Bayley Injured

During Bayley's match with Nia Jax on Raw, it looked like Bayley had suffered a legitimate shoulder injury. It has now been confirmed by the WWE that Bayley is injured. Assuming Bayley is out for a long period of time, how does this impact things?

The first thing you have to talk about is the #1 contendership. Bayley was supposed to face Alexa Bliss at Summerslam for Raw's Women's Championship. Thankfully, the depth is good. The WWE can just go back to pushing Sasha Banks. I would say Sasha Banks never should have lost the push in the first place. Of course, they can't just hand the title shot to Sasha Banks. They can have her win some match to earn the title shot. She can beat Nia Jax.

Overall, how does the loss of Bayley impact the depth of the Raw women's division? Hopefully, Bayley recovers well and is back soon. Until then, however, there is no shortage of faces. Mickie James and Dana Brooke have just been floating there for weeks now. Dana Brooke is not good in the ring, but the WWE can lean on Mickie James to team with Sasha Banks in tag matches for the next few weeks, or use her as a jobber. I have seen fans completely forget Mickie James is even there. Hopefully, if anything good comes out of something as bad as Bayley getting injured, Mickie James gets more usage.

The other issue to consider is Nia Jax. This is not the first time she has been involved in a match with some scary botches. Just a couple months ago, Charlotte's final match on Raw was against Nia Jax. It wasn't pretty. All the botches cannot be put on Nia Jax. Some botches are the fault of the person executing the move. Some are the fault of the person taking the move. And some are the fault of both individuals. I decided not to make a big deal of Nia Jax back then, since I did not feel she deserved all the blame back then. I still feel you cannot put all the blame on her for what happened this week, but she definitely has to take some of the blame. Moreover, this might be becoming a theme with her. Clumsy botches are one thing. Botches that result in serious injuries are something else.

Nia Jax is not a great worker. She is not that great in the ring. She does not have an appealing look. She does not show any great charisma. The fact that she's not like most girls does not mean anything. There are a lot of women out there that do not have the stereotypical look that manage to be stars. Adele does not have the stereotypical look. But she has a powerful voice and makes music that has helped her become a success. Thing is, you have to be good at what you are doing. Nia Jax is not.

How should the WWE handle Nia Jax going forward? Some say she should go back to NXT. I would not do that. But it is time to hold her accountable. If she cannot clean up her matches and start being smarter, fire her. I know botches will happen now and then, but if another serious botch happens that causes an injury, and it is obvious Nia is at fault, she should just not be getting any TV time, while other women that are better than her in the ring, like Emma, don't get opportunities. A worker like this should not be on the payroll.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Previewing The Fastlane 2017 Women's Matches

Another PPV with more than one women's match. I will start with Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax. They have been feuding for a while now. But that feud hit a snag in recent weeks when Sasha Banks spent more time in Bayley vs. Charlotte than feuding with Nia Jax. That feud just became a bit of an afterthought. There is a difference between two feuds crossing paths and one feud just becoming an afterthought. You might have something like Roman Reigns feuding against Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins feuding against Chris Jericho. Those feuds obviously crossed paths, but the individual feuds still remained strong. The WWE just could have done better with Nia Jax in recent weeks.

Who wins? If the WWE had done a better job with this feud, this might be the point where Sasha Banks wins it. But they have not. Since that is the case, they might as well keep Nia Jax strong for Wrestlemania. She'll get another win against Sasha. Will that lead to Sasha turning heel? That is another issue. I do not think the WWE should do it. We have already seen what bad depth can lead to on Smackdown recently.

Onto the title match. Bayley defends against Charlotte, who seems to have a fetish for being handed title reigns at PPVs. She only loses them on Raws. Speaking of that, there was an issue that Bayley is not a draw with the young female demographic. The Raw main event where she won the title did not do as well in that demographic as Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte, so some people want to spin that to mean Bayley is not a draw. There are a few points I want to bring up.

First, the female demographics for that final hour of Raw that night were still better than numbers Total Divas and Total Bellas have been getting this previous season. And all I hear is that these shows are great draws with women. Well, if that episode of Raw, including the third hour, did better ratings in the female demographic, including with younger women, why should you worry too much?

Move on from the fact that the main event still drew decent numbers, when compared to the reality shows the WWE has out. It did do less than Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte. But is it a fair comparison? Sasha and Charlotte were feuding for months before they main-evented Raw, without even including NXT and their feud with Becky Lynch also involved around Wrestlemania. The WWE stuffed a whole bunch of history into this feud. I think they could have booked it better, but you can see why it might draw good numbers. Even then, I wouldn't overrate the numbers it did get.

Compare that to Bayley vs. Charlotte. First of all, Bayley had her push against Charlotte killed off twice because the WWE went back to Sasha Banks. How is that going to make her look? Second, when they finally did let the feud really get started, it had only been going on about two months before the main event happened a few weeks ago. It was a fraction of the development Sasha/Charlotte had. It also does not help that it was not a fresh storyline connected to the feud. Viewers say this story already. It's just not fresh. You can say that Bayley just got Sasha's leftovers. There is a reason I frequently talk about feud development. If you do not develop a feud properly, don't expect it to draw for you as well as a feud that was developed a whole lot better. Bayley should not be blamed for the numbers.

Last thing to consider, Sasha Banks and Charlotte, the two supposed draws of the previous two women's Raw main events, were also involved in this. Why should they not shoulder the blame for numbers not being better? I would say they are not draws. What was the draw before was the hype and development. Because that was lacking here, even Sasha Banks and Charlotte being involved in the story could not help it. The WWE probably should have just spent the time properly pushing Sasha Banks against Nia Jax. If they expected her to give this feud a rub, it didn't work. Or is she just in the picture for a heel turn? Again, not what I would do.

