Rob looks at the impending Raw Women’s Triple Threat at WrestleMania. Could it have been done better?

A lot of people got really mad on the internet over the last two weeks about the buildup to the RAW Women’s Title match for WrestleMania, some to the point of saying they’ve now lost interest in the match.  Now while I think that’s doing way too much, I agree that things got real convoluted real fast.  From Becky taking Lana’s spot in the Rumble to Vince just abruptly swapping Charlotte in for Becky to the worst attempt at walking on crutches I’ve ever seen to Ronda leaving the RAW title in the ring and saying just kidding a week later to Becky winning her way into the match again when Ronda got Charlotte DQed at Fastlane.  And that’s not even mentioning the bizarre road Becky and Ronda went down on Twitter.  This thing has taken a lot of weird unnecessary twists and turns, and we still have three weeks to go!  So what went wrong, is it any worse than years past, and is there anything that could have done differently?  Let’s see.  But first, a major concession.  Once Becky got punched in the face by Nia Jax and concussed, and blew up twice as much as she’d been already, this was going to be a triple threat and not the originally planned Charlotte vs Ronda one on one match.  Ronda obviously wasn’t coming out and no, they weren’t going to take Charlotte out either.  I’m sorry all of you who have been demanding a one on one between Becky and Ronda, that was never going to happen.  If that’s the reason you’re upset then I got nothing for you and you can stop reading now if you want.  Now that we have that out the way……

What’s the history?

Since going to monthly pay per views in 1996, the Royal Rumble winner has only had a clean, unfettered path to the title match at WrestleMania 38 percent of the time.  That means the rest of the time there are obstacles thrown in his or her way, their decision on who to face is delayed by some circumstances, or they end up losing their opportunity entirely and not getting the match at all.  And let me tell you, some of those roads have been filled with some trash.  There was the time Vince won the Rumble and lost his title shot to Steve Austin a month later (I mean, we all knew Vince wasn’t going to WrestleMania to wrestle for the World Title).  A year later the Rock won the Rumble, was forced to defend his prize a few weeks later and lost it, then got it back in time for WrestleMania.  Chris Benoit won it in 2004, RAW Sheriff Austin changed the rules so you could pick either champion, Chris picked HHH, Shawn Michaels interrupted the contract signing and took Benoit out to to sign his own name to face HHH because they were still beefing, then Austin made it a Triple Threat (sound familiar?).  Randy Orton’s first win was followed by him being diagnosed as insane, attacking the McMahon family one at a time, then goading Triple H into demanding a match with him later.  Those are just a few examples of how wacky things can get.  So no, we’re not out in left field here and it’s actually somewhat par for the course.  They got two and a half months to get through and in the name of doing that sometimes they come up with a bunch of weird stuff.

So step by step, what could they have done differently?

Royal Rumble

Becky loses to Asuka, enters the Rumble at number 30 by taking Lana’s spot when she can’t go out there, and wins by throwing out Charlotte.  This is the root of all that went awry.  So what to do instead?  After talking with the boss here, Greg DeMarco, a few possibilities came to mind.  One, have Charlotte win the Rumble and go forward from there (my choice) or sticking with the finish that happened but have Charlotte successfully protest the result the next night on RAW and be named the winner over Becky (Greg’s idea).  My final answer here is a mix of the two: Becky ‘wins’ the rumble, Charlotte protests on RAW, Vince makes a match to determine the winner at the Elimination Chamber show which Charlotte wins.  That accomplishes the necessary task of throwing some adversity Becky’s way in a much more sensible path than what did happen, Becky winning and Vince two weeks later just taking her out and putting Charlotte in.  It also gives Charlotte some stronger talking points (namely, that she beat Becky so it’s settled), which she was lacking after racking up two losses to Becky last fall and a Rumble loss.

Ronda and Becky

We got a few mostly one sided face off promos, some tweeting back and forth that either did Ronda or both women no favors depending on where you stand, Becky walking to the ring on crutches at the Chamber show, dropping them and attacking both Ronda and Charlotte, Ronda demanding Becky be added to the match, Ronda snapping on Becky and beating her down (and Becky not selling it much afterwards……ugh), and then Ronda interfering in Becky and Charlotte’s match to get Charlotte DQ’ed so that Becky could get back in the match.  So what to do instead?  Given what I just suggested, Ronda can just mind her business while slowly turning until after Becky loses to Charlotte at the Chamber show then start taunting Becky for losing since they have unfinished business and all.  Becky gets pissed at the taunting, attacks Ronda again, Ronda demands Becky get added to the match just she did in the story we got.

Ronda and Charlotte

This part has really been lacking in development.  Both women have reason to be pissed at each other.  Charlotte snapped on Ronda at Survivor Series and attacked her with a chair and kendo stick, then Ronda cost she and Becky the triple threat at TLC.  And yet neither of those has barely been mentioned.  They haven’t reached any kind of final settlement of their issues, and yet we’re left thinking now that there’s no reason for any kind of match between the two when in fact there is.  Once Charlotte beats Becky to get the title match, she can immediately go in on Ronda during her promos, and say that ‘you cost me the Smackdown title so I’m coming to take yours instead’.  Not hard at all, really.  Ronda of course doesn’t back down and fires back when she gets her mic time.

Charlotte and Becky

I spelled out the first part, but what about after match at the Chamber show I suggested?  Easy.  Charlotte keeps taunting Becky during her promos and keeps inciting her to come after her.  Becky gets pissed and snaps on her like I suggested she do with Ronda.

Getting Becky back in the match.  

Here’s where it’s time to get creative.  Enter Nia Jax.  Becky and Nia still have beef of course, but let’s throw in a wrinkle here: it’s revealed that Charlotte paid Nia off to punch Becky in the face and take her out of the Survivor Series match.  This completes the Charlotte heel turn and gives Vince or whoever a reason to give Becky a reprieve.  Becky vs. Nia at Fastlane or on an episode of RAW if they want to keep the Women’s Tag Team Title feud thing going (or they can do that angle on RAW after Fastlane).  Becky beats Nia, gets back in the match at WrestleMania.

Boom, Triple Threat match all set up.

So how was I able to come up with this when they didn’t?  Well, I have the benefit of hindsight, had a whole weekend to think it up and do research with no distractions, and a few people to bounce ideas off of.  I’m not writing six hours of live TV every week plus three pay per views (Rumble, Chamber, Fastlane) in real time underneath the eye of a boss who’s known to change things at the last minute.  Sometimes they’re gonna muck things up the same way we all make mistakes at our jobs, in our classes, etc.  At the end of the day if we a great match with a finish that sends most people home happy then we’re not going to focus on the buildup again until it’s time to compare it to the next time a match buildup goes awry.  It is what is and these things happen sometimes.