Paige and Absolution Providing the Shake-Up WWE Raw Women's Division Needed

Paige and her Absolution faction placed smelling salts under the nose of WWE Raw's stagnant women's division.

Recycled matchups, a lack of clear storylines and a general malaise had the red brand's women stuck in neutral. The Anti Diva and her band of bruisers are in the process of changing that. 

The group first emerged Monday, marking Paige's first WWE appearance in over a year. She brought along Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose from NXT and began to stomp on the competition. The trio followed up on the latest Raw with more of the same.

Paige dubbed the group Absolution as she revealed that they had laid out Bayley and Mickie James backstage. Paige, Deville and Rose then pounced on Sasha Banks, leaving The Boss out cold.

Absolution isn't a polished product just yet. The newcomers from NXT are raw on the mic as we saw Monday. 

But their arrival is welcome nonetheless.

Suddenly, WWE has more characters to toy with. The women's division is significantly deeper even with Emma's recent departure. And there's a freshness to the women's scene overall that was sorely needed.

That's apparently exactly what WWE head Vince McMahon had in mind. Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet reported: "The decision to call up multiple women from NXT shortly after the Mae Young Classic took place because he [McMahon] felt like the women's divisions had been getting stale."

He was right. 

There was no issue with the level of talent. The show boasted its fair share of stars. Sameness, though, held things back.

Raw's limited crop of female Superstars meant that fans saw a number of bouts over and over again in various versions. 

Credit: WWE.com

Per CageMatch.net, we've seen Jax vs. Banks in 19 times on TV and pay-per-view this year. Bayley has battled Jax 18 times in 2017 thus far. Raw women's champ Alexa Bliss has already feuded with Bayley, Banks and James. The options moving forward were limited if the company wanted to avoid repetition.

The red brand needed new blood and new stories. Absolution provides that.

WWE can build toward Asuka vs. Paige. It can offer Deville vs. Banks or Bayley vs. Rose. All three bouts have yet to be done.

The influx of fresh faces gives WWE Creative a wealth of additional options.

Deville and Rose will have to prove WWE made the right move in calling them up when it did. The company will have to avoid turning Absolution into a knockoff of other groups. But there's already an added energy to the show thanks to their presence.

As Wade Keller of PWTorch wrote: "The group has changed the face of a stale mix of women who seemed to have wrestled one another too many times."

And now all eyes are on Paige's crew as it and its narrative continues to evolve. Will the group be able to recruit new members? Will Rose or Deville push back against Paige's regime? Will Banks and others form an alliance to combat Absolution?

The possibilities are plentiful, something that wasn't the case just a few weeks back.