If she has really won fans over like the people on Twitter might make you believe, have the live audiences roar for her. Have them regularly chant for her during other women's segments. Make her the female Daniel Bryan. The WWE is actually putting her out there for it to happen. Is she going to step up and get more over? Or is she just going to rest on her Internet popularity and give the WWE a reason to not follow up with her?

Mickie James has been seeing a little more TV time in the last month, since Bayley got injured. If Bayley had not gotten injured, I do not think Mickie James would have gotten what usage she has gotten. Bayley would be tied up with Alexa Bliss. Sasha Banks is the next priority in Raw's women's division. They would have found something for her. Maybe she would be the one working against Emma. Emma has just been going between losing to Mickie James and Nia Jax on Raw recently. Dana Brooke is obviously not good enough to push as priority above Sasha Banks or Bayley. Mickie James still lacks a legitimate storyline, but she is still around.

And what about Nia Jax? As far as I am concerned, she is still on probation. If she cannot keep it safe for at least the rest of the year, she should be fired. She is not a great worker. She currently does not have a proper feud. Should it be against Mickie James? Or does the WWE want to keep some women open to continue the angle involving Emma? Regardless, she will get TV time. I just hope she keeps it safe in the ring.

Outside of how the women are being utilized, how are the fans reacting to them? I think there is a problem. Everyone knows about the bad reactions Bayley would get. Even Sasha Banks has experienced a negative reaction at times. Is that just the Brooklyn audience? I am from Brooklyn, so I know how bad they can be. The Four Horsewomen, the NXT elite, all look bad right now. The two on Smackdown are not doing anything important. One of the two on Raw is injured, and has issues connecting with the fans. The other one got the title in a poor feud, and her own overness is in question. I remember getting my head bit off when I said these women were not that over. They were treated like automatic legends in NXT, but the main roster is something else. And it is not just them. All the women can be doing better.

Is it just the smarks? Smarks love heels. But the answer cannot be to just turn Sasha Banks heel. Heels do that edgy stuff that smarks typically love, but there will still be some fans that will not care.

I will say the issue is the women's revolution. It was fine when it first started and even last year. But it is time to stop talking about it and basing so many feuds and segments off of that. It is great that you are going to treat the women better, but stop talking about it. It is abrasive. Moreover, you might start wondering why you need to promote your good deeds so much. Is it just for the sake of your own ego? When Stephanie McMahon was plugged too much into the women's revolution the year it started, it definitely looked like an ego thing. Are you exploiting the situation? The WWE is definitely exploiting it in terms of promoting it and stroylines. Is this really a draw?

It is just not entertaining. TNA could run a respectable women's division without promoting too much that it was respectable. Did they promote it now and then and even use it for the sake of angles? Yes, but they did other things, as well, and did not do as terrible a job with it as the WWE. This is the reason some women like Lana and Alexa Bliss have gotten better reactions during the women's revolution era than you might think they should have. They are actually entertaining the audience, while these female wrestlers are doing their self-righteous screaming. The WWE needs to step back and make things fun again.

Look at the NFL. Last year, they had a dip in the ratings. Of the many reasons given, including it being an election year, some people said the NFL was just not fun anymore. Too many flags. Players were penalized for having fun out there and putting emotion into what they did. What has the NFL done this year? They are being less strict with touchdown celebrations. Players will have more freedom to enjoy themselves. It remains to be seen if viewership will increase for them, but this decision should bring some fun back into the game.

And that is exactly my point. The NFL realized that they should not stifle the enjoyment. That enjoyment is contagious. If players are having fun, that energizes the audience, both the live audience and the viewers at home. How about the WWE starts realizing that? Be fun again. Stop with the feminist screaming. I believe women should be treated fairly and equally, but making that the theme of the women's division is not fun. That is why some fans are dead for what is going on, or even completely sour for what is going on. The writers need to step up and create storylines that are more enjoyable. Enough of the complaining. The WWE will not be having women in their bra and thongs running around, but that does not mean they should not occasionally do some of the fun things that women used to do in the diva era. Face it, the diva era is not completely dead. Alexa Bliss holding the title was pretty much a throwback to Trish Stratus in the diva era. The WWE does not have one woman that is connecting with fans at an A+ level. I think some of these women have potential to be that great, but they need to step up and the WWE needs to do a better job pushing them. And, needless to say, certain arrogant fans need to give things a chance. Maybe the WWE will never be able to fix the problem. Some fans are just terrible.

Previewing The Summerslam 2017 Women's Championship Matches

First of all, August 31st will be my last day blogging.

Onto Summerslam. There seems to be an overall theme with this PPV. So many of the feuds heading into this Sunday just feel underdeveloped. Considering this is one of the WWE's big four PPVs of the year and their biggest of the summer, the mediocrity is a little surprising. Both of the women's title matches are in this category.

Let me start with Raw's title match. It was obviously supposed to be Bayley getting this push. I would not have gone to her, but that is what the WWE chose to do. The WWE obviously had some time to work a story between Bayley and Alexa Bliss. They could continue the same story from the last time they feuded a few months ago, even though it was a pretty bad story. Problem is, Bayley got injured. The WWE was now in a tough situation. It was obvious Sasha Banks was the woman to push. She even won the title opportunity this week. Problem is, no time is left to develop a proper story between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss. All you have is a basic title feud. This is exactly what you had when these two feuded for the title before Bayley got put back into the picture. It is very dull.

I am surprised the WWE doesn't go with the obvious story. Have Sasha Banks call Alexa Bliss out for hurting the women's revolution. Alexa Bliss represents the diva era. Sasha Banks is all about the women's revolution. I see a ton of fans on the Internet blaming Alexa Bliss for the quality of the women's division taking a dive recently. I am not denying Alexa has her fans, but she has her critics, as well. The WWE is not ignorant to the Internet and social media these days. They have to know that a lot of fans dislike how Alexa Bliss is pushed. They know all about Twitter wanting Emma to get a chance. But the WWE seems scared to run with the obvious storyline, so they go with this story-less feud between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss. I guess they do not want Alexa Bliss to look weak, even though it would be up to her to prove she really can hang with Sasha Banks. Some fans were impressed with their last match. I don't think the WWE really has an excuse for not doing better between Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks.

Who wins? Once again, Sasha Banks was obviously not even supposed to be in the story right now. The WWE could have Alexa Bliss retain here and eventually drop the title to Bayley or Sasha Banks, after the feud between Sasha and Alexa actually becomes more heated. I would pick Sasha. The sooner the title goes to a face, the more likely Emma finally gets a title feud. Whether she wins it or not is not the issue. The WWE should just go with it for the sake of freshness, to give Emma a chance, and to shut up a whole bunch of people on this issue. Right now, though, Alexa Bliss should retain.

What about Bayley? Should she just get pushed again as soon as she returns? Fans have soured on her in recent weeks. I would say part of the problem is that they made her look terrible in her feud against Alexa Bliss, then decided to just push her again after she was wrecked. You can't treat someone terribly and expect the fans not to sour on them. The WWE humiliated Mickie James terribly a number of years ago. They probably would have loved it if her overness did suffer. It would have made Michelle McCool look like a stronger heel and made Mickie easier to toss aside. But Mickie James was genuinely over with the overall audience back then in a way Bayley is not right now. Even though the WWE did not intend to ruin Bayley, because there really was no good reason to, that is what they did. I do not think the answer is to turn her heel. Give her a secondary storyline. Build her back up slow. Do not toss her back against Alexa Bliss and certainly do not toss her back into a feud that makes her look like garbage. Doing this kind of thing with Roman Reigns a few years ago actually did him some good. When he stopped getting his monster push, his hate lessened a little. If the WWE gives Bayley an angle that actually presents her as fun and entertaining, that might warm up her overness again.

