State Of The WWE Women's Division: August 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Previewing The Summerslam 2017 Women's Championship Matches

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Natalya Gets The Title Shot

Of all the women that had a chance to challenge Naomi at Summerslam for the Smackdown Women's Championship, I believed Natalya was just the least deserving. She wasn't fresh. She didn't have an angle going for herself. She wasn't built up to deserve it. There was no interesting storyline that you could get from her winning. Naomi vs. Natalya was just not a big match for the WWE's biggest PPV of the summer. There just was not one good reason for Natalya to win.

And to the surprise of no one, Natalya ends up winning. Smackdown has a tendency to do this kind of thing with their women. From last year, Becky Lynch didn't really have any momentum or creative interest on her prior to becoming Smackdown's Women's Champion. She won it. Some believed there was no way Alexa Bliss would beat Becky Lynch for the title. She did. Naomi just returned from an injury and steamrolled Alexa Bliss for the title. She returned from another injury and got the title handed back to her. The WWE didn't even wait to see if she could stay healthy. They just do not build things properly in their women's division.

Obviously, I would not have had Natalya win it. This is nothing personal against Natalya. I just believe, if you are going to do it, do it right. Build her up to deserve it. Do it at a time when there aren't other women that are fresher or have some angle going for them that might make for a better story with Naomi.

I would say the problem is Smackdown trying to give too many women something to do. Of the in-ring performers, Naomi is Women's Champion, Natalya is the challenger, Carmella has the briefcase and her angle with James Ellsworth, Tamina and Lana have their angle together, and Becky Lynch and Charlotte beat them in a tag match this week. Everyone has something going. But does that mean they have something great going anywhere? I don't feel it. You need supporting players and that is hard to do when everyone is tied up in some angle already.

Of course, another variation of Smackdown's issue with giving everyone something to do is these multi-women matches. Let me go back to that six-woman tag they had on a PPV a few months ago. They made this heel stable, The Welcoming Committee. They even had that stable beat the faces. And what really became of that? Nothing. Carmella has obviously broken out. Now Natalya is getting a solo push. Tamina has a separate angle with Lana, who wasn't even in the group back then. What was even the point? Creating that stable just looks like flavored filler now. The story didn't go anywhere. The WWE will obviously have the commentators mention it and website writers talk about it, but in terms of building a great storyline, this was nothing. There are some women on Smackdown that have not won a PPV match in months, namely Becky Lynch and Charlotte. And that is because they have been caught on the wrong side of these multi-women matches. The Welcoming Committee storyline should have led to a moment where the faces eventually conquered a strong heel stable, if the WWE was interested in doing this right. If they had done it right, maybe Natalya might have even looked more deserving of her current push. Money in the Bank also got in the way. I would say telling a proper story matters more than screaming history to get fans to tune in. The WWE has really been fumbling around on Smackdown and not utilizing these women right.

Previewing The Battleground 2017 Women's Match

 

There just comes a point where you get sick of complaining about the same thing. I have frequently criticized Smackdown for having too many multi-woman matches at PPVs. They fail to properly develop good personal feuds a lot of the time, especially for the big PPVs since the brand split came back. Recently, there have been a couple Smackdown PPVs in a row to feature multi-women matches.

I saw a dirtsheet report in the past week mention that the WWE is doing a ton of multi-person matches because it is just convenient for the writers and they believe it gives everyone heat with everyone else, or something along those lines. Did you really need a dirtsheet report to know the writers were being lazy? Even then, I would not say it is that bad. Most of the PPV main events are still singles matches. Even other title matches outside the main event are mostly singles matches. It is a little annoying how they frequently toss everyone together for the sake of finding #1 contenders, but even that isn't done all the time. But this issue with the Smackdown women's division is really annoying.

Battleground will not be anything new. Five women compete to find out who faces Naomi at Summerslam. If there is any silver lining, it is that this match will lead to a singles match at a big PPV. Even then, that does not kill the bad habit. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte vs. Lana vs. Natalya vs. Tamina. I don't think there are any fresh, smooth options here.

Naomi is a face, so it might make you wonder if they would really let Becky Lynch or Charlotte win. Would a face vs. face feud really be interesting? Would they turn someone heel just for the sake of this feud? Even then, you have a heel, Carmella, looming with the briefcase. Neither Becky nor Charlotte would make for a smooth feud.

Would Natalya vs. Naomi be considered a fresh feud? Natalya is not really fresh. She does not have much attention on her, creatively. I just feel like the other women seem to have more going than her.

Normally, I would say Tamina is Tamina. But the WWE has decided to give her a storyline. This is another example of a person that has not earned something getting something. This angle involves Tamina training Lana. If there was not a women's revolution going on and the writing was better, the story to tell would be that Tamina successfully trains Lana to finally beat Naomi for the title. After that, Tamina could want a title shot. Lana refuses. And a feud happens between the two, with Tamina going face. But how likely is it that Lana wins this? And Tamina is not worthy of getting a title shot at Summerslam.

Who wins? I think it comes down to the fact that this is Summerslam, one of the biggest PPVs of the year. Charlotte has not been pushed well since coming to Smackdown, but she has the most title credibility in this match. The WWE would likely give her the push. As for the awkwardness of face vs. face, the WWE will likely have Carmella cash in on Naomi prior to Summerslam, possibly even this Sunday, and the Summerslam match becomes a triple threat. And Smackdown continues its streak of multi-woman matches.

Previewing The Money In The Bank 2017 Women's Matches

Of all the women to get a shot at the Smackdown Women's Championship at Money In The Bank, it is going to be Lana. It would be easy to write her off. She's a diva. She's not that experienced in the ring. She just debuted last week on Smackdown. There is no way the WWE will have her beat Naomi for the title.

I remember when Alexa Bliss was feuding with Becky Lynch for this same title. I remember some fans saying that it was obvious that Alexa Bliss was just there to be a successful title defense for Becky Lynch. Alexa Bliss ended up winning the title. Even I wanted to give the WWE a fair chance back then. I wasn't a fan of the self-righteous tone of the new era in women's wrestling, but I thought the WWE was more serious about it than it seems now. Smackdown was a throwback to the diva era in some ways, but it still does not seem right to give the title to eye-candy divas in the manner the WWE has been doing since the brand split returned.

