WWE Evolution Won't Come Off The Way They Expect

[Jack-Hammer]

Evolution is going to be the first ever all women's show in WWE history. WWE gets a lot of criticism, some deserved and some undeserved, but you can't deny the remarkable turn around in how the main roster uses and treats its women wrestlers. At one time, they were nothing more than cheap filler with no relevance or meaning to the product at all and that's all changed due primarily to the main roster actually looking at what was going on in NXT with its women's division and adopting much of what they saw and giving the main roster actual female stars in matches that matter and contribute.

The flaw in the slaw, however, is that they don't give the credit to Triple H or NXT and that is part of why Evolution won't be perceived in quite the way WWE hopes, at least in my opinion. Rather than coming flat out and saying that female wrestlers didn't mean anything in WWE for the longest time, rather than just flat out say that the company had no desire to utilize their talents, they came up with some corporate bullshit rewriting of history to make it seem like the current state of women's wrestling in WWE is something that "evolved" over an extremely long period of time. That's not what happened and everyone knows it but, as is often the case when actual history doesn't line up with Vince's whitewashing, Vince treats fans who've watched WWE and wrestling in general for decades as if they have the mentality of 5 year olds and pretends that younger fans who may not be familiar with the bad old days of women's wrestling in WWE can't go online and easily look up how bad it used to be.

Then you've got Stephanie McMahon herself, who isn't doing this any real favors when you get right down to it. She's a great heel, no question, and I enjoy her in the role of a heel. However, just like her father a good deal of the time, even when she's not in heel mode comes off as this disingenuous, condescending asshole who does what her father does in that she tries to whitewash history and, even worse, takes credit for things that he doesn't really deserve credit for. It's a huge part of why you so often hear fans say how gag worthy it is when she's out there giving these "historic" announcements concerning the women, and unfairly puts herself squarely in the middle of the spotlight; we saw it happen earlier this year for the women's Royal Rumble match and we saw it concerning the arrival of Ronda Rousey. The one responsible for orchestrating damn near all of WWE's women's movement is Triple H, whether it was intentional or not doesn't really matter as he started treating and using women wrestlers in NXT as though they were...well, wrestlers. He booked them as wrestlers, put together meaningful feuds for them as wrestlers and booked them into meaningful matches as wrestlers. However, Stephanie is the one pushed to the forefront because she happens to be female. Announcements concerning women's wrestling in WWE in particular come off far less nauseating when Triple H does them because he's been in the trenches of wrestling, he's busted his ass, and he isn't someone that's spent the last quarter century in a suit trying to tell wrestlers how to be wrestlers.

Finally, you have WWE constantly harping on Evolution. As we saw on both Raw and SmackDown Live this week, they found a way to squeeze in a mention of Evolution and how wonderful it is and how historic it'll be into almost every segment on each show. If it's mean to be hyping the show and keep it in everyone's mind, as it's still several months away, it comes off more like WWE congratulating itself and jerking itself off on its own grandness and progressive stance. You know, sort of like the whole Be A Star anti-bullying stuff even though they have guys like JBL going around terrorizing guys like Mauro Ranallo as part of some outdated frat boy mentality people like Vince and JBL have.

I have little doubt that the show will be a success but I think WWE will ultimately wind up undermining itself and the show by constantly patting itself on the back while expecting everyone else to do it too.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

If the main event is what I am expecting it to be, it will be a commercial success - and in all likelihood a critical one.

It’s no surprise to me that, in the same week as Evolution is announced, the remaining two UFC Horsewomen make their NXT live event debuts. Meanwhile on the main roster, Sasha Banks and Bayley seem to be best friends again. I’m fully expecting the long-awaited UFC Horsewomen versus WWE Horsewomen match - possibly with an elimination rematch a few weeks later at Survivor Series (ie if booked sensibly, it can carry two ppv events). Leave Roussey’s inevitable title win until Wrestlemania. There’s money in a Horsewomen 8-women tag match and subsequent series between the individual wrestlers.

 

[Macho Mans Beard]

I got very tired of the mentioning of Evolution by hour 2 of Raw. And for it to continue through Smackdown it just made matters worse for me.

