TWC Fantasy Booking – The Road to Wrestlemania for the Triple Threat Divas Championship Match at Wrestlemania 32.

Booking the Road to Wrestlemania for
Divas Championship
Charlotte Flair (C) w/ Ric Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks
at Wrestlemania 04/03/16

This blog is my thoughts and opinions of how the Divas Championship match at Wrestlemania, could have been booked. By no means am I saying its the way it should of been booked, or would have been better if it was booked my way, but its the way I would have booked it. The match would be exactly the same. It would be Divas Champion Charlotte accompanied by her legendary father Ric Flair, defending her Divas Championship against the “Irish Lasskicker”, Becky Lynch and the “The Boss” Sasha Banks.

To be completely honest, I wouldn’t even change much of the booking of how the match came about. All three women are known to be talented “wrestling” divas. What I mean by quoting the word wrestling, is that due to their feuds and battles on NXT, we know these three women not only became extremely popular for their charisma or looks, but because they were able to deliver in the ring with style and technical skill. On some occasions, to some fans, these women would steal the show and outshine the men. Charlotte, Sasha and Becky, along with Bayley, who are good friends behind the curtains, were so good at working against each other and in making each other look good, they were dubbed the “Four Horsewomen” of NXT. Thus, paying homage and being compared to the iconic “Four Horsemen”. If you don’t watch NXT, there is a collection on the WWE Network dedicated to the Four Horsewomen of NXT, that will allow you to witness all their encounters on the development brand. If you have not watched NXT, you may not be aware of it, because you don’t have anything to compare it too, but we have yet seen these women get that same opportunity on the main roster to steal the show as they did on NXT. Personally, in my opinion that is up until now at Wrestlemania 32. It could be the match that changes the tide for Women’s wrestling on the main roster. Could there be a better event to do so? I don’t think so.

Before moving forward on what elements I would have added to the story leading to the Wrestlemania  triple threat match, I wanted to discuss a couple of things to factor in when reading this.
The first thing I would want the reader to factor in, is that I could have easily spun this to be the storyline that brought back the Women’s Title. However, I feel that now in 2016, the WWE has marketed and invested way too much in the term “Diva”. Its not only that the women of the WWE are referred to as Divas, but they also have a hit reality TV show on the E! Network called “Total Divas”. They’ve build the brand of women wrestling within their organization around the word “Diva”. If anything, the only thing I have a problem with is the belt design. I think the fans angry about the use of the word “Diva”, would be able to get over that, if the belt was not a giant purple butterfly. Yeah, little girls might love it, but my opinion of that belt is the same as my opinion of the old tacky looking spinner belt, and its just that, its tacky. Therefore, bringing back the Women’s title is not a factor.

The second thing I would want the reader to factor in when reading this, is the the Diva’s matches that headlined the last decade of Wrestlemania. I’ll list them below.

Women’s Title
Trish Stratus (C) vs. Mickie James
Winner – Mickie James in 8:48

Playboy Pillow Fight
Torrie Wilson vs. Candice Michelle
Winner – Torrie Wilson in 3:54

Women’s Title Lumberjill Match
Melina (C) vs. Ashley Massaro
Winner – Melina in 3:54

Playboy BunnyMania Lumberjill Match
Beth Phoenix & Melina vs. Maria Kanellis & Ashley Massaro
Winners– Beth Phoenix & Melina in 5:00

Miss Wrestlemania 25 Diva Battle Royal
Winner – Santina Marella (Santino) in 7:25

10 Diva Tag Match
Michelle McCool, Layla, Maryse, Alicia Fox and Vickie Guerrero vs. Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, Gail Kim and Beth Phoenix
Winners -Michelle McCool, Layla, Maryse, Alicia Fox and Vickie Guerrero in 4:20

6 Person Tag Match
John Morrison, Trish Stratus & Snooki vs. Dolph Ziggler & Laycool
Winners – John Morrison, Trish Stratus & Snooki in 3:17

Tag Team Match
Kelly & Maria Menounos vs. Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres
Winners – Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos in 6:49

An intergender tag match featuring the Funkadactyles & The Bella Twins gets scrapped due to time constraints

Vickie Guerrero Invitational for the Divas Championship
AJ Lee (C) vs. The Entire Divas Roster
Winner – AJ Lee in 6:48

Tag Team Match
The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Paige
Winners – AJ Lee & Paige in 6:42

