Carmella & Ellsworth

I have been saying for a while that the WWE needs to make better use of periphery angles with the women. They can talk about a revolution and empowering women all they want, but they just cannot sustain a proper women's division without going beyond just wrestling, especially with the brand split. But this angle with Carmella and James Ellsworth is not what I had in mind.

Let's make it clear from the start, this is more for Ellsworth, not Carmella. Carmella would have something to do no matter what. Even if she wasn't involved with Nikki Bella for a while now, with the poor depth in the division, Carmella would still be used somewhere, whether it be in tag matches or being used to put over someone else that is being pushed.

What does Ellsworth have to do? AJ Styles knocked him off a few weeks ago and has moved on to John Cena. Dean Ambrose has also moved on from Ellsworth, recently even winning the Intercontinental Championship. Ellsworth is the one that really had no long-term creative direction. It might make you wonder if the WWE should have bothered signing this guy.

Why not continue his angle with Dean Ambrose? Did they feel it might make Ambrose look like a heel to continue to target Ellsworth, although Ellsworth did screw him? Did they not want Ellsworth to turn heel? Whatever it is, the WWE pretty much booked themselves into a corner. I don't think the angle between Ambrose and Ellsworth got a proper finish.

What about Ambrose moving on to beating Miz for the Intercontinental Championship? Ambrose did not need another title reign so soon. A year ago, most people might have said that Ambrose was treated the worst of The Shield members. He had not yet won a World Championship. He was used to put over Lesnar. Since then, he has done pretty well for himself. They could have continued his angle with Ellsworth. The Royal Rumble is coming up. This is a time of year where a lot of feuds mix. You have 30 guys that will be facing each other for a title shot at Wrestlemania. What is wrong for various guys in the match to interact? If they wanted him to feud with Miz for a few weeks during this time, okay, but no title change was needed. And if you are going to put the title on someone else, how about someone who was not a former World Champion? Ambrose held a World Championship before. Miz did. Ziggler did. How about building the midcard with the midcard title? I see a lot of fans loving that the Intercontinental Championship has grown in importance. Problem is, the WWE is treating it like it is too important for common midcarders to have.

Back to Ellsworth, what I really dislike is that there are other guys on the roster that lack an angle. A periphery angle like this can help increase the interest in a worker. Does Ellsworth really deserve it? This time last year, he was on no one's radar. Now, he is being treated as a priority just because of his awkwardness. And I just get the feeling that the writers do not even know what to do with him. I pointed out that the angle between Ambrose and Ellsworth did not really get a proper finish. His angle with AJ Styles was also tossed aside rather easily. Carmella really doesn't need him. How seriously can you push a guy like him? What do you do with a guy like him? Meanwhile, other guys are not getting what he has gotten. I just don't like it.

Should Mickie James Be La Luchadora?

It is no secret that Mickie James is coming back to the WWE and will likely end up on Smackdown. In recent weeks, the WWE has run a "La Luchadora" angle. Who is the masked woman? It was Becky Lynch at first. Last week, another woman in the outfit and mask screwed Becky Lynch. There is now speculation that Mickie James will be revealed as the woman. I think that is a dumb move for a variety of reasons.

First, it was obviously not Mickie James last week. Fans have already pointed out that it was a woman with tanner skin than Mickie James has. It would be kind of insulting to fans' intelligence to still sell Mickie James as the woman all the time. The WWE might have been more likely to pull this kind of thing years ago, but this is an era where they pay attention to what fans are saying on social media and acknowledge certain things. They have acknowledged that Ariya Daivari is related to the Daivari that was in the WWE a decade ago. Of course, they're not ruining Bray Wyatt's character by pointing out every day that he was Husky Harris. But it would be really stupid of the WWE to sell Mickie James as the woman that cost Becky Lynch the title last week.

Second, it is just a stupid way to have Mickie James return in general. People know who she is and she is one of the most respected women in women's wrestling. People know that she has re-signed. They know she was in NXT just a couple months ago. Why this dumb angle to bring her in? Just have her go out there and say that she proved herself against Asuka that she can still hang with the best women's wrestling has to offer. Don't even have her say anything at all. Just have her show up and save Becky Lynch from a beating. The whole "La Luchadora" gimmick is just dumb for her to have. Treat her with a little more respect.

