WWE News: Women’s Division Set To Undergo Even More Changes Soon
From the archive: published Apr 21, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.
It’s a new era as it pertains to the WWE Women’s Division and the women that compete within its confines. First there was the Divas Revolution. Perhaps the moniker watered down the actual product, but Stephanie McMahon certainly lit under a fire under the division when she announced the debuts of Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch. Then came the first-ever pay-per-view to be main-evented by women, featuring Sasha and Bayley closing out NXT Takeover: Respect in a 30-minute Ironman match.
WWE fans were then treated to a classic triple-threat match at WrestleMania to determine a new WWE Women’s Champion. The term “Divas,” as well as the butterfly belt that accompanied it, were done away with, and the women were now referred to as superstars, just like their male counterparts. No, it’s not the first time it’s been referred to as the WWE Women’s Championship, but it signified a new day and a motion to take these women more seriously.
It’s looking to shake out like a three-step process. Step one saw the invasion of young stars who were more than a pretty face (Bayley will join her other cohorts soon, but not until the NXT women are in a comfortable spot without her). Step two was re-branding from Divas to WWE Women. And now step three appears to be clearly defining who these women are outside of just superior athletes who could go pillar to post with the men.
Yes, Sasha Banks is The Boss with a famous WWE Hall of Fame cousin. And Becky Lynch is the Lass Kicker from Ireland. Charlotte is genetically superior thanks to her father and manager, the Nature Boy Ric Flair. Natalya has a legacy of her own, with perhaps the most prominent family tree in the entire industry. As for the rest of the WWE Women’s Division, it remains unclear, outside of ring entrances, what gimmicks the ladies are operating under. Even Paige has blurred the lines since her slide down the pecking order, despite being one of the more gifted wrestlers the division has.
Reality television has provided opportunities and demonstrated that there may be life after wrestling for a lot of the WWE women, but for those concentrating on the foundation of the industry, character development seems to be on the forefront of the chairman’s mind. Charlotte has been given the most opportunities to showcase her personality alongside her father, but if these character changes are to be implemented division-wide, look for the women to get more mic time in and out of the ring to carry them out to their fullest potential.