Who wins between Charlotte and Bayley? If history is any indication, Charlotte is winning the title. And if I still cared enough to watch this stuff, I would probably throw my TV set through a window. The WWE could pull some swerve and have Charlotte win in some manner that she doesn't get  the title or have the match just get thrown out. Nia Jax can come out and destroy everyone. Charlotte's PPV streak is not broken and Bayley gets to defend the title at Wrestlemania. But I'll go with Charlotte winning, because the WWE seems to want her to be a 16x Champion.

Is Nia Jax Going Backwards?

It is not unusual for big monstrous wrestlers to squash jobbers when they first debut. They then graduate to better feuds. Some lose momentum and get tossed aside. Nia Jax is the women's division's big monster. She had been squashing jobbers for a long time. Local jobbers, even.

In recent months, it looked like she finally graduated. Recently, she had that feud going on with Sasha Banks. She was tossing Sasha around and looking monstrous. She was finally feuding with a credible opponent. But that feud never really got finished yet.

Next thing you know, Sasha Banks is back deeply involved in the picture with Charlotte and Bayley. She was there to give Bayley an assist to win the title last week. They were again involved with each other this week. Fans are already anticipating Sasha turning heel on Bayley.

But where is Nia? She once again squashed a local jobber on Raw this week. Now, it is not unheard of for an established big man to go back and squash jobbers here and there, but it is too soon for Nia Jax to be back squashing jobbers. This can hurt her development. Most squash matches are not entertaining. Yes, James Ellsworth got his big break being a local jobber, but it was his awkward look that got people talking about him and won him a contract.

This once again highlights the depth problem. Charlotte and Bayley cannot be involved with just each other every week. They need supporting players. Enter Dana Brooke. But who sides with Bayley? They could try to force Alicia Fox into the picture, but Sasha Banks already has a stronger connection with Bayley. Problem is, how they are using Sasha now just makes the feud she was having with Nia Jax irrelevant. There are not enough bodies to go around to handle what they want to do efficiently.

Even then, I think they could have done a better job keeping Nia Jax in the picture with Sasha Banks and everyone else. She will get a title feud sooner or later, but there is no need to waste her with these short squash matches until then. Fans already know she can be dominant. Don't botch the progression she is going through. Have her still target Sasha Banks. Even just a backstage segment with any of the women currently relevant would be enough. You can say that they needed to do the squash match to kill time, but I think they easily could have added that extra minute to any other match or segment. It is just poor feud development.

Previewing Bayley Vs. Charlotte For Tonight's Raw

I usually do not preview title matches on Raw or Smackdown. When it comes to Charlotte and Raw's Women's Championship, however, title changes on Raw are not uncommon at all. Tonight, Charlotte defends the title against Bayley.

Bayley already lost a title match against Charlotte at the Royal Rumble. But Charlotte has that PPV win streak going. If Bayley is going to win the title, tonight seems like the time where it might happen.

Should Bayley win it? Is she ready? Going by how the WWE seems to dump title reigns into the laps of certain individuals these days that are not ready at all, it might even be an irrelevant question to ask. The WWE has made questionable decisions with men, women, tag teams, and don't leave out the cruiserweights.

Nevertheless, I will repeat the question. Is Bayley ready? She has wrestling ability and was very popular in NXT. Since coming to the main roster, however, the WWE has botched how she has been pushed. And I see a lot of fans criticizing the storyline she has been getting. Some say it is the same thing she did in NXT. Some say it is the same thing Sasha Banks just did with Charlotte, without Bayley bringing up Eddie Guerrero. All this is part of the reason Bayley has not been more successful on the main roster. I am not talking in terms of wins and title reigns. I mean in terms of connecting with the audience, which matters a whole lot more than title reigns.

I would say Bayley is not ready and the WWE should not just force the title change and keep on chugging along with whatever they have planned like everything is working beautifully. Yes, the WWE is making money and all that, but they are really doing it by spreading themselves out and trying to make as much money as they can off wrestling fans. They can be making a lot more money and have a lot more mainstream success if they put thought into winning over the wider audience, not just playing with smarks and wrestling fans. As for Bayley, she is looking worse than Sasha Banks. And I didn't even think Sasha Banks looked that great during her push last year. Redoing the same kind of feud is just dull.

What about Charlotte? Her booking has been disgusting. The WWE has just been inflating her title resume. Some people criticize how John Cena has been booked since becoming the centerpiece over a decade ago. I would say how Charlotte has been booked is even more terrible. People groan whenever Roman Reigns challenges for a main-event title. He has only been WWE Champion 3 times in about 2 years. Since coming to the main roster roughly two years ago, Charlotte has won 5 women's titles, which includes being the last woman to hold the Diva's Championship. In that span, there have been multiple men that have had lengthy main-event title reigns, besides Reigns. Not one woman on Raw has had a title reign last more than a few weeks in that time Roman Reigns has held his titles, besides Charlotte.

If the depth was so terrible that they had to push Charlotte this much, I probably would not complain. The WWE is in a tough spot and just pushing the best in-ring worker they have. That is not the case. And that is the only situation where this booking should be allowed. Charlotte isn't even that popular. Even if she was, this juggling act is inexcusable. If she was so popular, they would not need to overrate her to look great and could just focus on showcasing her.

If Bayley does win the title tonight, will she drop it back to Charlotte at Fastlane? I read the rumors about Bayley feuding with Sasha Banks, and the WWE has done things to tease a heel turn for Banks, but the WWE has shown that they are going to push Charlotte as the centerpiece. And she is the most annoying centerpiece since Michelle McCool. Might be even worse. I will be shocked if they remove Charlotte from the title picture for even 5 seconds.

All that being said, who wins tonight? Bayley does not feel like she has been built up properly. The WWE has created a trend of Charlotte dropping the title on Raw. I would say it is likely the title change happens. As I pointed out before, the WWE is not afraid to hand off titles to people that have not been developed properly. Bayley can just join the club.

