Opinion

DeMarco: WWE Needs To Rebrand The Women’s Championships

It’s time for WWE to fix the branding of their women’s championships…

Published

3 years ago

December 17, 2019

Greg DeMarco

Greg DeMarco has a strong opinion on a topic he thinks is being overlooked–the branding of the women’s championships in WWE!

Women’s wrestling, especially in WWE, has come a long way. A looooooooooooong way. So long that you can’t even recognize the division today as compared to that of the Attitude Era and before. We have the likes of Nikki Bella, AJ Lee, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Ronda Rousey (and others) to thank for the division we have now, even if there are days fans don’t appreciate it.

Thanks to #GiveDivasAChance, the Divas Revolution, and the Women’s Evolution, we’ve seen women:

Main event a WWE pay-per-view for the first time
Compete in their own Royal Rumble
Have their own pay-per-view
Main event WrestleMania
Main event Survivor Series
And most recently main event two straight pay-per-views thanks to TLC

Here’s the best part: those last two bullet points are HUGE, and no one batted an eyelash. To have women main event two straight pay-per-views and no one makes a big deal out of it means it’s commonplace now, we have come so far that it’s not viewed as something we need to shout from the mountain tops.

This is all amazing, but there is one glaring issue I see, and one I am surprised no one is really harping on.

WWE Needs To Rebrand The Women’s Championships

This is a big deal to me, honestly. Let’s take a look at the top two championships in WWE for both the men and the women on each brand:

WWE Championship (Brock Lesnar, Raw)
Raw Women’s Championship (Becky Lynch, Raw)
Universal Championship (Bray Wyatt/The Fiend, Smackdown)
Smackdown Women’s Championship (Bayley, Smackdown)
NXT Championship (Adam Cole, NXT)
NXT Women’s Championship (Shayna Baszler, NXT)

I can’t be the only one who sees this as strange, right? We just saw the WWE and Universal Champions change brands, and one of them (Brock Lesnar) did it because “I wanna beat up Rey Mysterio!” Meanwhile you have the brand name attached to the Raw and Smackdown Women’s Championships. The Intercontinental and United States Championships don’t have a brand association. The Women’s Tag Team Championships don’t have that, either. NXT I can understand, even as a main roster brand, it’s treated differently.

Let’s take a look at the “like-branded” championships on Raw and Smackdown:

Raw Tag Team Championships
Smackdown Tag Team Championships
Raw Women’s Championship
Smackdown Women’s Championship

Do you mean to tell me that the tag team championships are on the same level as the women’s championships? The tag team championships haven’t main evented a WrestleMania since John Cena faced Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 23 and they both happened to be world tag team champions. The women’s championships just main evented WrestleMania, and only have one more “Big 4” pay-per-view left to go before they have main evented all of them.

So Greg, What Do You Want?

Well, that should be obvious! I want the women’s championships to be branded to be as important as the men’s:

Women’s WWE Champion
Women’s Universal Champion

I don’t want a “WWE Women’s Champion,” I want the women to have a WWE Champion. Same with the Universal. I want them to be able to change brands in a crafty scenario like the men just did, and the current branding of their titles makes that impossible. I want the women’s championships to be just as special, just as transcendent, as the men’s. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, and to me it’s one of the final steps in legitimizing the movement.

And while we’re at it, can we get a Women’s Intercontinental Championship? I wanted that more than I wanted the Women’s Tag Team Championships, honestly.

Pro wrestling, along with sports entertainment, is a fun ride. Enjoy it! Follow me on social media @ChairshotGreg and drop me a line at gregdemarco@thechairshot.com.

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

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Opinion

King’s WrestleMania Rewind: Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka from WrestleMania 34

Chris king is back with one of the most underrated matches in WrestleMania history–Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka!

Published

2 months ago

April 2, 2023

Chris King

WWE WrestleMania 34 Charlotte Flair Asuka

Chris king is back with one of the most underrated matches in WrestleMania history–Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka!

We look back at Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka at WWE WrestleMania 34. ‘The Empress of Tomorrow’ put her unprecedented and historic undefeated streak of 914 days on the line against ‘The Queen’s’ SmackDown Women’s Championship.

For years, this was considered a dream match while Asuka dominated the roster in NXT, while Flair won numerous championships on the main roster on both Raw and SmackDown. The Empress made her long-awaited debut on the September 11th episode of Raw and began to tear through the competition.

Asuka outlasted all twenty-nine other women in the historic first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble match to challenge for the title of her choosing. At Fastlane, she made her choice.

The WWE Universe was so excited for this match myself included. Both superstars delivered a fantastic performance on the Grandest Stage of Them All executing counter after counter. Asuka showed off some nasty-looking kicks to her opponent, and Flair hit a thunderous Spanish Fly off the top rope. Flair was seconds away from defeat at the hands of The Empress but she locked in Figure Eight and Asuka was forced to tap out.

I can’t even begin to explain how shocked I was at this outcome, as nearly everyone expected The Empress to continue her undefeated streak and walk away with the women’s title. This controversial decision was the downfall of Asuka’s momentum. She would ultimately win the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the 2018 TLC pay-per-view in the triple-threat ladder match.

Fast forward to this year when Asuka has recently returned with her Japanese-inspired persona Kana. Kana is dangerous and ruthless and is heading into a championship with Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 39. The Empress has regained all her momentum and is highly favored to walk away with the Raw Women’s Championship. Let’s hope that Asuka and Belair can tear the house down and deliver an A+ grade match both women are fully capable of.

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Opinion

King: Dominik Mysterio Needs To Do This At WrestleMania

Chris King is here with what WWE should do with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania in his long-awaited match against his father Rey Mysterio Jr.

Published

2 months ago

April 1, 2023

Chris King

Chris King is here with what WWE should do with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania in his long-awaited match against his father Rey Mysterio Jr.

On this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown, Rey Mysterio finally snapped and beat some sense into his disrespectful punk-ass kid Dominik. The member of the Judgement Day came out to push his father again for a match on the Grandest Stage of Them All, this time with his mother and sister at ringside. The ungrateful punk told his mom to “Shut Up,” as a father even I wanted to jump through the screen and whoop his ass.

Back in October of last year, Mysterio made the emotional decision to possibly quit the company but, instead, Triple H persuaded the Lucha libre superstar to move over to SmackDown to avoid his son. This came after Dominik shockingly turned on his father at Clash at the Castle. Mysterio did everything he could to refuse his despicable son’s challenge for Mania but, a man can only be pushed so far. Mysterio will be inducted into the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame and I expect Dominik to embarrass his father during his speech to further this personal feud.

Yes, the WWE Universe hates Dominik and wants to see him get the ever-loving crap kicked out of him but, this feud is missing a special ingredient to capitalize on the biggest heat possible. Throughout this feud, Dominik has made mention of the legendary Eddie Guerrero on several occasions going back to the “iconic” 2005 feud.

I know WWE might not want to go this route but, Dominik MUST come out to Eddie Guerrero’s theme at Mania. The disrespectful punk needs to come out in a lowrider to garner nuclear heat. It doesn’t matter if The Judgement Day comes out and causes interference for Dominik to get the win, all that matters is that both superstars get the biggest payoff of this nearly year-long feud. Just imagine the Roman Reigns heat after he defeated The Undertaker and multiply that by ten. Dominik portrays the perfect heel and he truly is the missing ingredient that The Judgement Day needed to grow and evolve into a top faction.