Reunited And It Feels So Good

   Fans were shocked when Charlotte Flair defeated Asuka for the Smackdown Women's Championship on Smackdown last week, merely days before WrestleMania. As you can imagine, many fans voiced their displeasure. I must admit I also did, but for just a moment. I looked at the big picture and realized that Asuka's sacrifice is for t he greater good. Having Charlotte, who is already in the main event of WrestleMania for the Raw Women's Title against Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch, join the match as the Smackdown Women's Champion, adds even more to it. After my initial hatred wore off, I thought of what this could mean. Will it now be winner take all at WrestleMania? Despite my preference of Becky Lynch winning, as well as wanting to have Asuka booked much better, I think the end result, as long as the Titles are unified, is something I'd be happy with.

   Since the reintroduction of the Women's Tag Team Titles, I have mentioned, ad nauseam, that with those Titles on all shows, it is redundant to have two singles Championships in the women's division. With the addition of the Tag Team Titles and thus the need for tag teams, there aren't enough women on each show to carry two singles Championships. Unifying the Titles would fix that problem. Let's be honest; the women's division is mainly focused on the three women in the upcoming main event, and to a lesser extent, Asuka. That's only four women! 

   On Raw, we have the Tag Team Champions, Sasha Banks and Bayley. In opposition, they have the Riot Squad, Tamina and Nia Jax, and the rejoined Natalya and Beth Phoenix. That doesn't leave many women in opposition of Ronda! Hell, her two biggest enemies at the moment are Smackdown competitors! This leaves Raw's singles women's division, consisting of Ruby Riot, Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, Dana Brooke, Alicia Fox, and Ember Moon. As far as credibility goes, no one gives a crap about Dana or Alicia. As for Ruby, a veteran in Mickie, and the currently injured Ember, their booking has left a lot to be desired. 

   Over on Smackdown, challengers for the Tag Team Titles consist of the Iconics, Mandy Rose and Sonya DeVille, and the makeshift team of Naomi and Carmella. With Becky and Charlotte now more focused on Raw, former Champion Asuka was left with only Lana and Zelina Vega, neither of which are credible opponents. Before Asuka lost the Title, there was to be a fatal four-way match to determine the new number one contender and WrestleMania opponent, between Mandy, Sonya, Naomi, and Carmella. None could come close to matching up with Asuka. It's time to have only one singles Women's Championship! What better way, now that Charlotte has introduced the Smackdown Women's Title into the discussion!

   While this mainly focuses on the specifics of the Women's Title, it does apply to other Championships as well, specifically the Raw Tag Team Titles and the Smackdown Tag Team Titles, which the men of WWE are contending for. There are never enough teams, or should I say, quality teams, to make up two separate tag team divisions. This is another set of belts that could stand to do some unification as well. Let's be honest, the entire tag team division, all across the board, consists of the New Day, the Usos, and The Bar. Teams like The Revival and Authors of Pain should be up there, but their booking could have been better. The Ascension have been jokes for a long time, Heath Slater and Rhino are barely seen, The B Team is another joke, and Sanity hasn't been used at all. Gallows and Anderson are also rarely there. Then there's stupid makeshift teams like Bobby Roode and Chad Gable, along with former Champions and now enemies, The Miz and Shane McMahon. I think unifying the Tag Team Titles would be good for everyone.

   While I'm on the subject of unifying Championships, let's talk about the WWE Title and the Universal Title. In my view, the Universal Title means nothing and should not be seen as a World Title. In WWE, the WWE Title is the Title! Even when Jinder Mahal held it, it was still the most prestigious Title in the company. Sure, I would probably still complain if Brock Lesnar held the WWE Title and barely showed up, but that's a different argument. Having more than one World Champion in the same company has never and will never make sense! With that being said, I think it's time to unify those Titles as well. Less is more!

