WWE News: Eva Marie Expected To Become ‘SmackDown’s’ First Women’s Champion
From the archive: published Aug 14, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.
There has been a lot of speculation about SmackDown establishing new titles after WWE’s brand split. WWE Backlash will be held in September. Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan are expected to reveal the new WWE Women’s Championship and WWE World Tag Team titles for the SmackDown brand before that.
How these new championships will be brought to WWE programming hasn’t been revealed, but the rumor mill has been busy speculating about who will become the first champions when they are brought to SmackDown after WWE SummerSlam. The top choice for SmackDown’s tag team division appears to be American Alpha since the division is essentially built around them, but the brand’s women’s division is a lot more unpredictable.
The favorite from the perspective of the WWE Universe would be Becky Lynch, who is arguably the top woman on Tuesday nights for WWE. However, it seems that WWE officials may be looking at The Lass Kicker as a long-term option with someone like Eva Marie becoming a more immediate choice to become SmackDown’s first Women’s Champion.
Since the brand extension, Eva Marie has been heavily teased to make her in-ring debut on SmackDown. However, a “leg injury” and a “wardrobe malfunction” have continued to delay her return to the WWE ring in consecutive weeks. The angle will only last for so long, but it’s WWE’s unique way of building the Eva Marie character on SmackDown, and their plan is working.
Over the past week, her “wardrobe malfunction” was the most viewed WWE video with roughly 4 million views as of this writing. Regardless of what the WWE fans may or may not say about her, she’s delivering as a performer on SmackDown. The biggest problem is her “delayed debut angle” is going to need to culminate with a big match or an even bigger moment for Eva.
Since the hype is so huge for Eva Marie, she’s going to need a big moment to establish herself as the top female on SmackDown, which isn’t going to be easy to do without an established Women’s Championship. Becky Lynch may be the favorite to become the first women’s champion for SmackDown, but Eva Marie has more to gain with a title reign.
It’s a tall order for Eva Marie to become SmackDown’s Women’s Champion without having a singles match for the brand since the brand extension, but the heel heat she would gain from the title win, especially over Becky Lynch, would establish her as the top female heel on SmackDown overnight.
There would be some debate about WWE trying to use the title to build Eva, but a huge push tends to lead to WWE gold. The make or break of the situation will be Eva Marie’s first match on SmackDown or at WWE SummerSlam next week. She has the opportunity to become a top performer for the company, so now it is up to Eva Marie to deliver on her potential.
