Stephanie McMahon recently appeared on Good Morning America as part of their #GIRLPOWER series, which looks at women in powerful and important roles in modern society. It was a huge kudos to Stephanie McMahon as a person, as most wrestling fans – casual and IWC alike – view her more akin to her manipulative Authority persona than an iconic woman of power. When asked about the recent Divas Revolution, McMahon stated “Our fans asked us to do more with our female performers,” McMahon told the host, “to feature them as athletes, to give them more meaningful characters, they’re not just eye candy, ‘we want more.’ And we are doing everything we can to super serve that need.”
While some continuously scoff that notion and point at the seemingly slow development of fan favourite Sasha Banks and the sudden turn of Charlotte from face to heel, a look at WWE‘s history within itself shows that this is still arguably the best representation of women in WWE’s history, both in the ring and within societies changing tolerances.
The Precursors of the Divas Division
Up until the 1980’s, women’s wrestling was treated mostly like a holdover from the circus carnivals. They were never considered to be a main draw of any card, but more of a sideshow, akin to the bearded ladies and strongmen. Hence why so many Legends hold on to such a mysoginistic view of women performers in the industry – in their day it was a spectacle (Editor Note: Women were banned from NWA conferences for decades, despite legendary women’s wrestler Mildred Burke being a great wrestling draw). The Rock N’ Wrestling Era was a short shot in the arm with Wendi Richter leading the charge, but that experiment saw a slow and painful demise, and by the time Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano were in charge in the early 90’s, the WWF audience had all but relegated the Women’s Division below Midget Wrestling and clowns. That’s why Madusa‘s “shots fired” of dumping the belt was such a controversial move back then – WCW was intent on reviving women’s wrestling like it had by introducing the Cruiserweight division and having the last WWF Women’s Champ dump the belt was symbolic in many women’s performers that the WWF had indeed put the entire division and women’s wrestling into the trash.
Desperate to claw back into the title race with the upstart WCW Nitro, WWF rebooted its Women’s Division in 1998, born more out of the risqué storylines that allowed the women to become more “exposed” to the audience than out of a desire to push women’s wrestling. They had their valets – Sunny, Sable, Debra, Marlena – but they needed some actual women to come in and hold their own. Jacqueline Moore, a former worker from Jerry Lawler‘s USWA (as Miss Texas) who had some success in WCW managing Harlem Heat (and a controversial intergender match with Disco Inferno), was joined by former GLOW wrestler Tina Ferrari (repackaged as Ivory) in throwing some substance behind the eye candy. Chyna became a polarizing character, as a woman took centre stage with the men. Another indy wrestler, Lita, was also brought in, along with fellow ECW alumni Jazz, as well as former WCW valet Miss Madness, as the squeaky clean and cute Molly Holly. But the beginning of the end of this small taste of actual wrestling with storylines came when Toronto fitness model Trish Stratus entered the WWF Universe. She debuted as a valet for T & A (Test and Albert) and slowly learned to wrestle behind the scenes. Within two years, she was the WWF Women’s Champion and arguably the most charismatic and popular Diva that the WWE has ever had. And she was created by the WWE machine – an athletic model trained to be a performer.
Sadly, Trish Stratus proved that she – much like her Attitude Era peers like The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin – was a natural, a one of kind performer, that just bleed the industry, picking it up and improvising on it to make it feel real, honest and easy to get behind. But the WWF saw a formula and began to snatch up less and less actual independent performers in favour of models with athletic backgrounds who they could then train in their WWE way. They’d still bring in the odd indy worker to satisfy the IWC, but for every Beth Pheonix there was five Kelly Kellys. And the fact they all came from the same well, they all shared more in common than just the Barbie doll looks. Their personalities, move sets, their entire aura, reeked of sameness. Once the eye candy appeal wore off, the division was exposed to being a stagnant and unwatchable series of Sweet Valley vignettes.
Leaving the Valley of the Dolls
But every since Triple H took over NXT and working closely with his wife, Stephanie McMahon, the ground floor design has been to shift away from that thinking. With the WWE audience closing in on over 40% female, and with current climates showing that women are demanding more representation in their action films, the female performers are now being groomed or created more to appeal to women looking for inspirations, than as merely jaw dropping moments for the underage boys to gawk at. Paige, Natalya, Emma and AJ Lee were early products that showed the future of where the company was being pointed and that was to women who had both personality and could work in the ring. Those four alone could very well have been the best four women on the roster at any one time in the company’s history. The Barbie Dolls of Divas Past began to fall like flies and the ones that stayed – Alicia Fox and the Bella Twins in particular – had to pull up their socks and fight to get better in the ring. These new women could carry a match but they needed at least something to play with.
The addition of the NXT wave of Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch is the next booster shot and the one that will solidify the validity of women’s wrestling in the WWE, for perhaps the first actual time in the company’s history. Let’s be honest – there was some definite ring talent in the Attitude Era’s roster, but the company still pushed them to more of a sexual focus. You won’t be seeing any of these current women engaging in Bra & Panties or Chocolate Pudding matches any time soon.
And although it’s being lauded for pushing Ric Flair back down people’s throats, it should be noted that this is almost a first for a woman’s character. She is being valeted by a man. And not just any man (Victoria was once managed by Stevie Richards, along with other examples of midcarders). The 16-time World Champion Ric Flair. He has done a masterful job of staying out of the spotlight and only peppering the story with his involvement. It’s been well planted and progressed the narrative, but not overshadowed it. And the best thing is, these women get to learn psychology from one of the industry’s best. Ten years ago, the male veterans wouldn’t have been so willing to help teach the women anything.
Is the WWE Divas Division perfect? Not by a long shot. For one, they have to return it’s name to the Women’s Division. Fluffing their name only makes it seem petty rather than serious competition. And it wouldn’t hurt to bring some of the veterans back, like Madusa Blayze, Ivory, Lita, Jackie, or Molly Holly, to either mentor as a valet, or to do guest runs, similar to what Chris Jericho or Rob Van Dam do. If a 56-year old Ricky Steamboat can come back for a short few months feud and Wrestlemania moment, then I don’t see why a 51-year old Alundra Blayze couldn’t come back for an angle (how about she mentors Becky Lynch only to turn on her, setting up one more PPV match for Blayze?) Or maybe Paige has one run versus her mother, Saraya Knight, in an angle where she wants to prove herself to a mother who always ignored her for the world of wrestling.
So whule there’s still a ways to go, be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will the new WWE Women’s Division. But it’s already miles better than where it’s been (no matter what your 11-year old recollection of the Attitude Era tells you) and with the impending debuts of Bayley, Asuka, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Nia Jax, Dana Brooke and more to the Main Roster over the next two years, I think we’ll all be cheering on the ladies with the same gumption – if not more – than the men.
And the Revolution WILL be televised.
