I recently read a post by Sunkissed Scribbles about women's wrestling and the 'Women's Revolution' in WWE. It got me all excited for the recent (and first ever) Women's Money In The Bank match.
In recent years WWE has started to push some women's matches and segments towards the top of the card. You only have to look at Charlotte, Becky and Sasha's match at Wrestlemania 32 to see the development since I started watching back in the 90's. We have gone from women's matches mainly being bra and panties, to recently having Hell in the Cell and Monet in the Bank match ups. The revolution has slowed down in recent months with the women falling back down the card, but its still happening. Gone are the days of women only being managers or arm candy. They are now seen as bonafide wrestlers.
The most recent evidence of this is the announcement of WWE's Mae Young Classic. Similarly to their Cruiserweight Classic with the men. WWE will essentially raid the indies and some other promotions to give more women an opportunity in their company.
Some of the competitors who have already been announced for the Mae Young Classic include Alpha Female, Abbey Laith, Kavita Devi, Lacey Evans, Princesa Sugehit, Taynara Conti, Tessa Blanchard, Toni Storm and Sarah Logan.
Currently the women's roster is split over Raw and Smackdown, who have separate rosters. At the moment this makes both rosters look weak, because there are only 6 or 7 women on either show. Given that WWE is likely about to include 5 to 10 new women's wrestlers following the MYC, what would you do?
They could split them between Raw and Smackdown (and NXT the developmental brand), or what I think would actually work more, they could create a separate women's wrestling show. Given WWE's desire to avoid any mixed gender wrestling, I don't see why this couldn't happen and be successful.
Yes, it would be a different is women could wrestle men as they do in shows like Lucha Underground. Which is amazing by the way, so go watch it! They have gone one better than just having men and women able to wrestle each other. One of their female wrestlers, Sexy Star, has held their promotions championship! I really should do a whole post on how amazing that is.
The women's roster would be strong if it were combined. You could have about 18 to 20 making space for a secondary or even tag team title belt on the show too. This would truly be a women's revolution.
Will WWE actually do this? I don't know. It would help the roster look and feel stronger and they did it with the Cruiserweight Classic becoming a weekly show, 205 Live.
However, 205 Live is rubbish! Its not exclusive, their wrestlers turn up on NXT and Raw. A women's show would need to avoid this. Subsequently this would mean the female wrestlers wouldn't get the same exposure (by not being on Raw or Smackdown). There would need to be a very real and very well managed promotion of this new show. It could be done...but I'm not sure it will.
What are your thoughts?
I didn't even mention the lady setting NXT on fire right now, with an almost 200 match unbeaten run in Asuka.
*Images from WWE.com and luchaunderground.com