10 Biggest Missed Opportunities From WWE Draft 2016
2. Breaking Title Divisions Apart
WWE confirmed a lot of fans’ fears last night by splitting their understocked Women’s and Tag Team divisions and sending a near-equal split to Raw and SmackDown. Both divisions were already relatively thin, and by halving them, all WWE have done in the interim is create two top-heavy divisions with a huge gap between the haves and have-nots on each brand.
On SmackDown, for example, Becky Lynch is joined by two NXT call-ups, Natalya, Naomi, and, ahem, Eva Marie. American Alpha are great, but what are they going to gain from wrestling The Ascension, Breezango, and The Vaudevillains on a weekly basis?
This was a golden opportunity to keep both divisions together, place them on separate brands, and promote them heavily on a week-in, week-out basis. WWE’s renewed focus on women’s wrestling is admirable, but what’s the point if Charlotte and Sasha Banks are deprived the opportunity of facing world class wrestlers like Becky and Natalya?
Splitting the divisions does give wrestlers like Becky an opportunity to succeed on their own, but that’s the only advantage. Throw SmackDown’s tag teams on Raw and replace them with the red show’s women, give both divisions at least 30-40 minutes of TV time equal week, and their importance amplifies tenfold. As it stands, WWE have blown the opportunity to truly rebuild two of their more prominent divisions.