How about Naomi? She steamrolled Alexa Bliss for the title. I hated that booking. She won every match and never looked weak even in brawls. It is not that I like Alexa Bliss. I just hate the booking. And I don't recall any other fans criticizing it back then or even making a topic out of it. Recently, the WWE pulled the same kind of booking on Bayley, having Alexa Bliss pretty much steamroll her. Now I see fans asking if Bayley has been buried. Some are upset about how she was booked. Some are chuckling at it. There are always people like that. It is nothing new or weird. They did it to Alexa Bliss. But back to Naomi. After making her look so good for a couple months, including ignoring her injury history, she now looks mediocre. I am not surprised. It makes the big push she got even more irritating. If they were doing this to make a star or create someone to put over someone in a big way, it would be different. It doesn't feel like either of those two things are true. Naomi looks very beatable right now.

Should Lana win the title? On the one hand, it would seem bad to have her lose so soon, like how she lost her first main-roster match at Wrestlemania last year. On the other hand, she shouldn't win the title so soon. I don't care if she is good in the ring, have her prove it to the main audience first, then worry about giving her the title. But the WWE has shown that they don't have proper standards. They dumped title reigns into the lap of Naomi, despite her issues staying healthy. Lana should lose here, but I will say that she wins.

Onto the match fans probably are more interested in. The women are getting a briefcase ladder match. Charlotte vs. Natalya vs. Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina. I will say a little about each woman.

Charlotte seems like the popular choice to win. The WWE has already shown a desire to push her hard and hand her a ton of history. Since coming to Smackdown, however, she has not looked as glorious. Alexa Bliss made history by being the first woman to hold the two Women's Championships that were recently created. I am sure Charlotte will make history again by being the first woman to have held those two titles and the NXT Women's Championship, for whatever that is worth. But I don't think it is a guarantee she makes history on Sunday.

Natalya is a veteran heel. It just seems like a heel should win the briefcase. Natalya has been featured better since the women's revolution really got rolling than she was prior to that. But when it comes to winning titles or anything major, she hasn't gotten anything in the last year.

Carmella seems like a good choice as the next fresh heel credible jobber. Charlotte can eventually win the title from whichever heel and Carmella can immediately cash in on her. That would give Charlotte a fresh singles feud and inflate her title history even more when she wins the title back from Carmella.

Becky Lynch has not really been pushed that well. She won the Smackdown Women's Championship when it was first created, despite not having any proper focus on her. After losing it to Alexa Bliss, the only thing Becky accomplished was winning a feud against Mickie James. And Becky went nowhere after that. The fact that she doesn't seem like a favorite to win this match doesn't mean she should be counted out. Winning the briefcase might revitalize her.

And Tamina is Tamina.

Of the five women, I am going with Carmella. What the WWE has a history of doing with Charlotte does not mean anything. Everyone knows Nikki Bella was someone the WWE was serious about pushing very well. She had more focus on her prior to the match to crown the first Smackdown Women's Champion than Becky Lynch. She did not win it and has never won it. Charlotte has not been buried on Smackdown, but she is not getting the same push she got on Raw. I can see Smackdown spreading out some of the accolades. Carmella winning would just help to set her up as a fresh heel to push that can go in the ring. Lana does not have any credibility, yet. And Natalya, as I said, is a veteran. The WWE needs to aim to build someone young. I just feel that person is Carmella. And needless to say, Tamina is not young. She is 39, the oldest female wrestler on the main roster. Carmella just seems like the best choice. She was the person I was going with before the WWE had Lana pop up last week and get a title shot. We will see how that influences things.

Smackdown Women's Money In The Bank

The WWE is going back to hyping history for their women. Money in the Bank, a Smackdown-exclusive PPV this year, will feature a women's ladder match for a briefcase. It will be Charlotte vs. Natalya vs. Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina.

The "cookie cutter" response would be to say how great this is for the women. They're getting to do something only men have been allowed to do in the past. History. Historic. Amazing. Yeah. That's nice.

I am not impressed. This is once again a situation where all the Smackdown women are tossed into the same picture. There is no creative depth and the booking is lazy. I have pointed out numerous times that Smackdown has a tendency to do this ever since the brand split returned.

You want to talk about being treated as equals to the men? Do you see all the men that have nothing else to do being tossed into the Money in the Bank Ladder Match for the men's briefcase? No. That's not the way it works. That has never been the way it works.

My issue is that the WWE is relying on hype and not properly developing any of these individual women to be stars. Where's the proper character development? Where are the great personal feuds?

The WWE can release every woman on the main roster and nothing of value would be lost. I honestly believe that. Just replace them with women from NXT and the indies. Tessa Blanchard can replace Charlotte. Melina can replace Mickie James. Mandy Rose can replace Alexa Bliss. The replacements might not come in all at the same time, obviously, but the WWE can just phase all these women currently there out and keep doing what they are doing. That is because they are just relying on hype to draw for them. They are relying on quantity over quality. In the case of Alexa Bliss, they are relying on sex appeal with character. Just help Mandy Rose develop a character. Or Lana can get some time being pushed as the new Alexa Bliss. There is a lot of underachieving in the women's division these days and no one is bringing A+ results. And a lot of the blame has to go on the poor way the WWE is handling these women. The WWE can just bring in these new women and start handing them whatever history is left to be had.

I have nothing against a ladder match. Women in TNA have had them all the time. And if the WWE had done a better job creating personal feuds for the Smackdown women prior to this, I would probably be all for it. But they have not, so I cannot get excited for more of the same that I have come to expect from Smackdown.

Lana made her Smackdown debut this week. She tried to get in the match. She ended up attacking Naomi. She will face Naomi in a singles match for the title. Will she win? Whatever way they go, they are putting her in the same picture with everyone else. Moving forward, there will obviously be some separation, but I hope it comes sooner rather than later.

What do you make of Lana? I would say she fits right in with the brand that is keeping the diva era alive. Of course, Alexa Bliss is bringing a diva revival over on Raw. How far will Lana go? She has been training to wrestle. She's beautiful. She has charisma and a great character. She can be another Alexa Bliss. That will appeal to many fans, but also annoy wrestling fans. I do see fans annoyed by how Alexa Bliss has been pushed on Raw. They feel the quality of the women's division there has been slipping in the last few months. The WWE switched a centerpiece that was very good and respected in the ring, Charotte, for one that just isn't, Alexa Bliss. And it shows. Smackdown isn't really as centerpiece-driven, so Lana will not have the same impact here as Alexa Bliss is having on Raw. That is, unless certain backstage officials love Lana so much that they start having everything revolve around her.

And just one aside to end the day. One thing really bothered me on Raw. Mickie James and Dana Brooke went out there to get some of Alexa Bliss. What happened after was Nia Jax just pushed them aside to get some of Alexa Bliss for herself. She then pushed them down again after when they confronted her about shoving them aside. And what does the WWE have Mickie James and Dana Brooke do? Just go and stand in the ring with Nia Jax as Alexa Bliss is walking away. And Nia Jax beat them up, again. Why would Mickie and Dana do that? It is just incredibly stupid. A woman that is not your friend and was just knocking you around is standing in the ring. What do you do? Go stand with her! What else would you do? How about just stare down Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax from ringside? How about get in the ring and at least try to fight back against Nia Jax for shoving you around? It was just incredibly stupid.

