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Credit: WWE/TwitterCredit: WWE/Twitter
Heading into the historic all women’s pay-per-view, Moon had emerged as the betting favorite slightly ahead of the likes of Asuka and Nia Jax, who have been pushed much more than Moon has during her short stint on the main roster. As Raw had prioritized names like Alexa Bliss, Ronda Rousey and the Bella Twins in recent months, Moon found herself taking a backseat on the red brand, an unfortunate fate that also befell talented stars like Sasha Banks and Bayley.
But with many of WWE’s top female stars, ranging from Rousey to Becky Lynch to Charlotte Flair, finding themselves in marquee tag team or singles matches at Evolution, WWE made the controversial decision to throw most of the company’s female superstars into a battle royal on the undercard. No surprise here: That didn’t sit well with a large portion of WWE’s women’s division, with a slew of female stars, including former women’s champions Naomi and Carmella, taking to Twitter to voice their frustrations with being relegated to a jam-packed and sloppily assembled battle royal on a pay-per-view that is supposed to celebrate the evolution of women’s wrestling.
Lumping a significant portion of the women’s roster into a battle royal instead of creating more personal singles or tag team rivalries was seen as a step back and became a buzzworthy topic of conversation prior to Evolution, with some criticizing WWE for prioritizing big money shows like Super Show-Down and the controversial Crown Jewel over an Evolution pay-per-view that should have felt like a bigger deal than it did during the buildup to it.
While the battle royal was indeed an easy way out for the creative team, WWE should have at least made a smart booking decision by having an incredible talent like Moon win the match, but instead, it resorted to a Nia Jax win that certainly doesn’t feel fresh.
Triple H noted last year that WWE’s women’s division generates strong TV viewership for the company, often better than their male counterparts, while search data (h/t Fightful) also demonstrated that some of its female superstars are likely on par with the men in terms of merchandise sales. That shows that there is obviously a desire among fans to see female superstars pushed as top acts for the company, which explains the popularity of stars like Rousey and Nikki Bella as well as the impressive rise of Lynch that has resulted in her generating arguably the best crowd reactions in all of WWE.
Moon would have represented a welcome addition to the upper card and the women’s title picture on Raw, which could use a change of scenery after it has been dominated by names like Bliss and Jax for much of the last year. Prior to being called up to Raw after WrestleMania 34, Moon, along with Asuka, was a cornerstone of NXT’s women’s division, where she proved capable of being pushed as one of its most featured acts and developed into one of the top in-ring performers in the entire company. Nia Jax, whose been a focal point of Raw’s women’s division for more than a year, had more than her fair share of chances at the top of the card, but Moon hasn’t.
Perhaps Moon’s biggest asset is her wrestling ability, which may be second to none among WWE’s female superstars. A lightning quick superstar known for her exciting move set and one of the best finishing moves in the business, Moon has all the makings of a potential Daniel Bryan or Rey Mysterio type of underdog in the women’s division. Now that WWE has committed to pushing Lynch as a heel, the women’s division lacks that dark horse performer that fans can get behind on her quest to win a women’s title for the first time.
At just 5-foot-2, Moon could prove more than capable of filling that role as a diminutive superstar with big time star potential and a suitable challenger for Rousey, Nikki Bella or whoever will be holding the Raw Women’s Championship moving forward. It’s imperative that, as WWE continues to rely heavily on names from the past in the men’s division and even has plans to use Trish Stratus and Lita more often going forward, the company continues to attempt to create as many new stars as possible so that those stars can carry it into the future.
Moon is one of the few stars on the main roster whose story is yet to be told. She hasn’t been saddled with a bad gimmick, a series of questionable losses or terrible storylines.
In other words, she’s a blank slate and was the right choice to win a battle royal that could have given WWE its next top female star, but may have set her back for the sake of another Jax push.
Blake Oestriecher is an elementary school teacher by day and a sports writer by night. He’s a contributor to @ForbesSports, where he primarily covers WWE. You can follow him on Twitter @BOestriecher.