Previewing The Royal Rumble 2017 Women's Matches

Charlotte finally faces someone over Raw's Women's Championship at a PPV that's not named Sasha Banks. She defends the title against Bayley at the Royal Rumble.

Let's talk about Bayley. She debuted at a time Sasha Banks was taking some time off. Her push got screwed up when Sasha Banks came back. They looked like they were going to push her again, but then they once again went back to Sasha Banks. But here it is, Bayley getting a title feud on the main roster.

I see a lot of criticism for Bayley. For one thing, a lot of fans don't like some of her promos. Well, a lot of these women, including the highly-praised top women's wrestling talent coming out of NXT, are not that great on the mic. Charlotte often seems robotic with some of her promos. Fans, and the WWE, just have to realize that not everyone is the same. That may sound obvious, but you have to put that idea into practice. Bayley may not be the type of performer that can cut certain promos or handle certain storylines. It just doesn't fit her character. But her character does have potential. She's someone little kids can like. She has a friendly personality. Whether she ever develops greater depth or not, you just have to find storylines and angles that work for her. It is the old idea of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It can really ruin Bayley if they just take her and just try to make her into something she is not.

Another criticism I have seen brought up is that Bayley doesn't have that same magic she had down in NXT. People say she was so over in NXT. They say she had the greatest underdog story in women's wrestling. The WWE may think that the could just redo the same kind of things they did down there for her. But it isn't working. I am not surprised. I have seen it before that something that looks so amazing down in NXT comes to the main roster and loses that luster, even if the WWE does try to feature it prominently. But this criticism is more on the WWE than Bayley. They cannot take it for granted that something successful in NXT will carry over on the main roster. And they should be terrified if that ever becomes the norm. NXT only gets a fraction of the audience the main roster gets. Do they want Raw only getting a million viewers or less? Do they want live events featuring main roster talent to get a crowd of 300? Do they want to only appeal to smarks? Put the proper work in on the main roster.

Who wins this match? Charlotte. Not only does Bayley not look like she's ready, but I doubt the WWE ruins Charlotte's undefeated PPV streak here. It's not a draw. I doubt the person that gets the "rub" by ending the streak will really benefit. It is just a means of hyping up Charlotte. End it at Wrestlemania. End it against an opponent that has been developed better. Whatever the case, it is not likely to end here.

Further down the card, Sasha Banks takes on Nia Jax. As I have said before, in the previous era, it would be rare to see someone that was just used to put over the centerpiece in the women's division still get a proper feud after she has been rotated out. I am not talking about a periphery angle. I mean a female wrestler feuding with another female wrestler in a legitimate feud that will go to a PPV. I cannot think of one example of a credible jobber getting a proper feud like this once during the diva era off the top of my head. Sasha Banks fans should not be complaining about Sasha Banks getting something to do.

One of the problems with this feud is that Bayley already beat Nia Jax a few weeks ago in a singles match. Nia Jax isn't undefeated on the main roster anymore. If she still was, that would make this feud seem even more important. Can Sasha Banks hand Nia Jax her first official loss on the main roster? Of course, they couldn't really help it. The roster lacks depth. If they wanted to have a #1 contender's match, there aren't a lot of credible options for Bayley to go over available. You have to take into account injuries and other angles the WWE has going on. In the old days, the WWE might just do a battle royal to decide the #1 contender. Bayley eliminating Nia Jax to win that would not be the same as beating her in a singles match. Nia Jax would still be undefeated in singles matches. But it is hard to book properly when you don't have a lot to work with. Because of that, this feud loses some of its luster. Sasha Banks still has to beat a destructive monster, but people have already seen that the monster is beatable.

Who wins? It comes down to how long the WWE wants to prolong this. And the WWE has shown that they do love prolonging things these days. This is a feud for Sasha Banks to win, but the WWE might extend this feud beyond the Royal Rumble. If they do, Nia Jax would win at the Royal Rumble and Sasha would win the feud later on. That is what I will go with.

Raw's Women's Division Finally Moves On

Charlotte regained the Raw Women's Championship last Sunday. Not shocking. What is also not shocking is that Charlotte is now moving on to Bayley and Sasha Banks gets Nia Jax.

Question is, what took them so long? I don't care if you are a Charlotte fan, Sasha fan, Bayley fan, or whatever. I don't care how much you like or dislike the WWE's handling of the women's division since #GiveDivasAChance made them look bad. I don't care if you enjoyed the wrestling from Charlotte and Sasha these last few months or not. You have to admit, that last title reign Sasha Banks had was just pointless. They extended the feud for no good reason. They were already showing signs of rotating in Bayley to face Charlotte. They killed that just to do another juggling act with the title between Charlotte and Sasha.

If you are in the camp that says Charlotte and Sasha are putting on great matches, you mean to tell me Bayley can't wrestle? She is one of the highly-regarded NXT women. The WWE really hurt her momentum with that sloppy booking over the last month. Moreover, even without the the title on the line, or at least not changing hands, Charlotte and Sasha could still have faced each other and put on matches wrestling fans can enjoy. The issue is having so many title changes and just continuing this feud too long.

Nia Jax has been another woman stuck in limbo while the WWE kept going with Sasha Banks and Charlotte. She gets something to do. Moreover, Sasha Banks, who was just used as a jobber to the centerpiece, gets a feud for herself outside the title picture. In the previous era, you couldn't count on something like this. Credible jobbers would get lost in the shuffle after putting over the centerpiece or filling in for the centerpiece. This feud is obviously not a title feud or bigger than the title feud, but it is still something for Sasha Banks to do. And there is a chance it gets featured well. At the very least, it might get featured better than the mediocrity credible jobbers would get in the diva era.

