What if WWE creates a women-only wrestling show?

Over the last two and a half years, WWE has pushed women’s wrestling like never before. Between an unparalleled pool of female talent (in terms of talent, star power, and diversity) and recognizing that contemporary fans are ready to bite on female wrestling, and are more interested in serious athletes than cheesecake models, the Women’s Revolution has seen the rise of a number of captivating new stars.

WWE has grown more ambitious in terms of the situations women are booked into. Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks worked the first women’s Hell in a Cell Match and main evented a PPV in one shot.

From there, we’ve seen the first women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, TLC Match, and more. Evolution was WWE’s first all-female PPV, and the Mae Young Classic saw WWE dip its toe in the waters of running a women-only show.

But what if WWE were to go full tilt into running a women-only brand along the lines of what 205 Live is for the Cruiserweight division? This article looks at what might follow.

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#5. Women’s secondary titles

One or more secondary titles would give the women of WWE more to compete for.

For a long time, one women’s championship on the WWE landscape was plenty given the depth of the talent pool and the degree to which the division was featured. Times change, though. Now, it’s difficult to imagine Ronda Rousey not reigning as or challenging the Raw Women’s Champion, and between Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Asuka, the SmackDown Women’s Championship picture is quite crowded, too.

A whole new women’s show would present a number of questions, including whether it would it include its own separate roster, or if all women would migrate to this separate brand.

Regardless, we could expect the invention of at least one more women’s championship, perhaps at the level of an Intercontinental or United States title to give another title for talents to chase and feud over.

#4. A women’s tag team championship

WWE has hinted at a women's tag team division.

Rumours have abounded about WWE starting a women’s tag team division, and Sasha Banks and Bayley went so far as to explicitly cite it as a goal for them to be crowned the first champions of it.

A timeline for this division and which brand it might fall on remains unclear, particularly given that each brand seems to have readily available tandems. On the Raw side, there’s not only Banks and Bayley, but different permutations of the Riott Squad, and Nia Jax and Tamina. For SmackDown there’s The Iconics, Asuka and Naomi, and Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville.

An all women’s show could facilitate either its own roster or crossover between Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. In either case, it would be the ideal platform to take a deep dive into women’s wrestling with a separate tag team division.

Moreover, the independent show could set up more fluidity in the roster to cycle talent in and out as needed for the purpose of trying out teams in different permutations.

#3. More talent gets called up and in

Stars of yesteryear and from smaller promotions might get called in to fill a new roster.

If WWE were to launch an all women’s show, the odds are that the company would need more talent to populate it. That’s especially true assuming female talent remained on Raw, SmackDown, and NXT, and that the roster for this new show was either splitting time or consisting of its own separate collection of stars.

In the end, WWE would need more female stars to justify the show and to have enough depth to weather injuries, suspensions, and talent needing time away for personal reasons.

We could expect top talents from developmental like Kairi Sane, Shayna Baszler, and Dakota Kai to get the call-up. Additionally, we may see WWE make a bigger effort to bring back talents from yesteryear who can work like Kaitlyn, and to get top talents booked only for the Mae Young Classic signed to coveted full-time contracts.

#2. 205 Live crossover

We could see some crossover between two niche brands/divisions.

If WWE was to launch an all women’s show, it would be appealing to a relatively niche group of hardcore wrestling fans for what would presumably be a WWE Network exclusive program. That sounds a lot like 205 Live and there would be opportunities for WWE to try to cross-pollinate those audiences.

In particular, there’s a segment of dedicated fans who are still reticent to take women’s wrestling seriously after years of conditioning to the contrary. Meanwhile, there are those fans—particularly from a young, female demographic--who might be drawn more to the prospect of a women’s show.

Having crossover appearances, then, between the all-female show and 205 Live could create opportunities to build interest between fans of each program to help grow both audiences.

Whether it’s romance angles, mixed tag team matches, or other alliances between athletes built on mutual respect, these crossover angles could be pretty interesting, particularly for committed fans who would follow the athletes on these shows more fervently than they do the main roster.

#1. A continued presence on Raw and SmackDown

One way or another, we shouldn't expect women to disappear from Raw or SmackDown.

As has been alluded to a number of times in this article, WWE would have some tough decisions to make regarding how to use women outside of this prospective show. There would be the potential to follow the same logic as WWE has applied to 205 Live—protecting the talents at hand from over exposure and the risk of looking second rate to the rest of the roster by having them featured more exclusively on their own show.

While that exclusivity model has worked for the Cruiserweights, who were largely overlooked on Raw anyway, for the women’s roster, leaving Raw and SmackDown would feel like a huge step-down.

Moreover, in their current usage, WWE’s women—and particularly their top talents like Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch—are legitimate draws. Particularly with ratings not in the best shape of late, WWE can’t be expected to take them off of their nationally broadcasted television products.