WWE: 7 thoughts on what the #DivasRevolution should have looked like

By Will Cooling for WrestlingObserver.com

Earlier this week, I outlined the mistakes the WWE made when bringing Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch up to the main roster. These mistakes mean that the WWE is still just throwing out random women’s matches, hoping that fans will care because they’re slightly better than the dross that went before. Depressingly, it’s remarkable easy to imagine a better product. To successfully create a stronger women’s division, the WWE needed to approach the introduction of the NXT women as a months-long project that needed to be carefully planned in advance.  

Thought 1: Build Around A Superstar…But Be Patient!

As explained in the previous column, the new women’s division needed to be built around a single superstar. Like most, I see that person as being Sasha Banks. Not only is she the best women’s wrestler in the company, she has an image that is unusually current for a pro wrestler. On a not entirely unrelated note, she also has the potential to tap into the black market that the promotion has ignored ever since The Rock went into semi-retirement.

However despite this greater potential, she needs Charlotte to pave the way for her. Due to being Ric Flair’s daughter, she has the instant credibility with fans that Banks needs to earn in the ring, something she can’t do until fans have been educated to care about the division. The sensible play, as in NXT, is to use Charlotte to build the platform that eventually launches Banks into superstardom.

Thought 2: Start With A Strong Storyline  

First impressions are crucial when debuting new acts and the introductory storyline of the Divas Revolution gave nobody reason to take a fresh look at the division. The individual matches were inconsequential and the overall storyline had no emotional hook.

Now imagine this as an alternative. Having just dropped her NXT Women’s Title, Charlotte debuts on RAW in the run-up to Wrestlemania 31. She challenges Nikki Bella due to Bella being the type of ‘diva’ that gives female athletes a bad name. With both ‘The Nature Boy’ and Brie Bella promising to be patrolling ringside the promotion hires the baddest women on the planet, Ronda Rousey, to be the trouble-shooting outside referee. At the big show, Charlotte squashes Nikki, and then receives the post-match endorsement from Rousey herself in scenes that evoke Mike Tyson raising the hand of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Such an introduction of Charlotte would immediately raise the profile and prestige of the division by making its title match one of the centrepieces of Wrestlemania through the involvement of Flair and Rousey. The storyline of Charlotte challenging for the title due to disgust at Nikki Bella gives fan a clear reason to care in a way that the three-way trios feud could never do. Having Charlotte squash Nikki Bella confirms that she really is better than the existing women performers, and the entire storyline put Charlotte in control rather than make her subservient to Stephanie McMahon.

Thought 3: Book Charlotte Strong!

After introducing Charlotte so strongly, it would be important to build on that foundation with her championship reign. As a general principle, her in-ring appearances should be limited to pay per views and the occasional television show. This would give her time to properly prepare for her matches, but also ensures that fans see women’s matches as special events and stops the promotion from burning through challengers too quickly.

In terms of initial opponents, you don’t have to look beyond A.J. Lee, then the most popular and respected woman on the main roster. In return for her release, the WWE could surely ask for her to put the new champion over on her way out. Another credible challenger from the existing roster would be Natalie Neidhart, repeating the ‘Hall of Famer In Each Corner’ gimmick that successfully used Ric Flair and Bret Hart to add legitimacy to the NXT Women’s Championship.  

After those two, you run into a problem that the division lacks both marquee names that fans would care about and capable workers that could match the high standard set by the NXT women. Luckily, you can reach into the past to bring back women from the division’s previous golden era who can be both. Charlotte’s reign could easily consist of a series of one-off matches against the likes of Trish Stratus, Victoria, Mickie James, Gail Kim, and Lita. The novelty of the returning superstars would add interest to the division and having Charlotte decisively go over them would establish her as the greatest champion in the division’s history.

The use of these veterans would also allow the promotion to keep Charlotte away from the pre-existing roster. This is important because all of the ‘divas’ are thoroughly discredited in the eyes of fans due to years of poor presentation. If Charlotte spent months defending against women who fans had long given up on, then much like Paige before, her reign would not be accepted as a fresh start.

Thought 4: Refresh the Presentation

It’s important to remember that in pro wrestling, the sizzle is just as important as the steak; no matter how good the pro wrestlers or matches are, if there are problems with the presentation, then fans won’t care. When relaunching the women’s division, the WWE really needed to pivot away from the ‘divas’ branding as it’s too associated with past failures and is a derogative term for women in the real world. Have Charlotte throw down the championship at Wrestlemania 31, denounce the branding as stupid and demand a new title belt.