Survivor Series 2016 Preview: Part 2

I will talk about the women's match today. Aside from the actual match, I have to bring up the personal feuds on both brands with these women. It will obviously spill over to some degree this Sunday.

Let me start with Smackdown. Nikki Bella, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Naomi will be teaming up. Three faces and two heels. Aside from that, Nikki Bella and Carmella are coming off a feud that seemed to be more heated than it really needed to be at times. Carmella would be assaulting Nikki before matches even had a chance to start. And there was never any strong personal reason for that. Becky Lynch has been feuding with Alexa Bliss over the Smackdown Women's Championship. Becky may have retained it, but this feud is not over. But these will be two feuds that might spill over to the women's match at Survivor Series.

How about that decision to not make Becky Lynch, the Women's Champion of Smackdown, team captain? I still see some fans annoyed by it. Again, I am not going to shake my head at this decision. Becky Lynch was out for a while due to a medical issue. When she came back, she was immediately still tied up in that feud with Alexa Bliss. She was not really free to handle the angle of being team captain. Why not spread some of the attention around?

Over to Raw. Charlotte will be teaming with Sasha Banks, Bayley, Nia Jax, and Alicia Fox. Once again, three faces and two heels. Charlotte being the captain here is understandable. She wrapped up Sasha Banks at Hell in a Cell and the WWE got around to pushing her for this Survivor Series match right away. Even though both Sasha Banks and Bayley will be gunning for Raw's Women's Championship, a title feud has not been as active on Raw as you have had with Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss on Smackdown in recent weeks. Nia Jax had lost a ton of momentum prior to this push. Alicia Fox was even further down the ladder than her. She was last relevant when being used to put over Nia Jax. But these two are really just extra bodies.

Who wins? There is obviously a ton of personal feuds on both teams that can influence the story of this match. There will be a lot of talk from the commentators about how all these women can coexist. But I think Raw's team will win this one. I wouldn't be surprised to see Bayley as one of the survivors, if not the sole survivor.

Charlotte As The Centerpiece

Donald Trump winning the election this week wasn't the only recent event to leave some people stunned. Charlotte regaining the Raw Women's Championship from Sasha Banks was also something that has left some fans a little upset.

It was not the booking decision I would have made, but it is not too surprising. The WWE has a history of building their men's and women's division around one individual. That person is going to dominate the title scene. Even when that person is not in the title scene, it is not unusual for that person to still be treated better than the person holding the title. That person is the centerpiece. It seems Charlotte truly is the person the WWE wants as the centerpiece.

I have said before that what the women's division will look like in the new era will take time to develop. You can't just jump to the conclusion that they are going to do things a certain way. And I will say that it has really started to develop, for Raw's women's division, anyway. Some fans obviously jumped to the conclusion that the women's division would go through Sasha Banks. Even if just for a few months, she would be featured like Charlotte was featured for the last year. That is obviously not happening, as Bayley is now being rotated in as the credible jobber that will work with Charlotte.

If you analyzed the treatment Sasha Banks was getting since she debuted last year, you probably saw some signs that this depush would come for her. Despite her win streak, which was ultimately meaningless, she was pushed inconsistently. The 3-stable war was mainly about PCB and Team Bella. To be more specific, it was about Charlotte and Nikki Bella. Fans were upset that Sasha was not pushed better. When Sasha showed up to attack Charlotte at the Royal Rumble this year, her fans were ready to party. Another depush followed after Wrestlemania. After a concussion issue, Sasha got that push that led to two short title reigns. But there were two periods of mediocrity prior to her big recent push. And then you take into account that she only seemed most relevant when feuding with Charlotte. Credible jobbers will seem that relevant when being used as a jobber to the centerpiece or interim centerpiece. Even though signs were there, what you would hope for is that a new era meant things would be done in a new way. The only thing that seems to have changed is that the WWE is no longer as determined to have an eye-candy performer as their top star. They are still running a centerpiece-driven system. At least, that is what they are showing on Raw.

As I said, this was not the booking decision I would have made. Some morons have accused me of not liking Sasha Banks, or whatever. It has nothing to do with liking or disliking anyone in particular. It is about seeing these individuals get fair opportunities and get what they deserve. As a fan, I will have people I like or don't like. As a critic, I will point out strengths and weaknesses, and it may sometimes sound like I hate someone I actually like, or vice versa. As an analyst, I try to be objective. And as an analyst, I would say the WWE didn't really give Sasha Banks a legitimate opportunity at all. She has had two title reigns on the main roster, but both were really short. Charlotte was obviously the centerpiece the whole time. The WWE should want to give multiple women fair opportunities to show what they can do in the spotlight to determine which of these women truly deserves to be the centerpiece. They can't just predetermine what they want to do and try to make it happen. When a quarterback predetermines where he wants to throw the ball, that can sometimes lead to trouble. He might get intercepted. He needs to understand what's going on in front of him. Analyze. Think. It's even worse when the WWE is so determined to force something to happen. Look at John Cena. Look at Roman Reigns. Look at multiple failed centerpieces in the diva era that led to that era's collapse. I would have let Sasha Banks hold the title for a few months, possibly all the way to Wrestlemania. Have her get some successful feuds against the likes of Emmalina and Nia Jax. Give her a chance to show if she deserves to be the centerpiece. Contrary to what some of Sasha's fans might think, she is not as over as they might think. But she deserves the opportunity to expand her game and show what she can do when the spotlight is on her, beyond just wrestling. The WWE did not give her that shot.

Bayley is likely in for the same treatment Sasha Banks just had. You have already seen Bayley go through a period of mediocrity. She was floating around for a little while during Charlotte vs. Sasha. They gave her a feud with Dana Brooke, but it seemed like mostly filler, although the WWE did put some work in developing it. Fans didn't like it so much. Bayley will eventually get a title run. But how long will she hold it until Charlotte gets it back?

