It was on Diva-Dirt and Twitter where we could voice our frustrations, and there were many, and complain about the treatment of the women, and I have to credit AJ Lee by helping our #GiveDivasAChance hashtag and publicly calling out the powers that be while other women towed the company line. Since those days in 2014, as a fan, I’ve had a lot of things to be excited over; the shakeup of the women’s division in 2015, even if it fizzled, and more first matches and moments than I could name; Mae Young Classic, Rumble, Pay-Per-Views, main events, gimmick matches, you name it. But for all the progress made, especially in WWE, the more reductive some aspects got.
TNA had lost a lot of luster in the mid-late 2010s, the WWE got lazy and stuck with repetitive and reductive stories and storylines which harkened back to the Divas Era, and like that era, was beneath the talent they had. Then that slap in the face came with the Saudis Arabian deal. Women weren’t allowed to wrestle, and as such we were given an event “Evolution” as a consolation prize, and the way they treated the build, it was clearly an afterthought, and so when it became clear Evolution wasn’t going to happen again, but Crown Jewel was, many were in a furor. Then something unexpected and amazing happened. We got a women’s match.
The women did really well in their match and The Bleacher Report gave it an “A”. When I first heard the announcement, I got teary-eyed. As a fan, this match being allowed to take place in a country that is horrible on human rights in general, and blatantly sexist, was everything one could wish for.
As someone who grew up in a marginalized community and seeing myself in this group of women who have to beat odds and are underdogs, this win for them felt like a win for me. This announcement, the match and the reception to it made me look back at why I love Women’s Wrestling. It made me proud to have stuck around for going on 20 years.
Women’s Wrestling to me is about being a badass, about being unapologetically you, and standing in who you are and being proud of it, watching these women, hearing their stories inspires men and women across the world to tear the stars out from the sky, be emboldened, be empowered, and to push the door open when they won’t let you in. This was not just a match, but a statement, and on the biggest wrestling platform in the world, it was one that was far-reaching.
Like Trish says, it’s a group effort, the fans push for the women, and the women inspire us, the fans. To every woman named and not named in this article, who steps foot in a ring…know that we the fans are behind you, and you mean so much more to us than you could ever know.
What is your wrestling story? What is women’s wrestling to you? Let’s discuss!
