Lets look back at the biggest storylines involving women over the past decade or so: mean girls bullying a supposed fat girl (Mickie James), crazy chicks (AJ Lee, Victoria, Mickie James ), poorly-executed family drama (the Bella twins), a b*tchy control freak of a boss (Stephanie McMahon), and the best female grappler in the company being given a farting gimmick and acting as the valet for a Punjabi Playboy (Natalya). Its no wonder that wrestling fans praise the women in NXT, and non-wrestling fans have women like Ronda Rousey as role models in combat sports. For some reason, WWE emphasizes looks and the supermodel approach to most of its women over their grappling skills, and the storylines are often based around those exact soap opera understandings of what women are like. This creates an incredibly skewed notion of what a female wrestler is, does, and thinks about. Why cant WWE simply do a storyline based around the Divas Title, without adding some element of petty jealousy or other female issues? Why cant the women be allowed to show off their athletic skills as much as the men? Recently, the Bellas made a comment suggesting that the NXT women are better off there than on the main roster, despite possible pay disparities. They suggested that the NXT women have better matches and better opportunities to show off their skills, whereas RAW is so heavily constrained and the shows are more geared towards drama and stories. Its like the SmackDown vs. RAW divide in 2002: the former is the lauded wrestling show while the latter is (still) the heavily-criticized story show. Maybe this is a reflection of the different visions that Vince and Triple H have for their shows. Vince wants to move away from wrestling and emphasize entertainment, while Triple Hs wrestlers approach is paying off for NXT. Whatever the case, WWEs current approach to women is in dire need of change, and they really should give Divas more of a chance.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
