- 13 hours ago
The world of WWE women’s wrestling has transformed dramatically over the decades. From its carnival roots and Valet Era glamour to the rise of powerful new generations and the controversial Divas Era, every chapter tells a story of struggle, progress, and empowerment. Join us as we break down the evolution of women in WWE and highlight the trailblazers who shaped the sport into what it is today.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00They were the beginning of the women's revolution.
00:02We changed the perception of what females can do in this business.
00:06The landscape of professional wrestling for women may be enjoying a post-revolutionary renaissance now.
00:11But we didn't arrive at this point in a vacuum, nor by accident.
00:15Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:17And today, we'll be explaining every era of WWE women's wrestling.
00:21The symbol of that evolution, the WWE Women's Championship.
00:30The Carnival Era.
00:33We're resisting using the portmanteau of mansplaining with this topic,
00:37despite the elephant in the room being that the scriptwriter here is indeed male.
00:41This actually ties into the historical perceptions of vintage women's wrestling,
00:45the kind trailblazed by names like Mildred Burke during the 1930s and 40s.
00:50Meanwhile, Mildred Burke has vowed to make whatever sacrifice is necessary
00:54in order to support all the women who have shown solidarity with her.
00:57Professional wrestling will probably always, like it or not, be connected to carnival culture.
01:03It's an uncanny combination of athletic contest and vaudevillian entertainment
01:08that continues to be seen, in many sectors, in a classist manner.
01:12Something to appease the lower masses.
01:14Ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner has stopped the match due to the time limit.
01:20Mildred Burke is officially still the champion of the world.
01:28This, of course, takes nothing away from the trails blazed by both Burke and her contemporaries like Mae Young.
01:34But it would take the shifting cultural mores throughout the decades
01:37for true appreciation of their work to come back around in the modern day.
01:41What is Mae Young doing?
01:42Look out!
01:43Oh man, referee Jimmy Cordero goes flying!
01:46Mae Young's caught up in his shirt!
01:48Those same societal politics would influence how women's wrestling would be viewed,
01:52primarily from the male perspective,
01:54within the eras between the carnival and the main event.
01:57Look out, Mae!
01:58Mae Young tossed out of the ring.
02:00Ivory and Torrey, Jacqueline and Luna.
02:02And look at Moolah!
02:04Moolah's gonna get in the middle of it!
02:05I can't believe this!
02:07Moolah wants Ivory!
02:08The valet era.
02:09It should be said that WWE fans, even during the 1970s and 80s,
02:14would legitimately cheer women's matches on a card.
02:17The company just needed to give them a reason to care.
02:19The rock and wrestling boom of the 1980s showcased a quote,
02:23changing of the guard.
02:24An attempt to connect with the younger generation watching MTV.
02:27We saw a new champion for the WWE's original women's championship,
02:31as Wendy Richter took the belt from the fabulous Moolah in 1984's The Brawl to end it all.
02:36And we love women's champion, Wendy Richter!
02:46The latter's reign was notable for longevity,
02:48with Moolah basically being the only game in town.
02:51Putting the boots to the referee!
02:55Pandemonium broken loose here in the garden!
02:57This was indicative of how the WWE viewed women during this era of valets.
03:02Wrestling, and the women's title,
03:04seemed to come second to having female beauty accompany the male stars to the ring.
03:09How about that?
03:11You've got the wrestling man!
03:14The first lady of the WWE!
03:17This is great!
03:18Personalities like Missy Hyatt, Miss Elizabeth, and Precious were big business during this era.
03:24While in-ring competitors like Rockin' Robin,
03:26Leilani Kai, Velvet McIntyre, and especially Sensational Sherry,
03:31would keep the company's belt alive after Moolah's reign of controlling her own booking.
03:35The World Wrestling Federation Women's Champion,
03:40the Sensational Sherry!
03:43New generations, new attitude.
