The Female Fan Revolution
The Women’s Revolution in WWE has been in full swing for roughly four years. In those four years, we have seen leaps and bounds for WWE’s female talent, including dropping the “Divas” title in favor of just calling them female superstars. We have titles on par with their male counterparts, a women’s Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, and even crowned Women’s Tag Team Champions this year, the first we’ve had in decades. At WrestleMania 35, a women’s match will be the main event for the first time ever. The Women’s Revolution has opened a lot of doors for female talent in WWE, but there’s another part of said revolution that we don’t often talk about: the effect on the fan base.
When I started watching wrestling as a young girl, my favorite women were Chyna, Victoria, and Mickie James. To me these women were beautiful, talented, and strong. I wanted to see them fight and win and hold their titles up in victory. And they had some great matches, but that wasn’t enough to distract me from the way the women were generally treated as eye candy, sex objects, and plot devices. Their entrance videos always showed skin, they were constantly paraded around in skimpy outfits or bathing suits, and the commentators made all sorts of objectifying and uncomfortable statements about their bodies and what they’d like to do to them. As girls and women, we are constantly reminded that our appearance is the most important thing about us, that how attractive we are determines our worth. The treatment of the women throughout the Divas Era was just another source of that message. The “hot” women got pushes and a lot of attention, even if that attention wasn’t always the best. The women who didn’t fit the “hot” mold, like Molly Holly or Mickie James after she’d gained some weight, got humiliated.
Fast forward to current era of women’s wrestling and we’re seeing more types of women’s wrestlers being celebrated; different sizes, different races, different sexualities. And this in turn is bringing in a whole new generation of female fans.
A lot of women my age and older and have been fans for a long time, transitioned from the Divas Era to the current era alongside everyone else. These moments in history, from the first Iron Woman match to the new WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 32 to 2018’s all-women’s pay-per-view Evolution have meant a lot to us because they’re things we thought we’d never see. I feel like the empowerment of WWE’s female superstars has lead to the empowerment of the female fans. It’s amazing to see all the women of twitter showing off their merch, their selfies, and their knowledge. For a long time, pro wrestling was a boys club, but we are making our own space at the table. The gatekeeping is still real, but we are showing up, being heard, and demanding to be taken seriously as fans.
As much as this revolution means to us as adult women, I also have to think about how this is affecting the younger girls of the fandom. At live events, I’m seeing more and more girls with their favorite superstar’s shirt or their toy belts and it makes me smile. Rather than being just objects for male fans and commentators alike to ogle, the women are being presented as serious competitors. Little girls can see themselves in these women and see that these ladies are just as smart, talented, and hardworking as their male coworkers.
I take nothing away from the Divas or the other women of the past as without them, this current era could not exist. But I am so glad and so thankful that we have moved past oiled up bikini catfights and into serious matches and main events. Even if WWE is technically behind the power curve, there is something behind having the biggest, most global, wrestling promotion actively supporting and promoting its women’s division. I’m thankful for all of the female fans, both longtime and new, that are here in the wrestling community and I hope we continue this energy for a long, long time.
-Wynter
