Cup of coffee in the big time: WWE should learn lessons from Evolution feuds

WWE Evolution takes place this weekend and the historic event has been a long time coming. WWE taking women’s wrestling seriously over the past few years has been the consistent bright spot for a promotion that has, in large part, been lacking in bright spots for the same time period.

While there are undoubtedly ugly aspects to the show being a lovely tree casting a shadow in which to hide the following week’s problematic Crown Jewel event, the end result is a show where women get the spotlight from stop to finish. And that’s pretty great.

Topping that all off, the card has matches that feel “earned.”

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair has been a tremendous feud with fan reaction for once adding to the story rather than distracting from it. Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella is still a young feud, but they’ve done a good job using social media and other means to add some real fuel even with a few cringe-inducing moments. And those are just the top two matches of a card that looks very good on paper.

WWE should be analyzing these feuds to drill down to what works, and the answer may be the limited amount of time each program has on TV and the need to use social media and other outlets to flesh out a story.

Women are getting their own PPV, but the scales of TV time still tilt heavily toward the men week to week. While that isn’t great in some ways, it does keep stories involving the women from getting run into the ground the way much of the men’s stuff is.

Strengthening and freshening up WWE’s approach to storytelling would be another Evolution I could get behind.

• Check out the full preview for tonight’s edition of WWE Raw.
• Nick Aldis won the NWA Championship from Cody Rhodes last night.
• Do you need any more reason to think Becky vs. Charlotte should main event Evolution?
• Oh, they also had an “altercation” at the performance center.
• The Miz is pretty sure he’ll never get the respect he deserves, in large part because of reality TV.
• Rey says he’s in the best shape of his life. If true, this WWE run could be a lot of fun.

Yeah, let’s get this week going...