Opinion

WWE’s “Fortune Four” Women Need Replaced in 2022

Four Horsewomen or Fortune Four, we all know who this is about. Tommy explores if it’s time to start focusing on newer faces in the Women’s Division.

Published

4 years ago

November 3, 2021

Tommy Starr

Professional wrestling has historically seen its necessitous share of roster rotation. It is the nature of the business that wrestlers’ popularity comes and goes in cycles, talents eventually age out of their abilities to consistently perform at high levels, and the organizations that had their finger on the pulse of probable rising stars were smart enough to position those guys to replace the main event gaps along the way.

2015 was an extraordinarily pivotal point for WWE with regards to their perception of women’s wrestling. During this year, the company began to reevaluate their approach to the featuring of their female talent and capitalized on the increasing popularity of four particular women that became the center of attention, not just in NXT, but professional wrestling period: Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Bayley. A periodic trend of #GiveDivasAChance blew up on social media, Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky ultimately found themselves competing on the main roster by mid-year (later with Bayley included in the mix by 2016), and by the conclusion of WrestleMania 32 the following year, the often-scrutinized butterfly Diva’s Championship was retired in replacement of an accredited Women’s Championship. WWE began to phase out many of the old-order tropes associated with the female talent and implemented an “equal playing field” for the women’s division. And the individuals at the core of this new vision for women’s wrestling in WWE were, what many fans still refer to as the Horsewomen of WWE: Charlotte, Sasha, Becky, and Bayley.

Since 2015/2016, they have been WWE’s Fortune Four of the women’s division; they have been the reliable go-to talents that the company has dependably fallen back on to carry and market the key storylines. Contextually speaking, they have been the female equivalent to the post-Lesnar Ruthless Aggression Era male Fortune Four (John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, and Triple H.). And there lies the problem. When you factor in the period of time Cena, Orton, Batista, and Triple H. were “on top” in WWE in some form of rotational position, you are essentially looking at somewhere between a seven to ten year period, discretely– Batista, arguably having the shortest time on top from about 2005-2010 full time. Cena, Orton, and Hunter were positioned at the top of the card in some capacity from about 2005-2012, and in much of that time feuded among themselves over the top title, while WWE saddled the rest of the roster in mid-card obscurity. It was an absolutely disastrous post-RA period for WWE, and they are still feeling the effects from it years later with the talent that passed through the system at that point that never reached their full potential after being shackled from breaking the glass ceiling of the Cenas, Ortons, and Hunters of the world. Even during succinct time spans where they briefly elevated guys like Jeff Hardy or CM Punk to the title picture, everything would always circle back to revolving around the Fortune Four in some way, shape, or form. It took them until 2012 to even begin any form of rectifying those previous business decisions with the rise of The Shield as the “probable next generation guys.”

The comparison of the Fortune Four of the women’s division with the men’s Fortune Four is to demonstrate the point that WWE is approaching early stages of over-saturation with Charlotte, Becky, Sasha, and Bayley in the year 2021. Just this past April, WWE began to allude to the idea of elevating a new generation of female main roster talent with the pushes of Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair. Rhea and Bianca won the SmackDown and Raw Women’s Championships at WrestleMania, respectively, by cementing two clean victories over a previous era of women’s talent; they even dedicated a moment in the final segment of the April 13th edition of NXT to have Rhea and Bianca return to the show with their newly won championships to celebrate with, then, NXT Women’s Champion, Raquel Gonzalez as an homage/homecoming.

At the time, if you had proposed the idea that by the fall of this year, the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships would be back around the waists of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, it would have sounded unreasonable. Low and behold, as of the writing of this article on November 2, Becky and Charlotte are, once again, the top champions of their respective brands. And while Bayley is out of action with an injury at the moment, Sasha Banks is still included in the title picture on SmackDown. As for Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair? Well, Rhea is currently oscillating and toying around the mid-card on Raw, all the while Bianca just did another job to Becky Lynch on Raw this past Monday as they look to build up the eventual Title vs. Title Match between Becky and Charlotte for Survivor Series. While the decision to revert back to the Fortune Four seems baseless, it does raise a lot of concerns as to how WWE views their future generation of women talent. The company clearly does not have much of a faithful establishment with women like Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Shayna Baszler, Mia Yim, Toni Storm, etc. as they do with Charlotte, Sasha, Becky, and Bayley.

As the year 2022 approaches, WWE needs to strongly weigh their options when it comes to whom they feature at the top of their women’s division. Discounting personal biases and preferences, Charlotte, Sasha, Becky, and Bayley absolutely serve a purpose in the company, but they can not be the focal point of the women’s division forever. At some point, WWE will soon have to understand the same reality that they eventually realized with Cena, Orton, Batista, and Triple H.– that fact being that they will soon phase out of the top scene and will need suitable replacements to fulfill those roles. And the more WWE withdraws from going with hot commodities like Rhea, Bianca, Shayna, Mia, Toni, etc., the lesser fans will care about them in the future as they cease to matter on the main roster.

