Charlotte Call-Up to WWE Main Roster Would Bolster Failing Divas Division

On the most recent edition of Monday Night Raw, the top Divas in the company never even made it into the ring. Instead, WWE Creative opted for a storyline to provide more heat for the challenger of the Divas title, Naomi, and sympathy for the women atop the WWE Divas division, Nikki and Brie Bella.

Meanwhile, the woman who is arguably the top female wrestler in the company, Charlotte, sat backstage at the Bell Centre in Montreal and watched it all unfold.

Charlotte is just what the WWE and its Divas need in order to be taken seriously. So why hasn't she been promoted?

Charlotte Would Elevate the Competition

There isn’t a Diva on the roster who can compete both with her strength and skill set.  There is talent in the Divas division. Nikki Bella has improved tremendously over the last year, while Naomi, Paige and the criminally underutilized Emma and Natalya are the best of the rest.

Charlotte, whom Grantland's David Shoemaker called “a borderline superhuman athlete [whose] presence will force the other Divas to up their games,” is a game-changer.

Introducing the self-titled “genetically superior athlete” into the mix immediately puts the entire roster on notice. Charlotte’s promotion could be to the WWE Divas division what Brock Lesnar’s most recent entry into the WWE did for the men’s side.

WWE Creative should book her as such, making her a one-woman wrecking ball capable of smashing the Divas division. In Charlotte’s world, there would be no worry over screen time on WWE's E! reality show, Total Divas, or red-carpet events. Charlotte is the anti-Diva; her mission is merely to win the title and inflict pain on those who would come to challenge for it.

That’s not to say Charlotte couldn’t be on magazine covers or highlighted as the face of women’s wrestling. According to PWInsider.com (h/t Wrestling Inc), the WWE—at Vince McMahon’s command—made Charlotte the prominent female face of the company’s Tapout brand campaign.

If the owner of the company is that high on Ric Flair’s baby girl, then the question remains: Why hasn't the call been made to bring her onto the main roster?

WWE Divas Are Marketing Juggernauts

The comparison between women’s wrestling on WWE NXT and the parent company’s main roster has been extensively covered by Bleacher Report’s Ryan Dilbert and Erik Beaston. No matter the amount of success showcasing actual women's wrestling in the WWE's developmental arm, it doesn't appear the current model of short matches with Total Divas tie-ins is going away any time soon. Monday night proved that. 

The WWE Divas division isn’t so much of a joke as it is an afterthought. Each week during its most visible show (Raw), the Divas head to the ring for an extended commercial appearance, not a wrestling match.

You don’t have to look too hard to notice the WWE simply views its Divas as marketing pieces—attractive women who sell T-shirts, calendars and commercial buys for Total Divas.

And therein lies the problem: The WWE is only executing one-half of its business plan. It is called sports entertainment, after all.

Which brings us back to Charlotte and why she hasn't been given a spot on the main roster yet. One rumor reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestling Inc) states that Charlotte does not fit “the supermodel image” the WWE wants for its main roster Divas, hence the delay in her promotion.

Instead of discussing how foolish and sexist that rumor is, let’s point out its obvious flaw: She doesn’t have to fit someone else's image to elevate the company’s in-ring product.

The WWE can have its cake and eat it, too, both continuing its Total Divas TV spots masquerading as Divas matches while also highlighting the quality of its female wrestlers. There are plenty of places in five hours of basic cable programming (Raw and SmackDown), not to mention unlimited access on the WWE Network, to do both.

Charlotte Is Just the Beginning

The WWE needs to promote Charlotte to the main roster immediately after next week’s WWE Payback, no matter what happens at the pay-per-view. Don’t consider that a prediction, though. Charlotte’s call-up has been rumored so many times that it’s hard to keep track any more.

Once Charlotte is reigning supreme on the main roster, the powers that be in the WWE will begin to see how her counterparts in NXT—Sasha Banks, Bayley and Becky Lynch—have been tearing it up in the ring. They’ll soon follow Charlotte, and the WWE will be better for it.

As Charlotte recently told Ring Rust Radio, "the sky's the limit":

"I want to main event Raw. I want to main event a pay-per-view and I want to be the Divas champion. And I want to see the entire NXT female roster on Raw."

For months, the WWE Divas have asked everyone—the fans, WWE Creative, the critics—to give them a chance. Their time has come and gone.

It’s time to give women wrestlers a chance, starting with Charlotte.