Previewing The Extreme Rules 2017 Undercard Matches

This will be the third try for Austin Aries against Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship. There are some feuds where a great chase to the title would be nice. I felt AJ Styles should have had a chase to his first WWE Championship. TNA had Mickie James take three tries to finally win her first KO title, and her hair was on the line in that match. They raised the bar and made it interesting there, although I wouldn't have waited so long in that situation. Austin Aries is not someone I feel should be chasing after the title like he has. The WWE has shot the Cruiserweight title all over the place since last year. Having Neville hold it for so long is an improvement, but he should be feuding with fresh people, if Austin Aries is not meant to get the title right now.

Who wins this submissions match? I have seen some fans scratching their heads at the cruiserweights doing submissions. Even before this match, a lot of them were busting out submissions. That is not what cruiserweights are known for. High-flying moves are what they are known for. If they are going to wrestle like a lot of other guys on the regular roster, there is nothing special about them. I hear everyone talking about 205 Live not doing well and the cruiserweights frequently getting poor reactions. If they are just normal guys that have not been properly introduced to the main audience, they are going to get poor reactions. I digress. I'll say Austin Aries finally wins the title.

The tag team titles will be defended in a match that is a little more extreme. The Hardys vs. Sheamus & Cesaro inside a steel cage. How have The Hardys been doing? Like a lot of things, they are losing some of their luster. They pretty much need the "Broken" gimmick to appease certain fans. I see fans pointing out Matt Hardy just does not look good in the ring. To them, the "Broken" gimmick at least gives an excuse for his sloppiness that some fans are critical of.

I doubt the title reign ends here for The Hardys. Sheamus and Cesaro are a team that can do fine even if they break up. They do not need another run with the tag titles. They are likely just killing time until The Revival is good to go. I will say The Hardys retain.

I had said that some matches on this card are a little lackluster if you are looking forward to "extreme" matches. For the Intercontinental Championship match, if Dean Ambrose is disqualified, he loses the title to Miz. Not too impressive. Moreover, these two were feuding on Smackdown over the title just a few months ago. They come to Raw and are still feuding for the title. Fresh matches would be nice. And it would be nice if actual midcarders might get in the picture.

Who wins? It seems like a situation where it would be easy for Miz to win. A lot of smarks loved him on Smackdown. But he has lost his luster on Raw. Is there a reason to give him back the title, again? I will say Ambrose retains.

Previewing The Extreme Rules 2017 Women's Matches

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Impact Of Injuries On Extreme Rules

Extreme Rules, a Raw PPV, is coming up this weekend. I will do the normal 3-day preview starting tomorrow. Before that, there is a topic that is definitely having an impact on this PPV. That would be injuries. Since April, there have been a few critical injuries. Not a lot, but ones that have definitely impacted things very much.

Let me start right at the top. Braun Strowman getting injured was huge. This guy has never held a WWE/Universal Championship. He has never held any titles in the WWE. I don't even consider him a long-term A-tier player. And yet, his injury really led to a shake up. He was feuding with Roman Reigns, and looked likely to move on to feud with Brock Lesnar. His likely Ambulance match against Roman Reigns this Sunday would have been one of the extreme matches to look forward to.

With his injury, however, the WWE has gone with a 5-man match to determine a number 1 contender for the Universal Championship. The first criticism for this match is obvious. Doesn't feel extreme enough, does it? That is a little disappointing.

The other issue is that the WWE has to take various feuds and essentially muddy them for the sake of throwing all these guys together. Seth Rollins and Samoa Joe were still feuding. Bray Wyatt looked like he would get a feud with Finn Balor. You now have all that in one match.

The storyline/feud issue is only part of it. This takes a number of matches off the card. This leaves the WWE with more time to kill for the PPV. One thing to do is obviously make some matches longer. I can definitely see the main event lasting at least half an hour. But they still need more matches than they have announced so far.

Will the answer come in the women's division? The key injury here has been Emma. Again, she never held a title in the WWE and is not someone I consider an A-tier player. She likely will get a title run down the road as a credible jobber. Right now, however, if she was healthy, she would be getting her storyline with Dana Brooke. Not a feud that would have led to a great match, but still something with some creative interest, and something that could have taken up some time at the PPV.

