WWE: Will a Woman Ever Hold a Different Championship?

As it stands, the Women’s Championship is the only belt a woman can hold in the WWE. Will this ever change?

The evolution of the women’s division within WWE has been slow and laborious, but such is the nature of change in an environment traditionally dominated by masculine giants and testosterone-fueled outbursts. While women have been part of professional wrestling in one form or another since its inception, the idea of women as equals is still trying to find solid footing within the world’s biggest pro wrestling organization.

So why doesn’t the women’s division have more championship belts? The WWE tried to experiment with a women’s tag team championship back in the 1980s, but retired the idea after less than 6 years. In fact, the only reason these belts existed in the first place was because the reigning NWA Women’s World Tag Team Champions (Velvet McIntyre and Princess Victoria) brought them along when they joined the WWF in May 1983. By February 1989, the titles had been vacated and abandoned.

The idea of resurrecting these titles floated around for decades but didn’t receive any serious attention until 2012 when WWE.com asked itself a seemingly rhetorical question about the possibility of bringing back the Women’s Tag Team Championship. The article was written for and published by the WWE, so who exactly was the intended audience who could affect this change other than the WWE? It seems that Vince & Co. wanted to pay lip service to the idea without actually doing anything about it.

In 2014, the Bella Twins expressed a desire to establish a Divas Tag Team Championship during an interview with WWE Magazine. Since we are not currently suffering through yet another boring title reign courtesy of the Bellas, it’s safe to assume the WWE summarily dismissed this idea yet again.

In keeping with the “we’ll care about this every 2 years pattern”, Triple H addressed the issue earlier this year when asked about it during the Arnold Classic.

While his answer wasn’t exactly a definite yes (or no for that matter), it again puts the WWE in a position to say they’ve discussed it and now we can all move on until we discuss it again in another two years. Even with the brand split and the possibility of creating another Women’s Championship for Smackdown Live! it seems we are unlikely to see the creation of an entirely new set of belts.

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But what about other championships such as the U.S. or Intercontinental Title? Why can’t women compete for and hold these belts? I won’t go so far as to discuss the WWE Heavyweight or Universal Championships because that would be an entirely different and much lengthier discussion.

Since the Attitude Era ended, WWE put a stop to intergender matches. While promotions like Lucha Undeground prove that women can more than hold their own against men in the ring, I don’t begrudge the WWE for not wanting to wade back into these murky waters. Whether intentional or not, men fighting women sends the wrong message to the WWE’s younger viewers and they have found success in catching and holding this demographic.

That being said, the WWE could still allow women to compete for other belts if said championships were vacated. With Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan seemingly being more progressive than previous regimes, it’s not out of the question for them to announce such a tournament that only involves the female wrestlers. It would be unprecedented.

The New Era needs to come with new ideas. Since I seem to be a good idea machine, WWE needs to hurry up and return my calls.

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