Backstage Frustration Growing Over WWE Women's Division Booking

Could WWE be doing more to put its talented Women's Division in a position to really thrive?

Frustration mounting in the WWE Women's Division? / WWE.com

The WWE creative team has no shortage of top tier women's talent at it's disposal, but there is reportedly growing frustration amongst those in the locker room about a lack of substantial booking to support said talent.

Despite having nearly three times the weekly television time combined, both Raw and SmackDown frequently falls short of equaling the spotlight that Shawn Michaels regularly creates for his Women's Division on NXT.

Many women on the main roster have reportedly spoken to Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp about their disappointment and even some confusion regarding their creative direction. It was a topic that came up during Wednesday's episode of 'The Hump' on the Fightful YouTube Channel.

"I have spoken with plenty of women in WWE who are frustrated about the booking of the women. This is not a new thing," Ross Sapp said to co-host Jimmy Van. "It's nowhere near Royal Rumble 2022-level...but there has been a situation where a women's WWE performer has reached out to me and said, 'Dude, can you find out if I'm listed internally as a heel or babyface?'"

Ross Sapp went on the talk about recent pitches that were made for WrestleMania 41 that were actually shot down by an unidentified talent because 'token tag matches' are not something that they have any interest in doing at the 'Showcase of the Immortals.'

"They want things put on a more even plane in the Women's Division. The contracts are going up, viewership is adjusted accordingly for when women are on-screen," Ross Sapp said. "You're adding more titles, add more matches, all that stuff. There's a lot of people that have been parked. For example, I'm not going to say Natalya is frustrated, they signed Natalya, they wanted to keep Natalya, they had creative plans for Natalya. And then what's Natalya done since then?"

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The WWE creative team has introduced a Women's Intercontinental Championship and a Women's United States Championship within the past few months, but using Lyra Valkyria and Chelsea Green as prime examples here, their booking has been highly questionable since they won their respective titles.

While Green's poor win loss record in the weeks following her historic win over Michin at Saturday Night's Main Event does align with her character work, she could easily be a heel that wins more matches with the assistance of her security team.

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Lyra Valkyria won the Women's Intercontinental Title over a month ago, but has yet to defend it. She's instead spent more time trying to win other championships by competing in the Women's Royal Rumble, where she was the second woman eliminated, and by trying to qualify for the Women's Elimination Chamber Match.

Both Valkyria and Green lost qualifying matches for the Elimination Chamber to former Women's Champions Bayley and Naomi, and currently have no clear path to making the WrestleMania 41 card in April.

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Valkyria will defend the Women's Intercontinental Championship for the first time this coming Monday on Raw when she faces Dakota Kai. The same woman she beat for the title in January.

Sean Ross Sapp noted that it's unclear where the issues are originating from, and whether or not the buck stops at the office door of WWE Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque.

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