   While on the subject, something else has been brought to my attention. Not only do I believe some of these Titles should be unified, but I also think the brand split should end. I have never liked the brand split at any point it was instigated. Half the time, WWE doesn't care to enforce it and everyone ends up on all brands anyway, so it seems pointless. While I can understand what people believe to be benefits of the split, such as a superstar that wouldn't normally be getting the time of day to receive the spotlight, the fact that there is more than one of each Championship diminishes it. For instance, from 2002 when the split first started until John Cena was drafted to Raw as the WWE Champion in 2005, the "World Heavyweight Title," basically the old WCW Title, was on Raw. Throughout the reigns of this Title, it meant nothing to me because as I stated before, the WWE Title is the Title. Sure, we got a feel good moments such as Chris Benoit winning at WrestleMania Shawn Michaels' comeback, Christian finally winning the big one, and Mark Henry with his best run yet, but ultimately, it's not the real World Title to me.

   While I can agree that without the brand split, Eddie Guerrero might not have had his reign, you must remember that because of the brand split, we had Champions like Jinder Mahal, who should have been nowhere near a World Title or main event. As I stated with the addition of the Women's Tag Team Titles and their roaming nature, we're seeing superstars more and more show up and several brands. We'll also see part-time free agents like John Cena and the Undertaker appearing wherever they're needed, not sticking at all to a strict brand split. The split is not enforced and therefore, no longer serves a purpose. For all intents and purposes, Raw and Smackdown are basically the same and only NXT sticks out as its own thing. By 2010, the split was irrelevant and finally ended in 2013 when the World Titles were unified. In the Summer of 2016, the brand split was redone, with Championships being split once again. It's time to end it again and it were up to me, I'd never bring it back. On the other side, if they're going to introduce new brands like they did with NXT UK, I can see WWE becoming a new Territory system of sorts, with those brand's main Titles being seen as regional Championships, much like World Class was to the NWA. However, I think Raw and Smackdown's brand split should end, with their Titles unifying. Less is more, after all. Having more than one of the same Title, diminishes its meaning, because we don't really know who the best is. There can only be one! When there's more Titles, they feel like participation trophies and not as important as they should be perceived as.

   All of the topics are interrelated but it starts with WrestleMania's first ever all female main event between Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey, Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, and Royal Rumble winner Becky Lynch. It's being presented as winner takes all, which tells me that the Titles are likely to be unified. However, the same argument I started regarding the women's division applies across the board. These are my opinions and I'm sticking to them!

 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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Unpopular Opinion? This Is Not Charlotte's Time

   Before I officially get started here, I just want to point out that I have nothing against Charlotte Flair. In fact, I think she's great! However, right now is simply not her time to be the focus of the women's division regarding WrestleMania. First things first, the original idea, at least before Survivor Series, was for Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair to take place at this year's WrestleMania, even with Becky Lynch's ever growing popularity. Due to Becky's injury, she chose Charlotte to fight Ronda in her place at Survivor Series. Since the match had already taken place at this point, I felt they were going to move in the direction of Becky getting the spotlight. Despite losing the Smackdown Women's Title to Asuka at TLC and failing to regain it at the Royal Rumble, Becky won the women's Rumble and chose to take on Ronda at WrestleMania. Before SummerSlam last year, I think the WrestleMania plan was Ronda vs. Charlotte and they added Becky into the equation with talks of a Triple Threat match, which is what I think we'll see. 

   After the Rumble, I figured it was all said and done. Becky Lynch has become one of the most polarizing superstars in a long time and her intense rivalry with Ronda Rousey was just about to heat up even more. As of Raw, Becky's "suspension" was back on at the behest of Mr. McMahon, stating she would be out for WrestleMania with Charlotte as her replacement. It seems they may do some kind of "Daniel Bryan" routine to get Becky back in and make it a Triple Threat. I'd also like to point out that this is not the end of the world for me, and if it's happening, no one deserves to be added more than Charlotte, especially if the match is to main event WrestleMania this year. I just feel like it wasn't necessary at this juncture.

