"That's not okay" - Carmella vents frustrations over current booking of WWE's women division
It's not often you hear current WWE Superstars speaking negatively about the company's booking in public, but Carmella has done precisely that.
Mickie James' recent comments about someone devaluing women's wrestling in WWE before her release have prompted mass criticism from fans.
Now, speaking to WWE Hall of Famers Brie and Nikki Bella, Carmella has weighed in on the criticism of how the women's division is currently being showcased.
Speaking on The Bellas Podcast, Carmella explained that it's "not okay" for there to be a couple of women or just one major storyline during three hours of WWE RAW each week.
“Even, myself, I would sit at home and watch RAW and it would be 10 PM before I would see a woman on the show," said Carmella. "It's like, ‘this is a three-hour show. What the hell?’ Even if I'm just a fan, which I am. Like if I didn't work at WWE and I was just sitting at home watching, I want to see the women. That's why I tune in. If I'm waiting until 10pm to see a girl, it's like, ‘what the hell?’ That's not okay for little girls at home or whoever is watching waiting for the women. It just feels like oh, now, there's only a focus on maybe two women or one women's storyline."
Carmella then stated that she knows a more prominent female presence is possible, as it was when she was aligned with James Ellsworth on WWE SmackDown in 2017.
"Like you were saying back when you were there, we had 3 women's storylines on a 2-hour show and that was when I was still with James [Ellsworth], so we know it's a possibility," Carmella continued. "We know that they're capable of doing that. I think sometimes there's this weird shift and people kind of forget. We need to remind them, no. We are a big part of the show. We don't have to have matches every week, we can do promo segments or backstage segments, even a 30-second insert into the show, just to show hey, here she is. She's represented on the show. Then, if people are talking about it, maybe next week we give her a little bit of a longer segment because people want to see that. Whether it's me, or whoever it may be.” (H/T Fightful)
Carmella hasn't been seen much on WWE TV recently
Carmella's comments come at a time when featuring on WWE TV is a rarity for her.
Since losing her WWE SmackDown Women's Championship match against Sasha Banks at the Royal Rumble in January, Carmella has appeared twice.
Her only SmackDown appearance since falling short against Banks was a pinfall defeat to Bianca Belair at the start of the month.
Before that, she was unsuccessful in the Women's Rumble match, and most recently, she and Billie Kay failed to win the Tag Team Turmoil clash on night one of WrestleMania 37.
Do you agree with Carmella's statements? Should there be a more prominent female presence on WWE TV? Are you surprised that she's been so openly critical of the company? Sound off in the comments section.