That is one of the reasons it is hard for many fans to care about Mickie James during her current run in the WWE. Her character is terrible. It was terrible on Smackdown and it might be even worse on Raw. Having her job so much is one thing. But putting her out there to be knocked around and do stupid things like what happened on Raw is not helping her. I would say it is doing even more damage than having her lose. She just looks terrible.

Previewing The Backlash 2017 Women's Match

In the past, I have brought up the point that Smackdown frequently gets the short end of the stick with their women's division as compared to Raw. They don't hype it as well and don't feature history as much and as well as Raw does. It is not unusual for them to push quantity over quality. In the past, I have brought up Charlotte's tendency to be overpushed. Last year, the WWE handed her a lot of title reigns and history in a short span. It really got annoying. When these two identities met, you have to believe something would have to give.

Let me just say that I am not a fan of either of those two things I just mentioned. The women on Smackdown should be promoted better. If the WWE wants to make this division a little more diva-like, that's one thing. But all these multi-woman matches and everything else isn't good. And no one should be pushed like Charlotte was last year. It doesn't get you popular. Even if you were popular and talented and deserved a fabulous career, the way Charlotte was being pushed last year was too much.

Back to Charlotte's tendency to be overpushed vs. Smackdown's tendency to be mediocre. So far, it looks like the latter is winning. Charlotte may have gotten a title shot in the main event a few weeks ago, but she has not won the title yet. More importantly, the first Smackdown PPV since the trades last month will not have a title match. It will not even have a singles match. It will have a six-woman tag match. The first Raw PPV since the trades featured a title match. Once again, Smackdown fails to present their women as well as Raw is.

The match for Backlash will be Naomi, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch vs. Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina (The Welcoming Committe). The whole things seems pretty stupid. You can't mistreat people for a long amount of time, then start pushing them as a threat and expect people to care. Natalya may be a former Diva's Champion, but that was many years ago and she has been treated terribly and inconsistently since. Carmella was lost in the shuffle for a while before they pretty much had to start featuring her again for Wrestlemania. And Tamina is Tamina. I mentioned that main event between Charlotte and Naomi. That was when this group was formed. Even then, this feud did not deserve the main event.

It would be easy to say the face team wins at Backlash. The heels are essentially jobbers. They have been built up to have momentum. The face team features women that have actually been pushed better.

And yet, I can imagine the WWE letting the heels win. Smackdown has done some dumb booking decisions to extend feuds that a lot of fans would have just liked to have seen end. They have to. With the depth issue, they have to extend feuds. Moreover, did the WWE put work into making a group just to kill it after a month? Because I can't imagine Charlotte going back to feud with Naomi for the title right away. They will probably put it on a heel first, then have the heel put over Charlotte. But if The Welcoming Committee loses already, that ruins their credibility. Again, Smackdown has done some terrible things when developing heels to put over faces, like how they treated Mickie James a couple months ago against Becky Lynch. They could very drop the ball again with this feud.

This match can go either way. But since it is a meaningless match, I am not going to kill myself over it. I will say faces win.

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.

Looking Back At The Elimination Chamber 2017 Women's Matches

The women's matches at this past Sunday's Smackdown PPV all ended in ways I did not expect. I am going to say what I do not like about these booking decisions.

First, Natalya vs. Nikki Bella ended in a double countout. This was the longest of the feuds going on for the Smackdown women and it just needed to end. All they have been doing for a lot of these past weeks is talking and brawling. They're brawling in the ring, outside the ring, outside the building, backstage, and I don't know where else. And there is really nowhere else for the promos to go. This isn't a great feud. It is being booked this way because of the poor depth.

Nikki Bella should have just won and moved on. Even if she had won, these two women might have still interacted after Elimination Chamber, but the feud with have reached its climax and they could really start moving on to something new. As it stands, this feud doesn't feel like it is over yet.

Becky Lynch defeated Mickie James. Mickie James should have won that match. She just looks terrible. She has only been back a few weeks, so it won't be hard to look back at what she has done in terms of momentum. She came back by screwing Becky Lynch. The week after that, she had that promo segment, which ended with Mickie and Alexa Bliss once again laying out Becky. Since then, it has been all downhill. She lost at the Royal Rumble. She lost on the Smackdown after that. The Smackdown after that was the contract segment, which ended with the faces standing tall. She had absolutely no momentum heading into Elimination Chamber. And she lost. That is terrible booking.

And this booking does not help Becky Lynch as much as it could. Go back to when Mickie James returned to TNA in 2010. I don't think TNA handled her right, but what they did with her was done better than what the WWE just did with Becky Lynch. Mickie James had a feud with Tara, the sidekick of Madison Rayne, the TNA KO Champion at the time. The feud lasted months and Tara, the heel, actually got a PPV win over Mickie. It culminated with Mickie James defeating Tara in a steel cage match on Impact, which was one of the best moments of her TNA run. I have compared how the WWE is using Becky Lynch now to how TNA used Mickie James back then before. TNA actually made it look like Mickie James had to overcome something back then. They actually developed the feud. This feud with Becky Lynch and Mickie James is the same kind of thing. Becky Lynch is feuding with the sidekick of the heel Champion that is in her way. But with Mickie James not looking like she had any real momentum at all, Becky Lynch does not look as amazing as she could have with a win over her.

They are just doing a terrible job with Mickie James. I said that the WWE should not bring her back. Okay, they brought her back. I said that the WWE should not make her a heel and have her be La Luchadora. Okay, they made her a heel and had her be La Luchadora. I said the WWE should not have her be this bitter, arrogant character. Okay, they had her be this bitter, arrogant character. And I said that the WWE should have Mickie James win at Elimination Chamber. And they didn't do that. They have just dug a deep hole. Going back to my first point, I did not want them to bring her back because I knew this sour, inefficient environment would not be good for her. And the WWE is proving me right.

The booking in the last few weeks has not helped anyone as much as it could have. Mickie James does not look good. The feud does not look as great as it could have been. And Becky Lynch has not been put over as best as she could have been. Yes, the feud can still go on, but it would just look pointless at this point. Becky Lynch already has her revenge and that's that. I heard some rumors say that the reason Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James might be a short feud is that Nikki Bella and whatever she is involved with is getting a Wrestlemania spot. And yet, Nikki Bella's feud with Natalya was the one that did not get closure at Elimination Chamber. I doubt it will be Nikki vs. Natalya at Wrestlemania. With the WWE running at least 3 women's angles on Smackdown, the Nikki excuse does not have merit. The WWE could have booked Becky/Mickie to end at the first Smackdown PPV after Wrestlemania, while Nikki Bella still has her storyline.

