WWE's title picture is in kind of a weird spot right now. As fans of the company already know, both of the promotion's main roster brands, RAW and SmackDown, have a main title, an “undercard” title, and a tag team title, too, for good measure. Factor in the 24/7 Title, which has thankfully been placed in the background where it belongs, and all in all, there are a ton of potential belts for male wrestlers in the WWE Universe to vie for.
The problem? Well, let's just say WWE has gotten a bit too comfortable with double championships, as The Bloodline have held four of the top six championships split over RAW and SmackDown for the last 137 days and counting. Though that still technically leaves two belts up for grabs in the United States Championship and the Intercontinental Championship – assuming Paul “Triple H” Levesque and company don't pass them off to Solo Sikoa and Sammi Zayn – it's hard to get too invested in many of the storylines presented on either shows, like Drew McIntyre's run ahead of Clash at the Castle when his chances of actually winning the belt was very low.
Consider, if you will, the forthcoming Extreme Rules “Premium Live Event;” of the six matches on the show, only two, Liv Morgan versus Ronda Rousey and Bianca Belair vs. Bayley, are for a championship, with the four male matches all being wrestled for honor or the respectability of the sport.
Pretty bad, right? Well, for the women of RAW and SmackDown, it's actually worse, as they only have three belts to wrestle for, the RAW Women's Championship, the SmackDown Women's Championship, and the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. Considering Belair is quite possibly the most marketable babyface in WWE right now, with multiple promotional campaigns centered around her very recognizable image, and Morgan a marked woman thanks to her unrelenting connection to Rousey, that really only leaves Damage Control's tag team belt as a viable target for would-be championship contenders, which is easier said than done, considering that belt also belongs to one of the top factions in the promotion.
But what are the women of WWE to do? Should they just “get good” and prepare to best Belair, Morgan, and/or Dakota Kai and IYO SKY? Or is there another solution that's a bit more creative?
Fortunately, Raquel Rodriguez has a solution, as she detailed to Steve Fall of NBC Sports on his The Ten Count.
Raquel Rodriquez has a solution to WWE's female bottleneck.
When talking to Fall about the potential for further WWE championships, Raquel Rodriquez mitched the idea of a female Intercontinental Championship, as transcribed by Cageside Seats.
“I think that would be something so great for the women’s division especially because we have so much diversity in the women’s division,” Rodriquez said. “We have women from all over the world, from all over the country, from different backgrounds and different ethnicities. I think having an Intercontinental Championship, having a North American championship for the women would be something. Just a huge leap forward for the Women’s Division in wrestling in general.
“And I personally do feel like that is something that is possible and is something that’s that could possibly be happening in the near future so I’m looking forward to that and possibly you know making new history.”
Very interesting stuff, indeed; as WWE gets more and more progressive, and expansive slate of opportunities have opened up for female performers across the promotion. NXT added a dedicated tag team belt, female matches are becoming more prominent when the company takes the show to Saudi Arabia, and the female side of the roster actually a WarGame match at the forthcoming retooled Survivor Series. If WWE wants to fully walk into the future, adding a secondary title – and maybe some trios titles for good measure too, for good measure – would allow for more championship matches on “Premium Live Events” give fans at house shows additional chances to see belts defended in the ring, which is never a bad thing.
As the WWE Universe continues to expand and performers like Rodriquez, Aliyah, Shotzi, and Candice LeRae continue to make the jump from NXT to RAW or SmackDown, eventually, the day will come when there are too many women to compete for just three titles. If Levesque and company want to keep things interesting and use NXT as a true developmental system, as his new two-year rule clearly proves is the case, why not give worthy performers something to compete for and win, instead of being built up only to lose?
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