SmackDown Should Become All-Female

Now that women have headlined back-to-back WrestleManias, it’s time for WWE to go all in and present SmackDown as an all-female show.

Professional wrestling has been a male-dominated sport since its inception, but it’s rapidly growing into a female-driven entity, which is for the betterment of the industry. Although WWE has made many mistakes since the start of the highly acclaimed women’s revolution, there’s no denying that Vince McMahon and Co. have done more for women’s wrestling than any other major promotion. So, it’s about damn time the ladies get their own show.

The female talent that WWE has at its disposal is unrivaled. But they still don’t get enough airtime on a regular basis. WWE seems to be more focused on tearing tag teams apart, creating nonsensical angles and burying its own talent than focusing on bringing the women’s division to unprecedented heights. Maybe that will change when Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch make their inevitable returns, but they will still need a bigger platform to perform on instead of the odd match or promo on Raw or SmackDown.

WWE did give Raw’s main event spot to the women this past Monday night, with Charlotte Flair and Asuka predictably delivering a stellar contest, but these situations are few and far between. And as good as the wrestling was, where’s the story? It’s simply revolving around the championship again, like every woman’s angle seems to do. In fact, the last female feud that wasn’t about any title was between Natayla and Nikki Bella over five years ago, and even that was born out of jealousy. How original.

The women deserve better. They deserve their own show with an all-female writing team behind them. They deserve Stephanie McMahon spearheading the production behind the scenes. They deserve the biggest spotlight because women’s wrestling has never been hotter. Stephanie would take great pride in overseeing an all-female SmackDown and helping change the business forever. She hasn’t always been the best in a creative environment, but perhaps with a greater input and focus on driving the women forward, that might improve her skills.

Some naysayers may argue that Fox wouldn’t be happy with saying goodbye to the likes of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Edge, Daniel Bryan and Paul Heyman, especially after paying so much for the broadcast rights to SmackDown. But the ratings aren’t exactly spectacular, so why not try something different, something revolutionary? No doubt Fox would get behind this idea because it’s so marketable, especially in today’s world, and the ratings would certainly follow. The women just need to be given that chance to shine.

Every time they’ve been asked to deliver, they’ve smashed expectations. Royal Rumbles, Elimination Chambers, Money In The Bank matches, Hell In A Cell wars, pay-per-view main events, you name it, they’ve excelled. What they now need is that extra push to make them bonafide superstars. They certainly have the star power and quality on the roster. WWE could also give them monthly PPVs, harking back to the classic In Your House format of two-hour events. NXT could do something similar by splitting its shows in half for the men and women.

What has WWE got to lose? Take away its enormous TV deals and it’s sadly a dying brand. The women can help resurrect that.

Vince McMahon may very well already be contemplating this monumental move. In fact, as far back as 1999, prior to the launch of Smackdown, there were ideas floating around in the boardroom about possibly making that show exclusive to female talent. Obviously, those plans were scrapped because the talent pool at the time was nothing more than Mae Young stripping.

I’m sure Stephanie has mentioned it more than once. It seems the next logical step in the progress of women’s wrestling. Of course, there will be people out there who think it’s a horrible idea, wishing it fails, but I’m certain the women have had to deal with things like that ever since they stepped foot in the business. Yet, they’ve been proving people wrong every day.

Some of those critics will claim that the women don’t have enough drawing power to maintain a strong audience on a weekly basis, which is just nonsense. Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks are proven needle pushers. The numbers are there in black and white for everyone to see. Those four are bigger draws than 90% of the male roster. That’s not a knock on the likes of Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, Bobby Lashley or Randy Orton, it’s just a fact.

If WWE does go ahead with making SmackDown an all-women’s production, then what happens when WrestleMania comes around? Does WWE bring both rosters together for an epic extravaganza? I would be against this. Keep them separate and keep WrestleMania a weekend affair. Have the men take to the ring on Sunday with a four-hour event, and have the women look to steal the show on Saturday with a three-hour spectacular.

Again, there will be critics who will claim the women won’t be able to sell out a giant stadium, and even if this is currently true, WWE can always host the women’s WrestleMania in an arena nearby. There will always be resentment and trepidation at first because it’s new, but once the women build up their audience, they’ll overtake the men. They’re almost there already.

The advantage the men have over the women, apart from the disparity in weekly airtime, is the star power from the past that WWE can call upon as opposed to what the women can bring back. The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Undertaker, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar will always be mega draws because they were always booked as such, whereas the women were forced to wrestle in their underwear and roll around in mud.

An all-female SmackDown will look fresh and revolutionary. If done right, which I’m confident WWE can pull off, it will go down in the annals of time as a real game changer. Longer matches, passionate promos, more in-depth storytelling and a real empowerment of women’s wrestling.

Now that I’ve made my case for an all-female SmackDown, I’d love to hear what our readers think. It’s an exciting prospect that I truly hope comes to fruition in the very near future.