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With September coming to a close who topped the WWE SmackDown Live’s Women’s Division?
Now that the two brands have had some time to settle out, the Women’s Division has become one of the strongest parts of SmackDown week in and week out. They have opened the show a number of times now and it’s clear WWE is looking to make them a focal point with the talent included. Although a subjective topic, many fans have dubbed the division on Tuesday’s much stronger, even though Raw has the bigger names in Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Bayley.
Initially, the division was without a title, so there wasn’t really anything to challenge for in the first couple weeks, luckily Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon quickly fixed that by debuting the SmackDown Women’s Title. The winner of the title would be decided at Backlash in a Six-Pack Elimination match between Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, Nikki Bella, and Becky Lynch.
Once that was figured out the feuds began to shake out as Carmella set her sights on Nikki Bella for being called a “Bootleg Nikki Bella.” While they have yet to have a one-on-one match, it’s clear these two will settle their differences in the near future. The other big feud is Becky Lynch who is being targeted by Alexa Bliss, someone who only sees her as a “loser.”
So, with that said, let’s see who was the worst and the best in the month of September!
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7. Natalya
It’s not that Natalya is bad at what she does, it’s just nobody cares about what she’s doing these days. She’s a natural face that is being forced to be a heel and she’s just not very good at it. Everything she says is with a smile, and it looks like she is constantly thinking about what she should do next that could come off as mean. Her gimmick changes from egotistical, to annoyed Soccer Mom, to “Did you know my Uncle was Bret Hart?” It’s just all over the place and fans can’t really get a hold of what she’s trying to do.
She wasn’t able to win the title, nor the No. 1 contender match a few days later and Natalya has yet to lock up a real feud with anyone. At this point the only person available is Naomi, but WWE doesn’t seem big on setting them against each other yet. If WWE isn’t going to pair her up with a wrestler or turn her good, she’s going to be a bit of a lost cause in the division. No worries, though, it pretty much a guarantee that she’ll be a trainer down at the Performance Center in the near future, so she has that to look forward to.
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6. Eva Marie
So, you’re probably asking yourself, “How is Eva a spot higher than Natalya and she didn’t even appear on TV for the entire month?” That’s how bad Natalya has been, her current gimmick just doesn’t work with group. Eva, on the other hand had a suspension that amazingly fit into what her actual storyline was at the time. If you didn’t remember, she was avoiding matches through a fake injury, wardrobe malfunction, and getting stuck in traffic. It worked amazingly and ended up being one of the biggest things fans talked about each week.
The reason for her suspension was failing to provide the proper paperwork for a prescription she had, which triggered a failed test. At this point, her 30-day suspension is over and WWE has yet to bring her back into the fold, possibly waiting for a better time to get her an opponent. Hopefully WWE pushes her as a person that both faces and heels dislike, with an “I’m too good for this” attitude, even Alexa Bliss and Carmella could get heated at Eva from time to time. The Red Queen will return soon enough, though, so you little dorks better get ready for her rise towards the title.
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5. Nikki Bella
Some might think this is a low ranking for Nikki, since she’s been a real pro by putting over Carmella as she tries to get a foothold on the main roster. For that reason alone, she should probably be higher on here. The reason Nikki is at number five is based on her performance, though, and thus far she’s fallen flat when it comes to winning. As the favorite to initially win the SmackDown Women’s Title, Nikki failed to do so getting eliminated fourth in the match. She had a second chance in a number one contender match, and came up short yet again thanks to a Carmella superkick.
This past week she teamed up with Naomi and seemingly had the upper hand near the end of the match until Natalya provided enough of a distraction for Carmella to get the sneaky roll-up on over Nikki. At this point, she is beyond over her fabulous foe, and is looking to have a match with Carmella, most likely at No Mercy. On Twitter, Nikki called for a No DQ match, but nothing has come of that since her tweet. Odds are Nikki will jump a spot or two within the next month, as I fully expect her to win the big match whenever she finally gets a shot at “The Princess of Staten Island.”
