Opinion
Rob: WWE Women’s De-Evolution?
Rob Bonnette digs into the shift how WWE is presenting the women’s division over the past 12 months. Spoiler: it ain’t pretty.
Rob Bonnette digs into the shift how WWE is presenting the women’s division over the past 12 months. Spoiler: it ain’t pretty.
(Editor’s note: Ember Moon, pictured above, to illustrate a female talent not being utilized by WWE since her call-up to the main roster.)
Women’s wrestling was all the rage in WWE last year, but in 2019 it’s really taken a step back and that isn’t cool. It started after the Royal Rumble, when then-Smackdown Women’s Champion Asuka totally vanished off of TV for several weeks after beating Becky Lynch on the first pay per view of the year. Then the rest of the Smackdown division got mostly pushed aside while Becky and Charlotte started working both shows to hype up their match at WrestleMania with Ronda Rousey.
There was a bit of a bump at Elimination Chamber when they did the Chamber match for the Women’s Tag Team Titles, and Asuka showed back up on TV to gear up for a match at Fastlane with Mandy Rose. But that program fizzled out pretty quickly as Mandy didn’t do so great in the Fastlane title match (I’m being generous here; I don’t think she sucks but she clearly wasn’t ready for prime time at that moment). And then came Black Tuesday, two weeks before WrestleMania. That’s when Vince made the decision for Asuka to lose the Smackdown Title to Charlotte and essentially cancel the whole division’s WrestleMania spot just to put both Women’s singles titles up for grabs in the main event, which was in my opinion a lousy decision.
That was just the tip of the iceberg. Since WrestleMania it’s been pretty common to have only one women’s match on both Raw and Smackdown, and some weeks there aren’t even that. The Women’s Tag Team Titles haven’t been defended on pay per view since WrestleMania and as of this writing may not be defended at SummerSlam either (it’s presumed to be added but hasn’t been announced yet). And there are several women who have been either relegated to WWE Main Event like Dana Brooke and Sarah Logan or just left off TV entirely like Liv Morgan.
For the year as of this writing there are 26 WWE wrestlers that have 20 or more televised matches (h/t to @ChrisMNovak for some kick ass statistics work), and only three of them are women – Becky, Bayley, and Nikki Cross. Now to be fair Carmella has 19 while Peyton Royce and Rose have 18; had Asuka kept the Smackdown Title through WrestleMania there’s a good chance Mella and Mandy would be over 20 and had things not gone awry with the post Mania plans for the Women’s Tag Titles Peyton would probably be over 20 as well, but still that’s 6 women at or around 20 televised matches. That’s not enough, ok?
There are way too many talented women on the roster, even with Ronda and Sasha Banks gone after Mania, several people out with injuries for stretches (Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, Ruby Riott, and Ember Moon), and Charlotte off of TV for almost two months, to have that little representation in televised matches. Why is Naomi kept on ice so much? Or Sonya Deville? Or Asuka or Kairi Sane or Morgan or the Iconics? Now I know you can’t get everyone onto TV every week, but surely we could have done without Shane McMahon segments on both shows just like we didn’t need Charlotte and Becky on Raw and Smackdown every week heading into WrestleMania. When there’s a redundancy in one week something can be cut to give more women more space, be it on Raw or Smackdown.
But Rob, weren’t people complaining about all those six woman matches before?
Yes. In 2017, six woman tags on Smackdown happened so much they became a cliche, and the same took place on Raw in 2018. And while it was a joke having the same combinations of women in often meaningless tag matches against each other it at least got them on TV every week. Now with larger women’s rosters on both shows you can do the tag or 6 woman tags and actually swap people in and out. Or you can have….wait for it….a non title feud, something that was done on Smackdown right after the 2016 brand split. There’s some stuff that can be cut back, especially on a three hour Raw broadcast every week, to make room. So do it already!
Now you know I can’t end without tasking us fans with something. Namely, you gotta support the stuff that we do get. The default position of every wrestling company from WWE to AEW to ROH is that there just isn’t any big money in women’s wrestling on it’s own, that it’s a supplement to the men’s side or a component of the show but not the main piece. Impact has been the exception and has put women’s wrestling in a much more prominent and respectful position for a long time, but unfortunately they’ve never been rewarded by fans for it. So if you want the other wrestling companies to get a different message, then you have to send that message.
You gotta watch the matches that are made available be they on Raw, Smackdown, or Main Event. If you watch the YouTube clips of stuff later in the week in addition to TV then make sure you watch the clips of the women’s matches. If you buy any merchandise buy some of the women’s stuff, too. In reality there’s no reason that you can’t have cards with more women’s matches than men’s matches if that side of the roster is stronger, which was definitely the case late last year. But in order for that to happen we need to put some actual money and attention behind our words.
There is a brief sign of hope, at least for the coming week. We’re getting three women’s matches at SummerSlam, and two women’s matches at Takeover Toronto for the first time in what feels like forever. The women had a really long showcase on Raw. That’s worthy of talking up and we need to make sure they hear us this time. Talk this stuff up, support it, and show support for the women involved. And don’t let them fall back into old habits afterwards, because the ladies deserve better.
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Opinion
Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions,
The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight.
This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail.
The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions.
After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama
gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania.
It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company.
We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!
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Opinion
Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call.
Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story.
The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line.
In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years?
Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus.
I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?
Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!
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