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Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Money In The Bank

Extra, extra read all about it… Chairshot Staff picks are in!!!

Published

2 weeks ago

June 6, 2025

PC Tunney

Sing it with me… money money money money moneeeeeeeeeyeeeeee… everybody’s got a price! MONEY IN THE BANK is here!!! How money will our staff picks be?!?

AJ – Roxanne Perez
Andrew – Stephanie Vaquer – *Bubba Sparxxx Impression* I don’t tell stories, I let them tell theyself.
Dave – Guilia – A stacked field but I just like her here.
DJ – Naomi
DPP – Roxanne Perez
Jason – Alexa Bliss
Patrick – Roxanne Perez
Rey – Naomi – If Naomi loses, we riot!
Rob – Naomi
Greg – Alexa Bliss – Bliss has had huge reactions since returning and is moving a ton of merch. While I can see them wanting to build Roxanne Perez, Giulia, or Stephanie Vaquer, I think Alexa Bliss.

Tunney’s Take: Rhea Ripley – I’ll make my case short and sweet… Mami in the Bank! You can’t leave that money on the table.

Chairshot Pick – Tie – Naomi 3 & Roxanne Perez 3 (Alexa Bliss 2, Giulia 1, Rhea Ripley 1, Stephanie Vaquer 1)

AJ – LA Knight
Andrew – El Grande Americano – Feels correct given his push and the fact he’s over.
Dave – Seth Rollins – Got to push that new faction.
DJ – LA Knight
DPP – El Grande Americano
Jason – LA Knight
Patrick – Solo Sikoa
Rey – LA Knight – Looks like another push, and he does have history with Cena.
Rob – Solo Sikoa
Greg – Seth Rollins – This company is extremely high in the El Grande Americano gimmick, but this match comes down to Seth Rollins or LA Knight. Given the Rollins storyline, it’s his briefcase to win.

Tunney’s Take: El Grande Americano – Picture this: Chad Gable wins the AAA Mega Championship and El Grande Americano wins MITB! WHAT A SATURDAY in LA!!!

Chairshot Pick – LA Knight 4 (El Grande Americano 3, Seth Rollins 2, Solo Sikoa 2)

AJ – Becky Lynch – Sadly
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I still don’t care about Lyra.
Dave – Lyra Valkyria – Starting to warm up to her and Becky has a lot to do with that.
DJ – Lyra Valkyria
DPP – Becky Lynch
Jason – Becky Lynch
Patrick – Lyra Valkyria
Rey – Becky Lynch – Put some fire on the Irish Beef.
Rob – Becky Lynch
Greg – Becky Lynch – I don’t think you do a rematch here just to have Becky lose again. Unless Bayley shows up to help Lyra.

Tunney’s Take: Becky Lynch – A big part of me feels that winning this title checks off a major box for Becks in her HOF career.

Chairshot Pick – Becky Lynch 8-3

AJ – Cena & Paul
Andrew – Rhodes & Uso – Easy way for Cena to lose without eating the pinfall.
Dave – Rhodes & Uso – Get the QB back on the winning track.
DJ – Rhodes & Uso
DPP – Rhodes & Uso
Jason – Cena & Paul
Patrick – Cena & Paul
Rey – Rhodes & Uso – Heels usually lose these kinds of matches. Logan takes the pin.
Rob – Cena & Paul
Greg – Rhodes & Uso – I hope Jey isn’t an afterthought here like Cody was last fall when he was paired up with Roman. I think Cody pins Cena to set up Cody-Cena 2 at SummerSlam.

Tunney’s Take: Cena & Paul – I don’t think Cena is involved in another loss until he loses the WWE Championship. I also think Logan Paul is NOT done trying to capture Jey Uso’s World Heavyweight Championship. …Travis Scott in the house?

Chairshot Pick – 6-5 Rhodes & Uso

In closing I want to thank everyone on the panel for participating with their picks! You can follow each prognosticator/podcaster on X @ the handles below. We all enjoy Pro Wrestling so remember three things… be respectful of others, comparison is the thief of joy and HAVE FUN!

AJ – @PhenomenalAJB
Andrew – @IWCWarChief
Dave – @AttitudeAgg
DJ – @TheMindlessPod
DPP – @itsmeDPP
Jason – @JediFett
Patrick – @WrestlngRealist
Rey – @itsreycash
Rob – @rbonne1
Greg – @gregdemarco44
PC – @PCTunney
TheChairshot.com – @ChairshotMedia

prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – a PLETHORA of GREAT designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!

