Quest for Awesome: Divas No More
Women’s professional wrestling has come a long, long way.
Gone are the days of bra and pantie matches. There’s no more evening gown matches, no more pillow fights, and no more mud wrestling. You’ll even be hard-pressed to find a thong stink-face match in today’s WWE. Thank the wrestling gods.
Instead, the female wrestlers of today are presented as legitimate athletes. They have no problem keeping pace with the men, and in many cases they put the dudes to shame.
Rather than objectifying and degrading female talent in matches where the goal is to strip your opponent down to their skivvies, WWE now features women in legitimate wrestling bouts at the top of the card.
Fire up the WWE Network and take your pick of between the Women’s Hell in a Cell, Women’s Elimination Chamber, Women’s Royal Rumble, or more recently, the Women’s Money in the Bank match. All are proof that these ladies kick some serious ass.
The latter, or ladder (Dad joke) mentioned event, Money in the Bank (MITB) aired on PPV and the Network last Sunday.
I went into this year’s MITB event with low expectations. We had a facepalm-worthy match between Roman Reigns vs Jinder Mahal, a Daniel Bryan vs Big Cass rematch, and the conclusion to the thrown-together and downright embarrassing feud between Sami Zayn and Bobby Lashly. It was a typical WWE B-tier PPV.
Yeah, we had AJ Styles defending the title against Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing match at the top of the card, but WWE has run that well bone-dry since Wrestlemania. It’s also hard not to compare the former NJPW wrestler’s series to that of current NJPW stars Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada. But, let’s save that for another time.
Finally, we had Carmella defending the Smackdown Women’s Title against the formally undefeated Asuka, and the two most surprising matches of the night: Nia Jax vs Ronda Rousey for the RAW Women’s Title, and the Women’s MITB match.
Boy oh boy, did the ladies steal the show… Again.
The spots in the Women’s MITB were as gruesome as they were entertaining. My favorite being when Sasha Banks took a rough bump onto a ladder from a springboard splash off the middle rope from Ember Moon. Go watch it and tell me that wresting’s all fake. I dare you. That looked like it hurt.
The shining moment of the match was when Miss “Five Feet of Fury” (and all-around bad girl) Alexa Bliss scaled the ladder to win the MITB contract. Later in the evening, Bliss would cash in the contract on an exhausted Nia Jax in the middle of her bout with former UFC Women’s Champ Ronda Rousey.
After a few well-placed shots with the steel briefcase, Bliss pinned Jax and won the title. She even left Rousey in a fetal-position behind the announce table. In the chats of WWF fans–It was awesome.
The two matches combined made for the best storytelling of the night. The athleticism of the women was unparalleled and the emotion was captivating. It was unexpected, entertaining, and most of all, it was fun.
It was grade-A pro wrestling, performed by beautiful and empowered women.
Bet you thought you’d never hear that.
Alexa Bliss, seen at the Money in the Bank PPV Event on Sunday, is recognized as the new WWE Raw Women’s Champion after cashing-in her MITB contract on Nia Jax.
This year’s MITB PPV was a clear reflection of the current state of the WWE Women’s Division. PPV after PPV, the ladies have been stealing the show.
Take this year’s Wrestlemania. Charolette Flair defending her title against the (at the time) undefeated Asuka was a match of legendary scale. The match was brimming with emotion, storytelling and mind-blowing athleticism.
Flair and Asuka kept fans at the edge of their seats, and earned the Jump Crouch’s honorable Match of the Show. Even Stone Cold Steve Austin himself admits the ladies put on the best match of the entire card.
The women are stealing the thunder from every man on the WWE roster.
I’m excited to see where the “Women’s Revolution” is headed next. There’s limitless potential with stars like Charolette, Asuka, Ronda Rousey and up-and-comers like Ember Moon and Ruby Riot. While the rest of the WWE product can’t hold up to other promotions (both stateside and international), the ladies of the WWE are without a doubt the best in the world.
Women’s pro wrestling in the WWE? Mark this quest up as one of awesome.
