Women’s wrestling, particularly in America, has always been on the backburner when it comes to wrestling entertainment.
In the 80s, most women in the wrestling industry weren’t highlighted much if at all amongst their male peers. If anything, the most recognizable names in women’s wrestling at the time were valets such as Miss Elizabeth.
With the Attitude Era turn in the WWE during the late 90s/early 2000s, women did find a more prominent role in the wrestling world, but it wasn’t for their in-ring skill. Women wrestlers were being used by the company as sex objects and included some of the most hated superstars in the industry.
Superstars like Trish Stratus and Lita showed tremendous talent in the ring but were never taken seriously since the young male dominated audience only wanted to see them portrayed in a more sexual manner.
In the mid 2010s, fans called for a “women’s evolution” in the main roster, which brought modern women wrestling icons such as Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, who shook up not only the women’s divison but the entire company. It was because of this women’s evolution that women finally made the main event in WrestleMania 35 in 2019.
The future was looking bright for the women’s division in the WWE. However, things have recently been shaky for the women’s division. Many wrestling fans online have criticized the bookings of women’s matches on the main roster and how many of the women’s matches to fans have felt like “filler.” Even wrestling storylines involving women champions have fans sharing the same opinions based on poor booking decisions and the direction many of these women’s storylines have taken.
What’s gone wrong?
To me, I can agree that many of the women on the main roster have been getting the short end of the stick because the women currently holding the titles are either too strong or too weak. In the women’s tag team division, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill hold the titles and many fans including myself believe that they will be holding on to the titles for a while because there has been no other women’s tag team that is strong enough to take it from them. It’s not the fault of the women, but it’s on the booking.
Same with Liv Morgan, holding the women’s world championship. Her title reign has been incredibly weak due to her neverending feud with Rhea Ripley which shifts the focus on the title to Dominik Mysterio, Rhea’s former “lover.” This is problematic not only because the focal point of this feud is on a man, but also because this sets up Liv to require more strength. However, looking at the size difference between Ripley and Morgan, it would be unbelievable that Morgan could take her down on her own.
Despite this, women’s wrestling is still holding strong in WWE’s developmental brand, NXT. The NXT women’s division is at its peak with having strong champions like Roxanne Perez and introducing international superstars like Stephanie Vaquer and Giulia. Fans have praised NXT’s women’s division and match booker/creative lead Shawn Michaels for surpassing the main roster’s women’s division. The women not only have multiple matches, but are seen as the highlight because of how strong they seem based on the booking and the way they present themselves.
How will this look when Raw goes on to Netflix? Who knows?
Many people want the Netflix transition to bring back the return of the Attitude Era, but I think that is a horrible idea. The Attitude Era did create iconic stars like The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, but a lot of the storylines and bits they portrayed at the time were highly problematic and most importantly, devalued the women’s division.
If the company were to do this again, then that would be the nail on the coffin. However, I do not believe that they will and I do believe that they are trying to rebuild faith in the main roster women’s division. The company just needs to focus on the women’s skills and book matches that make sense for the storyline between a women’s rivalry.