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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

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About Chairshot Radio Network

MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)

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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

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

Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Backlash St. Louis

Chairshot Staff picks!!!

Published

1 month ago

May 9, 2025

PC Tunney

May is upon us and with that, so is Backlash from St. Louis! What does the first PLE after WrestleMania have in store for the WWE Universe? Let’s see if the Chairshot Staff can properly interpret the crystal ball of rasslin’ future.

AJ – Pat MacAfee – Gunther has to start losing control and who better than an announcer.
Andrew – Pat MacAfee – Goldberg getting involved does seem correct here.
Dave – Gunther – He’s not losing to a broadcaster.
DJ – Gunther – Pat is sent to the shadow realm until football season is over.
DPP – Gunther – Post match beat down leads to Pat time off.
Jason – Gunther – One massive spot and or bump from Pat.
Patrick – Gunther
Rey – Gunther – RIP MacAfee, t’was a good life.
Rob – Gunther
Greg – Pat MacAfee – Why? Goooooldbeeerrrrrgggggg!

Tunney’s Take: Gunther – Seems like the right pick here. Pat may be getting some time off and Gunther needs more heat.

Chairshot Pick – GUNTHER 8-3

AJ – Lyra Valkyria – Becky’s hopefully putting her over, still mad about Dakota.
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I have no real interest in Lyra currently.
Dave – Becky Lynch – Lyra is boring AF!
DJ – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley interferes.
DPP – Becky Lynch – Becky cheats and steals the title.
Jason – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley costs Becks.
Patrick – Becky Lynch
Rey – Becky Lynch – Story needs to jump up a bit, Becky Charlotte’s Lyra.
Rob – Lyra Valkyria
Greg – Becky Lynch – It’s been fun, Lyra. (It kinda hasn’t)

Tunney’s Take: Lyra Valkyria – Bayley’s interference should set up some type of program with Becky as we head towards Summer(Slam).

Chairshot Pick – BECKY LYNCH 6-5

AJ – Jacob Fatu – Great way to put him over w/ two former WHCs and LA Knight.
Andrew – Jacob Fatu – He’s Jacob Fatu!
Dave – Jacob Fatu – Too soon to pull the belt off him.
DJ – Jacob Fatu – Priest and LA can’t decide who’s is bigger.
DPP – Jacob Fatu – Your hardcore match, tables and chairs involved.
Jason – Jacob Fatu – The Champ retains due to or in spite of Solo.
Patrick – Jacob Fatu
Rey – Jacob Fatu – All gas. No brakes. Ain’t losing.
Rob – Jacob Fatu
Greg – Jacob Fatu – Someone from The Samoan Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Jacob Fatu – Uncle Mo is on Fatu’s side and other than Knight, I don’t see Drew or Priest holding the US title in the current circumstances of this title’s landscape.

Chairshot Pick – JACOB FATU 11-0

AJ – Dominic Mysterio – Judgement Day shenanigans just leading up to Finn turning on Dom later.
Andrew – Penta – Dom’s fine having a short reign, could also work for pushing AAA.
Dave – Dominic Mysterio – He’s probably more over than Penta.
DJ – Dominic Mysterio – Dirty Dom takes home the gold and the girl.
DPP – Dominic Mysterio – Big Head helps Dom pull out the win.
Jason – Dominic Mysterio – By hook and crook.
Patrick – Dominic Mysterio
Rey – Dominic Mysterio – Latino Heat keeps burning. Finn gets closer to the edge.
Rob – Dominic Mysterio
Greg – Dominic Mysterio – Someone from The Guerrero Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Dominic Mysterio – That belt looks good with the king of chicken tendys. I can see Penta and Rey reforming as a tag team sooner than later.

Chairshot Pick – DOMINIC MYSTERIO 10-1

AJ – John Cena – Why? Cena wins, lol.
Andrew – John Cena – Shenanigans ensue so it’s not a clean win.
Dave – John Cena – The last time is now.
DJ – John Cena – Randy hears voices telling him he needs an Attitude Adjustment.
DPP – John Cena – Cena tries to cheat but the ref doesn’t call for a DQ.
Jason – John Cena – Nefarious means, Randy not ready for Evil John Cena.
Patrick – John Cena
Rey – John Cena – Cena just counting down the dates. Should be fun though.
Rob – John Cena
Greg – John Cena – You know they want Cody to be the hero in the end.

Tunney’s Take: Randy Orton – Once upon a time Randy got himself intentionally disqualified and it cost John. Saturday, history repeats itself with a 180-degree twist. Cena retains via Orton DQ victory. This time, Travis Scott’s appearance takes care of that task.

Chairshot Pick – JOHN CENA 10-1