WWE: Lack Of Opportunities For Naomi, Becky Lynch Symbolic Of Larger Issue

Becky Lynch and Naomi are two of the most talented babyfaces on the WWE SmackDown Live roster, but you wouldn’t think that based on their roles over the past couple of months on the show.

Last week, WWE unveiled its first ever “Top 10” list for SmackDown Live, and both the list and its usage have been met with a swath of criticism, including playful jabs from wrestlers themselves. The list is supposed to reflect how the locker room feels about the wrestlers on the roster, and wrestlers will purportedly be given opportunities based on how highly they rank.

Since Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler have made their ways into the WWE Championship match at Fastlane, it’s clear that opportunities aren’t based on the rankings…yet.

But what’s more problematic is how the WWE showcases (or, more specifically, fails to showcase) two members on their top ten list. Naomi is fourth and Becky Lynch is eighth on this list. While fans have complained that the two should swap places – and Becky herself cut a promo about being ranked lower than Naomi – the fact of the matter is that they both deserve to be on the list.

After winning the SmackDown Women’s Championship for the second time in a feel-good moment at WrestleMania 33, Naomi proceeded to make the most out of a difficult situation booking-wise. Naomi never had a real feud as a champion, but she shined in all of her tag matches and improved each week promo-wise. Back when Talking Smack was around, Naomi made every use of her opportunities there to eventually become a bad-ass babyface that the crowd got behind.

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Becky Lynch knows more than just a thing or two about getting the crowd behind her, and it’s downright laughable that she hasn’t been in a feud over the SmackDown Women’s Championship since dropping the title. The woman was the first SmackDown Women’s Champ, and it’s not like the WWE gave her a real run with the title.

And that’s a shame, because she manages to make everything better. Puns about pizza? Check. Being a leader? Check. Cutting passionate promos after being screwed over by a heel? Check. Goofing off with Sami Zayn? Check. Being one of the best women on this planet at this here wrestling thing? Check.

On TV every week? Nope. In a meaningful feud? Nope.

Since SummerSlam, there’s been exactly one real feud in the SmackDown Women’s Division, and that was the title feud between Natalya and Charlotte Flair. That’s it. Since then, it’s been Charlotte facing members of the Riott Squad in random matches, with Naomi or Becky Lynch occasionally in the mix, aiding Charlotte despite the fact that they’ve never received an opportunity for the title. Since, you know, Charlotte hasn’t defended the title since Clash of Champions on Dec. 17. Which was, again, the last time this division had a feud.

On the last episode of SmackDown Live, Charlotte faced Sarah Logan in a decent enough singles match, as Charlotte is out to defeat each of the members of the Riott Squad one by one. Of course, Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott were ringside…but so were Becky and Naomi. And you know what they did? Precisely nothing.

I can’t even begin to fathom the stupidity behind all of this. We have a company that put on a fantastic first-ever Women’s Rumble on Jan. 28, yet for all their talk about a Women’s Revolution, they can’t be bothered to book these women on SmackDown Live. Thankfully, Raw managed to have meaningful matches or segments for most of their women, who all have something to do in the lead up to the Elimination Chamber pay per view.

But for Fastlane, it seems like it’ll be Ruby Riott vs. Charlotte Flair with potentially nothing for the rest of the women. No wait…we’ll get a Morgan/Logan vs. Naomi/Becky tag match that won’t do much for anybody.

At WrestleMania, the SmackDown Women’s Championship match is expected to be Charlotte vs. either Asuka or Ronda Rousey, depending on which wrestling news site you believe. That means only one person, the current champion with approximately (excuse the rounding, math isn’t my strong suit) zero title  defenses, in SmackDown’s Women’s Division will have a match on the main card of WrestleMania.

Worse yet is the fact that Naomi and Becky, two legitimately talented and popular wrestlers, have nothing to do. Neither of them is turning heel, neither of them is fighting for the title, and neither of them has a feud. (And don’t get me started on what they’re “doing” with Carmella and Natalya.)

Like, how is it that Becky Lynch, someone who gets great reactions from all types of fans and has a massive following, has nothing planned for her? What kind of operation is being run on SmackDown? You’re telling me that you can’t even give her vignettes like the Fashion Police are getting? You’re telling me that you can’t find a way to have her feud with someone? You’re telling me that you are willing to potentially leave money on the table by not even using someone who can push merchandise and live event sales?

No, Becky isn’t a “draw” by the classic Meltzerian standards, but how many people are? And does it matter? Because to me, what matters is representation, and the women of WWE represent members of the WWE Universe that the male wrestlers simply don’t. So by failing to allot enough time in the show to women’s wrestlers, especially top babyfaces whom the crowd naturally looks up to more, the WWE tacitly implies that they don’t think women’s wrestling is really as important as their advertising campaigns suggest.

My complaints aren’t about Becky or Naomi being pushed for the title, because I understand that not everyone can hold the title at the same time. No, my issue is with the fact that two popular female babyfaces aren’t on television frequently enough or are simply on the show without having any meaningful interaction – such as this past week. Note that Lynch has just two singles matches since the start of November, with one of those being an intergender match against James Ellsworth. The same goes for Naomi, whose singles matches on SmackDown Live have been against Riott and Morgan, neither of whom are her rivals.

I get that there were two big qualification matches for the WWE Championship, but the WWE could have easily cut the meaningless New Day vs. Chad Gable/Shelton Benjamin match for a backstage segment involving their female wrestlers.

Next: Ranking The Top 10 NXT Women's Title Matches Ever

The WWE needs to do better than this, because this isn’t remotely close to being acceptable. There are people who want to see Naomi and Becky when they tune in to SmackDown Live or buy a ticket, and I encourage fans to continue to be vocal about how women’s wrestling is portrayed on television, specifically when it comes to the amount of time that is given to them. As I said, what’s taken place lately on SmackDown Live isn’t good enough, and I hope that changes.

And here I thought that SmackDown Live was “The Land of Opportunity.”