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The Night Women Won

The standout match of the WWE's big night didn't involve names like the Undertaker or Triple H. It was, in fact, a high-velocity triple threat between the trio of Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte.

Last night in Dallas I met a young man, maybe 23-years old. Let's call him Chris. I had actually seen Chris earlier in the day, as I was roaming outside AT&T Stadium before WrestleMania. He was showing off a large, hand-drawn oil painting of Sasha Banks to a group of fans, smiling widely at their adulation beneath a pair of signature Sasha Banks shutter shades and golden rings that read LEGIT BOSS. Maybe eight hours later, there was Chris again, still clutching his poster and wearing his shutter shades while pacing in little circles close to an emergency exit in one of the stadium's concourses. Except this time he wasn’t smiling. He was sobbing.

Women’s wrestling is an interesting thing. There was The Fabulous Moolah who won her first championship belt in 1956, at a time when women’s wrestling was outlawed by the state of New York, and kept a stronghold on it for the next 30 years or so. In the 1980s, Joshi classics featuring the likes of Bull Nakano and Jaguar Nakoto set a new standard over in Japan.

But then, the dark ages. After the WWE realized there was a lot of money to be made off of T&A, the talent pool shifted away from women who could actually wrestle to fitness models with improbable breast implants who would compete in chocolate pudding matches (goal: roll around in chocolate pudding) or bra and panties matches (goal: strip your opponent down to their underwear). Sure, some athletes were outliers: Lita and Victoria and Gail Kim and Mickie James. But for every Trish Stratus, who was a fitness model that transitioned into one of the greatest female wrestlers of the past 20 years, there were five more who prioritized Playboy and Maxim above learning how to actually wrestle. Throughout the '90s and early 2000s, we were trained to treat women’s wrestling as a joke.

Then came along WWE’s developmental property, NXT, which decided to treat female wrestlers like competitors rather than strictly eye candy. A fever spread. Women’s matches were no longer the de facto bathroom break, but a must-see highlight. Not only were the women main eventing the show, they were stealing the show. Bayley versus Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn was considered by many to be the match of the year in 2015. They followed that up with with the first ever women’s Iron Man match in WWE history (it was also the first time two women headlined a WWE pay-per-view). But when the trio of Banks, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch made the jump from NXT to the WWE’s main roster this past July, it felt like a step back. Whereas before they were women, now they were branded by WWE as “Divas,” all vying for a pink championship belt shaped like a butterfly.

But last night at WrestleMania, something shifted. WWE announced that they would be dropping the term “Diva” completely for their female talent. To coincide with that change in branding, the WWE Women’s Championship was revealed, replacing the aforementioned travesty of a belt. It was an impactful moment that held true weight. Here, in front of 100,000 of the most impassioned wrestling fans in the world, a true revolution was unfurling—one that many wrestling fans have been asking for long before that night in June. And to cap it all off, the trio of Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte did what female wrestlers have been doing for the past year on NXT—they stole the show. As of this writing, 49 percent of people voted the women’s triple threat bout as the match of the night on Cageside Seats. Chants of “This is awesome,” “Women’s wrestling,” and, in what is one of the greatest signs of respect that a crowd can bestow upon match, “This is wrestling,” poured down from all across the arena.

And then, there was Chris, sobbing in the concourse.

I was genuinely curious as to what Chris could be so upset about. He very clearly was a fan and we had just witnessed the women put on the best match of the night. We watched as Charlotte made her way to the top of the stage holding the WWE Women’s Championship high above her head for all to see, leaving the Diva’s Championship behind for good. This was a victory.

Hey, what’s going on? I asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Chris replied, trying to cover his tears. “I’m just a little sad right now.”

The match was incredible, though! Why are you so sad?

“I really thought that this was the night that Sasha would win the title,” he explained. “I just couldn’t think of a better moment for her to win the belt than here at ‘Mania. It would have been so meaningful.”

But last night at WrestleMania, something shifted. WWE announced that they would be dropping the term “Diva” completely for their female talent. To coincide with that change in branding, the WWE Women’s Championship was revealed, replacing the aforementioned travesty of a belt. It was an impactful moment that held true weight. Here, in front of 100,000 of the most impassioned wrestling fans in the world, a true revolution was unfurling—one that many wrestling fans have been asking for long before that night in June. And to cap it all off, the trio of Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte did what female wrestlers have been doing for the past year on NXT—they stole the show. As of this writing, 49 percent of people voted the women’s triple threat bout as the match of the night on Cageside Seats. Chants of “This is awesome,” “Women’s wrestling,” and, in what is one of the greatest signs of respect that a crowd can bestow upon match, “This is wrestling,” poured down from all across the arena.

And then, there was Chris, sobbing in the concourse.

I was genuinely curious as to what Chris could be so upset about. He very clearly was a fan and we had just witnessed the women put on the best match of the night. We watched as Charlotte made her way to the top of the stage holding the WWE Women’s Championship high above her head for all to see, leaving the Diva’s Championship behind for good. This was a victory.

Hey, what’s going on? I asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Chris replied, trying to cover his tears. “I’m just a little sad right now.”

The match was incredible, though! Why are you so sad?

“I really thought that this was the night that Sasha would win the title,” he explained. “I just couldn’t think of a better moment for her to win the belt than here at ‘Mania. It would have been so meaningful.”

As someone who grew up on wrestling in the '90s, during those dark days, it seems almost improbable that the word “meaningful” could ever be used in context to women’s wrestling. But in the wake of WrestleMania, it could not be more obvious that women’s wrestling means something to a lot of people. Chris is not an aberration, nor is he an oddity. It’s 2016, and in 2016 being a wrestling fan means being a fan of women’s wrestling. Sure, he may have been one of the few actually crying over the fact that his favorite wrestler didn’t walk away victorious, but he was not the only person emotionally invested in the story those three women told us in the ring last night.

Just think how cool it’s going to be when Sasha finally does win the championship, I told Chris.

“I can’t wait,” he said as he walked away, clutching his sign with his shutter shades and rings proudly displayed for all to see. “I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

I can't either.

NYBuckeye96 wrote:Asuka is an amazing wrestler. Too bad she can barely speak English. If I were WWE, when I called up Asuka, I would give her a manager to speak on her behalf, like Paul Heyman. Brock Lesnar isn't too good on the mic, but Heyman more than makes up for that. Put Heyman with Asuka and you got a breakout superstar right there.