Women’s wrestling within the WWE has vastly improved during recent years. Gone are the days when women’s matches were simply amateurish exhibitions with quality performers such as Chyna, Trish Stratus and Lita being few and far between.
The women’s division has now taken over WWE.
This was seen at the WrestleMania Pay Per View Event this year. WrestleMania, which Chris Jericho aptly described as “The Grand-Daddy of them all”, is widely considered to be the best event on the WWE calendar.
This year’s edition was of historical significance as it featured an All-Women Winner-Take-All contest for the first time as the main event.
Becky Lynch defeated then Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey and SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair to win both titles.
The match also marked the first time that UFC legend Rousey was defeated in a WWE ring via pinfall.
Just a few years ago, a women’s main event at WrestleMania would have been considered unthinkable.
The WWE were certainly not short of main event options for the night as legends such as Batista and Kurt Angle likely fought their last ever matches in losing efforts against Triple H and Baron Corbin respectively.
Even though Stratus, Chyna and Lita were gifted wrestlers, they and all women wrestlers who came before them never really had an opportunity to establish themselves as the biggest names in the business.
Societal standards at the time indicated that men need always be the leaders and be given the most exposure without question.
While that may still largely be the case sadly today, people like Lynch who calls herself “The Man” in reference to her belief that she is the top wrestler in the company, are aiming to change this.
During a teleconference, Lynch was asked to define femininity and she responded saying: “It’s owning whoever you are being comfortable in your skin.
“We have different strengths. I would much rather cross an angry man than an angry woman. We can be ruthless. We also have a caring nature. It is embracing what we naturally have and being comfortable in that.”
Athletes like Lynch are needed in order for us to go out of our comfort zones and tackle gender privilege.
They help us to think outside of our boxes and unlearn the patriarchal thinking and ideology which virtually all of us suffer from through no fault of our own as we were brought up this way.
One journalist rather cheekily asked Lynch if she ever sees herself one day becoming the WWE Champion.
When one thinks of who was the greatest WWE SuperStar of all-time, the question of “how many WWE titles did they win comes to mind?”.
“Yes, you could see me as the WWE Champion or you could see me making the Women’s Championship the most important in the company. You don’t have to think of it as being me going for the WWE Championship, the guys should be coming for the Women’s Championship because it’s the most important and the main event. That’s my goal.”
Together with her boyfriend, Seth Rollins, Lynch defeated Lacey Evans and Corbin in an inter-gender tag-team match.
She admitted that she was initially hesitant about the idea saying: “Honestly, I was very apprehensive. What I didn’t want was everybody talking about the relationship.
“What I wanted was two bad asses, two people at the top of their game fighting side-by-side.
“Not for the world to be reminded every five minutes that this is Becky Lynch’s boyfriend or that’s Seth Rollins’ girlfriend. Which, of course, they didn’t do.”
Lynch wants to work with Rollins again because “he is the best in the world, besides me.”
She will face one of her biggest career tests at SummerSlam as she defends her Raw Women’s Championship against veteran Natalya who will have the crowd behind her as the event takes place in her home country of Canada at the Scotiabank Arena.
* The SummerSlam will be shown on SuperSport 4 from midnight on Monday, August 13