It was bad enough that the 24 actual females past and present entered without individual recognition thanks to a grim Kid Rock medley deemed more important. Yes, that was bad enough. Minutes later, WWE topped themselves - a match paying tribute to the previous generations of women won by Santino Marella in drag.
This was, perhaps, the lowest ebb.
Eliminations occurred before ring announcer Justin Roberts had finished explaining the rules. Divas Champion Maryse was dumped out without fanfare, but then Michael Cole was busy calling Gail Kim as ‘one of the Bella Twins’ during her departure.
Ill-conceived and executed, the match degenerated into a patronising mess of blown spots and mistimed tumbles. 'Santina's eventual celebration was grimly appropriate - he victory dance may as well have been on the grave of of the women's division.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
