Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Feud Is Delaying the Progress of Raw Women's Division

The women's revolution has come full circle. Over the past year, WWE has dramatically shifted its representation of women's wrestling to the point where certain women are being promoted not only as major talents but as top stars of the brand.

However, it is possible WWE has taken its overemphasis to the extreme by creating a bar for success that is too high and too focused thanks to WWE's use of its two most successful female wrestlers, Sasha Banks and Charlotte.

As the most impressive female stars to come out of NXT to date, Charlotte and Banks are incredible athletes who have captivating chemistry with each other. As a result, their feud was inevitable. Its success, though, is still shocking, as the women have battled for months in stipulation matches never before given to women.

They have been allowed to main-event Raw multiple times as well as headline WWE Hell in a Cell 2016. All of those spots were warranted, as their feud has been an exhilarating ride driven by some of the best matches of the year.

Still, there has been an artificial edge to the way WWE has promoted Banks and Charlotte and their place in the women's revolution. They have become the faces of the revolution to a point where Raw in particular has seemed to forget other women exist on the brand.

Banks and Charlotte went from proving that women deserved a chance to taking every chance for themselves even as the storytelling between them lagged behind the spotlight. When WWE grows tired of the pairing, will Bayley, Nia Jax or Alicia Fox benefit from the same opportunities for main event spotlights and stipulations?

The soon-to-return Emma, or newly rebranded Emmalina, hopes so while openly stating her displeasure with the current direction of this feud:

Where did this feud go wrong and begin hurting the division it was helping to promote? Well, it all started with repetitive storytelling.

Banks took a hiatus following WrestleMania 32 and returned in June. Since that time, she has won the Raw Women's Championship three times, all on episodes of Monday Night Raw. Meanwhile, Charlotte has twice reclaimed the championship on pay-per-view to become a four-time champion.

Because of this storytelling, Charlotte has remained undefeated on PPV in singles matches, while Banks has been unstoppable when the two face off on Raw. If this pattern continues, Banks' third championship stint will not even meet her back-to-back 27-day reigns.

No other belt in that time has changed hands so often, and it has not even been a matter of placing fresh faces in the scene. Titles are not meant to move this often because it takes away from the renown of holding the gold in the first place.

Not only has this hurt the prestige of a new championship meant to represent the women in WWE, but it has also dragged down the rivalry with boring and ineffective storytelling.

Even though Banks and Charlotte have battled throughout the year, the story between them has rarely evolved. Often, Raw general manager Mick Foley has dictated the next steps in their feud, just telling them to keep making history.

The two should always come off as heated rivals, which was evident in their matches as Charlotte had little regard for Banks' health and Banks refused to give up at every turn. When they talked, though, they told a story of two women with deep respect for each other because of their shared history.

This rivalry has needed to end for a while, and it may do so at Sunday's Roadblock in an Iron Man match. If it does not, though, Banks and Charlotte will continue to hamper progress in the division, running a feud into the mat that has stalled when it should be reaching its climax.

Bayley has been the odd woman out since her debut on Raw, getting a few moments of success but mostly racking up pointless victories. Jax has occasionally appeared to be a dominant wrecking machine, but she has yet to get real traction. Even veterans like Fox and Emma are just sitting back until they are necessary to promote others.

Jax has at least made clear her displeasure with her spot, if in passive-aggressive terms:

As good as Banks and Charlotte are and as great as their chemistry is, they have lost their spark in a rivalry that has gone on too long. "Bigger" has not always led to "better" for the duo, and it has left others without even a scrap of air time.

The women's revolution has stalled on Raw, and it can no longer continue to move with just Charlotte and Banks at the helm. The whole division must be allowed to get on board and tell their own stories in order for women's wrestling to take the next step in WWE.