Fantasy Booking – Part 3 – The Women’s Division

Now, before I have anyone get upset that I’m “lumping together the women into one post rather than giving them their due” allow me to respond with an emphatic, “thank you for being here, but please read the whole thing before you decide I should be cancelled.” I’m going to go through all those titles individually in the coming weeks, but I run the site so I control the order in which I decide to discuss my rambling thoughts.

Secondly, congratulations to the women of NXT on their shiny new tag team title belts. I’m beyond thrilled you’ll get that much more TV time now. And if Wednesday night’s debut title defense match is any indication of what is to come, we’re all going to benefit from these belts existing.

So for this week’s fantasy booking, I’m taking on the entire women’s division because I’ve got a big, BIG plan. So big that I’m going to fantasy book this one as Matt Strauss, Chairman of the Peacock service.

Read this several times and let it set in: The Women Of Wrestling Need Their Own Damn Show.

Now that it’s peaked the interest for some of you and the rest of you have calmed down from your immediate butt hurt “women’s wrestling ain’t that good” bullshit, I’m going to repeat myself. The women of wrestling need their own damn show. And if there is anyone who is in a position to actually make that happen, it’s the combination of Comcast-NBCUniversal’s money with WWE’s global appeal. It doesn’t need actual TV time to start and can make use of the exclusivity of the WWE Network Subscriptions that are porting over to Peacock. And let’s face it, it’s a win-win for NBC as the network that used to employ Matt Lauer……

So let’s explain how this would work, because logistically it should work exactly like the Mae Young Classic has in the past. Granted, that tournament was in the days before the direct competition presented by AEW, but I think Tony Khan is forward thinking enough to understand the value this would present.

And let’s go ahead and get past this whole Evolution, Revolution, whatever else you want to call it stuff. They’ve come and conquered already.

I propose a new weekly series, name to be determined but we’ll call it WWE Glamazons as a placeholder. This name is, indeed, a reference to Beth Phoenix, who I believe is the absolute best person to step in and play the role of William Regal in our new “brand”. She is charismatic and has proven on a weekly basis to be a fantastic mouth-piece in professional wrestling. She’s become one of my favorite commentators working today (the NXT team is hard to top in its entirety).

This is where the logistics get sticky. We’re going to need someone to extend the olive branch to make this work, and I whole heartedly believe it needs to be Triple H & Regal. HHH managed to make the Mae Young Classic work with performers from an array of promotions, so he’s made the rounds and has a proven track record for putting on quality shows with other people’s performers first and foremost, not just keeping his own talent up top and burying everyone else.

Regal is an asset in this because of just how respected he is throughout the world of professional wrestling. If they come to other promotions together with a presentation for how this would work and why they should participate, I think that’s the best chance it will ever have.

The benefits are there for everyone. The other promotions get to put their women’s division in front of an expanded audience to draw further interest in their own shows. The other performers who don’t work for WWE can flaunt their own merch that is available through ProWrestlingTees and make a little extra cash on top of their appearance fees. WWE can fill out another hour or so of programming a week with quality wrestling, not promo filled bullshit, and get more good PR for their dedication to women’s equality. And, the best part, these women’s divisions that have just exploded to keep performers from going to other companies with no real TV time to parse out for everyone will actually get to perform on TV.

Now, we’re going to build a creative team around former women’s performers, with Beth Phoenix running point, and a handful of writers. I’m not going to say they all have to be women, because a lack of diversity is a lack of diversity and it’s only ever going to be a hinderance. Bring in some of the Diva’s Era performers who wanted to do something more, they know what that felt like. And give the actual performers who will be part of the show some creative license like AEW gives their roster.

Let’s put the show on Thursdays. Seems to me you could use Young Rock as a promotional opportunity, and I don’t know of any direct wrestling competition you’ll find on Thursdays.

And here’s my favorite part of the fantasy booking. Open Challenges!

I want the performers who come in as champions on their own brands to run open challenge matches for their belts. Obviously, they won’t change hands much, and if they do they can always come back and get rematches the next week to get their titles back, but this way you’re always getting fresh matchups with the top talent from each promotion.

I know, there is a risk of injuries when they’re working additional shows, but this is no different than having them run matches on house shows when you go back to traveling. Does the risk suck, yes. But do I believe the women of all promotions would take advantage of yet another opportunity at TV (streaming) time in the face of that risk, yes. Do I believe the other promotions will see the value in getting their performers more screen and face time, yes.

So, you know, that Batista thing…

See, I didn’t just lump all those belts together.