WWE News: Charlotte Flair Becomes Four-Time RAW Women’s Champion, Is Charlotte Vs. Bayley Feud Next?

The RAW Women’s Championship has changed hands yet again, with Charlotte Flair winning the belt back from Sasha Banks at Roadblock: End of the Line for a record-setting fourth reign. But what’s next for the self-proclaimed “Queen” of women’s wrestling now that her long-running feud with Banks may likely be over for the meantime? Could Charlotte vs. Bayley be 2017’s first significant women’s rivalry on Monday Night RAW?

At WWE Roadblock: End of the Line, Charlotte Flair and then-RAW Women’s Champion Sasha Banks faced off in the latest chapter of their well-received rivalry, taking part in a 30-minute Iron Man Match that went into overtime. Charlotte had come back from being behind 2-1, submitting Sasha with the Figure Eight with just three seconds remaining in the match and forcing sudden death overtime. Less than five minutes later, Charlotte made Banks submit once again, using the very same move and regaining the RAW Women’s Championship. This marked the start of her record fourth title reign, and as WrestlingNews.co noted, this also improved her singles record on pay-per-views to 15-0.

While there has been little complaint about the quality of wrestling Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks have been churning out in their matches on RAW and on pay-per-view, one complaint about their feud is how the frequent turnover of belts between both women has amounted to “hot potato” booking. This was parodied earlier this month in an article from WrestleCrap. Yet, on a more serious note, Heavy commented on the matter right after Roadblock: End of the Line, suggesting that lots of WWE fans were “unsatisfied” by the outcome of the Iron Man Match.

“Many viewers are just tired of the constant back and forth between the two superstars, with the Women’s Championship title essentially acting as a hot potato for the past five months and with every single Charlotte vs. Sasha match being hyped up like it has never happened before.”

For the meantime, it looks like the Charlotte vs. Sasha rivalry is done, and speculation is firing up regarding the next challenger for the RAW Women’s Championship. In the above report, WrestlingNews.co briefly said that Charlotte vs. Bayley will be the next title feud, and considering how pundits have observed how weakly Bayley has been booked since she joined the main roster in August, this could be a much-needed break for the popular former NXT Women’s Champion.

This has yet to be confirmed, and we may have to wait until the next Monday Night RAW episode or two to see how things play out. But Forbes’ Blake Oestriecher made a good case for a Charlotte vs. Bayley feud as the top women’s rivalry heading into WrestleMania 33, citing how both women have had animosity on-air since their NXT days.

“There’s plenty of history between Charlotte and Bayley stemming back to their time in NXT, and Bayley has sadly been overlooked and poorly booked on the main roster, which needs to change. Charlotte vs. Bayley is an easy story to tell with two super competitive performers looking to rule the women’s division, and they have the potential to top even what Banks and Charlotte have done over the last five months in terms of the quality of their matches.”

Earlier reports, including one from the Inquisitr, had suggested that Nia Jax may step up as the next No. 1 contender for the RAW Women’s Championship. Jax is currently undefeated in the main roster and has been pushed as a physically dominant female competitor as she moves forward from the local jobbers she initially defeated in her first few weeks on RAW. But the fact that she’s booked as a heel might not make her a logical choice as fellow villainess Charlotte Flair’s next challenger for the RAW Women’s belt.

One of the biggest wrestling takeaways of 2016 was the ultimate success of WWE’s “women’s revolution” after it got off to such a rocky start in 2015. And with 2017 beckoning, Charlotte vs. Bayley, or maybe versus Nia Jax if the earlier rumors ring true, has all the potential to approximate the intensity and quality of this year’s Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks feud.

[Featured Image by WWE]