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WWE Evolution 2018 should have marked the biggest win in the young career of Ember Moon, but instead, it was Nia Jax who won a star-studded battle royal to earn a future women’s title opportunity.
Credit: WWE/TwitterCredit: WWE/Twitter
Heading into the historic all women’s pay-per-view, Moon had emerged as the betting favorite slightly ahead of the likes of Asuka and Nia Jax, who have been pushed much more than Moon has during her short stint on the main roster. As Raw had prioritized names like Alexa Bliss, Ronda Rousey and the Bella Twins in recent months, Moon found herself taking a backseat on the red brand, an unfortunate fate that also befell talented stars like Sasha Banks and Bayley.
But with many of WWE’s top female stars, ranging from Rousey to Becky Lynch to Charlotte Flair, finding themselves in marquee tag team or singles matches at Evolution, WWE made the controversial decision to throw most of the company’s female superstars into a battle royal on the undercard. No surprise here: That didn’t sit well with a large portion of WWE’s women’s division, with a slew of female stars, including former women’s champions Naomi and Carmella, taking to Twitter to voice their frustrations with being relegated to a jam-packed and sloppily assembled battle royal on a pay-per-view that is supposed to celebrate the evolution of women’s wrestling.
Lumping a significant portion of the women’s roster into a battle royal instead of creating more personal singles or tag team rivalries was seen as a step back and became a buzzworthy topic of conversation prior to Evolution, with some criticizing WWE for prioritizing big money shows like Super Show-Down and the controversial Crown Jewel over an Evolution pay-per-view that should have felt like a bigger deal than it did during the buildup to it.
While the battle royal was indeed an easy way out for the creative team, WWE should have at least made a smart booking decision by having an incredible talent like Moon win the match, but instead, it resorted to a Nia Jax win that certainly doesn’t feel fresh.
Triple H noted last year that WWE’s women’s division generates strong TV viewership for the company, often better than their male counterparts, while search data (h/t Fightful) also demonstrated that some of its female superstars are likely on par with the men in terms of merchandise sales. That shows that there is obviously a desire among fans to see female superstars pushed as top acts for the company, which explains the popularity of stars like Rousey and Nikki Bella as well as the impressive rise of Lynch that has resulted in her generating arguably the best crowd reactions in all of WWE.
Moon would have represented a welcome addition to the upper card and the women’s title picture on Raw, which could use a change of scenery after it has been dominated by names like Bliss and Jax for much of the last year. Prior to being called up to Raw after WrestleMania 34, Moon, along with Asuka, was a cornerstone of NXT’s women’s division, where she proved capable of being pushed as one of its most featured acts and developed into one of the top in-ring performers in the entire company. Nia Jax, whose been a focal point of Raw’s women’s division for more than a year, had more than her fair share of chances at the top of the card, but Moon hasn’t.
Perhaps Moon’s biggest asset is her wrestling ability, which may be second to none among WWE’s female superstars. A lightning quick superstar known for her exciting move set and one of the best finishing moves in the business, Moon has all the makings of a potential Daniel Bryan or Rey Mysterio type of underdog in the women’s division. Now that WWE has committed to pushing Lynch as a heel, the women’s division lacks that dark horse performer that fans can get behind on her quest to win a women’s title for the first time.
At just 5-foot-2, Moon could prove more than capable of filling that role as a diminutive superstar with big time star potential and a suitable challenger for Rousey, Nikki Bella or whoever will be holding the Raw Women’s Championship moving forward. It’s imperative that, as WWE continues to rely heavily on names from the past in the men’s division and even has plans to use Trish Stratus and Lita more often going forward, the company continues to attempt to create as many new stars as possible so that those stars can carry it into the future.
Moon is one of the few stars on the main roster whose story is yet to be told. She hasn’t been saddled with a bad gimmick, a series of questionable losses or terrible storylines.
In other words, she’s a blank slate and was the right choice to win a battle royal that could have given WWE its next top female star, but may have set her back for the sake of another Jax push.
Blake Oestriecher is an elementary school teacher by day and a sports writer by night. He’s a contributor to @ForbesSports, where he primarily covers WWE. You can follow him on Twitter @BOestriecher.
