There are many problems with the brand split. Horrid, Power Ranger-looking belts. Ever-rotating four man commentary teams. Shane McMahon wrestling AJ Styles at WrestleMania. Perhaps the most egregious problem with the brand split is what it's done to the women's division, which is ostensibly what the one ring did to Bilbo Baggins. Yes, just like Bilbo, the women's division is like butter spread across too much bread. The problem isn't the roster, which is quite probably the best female roster that a mainstream wrestling company has ever assembled. The problem, for once, isn't even ingrained sexism. The problem is you have a main event, and you have a midcard, and you have them on separate shows.
First, we have the problem with SmackDown: it's a midcard with no main event. Becky Lynch is the definition of an also-ran. Of the Four Horsewoman - Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch - Becky was the only one to never win the NXT women's championship. Becky also never won the Raw women's championship. While Charlotte has played the queen and Sasha and Bayley have taken turns dethroning her, Becky never did. Becky failed to win the title time after time. She is then pulled away from her rivals, put in a large pond of small fish - and Nikki Bella - and suddenly, poof, is the champion of a new division. Immediately, this makes your roster look second rate.
Of course, there was an easy solution - have Becky defeat Nikki Bella, the longest-reigning Diva's champion in WWE history. You have a gate-keeper, you have a torch-bearer - why is she not being used to pass the torch or let anyone through the gate? Instead, she's been put in the midcard of the midcard, and will now be in a mixed tag match at WrestleMania. There have been two other SmackDown champions - Alexa Bliss and Naomi - and their only bragging rights are that they managed to beat their predecessor. This hasn't helped matters.
The Raw women's division has a much simpler, much more easily explained problem: there are fucking five of them. That's not a division. That's barely a birthday party. And that's only five if you count Dana Brooke, who's more often been Charlotte's ringside accompaniment than an in-ring competitor. No, we'll not count Alicia Fox, nor Summer Rae. Otherwise you have Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks, who've had approximately seventy matches between them, Bayley (who will soon have seventy matches with each) and Nia Jax (remarkably, yet to wrestle Charlotte).
The overall standard of wrestling on Raw is higher and the belt has more prestige - Charlotte is a much better antagonist than anyone on SmackDown not named Nikki Bella, and she can boast of having beaten Nikki Bella - but the possibilities for matches and feuds are pathetically finite.
Let's assess. You have one show, the problem of which is that they lack bonafide main eventers, even if they have talented individuals and a fairly deep roster. You have another roster who has several main eventers but a shallow roster. If only - if only - all these wrestlers were employed by the same wrestling company and could be on the same show. Unfortunately, Ted Turner's promises of guaranteed money and creative control means Vince McMahon would have to break the bank if he wanted to lure Maryse over to the World Wrestling Federation.
There's an obvious counterargument to this. For too long, women's wrestling has been treated like a gimmick or a sideshow - as if they were tag teams, midget wrestlers or, God forbid, the stars of 205 Live. If the men get to be on both brands, why do the women get confined to one? Is that not treating them just like a sideshow? Next you'll give them a purple and silver belt. The problem with this is you have exactly two options: being principled or having a compelling women's division. You can't have both. Because women's wrestling has been treated as a curious niche for so long, there are fewer female wrestlers than there are male wrestlers. Because there are fewer female wrestlers, there are fewer world class female wrestlers.
There is still a wrong road ahead to equality. The question we're presented with most immediately is: would we rather two lackluster women's divisions or one good one?
First, we have the problem with SmackDown: it's a midcard with no main event. Becky Lynch is the definition of an also-ran. Of the Four Horsewoman - Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch - Becky was the only one to never win the NXT women's championship. Becky also never won the Raw women's championship. While Charlotte has played the queen and Sasha and Bayley have taken turns dethroning her, Becky never did. Becky failed to win the title time after time. She is then pulled away from her rivals, put in a large pond of small fish - and Nikki Bella - and suddenly, poof, is the champion of a new division. Immediately, this makes your roster look second rate.
Of course, there was an easy solution - have Becky defeat Nikki Bella, the longest-reigning Diva's champion in WWE history. You have a gate-keeper, you have a torch-bearer - why is she not being used to pass the torch or let anyone through the gate? Instead, she's been put in the midcard of the midcard, and will now be in a mixed tag match at WrestleMania. There have been two other SmackDown champions - Alexa Bliss and Naomi - and their only bragging rights are that they managed to beat their predecessor. This hasn't helped matters.
The Raw women's division has a much simpler, much more easily explained problem: there are fucking five of them. That's not a division. That's barely a birthday party. And that's only five if you count Dana Brooke, who's more often been Charlotte's ringside accompaniment than an in-ring competitor. No, we'll not count Alicia Fox, nor Summer Rae. Otherwise you have Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks, who've had approximately seventy matches between them, Bayley (who will soon have seventy matches with each) and Nia Jax (remarkably, yet to wrestle Charlotte).
The overall standard of wrestling on Raw is higher and the belt has more prestige - Charlotte is a much better antagonist than anyone on SmackDown not named Nikki Bella, and she can boast of having beaten Nikki Bella - but the possibilities for matches and feuds are pathetically finite.
Let's assess. You have one show, the problem of which is that they lack bonafide main eventers, even if they have talented individuals and a fairly deep roster. You have another roster who has several main eventers but a shallow roster. If only - if only - all these wrestlers were employed by the same wrestling company and could be on the same show. Unfortunately, Ted Turner's promises of guaranteed money and creative control means Vince McMahon would have to break the bank if he wanted to lure Maryse over to the World Wrestling Federation.
There's an obvious counterargument to this. For too long, women's wrestling has been treated like a gimmick or a sideshow - as if they were tag teams, midget wrestlers or, God forbid, the stars of 205 Live. If the men get to be on both brands, why do the women get confined to one? Is that not treating them just like a sideshow? Next you'll give them a purple and silver belt. The problem with this is you have exactly two options: being principled or having a compelling women's division. You can't have both. Because women's wrestling has been treated as a curious niche for so long, there are fewer female wrestlers than there are male wrestlers. Because there are fewer female wrestlers, there are fewer world class female wrestlers.
There is still a wrong road ahead to equality. The question we're presented with most immediately is: would we rather two lackluster women's divisions or one good one?
