When did the women's revolution in wrestling start? It's a debatable topic! Many will say when some of the more significant women from NXT came over to Raw and Smackdown. Some people claim it was women such as Paige and Emma that started it, and some go back further to other moments. What is clear now is how the importance of women's wrestling has risen in the last few years. Women's wrestling has had its ups and downs over the years and sometimes no matter how many strides forward it takes, it still doesn't manage to get the respect it deserves.
Women's wrestling started around the 1930's. Women such as Mildred Burke, Judy Grable, Mae Young, and the Fabulous Moolah were some of the pioneers of women's wrestling. Much like professional wrestling itself at the time, women's wrestling was taken more serious than in later years. There was a point in time, however, when women's wrestling wasn't deemed as important, even blatantly saying that it didn't draw. By the late 1980's, it was fading away. In the WWF at the time, Fabulous Moolah had held the Women's Championship for 28 years. She was also a big part of the WWF's huge wrestling boom in the 80's. Her feud with Wendy Richter was a big deal, especially with the involvement of music sensation Cindy Lauper. Judy Martin and Leilani Kai were also respected women wrestlers, as were the high-flying Japanese duo the Jumping Bomb Angels. Meanwhile, women like Madusa and Sensational Sherri were tearing it up in other promotions. Of course, there were many women who were managers or valets that were extremely important to the industry, most notably the late Miss Elizabeth.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention G.L.O.W., or Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. This promotion did a lot for women's wrestling in the 80's and launched several careers. This was certainly a cast of characters and gave them a platform to succeed. Who could forget characters like Big Bad Mama, Mt. Fuji, Little Egypt, and Ninotchka? It even inspired a documentary and a Netflix series based on the promotion.
The WWF Women's Championship was quietly retired in 1990 after Rockin' Robin's 16 month reign when she left the promotion. While women's wrestling was still going on in other promotions and Japan as well, it wasn't around in the WWF until 1993 when the first revival of women's wrestling began. Madusa came to the company as Alundra Blayze and became the new WWF Women's Champion. Things seemed to be going well again. She was extremely over and had incredible matches with the likes of Bull Nakano, Aja Kong, and the underrated Rhonda Singh, who was straddled with the horrible gimmick of Bertha Faye. You also had women like Luna Vachon making a mark.
Women's wrestling, especially in the WWF, took a nose dive when Blayze left for WCW, taking her Championship with her, and throwing it in a trash can on live TV during an episode of WCW Monday Nitro. Because of this, she was shunned from the company for a long time. It was a huge ratings boost for WCW, however. She has since noted she regretted the decision every day of her life until her return and Hall of Fame induction. It was certainly an infamous moment in the annals of professional wrestling.
During the mid-1990's, women were simply valets or managers. We saw the rise of Sunny and Sable. However, the Attitude Era was immanent and unfortunately, women in wrestling were seen as mere eye candy and certainly not taken seriously at all. When the Women's Championship was revived, Sable took the title. However, she was known more for her sexuality and being more over than husband at the time, Marc Mero. The same could be said for Sunny. Even though wonderful women's wrestlers like Jacqueline Moore were around, it just wasn't of the utmost importance. There were "Bra and Panty" matches, matches involving some kind of pool anywhere from water to pudding, and many other horrible gimmick matches.
One shining light in all of this was Chyna, who not only put women's wrestling back on the map, but was such an attraction for professional wrestling itself. Her power and intensity was enough to propel herself to an Intercontinental Championship reign and she also became the first woman to compete in a Royal Rumble match. Whether it was with Degeneration X, with Eddie Guerrero, or on her own, Chyna was a very important part of the reemergence of women's wrestling.
However, in the midst of all this, women's wrestling started to rise again. Quietly, impressive wrestlers like G.L.O.W. veteran Ivory (formerly known as Tina Ferrari) and Molly Holly came in. In 2000, former fitness model Trish Stratus entered the fray. While she was not very good in the ring at first, and was used more for her beauty, she got very good very fast and has since become one of the greatest women ever to grace the ring. While the "Attitude" was still very much there, the athleticism improved greatly as more athletic female wrestlers emerged, such as Lita, Victoria, Gail Kim, Mickie James, and Beth Phoenix. Women's wrestling was at a peak in the early to mid-2000's. Meanwhile, promotions like TNA started producing their "Knockout's Division." Kim moved over there and got an even bigger platform to succeed, as well as Awesome Kong and the Beautiful People.