And Naomi defeated Alexa Bliss to win Smackdown's Women's Championship. Once again, I would say this is a feud that didn't help either woman as best as it could have.

Let me start with Alexa Bliss. Everything I just said about Mickie James lacking momentum in the last few weeks applies to her partner in crime, and it might even be worse for Alexa. Alexa was the one being pinned in all those tag matches. She just had no momentum heading into the match. Alexa Bliss is obviously not a great wrestler, but the WWE could have put a lot more work in her to make her look like a great heel. They had just paired her with Mickie James less than a month ago, now the duo looks absolutely pathetic. How is that building a strong heel duo, which can then really put over some faces down the road?

As for Naomi winning the title, I felt that Naomi should one day get a good push. Now is just not when I would have done it. She just came back from her second injury in a year that required her to miss time. The WWE should wait and see if she can stay healthy for a few months. Moreover, the build to that title win should be better. Instead, she comes back on Smackdown, pins Alexa Bliss at the Royal Rumble, pins Alexa Bliss on Smackdown, wins a brawl a week after that, and then wins the title. I've talked about women losing momentum before, but it seems the WWE just rushed Naomi to look credible. She never looked weak. It was just a 3-week steamroll. Yes, there are a lot of Naomi fans out there that are happy, but you always have to think about that wider audience. The WWE didn't really have any time to gauge how her push was really going. They just gave her the title. I don't care if she is from Florida and Wrestlemania is in Florida this year, this whole situation could have been handled better.

All of the Smackdown Women's Champions so far have been mediocre. I am not talking about talent. I am talking about how they have been built and the quality of their title reigns. Becky Lynch had no proper build whatsoever prior to winning the title. Her reign lasted a few months, featuring her missing out on a title defense due to a medical issue. Many did not think she would lose the title to Alexa Bliss. That happened. Alexa Bliss had just been on the main roster a few months and never really had any other storyline prior to that feud with Becky Lynch. And she's also not a great wrestler. Just when it looked like her title run might lead to her being featured as a great heel character, Naomi returns from her injury. And I just talked about the rushed job she got. The WWE needs to start developing these women better prior to their title wins and let them have title reigns that are better than this. They are not developing any of these women properly. It is as terrible as the cruiserweight division.

Smackdown's entire women's division just looks weak. No one really stands out that much. A lot of people like to talk about Nikki Bella having backstage influence, but she has not won the title yet on Smackdown and can't even get a decisive win against Natalya at Elimination Chamber. Natalya is getting a storyline, but she never goes far and has not held a title in about 7 years. Becky Lynch, the inaugural Smackdown Women's Champion, had no proper hype prior to winning it and the title reign was not that amazing. Mickie James, a legitimate A+ player a decade ago, in terms of how well she was able to connect with the fans from just being pushed as a credible jobber, is as big a loser in the last few weeks as my Brooklyn Nets. Alexa Bliss looked like she could be a great heel character, but she immediately dropped the title last Sunday. Naomi just got a rushed push, and there is nothing to suggest that this will be a long-term thing for her. Meanwhile, when you look at Raw, Charlotte is a long-term thing. Even Sasha Banks has managed to look somewhat more relevant than the Smackdown women. Even when she loses, there is a story there about her being a fighter. There is her potential heel turn. When these Smackdown women lose, for the most part, it is just a loss. There might be all these storyline floating around, but the actual women don't look strong over time. It is just a juggling act of momentum. Oh, and Carmella has Ellsworth. That is all that needs to be said.

Previewing The 2017 Elimination Chamber Women's Matches

Smackdown has a PPV this Sunday, Elimination Chamber. I believe this is the first time a brand PPV will feature 3 women's matches. The Royal Rumble a few weeks ago had 3 (between the kickoff and the main show), but the Royal Rumble isn't a brand-specific PPV. Many might say that this is huge for the women, but look at it a little more realistically. This is just practical booking. The Elimination Chamber match will feature six guys. Even though that match will kill a lot of time, there are still a lot of spots on the card to fill. Also keep in mind that match isn't the only multi-man match on the card. The situation just calls for multiple women's matches.

Nikki Bella and Natalya have been feuding for a few months now. They tried to make it more interesting by treating it like Nikki was attacked by some mystery individual a few months ago at Survivor Series. The feud hasn't really gone anywhere that interesting since then. They are just talking and brawling. Very few matches. Blame it on the terrible depth. The promos are pretty sour. A lot of talking about John Cena. I wonder if the WWE ever considers this might hurt his image. I don't think it is doing anything too great for either woman involved. Thankfully, this feud will likely end at Elimination Chamber.

Nikki Bella should be beating Natalya. This is a feud for the face to just shut up the heel after all these months. A Natalya win would just be pointless, unless they continue this feud, which they shouldn't. I'll go with Nikki.

The feud between Mickie James and Becky Lynch has been going on for only a few weeks. I have said on multiple occasions that I dislike how the WWE has handled Mickie's character. I will give them credit for certain things, like giving her quality promo time. But in terms of her actual character, this is not the best way to handle Mickie James. She should be a face, or even an entertaining heel. This bitter, arrogant character is not best for her. I see some fans not even understanding what she's doing with her promos. Maybe I'll go into that another day. She is still showing her charisma, but this is just not a great situation.

What about Becky Lynch? These past few weeks, they have been treating her like all she's good for is chasing titles and seeking revenge against sidekicks screwing her out of titles. Does that sound familiar? It should. That is the same thing I criticized TNA for doing to Mickie James when she returned in 2010. I believe Becky Lynch has the potential to be even more over than she is. But she's not going to do it with the way the WWE has been featuring her. Let her personality shine more outside of these serious feuds.

Who wins this match? Becky Lynch has not won a singles match at a PPV since coming to the main roster. When it finally does happen, it would be nice for it to come in a more meaningful situation than this. As for Mickie James, she has not won at all since coming to Smackdown. All her losses have been in tag matches where she was not pinned, but it is still pretty bad for her to not win at all. Is she going to follow the path of The Dudleyz? I will say Mickie James wins here.

The title feud between Alexa Bliss and Naomi is the youngest feud of these three. Naomi came back from her injury and just immediately got this push. She has been pinning Alexa Bliss to gain momentum. I think that makes the outcome of this match obvious. Naomi has all the momentum, so it is just likely Alexa Bliss retains. Naomi should eventually get a title reign, if she can stay healthy, but I don't think it happens this Sunday.

