I'm Just Sayin': A Dissenting View On the State Of Women's Wrestling

Mainstream women’s professional wrestling is at an all time low.

Several very talented B/R contributors have crafted pieces that spoke volumes about what various companies could do to salvage their respective women’s division. 

With methods ranging from giving women wrestlers their own show, to allowing them to actually wrestle, folks have plenty of great things to say about this mess.

Unfortunately, these changes—as wonderful as they are—mean nothing in the long run if we continue to view women’s matches as bathroom breaks.

In order for any women’s division to get better, the fans must change their perspective of the product. 

Once we view women’s wrestling in a similar light as we do their counterparts’ efforts, the companies will respond with a product that will sell tickets, merchandise, and pay- per-views.

Changing one’s perspective of the product, however, is not an easy task that happens immediately overnight. 

What we fail to acknowledge or even realize is that there are several factors that mold our minds to believe that women wrestlers are inferior to the males. 

Some of these factors are subconsciously forced upon us, while others are borne out of our own paternalistic life experiences.

If there is any hope in saving or resurrecting a Knockout or Diva, and if we are desperately searching for the proper method of resuscitating women’s pro wrestling, the power is in our hands to scrutinize the factors that may have shaped how we view the stellar female athletes in the business.

Commentary

In a given wrestling match, the announcers usually concentrate on a laundry list of topics outside of the match taking place in the ring. Sometimes, they may hype an upcoming pay-per-view while at other times, they may discuss a heated feud between two high profile superstars.

This banter typically happens no matter who is wrestling in the ring. Male or female.

Depending on how well the match is going, the announcers will adapt accordingly with their banter. If there is a heated and epic encounter between superstars taking place in the ring, the announcers will stay focused on the in-ring action more than anything else.

If the match is filler, a squash, or has a presumably predictable outcome, fans can expect the announcers to bicker between one another or talk about everything under the sun except the match.

The latter occurred during the Divas Championship bout between Eve Torres and Maryse at the WWE’s recent Over the Limit pay-per-view.

For the viewers at home, whom we can safely assume outnumber those in attendance at the shows, this chatter chips away at the quality of the match and subconsciously coerces fans to place more stock in whatever the announcers are talking about.

When speaking of women’s wrestling, it is particularly frustrating to hear such palavering during a women’s match that is actually good.

Let’s return to the aforementioned battle between Eve Torres and Maryse.

While far from a five star classic, Eve and Maryse put together a decent match by any given standard. The announcers spent most of the time arguing with each other and laughing at the Divas, which pissed me off in particular.

How are fans expected to care about the Divas when the announcers aren’t even focused on the match?

Here is another example. On the May 27 edition of TNA iMPACT, The Beautiful People faced Sarita and Taylor Wilde for the Knockouts Tag Team Titles. 

Joining Mike Tenay and Taz in the booth was “Puppet, the Psycho Dwarf,” star of the reality show Half Pint Brawlers, a show about midget wrestlers that now airs on Spike TV, with replays right after TNA iMPACT.

Tenay, Taz, and Psycho Dwarf spent most of the match prattling on and on about Half Pint Brawlers, Psycho Dwarf’s insane lifestyle, and a few sexual innuendos that I would have preferred to not hear come from Taz, Tenay, or a man named Puppet.

The match that took place in the ring, however, received about eight or nine references from all three of these men within the two minutes and twenty four seconds it lasted.

The match was decent, but the highlight of this championship match ended up being Lacey Von Erich making out with Puppet in the middle of the ring.

Taz’s response at the conclusion of the match. "Get some rubbers.”

In a nutshell, the Knockouts Division—a division that was well-respected by pro wrestling fans around the world for allowing women wrestlers to actually wrestle—has been reduced to this?

*Note from the contributor: We can never badmouth the WWE for shoving Hornswoggle down our throats ever again now that TNA has chosen to focus our attention towards an entire show about pint-sized wrestlers, rather than highlight their highest rated division and segment in the company. 

The fans watching at home greatly outnumber the fans watching live, but the fans in the arena have the benefit of watching the match without being coerced one way or the other by ringside commentators.

On a given televised night, the WWE can expect 14,000 people in the arena to enjoy a women’s wrestling match without limitations, while the four million people watching at home are manipulated by the commentators to either leave the room or stay tuned for the outcome of the match.

