There is a serious problem with Raw, there really is. From feeling like it just drags on and on to never really getting any new stories or directions, it just seems like there is no easy fix for the red brand. There is, however, one area that can easily be fixed and that area surrounds the Raw Women’s Championship currently held by Rhea Ripley. What’s the problem you may be asking. Well, in my opinion, that problem is none other than Charlotte Flair.
Let’s not get things twisted here. I’m not hating on Charlotte Flair. She’s one of the better women on the roster for a promo, pretty solid in the ring, and plays a pretty damn good heel. But there is one question that needs to be asked. Does the Raw Women’s Title need Charlotte?
The answer is a resounding no. Charlotte is a thirteen-time women’s champion. She’s faced and beaten, the majority of the women on the WWE roster. There really isn’t much else that she hasn’t accomplished so far in her career. This is exactly the biggest problem with how WWE has booked Charlotte so far.
Let’s look at two feuds within the last couple of years really quick that Charlotte found herself inserted into.
The first one we’ll dive into is Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey. Rousey is one of the biggest names and stars in the world and she was riding high on a dominant run. Becky Lynch had seen a career resurgence after getting her face broken by Nia Jax and had the WWE universe behind her. These two could have delivered in a one-on-one match that may have been the best match on the card. However, that was not meant to be. For some reason, Vince and the WWE decided that this feud needed Charlotte. Rowdy Ronda and The Man did not need Charlotte. There was absolutely no reason to shove her into this feud and ruin what should have been an epic women’s title match.
Sure, we wouldn’t have gotten Becky Two Belts, but she could have gone on to beat Charlotte, or even Asuka, for the Smackdown title another day. What, it’s not Wrestlemania if Charlotte isn’t involved? I’m sorry to her fans, but this year Wrestlemania was just fine without her and she was not needed in this match at all.
The second is the newer feud between Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley and Asuka. Let’s face it, the triple threat match at Backlash did not need to happen. If you wanted to have Ripley establish herself at the top of the Women’s Division, you have her beat Asuka in a one-on-one match to end the rivalry. Now that you bring Charlotte into it, and have her -lose- to Asuka on the Raw after Backlash, and it just has me scratching my head. It’s even worse that WWE protected Charlotte and had Asuka eat the pin at Backlash when Asuka should have been the one protected. Asuka has carried the Women’s Division on Raw and delivered stellar match after stellar match for much of the pandemic era. I don’t have a problem with her losing to Rhea. I have a problem with WWE involving Charlotte in yet another feud that she had no business being a part of.
When you book someone as a dominant force in any division, you have to eventually deal with the fact that fans get tired of seeing that person in the title picture. John Cena had that problem. Roman Reigns had that problem. Now Charlotte Flair is that problem. As I said before, Charlotte has held the WWE Women’s title a record 13 times. Thirteen freaking times. I get that they wanted to make her as legendary as her daddy Ric, but they are two completely different performers and athletes.
Charlotte got those 13 reigns as champion in large part to being a Flair, and that is my opinion. She hasn’t deserved to be a 13-time champion. A few reigns? Sure. I could see her having five or even six reigns, but thirteen is just too much. Especially when half of those reigns were like watching a see-saw between her and Sasha Banks. Hell, the Undertaker doesn’t have anywhere near as many World Title reigns as Charlotte does, and he had a much more legendary career.
I’m sorry to all you Charlotte fans out there, but there are few women on the WWE roster that Charlotte is actually better than in the ring. I can count them on one hand. WWE has an absolute surplus of talent right now in the women’s division and not even half of them have held the championship. That is a damn shame. It’s time for Charlotte Flair to step away from the Championship picture and let other women have the spotlight on them.
If you absolutely have to involve her, make her be the measuring stick and establish her as the one that a woman needs to beat to earn a title shot. The Raw Women’s Championship, and for that matter the Smackdown and NXT Women’s Championships, doesn’t need Charlotte Flair.
Each division needs to have new blood pushed and given chances to shine, not recycle the same tired old story again and again.