Onto Smackdown. Raw actually has an excuse for their women's title feud being mediocre. Smackdown does not. It will be Natalya vs. Naomi. Natalya is not the woman I would have went with. I have said this before. At a big PPV like Summerslam, the WWE should have just created a better feud. Even though it would have created a face vs. face situation, I would have gone with Charlotte, or even Becky Lynch. Becky was the first Smackdown Women's Champion, who has not done anything too important in months. Charlotte was the first Raw Women's Champion, who has not done anything too important in months. But both these women could have made for more high-profile feuds than Natalya getting the title shot.

Even though I would not have gone with Natalya, I really expected the WWE to do better with her these last few weeks to develop some kind of good feud between her and Naomi. They have not. Part of the problem is that the WWE has to feature Carmella and the briefcase. Carmella defeated Naomi last week. The week before that, Naomi defeated Carmella in a tag match. More focus needs to be put on Natalya. Smackdown is tonight, but I am not expecting anything too grand to make up for the mediocrity. I really expected better from Smackdown. They have taken workers that were not pushed well and made them look like bigger deals at times since last year. There are some exceptions to this, like Jack Swagger, but I would have expected better with Natalya for the sake of this feud. Ignoring Carmella and the briefcase, this is just a mediocre title feud between Natalya and Naomi.

Who wins? I am all for Natalya getting a push and even winning the title. Now is just not the right time. Natalya is still somewhat young. She is 35. I can see her lasting another few years, and she should be getting a "thank you" run at least down the line. Right now, it should be about women that are fresher and have more credibility. This is Summerslam. This feud was not worthy of this event when it started and they have not developed it to be worthy of this event since then. Naomi should not lose the title to Natalya.

Bigger question, should Carmella cash in and win? Yes, I think she should. Naomi has held the title for a couple months now. This is even her second reign this year. There are no good heels for her to feud with. Becky Lynch and Charlotte are the one that should be getting the title feuds. But if the WWE doesn't want to do face vs. face, a heel needs to get the title as soon as possible. Natalya is not that heel. Carmella is just the fresher option. Just have the submission specialist work over Naomi's leg, or whatever body part. Naomi manages to pull out the victory. Carmella sees Naomi hurt and cashes in to win it.

Overall, these are just two title matches that have had mediocre build. They are nothing more than basic title feuds. Again, ignore the briefcase for the Smackdown women's feud. Just looking at Natalya vs. Naomi and Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss, the feuds are not interesting. There are times when the WWE shouldn't get too fancy with title feuds. Just let it be a title feud. I would say that was the case for Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Gallows & Anderson from earlier in the year. The WWE tried to get too fancy with referee nonsense and it just was not needed. Just let these guys fight. That is their strengths. But I would say the WWE needed to do more with these two women's title feuds. This is Summerslam. These aren't kickoff-worthy matches. The feud between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss just felt like it had potential to be more than it is. Natalya needed better focus than she has gotten to make this feud seem like a bigger deal. The WWE is treating Summerslam almost like a Wrestlemania this year, but a lot of these feuds do not look worthy. And I'll be bringing this theme up again in the next few days.

How The WWE Chose To Handle Bayley's Injury

When I talked about Bayley's injury last week, one of the points I made was that the depth in Raw's women's division was still good. They had various women they could start utilizing in Bayley's absence. When I said that, however, I did not mean the WWE should just take all these women and dump them into matches on Raw.

Last night, they had two triple threat matches to decide the new #1 contender for Alexa Bliss at Summerslam. The winners of those two matches would face each other next week to decide who gets the title shot. It will be Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax.

Why do I dislike the WWE doing this? I do like the idea of tournaments and things like that. But there are various reasons why doing this kind of thing now is not good. First, it leaves the WWE with no time to build a proper feud between Alexa Bliss and the winner of next week's match, likely Sasha Banks. Summerslam is on August 20th. Next week is the last Raw before the PPV.

Go back to the last Raw PPV. Sasha Banks ended up getting the title shot against Alexa Bliss. But the WWE got there in a very poor way. They did not develop Sasha Banks well at all. When she finally did get the title shot, there was only one week left before PPV and the WWE really could not do too much to make the feud interesting. It was just a basic title feud. But there is one reason why I would not complain too much about that back then. I figured this feud would continue past Great Balls Of Fire. It didn't. They went back to Bayley. And now with Bayley injured, Sasha Banks is the logical choice to push, but the WWE is once again limiting the amount of time they will have to work with to make this title feud more interesting.

The second reason I dislike how the WWE handled things is that it really does nothing for the extra women that were involved in these matches. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax was just the likely match even before this week. They should have just gotten it over with and spent Raw next week properly developing Sasha vs. Alexa. And there was no swerve in the results of the triple threats last night. No surprise winner of either match. No Paige return. Nothing interesting. All those extra women were really just fluff.

If you are one of those fans that want to see Emma or Mickie James doing something more than they have been doing, you cannot settle for just seeing them on Raw used like they were. That's nothing. That's not a push. That's not being used in a creative way. Last night isn't going to help them or the other extras, Alicia Fox and Dana Brooke.

The WWE needs more creative depth in Raw's women's division. They need one other storyline besides Alexa Bliss and whatever she is doing. They have teased little things here and there, but they need to stop playing around and just develop some feud or storyline already. Creatively, the title feud is not that creative at all, and there is nothing else going on to talk about. It's just chasing after a title. Very dull. The WWE has to do more than that.

Bayley Gets Another Shot At Alexa Bliss

Summerslam is starting to take shape. Challengers for the women's titles are already set. Over on Raw, Bayley defeated Sasha Banks to get another shot at Alexa Bliss.

I do not like it. Going back a few months, I would agree that Bayley was not treated right in her feud against Alexa Bliss. Losing the title is one thing, but the WWE made Bayley look bad. But they had to move on. And they did. To Sasha Banks. Even getting to her was not done smoothly and there was no time to develop a proper feud between her and Alexa Bliss. But sticking to Bayley, she wasn't even relevant for a number of weeks. All of a sudden, she is the one getting the title shot again. This is sloppy.

I would have stuck to Sasha Banks getting the title shot. She didn't exactly lose decisively to Alexa Bliss at their last PPV encounter. Sasha getting another shot just made sense. Some people were even expecting a triple threat when Bayley vs. Sasha Banks was made. That match would end indecisively and both would go on to face Alexa Bliss. Even that would have been okay. This kind of feud development of moving away from Sasha Banks before her feud with Alexa Bliss has proper closure and moving back to Bayley after the story has stopped being about her for so long is just not good. If Sasha Banks was injured and they had to go back to Bayley, then I would agree with what they did. But if there is no special situation right now, this is just bad development.

What people are expecting now is that this turns into a heel turn for Sasha Banks. Remember when Sasha was supposed to turn heel months ago? It didn't happen then. If it happens now, I don't think the ends would have justified the means. Heel Sasha Banks would obviously feud with face Bayley, but these two have wrestled each other multiple times on the main roster already. Another possibility is Sasha Banks going to Smackdown. Even then, it does not change the fact that the development recently has been terrible.

The WWE needs to stop this dance they have going on with Sasha Banks and Bayley. These two seem to be involved in every Raw Women's Championship feud since around this time last year. Throw in Alexa Bliss dominating the title scene for much of the year, regardless of which brand she is on. And the only other thing you have going on is the occasional insertion of Nia Jax being a monster and beating everyone up, which does not have any long-term value.

There are other women on the roster that can make for some fresh feuds. Smackdown has put the NXT elite on the back burner at times. Neither Becky Lynch nor Charlotte have been pushed very well these last few months. Smackdown could do better in a lot of ways with their women, but at least they aren't overdoing it by forcing one of two women into every title feud like Raw is doing. It is just getting ridiculous.

