4. The Knockouts had their own all-female broadcast first!
Last year’s Mae Young Classic was an amazing event – we saw beloved Indy stars, brand new NXT talent and some classic matches that were some of the best last year. 32 Women from across the world took part in WWE’s ‘First Ever’ all-female broadcast. It all whittled down to Japanese STARDOM sensation Kairi Sane going against one of the four MMA Horsewomen, Shayna Baszler. In the spectacular final, Sane managed to become the ultimate underdog of the tournament as she managed to pin Baszler after her Insane Elbow Drop. Interestingly, their rivalry still runs deep in NXT, but this tournament did a lot for WWE putting their faith in the women to hold a full broadcast.
Want to watch another all-female broadcast? Well back in 2013 and every year since then, TNA has held the ‘Knockouts Knockdown’, which sees free agents compete against every woman in the active roster to become the ‘Queen of the Knockouts’. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the match quality isn’t as solid as what we say during the MYC (Shelly VS Rebel anyone?), but it was still an all women’s event that we had not seen before.
In 2013, Impact scrapped their PPVs and began taping ‘One Night Only’ events, with one being solely given to the Knockouts – which had never been done before. Up to 10 Knockouts matches take part in the event and again, the talent is made up of former Knockouts, top Indy talent, and current Knockout stars. Knockouts Knockdown played in a big part in Impact giving the women the ball to run with, as well as showing that the women would be able to draw.
Since its inception, Gail Kim, Madison Rayne, Awesome Kong and Jade have all been previous ‘Queen of the Knockouts’. With a brand new pool of talent and plenty more women in the Indies, Knockouts Knockdown 2018 should be another great showcase for women’s wrestling not in the WWE… if it happens!
What else did the Knockouts do before the WWE’s “Women’s Evolution’? Click to see the next page!
