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In the past few weeks, the WWE Universe has seen two new roster factions, comprising some established and up-and-coming women that have aggressively bulldozed their way through both main roster programs. Absolution members, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, led by former WWE Women’s Champion Paige, and The Riott Squad, comprising of Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan and led by Ruby Riott, have undoubtedly made a splash on the Raw and Smackdown Live! programs, respectively.
These new stables of female heels have a real opportunity to throw a wrench in the “coasting” WWE women’s division. Think the women’s division isn’t coasting? Listen to the audience just before Paige's much anticipated return to WWE program. Crickets.
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While we are excited for what these new WWE Superstars can do for their respective brands, a debate has begun to emerge as to which of the stables is best suited for success on the main roster.
Anecdotal evidence can only take us so far, so let’s look at three key statistics that will put to bed which faction, Absolution or the Riott Squad, is the more successful team: title reigns, win percentage, and popularity.
NOTE: We will be looking at the body of work of each athlete in all promotions, as many of the Superstars have had their time on the main roster limited to just the past few weeks.
Title Reigns
Being a champion, or having been a former champion, is a measure of success that is limited to only the best the sports entertainment industry has to offer. Having held a title in the wrestling business brings with it the cemented legacy as a success in “the business.”
Thus, it only seems fair to include as a statistic in our methodology. Let’s look at the number of title reigns for each member of Absolution and the Riott Squad to see which has worn more gold around their waist.
Absolution
Paige: 13 Title Reigns
Mandy Rose: 0 Title Reigns
Sonya Deville: 0 Title Reigns
Total: 13 Title Reigns
The Riott Squad
Ruby Riott: 7 Title Reigns
Liv Morgan: 0 Title Reigns
Sarah Logan: 3 Title Reigns
Total: 10 Title Reigns
Consensus
It almost seems unfair to give this one to Absolution considering that Paige is the only member of the faction to hold any gold in any wrestling promotion. However, it is that level of success of the group's leader that makes the faction formidable and authentically feared.
Paige’s 13 title reigns is 3 more than the total won by The Riott Squad, though it’s leader Ruby Riott herself is a buoy for her group, winning 7 titles in her history as a professional wrestler.
Winner: Absolution
Win Percentage
Titles are great, but your ability to capture one is directly impacted by your ability to perform, work well in the ring, and ultimately win matches. Thus, we are including overall win percentage for each group. If your hand is raised more often than it is not, that is success in our book.
Absolution
Paige: 54.50%
Mandy Rose: 23.94%
Sonya Deville: 37.35%
Average: 38.6%
The Riott Squad
Ruby Riott: 51.79%
Liv Morgan: 50.81%
Sarah Logan: 47.40%
Average: 50.0%
Consensus
Paige’s ability to deliver a victory for Absolution in the first round was predicated on her ability to win big matches and take home titles. However, when we look at overall winning percentages for her teammates in Mandy Rose (23.94%) and Sonya Deville (37.35%), the average winning percentage of Absolution lands at just over 38%.
Despite not winning as many titles as Paige, each Riott Squad member wins approximately 50% of their matches, allowing us to give this round to the faction.
Winner: We’re tied up! The Riott Squad take this one
Tiebreaker: Popularity (Twitter Followers)
Whether we like to admit it or not, athletic ability only gets you so far in the WWE. For you to ultimately be successful, you must be able to “turn a phrase” and find great comfort shouting into a microphone in front of tens of thousands of people.
The ability to rile up and connect with an audience, whether as a face or a heel, will ultimately determine your level of popularity with the WWE Universe and your ultimate success.
And how do we measure popularity in 2017? Twitter followers, of course!
Absolution
Paige, @RealPageWWE: 2.05 Million Followers
Mandy Rose, @WWE_MandyRose: 128,000 Followers
Sonya Deville, @SonyaDevilleWWE: 57,500 Followers
Total: 2,235,500 Followers
The Riot Squad
Ruby Riott, @RubyRiotWWE: 50,700 Followers
Liv Morgan, @YaOnlyLivvOnce: 111,000 Followers
Sarah Logan, @SarahLoganWWE: 32,200 Followers
Total: 193,900 Followers
Consensus
Paige’s success on a worldwide level due to her prior time on the WWE main roster has undoubtedly led to a substantial amount of interest and followers online. Add in some tumultuous relationships with former WWE Champions and her number has ballooned to more than 20 million followers.
The Riott Squad’s most popular member on Twitter, Liv Morgan, has only mustered a following of around 111,000, 17,000 LESS than Mandy Rose, Absolution’s second most-popular Superstar.
Overall Winner: Absolution
While Ruby Riott and her band of heels have performed admirably on Smackdown Live!, they still need a great amount of work and interest surrounding their efforts in order to reach the level of popularity, impact, and success that Paige and Absolution have enjoyed.
We suspect Paige to ultimately get a title shot first, but who do you think of the group will get one afterwards? Let us know in the comments.