Becky Lynch Wins Title, Must Defend Against Alexa Bliss

Becky Lynch won the Smackdown Women's Championship at Backlash recently. I had her right behind Nikki Bella when I was previewing who should win the title. On Smackdown this week, Alexa Bliss won a #1 contender's match and will get the first title shot against Becky.

Let me start with Becky Lynch. I am happy she got a title win. Smarks are obviously happy. But the WWE seriously needs to put the work into her to make her into a star. As I said before, there are three situations where a company should give someone a major piece of history, like being the first person to hold a new title. They are either a hot act and very popular, have already been given a top-tier career, so having this accomplishment on their resume would not look awkward, or the company plans to give them that great career following the person being booked to make history. Where does Becky Lynch fall in? She may be over with smarks, but she isn't that popular. She has not had a great career so far at all. I don't think she's ever won a PPV singles match since coming to the main roster. And she wasn't exactly getting the best development prior to Backlash to lead up to her big win. The only thing you can hope is that the WWE actually starts pushing her a lot better than they have.

This situation makes me think back to the Sasha Banks issue from last week's Raw. The WWE advertised Sasha Banks having a big announcement, hyped it throughout the show, teased that she might retire, and it just failed to draw. Sasha Banks is loved by many wrestling fans, but she is not over with the wider audience. The WWE has not put the work into her to help her get over with the wider audience. Putting her in a situation where they would have expected her to draw was just unfair. They have given her the inconsistent career of a credible jobber since she debuted on the main roster. And it is the same thing with Becky Lynch. She has gotten the career of a credible jobber. Some might say she has been pushed even worse than Sasha Banks. Just handing her history now does not automatically make her a star. Do not expect her to draw for you. Don't even expect her to be that over for you. You can't expect women that get juggled around like that to get too over. Just because Mickie James got over off of this type of career doesn't mean it was an asset in her success. It was an obstacle to be overcome. The WWE cannot misjudge how over these women are just based on NXT and Internet reactions.

Onto Alexa Bliss. This is an interesting choice for Becky's first title feud. Alexa is not the greatest women's wrestler on Smackdown's roster. Even as far as heels go, Natalya is more credible than her. Of course, Smackdown's women's division has more women hired without wrestling experience and are still not too credible than Raw's women's division. If Eva Marie was around, she probably would be in this first title feud in some way. Either way, this is not the feud I would have gone with.

Alexa Bliss's style is tied mostly to her agility. She does some nice flips. Even though she isn't more experienced in the ring, I still see a lot of fans liking her. Even in terms of her in-ring work, they like what she does. I think that's a little hypocritical. Kelly Kelly wrestled pretty much the same style. She relied on agility and did flips. And wrestling fans pretty much hated her. I remember reading a report for a match between Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim on Superstars. The writer called it a typical "divas" match. When I watched it myself, it was much better than I imagined. Personally, I do not dislike either woman or their in-ring work that much. But if you are going to say one of them doesn't know how to wrestle and even sucks, it is kind of hypocritical to say another worker that wrestles a similar style is good.

A lot of it comes down to character. Even if you are not a great wrestler, wrestling fans will forgive that if you are an entertaining character. Look at Enzo. I see fans criticizing this guy's in-ring work all the time. But he is so good on the mic and such an entertaining character, fans forgive his wrestling ability and still want to see him get pushed and get the tag titles. Kelly Kelly was not that great at showing emotion. She was very generic. Alexa Bliss is not only attractive, but she has good charisma. Look at Dana Brooke. Her best attribute is her charisma. If Dana could do some impressive flips and high-flying spots smoothly, she would be more like Alexa Bliss.

I have seen some fans compare her to Trish Stratus. And these fans don't seem to have a problem with that. Alexa Bliss succeeding like Trish did and having that kind of career would be diva-like. At this stage in the game, I would say Alexa Bliss is a little better than Trish in some areas prior to Trish winning her first Women's Championship. She has a few more impressive spots than Trish did. I would also say her character is better. Trish benefited from debuting in the Attitude Era and during a hot time in the diva era. She was able to lean on her sex appeal much more than eye-candy divas today. And yet, Alexa Bliss is able to portray a character that even wrestling fans can enjoy in the PG era. Depending on how successful Alexa Bliss is, there might once again be an eye-candy centerpiece in the WWE, despite the WWE giving Becky Lynch the new title first.

I said before that this was not the feud I would have gone with. What would I have done? Becky Lynch vs. Natalya. I can hear the groans now. Some fans may hate the idea. But if Becky Lynch is the centerpiece, or is at least in line for a good push while holding the title, why not have her feud with a woman with more wrestling credibility than Alexa Bliss? And remember that point I made earlier about Becky having never won a PPV singles match on the main roster? Her last PPV singles match was a loss to Natalya. She got the win back on Smackdown, but it might have meant more for her first successful title defense, and first PPV singles victory, to be against this heel she already has a history with on the main roster.

How would you make this match between Natalya and Becky more interesting? Add some kind of gimmick to it. Make it a street fight. Or a submission match, since both women have submission finishers. One of the things TNA does right is put their women in gimmick matches to freshen up stale feuds and matches. Their women have had a ladder match and cage match this year. It is funny how this is supposed to be an era in the WWE of treating women with more respect, but they don't give them special matches. What have they gotten since the revolution started last year on the main roster? Beat The Clock? That doesn't count. During the diva era, you had these kind of matches. Sable was in a strap match. Trish Stratus was in some hardcore matches. Lita and Victoria had a cage match. Even after Trish and Lita retired, the WWE would still book some gimmick matches here and there. It wasn't all Bra & Panties matches or costume matches. It would be a proper finishing touch to the rivalry between Becky Lynch and Natalya.

Previewing The Smackdown Women's Championship Match For Backlash 2016

Before I actually talk about the match to crown the first ever Smackdown Women's Champion, let me just talk about the name. Nothing fancy, but I like that. The Universal Championship has been the target of many jokes in the last few weeks. One of the reasons for that is the name. I believe I suggested just naming it the Raw World Championship. You want the two World Championships to be on equal footing? How about naming them pretty much the same thing, only distinguishing between what show the title will be featured on? Should the person holding one title ever end up on the other brand, the title would just get vacated. Not only could it have worked, the WWE is doing pretty much the same thing with the women's division titles.

Six women will fight for the new title. Every active in-ring worker in Smackdown's women's division will be in this match. It will be Nikki Bella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Naomi vs. Natalya vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Carmella. No Maryse. She has not wrestled since returning this year. Eva Marie, of course, has her suspension. Most fans would probably have dreaded her being in this match, anyway.

