7 Reasons Why WWE Hot-Shotting The Raw Women's Title Is Good For Business
The sky isn't falling in Raw's women's division.
The WWE (Raw) Women's Championship has been on quite a ride since its WrestleMania 32 reintroduction. Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch's Triple Threat match stole a lacklustre show that night, and cemented Charlotte, the incumbent Divas Champion, as the inaugural champ.
It was a natural continuation of her dominant 196-day Divas Championship run, and lasted for almost four months. By the time Sasha took the belt on Monday Night Raw, Charlotte had held championship gold for 309 cumulative days, and all signs pointed towards Sasha having an equally dominant run.
Things haven't worked-out like that, however, and the belt has switched hands four times since then. Sasha and Charlotte have thrown the belt back-and-forth like a hot potato, and after winning the belt in July, Banks handed it back just 27 days later at SummerSlam. The pattern's becoming familiar: Sasha wins it on Raw, Charlotte recovers it at the PPV, and the most recent change came through Sasha's latest TV victory earlier this week.
The belt has only been in existence for seven months, but both women are already three-time champions. The hot-shotting has draw a boatload of criticism from some sects of WWE's fanbase, and as with Brock Lesnar and Goldberg last week, WWE can barely make a move with splitting their fans down the middle.
Despite the dissent, however, WWE hot-shotting the Raw Women's Championship between Sasha Banks and Charlotte is succeeding on almost every level, and is ultimately good for business. Here's why...
7. Wrestling Has Evolved
The WWE Raw Women’s Championship’s history stretches back 60 years, with the belt sitting around The Fabulous Moolah’s waist for roughly half that time. Her longest reign lasted an astonishing 10,170 days from 1956 to 1984, while the belt’s second longest-reign, belonging to Rockin’ Robin, ended in 1990.
For better or worse, the era of long, drawn-out championship reigns is dead and gone. Just like we won’t see another Sammartino-esque 8-year World Title run anytime soon, we won’t see a one-woman stranglehold on the division. There’s too much competition, and the average wrestling fan’s perception has changed immensely.
Keep the title belt on somebody for a long length of time in 2016 and you’ll hear complaints that the champion’s being booked like Superman (or Wonder Woman, in this case), and that the contenders are being buried. For better or worse, long-termism just isn’t as important to wrestling as it used to be, and shorter title reigns are a result of that.
While Charlotte or Sasha could stand to benefit from, say, a 3-4 month reign at some point, but in an era of rapidly dwindling attention spans, hot-shotting is a result of conforming to a changing market. There’s no use in swimming against a growing tide, and WWE recognise that.