10 Signs WWE’s Women’s Revolution Is Dead
You say you want a Revolution? If you’re a woman in WWE you might have missed it.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the Women’s Revolution began. It was formalised on a July 2015 edition of WWE Raw. As would become typical, Stephanie McMahon placed herself at the heart of things, introducing three new “Superstars” as WWE ditched the D-word and replaced the Divas Title. Many fans would look further back to the 30-second tag match that led to #GiveDivasAChance trending worldwide or indeed the wave of increasingly adept women who broke through on NXT and the main roster and inspired such fan fervour to begin with.
The exact moment of death is equally hard to place, and don’t expect WWE to announce it on Raw, but enough factors are adding up to suggest that the Revolution is over. Which is not to suggest it was all for nothing. The Four Horsewomen are stars forever. The women’s Royal Rumble, Hell In A Cell, Survivor Series and Elimination Chamber matches are probably impossible to walk back at this point.
WWE continue to spin their Saudi shows as progressive for women, and while there’s every reason to be cynical, your writer, as a man, isn’t about to tell women who seem genuinely proud of their achievements how they should be feeling. Certainly they’ve come a long way from Alexa Bliss and Natalya travelling all the way to Jeddah only to have their match pulled. Cherish these victories. They might be the last ones for a while.
10. The Fetishisation of Alexa Bliss
WWE has rarely been above objectifying it’s female talent. Alexa Bliss is no exception, with the powers that be clearly identifying a certain “marketability” beyond her character work and in-ring acumen.
Whether it was teaming her with Braun Strowman so that she could look down the lens and promise that someone would, “get these hands,” or having some random backstage staffer walk in on her changing for YouTube engagement, WWE have consistently exploited her good looks.
That said, back then she was at least presented as a reasonably intelligent adult woman. At her best Bliss was a sharp tongued manipulative heel. Things took a serious turn for the worse when she teamed up with The Fiend, became infantilised beyond recognition and seemingly lost all agency beyond the choice to dress like a goth child, purpose built to appeal to the creepiest section of the fanbase.
Put bluntly, WWE know most of the fans tweeting that Alexa deserves an Oscar are typing one handed whilst polishing another award they really want to give her, and they’re okay with that.
Having backed off the spooky nymphet stuff, a series of therapy vignettes have led nowhere. Bliss has yet to make it back to Raw and there’s little time left to factor her into WrestleMania plans, suggesting that outside of fetishising her, WWE have very little idea what to do with this former champion.