7 Reasons Why I Regret Staying Up To Watch WrestleMania 32

4. The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

charlotte womens title.jpg
WWE.com

In the years to come, it will be acknowledged that the single most important thing that happened at WrestleMania 32 was the evolution of women's wrestling within World Wrestling Entertainment. The Divas Devision is dead, and finally the women of WWE can be women again. This was taken to new levels of joy with the unveiling of a brand new title belt.

This was followed by a fantastic three-way match for the new belt between Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch. Simply put, this was one of the best matches of the show (if not the best) regardless of gender. The three told a great story throughout, and were all treated as equals right to the last.

The irritation here comes from the finish. Charlotte forced Lynch to tap out to the figure eight, while her father Ric Flair held Sasha Banks on the outside. Flair has been interfering on behalf of his daughter for a while now, and if WrestleMania isn't an acceptable time to pay off the story and see him get his comeuppance, I don't know when is.

It also continued to reinforce the idea that whilst the women may be treated with more respect, the champion of their division still needs the help of a man to stay in that position. This is a major problem in a lot gender equality conversation, the idea that even though things are improving they are almost doing so only because the men will allow it. This still leaves an uneasy feeling in the stomach.

This important step in female wrestling needed a respectful clean finish to what was a truly special match. What it got was the reinforcement of reliance.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.