Much of the news/speculation and conversation surrounding Stephanie McMahon’s upcoming history-making announcement on Mon., July 23’s Raw has focused on the Women-only pay-per-view (PPV) or WWE Network special first reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet a couple weeks back. But even amidst the discussion of that show, there’s also been talk of a concurrent reveal of the long-rumored tag team belts for WWE’s women wrestlers.
Every time that topic comes up, and the past 24 hours have been no exception, fans wonder if the roster is deep enough to support another women’s championship, and/or if WWE will really devote that much television time to one division. We’ve seen nearly every variation of feuds between the existing women’s line-up, folks point out. Raw and SmackDown struggle to keep any wrestler not chasing one of the women’s singles titles on our screens, the argument goes, so how would a pairs championship fit into those shows’ plans?
A potential solution comes from one of Twitter’s breakers-of-belt-related-news, BeltFanDan:
Women's Tag Belts: White leather. Similar to the men's tags but with some slight female themed changes. Not confirmed but rumored to be defended among all 4 brands (Raw, SD, NXT and eventually NXT:UK). The new NXT UK belts are not done yet.
— BeltFanDan (@BeltFanDan) July 20, 2018
Can’t speak to the design yet (more on that in a moment), but as to the idea of defending across all brands... I freaking love it.
It’s not as if the brand split has any sort of legitimacy or integrity to begin with. It’s fine for what it is, but it’s been bent and broken as needed in the past, and shouldn’t stand in the way of an idea like this one which has so many other benefits.
Like expanding the storytelling universe for women, grabbing screen time for them on whatever show has it and getting the spotlight on talented NXT performers the main roster doesn’t have a full-time spot for yet (cough * Nikki Cross * cough). Plus, it would create the possibilty of amazing match-ups - Dakota Kai/Tegan Nox vs. Becky Lynch/Charlotte Flair, anyone? How about Io Shirai/Kairi Sane vs. Sasha Banks/Bayley? The possibilities are many. It would even allow WWE to set the groundwork for the Four Horsewomen feud they want us to want, all while providing an organic way for the company to plug the black-and-yellow brand, and Network subscriptions, on their broadcast series.
Sure, it could go horribly wrong. The main roster shows sometimes have trouble remembering twists in their own storylines - how are they gonna keep track of ones which travel around to different networks? Maybe they could hire more female writers and producers to create and follow them? What a concept!
Feel free to point out the flaws in my thinking below.
But whether you agree or disagree with the idea WWE’s women’s tag team titles should be defended among all the company’s brands, hopefully we can agree they shouldn’t look like this...
BELTS SHOULD NOT HAVE FACES, IT HUMANISES THEM pic.twitter.com/Gr4IVNU6df
— the great muter (@BossMoz) July 21, 2018