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4. Naomi
The resurrection of Naomi has been nothing short of amazing, now that she feels the glow, the rest of the division better watch out. After years of doing what the WWE asked her to do, Naomi finally got a chance to work out her own gimmick and it’s been a big success. Naomi has always been spectacular (and at times, sloppy) in the ring, but her gimmick has never been quite right. She was a cheerleader for a funky dinosaur and then worked on Team B.A.D. alongside Tamina and Sasha Banks. Naomi has always been vocal about being a good gal, and smartly WWE switched her back once this new gimmick got off the ground.
With one of the best entrances in WWE, a much better remix of her song “Amazing,” and a limitless number of dance moves, fans are feeling Naomi much more these days. She’s been receiving full entrances (when others are cut short) and the crowds continue to cheer her on during her matches, something not seen previously. In terms of winning, Naomi hasn’t really gotten it together quite yet, but if her popularity continues to grow, I fully expect her in the title hunt in the near future, as long as Aksana isn’t brought back.
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3. Carmella
Talk about a major turnaround for someone who looked to be dead in the water once getting called to the main roster. For whatever reason, WWE thought it was a good idea to separate Carmella from Cass and Enzo, totally confusing fans along the way. Even though she acted like those two, crowds just weren’t getting behind her at all, I mean you could hear crickets when she came out and talked. Thankfully, WWE switched her heel and have her go after Nikki Bella, now a crowd favorite after returning from a serious neck injury.
Carmella didn’t just get in one attack or win, though, she’s consistently beat up and foiled Nikki’s every move over the past month. She’s now getting solid boos from crowds each week, and it should be noted how easily she switched over to being a mean girl in a very short period of time. I actually think she’s better at being bad with a natural knack towards getting under people’s skin. With a wide open division, it’s possible she could go up against Becky Lynch next, but that’s only if she can get by Nikki, which seems unlikely given the pattern of the feud so far. Even though I felt like giving her props this month, expect her to drop a spot or two in the next ranking.
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2. Alexa Bliss
In a surprising (and awesome) move, Alexa Bliss went from being eliminated first during the Six-Pack Women’s Title match, to number one contender in three short days. She came to the main roster with the most well-rounded skill set: great gimmick, complete moveset, and could talk better than almost everyone on the roster. Now she’s added the whole Harley Quinn look and wrestling/comic book nerds are just falling all over themselves now. The crazy thing about Alexa Bliss is she hasn’t even reached her full potential yet as one of the newest members to the main roster.
I thought we were going to have to wait awhile before we got to see Becky and Alexa go toe-to-toe but WWE decided to get Ms. “Five Feet of Fury” right in the title mix, and so far it’s been fantastic. If you want to see what she’s all about, check out Talking Smack from a few weeks back, she not only got into it with Daniel Bryan, but you got to see what she thinks of herself and the champion. Most recently, she’s flipped a table onto Becky in Godzilla-like fashion, and attacked her from behind before Becky was about to have a match. I’m expecting the champ to hold the title, but Alexa got a nice bump right from the start to get the fans hating her early and often.
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1. Becky Lynch
Who else could be number one but the champ? I wouldn’t say it’s an automatic decision, but not only is it the first SmackDown Women’s champion, but it’s Becky’s first WWE title reign, making it doubly special. Becky “Balboa” has worked her butt off all across the world and after years of wrestling, she finally gets to be at the top of the mountain, how can you not appreciate that?
She won the title at Backlash in dominate fashion when she absolutely obliterated her final opponent, Carmella. Since then, she’s had some trouble with Alexa Bliss, who has thus far gotten the best of Becky, not only on the microphone but through a number of sneak attacks. I’m sure when these two get in the ring Becky will put the boots to Alexa and continue her reign as champion. It’s possible we could see a lengthy run, but the great thing about SmackDown’s division is that literally anyone (minus Natalya) has a chance at winning the title.
This division is also a big reason why SmackDown continues to destroy Raw from an entertainment standpoint pretty much every single week. If a decade of taped meaningless shows has kept you away from this show, it’s time to give it another chance because you’re missing out on WWE’s best product.
Who did you think was number one for the month of September?
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