Examining Future of Divas Division with Charlotte's Call-Up Looming

It's easy to get excited about Charlotte's imminent arrival to the WWE Divas division, but fans need to temper their expectations.

The current NXT women's champ is brimming with potential. Charlotte is a swagger-rich star who has clearly inherited presence from her Hall of Fame father, Ric Flair. But WWE hasn't shown that it will commit to properly showcasing women's wrestling. Opportunities go to waste. Ring time for the Divas remains limited.

There is a chance for great change. The roster already boasts talented young women like Paige and Emma. NXT offers more prospects to get pumped about.

Charlotte made her debut on Monday's Raw, crossing over from NXT for one night only.

This seems to be the way WWE is handling NXT debuts now: introducing prospects to the casual fans in gradual fashion. There is no immediate jump onto the big stage; there is a toe-in-the-water process first.

The fact that Charlotte followed Sami Zayn's and Adrian Neville's lead by appearing on Raw while still a part of NXT is a signal that her call-up will come soon.

In May, fans saw a glimpse of what the Divas division could look like with her in the mix. At NXT Takeover, Natalya battled Charlotte in what is easily the best WWE women's match of the year.

That bout triggered visions of a better Divas division for many fans, Mick Foley included. Of the bout, Foley wrote on his Facebook page:

"

I'm convinced that what took place between Natalya and Ms Charlotte was more than just a match. It was a symbol of the potential the Divas division, and all the hard-working ladies who comprise it to be a more sunstantial [sic] and meaningful part of WWE moving forward. It's the match that has me convinced that we could be looking at a new dawn in women's wrestling. 

"

Foley later stresses the word "could," as he should. As we have seen with the company's booking of its females, great talent doesn't always get the proper recognition. 

And the roster's women have a battle outside of the ring. They have to scratch their way into the spotlight.

More Spotlight, More Needed

WWE has gone from showcasing a single Divas feud at a time to having multiple stories emerge from that division simultaneously. At least it did for a few months.

At one point, Brie and Nikki Bella were involved in a clash of siblings. AJ Lee and Paige fought over the Divas title. Naomi and Cameron went from fellow Funkadactyls to catfighting rivals.

The company actually had a stretch of three consecutive pay-per-views (Money in the Bank, Battleground and SummerSlam) with two women's matches. 

Paige has since faded from the foreground. After an unfinished rivalry with Alicia Fox, WWE hasn't offered her a follow-up story. Cameron and Naomi's story died out with little fanfare. AJ and Naomi (with Brie at her side) now have the floor to themselves.

As much as fans can dream up feuds for Paige and Charlotte or Natalya and AJ, the status quo is that only two women from the division get anything to work with at the same time. That gives the majority of the roster no way to gain momentum.

Alicia, for example, had a good, brief run as a tantrum-throwing loony earlier this year. She's since been doing a lot of bench-riding. She hasn't competed on Raw since Nov. 10. 

Credit: WWE.com

For WWE to maximize the Divas division, it can't keep someone like her idle for so long. What's there to get psyched about with Charlotte if there's a good chance she's doing as little as Alicia is right now?

The company has to focus on the march to contention as much as the title feud. It has to come up with narratives for more than a pair of women. 

Otherwise, the Divas who make their way up from NXT are going to pine for their days at Full Sail University.

Lost in Translation

Somewhere between NXT and the main roster, something fails.

At NXT, Emma had the crowd worked up, doing her silly dance and rooting for her to take down the heel across the ring. Quick, likable and fun to watch, she seemed primed to be a key babyface on the main roster's Divas division.

That didn't happen. 

Even before being arrested for shoplifting, the company didn't take her seriously. She had no clear rivals, no singles matches on pay-per-view and no direction.

When WWE wanted to introduce Fandango to the world, it had him journey toward a debut at WrestleMania against Chris Jericho. For Emma, WWE had her do a dance-off and start to pal around with Santino Marella.

