7 Major All-Women Wrestling Events Before WWE Evolution

The actual first all-women's PPV in North America was promoted by the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association on 23 February 1992. Just over a month earlier, WWF, the world's leading wrestling promotion, ran their annual Royal Rumble show, with not a single woman was featured on the card.

LPWA's Super Ladies Showdown was a calculated gamble, paying big bucks to bring Jim Cornette in on commentary alongside a host of out-of-work joshi from the recently defunct JWP (notably, former WWWA champ Shinobu Kandori), in a bid to convince enough folks to stump up the hefty $19.95 asking price. At the very least, buyers were guaranteed a video of the event. That is, if the company stayed afloat long enough to mail them.

They didn't. It was a miracle the show even took place, with the LPWA dormant for the previous ten months as their finances bottomed. Only 400 spectators - fewer than you'd find at a village Morris Dance meet - if not flocked, at least trickled into the Mayo Civic Center - for free - to see what, despite the circumstances, was a perfectly adequate show. A Minnesotan ice-storm was blamed for the paltry turnout (meteorological records be damned), as fans enthralled by the headlining contest between Terri Power (Tori) and Lady X (Peggy Lee Leathers, who'd later headline WOW! Unleashed) were promised a sequel in Tokyo.

You couldn't fault their optimism. But you could fault their business sense. LPWA folded shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, WWE wouldn't feature another women's match on PPV until over two years later.