With WWE's PPV's sucking major dong lately I am not really interested in this at all. And it has nothing to do with the female talent on the roster. It has to do with creative itself. There are no serious rivalries in the womens division. Hell they cant even decide to make Bailey or Sasha heel. (Just pull the damn trigger on one and end it)

Creative is pushing the wrong people at the wrong time (Carmella) and what the hell happened to Asuka?

The only thing I am happy about is that the NXT women will be included in this PPV. Which is a sign of fresh air in knowing that there will be some quality matches on the card. But again we have seen creative drop the ball completely with pretty much every PPV since 2016.

Unless HHH is the booker for the show and we see matches that make sense. Then we are going to get a slopped down mess of a PPV that will have ZERO impact on the so called Womens Evolution.

If I was the booker of the event I would have matches that showcase talent and emphasize the rivalries.

You can have a MITB, Hell in a Cell/Cage match or even have an Iron Woman Match that the crowd can get behind. They need a big spot match to showcase talents.

The one thing that needs to come out of this PPV is Charlotte and Rousey need to come out STRONG to really start their fued going into WM. And you can do this very easily considering they are on different brands. Makes both Womens divisions look good and doesnt hurt either one. End the show with a big payoff with both in the ring staring each other down. No need to have them fight, just a good moment that leaves the crowd wanting more.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Personally, I'm not going to bitch on creative for this show or wwe as a whole because while it hasn't been the best lately, I know that I wouldn't be able to do better under the pressure they are under. They have so much time and so many wrestlers in both division that they can't come up with interesting stuff for everybody.

My main problem I have with the show as a whole is the fact that they will over promote the hell out of the show especially in the last few weeks before the event. Also I fear that after these set of taping, I wouldn't be surprise if NXT get the same type of over promotion of the event, same goes during the May young classic which is all about the evolution Ppv anyway.

I wouldn't be surprise if this show will be over 4 hours long. Ronda will be the headliner, either as champion or challenger for the raw title. I wouldn't be surprise to see Charlotte as the challenger for the smackdown title and while I'm happy that NXT is represented on this show, I don't see them stealing the show since when you put then on the same shows as the main rosters, their matches will look exactly the same as the other matches on the card.

My biggest fear about the whole show is how redundant the whole thing will be, not just for the fans watching at home but for the fans at the arena. It's one thing to do a women's tournament at full sail, and even then by hour 3 fans seems to get bored with it, but it another to do a live 4 hours show with just women's wrestling especially with the current roster on both the main and NXT. While you got your Charlotte and asuka you also have you're lana's and Dana Brooke plus a lot of the NXT girls that will probably get put on that card are still pretty green so that's another problem.

Anyway, I kinda see that as them trying to sell this show on the back of Ronda and Charlotte and it got a chance of becoming like the ECW Ppv disaster that they did over 10 years ago.

 

[Radical]

I don't blame WWE for trying something like this. Cetainley, in their history this would be the only time they could even hope to do something like this and have it come off at least semi-credible.

I'm sure it will be okay. Just the sheer historic milestone of it all will probably do a large part to make it successful and obviously WWE will put a lot of time and effort into promoting it just like they did leading up to the Greatest Royal Rumble.

My worry is that if there isn't enough story and character development done leading up to the event, too much of the show will drag on.

I have a feeling they will treat it so much like a 'real' sports competition that there will be hardly any actual twists and turns to the story they are trying to tell. They may just let the match results be the story. I guess that might be okay.

But wouldn't it be amazing if they used this historic show to introduce a MASSIVE angle with a team running rough shod on the roster and devastating a champion or two leaving the show with at least a few cliff hangers! I'm not even saying this team has to take over every segment. But if a STRONG heel faction developed in the show and maybe attacked and 'injured' a champion OR with a little nod to the team Evolution (Triple H, Orton, Batista, Flair) if a group ends up with all the titles (possibility that a Women's Tag belt is introduced) they can boast about their historic accomplishment (probably with some controversy in their matches) and become a Women's Evolution Faction (but with a different name).

I guess I'm armchair booking, but I'm just hoping WWE takes full advantage of the opportunity to spring board their women's division into having ongoing compelling characters and storylines and I think a team takeover angle might do it. But, that said, WWE hasn't done a good team takeover in a LONG time. Not since like Nexus and then that lasted like a few months.

