We are currently in the midst of the biggest wave of wrestling content ever. With WWE (including NXT), AEW, IMPACT, and NWA all having weekly shows on TV or online there has never been a better time to be a wrestling fan. However, despite this “boom” period there seems to be a severe lack of news revolving around the women’s divisions across the board. As a result, very little effort being put into women’s wrestling yet again.
As a women’s wrestling website we rely on news stories in order to share that information to you – our readers. One of the biggest take-aways is that in the current wave of mainstream wrestling popularity and news coming in from all sides, there is and has been little to no news from the female side of the wrestling coin.
For instance, WWE just recently had what they considered a huge move to the Fox Network for their SmackDown brand. During that move, the women were obviously not a focus. Other than the Four Horsewoman tag team match that was advertised the women were ignored. Even Carmella had her 24/7 Championship segments off tv that was instead shown on Twitter as Exclusives.
Now, I will undoubtedly draw the ire of many readers, so please note that these are my opinions and my opinions alone so agree or disagree please read on and enjoy.
I’ll start with WWE because why not? WWE is constantly criticized and rightly so. The Saudi Arabia relationship alone is all sorts of wrong and takes so much of the focus away from the female talent. It makes it hard to enjoy the product. Last year they lessened the blow by hosting Evolution but they don’t seem to be bothering this year, so that’s cool. Thanks, WWE.
WWE is horsewomen heavy. All of their efforts have been put into Becky, Sasha, Bayley, and Charlotte. Take a recent Friday Night SmackDown, for example, Bayley challenged Charlotte for the SmackDown Women’s Championship – again. Bayley ended Charlotte’s 10th and (another) insignificant title run in their third match in a matter of weeks. Then on the following RAW Becky Lynch took on Charlotte to decide which brand got first to pick on night two of the draft.
If we look at the past two months of WWE programming alone the horsewomen have been involved with one another a total of 14 times. Now, I am not saying that is a bad thing because I am a four horsewoman fan, and their impact on the business cannot be brushed aside due to overexposure. However, their prominence and repetitive feuds/matches, although great matches are producing eye rolls and sighs rather than cheers and excitement. Bayley’s heel turn was a help, but it isn’t going to help the women’s division as a whole.
This, as a result, creates a lack of storylines, news, and reports. Thank goodness the draft broke up the quartette to keep them apart and hopefully build up some new talent because the gap between the four and the mid-card level talent is far too wide.
WWE needs to start focusing on the lower level talent such as Ember Moon, Carmella, and Lacey Evans to create stars that can “go” with the current top-tier talent of the Four Horsewomen. Creating new stars creates new feuds, new matches, and fresh and exciting wrestling content.
However, the most newsworthy event recently is that apart from Lana and Zelina Vega, there were no female wrestlers of note on the most recent episode of RAW. Of course, it is understood the majority of the talent was in Australia, but who put them ALL there? Also the few they had to utilize they did nothing with. Not a single women’s match was had. What is this 2011? Go WWE!!
Let’s jump into AEW and their lack of buzz around the women’s division. AEW has been mainly praised so far but the women’s division seems disjointed, muddled, and often times confusing. Giving them the benefit of the doubt as they have only really had a few hours of weekly television under their belt. With that being said the higher-ups such as Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, and Brandi Rhodes should be well aware of what is needed to create the women’s division they promised. They are executing only one match for the women a week, so where are the massive difference and fresh products they are supposed to be showing to rival WWE?
Stars such as Britt Baker, Bea Priestly, Allie, and Penelope Ford have hardly been seen, let alone used. Nyla Rose is the only member of the roster that has any form of exposure and storyline, however, even when it comes to her, she hasn’t been seen since losing to Riho. Inaugural Women’s Champion Riho is reportedly only signed for a few more shows and despite her wild and fun style her status as the face of the company just ain’t cutting it. Therefore the news emanating from the women’s division in the hottest new promotion in the business is few and far between.
For example, the last woman AEW signed is the hugely talented Sadie Gibbs and we haven’t seen or heard from her since All Out. Not to mention that has been her only appearance.
One of the problems is that Britt Baker isn’t becoming the star that they think she is and ultimately want her to be. The crowd reactions for her are somewhere between underwhelming and flat and this has to be due to the fact that we have not seen her in a prominent role at all. Yes, she fought Riho for the title but she lost. And now what? Well, we don’t know because they don’t tell us.
There needs to be more focus on the division as a whole. A clearer definition of the top stars and more exposure for them, which, in turn, would give us more fun and exciting content.
Lastly, let’s address IMPACT Wrestling. IMPACT has arguably one of the best wrestlers going with Tessa Blanchard. They had the chance to make her the X-Division Champion in an unprecedented move but didn’t. Taya Valkyrie is the longest Knockouts Champion ever but doesn’t seem to have any viable contenders as she goes through them so quickly and on to the next. The feuds don’t stick.
Jordynne Grace is another star that for some reason is feuding with newly signed Katie Forbes. IMPACT needs to make waves by making Blanchard a champion that defies gender norms and do it now to truly blow the wrestling business up.
Do you agree with anything stated and what could be done to improve the focus of women’s wrestling? Let us know below.
