Direction of Women's Division Towards WrestleMania

   We are about a week away from SummerSlam, where both Raw and Smackdown's Women's Championships will be defended.  On the Raw side, Alexa Bliss will defend against Ronda Rousey.  Over on Smackdown, Carmella was to defend against Becky Lynch, but now Charlotte Flair has been added to the match, making it a Triple Threat.  Any number of things could happen in these matches that could set where the women's division in WWE will go.  

   Many people think Ronda Rousey will win the Raw Women's Title but they thought that at Money In the Bank too!  How did that turn out?  I don't necessarily foresee another disqualification win, but if Alexa retains, it will likely be due to outside interference, whether that be in the form of Alexa's buddies like Mickie James and Alicia Fox, or by a trusted associate of Ronda's such as Natalya.  On Smackdown, I feel like Carmella's time should be coming to an end.  I hope Becky gets her moment once more but it's incredibly likely that Charlotte will reclaim her crown.  I really should be writing this blog after SummerSlam but I have some thoughts on how I'd like to see the women's division go from here towards WrestleMania.

   Although the next PPV is Hell In a Cell in September, one very important stepping stone in the women's division and in WWE's women's revolution comes the first ever all-women WWE PPV, Evolution, which will take place on October 28th.  This is a very important step in the evolution of women's wrestling, especially in WWE.  Well over 50 women will participate in the event with the Raw, Smackdown, and NXT Women's Titles all on the line.   We'll see several names of the past, present, and beyond.  We may also crown a new NXT UK Women's Champion as well.

   Not to mention, we are about to be in the midst of the 2018 Mae Young Classic, in which the finals will take place at Evolution.  The women involved in this year's tournament are all fantastic and the future looks bright for WWE's women's division.  Although it's easy to see Ronda Rousey walking out of SummerSlam as the Raw Women's Champion, I feel like it might be better if she wins it later on, perhaps at an event like WrestleMania.  Meanwhile, on Smackdown, I'd like to see Becky Lynch get some time to shine before the inevitable happens and Charlotte wins the Title once again.  Charlotte will get her moment again but right now I'm hoping Becky gets the spotlight that she truly deserves. 

   Let's skip ahead to the Royal Rumble in January!  In this timeline, Alexa is still the Raw Women's Champion and Becky is the Smackdown Women's Champion.  At the Rumble, Alexa retains but Becky loses hers to a now heel Charlotte.  Meanwhile, Ronda Rousey wins the Women's Royal Rumble match, which I feel might headline the Rumble PPV once more.  The next PPV is Elimination Chamber.  Since we already know Ronda is heading to WrestleMania, I'd have her sit this one out, perhaps on commentary during the Elimination Chamber match for the women.  Here's what I would do next.  It will be decided that both Women's Titles will be up for grabs in the Elimination Chamber, as the Titles will be unified.  Much like two World Titles and two sets of Tag Team Titles, I don't like having two Women's Titles either because it waters down each.  Three women from Raw and three women from Smackdown will participate.  Raw will produce Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, Sasha Banks, and Bayley.  On the Smackdown side of things will be Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Asuka.  Charlotte walks away as the unified WWE Women's Champion and will go one on one at WrestleMania with Royal Rumble winner Ronda Rousey, in a match many are already anticipating.

   The kicker here is that not only will this match take place at WrestleMania but it will be the Main Event.  For the first time ever, a women's division match will headline the granddaddy of them all.  If this is to take place, the biggest possible match to do that with is Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey.  As great as a match Ronda can have with Asuka, Charlotte is the bigger name.  Not only that, we can then build up to the Ronda/Asuka match at a future time.  This is definitely history making, which I'm sure Stephanie McMahon will be at the forefront of.  

   But that's not all!  Another announcement will be made regarding the women's division.  Now that there is only one singles Women's Championship, what happens to the rest of the women?  A tag team tournament will begin and culminate at WrestleMania to crown brand new WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, a set of Titles that hasn't been seen in almost 30 years.  I would love for either the Glamour Girls or the Jumping Bomb Angels to be there for the announcement, seeing as they were the last two teams to hold the Titles.  The only way I would be okay with the addition of Women's Tag Team Titles is for a unification of the singles Titles.  If the Tag Team Champions will be free to wrestle on both rosters, it makes having two separate singles Titles redundant.  Back to the Women's Tag Team Titles, if they can somehow stretch this Sasha/Bayley thing until WrestleMania, how perfect would it be for one to turn on the other, making their opponents the new Champions?  That's just one scenario, because let's face it, that turn of events will happening long before WrestleMania.  

   One thing that needs to happen in the women's division is to develop other interesting feuds for the women that don't involve Championships.  It's much easier to book matches around Championships.  Right now, the Sasha/Bayely dynamic, whether they are teammates or opponents, is the most compelling non-Title story in WWE's women's division.  More of those kind of things need to happen.  These are just ideas of mine that I'd like to see take place.  I am slightly skeptical of Women's Tag Team Titles because WWE can barely handle their regular tag team divisions, so I wouldn't be heartbroken of they didn't come to be.  On the other hand, I'd still like the singles Women's Titles to be unified so winning it means more.  Then, WWE will be forced to develop non-Title stories for the women to be a part of.  The same should be done with the World and Tag Team Titles, but I digress.  What are your thoughts?

 If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments.  Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST on YouTube, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans.  Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport.  For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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