To be honest, the WWE women’s division deserve their own brand along with their Evolution and other pay-per-views. With promotions like WOW (Women of Wrestling), GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling), PGWA (Professional Girl Wrestling Association), and RISE Wrestling and others around, it’s a market the WWE has yet to really tap into brand-wise.
Like professional wresting promotions in general, there are some that had or have bad reputations that caused them to fail or are the reason for a current revival. There are others that have been successful and continue to get people’s attention despite their small or Indie status.
Why it’s needed
The WWE is a ginormous company that’s made a habit of signing everyone with talent to their ranks and leaving them there to rot. Sure, they may get some exposure in house shows so the top stars get a break, but their exposure on the main brands like Raw and Smackdown is generally limited to quick matches to help put over someone else.
This holds true to the women wrestlers as well as the men, and something’s got to give. WWE’s ranks are bloated to the point it can be argued they’re wasting money on contracts by not utilizing their talent more. Instead of just signing the checks and leaving their wrestlers floating around, they could invest more and create a fourth brand based on their women’s division.
As noted on WWE Backstage by Alexa Bliss and Ember Moon, there is clearly frustration at not having their fellow superstars not being given more of a chance to show what they can do.
I’ve mentioned before how there have been times where their timing seems off on certain moves and how it could be from their lack of working together to hone their matches or not being allowed to take risks like the men.
While the latter is understandable, we’ve seen Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks in a top notch Hell in a Cell match, and Lynch and Charlotte Flair mixing it up with the Kabuki Warriors (Kari Sane and Asuke) in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, so it’s not out of the question.
The former can be solved by simply having them work together. There was a time when wrestlers would work together across the country or world for up to a year or longer fine tuning what they’d do, so why not continue that for some of the younger talent? A perfect example of this was one of Becky Lynch’s moves where someone tried to shoulderblock her through the ropes, but she’d sidestep and kick them. For a while, there was an awkward pause as the move was done at half-speed and her opponent had to wait on Lynch. But now, the move goes off perfectly each time after they had a chance to work on it.
What their own brand would bring
Having a women’s only brand would add more incentive as it’d give the creative team a chance to stretch their legs and do storylines that aren’t about cheating spouses or significant others and whatever spa opera-ish stereotypical angles fans are tired of. Plus, if it’s on the WWE Network, they wouldn’t have to worry about ratings and could focus on the product like they did when building NXT.
This would allow them to merge the Raw and Smackdown women’s championship into one title, add a mid-card Intercontinental championship, and have the tag team championship under one brand like they claim they want to do across the board. Sure, they could still appear on Raw or Smackdown from time to time, but they’d have their own show, their own flagship brand to steer and creative something impressive.
By having their own brand, more women would get screen and match time. We’d get to see their different styles and gimmicks mesh into something we may never have seen otherwise.
It’d also give the WWE a product in the niche of women’s wrestling that’s not an after thought but a driving force in the women’s evolution they claim to champion.
Could it fail? Sure. But that was the thought when they created Smackdown to appear across from WCW Thunder, or when they made NXT into its own brand.
This would also go a long way into further erasing the fact Vince McMahon screwed Wendi Richter in 1985 because she wanted fair pay and stagnating the women’s division. It’d go a long way to pushing and breaking boundaries and show women wrestlers as the capable athletes and competitors they are instead of just pretty faces we see in passing as jobbers for the established superstars.
Every athlete, no matter what endeavor, just wants the opportunity to show what they can do and grow. The WWE women’s division deserve their own brand, and we deserve to see their skills on display for more than a few minutes here and there.
