The WWE Women's division has gone through an immense change with the return of Paige and the introduction of five new NXT call-ups to the RAW and Smackdown Live rosters. Paige returned on the November 20 edition of Raw, introducing her two partners, NXT call-ups Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. They are now collectively called the Absolution. Quite catchy, if you ask me.
The following night, a new trio of NXT call-ups, Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan made their way into the Smackdown Live roster by interrupting Naomi doing her makeup and proceeded to beat her up. This trio now refers to itself as the Riott Squad and is being led by Ruby Riott.
However, there need to be changes made to make these debuts work, particularly in the case of the Smackdown Live women's division. Here are the top five reasons why.
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#1 Becky Lynch is a movie star
Becky Lynch is one of our favourite babyfaces on Smackdown. She would be one of the best faces for the Riott Squad to go against.
Becky Lynch is out to shoot "Marine 6" alongside The Miz and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels. So, she will be out of action for the upcoming weeks. So, if you were expecting a Ruby Riott and Becky Lynch encounter, that isn't happening anytime soon.
#2 The babyface faction in Raw is much more stacked than SmackDown Live
Raw has a stacked roster of notable female face characters in Asuka, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Mickey James. While in recent weeks the roles of the latter three at the top of the division has been downplayed a little, still they have a lot of momentum their way.
Mickey James was the #1 contender to the Goddess' title, and Sasha and Bailey are still over with the fans, despite the horrendous booking they have had to endure. Asuka has gained a lot of momentum over the past few weeks, thanks to repeatedly squashing Dana Brooke.
Overall, these four are great opponents against the upcoming trio of Absolution. We can expect some great matches on RAW in the coming weeks.
#3 All the new superstars introduced to the division have been heels
The interesting thing to note here is that all these six introductions to the rosters have been heel personas. Now, I'm not one to complain much. Both Paige and Riott are great as heels. But in order to have a successful division, we need to have a certain balance between the heels and babyfaces, on the roster.
Raw has a stacked roster of notable female face characters in Asuka, Sasha Banks, Bailey and Mickey James. They're perfect rivals to the Absoluion.
#4 Naomi is out with injury
Another one of our favourite babyfaces on the Smackdown Live roster in Naomi. The former SmackDown Live Women's Champion is a favourite among the crowd, with her athletic moves and a unique entrance.
Naomi suffered multiple injuries due to the attack by the Riott Squad. WWE reported her injuries on Twitter.
The injuries appear to be more of a storyline than real. However, she will be out of action for a few weeks.
The rest of the roster consists of current #1 contender Natalya, Miss MITB Carmella, the Riott Squad, and Tamina with Lana. Do you see it? All of these women are currently heels.
#5 Charlotte needs company
The current champion Charlotte Flair is the only face character in the Smackdown Live locker room, and a feud with the Riott Squad repeatedly taking her out doesn't seem to be too lucrative.
If Charlotte alone proves to be competition for the new trio, the Riott Squad will lose a lot of credibility before even getting over. We need more face characters to go against the upcoming trio.
Carmella can't turn face due to her MITB situation. Though the MITB contract hasn't been talked about much over the last few weeks, a surprise cash-in is always on the horizon and she has to be a heel for that.
Tamina is currently lower down the card. She can possibly turn face, but that leads to an awkward position for Lana, who is an excellent heel. Maybe the Riott Squad beat up a helpless Lana, leading to the duo of Tamina and Lana turning face.
The far better possibility is to turn Natalya into a face. The story going in could be that even though Natalya and Charlotte do not like each other, they are going to put their differences aside and defend the locker room against the Riott Squad.
Either way, we are going to need more bodies to make a feud with the Riott Squad work. It'll be an interesting development to see how the WWE writers tackle this scenario.
Who do you think should team up with Charlotte Flair to take on the Riott Squad? Tell us in the comments below.