Opinion: The Battle Royal at WWE Evolution doesn't help the women's roster
On the last WWE Monday Night RAW, it was announced after Nia Jax and Ember Moon defeated Dana Brooke and Tamina that there would be a Battle Royal featuring members of the current women's roster, competing for the chance to be the only one not thrown over the top rope, and to receive a shot at one of the women's championships.
Later on that night, and throughout the week, WWE announced that several women from WWE's past roster will return to compete in this Battle Royal.
Immediately after the announcement was made, the female superstars immediately took to social media to react, or rather not react to it. Almost all of them simply posted images or gifs of them showing displeasure or disappointment.
While they might simply be working the WWE Universe, it is also possible that they themselves are not particularly satisfied with competing in this Battle Royal at Evolution. But while their reasons for reacting to the match in such a manner may be unknown, any problems they might have with it are likely justified.
Battle Royals have never been particularly exciting matches to watch, as they are only remotely interesting with the Royal Rumble stipulation. Even the Battle Royal for the women at WrestleMania was useless despite being promoted under the banner of making history.
There was no significant storyline development, and Naomi, the winner, did not receive anything resembling a push after, as she noted in a tweet. Simply repeating a Battle Royal that occurred before, is indicative of poor booking and a lack of direction and feuding inside the women's division.
This one has no history-making asterisk attached to its name, and is likely to be a forgetful match among the others on the card.
This is also WWE's desperate attempt to get all the women who generally compete in the lower card to be on the show. Names like Dana Brooke, Alicia Fox, and Tamina are rarely seen on a pay-per-view, but have suddenly been shoved onto the card.
While all these women are talented and deserve to have an important match, it should not be like this. The Battle Royal is a humiliating and pathetic attempt to promote the entire women's roster at once.
They are simply going to be stuck in a match that does not allow them showcase their skills, and one in which they might be quickly eliminated. These women would be better off not being in this match at all, and should be developing their feuds and characters on live events and episodes of Raw and SmackDown.
Plenty of the women in this match are also extremely talented and could all have fantastic individual matches against each other.
Right now, the Evolution card does not have that many matches, and could use some excellent performances by the likes of Asuka and Naomi to elevate the card, just to name a few. But instead, these women who should be wrestling more often, have been lazily thrown into a Battle Royal.
In fact, Asuka and Naomi, the winners of the two Battle Royal matches for the women this year, have not been booked well at all, resulting in some of the most lacklustre months of their careers. These women should be able to showcase their talents in a much more important match.
I personally feel for the women of WWE, for having to participate in a Battle Royal that only hurts the division and their careers. Though the theme of this PPV has been a revolution in the women's division, this is in no way indicative of progress.
If WWE is to showcase all of its female talents and put the entire division back on track to success, they need to start creating better feuds and matches than this Battle Royal. This is not the way WWE should be using a majority of its women's roster in 2018.