WWE puts its female superstars front and center.
WrestleMania 33 will feature a co-ed lineup
Beyoncé already declared “Girls Run the World.” And now, they’re taking over the World Wrestling Entertainment spotlight.
WWE started a women’s revolution of sorts a few years ago when leaders decided to drop the term “Divas” while referring to its female wrestlers. Instead, all of the performers are called WWE superstars.
Some might dismiss the pronoun change, but to many who follow the industry, it was a declaration of the company’s commitment to moving women from the sidelines toward center stage.
A mix of male and female superstars are expected to draw record crowds at Camping World Stadium today during WrestleMania 33.
“I think for parents to hear their daughters say, ‘I want to be a WWE superstar,’ ” [I think] that sounds amazing and it’s a very powerful dream,” WWE superstar Bayley said. “It’s helped out in a lot of different ways. It’s opened fans’ eyes and parents’ minds and lets the kids know they’re gonna be equal once they get here and pursue their dreams.”
Pamela Martinez, who goes by the ring name Bayley, is part of the rise of women in WWE. The 27-year-old Raw champion is easily one of the most popular characters in the company, male or female.
She is striking, but not in the way of the past Barbieesque wrestlers who donned heavy make-up and skimpy bikinis. Bayley, a carefree tomboy, bounces into the ring with her brown hair loosely tied in a side ponytail and minimal makeup.
She can thank her late WWE NXT trainer Dusty Rhodes for that.
“In my first match in NXT, I had it up and then I took it down in the ring because I felt like they wouldn’t like that because it’s not girlie enough,” Bayley said. “Then I came back and Dusty yelled at me, ‘Why did you take your ponytail down?’ I said I didn’t think it was appropriate. He said, ‘Leave it up and never take my ponytail out.’ So he’s the reason why I still have it up.”
She added with a chuckle, “I’m so happy because that was my main thing. I didn’t know how to curl my hair. I still don’t.”
There’s more room for today’s female wrestlers to feel comfortable dressing their characters up or down to their own liking. More important, women are getting more quality minutes in the ring — although they still lag behind the men.
Of the 13-match primary lineup at WrestleMania 33, women will be prominently featured in three bouts, including the women’s Raw and Smackdown championships.
Another highly anticipated bout will feature the mixed tag team crew of John Cena and his girlfriend, Nikki Bella, versus the Miz and his wife, Maryse.
Wrestler Rebecca Quin longed to see women take on better roles in WWE ever since she started training for a professional wrestling career in 2002.
Quin, who goes by the stage name Becky Lynch, grew up in Ireland watching wrestling on television with her brother, Ricky. He was the one who had the wrestling dream, but once she caught the bug for the business, she knew she wanted to make an impact.
“I just wanted women’s wrestling to be cool again,” Lynch said. “I wanted it to be the thing that people tuned in and they wanted to see what we were gonna do next and not just look at us.”
Lynch, who often jokes about failing P.E. as a child, said she recalls a trainer telling her in her early days to “wrestle more like a girl.”
“[‘I thought] I am a girl and I’m moving. How can I move more like a girl? I don’t even know what that statement means, ’” she said with a laugh as she recalled the moment.
Perceptions about women in the ring have shifted over time from industry leaders and more important, the fans.
Wrestlers say fathers often thank them for because now they are able to find more connection points watching WWE with their own daughters.
Well-known wrestler Natalya Neidhart knows a thing or two about this as a third generation wrestler from the famous Hart family.
She comes from an impressive lineage of Canadian-born wrestlers, including her uncles Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Owen Hart and her father, Jim Hart, who also competed for the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys before wrestling.
Although she is a third generation wrestler, Neidhart said she was mostly inspired by Canadian wrestler Trish Stratus.
“Obviously I admired what my uncles did, but my uncles weren’t women,” Neidhart said. “And when I saw Trish, she was Canadian and she was beautiful, but she was so fierce. She broke her nose, but that didn’t stop her. She just had this tenacity about her and I connected with it.”
And even people who don’t follow the WWE are connecting with Neidhart. She appears on the popular E! reality show “Total Divas,” which follows the behind-the-scenes lives of several characters, including the Bella twinsand Eva Marie to name a few.
Neidhart, who goes by “Nattie” on the TV show, said people often approach her and her husband, fellow wrestler Tyson Kidd, when they dine out with their friends, who are also well-known WWE superstars. Fans of the show, who don’t watch wrestling, often neglect everyone else at the table to get a word in with Neidhart and her husband.
The TV show has also introduced new demographics to WWE, she said.
“The WWE is all about growth and the company really prides itself on evolving and that’s one of the cool things about the WWE network. You can witness history being made from all these different eras from the ’70s, ’80s, the attitude era, the early 2000s and then where we are now,” Neidhart said.
“For the women, it’s evolved so much. The WWE has been embracing women’s wrestling more than they ever have in the past.”