This isn’t to say that either company does this habitually during a woman’s match. But I can assure you there aren’t too many John Cena or Sting matches where the commentators spend most of it giggling like anime school girls.

History

Today’s women wrestlers have lofty shoes to fill when it comes to their in-ring performance, presence, mic skills, and charisma.

More often than not, we recall the days of Trish Stratus, Chyna and Lita when discussing the current state of the WWE’s product. 

These women pioneered the Divas division, and because of this, we tend to hold today’s Divas to incredibly high standards that cannot, and will not, be met easily.

For starters, we tend to only think about the middle or end of these women’s careers in the WWE.  Rarely will I hear anyone mention that Trish started out as the voluptuous manager for the appropriately named tag team “T&A.”

I’ve yet to hear anyone mention that Lita started her WWE career as “Bella Twin Arm Candy” for Mexican superstar Essa Rios. 

I’ll do you one even better. My earliest exposure to Lita came from the original ECW, where as “Miss Congeniality” she clipped her toenails during a Danny Doring/Amish Roadkill backstage promo.

I won’t insult your intelligence by talking about where Chyna started out with the WWE.

What’s even more shocking is that most folks will rarely talk about all the other WWE Divas that have graced our television screens.

Torrie, Sable, Molly Holly, Candice Michelle, Melina, Torrie Wilson, Cherry, Stacy Keibler, Maria, Nivea, B.B., Nicole Bass, Ivory, Ryan Shamrock, Jazz, Jacqueline, Ashley Massaro, Stephanie McMahon (yes, she counts as a Diva), Marlena, Miss Kitty, Sunny, Luna Vachon, Alundra Blayze, and Bull Nakano just to name a few.

Fans seem to only recall the glory days of Trish, Chyna, and Lita in particular, and are quick to compare the divas today to those particular divas during the height of their respective careers.

In other words, we’ve already set today’s divas up to fail before they’ve even had their first match.

If fans fail to recount the humble beginnings of the WWE’s more famous women’s wrestlers, they really can’t appreciate the direction of today’s women’s wrestlers. 

Trish, Lita, Chyna and all the other divas were trained to wrestle the WWE’s style, and when the time was right for them to showcase their skills they ignited our love for women’s wrestling.

Not all of their matches were top quality, either. Trish’s best match (in my opinion) was at Wrestlemania 22 against Mickie James, four months before she retired. 

We must keep in mind that Trish’s career spanned six years

Fans must also remember these divas participated in the most asinine matches and storylines ever conceived by any wrestling promotion. 

How many times has Trish been involved in a match that involved gravy, mud, sexy costumes, or pillows?

One of Chyna’s greatest claims to fame was becoming the first and only woman to hold the WWE Intercontinental Championship (twice at that). 

Do you remember how she won the title in the first place? Here’s a nifty little reminder for you.

A well-rounded perspective on the history of women’s wrestling in a particular company will enable fans to view today’s female grapplers in an entirely different light. 

Their matches today are not all that awe-inspiring. But the WWE hasn’t allowed female wrestlers to really wrestle since the days of Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano.

Today’s women’s wrestling in the WWE is not really as bad as it use to be. At least Eve didn’t have to face Maryse in pool to win the Divas Championship.

Blatant Neglect

It wasn‘t long ago that TNA took pride in its Knockouts Division. To this day, the Knockouts provide the company with the highest rated segments during a given iMPACT broadcast.

TNA’s ability to showcase women wrestlers instead of models-turned-wrestlers made the division sought after by fans all over. TNA successfully combined wrestlers with sex appeal, brute strength, and hardcore tendencies to create a unique and popular women’s division.

All of that got flushed down the toilet the minute TNA attempted to compete with the WWE.

Somewhere along the way, even before the bright and promising dawn of the Hogan/Russo Era, TNA began to let go of several Knockouts that brought prominence to the division and ratings to the company. 

Point being, the Knockouts are a far cry from what they once were and what the division stood for. While the company spent ample time carbo-loading its roster with male superstars, the women’s division suffered devastating loses and lackluster character and creative development.

Even with three championships and eight women actively participating in five minute televised matches, the Knockouts still remain top ratings producers for TNA while languishing in rampant neglect and blatant disregard on part of the creative team.