   For one thing, Charlotte has had multiple moments of her own, such as winning the Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania XXXII and ending Asuka's undefeated streak last year, among being part of many first-evers. I think she can afford to sit this one out. Not only that, she was the only credible threat left for Asuka this year and now Asuka, the Smackdown Women's Champion, is an afterthought. She's not even wrestling at tomorrow night's Elimination Chamber PPV, nor are they hinting at a possible opponent for WrestleMania. With that being said, this leads to something I've stated numerous times. They seem to only focus on one Championship, even though there are two and they claim both are equal. I understand that Asuka's match, no matter the opponent, would still be of lesser importance than Ronda vs. Becky and/or Charlotte. However, it would have been a great story for Asuka to avenge her loss to Charlotte last year at this year's WrestleMania, with it just slightly less important than Ronda/Becky. WWE can never seem to focus on more than one women's division program at a time, and when they do, it's only because there are two singles Women's Championships. With the Women's Tag Team Titles being brought back and their rotating nature, it seems redundant to have two singles Titles. Rumors state that the brand split could be coming to an end, which I would be all for. However, I'm getting slightly off topic.

   I personally wouldn't have had Becky against Asuka at the Royal Rumble, especially her tapping out. I generally dislike when wrestlers in Championship matches get into the Rumble itself. I would have gone with Charlotte getting her one on one rematch with Ronda, with possible interference from the MMA Horsewomen. However, since Becky was in the match, having her tap out, which made Asuka look good, was not the right call. She should have passed out instead, similar to the way the Shayna Baszler/Bianca Belair match at Takeover: Phoenix ended. That way, Asuka still looks dominant but Becky remains strong as well. I also found the entire way they ran Becky's storyline in the Rumble to be unnecessary, as sometimes being predictable is just fine. I would have had Becky straight up be in the Rumble to begin with, and then winning it, as opposed to taking Lana's place when Lana couldn't compete. Becky on her own was enough and we didn't have to go the underdog Daniel Bryan story, nor the anti-authority Stone Cold story. I also have a feeling that Charlotte was added so she can take the pin so Ronda doesn't have to.

   Again, I enjoy Charlotte Flair's work, but I just don't feel she needed to be added to the Ronda/Becky situation, even though she has a gripe with both women. Also, I happen to think that Becky is the better all around performer. I'm not a Becky bandwagoner! I've been with her since day one and always liked her the best out of the NXT Horsewomen. I think she's more crisp in ring than Charlotte and better on the mic, especially since SummerSlam. Charlotte's moonsaults are sloppy and she's still somewhat robotic on the mic. Charlotte and those ridiculous sandbags she calls tits can sit this one out. She'll get many more moments in the coming years, and well deserved. However, this should really be Becky's moment in the spotlight. At the end of the day, I'm totally content with Charlotte's addition but I still feel she wasn't needed. Becky's popularity, along with Ronda's star power, is more than enough for the first women's main event in WrestleMania history. Again, this is all just my opinion but it's nothing to lose sleep over.

P.S. - With all that being said, however, the way they are now presenting Charlotte in this heel form, is fantastic!

 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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NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool Review

   This was the very first Takeover for the NXT UK brand and it was a very good show. That's not to say it was perfect, but we've only just scratched the surface. The main problem NXT UK has is that WWE taped the shows way back in August and September and then decided to run two a week on Wednesdays months later, leading into Takeover. That's a lot of content to catch up on and try to get into the brand. Fans, at least American fans, need a little time to get to know these wrestlers. For instance, though WWE will tout November as the day Rhea Ripley became the first NXT UK Women's Champion, she actually won it way back in August. I will say this, though; the UK fans were rowdy and I loved it. There wasn't a silent moment throughout the entire show.  

NXT UK Tag Team Titles - Mustache Mountain vs. Grizzled Young Veterans

   I couldn't think of a better match to start the show! We already know what to expect from any match involving Mustache Mountain. Trent Seven and Tyler Bate are tremendous stars and they showed exactly why yesterday. I also must give credit to their opponents. The Grizzled Young veterans are made up of UK Championship tournament standout James Drake and 2018 UK Championship Tournament winner Zack Gibson, Liverpool's # 1. While I expected the big strong boys to win, it kind of makes more sense for Drake and Gibson to get the win. The fans will really get behind Mustache Mountain even more. The wrestling itself was outstanding and the story telling was fantastic. Tyler Bate is incredibly strong, as he was able to pull off an airplane spin with both opponents on his shoulders. I loved how Mustache Mountain's outfits were very reminiscent of the British Bulldogs. In fact, they pulled off some old school British Bulldogs double team moves as Trent Seven hit a Davey Boy Smith-like vertical suplex, while Tyler Bate came off the top rope with a head butt much like the Dynamite Kid. The best move of the night was the suicide dive into a Doomsday Device on the outside. In the end, James Drake and Zack Gibson are the very first NXT UK Tag Team Champions.

