20 Things You Learn Watching WWE Since 1997
13. Women's Wrestling Is Really The Best It's Been
It took a long time, but WWE finally got a women's division worth watching. Shortly after SummerSlam 1998, the company revived the Women's Championship for the feud between Jacqueline and Sable. What followed were years of untrained models competing for the belt, sometimes in matches where you had to take your opponent's clothes off to win.
There was a bright spot from about 2002 to 2006, when Trish Stratus was the centerpiece of the division and Jazz, Victoria, Gail Kim, and Molly Holly all held gold, but of course, things soon gave way to more non-wrestlers. Trained grapplers like Melina, Natalya, and Beth Phoenix could only do so much when in the ring with the likes of Kelly Kelly, Maryse, and Alicia Fox.
Today, things are different - and it all started in NXT. The Four Horsewomen of the developmental territory - Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, and Becky Lynch - reinvented women's competition in WWE, and their call-ups to the main roster in 2015 and 2016 have given the company their best women's division ever.