WWE Brand Split: What Happens to the Women’s Title?
By AJ Balano
Will the newly reinstated Women’s Championship be split into two titles yet again?
This past Monday night on Raw, Dean Ambrose was referred to multiple times as simply “WWE Champion”, as opposed to “WWE World Heavyweight Champion”. This led many to believe that come the WWE Draft, the singular title would be once again be separated for a second time into the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Title, with the WWE Championship being defended on Raw and the Big Gold Belt residing on Smackdown.
However, this leads to an interesting predicament regarding WWE’s Women’s Championship. At Wrestlemania 32, the often-mocked butterfly-shaped Divas Championship was replaced with the Women’s Championship, an exclamation point in the Women’s Revolution, cementing that WWE would treat its women’s wrestlers as superstars instead of “divas” and that they would be given more TV time and better matches moving forward.
must read: WWE: State of the Women's Revolution
the creation of the Divas Championship was a direct result of the aftermath of the WWE Draft in 2008
If you remember, the creation of the Divas Championship was a direct result of the aftermath of the WWE Draft in 2008. The Women’s Championship was defended exclusively on Raw, leaving the women who competed on Smackdown effectively without a title to chase after. Thus, the Divas Championship was created, and eventually, became the only title, after a unification match at Night of Champions 2010 when Women’s Champion Michelle McCool defeated Divas Champion Melina. From there, the Women’s Championship belt was retired in favor of the Divas Championship.
With the unpredictable nature of the WWE Drafts, it’s almost a certainty that the women’s roster will be split up, with some of the talent being on Raw and some of the talent being on Smackdown. Depending on where incumbent Women’s Champion Charlotte ends up being drafted, the opposing show’s women’s roster will once again be without a title to work towards. If that were to happen, which in all likelihood seems to be the case, would the Divas Championship be reinstated, a mere three months after fans thought they would never have to see it again?
this is a unique problem the company has to creatively deal with. On one hand, a secondary title would mean more opportunities
Unless WWE plans to keep the entire women’s roster exclusive to one show, this is a unique problem the company has to creatively deal with. On one hand, a secondary title would mean more opportunities for the women who have not been featured in the title picture, such as Naomi. On the other hand, it would effectively undo everything that the Women’s Revolution had accomplished the past year, and from a progression standpoint, that simply cannot happen.
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In the eyes of the fans, the return of the Divas Championship would mean that the Divas/Women’s Revolution was merely yet another marketing buzz word, a fleeting, flavor of the month story line, and not the true change that would have had lasting ramifications that fans have been wanting.
While the announcement of the Draft has many excited, it’s these instances regarding WWE’s two divisions: tag team and women’s wrestling that often come up on the short end of the stick. Unlike the Intercontinental and United States titles, which serve as the second tier championship behind either the WWE or World Heavyweight titles and can be placed on either show, both the Tag Team and Women’s titles have divisions that must be built around the respective champion(s).
The IC and US championships may have lost some of their luster over the years, but in reality, during the original Brand Extension from 2002-2011, tag team and women’s wrestling suffered the most, thanks to a major de-emphasis on both divisions caused by the top priority billing of the male singles world titles during the PG Era.
Next: Sasha Banks Should Be The Next WWE Women's Champion
The Women’s Revolution, women’s division, and the brand new Women’s Championship have come too far within the last twelve months for everything to go back to square one.