WWE: 4 Steps To Saving The Smackdown Women’s Division

A few weeks ago I went on record with the bold assertion that Smackdown! had drafted a better women’s division than Raw in the recent WWE Draft. As if to ruin my online reputation, Smackdown! has since spent each week making me look like an utter fool.

There’re no two ways to shake this out; Smackdown! has deflated their women’s division like a flaccid damp balloon. A division with all the tools to tell compelling stories – Becky Lynch as the heroic centerpiece, Natalya and Alexa Bliss as it’s dynamic heels, with Naomi and Carmella given space to define or redefine themselves – has been so blatantly ignored by its creative team it hurts like a Dis-arm-her.

‘Here are all our women,’ Smackdown! appeared to shrug in its first edition of the new era. After what currently still stands as its only women’s match, between Becky and Natalya (booked so the feud went 50/50, naturally), Smackdown Live proceeded to parade out its entire women’s roster one by one. First Alexa Bliss, then Naomi, then Carmella, and finally whatever we decide to call what’s happening to Eva Marie right now. All its women in one neat little package. Be prepared – there’s a heavy amount of cringe factor going on here:

*shudders*

The next week? Well, when is a wrestling match not a wrestling match? We see Eva and Becky make their way to the ring, their entrance music plays – but due to a contrivance Vince Russo would raucously applaud, the match never takes place. Carmella and Natalya? Another none starter. And exactly where Naomi and Alexa were this week is a mystery.

Let’s talk about fixes. As the last two weeks have proved, it only takes a couple of poorly booked shows to piss away fan trust, but in wrestling one or two sparks of booking brilliance can bring it right back again. Here’s how Smackdown Live can salvage their women’s division, and how it can still be better than Raw.

 

1. Give them a belt

We all know this is coming. The bearded one himself, Daniel Bryan, said so on a podcast – and for the internet that’s pretty much the same as a binding contract.

Smackdown Live‘s women need something to fight for. Becky Lynch herself laid this out in a compelling segment of WWE’s Comic-Con panel a few weeks back. Why are they there, in a kayfabe combat sport, if not with the goal of becoming Queen of the proverbial mountain?

A belt gives the whole division structure, legitimacy and urgency. As things stand, we’re left wondering what these women even want, why they even show up to work each week. Smackdown Live Women’s Title ASAP please.

 

2. Have Becky Lynch win it

That belt that Daniel Bryan just promised his women’s division? Becky Lynch needs to be its first champion. She also needs to earn it.

Fans are ready to cheer for Becky Lynch, but being handed a belt won’t give her nearly as big a pop as if she were to win the thing, at Summerslam for instance. Becky needs to win the belt fair and square, showing the wrestling world that she’s got the skills to draw the dollar bills.

Letting the Lass Kicker talk wouldn’t hurt either. We all know Becky can cut a promo, and she’s even shown glimpses of that innate charisma that lets her keep an audience on the hook even if she stumbles over a word. As the build up to Wrestlemania 33 proved, she might even be WWE’s best female wrestler on commentary.

 

3. Build Alexa Bliss as the top heel

Alexa Bliss needs to be Smackdown Live‘s number one heel yesterday. Since being drafted to the main roster two weeks ago Bliss has taken up all of 15 seconds of Smackdown! screen time. Paraded out as part of the Blue Brand’s ‘look at all our women’ section mentioned earlier, she was quickly overshadowed by Eva Marie.

Bliss needs to be built up as the brutal mean girl she had slowly become in NXT. Mirroring what Raw has done with Nia Jax, Smackdown! would be wise to feed Bliss some local competitors (or possibly some NXT rookies) she can dominate. As mainstream WWE viewers get to know her aggressive style and bullying tactics Bliss can gradually be moved toward the championship scene. Because eventually, Alexa needs to cut Becky’s title reign short.

Giving Bliss the belt sooner rather than later will depend on whether Smackdown! can effectively carry over the momentum she had going in NXT. If they can, though, a dominant heel placing obstacles in the way of an avenging babyface is a story that every self-respecting wrestling promotion in the world knows how to knock out of the park. When Becky finally does overcome Bliss to regain her title, her second reign will be all the sweeter for it, and both wrestlers will come out looking stronger.

 

4. Have Eva Marie as the internet troll of the division

So you hate Eva Marie, right? She’s getting pushed based on her looks and her Total Divas contract, is she? She can’t even wrestle? Taking a spot from genuinely talented female wrestlers? I’m sorry to have to break this to you, but that’s exactly how WWE want you to feel about her.

That the Internet Wrestling Community continually fail to see this is a consistent source of bafflement for me. It’s the same bafflement I get when people tell me they sincerely, legitimately hate Stephanie McMahon or Paul Heyman. And my answer is always the same – yes, that’s the point.

Eva Marie’s entrance narrator thing signals once again that WWE knows exactly what they’re doing with her. She is single-handedly trolling the IWC, intentionally overshadowing the likes of Becky Lynch, Naomi and Alexa Bliss. By some alchemy, though, it’s entertaining.

It also brings up opportunity, in a roundabout way. Because it could potentially be used to make Becky Lynch the biggest star in women’s wrestling. Hear me out.

What if, the Smackdown! after Summerslam, Becky Lynch clutches her newly earned Women’s Championship on the way to the ring as the special guest of Miz TV? Except Becky isn’t the guest anymore. In a last minute switch up, she’s been replaced by Eva Marie, there to promote the new season of Total Divas. Once again, Eva overshadows the rest of the women’s division, and Miz fawns over her as Becky is escorted backstage.

After weeks of this, Becky finally cuts a promo. The promo – her very own pipebomb. Anyone who saw the recent WWE panel at Comic-Con will know how this promo should go down. Becky should speak from the heart, laying out the frustrations she hinted at on the panel – always being stabbed in the back, the idea that all women are catty and secretly hate each other, that women’s wrestling should be about being the best, not just an empty sideshow. Eva Marie should be the manifestation of this, and Becky should drop just enough backstage details to have us wondering if it’s a shoot.

Booked right, that promo won’t only make Becky a star, it’ll put women’s wrestling on the pop culture agenda.

I still believe Smackdown! can have the best women’s division in the WWE. Raw‘s top heavy division has Sasha Banks and Charlotte, but lacks potential breakout stars. If it gets its act together, Smackdown Live could have something great on its hands.