Another thing to consider, this whole angle would mean Mickie James would be coming back as a heel. Becky Lynch, a face, was screwed by the masked woman last week. I would say bringing Mickie James back as a heel is another reason this whole direction would be stupid. And I have two reasons why.

First, Mickie James is one of the most popular women the WWE ever had, especially after Lita and Trish retired. She had what it took to get over with wrestling fans and the general audience. Even before the smark revolution of recent years, she was over. It is true that smarks tend to prefer heels over faces, and it is also true that Mickie James has played entertaining heel characters in the WWE and TNA, but why would you bring her back to the main roster and expect her to get booed? She left the WWE in 2010 as a popular face. What has she done since then to get fans to want to boo her? People say Vince McMahon was out of touch for thinking fans would love Batista when he returned a few years ago. I think the WWE might be out of touch again if they think Mickie James would automatically be a hated heel.

Second reason I find a potential heel debut for Mickie James dumb, it is just not practical. Look at Smackdown's women's roster. Natalya, Carmella, and Alexa Bliss are heels. Nikki Bella and Becky Lynch are the only faces. You might think that's not so bad. The faces are only outnumbered by one. Bring in Mickie James as a heel, the faces are outnumbered by two. With Naomi having injury issues, you have to wonder how reliable she might be as an in-ring performer for a while. It is the second time in a year she has had to take time off due to injuries. Speaking of injury issues, Nikki Bella came back from a serious injury just a few months ago. When Eva Marie comes back, she will obviously be a heel. Why would the WWE want to put themselves in this position where the heels outnumber the faces and some of the faces have had injury issues in the last year? As it stands now, the face depth is terrible. With both Becky Lynch and Nikki Bella getting featured in storylines, there is no free face to be a sidekick/jobber. I am not saying Mickie James deserves to be a sidekick/jobber, but they need to improve that face depth.

I am not saying Mickie James should never turn heel. If a face run should ever go stale, then turn her heel. If the heel depth was weak, then you could turn her heel. But right now, there is no reason to want her to be a heel. It is the face depth that is weak. And Mickie James is the type of performer wrestling fans would anticipate seeing. She's not someone the fans will sour on fast, like Batista during Daniel Bryan's rise.

What I am hoping the WWE will do is reveal that the masked woman was someone else, like Deonna Purrazzo. While Becky Lynch is being beaten down by Alexa Bliss and her partner in crime, Mickie James would return to make the save. That sets up a tag-team feud for a little while. It would just avoid a lot of problems that debuting Mickie James as the heel under the mask would create.

2016 Ratings Review

I have a birthday coming up this week. I think I can get away with putting up whatever pic I want. I get my numbers for the ratings and viewership from here and here. Some of the data may be missing, or occasionally botched, but you can still get the general idea of things.

I'll start with TNA. Wrestlingdata.com seems to have given up on TNA, so just look at Gerweck's chart. TNA averaged over 312,000 viewers in 2016. That is down from over 330,000 viewers in the previous year. They went as high as 410,000 viewers, thanks to the unique character and storylines they were having with Matt Hardy. They dropped to 165,000 on Thanksgiving. That is a pretty big range for a show that doesn't average that many viewers to start with.

It would be easy to slam TNA. They used to average a million viewers just a few years ago. Their numbers are slipping. They have all that inner turmoil. They are still going. Moreover, I think they will see their numbers increase in 2017, or at least remain relatively stable. What am I basing that on? Gut feeling? Did I flip a coin? Well, look at the numbers. Yes, they are down from previous years, but look how they performed throughout the year. They started out averaging under 300,000 viewers for the first few months of the year. During the final few months of the year, they were averaging over that benchmark for most weeks. And keep in mind, this is going against NFL games on Thursday nights. You can say the Thursday night games sucked or whatever, but they still drew good numbers, compared to other shows, and TNA managed to close the year against them pretty well. They closed 2016 better than they did 2015.