After looking at all the Divas Wrestlemania matches in the last decade, many quick statistics become evident. One statistic you might notice immediately, is that there hasn’t been a women’s match that went longer than 10 minutes at a Wrestlemania event in the last 10 years. Secondly, the Women’s or Divas title had only been defended at three Wrestlemania events, where two of the defenses were at the beginning of the last decade and the most recent defense being two years ago at Wrestlemania 30. Other than that, it almost seemed as if the goal for Wrestlemania was to have the match featuring the women cater towards a popular female celebrity, focus on the relationship with Playboy or to get as many Divas on the big show as possible by having either a Lumberjill matche, a large multi-person tag match, a battle royal or an invitational.
However, last year seemed to be a little step towards a new direction, because it was the first Wrestlemania that offered a tag match between four of the most popular Divas, that dominated 2014-2015 and didn’t have any goals of feauturing a female celebrity, the entire divas roster or using whatever relationship they may still have with Playboy. Even though, I still think it could have been a Fatal Four Way for the Divas Championship last year, I thought they made the match still seem important during its build up, as well as the fact that all four women involved were over. Furthermore, I would like the reader to factor in these points made about the Divas matches at Wrestleania in the last ten years when reading my concept for this years Wrestlemania.

Image via WWE

Although we may have two divas matches this year on the Wrestlemania card, one featuring Divas in a multiple women tag match, which might fall into the same group as many of the previous Wrestlemania matches of the last decade, we still have a triple threat match where the the Divas title is being defended. A triple threat match that could fully change the course of how women’s wrestling is perceived on the main roster and what our expectations are going to be for a Divas Title match at future Wrestlemania’s.

I have high hopes for this years Wrestlemania’s divas match featuring three of the most talked about Divas on main roster, mainly because I am going to be in Texas to witness it live. Also, because I’m a huge fan of all three women and been following all three of them since their early days in NXT. I’m talking pre WWE Network, because NXT aired here in Canada on regular digital cable. I experienced the evolution of all three of them since they first appeared on television after signing with the company. I experienced Charlotte before it showed that she was “Genetically Superior”, Sasha Banks before she found her inner alter ego as “The Boss” and Becky Lynch before she found that fire in her, that turned her into the “Irish Lasskicker”. Adding to that, if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you already know how big of Sasha Banks guy I am. Its a dream come true for these women, the moment they through the curtain in the AT&T Stadium, making their Wrestlemania competitive debuts against each other, and I have enjoyed the build up thus far. However there are a few elements in storytelling, I would have done differently.

As I mentioned before, there is not much I would have changed with the build up to this match. I know we all thought that when Sasha returned as a solo act at the Royal Rumble, following Charlotte beating Becky due to her fathers interference, that we were automatically heading into a Sasha vs. Charlotte feud for the Divas Championship at either FastLane or Wrestlemania. There was even apart of us hoping that somehow it would lead to a Triple Threat including Becky Lynch. However, those ideal feuds were put on hold and we ended up taking a detour before we got back to those scenarios teased at the Royal Rumble to tie up some loose ends at FastLane. One, was to break Sasha fully off from Team B.A.D, which also involved Becky Lynch. The other detour was to give Brie Bella a shot at the Divas Champion Charlotte after the shocking announcement that her husband Daniel Bryan was forced to retire. In my mind, its a rare occasion that WWE creative ties up the loose ends and finishes off storylines logically rather than just randomly scrapping storylines hoping we’ll just either forget about them or get over the unexplained details of how things ended. A perfect example would be the Bella/Bella feud of 2014. Therefore, I was happy they decided to do to explore and end these stories before moving forward.

Now less than a week away from Wrestlemania, there were only a few minor issues I had with what had taken place during this Road to Wrestlemania leading to the Triple Threat match. The initial one, being the finish to the first number one contenders match that took place on Raw between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, that was planned to end in a draw. The double pin, with only one referee in the ring after a sunset flip off the top rope came off kind of sloppy and looking kind of silly. Its one of those things in wrestling, where at first it would bug the viewer, but its nothing we would remember forever. Initially, I thought the best scenario would be having Charlotte interfere causing a draw. Although, then I figured they were wanting to drag the building of  a Triple Threat match up a bit longer, and possibly having a rematch, which they did and the Charlotte interfering idea, actually took place. In that case, I still would have had the first match end differently. For example, maybe have both girls wrestle a back and fourth match until one of them dives on the other to the outside of the ring and neither of them are able to make the ten count.