With that off the table, has the WWE done a good job creating other women's feuds on Raw to fill that spot? No. Sasha Banks has a "feud" with Alicia Fox where they are really just trading wins. It is not that interesting and some fans are annoyed by it. They want better for Sasha Banks. Mickie James and Nia Jax could have had a legitimate feud going on. A couple weeks ago, there seemed to be a partnership created between Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax. Nia Jax helped to distract Mickie James in a match to allow Alexa to win. Nia then attacked Mickie James after the match. And the WWE has just not followed up with this. Alexa Bliss is back on her own, including her beating Mickie James cleanly this week, then attacking her with a kendo stick. What the WWE has done here has just not helped the partnership potential between Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax and the feud potential between Mickie James and Nia Jax. Needless to say, it has really hurt Mickie James the most. Her last two Raw matches have been losses and her getting beaten up more after the match. And the failure to properly follow up with Nia Jax attacking her just leaves her looking buried.

And yet, I would not be surprised to see another women's match added to the card. Aside from being a non-title match, it will be a match between credible jobbers. Whether it is Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox or Nia Jax vs. Mickie James, none of these women are pushed as stars. And that makes whatever the WWE chooses to do just a pure filler match.

That is actually something you never really saw in the diva era. How often did you see two credible jobbers have a feud that led to them facing each other in a PPV non-title match? You can bring up Melina vs. Jillian when both were on Smackdown, but Smackdown didn't have a women's title back then. Everything was non-title. Moreover, Melina and Jillian had gotten some periphery angles on Smackdown. They were not yet getting the filler and jobber pushes that credible jobbers get. We are now at a point where the WWE is willing to put two women against each other that don't have anything going for them besides wrestling credibility, and are getting lackluster, sloppy feuds. Some people might consider women getting this treatment progress. It's filler. Melina vs. Jillian was a more meaningful PPV match back at Judgment Day 2006 than whatever non-title filler match the WWE chooses for the women at Extreme Rules, if they choose anything.

The last injury to bring up is Dash Wilder, a member of The Revival. Once again, someone that had no title success on the main roster. The team hardly got a chance to do much since debuting. And yet, the WWE was obviously interested in pushing them. They would definitely have been getting another PPV match this weekend.

The WWE still has something for The Hardys to do, defending the titles against heel Sheamus and Cesaro. But what about the other teams? The WWE might be able to throw something together. Once again, much like I said with the women's division, whatever the WWE chooses to throw together will be filler. This PPV feels like it will have a lot of filler. Most of the blame cannot go on the WWE. Injuries happen. But they do deserve some of the blame for not building up these other feuds and storylines better.

How Did Nakamura Do?

Outside of all the drama with Jinder Mahal, the big story for Backlash was supposed to be Shinsuke Nakamura making his official in-ring debut on the main roster. He faced Dolph Ziggler. He won. That was to be expected. But there is more to it than that. How did he actually look?

Looking around, I see a lot of fans were disappointed by the performance. I am not going to say I watched the match. I didn't. But I can get the sense of what happened from what I see fans saying. They feel it was a lackluster performance from Nakamura. The issue isn't sloppiness or a huge botch ruining the match. The wrong story was just told in the ring. I often talk about the story in a match. Will it be a squash? Will a particular spot come up? Things like that. I didn't really do that for this match. I guess I expected WWE to handle it properly or smarks to not be too demanding with this.

Specifically, I see fans unhappy because they feel the match was too much about Dolph Ziggler or he looked too good. That's the story of a lot of matches. The person that will end up losing looks good, which is supposed to make the other guy look good for overcoming such a tough opponent. Over the years, however, I have seen fans talk like the person on the winning end sucks or doesn't deserve to win. They talk like the loser is the better wrestler. It is just how the match is booked. And this match made Nakamura look too human for some fans.