Back in the WWF, things started to take a turn for the worse as Trish and Lita retired and Gail Kim left the company. It was at this time that the term "Diva" was being used a lot for women in wrestling. For me, it always had a negative connotation, as its name conveyed a woman who was full of herself. Women's wrestling wasn't treated fairly anymore. The action in the ring wasn't as significant anymore. The match quality decreased significantly. Here's where you had women like Michelle McCool, Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Candice Michelle, Stacey Keibler, Torrie Wilson, and many others around. Many of them couldn't wrestle very well, but at the same time, weren't completely at fault. There were given minimal time and minimal training. They were pretty much set up to fail. Then there was the emergence of the Diva's Championship, which soon engulfed the Women's Championship. It didn't help matters that the belt was a glorified pink butterfly! Poor Natalya was lost in a sea of talentless women. The show "Total Divas," which I enjoy very much by the way, was introduced and while women like AJ Lee tried to get around this problem and wrestle, you had the Bella Twins, Cameron, and the infamous Eva Marie.
In my opinion, the time from 2007 to about 2014 were the dark ages of women's wrestling. As a male wrestling fan, I appreciate women's bodies as much as the next guy, but I watched them for the actual wrestling. If I wanted to see scantily-clad women, I had many other outlets for that. I just wanted to watch them in the ring and be appreciated for what they brought to the table. However, women's wrestling really started to catch fire in the independent promotions and quietly, WWE took notice and started to follow suit.
One of the main reasons why the NXT brand started to become popular was its female competitors.
Paige bursting onto the scene on the main roster helped a lot but her experience all over the world and especially NXT, was the reason why. NXT brought to the table the "Four Horsewomen" of WWE, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch. All four were extremely talented and fantastic in the ring. NXT allotted them the time and showcased them in way that captivated the audience. As they started getting called up, more women emerged, such as Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, and Carmella. Asuka came along and really changed the game. Her charisma, intensity, and undefeated streak, which is still going on, has made her an extremely vital part of women's wrestling. With this came the first Pay-Per-View main event featuring women's wrestling in the first female Hell In a Cell match between Charlotte and Sasha. Meanwhile, Sasha and Bayley had the first ever Women's Iron Man Match, and the latest event has been the first Women's "Money In the Bank" Ladder Match.
Aside from actual wrestling, women started to get other significant roles and were treated with more respect. Lillian Garcia has been one of the best announcers in professional wrestling. Of course, in the 80's, we were treated to a wonderful woman in Mike McGuirk. At the current time, we have the talented Renee Young, who has been an interviewer and commentator at times. This woman has been scouted by ESPN many times, yet shows how vital she is to WWE right now.
The defining moment and the shift of when the Women's Revolution really took over was when the Diva's Championship was retired, along with the term "Diva," and replaced with a true Women's Championship. That title was soon strictly a Raw Championship, and Smackdown developed its own Women's Championship as well. With the recent Mae Young Classic, we were treated with an excellent tournament of tremendous female competitors. Along with several who have since joined NXT, Raw, and Smackdown, were gifted wrestlers from various Indy promotions. Wrestlers like Santana Garrett, Tessa Blanchard, and Rachel Ellering have been tearing it up. We may possibly get MMA stars like Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler as well.
With all the positives come a few negatives, some of which lying within WWE and unfortunately some coming from fans. Some people have a very outdated mentality when it comes to women's wrestling. Some feel it still doesn't or will never draw, while others feel the current crop of women aren't very attractive. Again, to me, I never cared much about nonsense like that, even as a teenager in the Attitude Era! There were and are plenty of women who may not be the most attractive, but are incredible in-ring performers. It seems that no matter how far women's wrestling has come, it still hasn't come far enough. None of this is the fault of any female wrestler. Hopefully, things will continue to change for the better. As a fan, I feel good knowing that women's wrestling has come this far and am excited to see where it goes next.
If you have any further examples on the situation, let me know in comments. Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST, brought to you by TagMeADate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans. Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport. For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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