Emma got squashed by Nia Jax. Some say it is because she complained on Twitter about not being given a chance. She should keep complaining. Either the WWE will give her something to do or they will release her, freeing her to work somewhere else. There are multiple angles she could have gotten these last few weeks to feature her better on Raw. The story with Emma, Mickie James, and Dana Brooke is underdeveloped. That could have been a solid secondary feud. There was that point where Alexa Bliss walked out on Emma and Nia Jax and Emma came out to confront her. Something could have been made of that. Nothing. Is what is going on now a legit storyline they will follow through with? Instead of anything great, there is this sloppy juggling act going on that results in either Sasha Banks or Bayley getting the spotlight in these terribly-developed feuds.

Previewing The Great Balls Of Fire 2017 Women's Match

It will be Sasha Banks getting a title shot against Alexa Bliss. She won an over-hyped gauntlet match on Raw last week. It is not surprising that Sasha Banks is getting this push, but I do not like how we got here.

They could easily have had the gauntlet match two weeks prior to when they actually had it. Why does it matter? Because then they could have time to build a good feud between Sasha and Alexa heading into the PPV this Sunday. More importantly, the other women in the division would then be free to develop their own storylines in the remaining weeks, whether it leads to a match at Great Balls Of Fire or not.

Another reason they should have done this sooner is the fact that things were just a mess prior to Sasha Banks just getting the title shot. The first Raw after Alexa moved on from Bayley, it looked like they were starting some angle involving Mickie James, Dana Brooke, and Nia Jax all having issues with Alexa Bliss. Week after that, Sasha Banks becomes more involved and Emma returns. Alexa Bliss walks away from her heel partners in a match that night, Emma and Nia. You now might start thinking that might be a story they would develop. Week after that, Emma comes out to confront Alexa Bliss, but then ends up shrugging off her issues with her. Bayley, who had been mostly irrelevant during this time, runs out to save the day during a brawl. You have just had multiple angles being developed every week and it seems a lot of it has been killed off when the WWE just gave the title shot to Sasha Banks. Terrible feud development.

I was all for Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss since before Bayley lost her rematch. I anticipated the WWE going in this direction. But with the way the WWE handled things all these weeks, it just doesn't feel like something to become creatively invested in. I already mentioned all the other storylines that were brewing. Creatively, some fans might have started to get excited for Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax vs. Mickie James vs. Dana Brooke at one point, or some other multi-woman match. I am not a fan of too many multi-women matches, but it just feels like that is what the WWE should have done here. That would have somewhat justified the sloppy developments in the Raw women's division all these weeks. All these women have an issue with Alexa Bliss. All these women have to watch their backs with Nia Jax. This situation just calls for a multi-woman match. To just kill that off two weeks prior to the PPV to go with a singles match involving Alexa defending against a woman that has not been properly developed creatively in this picture all these weeks seems terrible. Not only might it be hard for some fans to care about, it is completely unfair to the majority of Raw's women. They lose out on proper creative development.

Alexa Bliss will likely retain here. This is not a one-PPV feud, especially with the rushed job it has had. Sasha Banks will likely win the title at Summerslam.

The Sloppiness Of The Raw Women's Division

Both the Raw and Smackdown women's divisions have their issues that are resulting in fans getting irritated and women not realizing their full potential in terms of how they are being pushed and how well they are connecting with the fans. I talked a lot about the issues with Smackdown recently. I cannot let Raw off the hook.

A couple weeks ago, Raw had a very dumb interaction for their women that I briefly mentioned. Alexa Bliss defended the title against Nia Jax in a pathetic match. But that was not even the issue. Mickie James and Dana Brooke were out there because they are also not on good terms with Alexa Bliss. They end up going after her. Nia Jax pushed them out of the way because she wanted Alexa for herself. She attacked them again. The segment ended with Mickie and Dana just getting in the ring with Nia and letting her destroy them. That was bad writing. After Nia Jax already knocked them around a few minutes earlier, why would Mickie and Dana just get in the ring to stand there like they could trust her? Why wouldn't they at least try to get revenge? They could have even just stared down both Nia and Alexa from outside the ring. Mickie and Dana just looked stupid with that kind of writing.

And the stupidity continues. This week on Raw, Sasha Banks and Nia Jax had another match that was nothing to get excited about. Once again, however, that was not the issue. Another brawl broke out. It seems all the women hate Alexa Bliss. Emma came out to get some of Alexa, who did walk out on the other two heels the week before in a tag match. Nia Jax held Alexa for Emma. Emma accidentally hit Nia Jax. A little while after that, Emma and Alexa just shrug off their issues and attack Sasha Banks. I know two enemies might put aside their differences to attack a common enemy, but Emma was just focused on going after Alexa Bliss a few moments ago, how could you just shrug that off so easily? Alexa Bliss was her immediate target, not Sasha Banks. Mickie James and Dana Brooke then come out to go after the heels. Bayley runs out after. I was watching this segment on Monday. Part of me expected Bayley to attack Mickie James and Dana Brooke? Why? Because it would match the rest of the stupidity going on here.

There are various reasons why none of these women are as over as they could be. I think two of those reasons came up in this very segment from Raw.

First, the WWE's writers are not doing a proper job building characters, relationships, and feuds. Fans just don't know what to make out of a lot of what they are seeing. Emma comes out there focused on getting Alexa Bliss. Next thing you know, they seem to be on the same side again. You also have Mickie James and Dana Brooke together. That's fine, but they could have done a much better job creating that relationship to make it easier for fans to care about it.

The second problem I saw on Raw was that things are just congested. This has been an issue I brought up for the Smackdown women. Too many feuds and PPV matches involving too many women. That problem has really taken over on Raw recently. Things started out as Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax, with Mickie James and Dana Brooke also involved in the story. That was fine. The WWE could have done something good with those four women. Next thing you know, Sasha Banks is in the story and the spotlight seems to be on her more. Emma returns and is thrown into the story. This week, Bayley runs out. Is Alicia Fox going to get involved next week? This is just not good. The WWE has added way too many women to this thing and created a mess.

Let me focus on Bayley. I would be the first one to say that the WWE has not treated her right since she debuted on the main roster. And she looked terrible in her feud with Alexa Bliss. But she lost the feud and the WWE looked like they were moving on. She has to take a backseat. Either find her another angle or rest her for a few weeks. It isn't fair to other women to have her pushed back into the picture. I said the same thing about Sasha Banks. She deserved a proper title run. But if the WWE was unwilling to do that and just continued the endless feud with her and Charlotte, that was just unfair to other women. In this case, it was unfair to Bayley. Even when Bayley won the title, Sasha Banks was out there. What face woman was sharing the spotlight with Sasha when she won he first title? This is one of the reasons Bayley has not worked out better. She has not had that individual spotlight properly on her when her push started. But it is unfair to keep sending her out there when there are other women that could use some proper attention.

Not only can you talk about congestion in terms of women in this picture, you can talk about creative congestion. Everyone dislikes Alexa Bliss. Not only does she have a title everyone would like to have, but she has done things to ruin her relationships with various women, even though the WWE is sloppy with that. You also have the fact that everyone has to keep an eye on Nia Jax because she will attack both the faces and the heels. So what is the feud that is going on right now? It is not clean at all. The WWE can try to toss together some multi-woman match for Great Balls Of Fire, but they have not set this up properly at all. What is the story? All these women want the title? All these women want revenge on Alexa Bliss? Should the focus be on Nia Jax? Things were already messy even before Bayley ran out this week. What is her story? And will it properly fit in with anything else? Then again, stories don't seem to matter here. Everyone is just going to fight each other.

How would I do things? First, Sasha Banks should be the one getting a singles feud against Alexa Bliss. She has the freshness. It could have started this month and gone to Summerslam. There was no need to have this congested mess. If the WWE wanted to toss all the women together for a #1 contender's match, they could have just done that by now and without all the sloppy half-developed angles that they have been throwing out there.

