WWE is disappointing its female division.
The group that has been one of the company’s biggest strengths for the past five years is beginning to fall prey to questionable reservations, less attractive creatives and a lack of new stars from the main event. While the problems have plagued the female SmackDown squad less than the others recently, it can be argued that the division’s talented artists are not being used and displayed as well as they could.
Let’s start with Asuka. She hasn’t defended her Women’s Raw Championship since November 23 against Lana, a win by disqualification. Her most recent clean victories as a female champion of Raw came when she submitted Zelina Vega – who was already released by WWE – at the Clash of Champions on September 20, 2020, and the following night on Monday Night Raw. Asuka’s last singles win was against Shayna Baszler on Raw on December 7 and is 1-5-2 overall so far in 2021.
Since then, Asuka has been pushed into the image of the women’s doubles championship. First with Lana before eventually joining Charlotte to win the belts of Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax – only to lose them a little over a month later as the fourth wheel in a plot between Charlotte, Ric Flair and Lacey Evans.
Asuka was supposed to put her female Raw title on the line against Evans in the Elimination Chamber, but the fight was canceled with Evans pregnant in real life. Evans won the title shot by winning a match again, Charlotte, as part of a larger plot that involves her in a relationship with Ric Flair with some sexual implications.
The whole angle was more about the strained relationship between the Flairs than about Evans. It also means that the creative for the original title fight at the Elimination Chamber had little to do with Asuka – unless he was going to set an angle with her and Flair. No replacement opponents were found for her that night. Asuka is one of the best performers in the WWE and a highlight during the pandemic. She hasn’t been treated like that recently.
It makes you wonder if WWE is just buying time for WrestleMania 37 for a match between Asuka and Flair. Perhaps new mom Becky Lynch will return the next night on Raw to start a program with the winner. Things seem to be going this way, as Flair looked disgusted and disdainful after hitting Asuka by mistake and costing them a fight against Baszler and Jax on Raw last week.
The lack of new challengers also makes it even more imperative for the WWE to settle with Rhea Ripley, who has all the tools to be a legitimate star. Ripley, who was announced to Raw, needs to win and keep winning until she is ready for a shot at the title.
The situation around Asuka is linked to the problem faced by the women’s brand division. The titles, for the most part, have been used to keep the stars of high-profile singles on TV when they are out of the main event image. Although there were exceptions – the IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), Nikki Cross and Kairi Sane – but the former individual champions or major events Asuka, Flair, Baszler, Jax, Bayley, Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss played important roles in the belts of labels.
While it is easy to understand the desire to keep your stars on television, they should be used to elevate other talents or create stories specific to the label’s division. We just went through a very good team separation story with Banks and Bayley. It must be a while before we see this again. Instead, we also see possible opponents of WrestleMania, Bianca Belair and Banks, who unite and lose in the Elimination Chamber. (On the other hand, WWE didn’t even have time to mention on SmackDown that Belair could also have chosen NXT women’s champion Io Shirai.)
Banks, who was supposed to look strong going to WrestleMania, took a pin in the Elimination Chamber after Carmella’s sommelier, Reginald, tried to help. At worst, this could have happened on SmackDown with the pay-per-view game going to a real team in the division.
Why not give the much-improved Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan a run with the belts after all these years or Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke? Lana has had three different partners in the past few months, from Natalya to Asuka, and now a very good pairing with Naomi. Why not give them a well-deserved moment in the sun? Natalya does a lot to help the other female fighters. Enter real life and give her a protégé that she’s trying to prepare to win the belts. This may be what they are doing with Tamina or trying to have a monster jump ready for Banks or Belair.
Jax and Baszler are dominant forces that WWE could try to build an underdog story for one of those teams that have already been positioned that way. Having Naomi and Lana win them would complete the arc of Lana’s story, but the peak opportunity for that may have passed.
All of this shows a worrying pattern that WWE is not putting its talented women in the best position to succeed. It’s something that can start to be fixed in a big way by WrestleMania if WWE is really just buying time. But as of now, WWE is letting its women’s division down in a big way.