What are some of the things TNA will need to do to stay stable, or possibly grow? They just have to keep going with what they had in 2016 that worked. That is obviously The Hardys. How much further can they really go with that? Moreover, they have to build fresh stars. They cannot just push someone well for a while, then break them down. I have seen them do that too many times over the years. Not only does it hurt the connection fans might have with certain workers, some workers may not feel like sticking around in this system. On the other side of that, they need to move away from Gail Kim in the women's division. Gail Kim is already in the Hall of Fame. I can't say she should retire. And she looks like she could still go for another five years. But there are women younger than her and might potentially be bigger stars than her. TNA just needs to start going to these women properly. Most importantly, TNA should not try to play the WWE's game. The WWE does not have a winning system right now, so why imitate it? TNA has their own things with potential, so they should work on that.

Speaking of the WWE, how about Raw? Raw averaged a 2.64 in the ratings in 2015. This recent year, it dropped all the way to a 2.27. That is pretty horrible. It was a 2.95 in 2014. 3.01 in 2013. 3.0 in 2012. 3.21 in 2011. That 14% drop from 2015 to 2016 is the worst in recent years. People can say it was an election year, but it was also an election year in 2012. There was only a 6.5% drop back then. And Raw remained stable the year after that.

Looking at viewership numbers, Raw struggled to go over 4,000,000 viewers, doing so only twice in 2016. It did so eight times in 2015, including one Raw that saw over 5,000,000 viewers. The WWE's main show dipped below 3,000,000 viewers multiple times. It averaged 3.2 million viewers. Can you imagine them averaging under 3 million in 2017? I can.

I talked about how the NFL did not hurt TNA too much in 2016. Can the same be said for the WWE's main show? No, Raw got some of its worst numbers in the final months of the year, as you can usually expect. Again, they also had to deal with heavy election drama coinciding with the NFL drama. You can say competition was tougher for them than it usually is.

Will Raw bounce back in 2017? It would be easy to think they would. No more Monday night NFL games. The election is decided. Thing is, the WWE didn't have a nice ratings spike to start 2016. There is a good chance 2017 starts the same way, which would set the tone for a terrible year in the ratings, again.

What can the WWE do for Raw? Ending the brand split would be a step in the right direction. I have said before that a long-term brand split is just not good, especially for Raw. They lose their full arsenal of stars. When you take a show that is already sliding in the ratings and tie its hands like that, you just make it really hard to stop the decline. And all the Kurt Angles in the world will not be enough to save them. All these returns the WWE is doing might give them a nice boost when it happens and the week after, but it always dies down after a while. Look at Goldberg's recent return. He helped them get some good numbers for a while, but the quality of the product is just not good to retain the audience. You can also talk about making Raw two hours again, but that is even less likely to happen than the brand split happening.

Onto Smackdown. Smackdown finally beat Raw since that first live episode a few months ago. Raw last week had 2,855,000 viewers. Smackdown had 2,885,000 viewers. All it took was hyping a special episode like it was a PPV, including all those title matches and John Cena returning. Of course, Raw did have to go up against a Dallas Cowboys game. In this year of the NFL also suffering a ratings loss, the Cowboys have remained a top draw. To put it simply, it was Raw going against its toughest competition of the NFL season and Smackdown pulling out almost all the stops. It is not too shocking that it would happen.

Regardless of this recent victory, I would still say Smackdown is underachieving. They have made a ton of improvements and are on a convenient night. They only averaged a 1.72 in 2016, a little up from a 1.69 in 2015. You can say that they weren't live and their own brand for the first few months of the year. You know what's funny? Some of their numbers from earlier this year, when they were not live and their own brand yet, are actually better than the numbers these last few months. Smackdown averaged 2.64 million viewers in January 2016.  It averaged 2.59 million in December 2016. It might make you question whether all these changes are really making a difference.

What can Smackdown do to improve? Well, they are still in a better position than Raw, whether they end the brand split or not. I think they just have to continue being efficient with their roster. They are going to sign and promote more talent, so that should help to make things more fresh. But they can't fall in the trap of just trying to cater to smarks. That goes for the WWE in general. Smarks seem to prefer Smackdown over Raw. Okay, but the WWE shouldn't just rest on that. There is more they can do. These meaningless celebrity segments they have sometimes done are just a waste of time. Focus on the talent you have. Hopefully, Smackdown might even be more competitive in 2017 against Raw.