Second, Mickie James, Dana Brooke, and Emma should be doing something separate. Emma is returning from her injury, so it would be nice if she could get some proper focus on her. Mickie and Dana have that partnership that can really be featured a lot better. Dana and Emma used to be partners. The story just seems to write itself. Instead of having all these women focused on either going after Alexa Bliss or defending themselves against Nia Jax, create an interesting storyline away from that which might help the character development of these women. The story could either lead to Dana turning on Mickie James to go back to Emma or Dana finally knocking her former partner to the curb. It would be something the audience would have an easier time getting behind than the sloppiness of the last few weeks. And Mickie James vs. Emma would be a good singles match, certainly better than just Emma vs. Dana Brooke.

What about the other women, namely Nia Jax and Bayley? They can either feud with each other or just take a backseat for a while. It happens. It happened all the time in the diva era. It just becomes hard to come up with an angle for everyone on a consistent basis in the women's division. If you force yourself to do it, you end up with the sloppiness you now have. What is wrong if these two women are just supporting players in another feud? Be there as tag partners for the Alexa/Sasha feud or to put these women over to give them momentum in the feud.

The WWE needs to fix the problems. Come up with clear angles for these women and stop trying to give them all something to do. It is just not practical. It makes it harder for fans to connect with a lot of what is going on.

How TNA Does "Diva" Better Than The WWE

Eye-candy has always had a place in pro wrestling. WCW had the Nitro Girls, who danced around. ECW was more known for catfights than respectable women's wrestling. Even today, there are women in the indies that are obviously just there for their looks. They may take bumps and have matches here and there, but they are mostly valets and just personalities.

What made the WWE's "diva" agenda different was that they would often look for women with no pro wrestling training at all and develop women like that in the ring to be their centerpieces. They took women that were really models and cheerleaders and treated them like they were as good as, or better than, women that had more credibility. Some of these women eventually became very respectable in the ring, like Trish Stratus, but there have been more failed centerpieces than successful ones during the diva era.

This is supposed to be a new era. This is supposed to be the women's revolution era. Let's face it, the women's wrestling revolution is turning into the revitalization of the diva era. I have pointed it out before. I see more and more fans bringing it up. Alexa Bliss being pushed like she has is straight out of the diva era. And Lana now looks like she is bringing back more of that diva flavor to Smackdown's women's division.

Bayley and Alexa Bliss are just coming off a feud where Bayley looked terrible before their recent PPV match. Without even bringing up how much fans disliked that elaborate segment last week from Alexa Bliss, just sticking to the wrestling, their PPV match was not good. I talked about how the story would matter in that match. It was likely that Alexa Bliss would retain, but I said that Bayley needed to at least look good and give Alexa Bliss a little comeuppance. I am not a sadistic individual. I do not have a fetish for seeing women getting hit by sticks. I am talking in terms of helping the characters and telling a good story in the ring. And it was awful. Bayley looks terrible. I have pointed out multiple times in the last few months that Bayley has not gotten a fair shot. She had to take a backseat to Charlotte/Sasha at a time last year when it looked like she would finally get her shot. That did not make her look good. And the WWE has just not presented her character right. They have taken her and just expected her to be something that just doesn't work for her.

Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss had a "match" on Raw this week against Nia Jax. It was more stupidity that hurts the image that Raw's women's division used to have since last year. Alexa Bliss just should not be the centerpiece. I hear some fans justifying her push because she sells merchandise. Okay, why does she sell merchandise? It is because of her looks and her charisma. No sensible wrestling fan out there thinks she's a great wrestler. If she is valuable for her looks and charisma, why can't they push her as a periphery diva? Present her as something special there. Because pushing her in the ring is definitely damaging the development of women that are better in the ring than her and irritating a lot of fans out there.

Onto TNA (Impact Wrestling). TNA obviously has a history of taking former WWE workers. They have even taken some of their divas. I don't just mean female wrestlers taken from the diva division, like Gail Kim. I mean those women that were true eye-candy divas in the WWE, like Taryn Terrell. This is also a company that has a history of featuring respectable women's wrestling that goes back even further than the women's revolution in the WWE.

How can these two things coexist? How can you have a company that is going to push respectable women's wrestling, but also hire these women that only got into the business thanks to their looks? Because TNA has maintained their standards. Women like Taryn Terrell and Brooke Tessmacher had to train and put on solid, respectable performances before they got title reigns. Taryn Terrell and Gail Kim had a great rivalry that even wrestling fans respected. Might these former WWE eye-candy divas sometimes botch? Yeah, but so does Gail Kim. And Velvet Sky is also one of the least-credible women TNA has ever had, but you can't blame the WWE for bringing her up. But even Velvet Sky had to at least be presented as a serious competitor before finally winning the KO title.

Go back to the lowest point of the KO division. I would say that was last year. Maria Kanellis won the KO title. You look at the list of women to have held the title. Is any woman on that list less credible than Maria Kanellis? TNA did not even sell her as a threat. She was abusing her power, relying on henchwomen, and using weapons. Allie (Cherry Bomb) got a short title reign during this time that looked terrible in terms of how she won it and lost it, but at least she has shown she is a good in-ring worker in the indies. Indeed, I would say Maria is the worst woman to have held the title. To make matters worse, this was going on at the same time the WWE was touting their women's revolution. It was terrible timing. As the WWE was moving away from the diva era, TNA gave the title to a diva.

Thing is, however, you can argue that TNA did not really lower their standards. They did not try to sell Maria like she could hold her own in the ring as Gail Kim. It was just a storyline getting in the way of that respectability the women's division is known for. The whole storyline was even that Maria running the division was ruining it. Gail Kim got her revenge on Maria Kanellis and the KO division has gone back to being treated better.

How is that different from what has been going on in the WWE recently? They are actually trying to sell Alexa Bliss as a woman that can hold her own against women a lot better in the ring than her. She may be better than Maria Kanellis in the ring, but that isn't saying too much. And the WWE isn't doing it by maintaining respectable standards and having Alexa Bliss rise up to meet those standards. The WWE has lowered their standards. That is what have so many fans unhappy about the direction things are going. Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley just did not come off as Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim at all. Would it have at least been better if it came off like Maria Kanellis vs. Gail Kim? Gail Kim got her revenge on Maria and everyone moved on. Bayley didn't get her revenge on Alexa Bliss and it does not look like the WWE is planning to move on from going in the direction of Alexa Bliss. This is not a storyline of Alexa Bliss hurting the women's revolution. This is the WWE damaging the women's revolution through their desire to push Alexa Bliss. I am sure there is a good chance there might be a storyline of Alexa Bliss hurting the women's revolution when she feuds with Sasha Banks, but will that storyline really lead to the end of Alexa Bliss? Or at least lead to her stepping up and being more respectable in the ring? Or will this just be a storyline for the sake of exciting smarks and not really change anything?

So, how was TNA able to do "diva" better than the WWE? By actually putting the divas they took from the WWE in a position to be featured as serious performers. There might be some sloppy matches here and there and the whole situation with Maria Kanellis I just mentioned, but their identity has still remained respectable. Meanwhile, the WWE seems to lower the bar when they want the divas still on their roster to look good. Female wrestlers are made to look bad and match quality is definitely taking a hit. And this is not a storyline that these eye-candy divas are hurting this new era. This is the WWE letting old habits take over again.  

Previewing The Extreme Rules 2017 Women's Matches

I am not surprised the WWE would add another women's match for Extreme Rules. And this one is a mix of everything. It's a tag match. It features the women. It features the cruiserweights. Rich Swann and Sasha Banks face Noam Dar and Alicia Fox.

