WWE: State of the Women's Revolution

How has the WWE Women’s Revolution fared since Wrestlemania 32?

At Wrestlemania 32, women’s wrestling was at the precipice of real change in WWE. For months, beginning at Summerslam the year prior, the fans clamored for what was to be dubbed the “Divas Revolution”. Spurred by a string of high-quality matches put on by the Four Horsewomen in NXT, fans noticed that Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Bayley were restoring respect for women’s wrestling, something that was painfully absent on the main roster. While the Bella Army were being relegated to three minute matches and barely any promo time for its reigning Divas Champion Nikki Bella (to no fault of their own), Sasha Banks and Bayley had quite possibly the 2015 Match of the Year with their legendary championship bout in Brooklyn.

Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky got called up to the main roster essentially to inject fresh competition into the overlooked and underappreciated Divas division. Almost immediately, Charlotte entered a program with incumbent champion Nikki Bella and eventually won the Divas Championship. And as quickly as she had entered the title picture and captured the championship, Charlotte turned heel; a necessary move in order to generate new rivalries and new storylines. Charlotte would then feud with Becky Lynch, which would soon grow to include Sasha Banks, setting up a historic triple threat match for the newly-reinstated Women’s Championship at Wrestlemania 32.

must read: Wrestlemania 33 Match Card Projections

Three women placing higher on the card than a big money Brock Lesnar match is a victory in its own right

The match arguably stole the show, perhaps even more impressive, went after the Brock Lesnar vs Dean Ambrose street fight, which is notable in the sense that Brock had re-signed with WWE the year prior to a reportedly blockbuster deal worth multiple figures; three women placing higher on the card than a big money Brock Lesnar match is a victory in its own right. The match itself was the longest women’s match in Wrestlemania history, a record that was set earlier in the evening with the 10-Diva Tag Team Match during the kickoff show.

To sweeten the deal, all three women were prominently featured front and center on the marquee that adorned AT&T Stadium, signifying that the revolution had indeed come full circle at the grandest stage, despite not being promoted necessarily as one of the three headlining matches on the card (Lesnar vs Ambrose; Shane vs Undertaker; and Triple H vs Roman Reigns).

As a follow up to that magical night, the notoriously fickle post-Wrestlemania Raw crowd chanted “women’s wrestling” at the entire women’s division during Charlotte’s official coronation ceremony, something that would have been unfathomable given the quality of women’s wrestling (or lack thereof) ten years ago.

All in all, it was a triumphant weekend for women’s wrestling: a tremendous championship bout between Bayley and Asuka at Takeover: Dallas which featured a shocking conclusion to Bayley’s reign; the crescendo and climax of the months-long Divas Revolution angle with a show-stealing performance from Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky at the biggest show of the year; to the following night, garnering the much-deserved respect and adulation of the male 18-35 wrestling demographic that a decade ago had lusted for T&A and bra and panties matches out of its talent during that era’s roster. So with Wrestlemania 32 in the books, what is the current state of the Women’s Division, two months removed from that glorious night in April?

Since the Raw after Wrestlemania, a majority of the women’s wrestlers in the division have not been featured on Raw or Smackdown

Unfortunately, the momentum built-up during the Women’s Revolution has nearly fizzled out, to no fault of their own. Since the Raw after Wrestlemania, a majority of the women’s wrestlers in the division have not been featured on Raw or Smackdown, outside of the champion Charlotte and Natalya, who began a two month long feud of their own.

With Nikki Bella out indefinitely due to her serious neck injury and Brie Bella having her last match on the Wrestlemania 32 pre-show, Alicia Fox, the third member of the Bella Army, has been nowhere to be found on Raw or Smackdown. The same can be said for Naomi and Tamina Snuka of Team B.A.D. Summer Rae wrestled a match against Sasha on Raw the night after Wrestlemania, and has yet to be seen on the show or Smackdown. Paige has wrestled on Raw and Smackdown on sporadic occasions, leaving her position in the division to be up in the air.

