Four Years Later: The Rise & Rise Of #GiveDivasAChance & The WWE Women's Evolution
Nikki pulled the tights to retain at Fastlane, in what WWE would retroactively rechristen as the beginning of the end.
One night later on Monday Night Raw, a doubles follow-up featuring Nikki and Brie against Paige and Emma went an insulting 30 seconds. Brie hit Emma with a kick to the gut and an X-Factor and wrapped it up. The post-match lasted longer obviously, but not by a lot. A 2:16 upload by WWE's official YouTube Channel is bolstered by a 40-second end-slate advert.
The worst of times.
February 23rd 2015 wasn't the day the world changed, nor was it even the day the WWE Universe did, despite the best efforts of the organisation to timestamp it as if it was Hulk Hogan toppling The Iron Sheik at WrestleMania. But the ripple effect was real before the mutants running Vince McMahon's Twitter were infamously forced to address the huge #GiveDivasAChance movement.
"We hear you. Keep watching." sounded more like a platitude than a promise, (not least after the company ignored AJ Lee's brilliant broadside about equal pay and opportunity) but the rise of Ronda Rousey in UFC had made WWE's pathetic post-Attitude Era treatment of women look even more archaic than the days of handprint bikinis and Trish Stratus barking like a dog. The hangover extended to the audience - a "Hello Ladies" sign is unmissable in the above Bellas tag team match even with only 30 seconds of a match to watch. For all of those that wanted it, there were as many or more refusing to accept how much it was needed.
CONT'D...