I like that it is a mixed tag match. These things have been rare ever since the women's revolution started. I have seen some fans get upset when the WWE finally had one last year. They felt it was a waste for the women to be teaming with the likes of Roman Reigns or Rusev. Face it, it needs to happen. The WWE can create interesting feuds, storylines, and segments when men and women interact. That is not just a "diva" thing. It can save fans from having to see stale matches. Did anyone want to see Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox for the millionth time in the last few weeks?

That is what I like. What don't I like? This feud is obviously just thrown together. Noam Dar wasn't even in the picture when these two women first faced each other to start this feud in England last month. And his involvement since then has not been that huge. It is like the WWE was just throwing this together from week to week. The injury to Emma obviously caused the WWE to shuffle things, so I won't make too much of this.

Who wins? Should be the faces. I see some people expecting the heels to win because Alicia Fox and Noam Dar are an actual pairing. That doesn't matter. Alicia Fox is a jobber. Sasha Banks is obviously not a top star in the women's division, but she's higher up the ladder than Alicia Fox. She should be winning this.

The Women's Championship will be decided in a Kendo Stick on a Pole match. This is actually one of the most "extreme" match types on the card. That should tell you how pathetic this PPV is. If you are a fan of hardcore-type matches, this PPV is mostly disappointing.

Alexa Bliss has looked way too strong in the last few weeks. She has bashed around Bayley with the stick, as well as Mickie James. She had the upperhand in that elaborate segment on Raw last night. Fans were sour overall on the segment, but that is a different story. The overpush of Alexa Bliss is just disgusting. I don't think even Charlotte has looked so strong for consecutive weeks during her centerpiece run on Raw as Alexa Bliss has. You will usually see a heel win the title, but still at least lose some non-title matches, like tag matches, or at least let the face challenger look better than Bayley has.

You can also compare Alexa Bliss to Trish Stratus. Something that Trish Stratus did during her run in the WWE is take hits. She got roughed up by men. That is obviously not going to happen to Alexa Bliss in today's WWE. But Trish was also involved in some hardcore matches where she took some hits. So far, Alexa Bliss has just been dishing it out. She has not tasted the wood. I would expect it to happen at Extreme Rules. That will help fans respect her as more than just a pretty face. I hate that Alexa Bliss is getting this push, especially in an era that is supposed to be more favorable to women's wrestlers, but if they are going to do it, this is just something they have to let happen. If it does not, it will just be even more disgusting how Alexa Bliss is protected.

Throw the rule about the person that has the momentum heading into a PPV losing. Alexa Bliss has the momentum. I fully expect her to retain. She can then feud with Sasha Banks over the title. I cannot imagine any title feuds for Bayley that the WWE would be willing to do with the other heels on Raw. Alicia Fox is a jobber and I am just not feeling Bayley vs. Nia Jax. What I expect this Sunday is for Bayley to get the stick, whack Alexa a few times, and then Alexa capitalizes on some small thing to get the advantage, hit her DDT, and win the match. Some people have brought up the partnership between Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax. The WWE has not followed up with that at all in the last few weeks. They have portrayed Alexa Bliss as a heel more than capable of  taking care of herself. I hate that. If you are great in the ring, then you can take care of yourself. If you are not, then get a sidekick. A woman that is not a great wrestler cleanly beating around women more talented than her can get annoying and it is basically an attempt to manipulate fans into thinking this woman that is not so great really is as great as the better worker. That is straight out of the diva era. And I expect the diva era to continue to make a comeback through Alexa Bliss as her run as centerpiece continues.

Has The Women's Revolution Failed?

What does it mean to give someone a chance or an opportunity? I would say it means putting them in a position where they can do something to earn and accomplish something. You are not handing them success. You are certainly not screwing them out of success. It is just up to them to deliver.

#GiveDivasAChance gave rise to the women's revolution in the WWE. People wanted the WWE to give the women a chance. They wanted them to treat the women better. Not surprisingly, the WWE's hatred of bad publicity led to them making some big changes since 2015.

Let me go back a little. During the period that the fan anger was building, you really had two problems. First, the problem with the diva era's identity, even during the years of Trish and Lita, was that it revolved around an eye-candy diva being centerpiece. The majority of female wrestlers were pushed as credible jobbers. They didn't get the kind of career in the periphery that Lita got. And no woman during the diva era pushed as a credible jobber ever got over and escaped to a better career. I would say any system that does not give people fair opportunities has an innate problem right there.

To make matters worse, the second problem is that it just became insanely inefficient. The WWE did not react well to years of failing to make another Trish Stratus. There were times I wondered what it would take to make the WWE motivated again. The success of AJ Lee, the best periphery diva they had since Lita, did not motivate them. Things continued to be terrible to the point that fans finally went on Twitter and destroyed the WWE. It was the inefficiency they complained about, not really the WWE's history of not giving female wrestlers fair opportunities.

The WWE responded by becoming efficient and motivated again, as well as putting better emphasis on women's wrestling. You had those three NXT women debuting in one night. The WWE got rid of the butterfly title. They dropped the term "diva" in most of the things they do. Women have been main-eventing more. They made a second women's title after the brand split. Mickie James, one of the female wrestlers that got screwed by the status quo in the diva era, was allowed to come back. There was a lot more hype and respectability to what they did.

But there were issues. For one thing, a lot of it just seemed overrated. It seemed too much. I did not think the WWE could sustain doing what they were doing, handing out so much history in such a short time. Also, a lot of fans were just not into this self-righteous atmosphere. And women that seemed so over in NXT came to the main roster and soon lost their luster. Even Mickie James, the most over diva the WWE had for a number of years, has not gotten a good reaction. Even with the WWE's improvements, they were still inefficient in a lot of ways. Depth issues is one of the reasons they have looked inefficient. Lastly, you cannot deny that there have been some horrendous botches that make you believe the WWE needed to hold these women back.

Recently, things just seem to have gotten worse. I see more and more fans asking what happened to the women's revolution. Smackdown's women's division has always been treated as the weaker division since the brand split came back. They have three women that were essentially jobbers being tossed together to form a heel stable. That has led to a multi-woman PPV match. And did that feud even deserve a contract signing at all? Over on Raw, Alexa Bliss is being treated as the queen bee. Everyone else is literally getting smacked around by her. Sasha Banks is stuck in a filler feud with Alicia Fox. Mickie James is jobbing worse than she ever has, which is obviously one of the reasons she is not as over as she used to be. Matches seem to be shorter and less impressive.

Alexa Bliss getting the push she is getting is straight out of the diva era. That's Trish Stratus. She is pushed for her looks. She is not great in the ring. Even if she improves, she got this big push in the first place because of her looks. This is the foundation that the diva era was built on. Build around a hot model-type performer that will improve as time goes on. Funny thing is, looking around, a lot of smarks love Alexa Bliss. She still has some critics and people blaming her for the demise of the women's revolution, but she does have a lot of fans. It is somewhat ironic that the WWE finally succeeded in making a new eye-candy centerpiece in an era that was supposed to be about female wrestlers.

Has the women's revolution failed? It sure is heading in the direction of failure. Whom should you blame? You can't really blame Alexa Bliss. The WWE has control over which women will get pushed and how. Question is, does the WWE have a right to do what they are doing? Are they justified off of the inability of the female wrestlers to get the job done? I started off today by saying an opportunity means putting someone in a position to succeed. If they do not do well, you have to move on. Problem is, did the WWE do a good job putting these women in a position to succeed? I am not suggesting they sabotaged things and screwed these women on purpose. But they certainly did botch things terribly at times in how they handled these women. The women have definitely not knocked it out of the park. But it comes down to whether or not they were given a fair, proper chance. If they were, they have to take the blame for things not being as they were last year. If they were not, blame the WWE.