Jordan Devlin vs. Finn Balor

   That's right, you read that correctly! I said Finn Balor! The match was advertised as Jordan Devlin vs. "The Kiwi Buzzsaw" Travis Banks. However, a storyline injury made other plans. Based on how good the opening contest was and the fact that it was the first Takeover for the brand, they needed to do something to keep the momentum going. Earlier in the day, the Irish Ace attacked Banks backstage. Before the match got underway, Banks made a B line to the ring and went right after Devlin. Unfortunately, the injury was just too much for Banks and he was taken out. UK General Manager Johnny Saint and Sid Scala said they had a plan B in case Devlin tried something like this, just after Devlin referred to himself as the greatest Irish wrestler in the world. The lights went out, a cloud of smoke arose, and out walked Finn Balor himself. It was now the teacher vs. the student. This chain of events made Devlin look good in a losing fashion, gave Balor a much needed showcase, and extended the Devlin/Banks feud. Everybody is a winner in this scenario. It was a good match as well, with Balor besting his former pupil with a "Coup de Grace" for the win. 

No Disqualification Match - Dave Mastiff vs. Eddie Dennis

   When Mastiff had enough of Dennis bullying people, he confronted him. Mastiff won their first encounter and their second one ended in a no contest, leading to their No DQ match here. Mastiff is a 320 pound wrecking ball of a man. To see a man his size and so agile is amazing. He almost looks like a smaller version of Vader. Eddie Dennis, while tall, doesn't come off very imposing. He's pretty generic actually. There were some cool spots here and in the end, the Bomber did a cannonball onto Dennis through a table in the corner for the win. It was the perfect match to put in the middle for a slight down turn. 

NXT UK Women's Title - Rhea Ripley vs. Toni Storm

   The women's division in NXT UK is very good but these two are head and shoulders above the rest. Ripley turned completely around in character from one year to the next during the Mae Young Classic. Toni Storm has certainly taken the world by storm and the hearts of NXT UK fans. Going into this, I thought for sure Ripley would retain, as to most fans, she just won the Title in November. However, if there was one person, even above Pete Dunne that is the face of the NXT UK brand, it's Toni Storm. Last night, the 2018 Mae Young Classic winner took her star to a new level by winning the NXT UK Women's Championship. It's Toni time!

UK Championship - Pete Dunne vs. Joe Coffey

 The only thing that took away from this match, at least going in, was that there was no one on the NXT UK roster that was in the position to take the Title from the Bruiserweight. The same goes for Joe Coffey, though he put up a good fight and was still a worthy challenger. This match came to be through the feud between British Strong Style and Gallus, consisting of Joe Coffey, brother Mark Coffey, and Wolfgang. In the end, Coffey just couldn't get the job done and Pete Dunne continues his 600-plus day reign as UK Champion. You'll notice that in the first sentence in this paragraph, I mentioned that there was no one credible enough to take the Title from Pete Dunne. Until now! Just as the credits were about to roll, Dvorak's Symphony # 9 IV came on the loudspeaker and out walked WALTER! Walter is a stand out in the UK independent scene and is a monster of a man. Just as Walter made his way to the ring to confront Dunne, Coffey got to his feat to ruin the moment, only to be met with a big boot from Walter for his troubles. The night ended with a stare down between Walter and Dunne, a sight to behold.

   Between the awesome matches, surprise appearance by Finn Balor, and Walter's debut, I'd say NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool was a success. The only thing missing was Blackpool native William Regal. What a great way to start what I'm sure is to be more Takeovers from here!

 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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