WWE Women’s Wrestling Weekly: Final Hype for TLC Triple Threat

Credit: WWE.com

Plenty of Bite, Too Little Bark

For several weeks the SmackDown Live women’s division has been outperforming the ladies of Raw in the lead up to TLC. That trend completely holds up this week when looking specifically at the Raw Women’s Title picture with Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey, though less so when compared to the exceptional build happening with Natalya and Ruby Riott.

Ruby and Nattie on Raw have the advantage of a heavy storyline and plenty of material to work with, which is something the writers over at SmackDown seem to have been short on this week. I figured with the match between Charlotte Flair and Asuka having been announced a week ahead of time that there was something more of some substance they had to show us before their big triple threat TLC match this Sunday for the SmackDown Women’s Title against Becky Lynch.

But alas, it was just a match. A good one, though! It was, at least, until the disqualification ending. Much like she did to Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series, Charlotte Flair lost it after a while and blatantly assaulted Asuka and Becky with a kendo stick. This is where the true hype for TLC planted its feet because a wild brawl ensued between Charlotte, Asuka and Becky Lynch, who had been watching the match from ringside.

Ultimately, Asuka stood tall at the end of the show because WWE needed to make us believe there was a possibility of the company going with the Empress of Tomorrow winning the SmackDown Women’s Championship. And it worked, because it really looks like WWE could go any of the three ways for this one.

However, my gut tells me Becky Lynch is taking the title home again for several reasons, not the least of which being her massive popularity still holding on strong with the WWE Universe. But also, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Charlotte and Rousey will have some sort of run-in to continue their rivalry past TLC. Maybe that’s being planned as a Champion versus Champion program, but I’m thinking Asuka and Becky Lynch might have the SmackDown Women’s Title situation on lock for the foreseeable future.

It’s a little disappointing to recognize that my biggest conclusion from this week was that WWE still doesn’t have women’s wrestling squared out just yet. A lot of that can be filed under the general topic of WWE not really knowing what the viewers are interested in given their recent ratings, but the fact that Ruby Riott and Natalya had the best character work of anyone in all of WWE this week, and the company still didn’t think it was worthy of their abridged Hulu version of Raw is a very bitter pill for me to swallow. I’ll try not to fret, because TLC is still going to be fantastic with three huge women’s bouts scheduled, and the SmackDown Women’s Championship match between Charlotte Flair, Asuka and Becky Lynch likely to take the main event.