American Alpha Win The Titles

There was a title change on Smackdown this week. It just wasn't the titles I thought it might be. It was the tag titles. American Alpha won them.

Let's not sugarcoat it, American Alpha were flops. The WWE debuted them on Smackdown like they were just supposed to be the top team of the division. They did not connect with the audience well and Heath Slater & Rhyno just deserved to win the tag titles before them. But I have said that the WWE should go back to them and give them a proper push.

A proper push does not mean just dumping a title in someone's lap. There was no development for these guys to win the titles. Obviously, with Zack Ryder's injury, the WWE could not do what they originally would have liked to do. But doing a title change like this does not do American Alpha any favors. They need work. It reminds of Becky Lynch winning the Women's Championship a few months ago. She had no proper focus on her heading into that match to crown the inaugural titleholder. And she just won. Her fans will eat it up, but there are a lot of fans out there that might not care that much. Of the women that debuted from NXT in one night last year, Becky Lynch was the one pushed the least properly.

I am not saying the WWE should never have a title change come out of nowhere for someone that had no real build for the push. Normally, however, it should at least go to someone with prior credibility. Look at Sheamus winning the Royal Rumble out of nowhere a few years ago. There really was not much focus on Sheamus to legitimately win the big match, but he did. Of course, Sheamus had credibility from being a WWE Champion prior to that. I can also agree with creating some buzz by having someone win a title in their first match, like Paige did. The WWE obviously fumbled with Paige soon after, but that's another story.

Which category does American Alpha fall under? They didn't win the titles in their debut match to cause buzz. These are not guys that had credibility previously on the main roster to imply they have at least gotten a proper push before in front of the main audience. They are rookies that have not been pushed well and suddenly have the tag titles.

Some might think I'm crazy. Didn't I hear how some fans reacted when American Alpha got their moment? Yeah, and can you hear how all the other fans and potential viewers reacted to it? No, you can't. How about you stop and consider that? When certain wrestlers are in front of their hometown, they are likely to get a good reaction. When certain wrestlers are in front of smark crowds or wrestling-friendly crowds, they are likely to get a good reaction. Smackdown was in Chicago this week. I don't think I need to say anything else about that. No one should get fooled into thinking American Alpha are more over than they really are just because smarks like them. I pointed out in the past that these are the type of guys that wrestling fans would eat up. The WWE needs to put proper work in these guys to develop wider appeal.

How about the team that lost the tag titles? That would be The Wyatts. It was a very short title reign. Some people are unhappy about Bray Wyatt losing his title reign so fast. Face it, this title reign was more about furthering a storyline, not honoring Bray Wyatt. That should not be the issue for discussion here. What you should be talking about is whether the WWE pulled the trigger too soon on the title change. The feud between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt has a lot of creative potential, but I have pointed out in the last few months that the WWE has made some questionable choices. Even if you can forgive or ignore all that, this recent development is questionable. The WWE just didn't get enough off the title reign, even just talking creatively. It isn't really about building a dominant stable, since that is obviously not what the story is about. It is about playing with the relationships within The Wyatts right now. They could have done more before having The Wyatts lose the tag titles.

Renee Young Gets An Angle

Renee Young has really just been an interviewer/host for most of her time in the WWE. She is dating Dean Ambrose in real life. She is also now a part of Total Divas. She now seems to be doing even more. She has gotten involved in an angle with Miz and Maryse, along with Ambrose.

This is obviously a periphery angle. It seems like it has been a long time since I talked about an angle like this. Renee Young and Maryse are obviously not there for their wrestling ability. This is an angle on the periphery of the major focus of Smackdown's women's division. And there is nothing wrong with angles like this. The diva era produced stars in the periphery. Smackdown has shown a lot of the elements you would expect from the diva era. Alexa Bliss is arguably a diva. She is holding Smackdown's Women's Championship.

Or is this just purely Total Divas shenanigans? Total Divas, much like other WWE programming has been doing not so great in the ratings. Does the WWE feel they need to further promote the individuals on the show and the drama viewers can expect to see on the show? So far, it is at least not getting in the way of the women's feuds wrestling fans might be more interested in.

