Why the WWE Women's Revolution isn't 'revolutionary'
I've been watching WWE on and off for nearly a decade now. Before that, I knew of its existence throughout the Attitude Era and played Wrestlemania on my PES with my dad on his rare days off work. I always noticed that the more personality someone showed in-ring and during a promo, the more the audience seemed to connect with them, whether it was a face or a heel.
Now, this brings me to the current Women's division. They have lots of potential in both Smackdown and RAW, but their rosters are wasted (more so evident on RAW). NXT call-ups are just used for storyline fodder until another (very predictable) Championship match happens for them to be used as interference.
Did a specific wrestler or two pop into your head during that last sentence? If so, then you know where I'm going here. There's a lot of wasted talent in the women's division at the moment. People who should have had a championship but haven't for reasons no one can think of.
NXT favourites who are just used and abused, then brought back to push storylines and tease a possible heel turn. The word 'Diva' has been removed from the title, but the same type of people are still getting it.
Sasha Banks did an interview not too long ago stating that she feels like she's not getting the championships she deserves. Banks has been champion four times with the current RAW Women's Championship, just as many as Charlotte Flair. While Charlotte's reigns have been longer, Banks can still not complain that she's not getting championships.
However, Nia Jax, Dana Brooke, Emma, and the rest of the women's division are being thrown out there week after week as storyline fodder with no championship in sight.
Speaking of storyline fodder, let's discuss the current Mickie James/Alexa Bliss storyline. Mickie James is 38 years old and in the current storyline, she's being referred to as an old lady. Adult diapers are being left for her in the locker room.
Considering there are wrestlers currently on the payroll who are far older than her, that still perform in the ring, this is a slap in the face of the women's division. John Cena is 40. AJ Styles, also 40. Kane (even though he's currently on a break to run for mayor of Knox County) is 50. Big Show is 45.
Even if we switch to women, Tamina is a year older, and nothing near this is being done on Smackdown. 10 years ago, Mickie James was part of a similar storyline over her weight. It's sad that with a "revolution" happening that we're still having to deal with the same storylines that demean the women's division -- a group of hardworking, talented individuals who are treated as second class, while Enzo Amore gets 20 minutes of babbling every week.
All of this being said, women's wrestling has come a long way from the mud fight matches and women being used as punchlines in men's storylines, but we still have a long way to go before they're seen as anything more than sex objects or sub-par athletes.
But, this goes for any sport and until we accept that most of the women have as much (sometimes more) talent than their male counterparts, we're still going to be stuck in the Diva's Championship era.