For many pro wrestling fans, the flagship program of WWE, Monday Night Raw, has been the premiere wrestling show for about three decades. This is especially true when it comes to women’s wrestling, as the company has spent the last 10 years improving how it portrays its female talent. On Raw, fans have been treated to major women’s feuds like Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey.
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Unfortunately, not every rivalry can be an all-timer, and WWE has certainly delivered some serious misfires in the women’s division. Let’s take a look at 10 of the worst rivalries to go down on WWE’s red brand, many of which unfortunately involve some of WWE’s best talent over the years.
10 Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella (2014)
It seems that in WWE tag teams pretty much exist so they can lead to the inevitable Barber Shop window moment and subsequent break-up feud. This storytelling device even befell the Bella Twins, who entered a rivalry in 2014 after Nikki turned heel on her sister Brie. Given that the series Total Divas was in full swing at this point, it was pretty well-known that the sisters were close in real life, so fans didn’t really buy Nikki siding with the Authority and cutting promos about how Brie should have died in the womb.
9 Lacey Evans vs. Charlotte Flair (2021)
As blonde women for the South, it made sense for the newer Lacey Evans to attempt to supplant the more seasoned Charlotte Flair upon arriving on the WWE main roster. However, this played out via a somewhat uncomfortable angle that involved Evans forging a romance with Charlotte’s dad, the legendary Ric Flair. Some weak matches ensued, but the storyline was unable to reach anything resembling a satisfying conclusion thanks to Lacey Evans taking time off for an unexpected pregnancy.
8 The Divas Revolution (2015)
In 2015, WWE decided to consciously reboot its women's division by introducing three of the top female stars in NXT — Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks — and divide the roster into three different rival factions. This storyline was dubbed the Divas Revolution, saw Flair and Lynch grouped with Paige as the babyface group Team PCB, taking on Team BAD (Naomi, Tamina, and Sasha Banks) and Team Bella (The Bella Twins and Alicia Fox)
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Unfortunately, the Divas Revolution angle proved to be a weak one, with less-than-stellar matches and segments that failed to really convince the fans to get on board with the new direction.
7 Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax (2018)
Originally portrayed as friends, the relationship between Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax soon turned sour and a feud ensued. Rather than have Jax turn heel on Bliss, the opposite happened, and Bliss proved to be the villain. While it certainly flipped the script on what fans come to expect from heels and faces in pro wrestling, the rivalry was centered around Bliss bullying and body shaming Jax in addition to the Raw Women’s Title being on the line. Besides being of questionable taste, the angle was a countdown to who was going to drop the Raw Women’s Title to Ronda Rousey.
6 Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya (2016)
Given that Charlotte Flair and Natalya are both affiliated with two of the greatest wrestlers of all time — namely Ric Flair and Jim Neidhart Bret Hart — it only made sense for these second-generation stars to put on a competitive rivalry. They originally clashed to become the NXT Women’s Champion in 2014, but in 2016 they once again found themselves as rivals, this time on the main roster. Unfortunately, the big idea for this feud involved a needless recreation of the Montreal Screwjob.
5 AJ Lee vs. Vickie Guerrero (2013)
During an in-ring wedding in 2012, AJ Lee suddenly found herself given the job of General Manager of Raw, and soon entered a feud with shrieking heel manager Vickie Guerrero. A feud mostly based on romantic angles, this storyline involved Guerrero revealing a secret relationship between Lee and John Cena, which led to Lee turning on Cena in favor of Guerrero’s client/romantic interest, Dolph Ziggler. Eventually this cheesy love quadrangle led to Guerrero booking AJ Lee to defend the Divas Championship against the entire female roster at WrestleMania 30.
4 Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss (2017)
Alexa Bliss has done most of her best work as a heel, even in poorly received storylines like the rivalry she had with Bayley in 2017. Bayley was a pure babyface at the time, and Bliss certainly made for a great villain as she accused Bayley of being too soft and good-natured for wrestling. Unfortunately, this angle resulted in one of the most hated promos of the 2010s, the “This Is Your Life” segment.
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On top of that, this rivalry led to a Kendo Stick on a Pole Match at Extreme Rules where Bliss proved her point by successfully beating Bayley, who was too soft and good-natured to use a weapon against her foe.
3 Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler (2020)
A heel who dominated the NXT women’s division for over a year and a half, Shayna Baszler was poised to take the main roster by storm, especially given that Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch was one of the most popular babyfaces in the company. But the rivalry was off to a rocky start when an in-ring attack involving a bloody neck-bite led fans to believe that Baszler was working a vampire gimmick. This all led to a match at WrestleMania 30, where Baszler succumbed to a roll-up pin and promptly disappeared from title contention.
2 Sasha Banks vs. Bayley (2018)
Given that Sasha Banks and Bayley helped change the game for WWE women’s wrestling in NXT in 2015, a marquee main roster rivalry between the two was more than overdue by 2018. Unfortunately, this feud did pretty much all it could do to disappoint fans who’d seen what these two women were capable of. After many weeks of tension and betrayals, the long-awaited one-on-one match was interrupted by The Riott Squad, and the rivals ended up going to counseling and forming a tag team instead.
1 Alexa Bliss vs. Shayna Baszler (2021)
The year 2021 was certainly a weird time for Alexa Bliss. With Bray Wyatt off of television and about to be released from the company, Alexa Bliss pretty much took over the Fiend gimmick, bolstered by a creepy doll named Lilly. Around this time, Baszler ended up getting into a feud with Bliss, with Bliss (and Lilly) taking exception to Shayna referring to Lilly as “a stupid doll.” This led to Bliss supernaturally terrorizing Baszler, with the former MMA fighter being an awkward fit for a spooky storyline.