Perhaps most befuddling was the decision to not feature Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch on TV for nearly a month in the aftermath of Wrestlemania. Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky worked the entirety of the post-Wrestlemania European Tour, consistently having match of the night, and yet, while Charlotte became a regular on TV due to her role as Women’s Champion, Sasha and Becky were conspicuously absent. Why would WWE keep two of the division’s most popular superstars off of TV? How could they possibly capitalize off of the history making match at Wrestlemania when they would not give Sasha or Becky the necessary air time on Raw or Smackdown?

Becky, as great on the mic as she is and as entertaining and charismatic as she is, found herself being relegated to backstage “fallout” promos that aired on the WWE website or YouTube, a frustrating decision in that with someone like Becky, you have to put her on TV; she’s too good and too valuable to misuse and spotlight in throwaway segments that never reach a majority of the audience.

Someone like Becky, you have to put her on TV; she’s too good and too valuable to misuse and spotlight in throwaway segments that never reach a majority of the audience

Becky would return a month later and enter a feud with Emma, however, a back injury and surgery to Emma forced the storyline to a different direction and resulted in the main roster call up of Emma’s NXT partner in crime, Dana Brooke. Becky and Dana would have a short TV feud in which Becky would only have one clean win, another puzzling decision in making the popular women’s wrestler lose week in and week out. Since then, Becky’s feud with Dana has merged with Nattie’s rivalry with Charlotte, giving way to the recent tag team match at Money in the Bank between Becky and Nattie and Charlotte and Dana in which Nattie turned on Becky, thus setting up the division’s next storyline.

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Through it all, Sasha Banks remained off TV. Absent from Payback (save for a brief backstage appearance with Shane McMahon), absent from Extreme Rules, and absent from Money in the Bank, Sasha’s only TV time was a pizza promo on Raw and a cameo on the Edge and Christian Show on the WWE Network. Part of it was due to an unfortunate concussion she suffered via a freak accident, which possibly cost her a spot at the MITB PPV, but despite that, it still didn’t account for the Payback and Extreme Rules PPVs where she was essentially MIA. Did WWE not know how to use her? Did they not have anything planned for her? Just recently, Sasha Banks wrestled Summer Rae on Superstars, and has finally resurfaced on Raw this past Monday, hopefully putting the pieces in place for a championship feud with arch-nemesis Charlotte at Battleground and into Summerslam.

WWE took one huge step forward with its promotion and presentation of the epic Women’s Championship triple threat match at Wrestlemania, only to take two massive steps backwards since then

With all that said, the Women’s Revolution is seemingly back to where it was when it all started prior to the #GiveDivasAChance movement that birthed the then-Divas Revolution. An unfortunate circumstance given the strides the division and the WWE made in rebooting and revitalizing its women’s roster and the leaps and bounds made by the women’s wrestlers themselves. WWE took one huge step forward with its promotion and presentation of the epic Women’s Championship triple threat match at Wrestlemania, only to take two massive steps backwards since then. WWE cannot afford to allow this to happen, not with a roster as talented as the one they are currently gifted with, especially with the likes of Bayley and Asuka and Carmella laying in the wings, waiting for their call-up.

Whatever WWE did between Summerslam 2015 and Wrestlemania 32 for its women’s wrestlers, they have gone away from it and they have to recapture that magic, only this time, they must keep it rolling. Right now, it looks like we are going to have two main storylines in the women’s division: Sasha’s pursuit of the Women’s Championship, and Nattie’s betrayal of Becky, which is a much-needed change, given for two months, the only feud in the entire division with any TV time was Charlotte vs Nattie, with the only major storyline being Charlotte’s much-needed split from her father, Ric Flair.

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Summerslam 2016 marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of the Women’s Revolution on the main roster. With these two storylines set to take up time and our attention for the next two months, one can hope that this will reignite the fires of revolution once again in WWE and bring women’s wrestling back to where it was that unforgettable weekend in Dallas, Texas.

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WWE: State of the Women’s Revolution

By AJ Balano | Jun 24, 2016

How has the WWE Women’s Revolution fared since Wrestlemania 32?