This should be more than a superficial change with the presentation of Charlotte and her matches dedicated to proving that she is anything but a ‘diva’ by educating viewers that she and other female pro-wrestlers are serious, credible athletes. Frustratingly, WWE pretty much nailed the correct tone to use back in April with the training footage of Charlotte they used to promote their new TapOut gear.

A key point is that just like in NXT, the booking should avoid doing elaborate storylines with the women as endless scenes of women arguing with each other just makes all involved look catty, something that would prove a turnoff to the predominately male audience. Remember that the one setback to Ronda Rousey’s popularity was when she spent a season of The Ultimate Fighter screaming at Miesha Tate. Equally, performers’ ring gear should be somewhat tasteful. While there’s nothing wrong with presenting women as sex symbols (look at Paige VanZant and Tate), it’s important not to dress them in outfits that wouldn’t look out of place in a stripclub.

Thought 5: Rebuild The Division Away From The Main Stage

Charlotte defending against returning mid-90s superstars should be enough to keep her occupied from Wrestlemania to Summerslam. The future of the division rests on the promotion using that time to address the weak roster depth that has always held the women back.  

Obviously at some point, you would bring Banks, Becky Lynch and Bayley up, but by themselves, they’re not enough. Whereas NXT could survive with a division that was effectively just four people due to producing so little television, WWE needs a fresh championship programme every month. Equally, the emergence of NXT as a touring brand means you can’t entirely gut that division.

Two things therefore would need to happen away from RAW and Smackdown during Charlotte’s reign. Firstly, those pre-existing divas that can be effective pro wrestlers (rather than hosts or valets) need to be sent down to NXT. There, the skills of raw athletes such as Naomi could be developed to unlock her hitherto untapped in-ring potential, whilst talented workers such as Paige can work on refreshing their characters and practicing matches with the likes of Banks and Lynch. At the very least time away from the main roster would help fans forget about how they had previously been booked into the ground.

Secondly, the WWE needs to be more aggressive with their recruitment of new, talented women pro-wrestlers from the independent scene and overseas. These women would both stabilise the NXT division when the ‘Four Horsewomen’ start to leave Florida, but also provide the next phase of performers to be promoted to the main roster.

Thought 6: Make The First Title Change Important  

Having successfully got Charlotte over to the fans as a credible champion and therefore educating them to take the division as a whole seriously, you can then move to the second phase – bringing in Banks. It’s a story that writes itself; whilst Charlotte is winning plaudits on the main roster, the woman who beat her for the NXT Women’s Championship is defeating all comers in Florida. Eventually, Banks snaps at missing out on all the attention, comes up to the main roster to demand a champion vs champion match.

With the benefit of hindsight, the ideal timeline for this would be for Banks to make the challenge on the RAW after SummerSlam and then for the match to be booked for the recent WWE Network special from Madison Square Garden to capitalise on her popularity in the New York market. Placing it on a Network special rather than a PPV would also allow for the match to be given greater prominence than usual – potentially even headlining the show.

In that match, Banks would defeat Charlotte to begin her reign as the WWE Women’s Champion. This title change would need to mark an important shift in the division as the promotion refreshes its roster by bringing up the new and repackaged women wrestlers from NXT. This would ensure that Banks had challengers who she knows how to work with and that have not already lost to Charlotte on television.

Thought 7: Have A Clear Plan

With the title on Sasha and the women’s roster thoroughly refreshed, it’s important that WWE be patient and think carefully about not only Banks but each of her future challengers. As part of this, they must remember to book for the vast majority of the audience that hasn’t been following NXT. For instance rather than rush into Lynch challenging for the title, it may make more sense to go back to her acting as Banks’ henchwoman so you can build a relationship between the two women that makes the eventual match between them mean more

While establishing Banks as the dominant champion, they would also need to protect Charlotte by keeping her in meaningful matches away from the title picture. Eventually, you book the rematch between the two at Wrestlemania 32 in what would be the ‘most eagerly anticipated women’s match in WWE history’. Whoever had been the more successful as champion should then win to establish them as the female face of the company, with the loser settling for being Randy Orton to the winner’s John Cena.

Will Cooling is a freelance writer who writes on combat sports for Fighting Spirit Magazine, pop culture for Geeky Monkey and politics at It Could Be Said!