Regardless of who is to blame, I do not think things have to be getting as bad as they seem to be getting. For one thing, Alexa Bliss should not have to be the centerpiece on Raw. She could be pushed well in the periphery. She still gets something meaningful to do, without really corrupting the respectability that was defining Raw's women's division for the past year. The legitimate female wrestlers can then work with themselves. If Emma had not gotten injured, there could have been a lot of fresh feuds with just the female wrestlers on Raw. Keep in mind there are a ton of women on the brand Mickie James has never had a legitimate feud against. As for Smackdown, stop giving every woman something to do. Create great singles feuds that also involves other women as supporting players. And let these women get some of the legitimate history that is to be had. The first chance these women had has not been great, but it might be time to think about giving them a second chance.

State Of The WWE Women's Division: May 2017

The brand split is less than a year old. It took a while, but you could start to see individual identities arise for the separate women's divisions on Raw and Smackdown. Raw was the more serious women's division. It got featured better at the major PPVs since the brand split. Only the NXT elite held the Women's Championship. History was being "made" right and left. Meanwhile, Smackdown was the last stand of the diva era. I don't mean to imply there is anything wrong with that. They let women that obviously were not hyped very much for their in-ring work get title reigns. But whatever you want to say about those identities, the trades last month shook it up.

Let me start with Raw. Alexa Bliss won the Women's Championship last night from Bayley. Ever since this title was created last year, only the NXT elite held it. That would be Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Bayley, three of the 4 Horsewomen. Alexa Bliss may have come from NXT, but she's not considered elite in the ring. I would say giving her the title was a terrible idea. The WWE should have maintained their standards. Alexa Bliss isn't as terrible in the ring as Dana Brooke, but she is not considered as great in the ring as she should have to be to win Raw's Women's Championship, especially after the women on Raw spent over a year creating that respectable identity for that title. And for someone like her to have already won more titles in less than a year than Becky Lynch has won since coming to the main roster 2 years ago is terrible, especially in this era that is supposed to be more about female wrestlers, like Becky Lynch, than divas, like Alexa Bliss.

I cannot see the WWE handling things right from here. I still believe Sasha Banks should have been the one turning heel and going after Bayley for the title. After Alexa Bliss finishes with Bayley, they can still go to Sasha Banks, but what would be the point? Sasha Banks is going to put over women's wrestling and talk about how women like Alexa Bliss are ruining the women's revolution? The WWE really needs to move away from those kind of storylines. Sasha Banks is pretty much a face RTC Ivory. Not only that, fans were anticipating that heel turn for Sasha Banks. I am not always a believer that a heel turn fixes everything, but they probably should have gone through with that for Sasha Banks. They teased it and never followed through.

Aside from that, Raw has the angle between Emma and Dana Brooke going on. It may not seem like much, but it is a storyline. Creative depth is a good thing, especially when handled right. Problem is, I don't know if they have the roster depth to make this angle good. They already dug up Alicia Fox last week as a jobber for this angle. After a while, though it may just go nowhere. It might end up like the angle between Carmella and James Ellsworth. It started out with some actual segments. Ever since, you just take it for granted that Ellsworth is there and will get knocked around by the women. I can see the angle between Emma and Dana Brooke eventually just lead to something mediocre. Nevertheless, still something to talk about.

Mickie James and Nia Jax are getting nothing to talk about. A feud seems obvious, but I don't like it. Mickie James deserves better than this. It just gets hard to book Nia Jax after a while. You can't always have her look so dominant. And she's also not a great in-ring worker, which makes you wonder if she even deserves to look so dominant. This would just be a very terrible feud. Mickie James needs help establishing her character. An angle in the periphery might be better for her than a feud, whether she wins or loses. At the same time, I wonder if the WWE even has space for this women's feud on Raw.

Over to Smackdown. The WWE has not given Charlotte the Women's Championship there yet. That is shocking. The WWE has overrated her a ton, including handing her history on multiple occasions. And they pass by the opportunity to do it again by making her the first woman to have held both titles? That just seems unlike them. They are obviously high on Alexa Bliss, but Charlotte has been featured as above her. Moreover, they did not even make enough out of the potential angle they had of Alexa Bliss and Charlotte racing to make history. The whole thing started and ended in less than a month. I just would have expected more out of them.

Charlotte did have a title shot last week against Naomi. This was the main event of Smackdown. Yeah, that seems like something the WWE would do for Charlotte. But this match had no business being in the main event. The last time Smackdown had women in the main event, it was a steel cage match, it was the culmination of an angle they were running for weeks, and it featured a return. Charlotte vs. Naomi had only been going on about 2 weeks before this match. It was hardly an interesting feud. It didn't have time to be an interesting feud. And then Natalya, Tamina, and Carmella attacked the two women. No offense, but is this the female Job Squad? It is hard to take any of these women seriously. And even when they win matches, they never seem to go anywhere. And the WWE decided to have Smackdown end with this group standing tall.

With all this, you can see Charlotte turning face. Is it a good idea? As far as Charlotte goes, she is not great when it comes to showing character. The WWE will have to help her with how she is portrayed to make the character work. As far as depth goes, they needed to do it. Your faces were Becky Lynch and Naomi, who has a history of injuries, whether you want to blame her for the injuries or certain women she has worked with. Nikki Bella is a face, but she is not around. Your heels were Charlotte, Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina. Terrible face/heel depth has been an issue with Smackdown's women's division before. But they made the right decision to do a face turn. Did it have to be Charlotte? It just seems like the most convenient option. I am not going to criticize them for what they did.

One thing Smackdown has been good about is creative depth. They frequently have had multiple angles going on for the women. Where is that now? All the women seem to be stuffed into this angle involving Charlotte. The only other thing you have going on is the debut vignettes for Lana, which looks like another throwback to the diva era. I don't think debut vignettes should really count. Smackdown has lost one of the things it has done right with their women. Will Charlotte bury the division? Or will Smackdown eventually get on track again and have multiple proper angles going on for the women?

Overall, the two divisions really do seem to have lost their identities. Don't get me wrong, both identities were imperfect. There was still a lot of room for improvement. But it seems like some of the things the two brands were doing right have been hurt. Raw doesn't feel as respectable as it used to be. Smackdown might become too centerpiece-driven. And I do think overall match quality will be hurt. I never believed the WWE could sustain what they were doing last year, but it will be interesting to see if fans keep on buying into what is going on as much as they did last year.

Previewing The Payback 2017 Women's Match

As of now, there is only one women's match for the upcoming Raw PPV. That would Alexa Bliss going after Bayley's Women's Championship. There are a couple things to talk about before previewing the match.

First, go back two weeks to when Alexa Bliss came over to Raw, along with Mickie James. That segment seemed to have been overbooked. Let me just focus on one thing. Did Sasha Banks turn heel in that segment? Fans have been anticipating that for a while. Sasha Banks finally starts looking like she might go after Bayley for the title. Next thing you know, three other women show up.

Is it fair to Sasha Banks to just overlook her like this for the sake of Alexa Bliss? I don't think so. If nothing else, there was a story brewing here between Sasha and Bayley. Even if the WWE eventually goes back to that story, the sloppiness may just hurt the value. Beyond the story, how does this make Sasha Banks look? This is not the first time she has been pushed hard for a while, then gotten lost in the shuffle. That is how you expect a credible jobber to be pushed, but you would have hoped the WWE would be doing better than this these days.

Next, go back to last week when it was Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks vs. Mickie James vs. Nia Jax. Who was the face in this match? Alexa Bliss is a clear heel, although they were in her hometown last week and she got cheered. Nia Jax is also a heel, although she is not an anyone's side. I just talked about Sasha Banks turning. Mickie James has had her character in limbo for a while now. I can't tell what she is. The WWE really needs to do a better job with the characters of these performers. I'm not even talking about gimmicks. I am talking simply presenting them as clear heels or faces. I am not saying they should never do tweener characters. And some tweener characters can be very entertaining. But you don't have that here. Nia Jax attacking both faces and heels is not that great. Sasha Banks having her heel character look like an afterthought so easily is not great. Whatever Mickie James has been doing in the last few months is definitely not great. The WWE needs to do a better job presenting these women.

