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Ranking the RAW brand’s women’s division after the Hell In A Cell pay per view.
When Smackdown and RAW split and became different entities last July, it was a welcome sight for the Women’s division. As rich as the WWE has ever been with female in-ring talent, the brand split immediately gave the company’s women a bigger and better chance to shine. No longer would the girls have to get crammed into 8 or 6 person tag matches just to get their face on the show, it was an opportunity for all of them to not only get air time, but a chance to let their characters grow and see what potential they each have.
On paper at least, the RAW brand seemed to get the better of the draft as far as the women went. After making the then current champ Charlotte the number 3 overall pick, they then landed standouts Sasha Banks and Paige, before snatching Nia Jax from NXT. A month later RAW grabbed another major piece when they promoted Bailey to their roster. Needless to say, this is a star-studded female roster. So much so that many were clamoring for Charlotte and Sasha to headline Hell In A Cell and that’s exactly what happened.
With Sunday’s pay per view in the books, let’s break down the landscape of Raw’s women’s division.
(Note: Due to inactivity, Paige, Summer Rae, and Emmalina will not be included in the rankings.)
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6. Alicia Fox
Poor Alicia. “The Bona-fide Diva” finds herself in the basement of the division but not from lack of effort. The girl is active. She’s already wrestled in 52 matches this year which is down from 2015 in which she worked 110 matches, and even further down than 2014 when she wrestled a stunning 143. The latter put her 19th in the company for matches wrestled and number 1 for the women’s division. (cagematch.net) After 8 years and over 800 matches, Alicia still doesn’t seem to be getting any traction and it’s a shame. She has a great look and although not the best in-ring worker, she isn’t terrible.
At only 30 years old the clock is already ticking for Alicia and if things don’t turn around soon she may be on the outside looking in. With the plethora of female talent in NXT and the performance center, the road ahead will only get tougher for her. Hopefully, Alicia has at least one final run in her but if not, it could be the end of the line.
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5. Nia Jax
Nia Jax is having a good year, no doubt about it. Her promotion to RAW via the brand split draft in July seemed to be massive confidence booster for the 32-year-old Hawaiian. Since coming to the RAW brand she’s run roughshod over the majority of the competition and it seems the massive potential that was never realized completely in NXT would come to fruition. There’s just one big problem with her success—she hasn’t beaten anyone of note. Other than a 5-minute destruction of Alicia Fox at the Clash of the Champions kick off show last month, the majority of her wins have been over enhancement talent.
Jax has a legitimate chance to figure into the title picture very soon. With her sheer size and brooding demeanor, she is the perfect heel to challenge any babyface champion. She came up short in NXT against Bailey and Asuka in title pursuits but she seems to be as good as ever. Jax is a signature win away from jumping up a few spots in the rankings and potentially reaching the top of the mountain for the first time in her WWE career.
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4. Dana Brooke
Brooke is an interesting case. She looks like a star but doesn’t wrestle like one yet. She has terrific vocal in-ring intensity but lacks when it comes to promos. With that being said, the girl has a long way to go but still has a very high ceiling. The former fitness competitor only has 3 years of experience as a wrestler after being signed to the WWE in 2013 without ever having wrestled a match before. For someone so green, she’s made huge strides so far and with a little more work could be a future champion.
But for now, Brooke sits at No. 4 after losing to Bayley fairly handily at Hell In A Cell. After notching the most significant win of her career on the October 17th edition of RAW, defeating the aforementioned Bayley, Brooke has almost immediately fallen back. Her path now that HIAC is over could be a cloudy one as it appears the top 3 women in the division are leaps and bounds ahead of the bottom 3.
Source: WWE.com
3. Bayley
The former NXT champ and budding superstar Bayley got back to her winning ways with a clean pin over Dana Brooke via the Bayley to Belly. There wasn’t much question as to who would win that bout as Bayley has WWE Women’s title contender written all over her. She’s the heart and soul of the women’s division and has been ever since her remarkable run in NXT and that has been evidenced by her consistent crowd reaction. She’s a ball of fun energy and the WWE Universe is in love with her. Her charisma is over the top good and as long as she keeps it up, the sky is the limit for the hugger.
Sasha will undoubtedly get the next crack at new champion Charlotte as she gets an automatic rematch but Bayley will be waiting in the wings. She has plenty of history with both women that currently sit in front of her and if any combination of the 3 can produce the magic that they have in the past, this should be a really fun ride.
Credit: WWE.com
2. Sasha Banks
The last 3 months has been a wild ride for “The Boss”, full of twists and turns, some good and some bad. After being drafted to RAW in July and winning the Women’s title from Charlotte on her first night on the show, all seemed right in the world for Banks. However, she dropped the belt back to Charlotte at SummerSlam just 27 days later, injuring her back in the process. After returning from injury she managed once again to defeat “The Queen” for the belt but dropped it back to her at Hell In A Cell, again after a 27-day title reign.
Banks is undoubtedly one of the best workers the Women’s division has ever seen but she just can’t seem to get Charlotte out of her way. She is outstanding in the ring and has the full support of the crowd. The crowd reaction in her hometown of Boston at HIAC was about as loud as it gets and it’s not far off in other places. Don’t be shocked to see Banks get the belt back in the near future, but right now she’s just second best.
Courtesy WWE.com
1. Charlotte
Well, what else can be said about Charlotte that hasn’t already been said? Time and time again “The Nature Girl” has proven that she’s a big game player. Her performances at every pay per view for the past 2 years have been something to behold and she has separated herself from the pack. She is now 8-0 in singles matches on pay-per-view and a 5-time world champion if you count NXT.
Charlotte has already begun to weave a path much like that of her old man. Great performances in big matches, numerous title wins, dirty, heel tactics. Remind you of anyone? With Bayley and Banks still hungry and on her tail, Charlotte will have plenty of heat on her in the coming months but it seems that’s when she thrives the most. At only 30 years old she may already possibly be the best female wrestler in WWE history and you want to know the scary part? She seems to just be warming up.
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