'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
2018 is half over. It's been a down year for the company's main roster, to say the least, particularly so when it comes to the women's division.
One of WWE's sacred mantras is that the traditional 3-minute bathroom break Divas segments are over. Under their "women's revolution" banner, the company says it's committed to showcasing their women on par with their male Superstars. Unfortunately, this has proven to be more hype than reality.
Up to the mid-2010's, women's wrestling in WWE was notoriously bad, with its division being comprised mostly of eye candy with few ring skills competing in meaningless, catty, and short matches. The division's ultimate vapidity was made visual in the widely-reviled Divas butterfly belt.
The success of the NXT women's division from 2013 heralded the start of a change, and, from Stephanie McMahon's public proclamation in August 2015 until WrestleMania 33, there were reasons for optimism, despite some hiccups. Afterward, things took a dramatic turn for the worse.
And now with 2018 half over, the process of destruction is complete. The women's division on the main roster is a rubble pile.
All of the negatives of the old Divas division have been fully restored, except we now have to suffer through 20 minutes of the stuff instead of 3. Indeed, many fans sarcastically remark that the company should just bring the old butterfly belt back and make it official.
It's doubly unfortunate because the year started off with so much promise. How did we get here?
#1 Squandering a promising start
After a disappointing 2017, things in the women's division looked on the up as 2018 dawned. The first-ever women's Royal Rumble was coming, and the rumor mill suggested that Ronda Rousey's arrival was imminent. Though, like many fans, I was skeptical about Rousey, her presence generated a lot of buzz surrounding the division.
The women's Royal Rumble match was a triumph, and Ronda Rousey would go on to prove herself. However, ominous signs were already present. Instead of using Asuka's historic Royal Rumble victory to build up a true dream match with Charlotte Flair, she was used mostly to put over Nia Jax in February and March.
Meanwhile, Ronda Rousey's buzz was cooling off by putting her in numerous awkward promo segments. Talking obviously isn't the ex-UFC champion's strong suit, and the segments reflected an unwillingness by WWE to change its formula, even with a name as big as Rousey.
The match between Asuka and Charlotte, and Rousey's WrestleMania debut, were both triumphs nonetheless, but that was mostly due to the talents that all three possess. It's been all downhill ever since.
#2 The wrong pushes (red version)
I knew as soon as the angle started in February that turning Nia Jax babyface and making her the Raw Women's Champion was going to be a disaster.
In a feud with Alexa Bliss which quickly became yet another retread of Mean Girls, but with some corporate virtue signaling sprinkled on top, Nia Jax played the aggrieved bullying victim.
Unfortunately, Nia Jax just isn't very good at anything in this profession, and it was hard to sympathize with her after a few weeks.
We were then treated to two overlong, sloppy matches at WrestleMania and Backlash. It was after the latter that Nia Jax's heat was gone for good as she cut one of the worst promos of the modern era, combining horrid delivery with a script that took WWE's cynical virtue signaling from implied to unmistakable.
From there, Nia's reign was only good for cooling off Ronda Rousey again, at least until their match. Nia went from the bullied to the bully in little more than a month, revealing WWE's laughable commitment to continuity in the process. Alexa Bliss was proven right, and it isn't too surprising that she cashed in to end the pointless reign.
Of course, that doesn't solve much, because it means we'll have to go through yet another month of the Bliss vs. Jax feud.
And while Alexa Bliss will serve as an excellent foil to Ronda Rousey, it's imperative that the latter squashes her like a bug at SummerSlam.
There's no guarantee of that though, since Alexa Bliss is the most overpushed woman on the roster by far, and was a primary reason why 2017 was a disappointing year for the women's division.
Meanwhile, it's painfully ironic that Sasha Banks and Bayley, two of the women chiefly responsible for whatever "change" occurred in the first place, are meandering in a feud that WWE won't take off the ground, and thus providing us with no reason to care about either of them. At the same time, talented women like Ember Moon and Ruby Riott are afterthoughts.
#3 The wrong push (blue version)
SmackDown's women's division is arguably stronger than Raw's in terms of sheer talent, but it's currently suffering from a push even worse than the Nia Jax/Alexa Bliss loop.
Carmella, arguably the least talented female worker in the entire company, is the SmackDown Women's Champion. And while it looked like she was a transitional champion at first, that, unfortunately, hasn't proven to be the case.
Ever since, we've essentially sat through the same heatless segment week after week. Carmella's weaknesses are apparently known to the extent that the company won't have her wrestle singles matches on SmackDown. It also saw the need to bring James Ellsworth back (for how long remains to be seen), in order to boost her reign.
With all of these weaknesses known, it begs us to ask: why continue her reign at all?
Carmella's reign has been good for only one thing - making Charlotte and Asuka, the two biggest stars in the SmackDown women's division, look worse. Carmella dragged them both down to their worst WWE matches ever at Backlash and Money In The Bank, respectively, each of which had little investment from fans.
The result was that Charlotte was normalized immediately after the massive rub she got from breaking Asuka's streak, while Asuka herself might be permanently damaged.
In continuing with her as champion, WWE has also certainly done a great job in taking the luster off of potential rematches between the two and matches Ronda Rousey.
A disaster. From top to bottom.
#4 Where to go from here
For Raw, things will look up following Extreme Rules no matter what, but screwy booking can still ruin it.
There's no other choice for the women's division on the red brand - Ronda Rousey needs to destroy Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam and become Raw Women's Champion. From there, she can have a series of rivalries with talented competitors on Raw and help to elevate them in attention, giving us great matches in the process.
Rousey has proven herself and it's time to strike when the iron is hot. Giving her heated rivalries with top competitors will build her and her title up for what's speculated to be WrestleMania's first women's main event.
The other side of that equation needs to be balanced as well. Asuka needs to enact swift and brutal revenge on Carmella and James Ellsworth at Extreme Rules.
From there, she and Charlotte can have a series of matches that will elevate them and the SmackDown Women's Championship, taking it out of the mud Carmella's dragged it into.
Asuka can go on to have a match with Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series that could easily be the first women's match to main event a big 4 pay per view, while Charlotte can warm up for a titanic WrestleMania clash.
While NXT's women's division has been in a much smaller valley, that's about to change with Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane set for TakeOver: Brooklyn IV, and the new Mae Young Classic about to get underway, bringing with it world class arrivals like Io Shirai and Toni Storm.
Sane and Shirai's probable victories will set the course for an epic feud that should make the NXT women's division must-see again.
Will the main roster follow suit? It can easily do so by taking the easy steps outlined above, but the main roster isn't always known for making the obvious best choices - which is how we got in this mess in the first place. We'll just have to hope for something good.