Speaking of things that are not fair, is it fair to Mickie James that she has not been treated better since coming to Raw? The creative depth is not great with the Raw women right now. Yes, Dana Brooke and Emma are getting an angle outside the title scene. That's good. I have seen someone complain that Emma is being wasted. Emma is getting an angle, while certain other women have nothing to do. Mickie James is one of those other women. I have seen some people expecting Mickie James to feud with Nia Jax. And where's that? I think it is terrible that they have not made a better effort to create a feud for Mickie James for Payback. Even if it only gets on the pre-show, it can be the start of something that could last a few more weeks after April. Just dumping it on the card now is not the same as properly developing it prior to the event.

Onto the actual match. Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss will likely not be a classic. The respectable aura that the WWE had created on Raw's women's division may very well start to fade. I always felt it would be hard to sustain, but the WWE just better be careful with what they do. They might be entering another diva era.

Who wins? It should be Bayley. The WWE will likely have Charlotte win the title on Smackdown before Alexa Bliss gets any run on Raw. Besides that, I think it would be insulting to what has been created on Raw in the last year to give Alexa Bliss the title here. Yes, what she did on Smackdown might have been good enough to earn a title reign there, but Raw has had better standards. Alexa Bliss needs to show even more here. Then again, the WWE is terrible with maintaining standards. Nevertheless, I will stick with Bayley.

Shaking Up The Women's Divisions

Less than a year after the brand split returned, the WWE is already going to shake up the rosters again. Rather than talk about every division, I am just going to focus on the women, a topic I have been talking about regularly since 2008. Whatever major moves happens for the men, I will talk about that tomorrow and later in the week.

It just seems like the obvious switch for the women will be Charlotte going to Smackdown and Alexa Bliss going to Raw. Both have been somewhat "written off" in the last week. They have jobbed. They have lost their momentum. If they are not being sent to the other brand, the WWE is probably setting them up to be released. I will say it is likely they are just switching brands.

As I have mentioned before, both Raw and Smackdown seem to have their own identities, although it has still been pretty sloppy on both shows. Raw has more hype and respectability to it. This is where the serious, history-making matches get most of the attention. The only women to have held the title on Raw since the brand split are the NXT elite. It has been the 4 Horsewomen. Over on Smackdown, it has been somewhat the last stand of the diva era. This division has frequently gotten the short end of the stick. As far as the title on Smackdown goes, Becky Lynch may have been the first woman to hold it, but the two other women since then cannot be considered in-ring elites. I am talking about Alexa Bliss and Naomi. Smackdown, moreover, has done a slightly better job with periphery angles. Nikki Bella and Maryse have been treated pretty well. Those two are obviously divas.

I don't remember if I ever brought it up before, but I always felt the WWE should have two different identities for the two women's division and maintain those standards. Let one show be the place for serious women's wrestling. That could be Raw. Let the other show be for the divas and more character-driven and storyline-driven drama. That could be Smackdown. If a diva wants to end up on the show for serious women's wrestling, she needs to improve her in-ring work. If a female wrestler wants to go to the other brand to improve her overness with fans wanting more than just wrestling, she needs to show some personality that might make her valuable on the other brand. Obviously, there will be one or two female wrestlers on Smackdown to act as jobbers and supporting players, like Natalya and Tamina. On the other side of that, there might be a diva on Raw for a periphery role, like Lana. Overall, however, both brands maintain their own identity. And fans of different aspects of pro wrestling could choose what they want to watch. Right now, you just have some women on Raw that are obviously not good and it gets painful seeing them work with the better wrestlers. Dana Brooke is one of those women. Over on Smackdown, you have some women that can just be great characters, but the WWE doesn't develop it properly. Alexa Bliss falls in that category.

Even though the WWE does not really uphold the system I just talked about, let me talk about the likely switch in those terms I just laid out. Can they really switch Alexa Bliss for Charlotte? Raw has been the brand for these serious women's feuds and matches since the brand split came back, and it seems Charlotte has been involved in all those matches. Alexa Bliss has improved, but she is still not someone I consider being that great in the ring. How many matches can the WWE get out of Bayley and Sasha Banks for a year? Throw Emma into the mix. She's pretty good. Outside of that, there's not a lot of women to produce the same quality matches you had for the last year on Raw. You can send Asuka there, but some might argue Smackdown can also use her.

Is there a possibility Alexa Bliss might get lost in the shuffle on Raw? Unless the WWE lowers their standards for Raw's women's division to let her be treated as a credible threat that can put on highly-rated matches with the likes of Sasha Banks, she is definitely going to be treated more poorly than she was on Smackdown, at least. Raw has never been great with periphery angles since the brand split. What can they do with her?

What about Charlotte? The WWE will have her make history by being the first woman to have held each brand's title. They did the same kind of thing with Michelle McCool. That is probably why they wanted Smackdown's title on face Naomi so bad, although I would say Becky Lynch also might have been an option. And with Alexa Bliss on Raw, they could try to sell it as a "chase" to see who will make history first. They used Mickie James to serve that purpose back in 2009. Problem is, as I mentioned, standards are different today and Alexa Bliss getting that serious push just would not be right.

Since I do not like the potential move to Raw for Alexa Bliss, which Smackdown woman would I send there? You are looking for someone with wrestling credibility that can fill Charlotte's spot. Natalya, Becky Lynch, and Mickie James are all options. Mickie James is one of those performers that could work out on either a wrestling-first brand or a storyline/character-first brand. It is just a shame the WWE has done such a terrible job with her character. Even now, is she really a face? Or still in tweener limbo? Either way, they could send her to Raw and just take her character in either the face or heel direction.

Let's say what the WWE really wanted to do, for whatever reason, was get Alexa Bliss to Raw. What would be a good Raw woman to send to Smackdown? Dana Brooke comes to mind. You are not looking to replace a great wrestler here. You are just looking to replace a heel that can show emotion and personality. That is pretty much what Dana Brooke does best. She has been involved in some botched spots and terrible situations since her debut. Going to a brand that lets her character shine and does not put much on her in terms of wrestling might be good for her.

Wrestlemania 33 Preview: Part 1

I will be talking about the women's matches today. Cena/Nikki vs. Miz/Maryse will be talked about later this week. This is just about the women's-only matches.

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.

Mickie James Turns On Alexa Bliss

The interesting developments on Smackdown this week, for me, involve the women. Mickie James turned on Alexa Bliss. Coinciding with that, it was announced that every available woman on Smackdown would get a title shot at Wrestlemania against Alexa Bliss. Two things to talk about right there.

First, Mickie James was disrespected a little by Alexa Bliss. That led to Mickie James kicking her in the head. Going by the interview Mickie James gave later on to explain herself, they are still keeping her heel.

I have said many times that I would not have brought Mickie James back the way the WWE did. I do not like her being heel. I do not like her playing this heel character. I do not like her being a sidekick. But if you are going to do it, there was potential to do a really great job with it. They could have built up a great feud between Mickie James and Becky Lynch, which Becky would have eventually won. They could have built a great relationship between Mickie James and Alexa Bliss, which would have really helped Alexa's character further shine. And the WWE just seemed to have ruined everything. The feud between Mickie and Becky was not built up to be as great as it could have been. And now the partnership between Alexa Bliss and Mickie James ends in a very mediocre fashion.

You can say all this is because Naomi got injured. The WWE obviously cannot do what they had planned with Naomi gone. She was supposed to be holding the Smackdown Women's Championship right now. The blame goes on the WWE, not Naomi. They were the ones that were wrong to rush the title on Naomi and they were the ones that chose to handle things like they have in response to it.