03:46Firestorm matches such as the one between Alundra Blaze, a.k.a. Medusa,
03:51and Bull Nakano at SummerSlam 1994,
03:53serve as a great example of a women's match that featured great crowd investment.
03:57Trying to get her over for a Boston cat!
04:00I think she's got her!
04:02Oh, one-handed!
04:03Alundra Blaze!
04:04Hanging on!
04:07These were two powerhouse performers that signified a coming together of worlds,
04:11that of WWE's new generation and of Japan's storied pro-wrestling lineage.
04:18I've not ever seen Alundra Blaze take this much punishment in a match.
04:23And still be resueled up to the dead right to him!
04:26Oh, my.
04:26Nakano came from a landscape where professional wrestling didn't receive the same social stigma as in the U.S.
04:32While Blaze was proof that words like beauty and strength didn't need to be mutually exclusive.
04:38What a tremendous victory here tonight!
04:44Listen to this salvation!
04:46Please!
04:47A tremendous competitor!
04:50A tremendous role model!
04:52For a react female athletes!
04:55Yet there was still a way to go before a light could properly be shined upon an entire women's roster.
05:01Blaze's exit from the WWE would see the women's title being held by capable performers,
05:06like Jazz, Ivory, Molly Holly, Jacqueline, or Chyna.
05:11The latter two even held singles gold from the men's division,
05:14such as the WWE cruiserweight and intercontinental titles.
05:17And if you sign something, I'll just take the belt and take it to the ring.
05:20Right!
05:21I think I got it.
05:22You carry it.
05:22You can carry it for me.
05:23I mean...
05:24Yet there were also examples of the WWE's continued focus on prurient style,
05:29as opposed to performers with legitimate skill in the ring.
05:32Looks so great, but yet be so violent.
05:35I mean, so ain't it.
05:36Why so ain't it?
05:37Well, because Sable's jealous of Tori, and Tori's defending her turn.
05:41It's a pretty simple formula.
05:42The reigns of superstars like Sable, The Cat, and Debra felt like fitting the square peg
05:48of the WWE Women's Championship into the round-hole WWE performers
05:52that were always better suited to being ballets.
05:55This is no insult, but it's important to remember here
05:58how the company was about to take a giant leap backwards in just a few short years.
06:03We're going to be carrying all the gold now!
06:05We've got two champions coming to the ring.
06:08Chyna and The Cat.
06:10In and out in minutes,
06:11divas, and marginalization in WWE.
06:15You know, I confided in you.
06:17I told you.
06:17I was just kidding.
06:18I wasn't even going to, you know, do the wardrobe malfunction again.
06:21And then someone went to Carano and told him that I was going to do it,
06:24and he threatened to fire me.
06:25Our criticisms here aren't intended to damn with faint praise.
06:29Valets and backstage personnel have, for years, left their mark on the industry,
06:34right alongside those who lay it all out there in the ring.
06:36I wouldn't interrupt you if you were on the cover of, say, National Geographic.
06:41The era of divas in the WWE, however, underlines just how important physical attractiveness
06:55was for the company during the 2000s and 2010s.
06:58There was on-the-job training for fitness models, rather than hiring from the growing pool of
07:04independent wrestlers or established international stars.
07:07I'll tell you what, the entire WWE should be so proud of that beautiful young lady.
07:12I mean, you just, this is a huge deal to be on the cover of Maxim magazine.
07:18The branding of a new divas division arrived with new competitors and a new belt,
07:22one that's been historically connected with a certain kind of lower back tattoo,
07:26colloquially referred to as a tramp stamp.
07:29This era, like anything, shouldn't be ignored,
07:31since there were many performers that made the divas title matter over the course of its implementation.
07:36I hope the belt is winning, so I can have my chance to take down their empire
07:42and become the most dominant diva in WWE.
07:46Superstars like Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Natalia, AJ Lee, and Charlotte Flair
07:51all lent legitimacy to the butterfly belt during their reigns.
07:55Night after night, sacrificing their body.
08:00They cared about the WWE almost as much as they cared about us.