Onto Charlotte. I don't think she has shown enough to prove that she deserves to be the centerpiece. Yes, she can wrestle. But the centerpiece of a division in the WWE, a company that has been interested in more than just pleasing wrestling fans for a long time, should be strong in more than just wrestling. She doesn't have that natural charisma that helps a lot of people to get over with a wide audience. She does try, but trying is not the same as getting it done. I failed every test in a Calculus class I took. I got a D. That's because the professor saw that I tried and put in effort. I should have gotten an F. In terms of her charisma and the effort she puts into showing character, I would not give Charlotte a D or an F, but there are women that could do better that also happen to also be good in the ring. Why not give these women, like Bayley or Sasha Banks, a legitimate chance? I am not going to critique her looks. The WWE is pushing that women's revolution stuff, so emphasis should be given to in-ring work and overall character. If there was a woman on Raw that was good in the ring, charismatic, and beautiful, it is likely she would have the overness to deserve to be centerpiece and I would recommend her. As it stands, the WWE is sticking with Charlotte, and she has not shown she really deserves to be pushed this well.

Just stop and look at how Charlotte has been pushed. Counting her NXT title win and holding the butterfly title, she is a 5-time women's titleholder. Toss in her undefeated streak at PPVs, including wrestling in the first women's Hell in a Cell match, which also happened to be the first time women main-evented a PPV. She is over-pushed. She will be a 10-time Champion before the end of 2018. She will likely be the first woman to have held both the Raw Women's Championship and the Smackdown Women's Championship. I haven't seen anything like it since Michelle McCool. Michelle McCool was another solid in-ring worker that lacked natural charisma. It just doesn't energize the division to have someone that isn't that popular dominate like this. It is deflating for many. The WWE should still leave the playing field open to give other women a chance to earn this big career Charlotte is being given.

Previewing The Hell In A Cell 2016 Women's Matches

History will be made when the WWE has women compete inside the Hell in a Cell for the first time. It will be Sasha Banks defending Raw's Women's Championship against Charlotte.

There was some teasing since last week that this match would be the main event of the PPV. That has since turned into this match being a part of one of those "triple main-event" deals. I would say there is at least some chance this match might still be the true main event. That is to say, the match that closes the show.

Should it be? No. The WWE just cannot force this women's revolution to be a thing. They have to let it be organic. They are not giving it a chance to work out. They are treating it like it is working out. And who are they going to listen to to see if fans are approving? The same fans that were all for women being treated this much better? Want to guess whether those fans will give a thumbs up or thumbs down? There are still a lot of fans out there not liking this. There are fans that have not really gotten the chance to connect with some of these women before they have been rushed to the top. Slow down, WWE.

The Universal Championship match between Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens should be the main event. It has had some issues and is not even the real feud fans should be interested in for Seth Rollins. That would be Seth vs. Triple H. Nevertheless, this match is for Raw's top title. This match will be used to further the top storyline going on. This match is the match I will be talking about on Friday.

If the WWE did put the women in the top spot this Sunday, will it really be that much of an honor? Look at what they did a few weeks ago at Smackdown's last PPV. The triple threat for the WWE Championship, the match that should have closed the show, went on first. Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton was the main event. I have said that I like this feud, but it did not deserve to close the PPV. That looks like just cowardice on the part of the WWE because of the presidential debate. What is the WWE scared of this Sunday? The Dallas Cowboys vs. the Philadelphia Eagles? They should be scared of the Dallas Cowboys. Is this just going to become a theme for even PPVs now? The WWE Network era cheapens the value of PPVs already, especially with the brand split back. If the WWE did choose to put this match on last, it wouldn't be the same as if they had done it a decade ago.

Who wins? Sasha Banks. Enough tossing the title around. Charlotte has her streak of PPV wins, but that statistic doesn't matter. I just hope they keep it safe. I have seen some fans say there needs to be blood in the Hell in a Cell matches, even this one. No, there does not need to be blood. If the WWE puts this match as the main event, these women might feel even more obligated to get crazy. And things have not always gone smoothly when expectations are high with these women.

What happens after Sunday? Sasha Banks can move on to Emmalina. Nia Jax is also an option, but I would go with Emmalina. The WWE has already murdered Nia's momentum. What about Charlotte? That will be interesting to see. Did they put all that work into her for the last year just to ditch her? That would be some TNA nonsense right there. They could put her in a storyline with Lana. There was some drama there between them a little while ago. It would obviously not be a serious wrestling feud, but not everything needs to go through the ring. Charlotte needs to do a better job with her character. Some storyline variety might help her.

Even though it is not yet official, Dana Brooke vs. Baylay might find itself somewhere on Sunday's card. These two have been feuding for the last few weeks. Why not put it somewhere on Sunday? It might be a kickoff match.

This feud has shown some of the things that are still wrong with this era. Go back to Raw last week. Dana Brooke got a clean win over Bayley. You can talk about Dana botching the finish and she was supposed to put her foot on the ropes all you want. Dana Brooke should not be pinning Bayley at all. Dana Brooke is not a good wrestler. That is not one of her assets. Bayley is one of the top female wrestling talents from NXT. Charlotte and Sasha pinning her is one thing. Dana Brooke? No. There are certain things that should be earned. Making history and headlining PPVs are things you would expect to fall into that category. Dana beating someone like Bayley is something that should be earned. She needs to improve her in-ring work. This would not be the first time she has messed something up. Just handing Dana a win over someone like Bayley does no one any favors. Wrestling fans are still not going to buy into Dana's in-ring work. Bayley doesn't look good. And people that want a better women's division are going to groan at this.

There are some exceptions to this idea that someone that isn't good in the ring should not be beating a woman that is good in the ring. If the female wrestler in question is a heel and the other woman is a face, you might let it go. If the heel does a great job in getting fans to want to see her get her comeuppance, they would love it if she gets owned even from someone that isn't someone you would expect to own her. Let it be some old person. Let it be some non-wrestler. Let it even be a diva. It leads to a good moment. That is not what you have here. Bayley is a face and Dana Brooke is a heel that needs to improve herself. Booking can't do it for her.

