We've seen more women featured on Smackdown in recent months, something many of women in the company had been pushing for quite a while.
Fightful had learned of several female talent that were frustrated with their utilization on the program, from the bottom of the card all the way to the top. However, we're told that several were waiting to see "where the chips fell," until they took it to higher ups.
Among those chips falling were the returns of Asuka and Lacey Evans, as well as Charlotte Flair taking time off. With none of them factoring into Smackdown for the foreseeable future at the time, we're told that creative was able to implement more women into the program on a regular basis starting with the May 13 episode of WWE Smackdown. Since then, we've seen more integration of a wider variety of female performers, albeit with varying creative satisfaction. This was accelerated when Naomi and Sasha Banks left, which left a huge gap on the shows.
Though not necessarily the source material for the article, Alexa Bliss, Shotzi, Aliyah, Xia Li, Doudrop, Nikki ASH had not been used in the weeks leading up to and following WrestleMania, which surprised many.
Ronda Rousey joining Smackdown was another "chip that fell." We're told by numerous sources on the roster she's been more than willing to work with a variety of talent on the show.
One of the same sources that had originally reached out for this story said that it felt like Vince McMahon was more concerned with squeezing himself onto television after the Wall Street Journal story than actually making sure female talent was booked and protected on the show.
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