Reaction Zone - The wrong message is being sent

In the wake of last week's "superstar shake-up", WWE simply had their two brands swap drama queens, both of whom are now lined up for women's title matches in their new homes.

Alexa Bliss benefited from having the hometown fans on her side on Monday, earning a title match vs. Raw's current women's champ, Bayley, at Payback at the end of the month. These two are familiar with each other from their days at NXT, so that will help, although the challenger's stuck-up, high school drama queen persona has a been there, done that feel (i.e. Bella Twins, LayCool) that needs to go away.

Over on Smackdown, Charlotte Flair opened the show and immediately whined her way into getting a non-title match vs. Naomi. Granted, Charlotte won fair & square, as Alexa did the night before, but for Charlotte to again take an approach contrary to her Hall of Fame father, Ric, and call out Commissioner Shane McMahon and in-absentia GM Daniel Bryan, demanding a title match based on her own resume alone, if not her famous name, was wrong.

Small wonder, then, that Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina Snuka took exception. That means Charlotte won't have too many friends on Team Blue, having left her humility somewhere last year, and unable to locate it. I realize Smackdown's women's division isn't as strong as it was 9 months ago, what with Eva Marie all but gone, and Charlotte & Tamina essentially replaced Bliss & Mickie James, who went to Raw. Add to that the absence of Nikki Bella and Maryse Mizanin having wrestled only 1 match since returning, and what was a Team Blue asset is now a glaring liability.

Gee, you don't suppose who gets blamed for this, do you?

The message sent is that instead of starting back at the bottom of the ladder, Charlotte was allowed to cut to the front of the line, ahead of the women who were already on the roster, and got a 1-on-1 non-title match vs. Naomi. Bliss, on the other hand, went through James, Sasha Banks, & Nia Jax to earn her shot in a 4-way. Essentially, Charlotte should be doing the same thing, but she's gained favored nation status just because of the family name.

No, the problem is that the creative team, normally superior to Raw, worked this backwards. Natalya, being the senior member of the women's roster, should've been on point and the first one out to confront Charlotte, instead of Naomi. Then, you'd have Carmella, Tamina, and maybe Becky Lynch, who was absent as well, out before Shane or Naomi. The complexion of the show then changes, and you'd have a 4-way, but, just to be different, we'd make this an elimination match, to force Charlotte to earn her way, the same way Alexa Bliss did.

Do I think Charlotte will win the title next week? No. Smackdown is the home of 50/50 booking, so Naomi will get the win right back. They'd be nuts to give the title to Charlotte right away. All that would do is reinforce the incorrect message.

At a time when WWE's being called out for its hypocrisy, the last thing they'd need is another negative message being sent, but that's what they've got. You know where the fault lies.


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