The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is one of my favorite parts of WrestleMania Week. I love seeing all the looks on the red carpet and seeing the wrestlers with their significant others and families. And of course I look forward to seeing people get recognized for their careers and what they contributed to the wrestling world; the highlight reels are always on point. The Hall of Fame is also becoming increasingly more sentimental as some of the superstars of my childhood have recently retired and been inducted.
As I was watching the ceremony this year, I started thinking about some of the recent female inductees and I noticed a pattern: most of the women were younger (like Beth Phoenix, who is the youngest wrestler to be inducted) and many had significantly shorter careers than their male counterparts. In fact during the first Women’s Royal Rumble in 2018, the oldest of the returning women were in their forties. That’s nothing compared to some of the men who’ve been in the rumble well into their fifties or sixties. So why do women tend to retire from in-ring competition at far younger ages than men?
One of the obvious answers is that women may want to start families. After all, it’s one of the reasons (other than her broken hand) that Ronda Rousey has taken a leave of absence. Women can’t wrestle while pregnant and the pregnancy takes a toll on the body, rendering them unable to make the demanding travel loop even if they aren’t in the ring. And once the baby is born, the woman still needs time to recover and, if she wishes, get back into ring shape. But wrestling and all the travel it entails means a lot time spent away from your children and family so many women who become mothers retire either before after getting pregnant. So far, Mickie James is the only WWE woman to have a baby then come back to wrestling full-time. Brie Bella came back for a short run following the birth of her daughter, but has since retired from the ring.
Another reason is probably the more limited opportunities for women to make the same amount of money that their male counterparts do. Many wrestling promotions have less titles available for their female to contend for. WWE has a top women’s championship on each brand and a floating set of tag team championships. In comparison, all three brands have a top, mid, and set of tag team championships for the men. Unfortunately the limited title opportunities mean we get a lot of pointless stories that don’t go anywhere, the same couple of women in the title picture, or some combination of both.
The women also usually have less segments, matches, and match times. Often there is only one or two women’s bouts on weekly main roster shows. We could make an argument about channel time allotment but if there’s enough time for rap battles and flashing back to things that happened half an hour ago, there’s enough time for more women’s character development promos and matches. The women’s division is also paid significantly less than the men’s division; not even being a WWE superstar saves you from the gendered pay gap. Between the limited match time, limited opportunities, and the pay gap, women may not feel as inclined to run their body into their ground for as long.
These compounding aspects mean that a lot of WWE’s former female talent retired while still being in their prime. Beth Phoenix, Michelle McCool, Lita, and Trish Stratus have shown that they can still go in the ring. Whereas many former male superstars can’t, or at the very least shouldn’t, return to the ring, these women could make comeback runs if so desired. Many former female superstars are still in fantastic shape and don’t have as many nagging injuries.
As we have transitioned from the Divas Era into the women’s evolution, I’m interested to see if the career longevity of the women changes. Women’s wrestling has seen a surge in popularity over the last ten years and the women are becoming major draws and merch movers in WWE. A lot of the roster is still young so they have years in front of them, even if they choose to start families along the way. Will we start seeing more women wrestling into their forties and fifties? Only time will tell.
