Women’s wrestling fans, do you remember WrestleMania 32? If you’re anything like me, you mostly try not to, especially after several disappointing finishes to matches that were otherwise okay, and matches that were pretty crap the whole way through.
But one thing that you should remember is how many women there were at the biggest event in sports entertainment.
We had the incredible triple threat for the newly created WWE Women’s Championship, and we had a huge tag match that essentially worked out as Brie Bella‘s retirement party.
All in all there were thirteen women wrestling on the WrestleMania card this year, and that’s without including Nikki Bella showing up for a cuddle with her sister for her last match.
Think back to before WrestleMania, when all of this was being set up. The women would get one match every show, and sometimes even two, with the second being a little bit more of a throwaway match – but you can’t have everything, apparently, as long as you’ve got tits. So on the run-up to WrestleMania, we were spoilt for choice with women’s matches, women’s stories and just… women, everywhere.
Sure, there was no explanation for Eva Marie showing up, and no one seemed to like her much, but we could let all that go by the wayside because Lana was making appearances, and Paige was rocking up and being awesome, and there was this huge all-female war going on, where none of the men spoke about it, and the argument was never explicitly said to be about a man, clothes, or hair colour.
For a little while, WWE programming might almost have passed the Bechdel test if you squinted really, really hard.
Fast-forward to a few months later, and we’re looking at shows where either the women’s wrestling match is a minute or two long, or – even worse – there isn’t one at all. Recent footage of Charlotte, having thrown Ric Flair out of her life, is explained (mainsplained) to us by Dean Ambrose, Kalisto, and even The Usos!
Why? What the hell do they have to do with this storyline? If it had just been the women making comments, I might have understood that, because they’re all sort of wrapped up in it together, as she’s at the head of their division.
But I don’t remember anyone wheeling out Becky and Paige and Sasha in the middle of the Ambrose/Jericho feud, to explain their take on what was happening. It’s a bizarre circumstance where men get to comment on a situation they’re not involved in, simply because their view is seen as more important.
There are a couple of reasons that people might get to talk about Charlotte breaking things off with her dad as her coach.
Firstly, if they were (kayfabe) romantically or sexually involved with Charlotte. Secondly, if they were (kayfabe) romantically or sexually involved with Ric Flair. Thirdly, if they had ever had to (kayfabe) push a parent out of their life. Shame about Cody Rhodes‘ departure, they could have used him in this segment, had him talk to Charlotte as someone who had been in much the same space as she is.
But other than that, there’s no reason to have anyone outside of the women’s wrestling division speak about this situation – and even then, maybe keep it to the people who know Charlotte the best within storyline. That would be Paige, Becky, and Natalya.
If WWE had given us a five minute promo with the women who know Charlotte talking about her split with her dad, I might have understood it. Instead, I just got frustrated that it was repeated two shows in a row, rather than any storyline being furthered.
There have been difficulties involving injuries, pulling the women’s roster down to just four blondes and a redhead; for a little while, only Lana, Charlotte, Natalya, Dana Brooke and Becky Lynch were cleared to wrestle or not serving some sort of punishment down on Superstars. Alicia Fox seems to have disappeared without a trace, but we have some hope now, with Naomi, Summer Rae and Sasha Banks all cleared to wrestle, although some caution may be taken with Sasha.
The smaller roster has taken its toll on time for women’s wrestling in each show, and it would be great to see that time climb back up from a couple of minutes per show to a more substantial amount of time.
After all, it wasn’t that long ago that we were talking about women wrestling in the main even on a pay-per-view, and there were rumors of a women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, too. Here’s hoping that with many women coming back from injury, and with what looks like the amalgamation of NXT into the main roster, we can get back to giving the women the time, and the storylines, that they deserve.