For the first time ever, women will headline WWE's annual sports-entertainment extravaganza when Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Raw women's champion Ronda Rousey compete in the main event of WrestleMania 35 on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The match—the culmination of a concentrated four-year effort by WWE to bring its female talent to the forefront of its product known as the Women's Revolution—had an interesting wrinkle added to the equation when Flair beat Asuka on the March 26 episode of SmackDown Live to win the blue brand's women's title.
The Queen's victory has fans speculating that Sunday's encounter will now crown a unified champion.
Such an idea, neither confirmed nor denied by the company, carries with it significant pros and cons.
Pro: A Traveling Champion
A unified champion would, conceivably, travel between Raw and SmackDown, defending the title against all contenders rather than just those stationed on her home brand.
That elevates the significance of the title, enhances its credibility and allows Flair, Lynch and Rousey to lend their star power to either show.
More importantly, a traveling champion breaks up the monotony of repetitive matches by giving fans fresh bouts to invest in.
We have seen it already with women's tag team champions Bayley and Sasha Banks, who recently appeared on SmackDown Live to battle The IIconics for the first time in a straight televised tag bout.
Imagine a sustained program between Lynch and Nia Jax. How about a feud between Rousey and Asuka that ends in an intensely physical submission match?
It sure beats watching Flair wrestle Natalya for the umpteenth time.
Of course, taking away a title for the Raw or SmackDown roster to fight for comes with its own issues.
Con: So Many Superstars, So Little To Do
History dictates that WWE Creative has a difficult time utilizing any of the female Superstars on its expansive roster who are not directly involved in a feud over or including the women's title.
Naomi, Carmella and even Lynch have been shuffled in the deep, dark abyss of obscurity after their time in title contention came to an end.
Natalya had to become Ronda Rousey's best buddy and on-screen sidekick in order to regain momentum after her title reign came to a screeching halt.
Women such as Dana Brooke, Mickie James, Nikki Cross and Lana have struggled to get any on-screen ring time with two titles to compete for, let alone one.
Creating one unified title would leave roughly 30 women to compete over a single prize with little rhyme or reason for any of the matches beyond the confines of the title picture.
WWE Creative would have to shed its conservatism and go all-in with the division, booking strong stuff for women like Lynch and Flair but also remembering The Riott Squad needs something to do or Zelina Vega is mostly wasted over on SmackDown.
Failure to do that leaves the unified champion as the face of a division of one or two strong challengers and a whole heaping amount of losers, something that benefits no one.
It is with that in mind that WWE has the opportunity to turn a "con" into a positive.
Pro: Forcing WWE Creative's Hand
With one champion and a roster full of women with nothing else to do when not challenging for the title, WWE Creative would almost be forced to alter its booking methods and come up with new stories for the Superstars on the outside looking in at the title picture.
If the company is serious about its Women's Revolution, the writing team would have to get creative for once and not rely on the title to spark every storyline in the division.
We saw the company head into that direction late in 2018 with the Naomi vs. Mandy Rose storyline, and while that may have too closely resembled a soap opera, it was different and made for fresh television.
More of that and less of the tired "Wrestler A vs. Wrestler B for the right to challenge for the title just because" method of booking would create a more diverse product and develop more excitement for a division fans clearly want to invest in.
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