In TNA’s defense, the company no longer prides itself on the Knockouts Division. TNA has been conditioned to believe that sex appeal is the only thing that draws fans’ attention towards women‘s wrestling.

So we end up with a product that is focused heavily on the current iteration of the most sexually appealing women (The Beautiful People) in the company.

The same thing has happened in the WWE, who are thoroughly convinced they can transform models into wrestlers instead of placing their women wrestlers into quality feuds and rivalries with one another.

Both companies are simply providing fans with what we’ve already asked for.  I’m a firm believer in the notion that both companies are responding to what the vast majority of fans say they want to see.  John Cena is still pushed as a fan favorite face because that’s what most of the fans are paying for.

Similarly, we get pretty women in short, lackluster matches because in a way that’s what most of the fans are paying to see. 

If the WWE knew that fans wanted to see Beth Phoenix and Natalya fight to the death over the Women’s Championship, then it would have happened.

When that match-up actually happened, the fans remained firmly seated on their hands for the most part.

TNA’s cardinal sin in this manner, however, is their complacency in allowing their prized Knockouts Division to become a hobo’s WWE Diva fantasy.

Just look at the awesome talent that has been released or let go from the company: Gail Kim, Alissa “Raisha Saeed” Flash, Traci Brooks, Awesome Kong, Tara, ODB, and Roxxi (the one Knockout that has the dubious honor of being released from the company multiple times). 

Each and every one of these Knockouts was renowned for their talents and in-ring abilities.

Now take a gander at the female wrestlers that remain on TNA’s roster: Hamada, Angelina Love, Sarita, Rosie Lottalove, Taylor Wilde, Velvet Sky, Lacey Von Erich, Daffney, and Madison Rayne. 

Out of the nine listed women, only three of them appear or compete with the company on a regular weekly televised basis:  Velvet Sky, Lacey Von Erich, and Madison Rayne.

What have we done to voice our displeasure with these things? 

 As far as I know, not much has transpired in the way of getting TNA to reconsider doing whatever it takes to get these women back in the company.

We’ve created and signed petitions to get the WWE to give Matt Hardy a decent singles push and we’ve even gotten John Cena to sign a petition to get the WWE to immediately rehire Bryan Danielson.

But there seems to be very little pomp and circumstance for the released Knockouts mentioned above. 

For the most part, we’ve only prayed to the wrestling gods that the WWE will change its business model and hire these women and give them the money and time to shine that they didn’t get from TNA.

To an extent, that’s about as feasible as expecting TNA to pick up Bryan Danielson and use him to his fullest potential (if they can’t do it with Nigel McGuinness, then they definitely won’t do it with Danielson).

To sum it all up, women’s wrestling won’t see a definite change unless we change our perception of their work and abilities, and respond accordingly to the things we see that we don’t agree with.

The WWE continues to place its female wrestlers in filler matches that we use as opportunities to retreat to the bathroom or concession stands. 

We constantly point out all of their “botches,” but rarely do we compliment the women’s matches that are actually good and rarely do we speak highly of the growth of some of the women’s in ring abilities and skills.

TNA continues to pay their women wrestlers substandard wages and book them in three minute matches that do a little less than keep them fresh in the minds of the fans. 

We sit back and watch as these talented women waltz out of the company, and are content to complain about what TNA should do as opposed to what we can do to get them back in the company and in the spotlight. 

After all, TNA is a company that is hailed for “listening to its fans,” right?

The state of women’s wrestling in TNA and the WWE will not change unless our perception of it changes. 

Those perceptions cannot change unless we come to really understand how we’re led to look at women’s wrestling as secondary to everything else, including Hornswoggle and Half Pint Brawlers.

But if you find yourself content with the way things are, yet yearn for real in ring action from some of the best women wrestlers in the business, I suggest you invest in tons of SHIMMER DVDs and avoid watching the WWE and TNA for their glorified Wrestlicious women’s matches.

For Your Viewing Pleasure:
Bull Nakano (c) v. Alundra Blayze for the WWF Women’s Championship
Monday Night RAW- April 3, 1995

Suggested Reading:

1.  Why WWE Officials Are the Real Masters of Manipulation by JVCXV