Opinion: WWE's Evolution PPV has some problems  

On Sunday October 28 2018, WWE will make history as it puts on its first all women's pay-per-view titled Evolution, live from the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York. The company is no doubt hoping its marketing of women's wrestling will translate into tangible results, but with less than week left until the show, there are major problems that can't be fixed in time.

Onlookers across the internet have expressed serious displeasure with the booking and lack of attention the event is getting, and with a crowded WWE schedule that includes several back to back domestic and overseas pay-per-views and TV specials, Evolution frankly feels like a small time affair.

Hardcore fans of women's action will no doubt tune in anyway, but as with many things in WWE these days, grumbling and discontent will be plenty Sunday night and Monday morning due to the aforementioned plethora of issues.

For starters, WWE has done very little to market or promote this show. The lack of proper storyline buildups and an overall feeling of carelessness has hung over the "historic" event, with the controversial (and infinitely more profitable) Crown Jewel taking up much more of the company's time than a relatively minor B pay-per-view that has yet to sell out (10,000 seats will be available for the show in total).

Ticket sales have been relatively soft compared to unisex pay-per-views, with many fans waiting in the wings to see the card before purchasing. Those fans have ultimately been disappointed as the company continues to book the women in Diva fashion despite shedding the moniker back at WrestleMania 32.

As a result, it appears that Vince McMahon and staff have decided to play both sides of the fence by continuing to give the women minimal time, attention, fully-fleshed out multi-dimensional characters, meaningful storylines and worthwhile championship runs, and are content to simply talk about women's empowerment as a form of good public relations.

This naturally hurts the women's drawing power, and makes female wrestling as a whole look second rate.

With the semi-retired, below average Nikki Bella in the main event, workhorses like Asuka, Ember Moon and half the rest of the roster placed in a meaningless battle royal, and the Boss-and-Hug-Connection and The Riott Squad stuck repeating the same hum-drum tag team match they've done several times on RAW, there remain but three quality matches to look forward to.

Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch is expected to be good, though WWE has gone out of its way to disrespect Asuka and Nikki Cross by promoting Flair and Lynch's bout as the "first ever last woman standing match", when it is no such thing.

Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler will hopefully build on top of their three previous encounters in NXT, but being a non-main roster match, Sane and Baszler will likely receive less match time than they did at Takeover: Brooklyn IV.

Finally, the Mae Young Classic Finals featuring Io Shirai vs Toni Storm should theoretically be match of the night, as these two have previously had great matches for the Stardom promotion in Japan.

However, with limited match time and the company's interest in making Rousey and Bella look good, it is likely that Shirai and Storm will be instructed to tone down their in-ring physicality.

In all, the booking, storytelling, promotion, and overall energy behind Evolution is downright tepid. For the first ever large-scale US women's wrestling pay-per-view, it couldn't possibly feel less important.

The All Japan Women's promotion sold out the Tokyo Dome and Yokohama Arena in the 90s with incredible dream cards, and Pro Wrestling EVE sold over 1,000 tickets to a stellar European women's show just a few months ago in London.

If WWE isn't willing to treat its women as more than just pawns on a chessboard, perhaps underground promotions like SHIMMER should try to scale up to mid size and figure out how to help women wrestlers develop, gaining parity with the men.