Should the WWE have made Nakamura look better? Probably. I would be the first person to say that Dolph Ziggler deserves better and the WWE screwed up with him in the last few months. But he's a jobber. That is what he is right now. And if that is what he is right now, he should not get in the way of someone like Nakamura that just debuted. At this point, who cares if Dolph Ziggler looks good or is made to look strong? If the situation calls for him to get squashed, so be it. Preferably, a more competitive match would have been enough. Ziggler can always get a better push somewhere down the road. That has been his entire career, up and down.

Nakamura is obviously not ruined. It took CM Punk time to break out on the main roster. Same with Daniel Bryan. Nakamura already has a strong smark following, but if he is going to break out like these other guys, the WWE will either have to let him do something huge, like CM Punk's pipebomb, or he will have to come up with something that really energizes the fans, like Daniel Bryan's "Yes!" and "No!" chants. Plenty of time for that.

Goldust Goes Solo

Recently, Goldust turned on R-Truth and went heel This marks a solo push for Goldust. He is going to be 50 in a few years. He is obviously close to retirement. This could possibly be his last good push. Regardless of how it goes, he is obviously going into the WWE Hall of Fame. He comes from a respected wrestling family. He has won a lot of titles. And he just has an iconic character.

This current character, though, has some potential. Wrestling fans have praised Goldust in the last few years for upping his game in the ring, particularly around the time he was teaming with his brother. But his character change seems to have really refreshed him. I would like to see him used well. That does not mean a title reign. You can push someone well without a title involved. I am talking non-title midcard feuds and storylines. He can be good there.

How likely is it that the WWE does it? The WWE has been good at creating some creative interest in lower-midcarders in recent years, but then they drop the ball and they fizzle out. Remember Darren Young getting a push last year? That looked interesting for a while. But it fizzled out, even before he got injured. That can very well happen with Goldust. It would be nice to at least get a few good weeks out of him before the depush.

Has The Women's Revolution Failed?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jinder Mahal Wins WWE Championship

Well, I did say Jinder Mahal had a better chance winning the WWE Championship than Dolph Ziggler had beating Nakamura. And Mahal did win it. Honestly, I did not think it was likely. Then again, the WWE has done some crazy booking recently. This is the most out-of-nowhere WWE Championship win since Sheamus beating Cena for the his first title run.

Jinder Mahal is a guy I have made fun of for years. I see a mixed reaction from fans on the Internet. Some love it. Some are wondering how many viewers Smackdown will lose. Some are wondering how Jinder Mahal has not failed a wellness test. For those that love it, outside of those of Indian descent, I would say it is more the shock value and someone like Mahal winning it than fans really loving this guy. I am not saying no one likes him. I am just saying a lot of it are bandwagoners.

For those that did want him to win the title, I have paid attention to what they said. Again, I am talking outside of Indian fans. The other fans are pointing out how hard Jinder Mahal has worked, his physique, and the fact that he gets a reaction. As far as hard work goes, you mean to tell me someone like Cesaro or Sami Zayn does not work hard? As for his new look, what happened to smarks hating Vince McMahon loving muscular men? And as far as his overness goes, I remember when he got no reaction at all during his first run. I remember fans laughing about it. I wouldn't make too much of that overness. If the WWE did not push him as well as they have, he would not be getting it. If they pushed him as poorly as they did in his first run, he would not be over. If they pushed him as poorly as they did during his first few months back, he would not be over. If they pushed him as poorly as they push Mickie James, he would not be over. I think you can get the idea. This guy is a product of his push. I am not impressed by Jinder Mahal.

Even with the work the WWE put into this guy, he is still someone that was just a jobber two months ago.  You can't push someone like crap for a long period of time and just plug them in and expect them to be great. Mahal did get some heavy, rushed build, but I would say it is not enough. If it really was so easy to do this kind of thing, the WWE would have no issues. Fans would always buy into whatever the WWE was doing. The WWE would be as hot as they were in the Attitude Era. The same proportion of the overall audience back then that was interested in the WWE would still be here. Because there are more people in the world today than back then, that means the WWE would have even more fans today. And ratings would be a lot better than they are. No DVR or Hulu excuses. This is must-see TV and the fans would be tuning in to see Raw and Smackdown live. But that's not happening. And that is because the WWE is not as hot as they were and are making terrible mistakes these days. I would say putting the WWE Championship on a jobber falls in that category.

