The WWE Women's United States Championship will be a test for the company

The tournament to crown the inaugural WWE Women’s United States Champion is under way. Bayley was the first to advance during the November 15 episode of SmackDown, with several more matches to come. The winner will be crowned during the WWE Saturday Night Main Event showcase on December 14. Fans are excited about the prospect of a mid-card title for the women’s division. But this is truly going to be a test for the booking that is happening on the main roster shows.

SmackDown has a deep roster of women’s performers. The division features iconic veterans like Bayley, Candice LeRae, and Michin, and new faces like Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill, and B-Fab. Plus, several more in-between. It shouldn’t be an issue for the show to build a consistent stream of challengers for the women’s champions, regardless of who holds the titles. Yet, the problem hitting both SmackDown and Monday Night Raw is that the creative teams seemingly can’t see beyond the title pictures. There aren’t any stories being told on television that develop the women that would be next in line. This creates a problem in which no performer has momentum or believability behind them heading into a feud with the champion.

Compare this to what is booked on WWE NXT every week. There are several matches and segments highlighting various parts of the women’s division, keeping a cycle of performers on television, even if they are outside of the title picture. Recently, Lola Vice and Jaida Parker had a great hardcore match that didn’t involve a championship title, or a shot at a title. It was a feud based around two women who hated each other. Now, each performer is elevated in a sense when it comes time for them to be put back into the title picture. More of this type of booking is necessary in the women’s divisions on SmackDown and Raw. The men get this type of booking, take Seth Rollins versus Bronson Reed as an example. It’s time for the women to get the same treatment.

The WWE Women’s United States Championship is going to be a true test to see how much has changed when it comes to the booking on WWE television. This is an opportunity to show that WWE will invest in the women’s talent that is signed to the company. WWE can’t let this title fall by the wayside like the initial booking of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. The talent is there, it’s time to invest even more in this women’s division.