Women’s wrestling in WWE has regressed since WrestleMania 35

WrestleMania 35 wasn’t that long ago, yet it already feels like WWE has taken a step backward with the “Women’s Evolution” since the Show of Shows.

WWE’s “Women’s Evolution” has been a focal point of their programming for years now and for good reason.

It took a little longer than expected, but the company finally started to take the proper steps in 2015 to portray the women of WWE as equals to the men. The call-ups of Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch from NXT kicked off what was referred to at the time as the “Divas Revolution,” which eventually transformed into the “Women’s Evolution” by WrestleMania 32.

From the “Divas” term being retired to the introduction of women’s Tag Team Titles, the ladies were gradually getting more and more opportunities to shine. Women’s wrestling in WWE hit its highest point ever at WrestleMania 35 when the women main evented for the first time, but it’s seemingly been all downhill since then.

Becky Lynch’s pursuit of the Raw Women’s Championship was one of the best parts of Raw and SmackDown Live on the road to WrestleMania. She, Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair deserved to headline that event and did so in glorious fashion, but the follow-up has been anything but stellar.

Putting both belts on Becky was an innovative idea and while there’s no denying that she’s still wildly popular, she simply doesn’t feel as special as she once did. She was way more compelling as a challenger than she has been as a champion, but that’s largely due to how her promo material in recent weeks has felt repetitive.

However, Lynch’s questionable booking is far from the company’s biggest problem when it comes to women’s wrestling at the moment. Lynch is featured on almost every episode of Raw and SmackDown Live, but beyond that, it’s scary how little television time has been devoted to the women’s division over the past month.

The Man immediately entered a rivalry with Lacey Evans over the Raw Women’s Title, which has been a breath of fresh air so far. Still, Ronda Rousey, is expected to be out at least until 2020 and with Sasha Banks and Nia Jax out of action for varying reasons, there isn’t anything overly exciting about the Raw’s women’s division at the moment.

A lack of talent isn’t the issue, however. It’s WWE’s lack of creative direction for them with Lynch, Evans and Charlotte Flair being the only three female stars from Raw and SmackDown Live receiving consistent television time from week to week.

Ember Moon, Bayley and Naomi switched shows in the Superstar Shake-Up, yet have hardly been involved in anything notable on their respective brands. In fact, an entire outing between Naomi and an unprepared Alexa Bliss on Raw last week was spent on Bliss’ shoes constantly falling off.

That’s the epitome of lazy writing.

In 2012, fans feared the Divas division would be done away with all together. There were weeks the women weren’t on Raw at all and when they were, they were be subjected to competing in meaningless, minute-long matches.

Of course, the general perception of women’s wrestling in WWE has changed drastically in the last seven years, not to mention that there is so much more talent between the two brands. The point, where did all the attention for the females go? What happened to the hot momentum they had heading into WrestleMania?

There is no excuse for how WWE has completely disregarded its women’s divisions lately and with the “Wild Card Rule” becoming a thing, that likely won’t change any time soon.

It’s also worth noting that it didn’t take WWE long at all to completely ruin the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. Fans anxiously anticipated the arrival of the twin titles at Elimination Chamber in February, but the belts have taken a backseat since The IIconics won them at WrestleMania.

Sasha Banks and Bayley were doing a great job of making them feel important, so the decision to take the titles off them was so incredibly short-sighted. Not only have The IIconics continued to lose more often than not, they don’t have many tandems to defend against with The Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection, The Riott Squad, and Alexa Bliss and Mickie James going their separate ways in the Superstar Shake-up.

There is and always has been an undeniable demand for women’s wrestling in WWE, which is why it’s so strange that it hasn’t had much of a presence on programming recently.

There is no reason to believe that WWE “soured” on its own movement with the women after WrestleMania. After all, so much time was invested in Lynch vs. Rousey vs. Flair as the main event of that show that it would be difficult for the division to return to what it was.

Surprisingly enough, that is exactly what has happened (at least to a certain degree), with there only being one to three females who truly matter at the moment. On SmackDown alone, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville vs. Ember Moon and Carmella didn’t last longer than three minutes, Flair and Bayley were nowhere to be seen, and what the heck happened to Liv Morgan?

Two brief women’s matchups in five hours of Raw and SmackDown is unacceptable, so here’s hoping the outpouring of support for the ladies of WWE from fans will cause the company to think twice about undermining their evolution in the future.