Ahead of WWE’s biggest show of the year, WrestleMania, any viewer–diehard or casual– would expect WWE to be on its A game in every category. If this wildly inconsistent and, at times, outright poor television is what WWE calls “subverting expectations,” then props to them.<\/p>\n
But that is not what’s happening.<\/p>\n
This is not subverting expectations, nor is it entertaining. It’s just plain bad.<\/p>\n
The Road to WrestleMania this year has been full of potholes, tolls, and wrecks, but no lane has been more affected by this than the women. Each week, we see how the female feuds are constantly overshadowed, underdeveloped, and some parts of the roster are just ignored altogether.<\/p>\n
Even when the men\u2019s division isn\u2019t at its strongest, it still receives far more time and focus than the women, but somehow, WWE won’t allow its women to rise or even match that standard. Which is odd, considering a good portion of WWE’s best talent right now are women (Ripley, Flair, Vaquer, etc.).<\/p>\n
Today, we’ll briefly take a look at WWE’s women ahead of WrestleMania and break down how WWE has mishandled much of the division.<\/p>\n
Back in February, Rhea Ripley won the Women’s Elimination Chamber Match and locked in her ticket to WrestleMania. With Liv Morgan already calling dibs on Stephanie Vaquer, Ripley was moved to SmackDown within a week. There, she can challenge Jade Cargill, the WWE Women’s Champion.<\/p>\n
This feud is particularly infuriating. This could have been. So. Much. More. With all the back and forth on social media, and the seeming real heat between Jade and Rhea, fans were excited leading up to Ripley and Cargill’s first encounter on SmackDown\u2014a scathing, blurring of the lines promo, or perhaps just a full-blown fight between two powerhouses. Instead, neither happened. Here is what actually happened, summarized:<\/p>\n
Jade: I’m bigger than you<\/p>\n
Rhea: No, I am<\/p>\n
Jade: No, I am!<\/p>\n
The first confrontation was awkward, anticlimactic, and honestly…bad. The feud continued to dive headfirst downwards, as each week was the same thing. Jade, who was once a one-woman show, now has henchwomen. Who hated her a week before? They come out, beat up Rhea, then leave.<\/p>\n
Rhea has had a full-fledged tag-team partner in IYO SKY, who was nowhere to be seen with Rhea until last week. IYO came up short to Cargill in the main event of SmackDown, before Rhea came out to make the save.<\/p>\n
Why did it take so long for Iyo to be involved? She should have been from the get-go. Sky is a beloved face in WWE. One simple backstage attack or post-match beatdown would have gone over so much better than whatever WWE is trying to do.<\/p>\n
In my own personal opinion, I feel the fault also lies with WWE’s problem of banking on Jade Cargill. When time and time again, she has failed to rise to the occasion. Despite her months and months of training at the WWE Performance Center, Cargill has yet to consistently deliver on the level expected of her since she debuted in AEW.<\/p>\n
If Rhea’s feud were with anyone else, it would have been better. I’ll be excited to see Rhea’s new gear and (hopefully) watch her defeat Jade, but not much else.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Out of all the current female feuds heading into WrestleMania, Liv Morgan and Stephanie Vaquer are by far the most intriguing ones. From the insults to the beatdowns, this feud has been solid across the board, until recently.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ever since Judgment Day turned on former-leader Finn Balor, I can\u2019t help but feel like Morgan and Vaquer\u2019s storyline has taken a backseat. While Balor\u2019s tension with the other members was building for a while, the turn just came at a weird time. It was almost rushed. Considering that every member of the Judgment Day has tension with the others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Which brings me to Liv\u2019s tension with Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ever since Morgan eliminated Rodriguez from the Royal Rumble, it seemed as though a Liv turn was in the works. However, in recent weeks, it seems as though that frame has shifted from Liv to Roxanne\u2026for some reason. Although the more logical route would be with Morgan, considering the entire reason she joined the group was to get into Rhea Ripley\u2019s mind a few years ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Side-tangent aside, it is truly a shame Vaquer\/Morgan has been pushed aside for a mediocre men\u2019s storyline, considering how great it started and how talented both women are. The timing was very odd for Finn to leave Judgment Day, and it is something that should have been held off on. I also think a stipulation for this match would be a great way to top it off, but it is too late for that now. Women aren\u2019t allowed to have stipulation matches anymore, I guess.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m excited for this match the most out of all the women\u2019s matches, and I hope the speculation about this feud continuing is true. I\u2019m still holding out hope for a stipulation match between the two.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although current champions Nia Jax and Lash Legend leave more to be desired, at least they are a decent team and can work. Which cannot be said for all former Tag Team Champions\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n The rest of the Women\u2019s Tag Team scene is pretty solid heading into WrestleMania this year. Fan favorites Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair have lots of momentum heading into Saturday, and The Bella Twins do bring more prestige and intrigue into the match, despite falling a little behind in the ring.