It’s a little-known fact that, technically speaking, Charlotte is the longest reigning Women’s Champion in WWE history. Back in October, she won the Divas Championship from Nikki Bella at WWE Night of Champions and went on to hold it for 196 days before it was retired at WrestleMania 32 .
On the grandest stage of them all, Charlotte became the WWE Women’s Champion and held that title until being defeated by Sasha Banks on the first edition of Raw after the brand extension. That defeat ended Charlotte’s title reign at 113 days. After combining the two title reigns, Charlotte was technically the top champion of WWE’s Women’s Division for 309 days, which is eight days longer than Nikki Bella’s title reign that is recognized as the longest ever.
However, the retirement of the WWE Divas Championship and the introduction of the current WWE Women’s Championship means that Charlotte’s achievement won’t make it into the WWE record books, but it’s a testament to Charlotte’s position as the top woman in WWE since her debut on WWE television just over a year ago. However, even a top WWE Superstar can make mistakes and get into trouble with the powers that be behind the scenes in WWE.
At WWE SummerSlam , Charlotte regained the WWE Women’s Championship after defeating Sasha Banks to become the first woman to hold the title twice. Overall, the WWE Universe would agree that the match was very good, but there have been some key complaints about some of the in-ring work of the match, especially some big botches from Charlotte.
For example, Charlotte essentially dropped Banks from the top rope while trying to perform a move of some kind, which led to a nasty landing for The Boss. Despite the match being a little sloppy, the two women got from point A to B in terms of the in-ring storytelling, but WWE officials aren’t letting the big mistakes that were made by Charlotte go so easily.
A recent report has revealed that Charlotte was scolded backstage after her match and was reprimanded by WWE officials for the mistakes she made during WWE SummerSlam . It’s being said that WWE officials came down hard on her for being careless in the ring and for not protecting Sasha the way a WWE Women’s Champion should have. It’s been reported since that Banks was dealing with some nagging injuries before that match, so that set off the powers that be as well.
The fact is that wrestling is a dangerous profession. Charlotte had an accident, but accidents happen in the ring all the time. Fortunately, most performers are able to walk away from them. Other times, a situation can occur like the one between Finn Balor and Seth Rollins later on that night. In the extreme cases, accidents in the ring are much more severe. It goes without saying that protecting your opponent is one of the top priorities in the ring.
WWE officials came down so harshly on Charlotte because her opponent was already suffering from nagging injuries and that they were strapping the WWE Women’s title back onto her, which made the botches in the ring look even worse. It’s unfortunate, but no fines or other punishments have been dished out as of this writing, and Sasha Banks wasn’t injured further during the match .
Charlotte hasn’t built up a reputation as a poor worker in the ring. On the contrary, it’s been the opposite that she is one of the best, if not the best, female worker in WWE, which also makes her one of the best workers in the entire company. Whatever move was botched by Charlotte at WWE SummerSlam , it was obviously complex, so it seems like she took her lashings and everyone should move on sooner rather than later, as long as Charlotte doesn’t make the same mistake twice.
WWE programming will continue, and there are a lot of possibilities now that Charlotte is back on top of Raw’sWomen’s Division. After Bayley’s debut on Rawthis week, the expectation is that she’s going to be set up as the foil to Charlotte. If she’s going to be the top heel in Raw’sWomen’s Division, then Bayley is going to be the top face in the absence of Sasha Banks in WWE.
Bayley vs. Charlotte has a lot of history from NXT, so that will translate to WWE television. The WWE Universe and WWE officials have embraced Bayley since her WWE debut on Raw , which includes Vince McMahon . It’s unclear how creative plans for their feud are going to come about on Raw over the next few weeks, but a big match between the two seems very likely for WWE Clash of Champions. WWE’s grand plan could see Bayley win the WWE Women’s Championship soon.
[Image via WWE.com]