Look at TNA having Maria feud with Gail Kim. That was a feud I did not really love too much, from the standpoint of what wrestling fans would want to see. At a time when the WWE is hyping treating women's wrestling better, TNA pushes a diva against a respected female wrestler. Maria even won the KO title. It was all obviously to eventually put over Gail Kim, but you can see how these kind of feuds can hurt the respectability of the division, if you even care about looking respectable.

There are other ways to make someone look good in a feud without having them beat the person they are feuding against. Have Dana Brooke just attack Bayley. They have done things like this in recent weeks for this feud. There was no need to book Dana to get a win over Bayley.

This week on Raw featured another segment between the two. It was arm wrestling this time. Dana took advantage of Bayley's injury to get a win, then got owned the second time. A little brawl ensued. Bayley won that battle. That was a fine way to prolong the feud without having just another wrestling match.

There was a problem, however. Fans were not too respectful for the segment. Was it once again a case of antsy Lesnar fans waiting to see him? This same thing happened before in Minnesota. Some fans still just do not like what is going on in this era. Was the idea to have an arm wrestling match really such a terrible idea? I don't think so, as a writer. Bayley has a shoulder injury. Dana Brooke likes to show off her muscles. The segment just seemed obvious. The WWE doesn't have the depth to keep having multiple women's matches every Raw. Proper feud development involves some non-wrestling segments. How is someone like Dana Brooke supposed to build her character? She isn't great at wrestling.

Nevertheless, there are some fans that roll their eyes at this kind of thing. There was nothing sexist about what the WWE did. This wasn't some kind of skin match. They do this kind of thing even with the men. Mark Henry has been involved in a lot of arm wrestling segments. And yet, all they care about for these women are wrestling matches. The WWE just cannot sustain what some fans want to see. Give the WWE a break. They cannot get by with just pleasing wrestling fans. They got to put work into these women to build them into more than just wrestlers and to create segments and storylines that can entertain more than just wrestling fans. But can they do it with divas still in this new women's division? Can female wrestlers and divas coexist? It would help if some fans eased up a little.

As for who wins this likely match, Bayley. Dana Brooke has already gotten enough wins over Bayley to last her the rest of the year.  

Previewing The Clash Of Champions 2016 Women's Championship Match

Clash of Champions will be the first Raw-only PPV of the new brand split era. Not a lot of big matches to talk about at all. I'll talk about the women's matches today.

Sasha Banks had won the right to face Charlotte at the PPV last week on Raw. Due to a questionable finish that the WWE obviously did not like happening, they changed it this week to a triple-threat match, adding in Bayley. If the WWE had planned for both their shoulders to be down at the end of the match last week, they just would have acknowledged it during the show. The Internet sure saw it and made a whole bunch of noise. I am not surprised at all that they would turn it into an angle this week. Considering how many times Charlotte has faced Sasha Banks on the main roster alone, adding in Bayley at least makes the Clash of Champions match a little fresher.

Who wins? Charlotte just won it back last month. I don't care if they want her as the centerpiece, Sasha Banks as the centerpiece, or will just juggle these women around, there is no need to rush the title off her now. The WWE needs to do a better job developing these women. Bayley has just debuted a few weeks ago. Sasha Banks just returned from her break a short while after that. And now they are both in a title match. Bayley has already tasted defeat on the main roster. You have a botched finish in a #1 contenders match last week. Sasha Banks always seems to have a dangerous botch in big matches. This Sunday will probably be no different. I just think the WWE needs to stop and think things over. Even though I think it would be a good decision to keep the title on Charlotte, I will say the WWE puts it back on Sasha Banks. As long as there isn't some injury issue, the WWE might just put it back on her.

A less-important match happening his Sunday is Alicia Fox vs. Nia Jax. I don't think I need to spend many sleepless nights wondering who will win this one. At least Nia Jax has graduated beyond local jobbers. But the WWE actually has to go somewhere with her. If she is going to get a title shot soon, that means a face will have to be holding the title, which is another reason I feel Sasha wins this Sunday. By the time Sasha is done feuding with Charlotte, she can move on to Nia Jax.

Sasha Banks Returns In A Big, Disappointing Way

Last week, a tweet from Sasha Banks stirred speculation that she might be retiring. The WWE spent much of the night promoting Sasha's big announcement. She got her segment in the final hour before the main event. She sold it like it might be the end. Dana Brooke came out to heel it up. Sasha Banks attacked her and announced that she was not retiring. She was just officially back.

This whole thing just seemed to fail in multiple ways. There were even dirtsheet reports of talent being unhappy about it. I think it was a pointless angle. Beyond that, Sasha just said something that is terrible for her character to say. There is a lot to get into.

First, why did they even bother? Sasha Banks was only gone for what ended up being two weeks. Just have her return by attacking Charlotte, which she has done before to a lot of buzz from wrestling fans. Or have her return to save Bayley from an attack from Charlotte and Dana Brooke. Or have her return while Charlotte and Bayley are having an in-ring promo. There was no need to tease that her injury issues might lead to her retiring.

Why did they do it? The WWE is either very stupid or they are trying to fool someone. It was Labor Day last Monday. There was a college football game on between two good teams, and the game ended up being somewhat competitive. How would the WWE compete against that? Hyping something and building up to it is an efficient way to draw. Problem is, Sasha Banks isn't that over and isn't that well-known with the wider audience. Why would they care to tune it? If the WWE thought Sasha Banks could draw big in this situation, they overestimated her and made a big mistake. Or were they just doing it to sell that they want Sasha Banks to be a top star for them? They haven't exactly put in the work to properly get her over beyond wrestling fans.

