WWE To Neglect Women's Division By Adding Men's Match To Clash in Paris

There are five matches currently scheduled for the PLE, including Seth Rollins putting the World Heavyweight Championship on the line in a fatal four-way match against CM Punk, Jey Uso and LA Knight. It will also mark the first singles match Roman Reigns has competed in since January, when he faces The Vision's Bronson Reed.

Becky Lynch is also in action when she defends her WWE Intercontinental Championship against Nikki Bella. This is the only women's match set to take place at Paris La Defense Arena in the French capital.

Stephanie Vaquer was scheduled to challenge Naomi for the Women's World Championship, but the latter announced she was pregnant. This resulted in her vacating the title and RAW general manager Adam Pearce scrapping a match for the gold on the Clash in Paris matchcard, a decision branded 'lazy' by fans.

WWE could still be adding a sixth match to the PLE, which will see Randy Orton face Drew McIntyre amid tension brewing on SmackDown. That's according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, who said (via WrestlePurists) that "there's a solid chance" the match gets booked for Sunday, although it's "not 100%".

Orton and McIntyre undoubtedly deserve to feature regularly on WWE's PLEs, but the lack of women's representation is concerning, with only one match scheduled. Pearce told Vaquer that he needed time to officially book her opponent for the vacated world title.

Still, if it ends up being Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley, or a regularly active member of the main roster, it would feel unjust not to have included them in the Clash in Paris PLE. WWE will point to holding their Evolution event in July, which featured only women, but they should be sharing the spotlight with the men.

"A Big Focus" - Triple H on the Importance of Women in WWE

WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque has played a crucial role in the representation of women in WWE and the increased opportunities they have had during his tenure. He has put the likes of Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Charlotte Flair in the spotlight and propelled them to superstardom on a level similar to that of the men's division.

Triple H spoke about how women are a huge factor in the company's direction and how they quickly make their way onto WWE TV. He said at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in March: "Women are a big focus of what we’re doing, leading to the future and how we’re training and getting them up. Across the board, the women pick this up way faster than men do. It’s an amazing thing."

Most of the women who make it to the main roster first start their WWE careers in the developmental brand, NXT. They work with Shawn Michaels, who has been a key figure in the recent pushes of the reigning WWE Women's Champion, Tiffany Stratton, and RAW's rising star, Roxanne Perez.

Triple H commented on women's development while working with the NXT head booker: "Shawn Michaels runs that program for us, and I will it to Shawn all the time, it is amazing to me that we’re getting these women that come in, start training with us at ground zero, just like the men, and six months in, eight months in, nine months in, he’s putting those women on TV already live, and the guys are down here, and I’m not sure why that is."

There is no arguing that WWE is recognising the incredible depth of talent on their women's roster, which is largely why the likes of Stephanie Vaquer and Giulia took no time whatsoever climbing from NXT to RAW and SmackDown, respectively. However, with more eyes on the product, events such as Clash in Paris provide a golden opportunity to position them as big as stars alongside the men's roster.