7 Major All-Women Wrestling Events Before WWE Evolution
6. WOW! Unleashed
Featuring such luminaries as Jungle Grrrl, Wendi Wheels, and Jane Blond, you'd be forgiven for thinking Women of Wrestling - jauntily abbreviated as WOW! - is a bit, well, s**t. But being camper than a weekend at Butlins (and with wrestling stars of similar household repute) is all part of the California group's remit, founded in 2000 by David McLane as a spiritual successor to his previous hit, GLOW. You might have heard about that recently...
WOW!'s television output managed to intrigue, earning respectably ratings in its local markets, but unlike the widely popular Netflix show chronicling its forebear, the time simply wasn't right for an independent, all-female promotion to take off - especially given its lack of actual quality.
In 2001, the company hedged its bets on a huge PPV. Despite drafting in Bobby Heenan on commentary duties, WOW! Unleashed drew more fans to Inglewood, CA's Great Western Forum than it did paid viewers in living rooms, with just 6000 punters forking out for the show.
Constant production glitches plagued the broadcast, but those handful of homes who'd bought the PPV weren't missing much; the action, though exuberant, was execrable. American audiences weren't ready to consume women's wrestling wholesale - and American women's wrestling wasn't ready to encourage them.