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, nothing can be perfect. Especially when taking into consideration the fourth team in this year’s match: Lyra Valkyria and Bayley. Simply, this partnership just isn\u2019t working. The back and forth on whether they are friends or not is tiring and boring. Also, what happened to Bayley going crazy? It seemed they were setting the stage for her to return to a heel, but dropped it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I like Lyra. I like Bayley. Together? I\u2019m confused and bored.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Their addition to the match seems to be bringing the whole thing down, and they\u00a0haven\u2019t connected as strongly with audiences compared to the other teams, it seems. If you only catch Raw and Smackdown highlights from scrolling, you wouldn\u2019t even know Bayley and Valkyria were involved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This match would have been fine as a triple threat, or they should have kept the titles on Ripley and Sky, and added the Kabuki Warriors into the mix.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bliss\/Flair vs. Bellas vs. Kabuki Warriors vs. Rhiyo would\u2019ve done numbers, added much more intrigue to the Tag Titles, and given someone else a main event spot against Jade Cargill instead of Rhea (again).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For some reason, it seems as though the fire for this feud has fizzled out. Which is a shame, considering it\u2019s AJ Lee and Becky Lynch. From amazing promos and character work from both, to now a five-minute backstage segment and barely any time or coverage, this feud suffers from being pushed aside.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I also believe this feud suffers in the aspect of it being an offshoot of the CM Punk and Seth Rollins storyline. Not that it\u2019s necessarily a bad thing, I hate how a feud this big has to center itself around men. The “he’s my husband” aspect should have ended at Survivor Series, or even as early as Wrestlepalooza. Instead, we’re still stuck on that fact. These women are both strong enough characters that the feud shouldn\u2019t need to orbit anyone else.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, men being the center of this feud isn’t the only thing holding it down. It’s the requirement for a title match.<\/p>\n AJ costing Lynch the title should have ended there. This feud did not need to be for the Intercontinental Title. It could’ve just been a one-on-one grudge match. Furthermore, it could have opened up the women\u2019s mid-card scene a bit more with Dupri still as champion, and perhaps even allowed another women\u2019s match onto the card with Dupri defending, most likely against Natalya.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Why can\u2019t women have non-title matches?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Women’s United States Championship has never been defended at a PLE. Not once. Not ever.<\/p>\n The current champion, Giulia, is one of the best in the world. The most beloved woman on SmackDown’s roster, Chelsea Green, is a two-time champion and lost the belt to Giulia. The silliness of Green’s character mixes with the seriousness of Giulia’s beautifully. The story writes itself.<\/p>\n Still, the WWE refuses to give Chelsea her flowers and Giulia hers as well. Just…ugh.<\/p>\n I think this WrestleMania will be good, match-wise. For the most part. The build? You couldn’t pay me enough to watch any of it ever again.<\/p>\n I’m sure the girls will come out in cute gear and outperform most of the men, per usual.<\/p>\n Still, I can’t help but feel like this WrestleMania doesn’t feel like WrestleMania. It feels more assembled than crafted booking of a WrestleMania.<\/p>\n Are you still going to watch? Let us know!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ahead of WWE’s biggest show of the year, WrestleMania, any viewer–diehard or casual– would expect WWE to be on its A game in every category. If this wildly inconsistent and, at times, outright poor television is what WWE calls “subverting expectations,” then props to them. But that is not what’s happening. This is not subverting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5605,"featured_media":156404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2192,4,3,320],"tags":[1374,229,160,163,8442,7442,3041,6447,9655],"class_list":["post-158172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","category-wwe-women","tag-aj-lee","tag-asuka","tag-bayley","tag-becky-lynch","tag-iyo-sky","tag-jade-cargill","tag-rhea-ripley","tag-the-bella-twins","tag-wwe-wrestlemania-42"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5605"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158172"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158947,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158172\/revisions\/158947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Women’s Tag Team Championships: The Best Scene In Years, Somehow<\/h2>\n
AJ Lee and Becky Lynch<\/h2>\n
WWE Women’s United States Championship: Status – Non-existent<\/h2>\n
Final WrestleMania Thoughts<\/h2>\n