Being the first person to hold a new title is a major piece of history. You want to get the title lineage off on a good foot. You should put the title on someone that has the major overness to deserve it, has already made a great impact to deserve it, or someone that is at least pretty much guaranteed to be given a legendary career following that big moment. This is the kind of accomplishment that likely gets someone into the Hall of Fame, so it would be nice if that person also has other things going for him or her to make it even more clear that this is a legend.

Go back a few weeks to Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor to crown the first Universal Champion. Both of them would have been good options. Seth Rollins has made an impact in his WWE career. He was a part of one of the best stables in WWE history. He was the first member of that stable to become WWE Champion. He held two titles at the same time for a while. He never officially lost the WWE Championship during that first run. And he has continued to be treated as a big deal since returning this year. Had he won the Universal Championship, it would be another big accomplishment on his resume. Finn Balor, on the other hand, had just debuted on the main roster. Nevertheless, I think the WWE would have put in work on him to make him a legend. His injury has ruined that, for now. Regardless, my point is that both guys had things going for them.

This women's match this Sunday does not feature six women that all have things going for them to make them all worthy or likely to win. That is just the truth. I will talk about all of them, from least likely to win to most likely.

Alexa Bliss is a diva. She is there for her looks. She has improved in the ring in NXT, but none of her matches really blow me away, aside from about two spots or so. She is not the only diva in the match, but she is just too new and has not been given great focus. She does not seem like someone the WWE is really ready to invest in yet, although I do see even smarks loving how hot she is.

Natalya is a female wrestler. In this era, you might hope someone like her gets the title. Coincidentally, Natalya was in the last match to crown an inaugural Champion in the WWE women's division. She lost to Michelle McCool 8 years ago in a match to crown the first Diva's Champion. And she will probably be losing again. Fans know by now that Natalya is not really going anywhere. She had one mediocre title run and has not done too much before or after that. She is not way over. If the WWE loses their minds and puts the title on her this Sunday, I am not confident it would be the start of great things for her.

Naomi is someone I think deserves a title run one day. She has been around for years. She can be fun to watch, albeit not the greatest in-ring worker. Regardless of that, I think there are some fans that will be very happy if she wins. I just do not think she needs to be the first woman to hold this new title. Again, this major piece of history should go to someone that is very over, is already established as a top player, or is likely to be pushed great after the win. Naomi does not fit in any of those categories. But it would be nice if she gets a title run later on.

Carmella is only ahead of those other women because she has better individual focus on her heading into Backlash. She turned heel recently and has been attacking Nikki Bella. She looks like Charlotte. Charlotte looks like Michelle McCool. I don't want to make it sound like I'm being insensitive to Michelle McCool. I know she is dealing with cancer. But all these women just have this droopiness to them. It hurts their charisma as performers. They have all had issues connecting with the audience. Michelle McCool had a huge gimmick and made history numerous times, but never really became beloved during her time in the WWE. Charlotte just seems robotic at times. People say Carmella turned heel because of her inability to connect with fans as a face. Both Michelle McCool and Charlotte made history by becoming inaugural titleholders. Will the third member of this sorority follow their lead? Carmella does not deserve it at all. The only way I could see her winning it is to feud with Nikki Bella, but since major history is on the line here, I don't see things being booked like that.

Becky Lynch might just be the smark favorite to win. She is the only member of the Four Horsewomen on Smackdown and the only woman out of them to never hold a title in the WWE, including NXT. It just sounds amazing to have her be the first woman to hold this new Smackdown Women's Championship. Like Naomi, I would like to see Becky win it one day. If Eva Marie was the sixth woman in this match, not Nikki Bella, Becky Lynch would be the last woman I bring up and the woman I say deserves it the most and is likely to get it the most. But that is not how things are working out. Becky Lynch has her fans, but she is not A+ over. She has also not had that big career. What you have to ask yourself, if they give her the title, will they follow through properly with her? Raw has been the division where female wrestlers get featured better than the divas. Becky Lynch looks like she is already taking a backseat to face Nikki Bella. If they give her the title now, I do not imagine them giving her the career someone that makes big history should get. In which case, they might as well not do it at all.

Nikki Bella is the favorite to win. I would say she should win. It has nothing to do with John Cena or reality shows. Unlike any of the other women in this match, Nikki Bella has been pushed as a top star on the main roster. She held the butterfly title longer than anyone else. She is not an A+ player in terms of overness, but the positive reaction she got when she returned at Summerslam must have been surprising even to the WWE. Why shouldn't they try to capitalize on that? They did it with Roman Reigns last year to get the title on him right after it seemed fans were on his side. Most importantly, she is someone you know the WWE will not toss aside like a mediocrity eventually. Smackdown is the brand that does not treat women's wrestling as seriously as Raw. Having Nikki Bella be the centerpiece there would be good for a change of pace. And if she is the centerpiece, she might as well make history this Sunday.

A Weak Night For Smackdown's Women's Division

This is the second week since the brand split really took effect. How did things go for the women this week? Not that great, if you are a wrestling fan. They teased two matches and neither ended up happening. Becky Lynch was supposed to face Eva Marie, who faked an injury to get out of the match. Carmella was supposed to face Natalya, who did her heel act of just attacking Carmella before the match.

This is one of the reasons I do not think Smackdown should have its own Women's Championship. It will get one eventually, but it is not something that is a good idea. What happened last night is obviously not going to be the norm. It would be funny if it just became Eva Marie's gimmick to find ways to back out of matches, but that won't happen. This is the kind of thing that can upset wrestling fans and cause them to go to Twitter and make the WWE look bad, again.

Does the WWE have confidence in some of these women on Smackdown? It seems like there are just too many eye-candy divas on the show. Becky Lynch and Natalya are the only legitimate female wrestlers. If the WWE just exposes some of these other women as inferior, that ruins the competitive feel of the division, if they want to push a division that is going to have a title. How do you avoid making them look inferior? Having Natalya and Becky dumb down? I saw fans dreading that Becky would job to Eva Marie last night.

One of the reasons the diva division died was because of the poor depth that started to become an issue during the brand split. Making two titles just made it worse. The WWE often lacked fresh credible jobbers to push. Injuries just made things worse. Eye-candy divas started to get these pushes and title reigns off these pushes. These women would never get title reigns during the golden age. Only Trish Stratus was getting title reigns during that time, as far as eye-candy goes. Even before Trish was the centerpiece, the WWE would never push an eye-candy diva to a title reign as a credible jobber. Fans don't always buy into these women the same way they would women hired with wrestling training. Moreover, the WWE just started to dumb the division down and lose interest as they used eye-candy credible jobbers more. It finally reached a boiling point at the start of last year.