 

[enviousdominous]

I deliberately don't know what goes on behind the curtain. I don't feel miffed at all if the WWE is using smoke and mirrors to make it appear that Stephanie's initiative is what helped the women's revolution endure.

To people who think that it serves the greater good to call the WWE on their bullshit, they might perceive Evolution to be a poor attempt to declare a mediocre moment as being historic. I've been proven wrong by a few of the female wrestlers when I doubted whether or not they could put on a great match, the Royal Rumble for example had me on the edge of my seat and I marked out when Beth Phoenix entered the match.

I'm looking at this pay per view as something fresh that has too much potential to disappoint me. On the male side of things, I'm watching the WWE desperately try to figure out what to do with Finn, Baron, Seth, and Bobby in a way that doesn't invalidate them. Smackdown has been the AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura show for the last half-year.

The women of the WWE haven't had very much exposure, even with the heightened amount of exposure they've received. If you put literally any major female wrestler against any other major female wrestler at Evolution, I'll be more likely to be emotionally invested in that than what the WWE is offering on the male side. I'd rather watch Becky Lynch fight Lana than watch Brock Lesnar fight Roman Reigns.

I'm excited to watch, mainly on the hope that the WWE is planning some surprise returns. If Trish fights Mickey, then that will be enough to make the whole PPV worth my time.

 

[mral82]

All you People whom are HATING on this I guess don't Realize or haven't heard of these Companies: GLOW/SHIMMER/SHINE/WRESTLICIOUS/WOMEN'S XTREME-EXTREME WRESTLING/IMPACT! WRESTLING and other's have already done the whole Running a Female based Comapny or in Impact!'s case run an all Women's Pay Per View and it came as a success. I'm glad the WWE is finally after a Decade finally doing this as they shoulda started this way back in 2002 after WCW/ECW was bought as back then they coulda done a 2 Hour all Women's PPV/Special Episode of RAW or Smackdown! and advertised it and ran it Commercial Free and Live! and then when the Massive Women's Roster starting to happen yearly after 2004 still coulda done WWEVolution or whatevs Name they Chose then and gave the Women a Yearly PPV/Special and not the Crap 30sec-3:00 min meaningless matches as Heck over the YEARS they've only given the Women Pre-2015 when it was both Brands like 15mins Total for both Brands Women's Matches and the Rest Crap Men's Matches as give me longer Women's Matches and shorter Men's Matches. Less Roman/Shinsuke/Randy/Asuka and more Lana/Becky/Dana/Liv/Peyton/Becky/Mella/ETC

Also the only Reason why all of you are HATING on the WWE DOING THIS FINALLY is CAUSE IT'S THE WWE AND NOT OTHER LOWER COMPANIES. So All of you quit your Whinning about WWE doing something that's been long overdue. Also It's not all of Triple Haitch's Doing this is all of Dave Finlay/Sara Amatto/Bill DeMott/Norman Smiley/William Regal/Sarah Stock and all of them Trainers as Yeah all Trips should be Credited for is all these Women's Signees that's all. He has not Trained them.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

My biggest fear about the whole show is how redundant the whole thing will be, not just for the fans watching at home but for the fans at the arena. It's one thing to do a women's tournament at full sail, and even then by hour 3 fans seems to get bored with it, but it another to do a live 4 hours show with just women's wrestling especially with the current roster on both the main and NXT. .

To be honest, since the show hadn’t gone on sale yet (or at least, it hadn’t by the time it was announced), the fans in attendance know EXACTLY what they are buying a ticket for well in advance, so this fear is unfounded. If they don’t have interest in an all-female ppv, they simply shouldn’t buy a ticket for an all-female ppv...

 

[Psykohurricane55]

To be honest, since the show hadn’t gone on sale yet (or at least, it hadn’t by the time it was announced), the fans in attendance know EXACTLY what they are buying a ticket for well in advance, so this fear is unfounded. If they don’t have interest in an all-female ppv, they simply shouldn’t buy a ticket for an all-female ppv...

