WWE made the wrong decision to cut Bayley vs Becky Lynch

WWE had to make a choice to find time during Raw XXX, but the decision to cut from the women’s division wasn’t the right direction.

There was a lot of excitement heading into the January 24 edition of Monday Night Raw. It was Raw XXX, and yes fans were getting their jokes off at every opportunity. With the Royal Rumble days away, there was a lot of anticipation for the go-home show, but it drastically under-delivered. The biggest disappointment came with the women’s cage match between Bayley and Becky Lynch, what was expected to be a massive moment was yet another example, and a glaring one, of the disservice, that WWE is doing to its women’s division.

The night started well with a segment featuring The Bloodline. For nearly the first hour, fans were on the edge of their seats as Sami Zayn was put on trial by Roman Reigns. Zayn came out safe, for now. That led to a match where Zayn played the hero for The Bloodline, making the eventual blowup even more powerful before it happens.

That excitement didn’t last and was almost killed entirely when Lynch and Bayley hit the ring. Before the match could start, Dakota Kai and IYO Sky attacked the former women’s champion, with Bayley joining in. They would leave Lynch lying as Adam Pearce and officials tried to get to her rescue. The cage was pulled up, the show cut to a commercial and that was it. No cage match as advertised.

Fightful Select reported that the match and entrances were supposed to be two segments, but WWE made the call for it to get trimmed. The report mentioned this decision impacted Lynch versus Bayley the most out of the rest of the show.

WWE failed to feature the women on an important show

What did viewers get instead? Multiple backstage segments of a poker match that led to Baron Corbin having his winnings snatched away by IRS and Ted DiBiase (yes, that DiBiase that is named as an individual involved with the same welfare scam that involves NFL Hall of Famer, Brett Favre). Viewers also got a long segment where DX reunited once again to tell the same style of jokes. This time Kurt Angle was involved in the act before leading to a cross-brand match without any storyline implications between Imperium against Seth Rollins and The Street Profits. Everyone knows Cody Rhodes is returning at the Royal Rumble, but WWE was fine showing that video once again.

Heading into the cage match, Corey Graves mentioned this was the first women’s cage match on Raw in decades, yet the company still didn’t see it as important enough to give it time. Lynch and Bayley are two of the most important women in this generation of wrestling, yet they were still cut for segments that do little to raise interest in the current crop of performers heading into one of the biggest PPVs of the year.

In fact, the women were widely absent from this show. WWE initially advertised many current and returning names via a social media graphic that included Trish Stratus, The Bella Twins, and more. None of those ladies appeared. Bianca Belair and Sonya Deville had a match, but that did little to appease fans of women’s wrestling. In fact, many were further incensed seeing how the most recent edition of SmackDown didn’t have any women’s matches, and the match between Mia Yim and IYO Sky from the previous Raw didn’t get the time it deserved.

This says a lot about the perception of women within the company. To think that in the 30 years of the product, WWE did not find the time necessary to properly highlight the women that have contributed to its success goes a long way. Yes, Charlotte Flair had her moment. As did Bianca Belair. But what about ladies such as Trish Stratus, Lita, Michelle McCool, Maryse, Molly Holly, Victoria, Jazz, and so many others that can be named? To put on this three-hour product and failing to properly highlight the names of yesterday and two of the most important of today is a dire problem. Especially when it’s taken into account the number of men with problematic pasts that were featured on the show.

WWE has arguably the most staked women’s roster in all of professional wrestling, yet continues to fail to properly utilize this group. “Let it play out” isn’t an answer any longer. Triple H made a joke about being in charge of booking during the segment with DX, but making the decision to cut such an important match between Bayley and Becky Lynch doesn’t build faith in what he’s doing with women’s wrestling on Monday Night Raw.