What Carmella Must Fix to Ensure Lengthy, Memorable WWE SmackDown Title Reign

Despite having one month under her belt as WWE SmackDown women's champion, Carmella has a long way to go before she can claim that her title reign has been anything but abysmal.

In her defense, she isn't cut from the same cloth as the likes of Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks or Becky Lynch. Rather, she is still relatively new to the wrestling business and is figuring things out as she goes along.

The final pick in the 2016 WWE draft has so far overachieved by becoming the first-ever Ms. Money in the Bank and then capturing the SmackDown Women's Championship. However, she has barely scratched the surface of what she can do as the lead heel in the blue brand's women's division.

The main highlight of Carmella's title reign has been her promos, where she has boasted about beating Charlotte. She elicited genuine heat from the audience with her mic work because she excels at being annoying, but eventually, her over-the-top obnoxious promos have to change.

At some point, fans will start to see through her one-note character and grow tired of hearing her say the same thing week after week. If she is unable to evolve while champion, she will fail to have a memorable title reign.

Her "Royal Mellabration" on this week's edition of SmackDown Live was proof that if given fresh material to work with, she can be a mainstay in the title picture for years to come.

The lack of originality in her promos hasn't been her only issue during her time as SmackDown women's champion. Likewise, her in-ring skills have also been a question mark, specifically at Backlash when she defended the gold against Charlotte.

Although their feud was going relatively well on SmackDown in the weeks preceding the pay-per-view, their Backlash bout was ultimately uneventful. Carmella spent a majority of the match on offense, largely boring the audience with her lethargic rest holds and doing nothing to show her range as a performer.

Unfortunately, the women earned the honor of having the worst outing of the night, according to Dave Meltzer's star ratings in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t IWNerd.com).

If not even SmackDown's strongest overall competitor can get a decent match out of Carmella, there is indeed reason to worry for the future of the champ. She will unquestionably need to step up her ring work in order to survive another month with the title, and perhaps working with fresh faces such as Becky Lynch and Asuka will help with that.

Speaking of Asuka, it was announced on this week's SmackDown that she will vie for Carmella's SmackDown women's title at Money in the Bank on June 17. The Empress of Tomorrow could be the perfect person to help elevate Carmella, and if not, then all hope might be lost for The Princess of Staten Island.

One can argue that Carmella could have had a longer stay in developmental honing her craft before being called up to SmackDown and that her premature move to the main roster has hurt her in the long run, but this is the time for her to rise to the occasion or risk ruining her chance at achieving superstardom.

Credit: WWE.com

SmackDown's women's division isn't devoid of talented athletes whatsoever. Asuka, Lynch and Naomi are all waiting in the wings for a shot at the strap and could feasibly take the title from Carmella sooner rather than later.

That said, the blue brand has a shortage of credible female heels, and thus Carmella can fill that role permanently so long as she fixes her flaws. Her charisma and presence have gotten her this far, but she could be a true star with more seasoning.

Whether Carmella will sink or swim as SmackDown women's champion remains to be seen, but she certainly holds the power to ensure her title run isn't a bust.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.