No

by Matthew Caverhill

Created on: December 19, 2009

When I was a child, I remember that in part, it was women’s wrestling that helped sell the the-then WWF to the masses (alongside a certain blonde superstar whose name doesn’t really need to be mentioned). Indeed, it was the feud between rocker Cyndi Lauper and her “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” costar Captain Lou Albano that led to a women’s match between Wendi Richter and The Fabulous Moolah on an MTV special, The Brawl to End it All, which ended up being the most watched program in the history of that channel.

And while there was some exposure for women’s wrestling in the 1980’s following that event, what with the development of companies like the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, as a whole it was never taken very seriously after that initial boom. In the years that followed, women’s wrestling was on and off the dial for various reasons until the late 1990’s in when what amounted to a mini-renaissance in this form of sports entertainment took place, coinciding with the Monday Night Wars and the Attitude Era, and since then, women’s wrestling has had a permanent place on television.

Of course, the last half-decade has seen an explosion in the amount of women’s wrestling that is available for viewers. We live in an age where women’s wrestling appears on not one, not two, but three wrestling shows available over the air or on basic cable, and on one of them (TNA Impact), it is usually the thing that is its best feature. On TNA, I’ve seen more than a few women’s wrestling matches that were stellar and easily held their own with the work their male counterparts are doing. Of course, in most cases, they were performing in matches that might not be available to them in the WWE, and unfortunately, I am hearing inklings that TNA have been toning down types of gimmick matches that their female competitors take part in, which is a real shame. And with the brevity of the women’s matches on WWE, it would seem like a foregone conclusion that perhaps women’s wrestling may be dying.

However, television is not the only place where women’s wrestling has been getting increased exposure. In fact, perhaps there has never been a better time for fans to follow women in sports entertainment. We have more options when it comes to finding quality women’s wrestling, whether it watching matches on video sites, seeking out independent companies with a strong tradition in fostering this type of wrestling or even finding a smaller company, like SHIMMER, which is an all-female wrestling federation which means women get time to not only develop as performers, but they are not limited by say, the WWE’s perception that the viewing audience doesn’t want to see good technical wrestling out of women. The fact that some of the better Divas and Knockouts from WWE and TNA have wrestled under the brand also gives it some credibility. And that is just one of the companies who has an exclusively female roster as both Women Superstars Uncensored and the ChickFight tournaments also fit that criteria, and along with the aforementioned SHIMMER, all three companies started during this decade.

So there are more places for young female wrestlers to get the kind of experiences they need to be good in-ring performers. And that isn’t even mentioning countries like Japan which have been developing and showcasing quality female talent for decades. Speaking of talent development, SHIMMER also has its own wrestling school, meaning that there may be enough interest in this type of wrestling in North America that there is a company that is willing to train an exclusively female clientele.

With all these opportunities for female competitors to get the training and experience they need, a new Golden Age of women’s wrestling is merely a creative decision, superstar or fantastic match away from coming to fruition, so if anything, the potential for women’s wrestling in North America is perhaps better than it has ever been as the talent pool, the training and avenues for national and international exposure are all working together to give this form of sports expression the best chance it can possibly have to reach mainstream acceptance and admiration. And I am heartened that it seems that the age where women were merely valets and escorts for male wrestlers who occasionally had matches and feuds of their own seems to have gone largely by the wayside and that female competitors can be taken seriously as in-ring performers alone.

So, in short, rather being at the beginning of a slow decline, we are at the point where we can expect greater things to come.

Learn more about this author, Matthew Caverhill.
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