If the WWE is going to have women like Eva Marie and Alexa Bliss on Smackdown, they have to do something meaningful with them. If they can't push them productively in women's wrestling feuds, they have to find something for them to do in the periphery. If they can't do even that, why have them? Release them.

I would not have made Smackdown get a Women's Championship. Let this be the brand that builds stars in the periphery. Feature the next Torrie Wilson here. Build the new AJ Lee here. Have this women's division be about something other than just respectable women's wrestling. Leave that to Raw. I'm sure some morons might say that is a waste of Beck Lynch. She'll never get a title! Uhh, you do realize she can eventually be traded/drafted to Raw, right? Or maybe whichever woman is holding the title can be sent to Smackdown and that can become the division that is about women's wrestling, while Raw becomes more about the periphery. This doesn't have to be the screwjob of the century for anyone.

Overall, I would have liked Raw and Smackdown to have different philosophies. People always talk about how great NXT is. Okay, let one brand be run with that kind of philosophy. Let the other be run the way the WWE has been doing things. Let one brand cater to wrestling fans. Let the other be more about entertaining the general audience. However you want to break it up, let them develop their own identities. And may the best philosophy win. Or just keep letting both shows run their separate styles. Smackdown should be more than just a two-hour version of Raw with a different roster, which doesn't even matter because trades will change the rosters as time goes by.

Let me do a slight aside about Raw this week. They finally had a mixed-tag match. How can you wait a year to have such a basic match? Take a man. Take a woman. Put them together. Take another man. Take another woman. Put them together. Have the two sides fight. Sasha Banks and Enzo took on Charlotte and Chris Jericho. And that was a good opening segment they had. Better than some self-righteous, feminist speech.

I saw one fan on a message board complaining about it. Why have two men get involved in Charlotte and Sasha's issues? It's like someone has been trapped in a cave for years and is finally let out to see the sun. That is going to hurt his eyes. Men and women have been interacting for years and getting involved in each other's storylines. But there are a few reasons why this kind of thing is good.

First, it gives Charlotte and Sasha a rub from two hot acts. These women may appeal to wrestling fans for their wrestling ability, but this whole revolution isn't for everyone. They need to show some character. And they got a good chance to do that on Raw. I am not saying it is impossible for a woman to get over without rubs from stars in the men's division, but this era can use more of that, and so can some of these women.

Second, it helps to keep the feud going between Charlotte and Sasha without doing stale matches. Sasha has already beaten Dana Brooke a number of times. And that was before the brand split took effect. The depth in the division is now a real issue. Nia Jax is doing her own thing, so it would not be likely she gets tossed into this feud right away. There are not a ton of options to keep this feud fresh. A mixed-tag match like the one they did on Raw was a fresh choice.

Lastly, it was just entertaining. That was the most entertaining segment I have seen with the women in a while. No self-righteous feminism. No bringing up dead family members. No putting NXT on a pedestal. The overall message of the segment was none of that. Pro wrestling is supposed to be about entertaining. I have believed for a while that getting men more involved in the women's matters would help things. The WWE did it right on Raw this week.

Smackdown's Women's Division: The Diva Era's Last Stand?

Smackdown really got down to business last week. That was the first episode after the brand split and draft really took effect. They had a segment to introduce the women on the roster. First, Becky Lynch beat Natalya. They had Natalya win at Battleground, then had Becky get the win two days later. No need to talk too much about that booking decision. Wins and losses do not matter, especially in a feud like this. After that, however, the other women of Smackdown made an appearance. Naomi returned from injury. Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Eva Marie then made their debuts on their new brand. Of course, Maryse is also with Miz.

Many fans have said that this division looks like the old diva division. And I would agree. You have more women that were hired as eye-candy divas on the roster than women hired as female wrestlers. You have some former cheerleaders. You have Eva Marie. Maryse is a former centerpiece of the diva division.

Despite some fans groaning at this roster, you have to give the WWE some credit for changes they have made this year. Jacqueline, a credible jobber from the diva era that never even got that over, was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. Becky Lynch, who would likely have been a low/mid-tier credible jobber ten years ago, was the first woman drafted to Smackdown. If the status quo was like it was during the diva era, someone like Maryse might have been the top draft pick, as far as women go. Or AJ Lee, the top periphery female wrestler for a few years, if she was still around.

In a way, this is the real Diva's Revolution. Fans may not like hearing that. When they started #GiveDivasAChance, they didn't mean women like Summer Rae and Eva Marie. They meant Emma and Sasha Banks. They meant female wrestlers. The WWE wasn't ignorant to that. They made changes to let these women get more time to wrestle and have been promoting them a little better. Problem is, you still had divas. You had them on the main roster. You had them in NXT. And you even brought one back a few months ago, Maryse. You can't just underutilize these women. Problem is, pushing them too much in the ring is not how you utilize them properly, especially those that are not great in the ring. You have to utilize these women creatively, with good storylines and character development. And I'll say it, give divas a chance! Not everything is about entertaining wrestling fans.

Let me single out Eva Marie. She was the last diva introduced and she had an elaborate entrance. I liked it. It was over the top. She gets heat, probably for the wrong reason, but the WWE can utilize that to build her character and for the sake of storylines. She is not someone that should be wrestling too much. And she probably doesn't have what it takes to be a good manager. But she can still be used as a valet. Lana has been demoted to pretty much that status now alongside Rusev. Lana deserves better than that, but it could be a good way to get Eva Marie reintroduced on the main roster. Stand there and look pretty, come in now and then in segments and to help some storylines. Build that character to one day be more than just a valet. To just toss her into the ring would not be utilizing her right.

Another complaint wrestling fans have is that these women have nothing to fight for on Smackdown. No title. So what? You don't need a title to treat these women in creative, entertaining ways. And that is what is important. The diva division's best years came when there was only one title for the women to fight for. While that was on Raw, the WWE pushed women in the periphery on Smackdown. Part of the declining years of the diva division involved them trying to maintain two titles. They couldn't. Injury issues and women flopping led to the WWE losing interest in the division and treating it less respectably. This was also a time when the WWE was not doing a great job in the periphery. They were too caught up trying to make new centerpieces. The WWE shouldn't go through that again. If the WWE can't make a creative women's division without a women's title involved, they really have lost it.

Look at other sports. There will always be certain games in sports like baseball, basketball, or football where nothing is on the line. Both teams don't have a shot at making the playoffs and the game doesn't really matter too much. You can say that the coaches or players are playing for their jobs, but that's not usually a draw. And yet, fans would still watch these games. Not as many as big games where something is on the line between two great teams, but fans still watch.

