The Road to the WWE Women's United States Championship Begins

On the evening of November 8, 2024, we finally got what we had been begging for. Well, half of it.

On that night's SmackDown, Nick Aldis, the blue brand's General Manager, announced the addition of the Women's United States Championship, unveiling the new title during his presentation. We fans had been clamoring for this for years. The female population in WWE's roster was growing rapidly. It was time for mid-card championships for the women's division. This should have happened much sooner, but at least it's happening now.

I had been wondering how this would be determined, and after a week, at the last moment, the announcement was made that a tournament match would take place on SmackDown on November 15. The participatnts were announced, along with the bracket, seen below:

So there's the bracket for the Women's US Championship Tournament. Twelve women will fight for that honor of being the first champion, and the quarterfinals are all Triple Threat matches. What I do like about this: all of the women are on SmackDown. Originally, when Aldis announced this, it was stated that the title would be open to Raw and SmackDown, but from the looks of this, it's only SmackDown women in this. I'm glad, because the earlier announcement made me nervous. The plan for mid-card titles was supposed to be the addition of not only the Women's United States Championship, but also the Women's Intercontinental Championship. If the title was really open to both brands, chances are we wouldn't see a second title. Now, I think we really will see the Women's IC Title come in to play.

So the first match already took place, and it was Bayley vs Candice LeRae vs B-Fab. Each woman had her own story, Bayley's won them all--first female Grand Slam Champion in WWE history. Candice LeRae made history as WWE's first-ever Women's Speed Champion, and then there's B-Fab, who hasn't really had the opportunity to really compete in the ring. This was quite an outing from all three women, but unsurprisingly, Bayley won and advanced to the Semifinals.

It was announced that next week's SmackDown will see the tournament continue on with the second of the four Triple Threat matches. On the November 22 SmackDown, it will be Bianca Belair, Chelsea Green, and Blair Davenport fighting it out for the right to face Bayley in the Semifinals. I don't see Bianca winning this match, because she's already one half of the tag champs, and I think we're seeing an angle where Bianca and Jade Cargill could be splitting up, and possibly feuding. So really, it's between Chelsea and Blair, and I hope Chelsea wins. This is why we wanted mid-card titles, because WWE has women like Chelsea, Michin, and Piper Niven; women who haven't really had any deserving elevation despite the amount of dedication from them.

I mentioned Piper and Michin; those two will be in their own Triple Threat against Jade Cargill, and the other match will feature Naomi, Tiffany Stratton, and Elektra Lopez. Those matches will most likely take place on separate SmackDowns, and I sense both Semifinal matches occurring on December 13. The tournament Final will take place at Saturday Night's Main Event on December 14, a great way to welcome the event back to WWE.

This is an absolutely amazing development that was long overdue. We should see more deserving women in the spotlight with the addition of the Women's United States Championship. As for the Women's Intercontinental Championship, nothing yet. That title is definitely coming. If I had to guess, and this just now came to me, I can see the announcement for the Women's IC Title coming on January 6, 2025: the night that Raw debuts on Netflix. Count on it.