What does this mean for Maryse? For the most part since coming back, she has been just a valet for her husband, Miz. She would get involved in segments here and there, but storylines never really included her that much. This is a storyline that does put more focus on her. Nothing wrong with that. Maryse has the potential to be a great character. She never put it together during her first run in the WWE to get a proper reaction from the fans, but maybe she will do better this time.

And Renee Young? Back in the day, Lilian Garcia would sometimes get some angles here and there. Nothing wrong with that. Just don't make it a regular thing. It could get annoying. Not everyone that works for the WWE needs to eventually get in the ring. This angle might do some good for Renee Young, but she does not need to become Ambrose's valet. Both can move on after this angle ends.

Previewing Smackdown's Wild Card Finals

Some fans have said that tonight's Smackdown is like a PPV. I am all for Smackdown having special episodes, but here is another weird name to go with. In any case, I will be looking at the announced title matches. I will not talk about John Cena returning.

The tag titles are on the line. With Zack Ryder injured, the WWE has decided to go with three teams challenging The Wyatts. The Usos, American Alpha, and Rhyno & Heath Slater are getting the shot. What will decide who wins is whether or not the WWE is ready to go anywhere with the storyline between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. They might just carry this story all the way to Wrestlemania. I doubt Orton turns on Bray Wyatt tonight. I also doubt they do anything to split Luke Harper from Bray Wyatt, which is another point you can expect this storyline to reach. Until they get to all that, the tag titles are likely not going anywhere. The Wyatts retain.

Alexa Bliss defends the Smackdown Women's Championship against Becky Lynch. Common sense might say that Alexa Bliss retains. She just won the title not too long ago. Becky Lynch seems to have the momentum heading into this match. But you can never tell these days with how the WWE treats title reigns. Everything is about history, whether that means long title reigns or juggling titles around to inflate the number of reigns. If they want this special episode of Smackdown to have a title change, I feel like this is the one that changes hands. But I will say Alexa Bliss retains.

AJ Styles is back in the ring after his injury and making up for lost time. He knocked off James Ellsworth last week. Tonight, he faces Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin. Baron Corbin? Where did he come from? I am all for other people on the card getting title pushes, and it looked like they were building Corbin up for a push, but the build up for this match just feels awkward. A lot of people praise Smackdown's writing and booking, but this show is still far from perfect. On the other hand, I don't mind little things like this now and then to shake things up. I just hope that is what they are doing. Don't make this kind of booking the norm. This is not how you build proper feuds. In just the few weeks since moving on from Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles has had to deal with James Ellsworth, Dolph Ziggler, and now Baron Corbin. Is it all filler? Or are they building something here? Oh, and as for who wins, AJ Styles.

When Should New Day Break Up?

I was watching Let's Make A Deal last week and New Day popped up. They weren't too bad.

Obviously, a few days before that, New Day lost the tag titles to Sheamus and Cesaro. New Day is not finished yet, however. But they will eventually break up. The question is whether the WWE should do it quickly, like in the coming weeks, or let the group last a few more months.

As I have said many times in the last year during New Day's reign of terror, they don't need the tag titles to do their act. And their act obviously has entertainment value. They weren't parading around with tag titles on Let's Make A Deal last week. They were playing along for the Christmas episode. And they can still be a part of some great storylines and segments away from chasing the tag titles.

On the other side of that, why might the WWE want to break them up? Depth might be the issue. There are enough tag teams to run the tag division on Raw well enough for a while. New Day is not necessary there. But are there enough singles wrestlers to push? New Day is made up of at least two guys that can be very useful as singles wrestlers, Kofi Kingston and Big E. Xavier Woods is probably best suited as a manager, as I have seen many other fans point out. Kofi Kingston and Big E can be useful chasing after the United States Championship down the road or being used as jobbers to the stars.

How do I think the WWE should handle it? Let New Day last a few more months. They can start breaking them up after Wrestlemania. But there is no need to have them last another year together. And they definitely do not need the tag titles back so soon. They already made history and all that. Time to move on from that, although the group might still have some potential as entertainers.

Should Drew McIntyre Return To The WWE?