The other thing, I kind of thought could have been different, had just happened this last week. They had Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte on Smackdown, which ended with Sasha picking up the win. After the match, Becky came in from the commentary area and attacked both women, followed by Sasha getting the best of Charlotte before leaving the ring. I thought this match and the post match attacks was impactful. On the following Raw, we had Becky Lynch lose to Charlotte, after interference from Flair. Sasha was at ringside for this match spectating and that was about it. Personally, I would have swapped what happened on Smackdown with what took place tonight on Raw, since you have more eyes on Raw rather than Smackdown. The Smackdown moment would have been perfect for the go home episode of Raw before Wrestlemania. Otherwise, I didn’t have an issue with any of the build up until recently, when I got to thinking.

The one opportunity that the WWE missed out on when building up this massive Wrestlemania match, was billing it as not just the “Divas Revolution” coming full circle, but the resurrection of women’s wrestling. I know it may not be the direction the company wanted to go towards, but I think it would be the direction the fans would appreciate and get them even more excited for this match, more than they already are. Leading to this years Wrestlemania, with a lot of main event stars out of action due to injuries and such, there has been a lot of doubt from the fans that this Wrestlemania is going deliver. Which of course every year it does regardless what people believe. However, I still believe the company should have wanted to build this event making every match seem, just that much more important.  Looking back to when these three women were on NXT, and the build up to every Takeover match, you could feel their ambition to not only fight for their spot but make a difference in women’s wrestling. I know they have that same drive on the main roster, so why not let that be shown or felt more like we did when they were on NXT.

How would they have done that, you may ask? Well, imagine they did segments on one of the shows leading to the event (for example this last Smackdown on the road to Wrestlemania), where they aired video packages showcasing the back stories of each diva, and what it took for them to get to this Wrestlemania match. A video package, showcasing how many years Becky has been travelling the world wrestling, perfecting her craft, how she grew as a competitor and what she accomplished on NXT , to get to her first Wrestlemania. A video package showcasing Charlotte’s life, losing her brother, the pressure of being the daughter of an icon of the business, her NXT journey and her speaking on what being Champion and defending the belt at her first Wrestlemania means to her. A video package showcasing Sasha Banks, her backstory, growing up dreaming about being a wrestler, talking about her growth as a wrestler, her accomplishments on NXT and what it means to her making her in ring debut at Wrestlemania wrestling for the Divas Title. The same annual event she attended with her cousin Snoop Dogg, at a time where the idea of wrestling at the event was nothing more but a distant dream. If they aired these kind of video packages, it would have helped the fans that may have not followed these girl’s careers close enough to know exactly how important this match is to all three of them.

Another idea, was that they could have had one of participants of the match come out to the ring, the participant they trust the most on the mic and have them cut a shoot like promo about how this is not only just about wrestling at Wrestlemania, but this is about the future of women’s wrestling. As well, as making sure that the Divas Championship and divsion gets the same amount of respect as the mens and that all starts with this match. The segment could end with all three girls shaking hands and then getting into a brawl. If successfully delivered, it could be the promo that had fans feel like a new era in women’s wrestling was dawning. That promo idea could also work for the night after Wrestlemania on Raw with whoever comes out as the winner, thus claiming that the change in women’s wrestling started the moment they won the belt at Wrestlemania. Thus bringing out whoever the champion will continue to or begin to feud moving forward. Regardless, think about it, what other three women would this buildup and that promo idea be better suited for, than these three women who proved they can make that difference in woman wrestling down on NXT?

Overall, my point is that if you look back at the past ten years, you can see the lack of effort in progressing women’s in ring wrestling by not making it a priority and the downfall of the Divas Division showcasing their matches on Wrestlemania with significance and integrity. However, in the past three years, we’ve seen the divas division rise back to prominence, we’ve seen the Divas Championship become a more prestigious prize to win and defend, and we’ve seen women’s in ring wrestling take step forward in quality with a Division ambitious for change. Its also become a big deal amongst the fans that the Diva storylines get the same respect and are considered as an equal priority when compared to the mens storylines. The fan support for the division and especially these three revolutionary women of professional wrestling is fully in tact. Therefore, this match easily could have been booked as the match that changes the tide for Women’s wrestling on the main roster today and for the future. In the conclusion, if they focused with more attention to detail on each individual woman, their dreams and their shared best interests in the future of women’s wrestling, it would have made the match feel so much more important. If they put more emphasis on why being champion matters, and on women’s wrestling, the intrigue level from the fans would reach another limit. That’s exactly what this particular Wrestlemania needs, having every match feel more important to gain more interest in the card. Its not that these three revolutionaries aren’t going to steal the show and leave a statement at Wrestlemania regardless the build up, but personally, thats how I would have contributed to the booking of the the Road to Wrestlemania for the Triple Threat Divas Championship match between Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks.