WWE: Now more than ever, we need an Evolution 2

The WWE women’s division has been booked roughly the past few months, and we need another all women’s PPV to remind us why they’re great.

Let’s wind the clocks back to WrestleMania 35. The women’s division had become the most captivating that it’s ever been and booked much more towards the forefront than it’s ever been in WWE history. While not all of their division’s booking was perfect, it’s hard to deny that an impact was being made. Women were getting substantial television time and substantially over with the crowd; two things that would’ve been unheard of ten years ago.

Women like Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and of course the global mega-star that is Ronda Rousey were all pushed to the center stage of WWE entertainment and it culminated in them being the first women to main event WrestleMania. Meanwhile, WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships were introduced and awarded to Sasha Banks and Bayley. Things were looking great for the ladies. Until, suddenly, things weren’t so great.

The past four months have been less than stellar for the women’s division. Becky Lynch remains as over as ever, yet fans weren’t enthralled by her title feuds with Lacey Evans and Natalya. Same for Bayley and her feud with Ember Moon. Even worse, women in the division have struggled more than ever to get ample TV time. Many women’s matches – like the aforementioned Moon’s match vs. Charlotte Flair on the Jul. 23 episode of SmackDown – ran less than two minutes.

WWE’s currently booking their women’s division as if the Women’s Evolution and the past year of progression never even happened.

WWE have come under much criticism for this, and justifiably so. To add insult to injury, Stephanie McMahon – with a lack of acute self awareness – tweeted about how “less than 4% of media coverage is dedicated to women’s sports,” when it’s debatable if 4% of the average WWE program has been dedicated to women’s wrestling these last four months. Naturally, she came under scrutiny.

WWE as a whole, actually, have come under scrutiny for essentially booking their women backwards rather than forwards. It’s gotten to the point that fans have started hashtags begging WWE to #GiveWWEWomenAChance, similar to the #GiveDivasAChance hashtag that kickstarted the entire Women’s Evolution.

In addition, particularly thanks to WWE promising a new Saudi Arabia PPV on Halloween, a more recent movement has seen fans tweet at WWE demanding they deliver Mae Young Classic 3 and Evolution 2. Reviving the Mae Young Classic tournament is a whole other conversation in itself, but if one thing is for sure, it’s now more than ever that WWE need to deliver a sequel to Evolution.

Evolution was last October’s first (and so far, only) all women’s Pay-Per-View that was critically hailed positively by pretty much all critics and fans alike. Some went as far as to call it the best PPV of the year. Yes, even better than that year’s WrestleMania.

To see where the women’s division has gone in a year’s time is disheartening. That division was perhaps at its zenith a year ago and it’s just taken a turn for the worst. The WWE Universe no longer have faith in the company booking their women confidently nor as strongly as they did last year. The best option to reboost the morale of its audience would be to go back to its roots by offering their women’s division another chance all across their own PPV.

Thankfully, this seems even more likely now. While original rumors ran rampant that WWE had no plans to pursue a second Evolution show, more recent reports (from behalf of our own Tom Colohue while working for Sportskeeda) are saying that talks are continuing to rise again. In fact, those talks, apparently, never really ended. They were just “brief” with some championing a sequel more and louder than others.

To not only restore their fanbase’s faith in how they book their division, booking Evolution 2 and then keeping that pace going forward would be a good start.

This week saw WWE’s women’s division get a happy boost with the return of Sasha Banks and a Moon vs Charlotte rematch getting a suitable timeframe. Twas a good start, but that’s not good enough. One week doesn’t excuse the past four months of poor booking from WWE.

WWE need to prove that they’re actually invested in doing right by their women’s division. Invested in booking their women’s division just as strongly as the men’s division. One way to tell they’re all in for their women’s division is by giving them another all women’s PPV, and delivering another great one at that.