The WWE released Drew McIntyre (Drew Galloway) a few years ago. He ended up in TNA and went through the motions there that you would usually expect from a former WWE performer like him going to TNA. TNA may have given him a run with their top title, but they didn't really push him that well. His deal is set to expire in a few months and the speculation can now begin about whether he will come back to the WWE.

The WWE gave Drew McIntyre a big push at one point. You have to wonder how far it would have gone. Were they grooming a legitimate main-eventer? Or just someone to work with a top star and then get demoted? Some people like to say issues with his wife, Taryn Terrell, ruined his push. How about the fact that he just wasn't getting over? Even after that incident in 2010, Drew went on to get a short run with the tag titles with Cody Rhodes. They didn't release him right away. He was stuck with the jobber group of 3MB, but he was still in the company for a while.

Could he bring anything to the WWE? Did he really improve himself in TNA? He definitely has potential. Maybe part of the problem during his WWE run is that they pushed him as the wrong kind of heel. They spent too much time hyping him and not enough time just letting his character really shine.

Of course, this is a different era in the WWE. Not only has the WWE's attitude towards certain things changed, but the fans watching are different. The WWE has driven away a lot of fans over the years. Of those fans left, smarks have become a lot more vocal and energized. These type of fans might be all for a guy like Drew McIntyre. At the very least, he will be better off than his first run with the WWE.

I would not be surprised if the WWE at least showed some interest in Drew. They have already shown a willingness to bring back certain other wrestlers they had released that they felt at the time they no longer needed. They even brought back Jinder Mahal! They obviously have depth issues with the brand split back. I have said many times that I feel the WWE should do better with the roster they have before rushing to sign more people, but if they are going to sign more people, Drew McIntyre would not be a terrible choice to bring back.

Roman Reigns Continues Against Kevin Owens

The Universal Championship match between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns obviously did not end cleanly and decisively last Sunday. That means Reigns will get a rematch at the Royal Rumble next month. They are also trying to make it more interesting by putting Jericho in a cage so he can't interfere like he usually does.

There is one problem. Roman Reigns is still the United States Champion. I don't like it when titles get hijacked. I didn't like New Day's long reign that recently ended. I didn't like the title being stuck between Charlotte and Sasha Banks for almost half the year, although that has also come to an end. Roman Reigns getting one title opportunity against Kevin Owens while still being United States Champion is nothing to get too upset over. It is better than the endless title matches Seth Rollins has gotten. It created an interesting feud. Would Roman Reigns end up holding two titles? But prolonging it becomes problematic. Other people could be chasing after the United States Championship in this time Reigns is feuding for a more important title.

Of course, the WWE can have Reigns lose the title in the coming weeks due to interference from Kevin Owens. It adds a little heat to the feud and gets the title off Reigns. Chris Jericho might seem like the obvious choice, but it really does not need to be him. Pick another heel. Braun Strowman? Rusev doesn't need the title back right now. There are other heels on Raw, although some of them may lack credibility. People said a few months ago that Raw won the draft. Maybe in terms of numbers, but questionable in terms of quality. When it comes to midcard heels, they need to do some work. Maybe getting the midcard title off a main-eventer and putting it on a midcarder would help.

John Cena winning the United States Championship last year was refreshing. Even smarks, his biggest critics, liked it. Why hasn't this title reign for Roman Reigns worked out anyway like that? I think one of the biggest differences is that you did not have the brand split last year. Rosters are limited now. Seth Rollins has been getting endless title matches. Who takes his place that has the credibility to go after the title? It would have been nice if the WWE took a chance on a midcarder, like Cesaro, but not too shocking that they did not. Even in terms of just looking at Roman Reigns and the United States Championship, the brand split hurts the number of free challengers he can have. Last year, Cena was having title matches with a variety of guys. Right now, as I just pointed out, you have a lot of midcarders already tied up with something or just lacking credibility. Does anyone want to see Jinder Mahal get a shot at Roman Reigns? Roman Reigns is needed to give the Universal Championship scene someone new. The heel midcard pool isn't too great. Brand split just hurts the depth. The WWE needs to make better use of the roster. Just signing guys is not the answer, especially if they are not handled right.

Raw's Women's Division Finally Moves On

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

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

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

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