08:06The latter two in particular fueled the fire for divas being treated with more respect.
08:11Or, in reference to Lee's famous tweet, being given a chance.
08:14And yet they receive a fraction of the wages and screen time of the majority of the male roster.
08:20Hashtag use your voice.
08:22A chance to perform in contests that lasted more than three minutes.
08:26A chance to escape from being forced to wrestle in their underwear.
08:28Oh, look at this! Look at this!
08:31Oh, my God! It's coming off!
08:34And Tori wins!
08:35A chance to avoid the WWE's very invasive camera lens that seemed to leer at their anatomy
08:40during every pinfall attempt.
08:43Tori, it's not a match!
08:45Tori, let's go!
08:46Oh, yeah!
08:48Oh, my God!
08:49Well, sometimes you gotta discipline your opponent, Paul.
08:51These were all very real situations that afflicted the company's female division during this time.
08:56Was it a case of supply and demand?
08:58Maybe.
08:59The WWE's predominantly male demographic frequently clamored for such contests.
09:04And their requests were echoed not only by management,
09:07but even by the excited commentary of ringside voices like Jerry the King Lawler.
09:11He was the epitome of not having a filter.
09:14If he saw it and thought it, he said it.
09:18Oh, look at Lita!
09:19She's got the puppies in the net!
09:21Change was on the horizon, however,
09:23as the quiet work being done by divas legends like Lita and Trish Stratus were seeing results within the culture.
09:28Trish Stratus faced Lita in the main event of Raw.
09:31It was absolutely unheard of for the females to be in that position.
09:36A new generation of women was being inspired by those who came before,
09:39coming up in the WWE's reality era and NXT branding
09:43to capitalize upon the growing interest of women in professional wrestling.
09:47Give it all!
09:49Give it all!
09:52Give it all!
09:54Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
09:57and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
10:01You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
10:05If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
10:11Beyond Evolution, Never Going Back
10:13We currently enjoy an embarrassment of riches with regards to the role of women in the WWE.
10:19Lita and Trish's historic headlining of Monday Night Raw paved the way for future milestones in its wake.
10:24That's the mash that people talk about.
10:27This is the kind of stuff that I can be proud knowing that we had some part of laying the foundation
10:31that the girls have built upon now.
10:33PLE main events.
10:35Women's Royal Rumble matches.
10:37Entire premium live events devoted to a car dominated by WWE's finest female talent,
10:42like the Mae Young Classic and WWE Evolution.
10:45For the first time ever, on WWE, last woman standing, Lynch, Charlotte, live.
10:52The roof is about to be blown off, Nassau Coliseum.
10:57And this doesn't even account for promotions like stardom, which are completely devoted to women's wrestling.
11:02It's been a long road since the territory days, where kayfabe after mags like The Wrestler
11:07would showcase sleazy apartment wrestling matches between little-known competitors for an exploitation market.
11:12Yet it's also important to remember that those dark and sometimes seedy underbellies of the industry still exist.
11:19Fans can still find apartment matches if they want to.
11:22And that's a testament to just how connected wrestling will seemingly always be to our aforementioned carnival circuit.
11:29So what we essentially have is a revolution built on the back of a problematic past.
11:33One that has to coexist with established tropes and attitudes,
11:37just as it builds more acceptance and inclusion within the younger generations.
11:41Today's women wrestlers are savvier, smarter, and tougher than ever.
11:46They're talented athletes that have thrilled audiences with their storytelling and skill in the ring.
11:50All the way to headlining WrestleMania 35 and 37.
11:54And hopefully many more to come.
11:56You can see the emotion in both women's faces.
12:02Bianca's on the verge of tears right now.
12:04And it doesn't go along with that old adage of being good for a girl.
12:09No, women's wrestling may have evolved, but not into its final form.
12:14Congratulations to the man, to Becky Lynch, for her dreams coming true.
12:19And it's never going back.
12:21I'll see you next week.
Comments