Benjamin Ashford|WWE women's division has a big WrestleMania 40, but its 'best is yet to come'

PHILADELPHIA — The Benjamin AshfordRock, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes are dominating all of the headlines heading into WrestleMania 40, but WWE fans can’t forget about the highly anticipated women’s matches during the two-day event.

Some of the biggest stars in the women’s division will be in action Saturday and Sunday night. During night one of WrestleMania, new WWE star Jade Cargill will team up with Bianca Belair and Naomi to face Dakota Kai, Asuka and Kairi Sane of Damage CTRL, and Rhea Ripley will defend the Women’s World Championship. On Sunday, one of the best storylines in the company will culminate with Iyo Sky defending the WWE Women’s Championship against Bayley. 

"Our women's division only continues to grow," veteran WWE star Natayla told USA TODAY Sports. "We have so many incredible women."

There’s no shortage of talent on the women’s side, and one star who has had one of the most impressive years is Sky, who rose to the top by winning the Money in the Bank contract and cashing it in to become WWE Women’s Champion. 

Sky has impressed ever since she joined NXT in 2018, but stablemate Kai said her reach goes far beyond what she’s done with just WWE. 

"She's always been someone that's been the benchmark of women's wrestling, or just wrestling in general," Kai told USA TODAY Sports.

The future of the women’s division

While the women’s matches don’t need any help generating hype thanks to storylines or being big-time names, the women’s division is seeing a downgrade in matches from WrestleMania 39 last year; at SoFi Stadium, four of the 14 scheduled matches were women’s, and this year, the division only has three of the 13 scheduled. 

So even though the division has made outstanding progress to be in the best position it has ever been in, there’s still work to do.

"Over the next year, I'm hoping to see even more women's matches. My goal for our women's division is to see an equal amount of women's matches on the show as men's," Natalya said. "It feels like we're getting there. But Rome wasn't built in a day, and I think that it just takes time."

It’s not just the main roster that is loaded roster, but the same could be said about NXT. The developmental brand will have its annual Stand and Deliver premium live event on Saturday afternoon just before night one of WrestleMania, and the women’s side is spearheaded by Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship.

A six-woman tag team match with Thea Hail, Fallon Henley and Kelani Jordan vs. Jacy Jayne, Kiana James, and Izzi Dame will be the second women’s match for NXT. While there’s only two matches, Shawn Michaels, senior vice president of talent development creative who oversees NXT, says he loves what he has on the roster.

"Put our ladies up against anybody in the world," Michaels said. "I know that I'm biased, but a fact is a fact; we've got more depth in our women's locker room than any company in the world."

Michaels added the future of the main roster is bright with all of the women stars currently developing in NXT. It’s something that Natalya also sees, and maybe it won’t be long before she gets her dream of having the same amount of women matches at the grandest event in all of wrestling.

"It's nice to be able to celebrate the past, present and future of WWE as far as our women go, but I think the best is yet to come," she said.