Back in the turn of the 2000s, in what was known as the “Attitude” era, the female presence in WWE consisted mostly of bikini contests, fights in the slime of your choice, and other uplifting stuff like that.
Twenty years later, the famous wrestling organization has finally caught up with the company and presents a women’s product focused on real, real, between cables, based on the skills and athletic qualities of the athletes.
Saturday’s show is called Elimination Chamber in honor of the cage which will be used for two fights. However, this special cage will also be used for a female fight.
Natalya will take part in it. This Canadian, daughter of the late Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, will be one of six wrestlers featured in the women’s section of the event.
“I did a few cage fights, but only once the elimination chamber, she explains to The Press. I won’t lie, it’s one of the riskiest fights I’ve done. After my fight in 2020, I had bruises on my elbow for two weeks because Shayna Baszler slammed a door on my arm. I thought I broke it. It was terrifying! »
progress
In recent years, women have occupied an increasingly important place in WWE. In 2019, a tag team belt was added to the women’s division. Since 2018, we have presented two Royal Rumbles, these famous fights pitting 30 wrestlers against each other, by elimination: one for men, one for women.
And at Friday’s media event, WWE sent six wrestlers to the scene: three male, three female.
The shows aren’t fully gender par yet, though. In Saturday’s, there are three men’s fights, a women’s fight and a mixed fight. During the last WrestleMania, in April 2022, 3 of the 16 fights were female.
“We are reaching parity, with a female Rumble, a female elimination chamber”, lists Pat Laprade, host of WWE Raw Wrestling at TVA Sports.
The analyst recalls that it was Ronda Rousey’s successes in mixed martial arts that sparked this change in mentality in WWE.
“She showed that a woman could make the final of a combat sports event and attract spectators,” said Laprade. Vince McMahon wasn’t pushing for it, but Triple H and Stephanie McMahon [le gendre et la fille de Vince McMahon] had an argument: it’s going to work if we do it right, and if we show people that our wrestlers can do more than a five-on-five two-minute fight. »
This shift in mentality coincided with the emergence of Charlotte Flair (daughter of the legendary Ric Flair), Bayley, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch as headliners in women’s fights. Rousey then joined WWE.
Natalya came to WWE in 2008 and can therefore fully measure the progress that has been made.
“I’ve been here for 15 years, and it’s changed so much,” she rejoices. In my first seven years, from 2008 to 2015, women were not valued. We didn’t feel special. It’s good to see how far we’ve come and it’s good to see that there are now people watching wrestling specifically for women’s fights. That’s not to say guys aren’t amazing, but women have never had this exposure before. »