The WWE & NXT Crying Game

PWPNation.com weekly contributor Josh Gibbs sheds light on the issue of the competitive & ground-breaking WWE Divas consistently crying at critical points after major matches

The brainchild of Paul “Triple H” Levesque known as NXT has blossomed into a brand all unto its own which has undoubtedly contributed to the success of the WWE Network. In 2012, the aging phoenix known as Florida Championship Wrestling was set ablaze so that NXT could arise from its ashes.

Rebranded. Renewed. Reinvigorated.

We were promised fresh faces, interesting kayfabe plots and a better showcase for female wrestlers whose in-ring talents had been woefully ignored for years.

So while we have seen a resurgence and newfound respect for women’s wrestling thanks to NXT, I can’t get over all the crying.

I’ve seen it. You’ve seen it. Despite all the messages about female empowerment and giving women a chance to headline main events, women are still portrayed as fragile creatures whose feelings can be hurt more easily than their bodies. They can take a chair shot to the spine but don’t you dare talk about their dad or insult their accomplishments.

I’ve made numerous jokes about a Flair Family Drinking Game and I stand by this wholeheartedly: take a shot every time they mention Charlotte being Ric Flair’s daughter. Chug your drink every time they show any member of the Flair Family weeping. If they ever announce that Ric Flair is coming to the ring and Charlotte is in the vicinity, you better prepare your liver for some serious punishment.

To be fair, it is acceptable for men to cry in certain situations:

– If your favorite sports teams wins a world championship
– If you take a shot to the ball bag
– If you’re watching Rudy

Unfortunately, women crying and hugging each other has become all-too commonplace within NXT and quite frankly, they’re better than that. NXT isn’t some small, rag-tag promotion fighting for respect. It’s the younger, spunkier brother (or sister if you prefer) to WWE main programs RAW and Smackdown; it’s not David vs. Goliath. It’s more like Goliath became David’s business manager and profited from his success.

During the NXT Arrival show in February 2014, Paige and Emma brought the house down with an incredible match that supposedly signaled the arrival of real female contenders back into the WWE. These weren’t Divas…these were wrestlers. What was conspicuously absent from this match were the tears of joy at the end. If there was any women’s match that had earned the right to bring out the waterworks, this was it. This match made the WWE Universe stand up and take notice that female wrestlers were more than just reality stars and pretty faces, a fact that WWE had forgotten.

Then came NXT Takeover: Brooklyn in August 2015 which sold out all 13,000 seats in the Barclays Center. Emotions ran high after Bayley defeated Sasha Banks and the match was followed by tears and hugs. Kayfabe was broken and Triple H was ok with it because according to him that kind of display makes matches “magical.” The problem with watching the same magic trick over and over again is that eventually it loses its luster and becomes boring. Not to mention that Triple H would be the last person admonishing anyone for breaking kayfabe with a hug.

It’s no secret that Sasha Banks and Charlotte have made their intention of one day headlining WrestleMania known to the world and while I applaud their gumption, it won’t happen while they continue to break kayfabe just because they’re on a big stage. The power of a main event lies in the reasoning behind the match taking place.

A main event happens because Wrestler X and Wrestler Y have a dispute and the only way to handle it is in the squared circle, brother!

The bigger the dispute and the bigger the stakes, the bigger the match. Lower card contests can occur for any number of reasons but the headline is the culmination of a solid storyline where there can only be one winner and one loser. Sure, feuds aren’t always squashed in main event matches, but the outcome should be sufficiently satisfying to either end the debate or keep us wanting more.

At the risk of sounding like a misanthrope, I don’t believe the WWE Universe wants to see a kayfabe-breaking Notebook moment involving women after a main event, most especially at WrestleMania. A begrudging handshake that acknowledges respect is one thing, but unless you’re trying to recreate the ending of the 1989 martial arts masterpiece Best of the Best, the hugs and tears just seem silly and unnecessary.

Let me be clear, I’m not saying that crying should be verboten entirely, but WWE has abused the schtick and are in danger of labeling their new generation of female wrestlers as incapable of accomplishing any significant feats without being subsequently reduced to a sobbing vending machine of emotion. When Ronda Rousey was interviewed on “The Ellen Show” back in September she confessed that she cries before every match. The key word here is “before”; away from the cameras and away from the attention it would most certainly garner. When the match starts, her face is nothing but scowling stone ready to completely decimate her opponent. Afterwards, she gives appropriate platitudes and respect, unless her opponent was foolish enough to talk trash or make fun of her father’s suicide.

Following the conclusion of the most recent NXT Takeover show featuring women in the main event (appropriately subtitled: Respect), Stephanie McMahon, Bayley, Sasha Banks and several others were cascading tears of joy. According to the WWE, “Respect” marked the first time two women competed in an Iron Man match…which is sort of true.

Mildred Burke won the National Wrestling Alliance Women’s World Championship in the mid-1930s and held it into the 1950s. After a 20 year title reign, a divorce from her philandering husband/manager/trainer and numerous disputes with the chauvinistic executives within NWA, it was decided that Burke would drop the belt to a younger fan-favorite named June Byers. Obviously, Burke wasn’t too keen on the idea and stated that the only way she would lose was in a real match. She demanded that the match be an unscripted shoot and that the winner had to score two pinfalls in order to win the belt.

Unfortunately, the match never got that far.

The contest took place in August 1954 and saw Byers score the first fall. The match then continued for over an hour. Unsurprisingly, the crowd grew restless and the referee called the match for Byers since she had scored the only point. Burke didn’t consider this match a legitimate loss and refused to accept that she was no longer champion. The all-male NWA thought otherwise, crowned Byers the new champion and subsequently told Burke to take a hike.

In order to further distance themselves from Burke’s accomplishments, the title was lazily renamed the NWA World Women’s Championship and June Byers was formally recognized as the champion. Burke decided that she had enough of the NWA sausage fest and handed in her resignation, most likely ending her letter with some folksy, old-timey phrase like “kiss my grits”. She went on to train women and men and competed against both, throwing off the yolk of  remaining in an all-female division.

I’m glad to see women getting more respect thanks to the popularity of NXT and Lucha Underground, but it needs to go further. Sports entertainment involves equal parts athleticism and showmanship. Show me women that are strong and sure of themselves before, during and after their match who understand how their characters and storylines fit into the larger narrative. I understand they can’t all be Ronda Rousey, but post-match breakdowns only serve to feed the stereotype that women can’t control their emotions, for better or worse.

These women of WWE want to be seen as role models, shown the same respect as their male counterparts and get the same opportunities to headline main events. This won’t happen so long as they continue to fall into the same gender assignments in which society has tried to place them since the days of Mildred Burke.

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