Let me bring up one example. Last year, the Baltimore Ravens faced the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football. Both teams had losing records with just a few weeks left in the season and were going to miss the playoffs. To make matters worse, Joe Flacco, the Ravens quarterback that led them to a Super Bowl win, was out with an injury. On the Brown's side, Johnny Manziel was out of the game due to one of his many issues. ESPN had actually promoted this game as featuring Manziel. With him not starting, there was just less reason to watch. But the game ended up being competitive. It came down to an exciting big play at the end. Needless to say, it still got more viewers than Raw that night. And that is why fans will still watch these meaningless games that lack star power, even if they are not big fans of either team. There can still be amazing plays. There can still be hilarious mistakes. There can be controversy. There can be something that gets talked about for years to come and changes the game.

Some people are unhappy that Becky Lynch is stuck on this title-less brand. First of all, there can be trades. She will likely end up on the same show with a title eventually, even if the WWE doesn't make a new title. And I don't think they should. Until then, however, the WWE can build her character more and help her to stand out as more than just a wrestler. I actually would have had Paige in this position, but Becky is the one that is there. I am not saying the WWE will definitely rebuild a strong periphery, but they should. And pushing Becky Lynch as the top star in the periphery would not be wasting her. Pushing her to be the next in line to women like Chyna, Lita, and AJ Lee is underutilizing her? These women did a lot more than just win women's titles. There was great storyline and character development for them. They were pushed alongside top stars. Becky Lynch, if pushed right on Smackdown, could end up looking more epic than whichever woman is holding the title on Raw. Given the WWE's reliance on wrestling these days, however, I do not feel it is likely to happen.

In the end, is the diva era really over? There are still divas. The Bella Twins are still hovering around, winning awards like they are respectable women's athletes. I always wanted to stop blogging once the diva status quo was no more. Remnants of the diva era aside, the real problem is not giving women fair opportunities and not utilizing them properly. Even if the WWE does start juggling around who holds the Women's Championship between only women with a certain elite level of wrestling talent, that's not how you make stars. TNA juggling people around has not helped them, so how is it going to make real stars in the women's division? It might not be a matter of screwing anyone in particular, but they are botching.Let Smackdown be something different. Let that have the women's division that utilizes these women beyond just wrestling feuds. You can entertain without a title.

Previewing Battleground 2016 Women's Matches

It is one of those occasions where a PPV will have two women's matches. Despite that, the Women's Championship will not be on the line for the second PPV in a row.

First, Natalya faces Becky Lynch. It is a decent secondary feud. Could be a lot better. The WWE has tried to make it like the story here is that all of Becky's friends turn on her. Not much to buy into here. Just seems like a lame story.

To make this feud mean more, I wouldn't have minded them making this some kind of gimmick match. No DQ? Falls Count Anywhere? Natalya has been brutalizing Becky for a while now. You want to sell this as a heated feud? Add something more to the match. Right now, this just feels like a match you would get on a Raw or Smackdown. And I don't think it will continue all the way to Summerslam. If it does, it will likely be on the pre-show. 

Who wins? It just seems obvious Becky Lynch should win. She is the fresher talent of the two. It is obvious by now Natalya is not going anywhere. She has dominated the feud against Becky. It just seems like Becky is winning this Sunday.

Onto the tag match. Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs. Sasha Banks and a partner of her choice. Let me start by talking about the WWE's decision not to have the title defended at Battleground. I am not a believer that a title has to be defended every PPV. I wouldn't even throw a fit if the WWE gave the Champion a rare night off to give the spotlight to two other women that have something else great going on. But this is the second PPV in a row that Charlotte is in a tag match and the title is not being defended. I am sure the WWE won't make too much of a habit out of this, but this new era for the women's division hasn't been working out as well as many fans would hope.

How about the decision to make Sasha get a partner to face Charlotte and Dana? That angle had some potential. They could have legitimately have sold it as no one wanting to team with Sasha, either because they don't want to cross Charlotte and Dana or women on the roster have not fully grown to trust Sasha after being a heel as long as she was. Problem is, the WWE had Becky Lynch team with Sasha on Raw this week to face Charlotte and Dana. Becky obviously won't be teaming with her on Sunday, but it kind of kills the potential of this angle by showing other women are willing to face Charlotte and Dana and tag with Sasha.

The only thing this angle still has going for it is the mystery element. Who will the partner be? Looking around, the top three options I see fans bringing up are Paige, Nikki Bella, and Bayley. The WWE going with Paige is not likely. There is no real impact there.

How about Nikki Bella? I have said before that she has not officially retired and could be coming back. She is not the partner Sasha Banks would pick if she had the power to pick her own partner, but the WWE might pick Nikki to get her back in the picture. And if she is back in the picture, it won't be as a jobber.

Bayley seems like the likely option. NXT will be represented in the draft on Smackdown tonight. Bayley and Sasha have a history. Wrestling fans would love to see her. But they are dreading one thing. What if Bayley debuts and gets lost in the shuffle soon after? With the brand split, it might be less likely that happens. Nevertheless, I do see some fans saying they would rather it be Paige so Bayley can debut at a better time and in a better way. If Bayley does debut and gets this match, what are the chances she gets added to the title feud between Charlotte and Sasha Banks? That would be unfair to Sasha. I thought it was unfair to insert Sasha Banks into the storyline that was there between Charlotte and Becky Lynch, and you might get the same kind of situation again where Sasha gets the short end of the stick. I would just like the WWE to see a feud for one of these new women to a proper finish before inserting another new woman.

The WWE could have avoided a lot of this dread if they just kept the feud between Sasha and Charlotte simple. Put the title on the line in a singles match at Battleground. Charlotte retains through cheating. Sasha wins the title at Summerslam. Bayley can debut a little later. Let one of the divas debut from NXT tonight, like Alexa Bliss. Some fans have brought up Nia Jax. Bayley is still the favorite to debut, but it would be nice if she wasn't inserted into the feud involving Sasha and Charlotte just yet. Sasha has enough face partners on the main roster already to tag with her against Charlotte and Dana. There was no great need to treat this like she needs to find someone special. Because you are left wondering what will happen to that person she does find. If she gets lost in the shuffle, that is something to complain about. If she ruins Sasha's push, that is something to complain about. Let's see how that plays out.

As for the winner of the match, it would be a shame to have a debut or return and have Charlotte and Dana win. The only way I can picture the heels winning is if it is someone like Paige that gets picked. I will say Bayley debuts and the face team wins.