WWE disappoints its women’s division.
The group that has been one of the company’s greatest assets for the past five years is beginning to fall victim to questionable bookings, less convincing creativity, and the lack of new main event stars. While the issues have plagued the SmackDown women’s list less recently than the others, the case can be made that the talented performers in the division aren’t being used and showcased as well as they could be.
Let’s start with Asuka. She hasn’t defended her Raw Women’s Championship against Lana since November 23, a disqualification victory. Her most recent clean wins as a Raw Women’s Champion came when she submitted Zelina Vega – who has since been released by WWE – to Clash of Champions on September 20, 2020 and the following evening on “Monday Night Raw.” Asuka’s last win in singles took place against Shayna Baszler on Raw on December 7 and is 1-5-2 overall so far in 2021.
Since then, Asuka has ended up in the women’s team champion photo. First with Lana before finally teaming up with Charlotte to win the ties of Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax – only to lose them just over a month later as the fourth wheel in a storyline between Charlotte, Ric Flair and Lacey Evans.
Asuka would put her Raw women’s title on the line against Evans in Elimination Chamber, but the match was dropped with Evans pregnant in real life. Evans earned the title by winning another contest with Charlotte as part of a larger storyline involving her in a relationship with Ric Flair with some sexual overtones.
The whole angle was more about the tense relationship between the Flairs than ever about Evans. It also means that the creative for the original title bout in Elimination Chamber had little to do with Asuka – unless it set up a corner with her and Flair. No replacement opponent was found for her that night. Asuka is one of WWE’s best players in the ring and a star during the pandemic. She hasn’t been treated like this lately.
You wonder if WWE is just buying time at WrestleMania 37 for a match between Asuka and Flair. Maybe new mom Becky Lynch will return to Raw the next night to start a show with the winner. Looks like things are headed that way as Flair looked disgusted and dismissive after accidentally hitting Asuka and costing them a tag match against Baszler and Jax on Raw last week.
The lack of new challengers makes it even more imperative for WWE to hit with Rhea Ripley, who has all the tools to become a legitimate star. Announced on Raw, Ripley has to win and keep winning until she’s ready for a title.
The situation around Asuka ties in with the problem facing the women’s label division. The titles have, for the most part, been used to keep top-tier singles on TV when they are out of the main picture of the event. While there were exceptions – the IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), Nikki Cross, and Kairi Sane – former singles champions or main eventers Asuka, Flair, Baszler, Jax, Bayley, Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss have been instrumental in the tag belts.
While it’s easy to understand that you want to keep your stars on television, they should be used to elevate other talents or create storylines specific to the tag division. We’ve just had a really good breakup storyline with Banks and Bayley. It should be a while before we see that again. Instead, we also see eventual WrestleMania opponents Bianca Belair and Banks team up and lose at Elimination Chamber. (On a side note, WWE didn’t even take the time to mention on SmackDown that Belair could also have picked NXT women’s champion Io Shirai.)
Banks, who should look strong on his way to WrestleMania, took a pin in the Elimination Chamber after Carmella’s sommelier, Reginald, tried to help. At worst, that could have happened on SmackDown with the pay-per-view match going to a real team in the division.
After all these years, why not give the much improved Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan a run with belts or Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke. Lana had three different partners from Natalya to Asuka over the past months until now a very good combination with Naomi. Why not give them a well-deserved moment in the sun? Natalya does so much to help the other women’s wrestlers. Take advantage of real life and give her a protege she tries to nurture to win the bonds. That could be what they’re doing with Tamina or trying to get a monster heel ready for Banks of Belair.
Jax and Baszler are such dominant forces that WWE could try to build an underdog story for one of these teams already positioned that way. If Naomi and Lana beat them, Lana’s storyline would be complete, but the greatest chance for that may be over.
Everything shows a troubling pattern from WWE that doesn’t put its talented women in the best position to succeed. It’s something WrestleMania can solve on a grand scale if WWE is indeed just offering its time. But from now on, WWE is lowering its women’s division on a massive scale.