Reviewing an Amazing WrestleMania Weekend for WWE's Women's Division

WrestleMania weekend took place in the cities of Dallas and Arlington this year, and it was an immensely amazing showcase for World Wrestling Entertainment's women's division. Counting NXT, five championships were defended in WWE's women's division, and the action kicked off with NXT's Stand and Deliver event, which actually took place early that Saturday afternoon (Saturday morning for those of us in the western half of the country).

Stand & Deliver's pre-show (which actually began at 9AM PST on Saturday, April 2), featured the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship contest between Toxic Attraction's Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne, and the reunited team of Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez. The challengers came back together in the last NXT before WrestleMania Weekend, coming after Toxic Attraction boldly admitted to attacking Wendy Choo, who was Dakota's partner in the Women's Dusty Classic. The match was hotly contested, but it would see Wendy Choo emerge and provide a bit of a distraction that allowed the challengers to successfully defeat Toxic Attraction's duo.

For Dakota and Raquel, they are now two-time tag champs, with the win coming just days after they banded back together. Regarding Raquel, she is now a three-time overall champion counting her reign as NXT Women's Champion, making her NXT's most decorated woman.

Despite Jacy and Gigi losing their belts, Mandy Rose stood strong in the face(s) of adversity, as she defeated Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray, and Cora Jade to remain NXT Women's Champion. Mandy was originally set to defend against Cora Jade one-on-one, but Io and KLR decided to use their victory in the Women's Dusty Classic to challenge for the solitary title. With that, I really thought that Toxic Attraction would be completely shutout, but that wasn't the case.

I truly think the logical route was Mandy losing, because she faced three babyface opponents. Any of them winning could have easily put heels such as Tiffany Stratton and (especially) Elektra Lopez in contention. Mandy retained anyway, and the question now remains: "Is there anyone left?" The only babyface who could challenge Mandy is Wendy Choo, but that gimmick is still in its infancy. Ivy Nile's in babyface mode, but even so, that's a maybe. Bottom line, this was not the right move.

The first night of WrestleMania took place later that Saturday, and the first of the two championship matches was the Raw contest between champion Becky Lynch and challenger Bianca Belair. As we know, this had been brewing since SummerSlam; Bianca was supposed to defend her title against Sasha, but she ended up facing a returning Becky Lynch, who defeated her in 27 seconds. Since then, Becky has attempted to dodge Bianca, and when she did face Bianca, she used shortcuts to remain champion. Despite her deceptive methods being the reason, Becky blamed Bianca for turning the fans against her, and while she had other obstacles in the months that passed, she would have Bianca after her once again.

This bout was not only a showcase for nearly eight months of bad blood, but it was also coming after Bianca cut some of Becky's hair on the last Raw before WM. We almost saw a quick finish in Bianca's favor, but thankfully we did get an all out fight, which ended with Bianca capturing the Raw Women's Championship. So Bianca has now won championships on back-to-back WrestleManias, and she has almost fulfilled her goal to pin all four Horsewomen. Three down, and one Queen to go.

Speaking of Charlotte Flair, let me get one thing straight. I was against this match when it was made, because the opponents should have been switched. Yes, there's a story with Becky and Bianca, but the better story was Becky and Ronda. What we saw in the so-called build for Charlotte vs Ronda proved my point: this match was a mistake. It was a good match, no doubt, but we would see a few shenanigans in the form of the ref being taken out, and it would end with Charlotte Flair actually retaining against the winner of the 2022 Women's Royal Rumble.

So I left Day 1 of WrestleMania thinking, "Well, Vince has screwed up again; Ronda should have won." That's twice that the Women's Rumble winner has lost, and both losses were to Charlotte, who (ironically) was one of the three Rumble winners who won at WM. However, what I read in Day 2 changed things. Apparently, Ronda wasn't too happy that she wasn't the main event. Over "Stone Cold" Steve Austin? You seriously expect to be booked better than a WWE Hall of Famer and the Attitude Era's biggest star? Wow. Ronda has actually denied complaining about that, but the bottom line is, and that's not a pun, it's just another mark against Ronda in regards to WWE.

Speaking of Day 2, Sunday's action featured the only remaining women's match: the Women's Tag Team Championship. Originally, Carmella and Queen Zelina were set to defend against Sasha Banks and Naomi, but it became a Triple Threat Match when Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan won their way into contention. It had been a Triple Threat for the longest time, but on March 25, the evil Sonya Deville actually added Natalya and Shayna Baszler to the match as a reward for attacking the two challenging teams, and also in spite of the fact that the pair actually lost in their opportunity to be added to the match. Remember: those two actually assisted Sonya in her vendetta against Naomi, so that also plays a role.

Even with the additions, it was clear that Sasha and Naomi were winning this match, and that's exactly what happened when both of them took down Carmella and Sasha delivered the pin. Here's a shocking statement: this was Sasha Banks' first WrestleMania win. Seven years on the main roster, and this was her first win at WrestleMania. For Naomi, this was her first championship in four and a half years. This was long overdue for both women.

The two-night WrestleMania was absolutely amazing and unforgettable as a whole, but regarding the women, they truly, truly shined during the weekend. It's more proof of what I've been saying for many years: women are the true stars of wrestling.