A few months ago, I talked about how the women's division lacked star power. Someone commented that I underestimated Sasha Banks. He brought up the great ratings Raw had gotten one night, which was when Sasha Banks returned from an injury and attacked Charlotte. There were a number of reasons why you should not have made too much out of those numbers. To start with, it was the night after a PPV, which usually get good numbers. Beyond that, the WWE did not hype Sasha Banks returning. And she wasn't exactly out there for long. Even if Twitter buzz led to some fans tuning in, Sasha Banks was probably done doing anything interesting by the time they tuned in.

If Sasha Banks has the power to draw for the WWE, they gave her the opportunity to prove it last week. The seeds were planted before Raw even started. The WWE hyped it throughout the night. It led all the way to the third hour. How did Raw do last week? 3.06 million viewers. And viewership dropped each hour as the show went on. The hour involving Sasha Banks was the worst of the night, getting about 2.8 million viewers. The WWE obviously did not deliver with the intrigue of Triple H returning and screwing Seth Rollins. Why did he do it? Have to wait and find out. But they ran with this Sasha Banks angle, which could have drawn interest, if Sasha was as much of a draw as some people think.

Onto some talent reportedly being upset with the angle. The WWE ran with a fake retirement due to injury angle. That can hit home for some wrestlers. They watched the careers of some of their friends and legends they respect come to an end due to injury. There were even some workers there that night that could directly relate to injuries ruining their careers. I wasn't personally offended, but I can understand if some people really were offended. Just to make it clear, workers are reportedly upset with the WWE running the angle, not with Sasha Banks.

I have seen some fans say the WWE just did the same thing they did with Mark Henry years ago. Not exactly. Mark Henry has had his injury issues, but the WWE never led people to believe back then that he was being forced to retire due to injury when he did his memorable segment. It was just a guy that was in the WWE for a long time deciding to hang it up. With the Sasha Banks segment, the WWE was running with Sasha Banks having injury issues.

Just comparing the two segments, Mark Henry's was obviously better. But just back to the idea of Sasha Banks failing to draw a big audience with her angle, Mark Henry was a guy that has been in the business for decades, including during the Attitude Era, and has accomplished things outside of wrestling. Putting a person like that in this kind of situation is more likely to draw and make an impact than what the WWE did with Sasha Banks. Sasha has only been wrestling for 6 years now. She has not made a name for herself outside wrestling. Being related to a celebrity is not enough. Making a name for yourself in NXT is not enough. NXT does not get the wide audience the main roster gets.

Back to the idea of people being upset about the segment. It wouldn't be the first time the WWE exploited a sensitive subject, especially with the women, and had it flop. You just have to be sensitive these days. When Kevin Owens recently won the Universal Championship, someone from ESPN got trashed by fans for saying something on Twitter many viewed as insensitive in response to the son of Kevin Owens celebrating his dad's win. His son has autism. Made me think back to a comment I had made about his son having a new toy to play with when Owens won the new title. Should I feel bad for saying it? Should I apologize? I don't think I said anything offensive. That is still his son. He is 8. Kids that age play with title belts. I know teenagers and adults that play with title belts. But as far as the WWE goes, they take advantage of these kind of things to try to drum up controversy and draw for them. I would say it is worse for them to do this kind of thing.

As far as insensitive comments go, Sasha Banks said something in that segment last week that rubbed me the wrong way. She body-shamed Dana Brooke. I don't take offense to it personally. Even as a fan of Mickie James, what she said does not offend me because of bringing back any memories to what the WWE did to Mickie in her final months in the WWE.

The issue I have is that Sasha Banks should not be saying that. Not only is she a face, she is a woman that a lot of fans look at as some kind of hero. She is viewed as a hero to women's wrestling. She is viewed as a hero to women in general. And she slams a woman for how she looks? She just looks like a raging hypocrite. I have given Sasha Banks a fair shot in her first year on the main roster, but she has just not won me over at all. I don't know if that was a scripted comment coming from the WWE or if Sasha just did it on the fly to taunt Dana. Either way, it is garbage.

The rest of Sasha's promo before that wasn't exactly anything fresh. I am not saying anything about her execution. I am talking about the actual message. It was more feminist hype. The WWE just needs to cut it down. Enough of it. It is not entertaining. Even though some fans like hearing it, it is abrasive for a lot of other fans. It is one of the reasons this whole revolution has not been as widely successful as it could have been. You can treat these women better without making a theme out of it. That is what I would like to see.

Overall, I would love it if more of these women did stand up for themselves more backstage. If Sasha was told by the writers to make that body-shaming comment towards Dana, she should have put her foot down and refused. Not only are you making Dana look bad, you are making yourself look like a hypocrite. I sat there about 7 years ago and watched my favorite female wrestler allow herself to be humiliated by the WWE for the sake of exploiting her to get some woman over that can't do it for herself. How about you put your damn foot down and don't let that happen? You can talk about being in the WWE being a dream job and wanting to look like a team player all you want, but there are just some terrible decisions that don't make you look good, don't make the WWE look good, and don't succeed in accomplishing anything good. Why do it? Why allow it? This is the era of female empowerment? Okay, so when are these women going to put there foot down and stop these terrible segments from happening?

With Sasha Banks back, that throws a bit of a wrench in the feud that was developing between Bayley and Charlotte. The easy answer is to have a triple-threat match. Some fans have suggested one of the faces just feud with Dana Brooke for a while. Is that a feud anyone wants to see? Dana is not great in the ring, the result of the feud would be predictable, and they have already had Dana face both Baylay and Sasha in singles matches. It would just be pure filler. Reports suggest the WWE is not even sure how they want to handle things for the first Raw-exclusive PPV of the new era. They still have some time to put something together.

