There were A LOT of problems with Raw last night (Mar. 29). Even if it wasn’t one of the last episodes before WrestleMania 37, people would be complaining about an episode that featured a game of charades, dudes rapping in bunny suits, and King Corbin in the main event.
One of its issues was an old one, and something a lot of fans & insiders thought was in the past. Take it away, Carmella...
Less than 10 minutes total in THREE WHOLE HOURS???
— Leah Van Dale (@CarmellaWWE) March 30, 2021
After Evolution and WrestleMania 35, or even last summer when Sasha Banks & Bayley were working multiple feuds on Raw and SmackDown, it seemed the days of women only getting one match or segment on WWE’s Monday night broadcast were done. Criticism about how little television time was being given to women had largely been directed at AEW.
But after a show with a short Shayna Baszler/Naomi match, and a contract-signing segment where Mella’s ex-sommelier Reginald was again the star, it’s time to focus on WWE’s Monday night show again.
Now, in the last few months WWE’s had to write Lacey Evans out of storylines, and book around some real & misidentified health issues with Charlotte Flair. And I don’t think Carmella’s calculations include Alexa Bliss’ screen time as part of the Randy Orton/Bray Wyatt program.
The issue predates those things though - Asuka’s Raw Women’s title reign has been horribly booked. Since beating Banks at SummerSlam, she’s hardly had a legit feud, and has only had a handful of defenses. Only one of those happened on PPV, and it was against a wrestler who’s since been released from the company (Zelina Vega at Clash of Champions).
It’s also hard to imagine last night’s show wouldn’t have been a little better with, say, Rhea Ripley beating Peyton Royce instead of both the Xavier Woods/AJ Styles parlor game and match we got.
Carmella’s tweet hasn’t led to a #GiveDivasAChance-type outcry yet. Maybe it should, though. Apparently if fans don’t continually ask for a more balanced Raw, WWE won’t deliver one.