WWE Announces 32-Woman Tournament, Will Air On Network This Summer
17 countries represented, won't be a multi-man battle royal originally bumped to a pre-show...
Though it's been unofficially on the radar for a good while, WWE finally confirmed over the weekend that they will be hosting a Network exclusive women's tournament this summer.
The competition, details of which were revealed at a WWE investor conference in Orlando on Saturday, is fundamentally analogous to the Cruiserweight Classic the company hosted last year, albeit with one obvious difference.
Most notable is the number of participants; it'll be interesting to see how WWE occupy the 32 available slots. At the summit, the company stated that female stars from "around the world" will comprise the contestants, with talent from 17 different countries expected to be drafted.
At present, the identities of any of the women set to compete are unknown, so we can only speculate. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if the recently-signed Kairi Hojo was involved in the company's plans for the tournament, and it's similarly likely that the quartet of independent talent WWE snagged this past December (Nixon Newell, Heidi Lovelace, Kimber Lee, and Evie) will feature in some capacity, especially considering the international flavour Brit Newell and New Zealand-born Evie would provide.
It's the first time WWE have ever hosted a female-only event on such a scale, and adds further credence to their ongoing attempts to rebrand women's wrestling away from the crass spectacle that was the 'Divas'. Ultimately, motives may lie more firmly in the realms of marketing than social equality (and the treatment of the SmackDown women's title match at 'Mania certainly suggests the company still aren't totally behind their female roster), but either way its another positive step forward for the once beleagured division.