WWE Women’s Wrestling Weekly: Superstars Reap New Era Benefits
By JB Alexander
Credit: WWE.com
Raw Women Take Early Control of the New WWE
This week was to be an early Christmas gift in the form of the start of a new era in WWE. Vince, Stephanie and Shane McMahon, along with Triple H, all showed up on Monday Night Raw to announce they would be taking over direct management of both Raw and SmackDown and to promise us as fans that we would be “the authority.” The McMahon family informed us that we would be seeing new faces and matches in the weeks and months to come.
The jury is still out on whether or not the company can stick to it, but this week of WWE television was certainly reinvigorated. It was instantly evident that the women’s division would be some of the most notable beneficiaries of the new movement when a massive eight-woman gauntlet match headlined Raw with a title match against Ronda Rousey on the line. The Raw women’s division was represented at its best here, but Natalya, who has been putting on some of the best performances of her iconic career lately, came out with the win and will face her friend Ronda for the title in an intriguing match on the Christmas Eve edition of Raw.
And how about Vince McMahon’s appearance on SmackDown Live? The Chairman made his presence felt on the blue brand to mediate a segment between Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and new SmackDown Women’s Champion Asuka. Vince essentially warned Charlotte and Becky to quit their whining over Ronda Rousey and take their grief up with the Raw Women’s Champion herself.
Most importantly, though, Mr. McMahon had Asuka defend her newly-won title against Naomi, who stepped up to the Chairman directly and asked for the opportunity. Even with the weight of TLC and everything else going on in women’s wrestling this week, this was a standout match for two reasons. The first being that WWE knew Asuka would need to prove herself after winning the SmackDown Women’s Title mostly thanks to Ronda Rousey, and the second being that Naomi has been criminally underutilized lately and deserved this opportunity to remind everyone what she can do.
Asuka, of course, retained her title and will likely move on to the next challenger while Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch attempt to find some loophole in the brand extension that allows them to get their hands on Rousey. The plot thickens!