Sasha Banks Loses Title, Takes Time Off

Sasha Banks lost the Women's Championship back to Charlotte at Summerslam. It seems it was a planned title change to give Sasha some time to have her honeymoon and recover from some injury issues. Charlotte has now moved on to a title feud with the debuting Bayley.

Did I mention that the match at Summerslam once again featured a scary spot where Sasha Banks could have been seriously injured? This has just become a theme. From the summer of 2015 to the summer of 2016, it seems almost every big match for Sasha Banks involves some scary spot. I am not even counting general sloppiness or botches in unimportant matches or house show matches. Just looking at big matches and scary spots where she could have been seriously injured, too many times has Sasha Banks been involved in these kind of situations. The blame might not always go on her, but there is a real issue here.

These women from NXT need to calm down. The top-tier female talent (Paige, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch) have debuted on the main roster with so much hype. None of them have lived up to that hype. Time will tell what happens with Bayley. It might sound rude of me to say this, but I am being honest. Whether you want to blame how the WWE has utilized them, the people they are working with, or whatever, the matches have not been as consistently great as they should be, these women are killing themselves, and their potential is not being developed beyond just being wrestlers. This injury issue is just the biggest deal of them all. Because there is all this hype around women's wrestling and these women are getting so much praise, they might sometimes feel they need to do these crazy spots to keep fans interested. When it works, you look great. When it doesn't work, you risk breaking your neck. There are just several reasons why they need to settle down.

First, the injury issue hurts the depth of the division. I was saying before that the Raw women's division was in a bit of an emergency situation. If Sasha Banks went down, what would the WWE do? Well, Sasha Banks went down. She's taking time off. Luckily, Bayley was ready to debut. Nevertheless, what does the WWE do if Bayley gets injured? Have Charlotte feud with Dana Brooke? Yeah, there might be a great story there, but the match they have will likely not be too spectacular. And even without Bayley getting injured, the depth isn't there to create fresh matches with her for long. Sasha Banks will likely be back in a month, but that's still a month the WWE has to manage with a roster with poor depth.

Second, the injury issue hurts them. Obviously! These women need to care about their own health. Sasha Banks is only 24. She has already had to take time off a few times due to injury issues since debuting on the main roster last year. At the rate she is going, she won't be wrestling anymore when she turns 30. She might even be paralyzed by then, if she is not careful. Who wants that? I don't want to see anyone get that kind of serious injury.

Third, these scary spots and injuries just hurt the WWE's image. This is an era where the WWE cares very much how the media portrays them. If there is anything that could derail, and arguably should derail, the women's revolution, it isn't simply declining ratings or failure to get some of these women more over. It is the injury issue. How can the WWE stand by and let these women do all these cringe-worthy spots? How can they allow them to pretty much injure themselves and profit off of it? I can definitely imagine some people calling them out on this. If the WWE holds back some of the men from doing certain moves, why shouldn't they hold the women back if it looks like an issue is coming up? I sometimes come across videos of fans doing wrestling moves on Youtube. I even see little girls imitating women's moves. There is all this hype over Sasha Banks. If little girls try to imitate what she does, they will get seriously hurt. And negative press will come to the WWE's doorstep.

I could say another reason these women should calm down is to protect their own overness. If they botch too much, that could hurt their overness. Fans would become disillusioned with them. Sadly, I don't think that is a big issue. Yes, Sasha Banks has people pointing out that she botches more than someone hyped as highly as she is should and people anticipating that she's going to land on her head during a big matches, but for the most part, she isn't going to lose her fans. If anything, these risky spots reinforce her support with these fans. The fact that these women have proven themselves in NXT seems to give them a free pass when it comes to making mistakes. I am not going to jump down anyone's throat for making a mistake here and there, but these are dangerous mistakes that are becoming a theme when it comes to Sasha Banks.

You might notice I used the word "Sadly" back there. Why do I say it is sad that the risky botching issue might not hurt the women's popularity too much? Because it feels like they are condoning it. In some cases, it feels like these might be bloodthirsty fans egging these women on. I remember that match on Raw where Sasha won the title. The crowd wasn't really that respectful towards the action from start to finish. But they did come alive when the women did their high-risk spots, particularly Charlotte's moonsault out of the ring and Sasha Banks nearly injuring herself with the dive out of the ring. These fans do realize it comes with a price, right? Maybe they play too many video games. I haven't played a wrestling game in a while, but I don't think there is a feature where you can lose the ability to play with a certain character ever again because he becomes too injured or cannot use them for a couple months because they need to take time off to nurse a serious injury. That's not a game. That's life. If some fans cannot respect what these women are doing without them potentially hurting themselves, then screw those fans.

I have seen one fan say that the reason these NXT women are not wrestling big matches as smoothly on the main roster as they did in NXT is because they had more time to plan in NXT. I could almost buy that, but there is one major problem. Why is it that the majority of top NXT guys that come to the main roster can wrestle smoothly? A guy like Kevin Owens can wrestle just as well with guys he worked with in NXT as he can guys he never worked with down there, like John Cena. A guy like AJ Styles never went through NXT at all and has put on some pretty good matches with a variety of men in the WWE this year. Botches will happen, but you don't have the same issue you have with the women. There were also some big botches from the women down in NXT, although it is really starting to stand out now that they come to the main roster.

There is more I feel like saying, but I'll just end it here. These women from NXT debut with so much hype and are rated so highly. There are these higher expectations for them, and if that is the way it going to be, there is only so much sloppiness you should allow them to get away with. I can't say what your limit should be, but I've seen just about enough. Sasha Banks loses her title a few weeks after winning it to take time off to heal up, and then has another spot in that very match where she could have been seriously injured. That's unbelievable. I would rather watch Eva Marie botch around the ring for 60 minutes than watch a match between Charlotte and Sasha Banks that only lasts 5 minutes because Sasha broke her neck and the ref ended the match.