WWE SmackDown’s Women’s Roster Has More Upside

Despite the selections of Charlotte and Sasha Banks to Raw, Smackdown appears to have gotten the better end of the deal coming out of the Draft with an eye towards the future and a variety of superstars to keep things fresh.

Already three weeks removed from the Draft, it would appear that Smackdown’s women’s division looks to be in good shape. While Raw features the big name stars in Charlotte and Sasha Banks, both who delivered a match for the ages on Raw for the WWE Women’s Championship and are set to put on a rematch at SummerSlam, it seems that’s the only thing going on over on the Raw side for the women.

Nia Jax has been placed in squash matches to help get her character over, and one would assume she would be next in line for whoever comes out on top between Sasha and Charlotte. Paige, while drafted to Raw, has been off TV due to a legitimate injury, but her direction as of late has been muddled. Not only would Paige have to come back healthy on her end, but creatively, WWE would have to re-introduce her after she was once at the top of the division a year prior.

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the sole storyline for Raw’s women’s division, despite having the Women’s Championship, is the feud between Sasha and Charlotte

The other draft picks for Raw were Alicia Fox, Summer Rae, and Dana Brooke, with Brooke aligning herself with Charlotte. Sasha, Charlotte, Nia, Dana, Paige, Alicia, and Summer. That’s it. With only four of the seven receiving any real amount of TV time thus far. On top of that, the sole storyline for Raw’s women’s division, despite having the Women’s Championship, is the feud between Sasha and Charlotte for the title. While Raw has done a great job featuring Sasha and Charlotte in the opening segment of Raw, what would be next after their rivalry wraps up, presumably by fall of this year? As stated earlier, Nia could possibly enter the title picture.

And what of Bayley? Where will she go? A place on Raw would almost immediately insert her into the title hunt along with fellow Horsewomen Sasha and Charlotte, but even Bayley herself said on Talk Is Jericho that she would like to start over from the bottom and work her way back to the top and get over with the crowd all over again.

On Team Blue, however, the women’s roster looks to be doing fine, despite the lack of a championship and any big name star power outside of Becky Lynch. Smackdown drafted Becky as their first woman to be the centerpiece of the division. Of the Four Horsewomen, Becky was by far the workhorse, and one can only assume she was brought to Smackdown by Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon with her work ethic in mind to help bring the other women up to the next level.

The only knock against Smackdown’s women’s roster is that with SummerSlam a mere two weeks away, a women’s match has yet to be announced

Smackdown’s women’s roster looks healthy, young, varied, and vibrant. Becky, the veteran Natalya, NXT newcomers Alexa Bliss and Carmella, Naomi, and Eva Marie. Unlike on Raw, there is more than one feud happening currently: Eva’s constant ducking of Becky Lynch, which has since apparently developed to include Alexa Bliss; and Natalya beefing with Carmella. As Nia has done on Raw, Alexa and Carmella have picked up important wins in developing their characters and starting the climb to get over with a much bigger crowd. The only one yet to be featured since the Draft is Naomi, and one would hope that Smackdown creative has plans for Naomi, as athletically gifted as she is.

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The only knock against Smackdown’s women’s roster other than not having a Women’s Championship to call their own, is that with SummerSlam a mere two weeks away, a Blue Brand women’s match has yet to be announced. Nine matches are already on the card, a scant three of which are Smackdown’s; although it is a four-hour show, one can only hope there will be more announced, especially something for Becky Lynch. A pre-show match would be a huge blow to Smackdown’s women, especially for Becky.

Despite this glaring oversight, Smackdown’s women’s roster has more potential upside than their Raw counterparts. No matter how big the names of Charlotte and Sasha are, the two alone cannot carry the weight of the women’s division. Unless Raw plans on having the two continually trade wins and losses and feud over the WWE Women’s Championship for an extended period of time, a rarity in today’s WWE, Raw doesn’t have much to work with right now, although time will tell when Bayley is called up.

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Smackdown, on the other hand, is building up their women’s roster, giving feuds and wins to Alexa Bliss and Carmella to help them reach near Becky’s level of recognition and popularity, and getting them prepared for major storylines down the pipe; they’ll be ready when the time comes, especially with them having the benefit of working with veteran workhorses such as Becky and Natalya. Team Blue has also been building up All Red Everything Eva Marie and somehow managed making her into an even bigger beacon of animosity and hatred, all the while keeping it entertaining; Eva’s quite possibly become the biggest heel on the Smackdown women’s roster without having even wrestled an actual match yet.

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Smackdown has managed to do more, and get more out of their women’s roster despite not having any true superstar power outside of Becky Lynch, who is generally regarded as the best babyface in WWE’s main roster women’s division, which is surely to be contested once Bayley arrives on the scene. While Raw apparently has Sasha and Charlotte carrying and supporting their division, Smackdown has wisely built around Becky, and although right now in this moment, Raw may have the upper hand in terms of star power and the Women’s Championship, Smackdown recognizes this is a marathon, not a sprint, and the blue team will be in better shape down the road when the Sasha/Charlotte feud will inevitably run its course.