And with Naomi out, the WWE loses a face. You would think the smart thing to do would be to have Mickie James finally go face now that the depth issues in the division obviously call for it. But they still want her to be this bitter heel character. That is just incredibly stupid. Nikki Bella is getting an angle with John Cena. The only free face on the active roster right now is Becky Lynch. So are we doing Becky Lynch vs. everybody that's a heel in the next few weeks? Is it Alexa Bliss vs. everybody that's going after her title? Or is this just going to be a jumbled mess because there are not enough faces to run proper storylines and matches?

Let me talk about Mickie's heel character. First, her promos. Some fans hate her promos. She is dragging out her words. I can see what she's doing. She's trying to play a bitter, condescending heel. You look at how she talked during her 2006 heel run. She didn't talk like this. You look at how she talked during her 2013 heel run. She didn't talk like this. It's because she was playing different heel characters back then. She was a psycho heel in 2006 and playing a more delusional heel in 2013. And that's the difference, the character. This character she is playing now is just not good. It's not that Mickie James doesn't know how to talk, or whatever else some fans are saying. She has proven herself before.

There are also some fans out there I see that enjoy her promo work since coming back. She is putting that emotion into it that a lot of workers don't. They just talk. And that might be a reason why some fans don't appreciate what Mickie James is doing. This is not something she has done before and this is not something the other women on Smackdown are doing. It just looks weird in comparison to other women's promos and Mickie's own promo work in the past. I see mixed reviews on The Usos' promo work. Some people think they are botching their promos. Some people love it because they are trying to stand out. Same kind of thing with Mickie James.

Mickie James wasn't in the WWE when the Reality Era started. That's where a lot of promos just became about these self-righteous rants. It is a shame that some fans view the value of promos more on what is said than how it is said. All you really need to do is talk. If you say what the fans agree with, they will cheer. You don't need to put that extra work in to make your promos unique for these kind of fans. Mickie James is trying to be different, but she doesn't need to be. Of course, the promos the WWE wants her to do aren't even based on reality. She's not bitter. That's another reason this whole heel character is just not good for her.

In the end, if a lot of fans can't appreciate what she's doing, is it worth doing? Why try to stand out? Just talk like everybody else. I don't like saying that. Mickie James is a woman that got as over as she did because she stood out. She took a character and a type of treatment in which she should have just gotten a mediocre connection with the fans and did better than the WWE wanted. If she loses her drive to stand out, then that would just be terrible. The WWE is already failing on their end to use her properly. Personally, I do not like these promos, although I can appreciate what Mickie is trying to do. But the problem isn't Mickie James. The WWE needs to give her a better character.

The second thing I want to talk about her heel character is her emotion outside of these promos. She is still showing that charisma I have brought up before. And that emotion just does not match the character the WWE wants her to portray in terms of her booking and promos. If anything, I would say that charisma just screams to turn her face. This is a person fans enjoyed watching back in the day, and without the hype and creative investment stars would get. That is because she had the wrestling ability to connect with wrestling fans and other attributes to connect with other fans. And that includes her charisma.

Again, I am not saying she should never be heel. Turn her heel when her character gets stale, when there is a great storyline reason for her to go heel, or when a depth issue calls for a heel turn. There wasn't any of that when they brought her back in January. The depth in the division at the time called for her being face. Her character wasn't stale. She was just coming back. Fans were eager for it. And there was really no good storyline reason for her being heel. Instead of having her say that the women of today are not respecting her, just have her come out and say she's here to throw her hat in the ring and remind the women of today what she is about, without sounding like a heel. Now that the WWE is back where they were before Naomi returned in January, that is even more reason to turn Mickie James face.

There are some people that might say someone is a child stuck in a man's body. I was often told I was an old man stuck in a kid's body when I was younger. Regardless of that, when I look at Mickie James, I see a face stuck in a heel character. And it is a bad heel character. To make matters worse, the WWE has not even handled this bad heel character properly for the sake of those she is working with. You can talk about being out of touch, but it means more than just not knowing what your fans want. How about not even knowing what you have right under your nose? How about not being able to properly evaluate your own workers and properly utilize them? The WWE is just doing what they want and not doing things right.

Onto the Smackdown women's match for Wrestlemania. Essentially, just take every woman that has nothing to do and stick her in this match. Terrible. Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus at Wrestlemania 22 was the last great Wrestlemania women's match that wasn't a tag match, a triple threat, a battle royal, a lumberjill match, or some other match that involved sticking more people into the picture that really belonged there. Where are the personal feuds for Wrestlemania between two women? The WWE could have had one last year between Becky Lynch and Charlotte. They stuck Sasha Banks into the picture. Having a valet or manager at ringside is one thing. But this kind of booking is just terrible. And it has gone on now for over ten years.

Even ignoring the comparison to previous years, compare Smackdown's women's match to Raw's women's match. Smackdown has everyone being thrown into the match without much fuss over it this week. Meanwhile, Raw actually did more work than that. They had that promo this week that led to Sasha Banks defeating Bayley to earn a title match. It looks like it might be a triple threat. Regardless of whether or not Nia Jax gets added, there are less bodies involved than Smackdown's match, there is actually some development to building this match, and it was not just thrown together as lazy booking.

Let me just do a quick aside about the women's segment on Raw. Some people have criticized me in the past of undervaluing the overness and ability to draw of Sasha Banks and Bayley. These two wrestled in the third hour this week, which had that large third hour drop some fans have been talking about. Not only that, I was watching the end of the match on Monday, and Sasha Banks didn't get that great of a reaction when she won. That's because them Chicago fans never react to anything, right? Let's just be realistic. Face it, all these women can do better. In most cases, the fault goes on the WWE for mismanaging them. But I don't think I was wrong to question the overness and ability to draw of Sasha Banks and Bayley. There is a toxic environment in the WWE right now that will ruin the potential of a lot of workers. These two women have potential, but they are not there right now.

Back on track, let me continue to compare the Smackdown women's division to the Raw women's division. I would obviously say Smackdown has gotten the short end of the stick for Wrestlemania as far as the women go. But this is nothing new. Look at every major PPV since the brand split came back. I am talking about the big ones that featured both brands. Summerslam had Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte as Raw's women's match. Smackdown had a multi-woman tag match. Survivor Series had Raw vs. Smackdown, which was won by Raw. The Royal Rumble had Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax and Charlotte vs. Bayley for Raw, while Smackdown had another multi-woman tag match. And now Wrestlemania will have Raw's Women's Championship match be featured better than Smackdown's Women's Championship match.

This is terrible. It is becoming a theme. You might forgive them for Survivor Series, but this is still three PPVs since the brand split where Raw's women are being featured better than Smackdown's. And is there an end in sight? Okay, so the WWE wants separate women's divisions. I can even agree with running them with different philosophies. But these divisions are separate, but not equal. The WWE has to be able to spread the spotlight better than this.

While Raw is featuring certain women as elites and prominently, Smackdown is just juggling multiple women around. I think that is one of the problems. Smackdown doesn't have anyone being pushed properly as a star should. And if the WWE looks at the women on Smackdown and don't respect them as elites in the same way they view some of Raw's women, it is no shocker to see this questionable booking for the last few months.

The WWE needs to start developing stars out of the women they have on Smackdown and stop juggling them. If this was their preseason to assess what they have, okay, time to make the tough decisions. I would build around Becky Lynch, Mickie James, and Alexa Bliss. You have a woman that has the potential to be the centerpiece of the division now, a woman that earned it ten years ago, never got it, but can still be featured as a star now, and a woman that may not be a great wrestler, but could be a great character. Carmella and Natalya can be supporting players. What about Nikki Bella? If she sticks around, send her to Raw. Send Emma or Nia Jax to Smackdown. For all the respect Smackdown gets over Raw, they still do some terrible things on the blue brand. There is room for improvement.