Alexa Bliss carried the SmackDown and Raw women’s divisions for a large part of 2017. She is the first to hold both the SmackDown and Raw women’s titles, and she has the abilities of a full fledged heel. However, in the end of 2017 up until now, she’s lost a great deal of steam. As of now the Raw Women’s Champion is lost in the shuffle and irrelevant to the weekly product.

The Problem

Weirdly enough the problem with Alexa Bliss is not terrible booking, it is just a lack of booking at all. She was a focal point of the Raw product through last summer and she has not done anything of note since defeating Mickie James at TLC back in October. Sure, we can chalk that up to Raw not having any brand exclusive PPVs since then, but all the other Raw Championships seem to get a consistent spotlight each and every week.

In the past few months Alexa Bliss lost to Charlotte Flair at Survivor series (justifiably so),  joined  a brief crusade against Absolution led by Sasha Banks and participated in a series of backstage segments with Nia Jax. She had zero feuds and zero title defenses in that time.

It is now at the point where I forget she’s there. All I see now in her place is a women’s title that is waiting for Asuka. WWE is clearly focusing more on the development of Asuka, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks and Absolution in attempts to bring some intrigue to the women’s division, but how do you sideline your champion?

Not Ready For Asuka

Similarly to what I said before, I’m not sure why they haven’t just given the belt to Asuka yet. Wouldn’t it be better if Asuka could take the title and fight someone at WrestleMania who is currently credible in the WWE playground? Because WWE certainly took all of their eggs out of the Alexa Bliss basket.

Asuka defeated Alexa Bliss on Raw not too long ago. In a fairly decent match, Asuka showed that not only can she dominate Alexa Bliss, but that WWE is ready to move on from little miss Bliss. I understand that Alexa is booked as a cowardly champion and that Asuka needs to remain undefeated, but I think there needed to be some DQ or count out ending to give the payoff more intrigue.

When someone defeats a champion they usually receive some championship match or some reward, but in this case Asuka has not seen a chance at the women’s title. This may be because WWE is trying to save the big moment for a greater stage, but a clean loss to Asuke makes Bliss look terribly week and very susceptible to defeat. That is not how I would book a prominent champion.

Royally Overshadowed

However, it seems that everyone on the roster doesn’t even care about the women’s title with the first ever women’s Royal Rumble coming up, but who can blame them? The women’s Royal Rumble is bound to be a historic event that merges the women of today with the nostalgia of a slew of women from WWE’s past. This though does not help Alexa Bliss. I do not think she will be in the rumble, and it seems she’s primed to wait until WrestleMania or Elimination Chamber for a championship challenge.

If WWE wants Alexa to defend the title at WrestleMania, they had better give us a reason to care about her again. They better give her more TV time, they better let her win some matches and they better have her come across as a crafty heel that can creatively win any match against any opponent. Otherwise, nobody will ever believe she can defend her title at ‘Mania, let alone against someone like Asuka.

The Verdict

There are a few ways that WWE can bring relevancy back to little miss Bliss, but unless they take action they will not be able to save her or the women’s title from falling deeper into the fray. WWE could give her some sort of winning streak over the next month, they can let her tout her reservations about Asuka and other women, they could even have her lead Absolution in light of Paige’s injury. With so many options and routes to credibility, it seems WWE is opting for doing nothing instead.

If WWE wants Alexa Bliss to be the champion that pushes Asuka over the edge into a big time player role, she needs to be more able-bodied to do so. In order to bring the women’s division to the top, Alexa Bliss needs to be an actual champion and Alexa Bliss needs to be relevant again.