Biggest Changes Since the Womens Evolution Began

Throughout the month of July, fans have been celebrating the women’s evolution in the WWE after hitting the five-year mark since we began to see drastic changes for the female talent and an evolution truly kick start. Today, I’m going to begin my own mini-series where I take a look at some of the highlight moments of the past five years in the world of WWE and its women’s division while also discussing what has gone wrong, the changes that still need to be made and taking a look back at the history of women in this sport. We start off by diving into some of the biggest changes the WWE have made since the dawn of the women’s Evolution five years ago. We have plenty to get through so let’s jump right on into the action.

The Royal Rumble Match

Prior to two thousand and eighteen, the women’s division were excluded from the Royal Rumble. Of course, championship and non-title matches did take place on the PPV BUT in terms of the Royal Rumble match itself, women did not have the chance to work the famous contest on the road to Wrestlemania. Fans have seen two women enter the men’s Royal Rumble match before the introduction to the women’s only Rumble contest including Beth Phoenix and Chyna who entered two during her time with the company. In twenty-eighteen the WWE introduced the first-ever all women’s Royal Rumble match with the inaugural winner being Asuka. Since then Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch have also picked up Rumble match victories and have gone on to take part in crucial Wrestlemania championship bouts. Now, an all-women’s Royal Rumble match is something I had been wanting to see for such a long time, but the reality was that for so long the division just wasn’t strong enough in terms of the numbers. There also was not as big of a draw to the division and female talent were not given enough time for fans t truly care about such a big match up. What the Royal Rumble matches have done since twenty eighteen is highlight some of the key figures in the WWE history in terms of women’s wrestling while also shining a light on the stars of the future from NXT and current names on the main roster. Introducing this match has allowed the female talent to seem just as important on the road to Wrestlemania. It creates an even playing field and after so many years its simply fantastic to see women involved properly in one of the biggest stops on the road to Mania.

Longer Matches

While it may be a grey area and there is certainly room for improvements longer matches have been a huge change since the start of the women’s evolution. From thirty-second matches to thirty-minute ironman matches, the women’s division has since change and female talent is most certainly being given more time in the ring. Originally, this was one of the biggest issues the women of the WWE struggled with. They simply were not given the time to show just how strong and in-depth their move sets were and unable to make an impact connecting with fans. Giving the women more time has changed all that. We see the passion, the drive, the focus, and the genuinely phenomenal skills these women are bringing to the table. We have seen classic, historic matches, and bouts we will be talking about for years to come that have not only been standout matches of the year but of all time!

Miss Money in the Bank

Anyone who has been following me for long enough will have known that I wanted to see a women’s Money in the Bank ladder match for an exceedingly long time. Now, unlike with the Royal Rumble. MITB was something the WWE did not really have an excuse not to include its female talents in. There always would have been at least six women they could have included in this matchup and would have easily been a way to add more interest to the division and allow them to come across as equals to their male peers. However, it was not until two thousand and seventeen that we saw the women’s division involved in a Money in the Bank ladder match. Now, in terms of the first-ever, this certainly has its flaws and the WWE received great criticism for booking a man to technically win the match when James Ellsworth captured the Briefcase and dropped it down for Carmella. Fans did see Mella actually win the match herself on the up and coming episode of Smackdown LIVE where the match took place again and the WWE had their snap of a woman winning the match properly. Introducing the female talent to stipulation matches has been vital as we will see throughout this blog post. Ladders, tables, chairs, and steel cages have taken the women’s division to a new level and allowed them to compete in more “hardcore” stipulations taking away the idea that female talent should not work those slightly more barbaric contests. It removed stereotypes and ha given the women of the WWE to work even more entertaining matchups again emphasizing that they can do exactly what the men are doing and do it just as well.

Tag Team Titles

Again, the idea of tag team championships for the women’s division is something have wanted to see for such a long time and throughout history, the likes of Trish and Lita, The Bella Twins and Laycool have been amongst just some of the women who fans have considered options to win such titles. Of course, the problem of how big the division was has always been an issue but in recent years the WWE had been building up to creating a tag division and as more female talent arrived on the scene the chances of doing so increased massively. In two thousand and nineteen, it was revealed that the women of the WWE were finally going to be able to compete for tag team gold and at the Elimination Chamber Banks and Bayley made history as the first women’s tag team champions. Now, this was an evolution move that arguably could have come sooner and has been flawed since. Other promotions including IMPACT wrestling introduced tag titles to its knockout division an entire decade before the WWE and we continue to see booking errors and a lack of attention to the tag scene for the women. There is evidently work to be done but the duos of the division such as the IIConics and Fire and Desire (before splitting) highlighted the importance and relevance of these titles, proving the timing was certainly right. We have seen fantastic performances from the women’s tag scene but let’s hope for more improvements to be made soon!

Main Eventing

Throughout history, the WWE has allowed women to main event shows here and there. Trish Stratus vs Lita for the women’s championship during an episode of RAW back in 2004 springs to mind first and one of the first WWE women’s matches that truly had me gripped but in more recent years it was over in NXT that we began to see female talent main eventing live specials and weekly episodes normalized and done properly. It took time for this to happen over on the main roster and remains a grey area. We dot see women’ take the main event spot all too often but over the past five years we have seen Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch amongst those to main event RAW and Smackdown LIVE as well as PPVs including TLC and Hell in a Cell also main evented by the female talent. In two thousand and nineteen arguably the biggest move in the women’s division was made when Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey , and Charlotte Flair main evented Wrestlemania. I would love to see this happen more but that may not happen until we see more names within the division pushed and storylines booked and made stronger.

Genuine Storytelling and Character work

As a woman, there have been many WWE storylines involving the female talent that have angered me and made uncomfortable and to be totally honest there continue to be certain angles that have this effect, however, the transformation in how women are perceived and booked as well as the varying characters we see today is incredibly refreshing. We are not subjected to witnessing the model “diva” with next to no experience or the “crazy woman” angle but instead stories and rivalries with genuine heat and attraction. Setups involving athletes with personal angles, in-depth storylines beyond offensive and shallow backstories, and characters you can honestly get behind. We are living in a time where titles are the focus, personal rivalries, and build-ups to matches that have fans hooked and don’t leave women’s matches as the bathroom breaks for a show. Take Charlotte VS Becky, Tegan Nox vs Dakota Kai and Baszler vs Lynch as prime examples.

Stipulation Matches

And finally, one of the changes that have made me so happy over the past few years, the introduction of more stipulation matches. Prior to the women’s evolution, fans would occasionally see a stipulation match booked for the women’s division but it was rare and when booked these bouts will be short and still deemed boring and used a bathroom break. However, from hell in a Cell to Elimination Chamber to Iron Man to TLC, from Last Woman standing to a falls count anywhere the women division has been killing it in stipulation matches and showing that these should have been booked properly many years ago and used as a way to add more interest to the women’s division. If we take the street fight between Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox for example these two worked a potential match of the year contest and one of the most entertaining bout I have seen in a long time! They pushed each other to their limit and created something that to this day is rare to see.

Now, while there are still change to be made there can be no denying that fantastic improvements have been made. In 2020 women in the WWE genuinely do come across and feel equal to their male peer thanks to the same opportunities and not being excluded in any time of match up a male superstar is involved in. It’s incredible to see just how far things have come in the past five years and I would love to know your thoughts so leave a comment or tweet me at @TezangiVictoria telling me what your favourite change has been over the past five years for the women’s division.