Why begin her career with a guy at the bottom of the roster? Why stick a sock puppet on her hand? That's not how she got over at NXT. That just signals to the crowd that she's comic relief and nothing else.

Paige has been far more successful on the main roster than Emma, but no one is going to argue that she's the division savior many thought she could be.

The company should have made Paige the proverbial next big thing. She should have been the female Brock Lesnar, kicking foes in the gut and taking great pleasure in it. Instead, WWE opted to give her a pseudo-lesbian gimmick where she teased kissing AJ and seductively straddled her opponents. 

As noted before, she didn't finish out her feud with Alicia after that. In November, she wrestled on Raw just once.

The optimist doesn't want to hear it, but this is the fate that lies ahead of Charlotte. WWE may put her into a feud with Natalya and give her a run with the Divas title, but then what?

The division's bench is lined with former champions twiddling their thumbs: Layla, Paige, Alicia. 

That can't continue to be the case if the Divas division is going to reach its potential and achieve the new dawn that Foley is talking about. Better usage of the roster and better gimmicks have to be priorities. 

When Charlotte makes her way in earnest up to the main roster, she needs to stay the cocky predator that she is. WWE must keep her far away from dance-offs.

Ring Time has to Increase

Even when a Diva gets a rival and some airtime, the matches are consistently too short. Unless that changes, Charlotte is going to find out that the kind of quality bouts she put on NXT just aren't possible.

Hall of Famer Edge recently told Alternative Nation, "It's not possible to have a good wrestling match in two minutes. You can't tell a story; you can tell a haiku."

The Divas know all about that. Their matches are often the shortest on the card. They knock each other off in a blink of an eye. Even big title bouts are truncated.

Take the last month's worth of Raw, for example. Fans complained about Charlotte losing in less than three minutes in her debut, but she's going to have to get used to that amount of time.

Date	Match	Match Time
11/3	Nikki Bella vs. Emma	2:28
11/10	Paige vs. Alicia Fox	2:17
11/10	AJ Lee vs. Brie Bella	2:20
11/17	Brie Bella vs. AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella	2:10
11/24	Brie Bella vs. AJ Lee	3:15
12/1	AJ Lee and Naomi vs. Brie and Nikki Bella	3:28
12/8	AJ Lee vs. Summer Rae	2:21
12/8	Charlotte vs. Natalya	2:31

Going by what Edge said, that's six haikus in eight matches. Not a single one of them went over four minutes.

Fans can talk about the potential and talent of women like Paige, Charlotte and AJ all they want, but if that's the slice of pie WWE is going to continue to feed the Divas division, it can't possibly grow.

This is no new issue. It's the ongoing result of the company's placing too little importance on what the women do.

When given the proper stage, as Charlotte and Natalya had at NXT Takeover, the results can be tremendous. For now, though, Charlotte is going to have adjust to a place where she is asked to hurry her craft, stuffing it into a two-minute box.

That's going to keep her fans hoping for more, but they'll suffer disappointment instead.

The Next Wave

In addition to Charlotte, NXT has a number of women who would make great contributors to the main roster.

Sasha Banks is an excellent overall wrestler. Her showmanship, crisp ring work and mastery of her gimmick has her in line for the Divas title at some point.

Bayley is a charming, engaging talent with a unique gimmick. NXT fans have already discovered that, chanting "Bayley's going to hug you!" during her matches.

Carmella and Alexa Bliss are both less experienced than those women. Despite their rawness, though, it's easy to see them succeeding. They have a spark to them that will get fans invested.

WWE has a number of excellent options after Charlotte.

The issue isn't with roster depth or talent, though. It is presentation that is sinking the Divas division. 

The future of the division Charlotte will soon battle in is dependent upon the company's providing more narrative avenues and a bigger percentage of programming each week. WWE has to give its women more than crumbs for them to be anything other than filler.

Foley is right. Talent-wise, a new dawn of women's wrestling could be on its way. WWE just has to welcome it, not impede it.