In a normal situation, I would agree with you, but where talking about WWE fans here. The same fans that buys tickets for a product they don't like and then bitch about it on social media. The same fans that would rather try to be the star of the show by hijacking the show then have a little respect for the performers and actually react to what's in the ring instead of doing stupid and chatting stupid shit,

I'm not saying this is what will happen but looking at past crowd for WWE, this fear is more then founded based on that fact alone.

 

[neildittmar]

Generally speaking, I have no issue with an all women WWE PPV. Amongst the respective divisions within Smackdown, RAW, and NXT, I have no doubt that the roster is large and diverse enough to support a 3 (or so) hour show featuring nothing but female talents.

I do question the timing of such an event, as well as the notion that somehow HHH must be brought to the forefront as the pioneer/savior of women's wrestling within WWE.

In regards to the timing of the show, on one hand an all women WWE PPV is the next evolutionary (pun intended) step since so many other firsts have already happened. Problem is, all of the other firsts happened rather quickly and in a *very* short span of time. While that may be (and likely is) by design, the speed in which they've followed one another can take away some of the luster that these firsts could/should have. Unlike an individual match though, the Evolution PPV requires so much more work and dedication from all involved to not only be successful, but to stand out in such a way that the audience wants more all women PPVs and a fair number of new viewers are brought on board.

To be totally clear, I'm not arguing that Evolution shouldn't happen at all. What I am saying is that sandwiching such an event smack dab between two of the biggest shows of the year (SummerSlam and Survivor Series respectively) may not be the best of decisions. I hope that enough time is taken and the card is strong enough to elevate Evolution to the same plain as (or perhaps even above) where the events surrounding it will reside. My faith in WWE creative to accomplish this, particularly as of late, is shaky at best.

As for HHH not getting proper credit for the elevated (intense?) focus on the women's division, I couldn't disagree more with bringing him to the forefront to claim such an accolade. It is of no concern to me, nor should it be to anyone else watching, who is responsible behind the scenes for this push. Not HHH, nor Stephanie, nor Vince, nor anyone else in creative/production should be touted or promoted as the centerpiece, or star, or catalyst, or savior of the respective RAW, Smackdown, and NXT women's divisions despite how much evidence or justification there may be.

Above all else, the female competitors on the RAW, Smackdown, and NXT rosters are the stars. The bigger name competitors and champions should be the attraction. The characters, storylines, and in-ring competition should be the focus. To put it bluntly, HHH doesn't need the rub.

 

[Vintage Punk]

If this is NXT-like produced then it should be an okay/decent show. If it's gonna be Monday Night Raw garbage type production then it will be a shit show. They have overly shoved this down everyone's throat instead of mentioning here and there and letting things grow organically. They are currently pushing the wrong 2 champions in Carmella and Bliss. Now don't get me wrong, they're both hot and great to look at and I don't think they're too bad on the mic. But they would be more in line with the Diva era which according to WWE, they are trying to get away from hence Evolution PPV. i for one don't mind watching a women's match if it's entertaining storyline or wrestling wise or both. But a whole PPV will be overkill for me.

One of their problems is many many weeks are always a multi-women match with no substance. Like no creative though or investment at all in it other than to just get the women on the card or show. They need good realistic type storylines because let's face it, as good as the best woman wrestler is, there's no comparing it to an AJ Styles or a Seth Rollins or guys in that vein (and people can call this sexist all they want which I don't care). The guys can just do so much more than they can which is not their fault at all but it's just the way it is. To get some real news in this is like one of the other posters said, develop a major storyline out of something that happens there in a nod to Evolution the group. Honestly, I'd be investing (maybe because I like heels more than faces) if they would've had Charlotte, Becky, Sasha, and Bayley all go heel like the group Evolution and get the titles along with the Women's tag belts, that I'm sure are just waiting to be introduced, because you know WWE loves there first time evers! Have those women actually be a cohesive unit in that we can do whatever men can do. Have them beat down and jump viciously other female wrestlers. Have them woo male wrestlers to get them to do some of their bidding. Make it fun with their reign and create a group who will band together and try and take them down. Charlotte is better as a heel and so is Sasha. Becky used to be in NXT and it would be fun if Bayley acted as though she was totally against it when they beat down Ronda and Asuka only to join in thus shattering all the little Bayley fangirl's hearts ala Hogan with the little Hulksters. That would set alot of eyes on that event and on what's going to happen in the future.