Previewing The Backlash 2017 Main Events

I never thought I would live to see the day that Jinder Mahal was getting a WWE Championship match. It is happening at Backlash this Sunday. He will face Randy Orton.

Is there any good reason for Jinder Mahal to win the title? People can talk about appealing to the Indian market and this being a response to TNA going to India, or whatever along those lines. If the WWE really cared that much, it would not have taken depth problems a decade ago for The Great Khali to get a title reign. The WWE has done some terrible things with title reigns recently, so it is not out of the question that Jinder Mahal gets a title win.

I will say Randy Orton retains the title. Randy Orton has not done anything since winning the title at Wrestlemania. He lost to Bray Wyatt in a non-title match. He now finds himself in this feud with Mahal. Yes, John Cena beat AJ Styles for the title a few months ago, then did nothing with it, except lose it to Bray Wyatt. But there is no good reason to do that here for the sake of Jinder Mahal. I would have given the title back to Bray Wyatt. I have mentioned it before. But if they have kept it on Orton this long, there is still more they can do with him. They can soon turn him heel and have him defend against face AJ Styles or Shinsuke Nakamura.

Speaking of Nakamura, he faces Dolph Ziggler. You would normally not consider this match worthy of being the main event of a PPV, but the WWE does whacky things in the WWE Network Era. A non-title match between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton headlined a PPV last year over a WWE Championship match. Women have main-evented a PPV last year, as well. The WWE might feel this match is more worthy to close the show than the match involving Jinder Mahal.

The WWE has hyped up Nakamura's debut and built up to this match. Aside from house shows and dark matches, he has not had an official match on Smackdown. This is it. I have seen some fans talk like the WWE is testing how much of a draw this guy is by having his debut happen at Backlash. I would not expect too much, but the WWE will likely treat this well and smarks that tend to dominate PPV audiences will likely be very loud for Nakamura.

Is there any reason at all for Dolph Ziggler to win this match? I would say Jinder Mahal has a better chance winning the WWE Championship. Everyone knows Dolph Ziggler is just a stepping stone in this feud. The WWE has done some dumb booking recently, usually to prolong feuds, but there is no reason to prolong this feud. Some fans were unhappy when AJ Styles took his first loss in a singles match just a few weeks after debuting. He still got some wins before that loss to Jericho. I can't say how long Nakamura will be undefeated on the main roster, but there is no reason to start him off with a loss.

Previewing The Backlash 2017 Undercard

Let me continue previewing this lackluster PPV with Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin. Both of these guys should be doing better. Which one of them can afford to lose this feud? I can see this one lasting another few weeks. I will say Baron Corbin wins this encounter.

Luke Harper faces Erick Rowan. I remember some fans groaning when Rowan beat Harper a little while ago. Some fans defended it by saying Rowan needs momentum. Why? There are ways to build a feud without having the two sides involved actually pin each other. Harper is likely to win here.

The tag titles will be defended. The Usos defend against Breezango. I am all for new tag teams getting the spotlight. Breezango's current gimmick is just stupid. It is hard to take them seriously. The Usos have not done much since winning the tag titles a few months ago. I will say they retain against the comic relief and eventually defend them against New Day.

Kevin Owens defends the United States Championship against AJ Styles. This feud is still too young to feel as major as it should. You also had Owens having to finish his feud against Jericho. Those two juggled the title between themselves. I won't say it hurt Owens vs. Styles too much, but it was there as a distraction. AJ Styles should not win the title here. I would say he should not win it at all. He doesn't need it. Give the midcard titles back to the midcarders. AJ Styles does not need this to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, which is an excuse some of his fans might make for why he should get it. Sting got inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Sting never won a title in the WWE. Sting never even won a PPV match in the WWE. AJ Styles is already doing better in the WWE than him. I will say Owens retains here. It might be by DQ or by getting counted out.

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.