WWE Still Doesn't Understand Its Female Audience

A new belt and a rebranded Women’s Division are good first steps but continuing to promote their biggest female stars as sex objects means the WWE isn’t ready to commit.

The return of Eva Marie on the March 28th edition of RAW was brutally uncomfortable for her and us. The crowd’s reaction was equal parts confusion and disdain. Even when she came into the ring seemingly to save the day the fans couldn’t care less. She raised her arms and forced a smile but you could tell she was genuinely puzzled over the ice cold reception. Her showing at WrestleMania 32 wasn’t much better. I can count how many moves she performed on one hand but it would take several more to count the boos she received.

Did the WWE actually think the audience was going to mark out for a woman who has been a heel in NXT (the rare times she’s around) yet is now acting like a face for some reason? The short answer is yes and the reason is simple; the WWE thinks we’re all 15 year old boys who will cheer for any woman so long as she looks sexy. Storyline? Poppycock! She’s attractive, so isn’t that enough? I can almost envision the pitch to Vince McMahon and the (hopefully) last words of the WWE writer who spoke them:

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“Vince, you’re gonna love this. Eva Marie…she’s so hot, right? Her music hits…BOOM…crowd goes wild! These Brooklyn crowds love a redhead, I mean, who doesn’t, amirite? So she comes out and she is looking hot! I mean smoking hot. She is gonna be wearing the least amount of clothing we can legally show on the USA Network. The fans are going to LOVE this! Trust me, I know these Brooklyn crowds and Eva Marie is so over with them they’ll blow the roof off the place. Did I mention she’s hot? She’s been gone for so long this crowd is gonna go crazy to see her again. I bet my job on it!”

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Much like Roman Reigns, the WWE is convinced they can make Eva Marie a star. The days of Sable removing her top to reveal nothing but black handprints covering her puppies are over but the WWE thinks it can illicit a similar reaction from fans by picking a beautiful woman and having her come out to battle other beautiful women and they can simply craft a storyline around that. Therein lies the problem that is in direct contradiction to the coveted young, female demographic they are trying to reach.

Sex appeal and desirability are the cornerstones of being a female wrestler in WWE, which is interesting because the in-ring ability is still a distant third on Vince’s checklist. I’m confounded when people try to convince me that the Bellas are “good wrestlers” because they simply are not. No one with a functioning frontal cortex can watch them compete in the ring with more talented women and think they belong. Their entire gimmick was based on being identical twins. The end. No one in the history of the WWE creative department said, “the Bellas have incredible wrestling talent and such natural charisma so it’s a complete coincidence they also happen to be beautiful twin sisters.”

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Too often the women in WWE are still portrayed as clueless or helpless. How many more times will we watch a woman fall prey to Ric Flair’s shenanigans and lose a match? Whether WWE realizes it or not, they aren’t doing Charlotte any favors by having dear old dad continuously help her win. It most recently happened at WrestleMania 32 and again on the April 11th edition of RAW. The message is that Charlotte can’t do it on her own and her challengers are too incompetent to realize what’s inevitably going to happen any time Flair is ringside.

There are extremely capable women who are popular with fans (male and female) such as Sasha Banks, Bayley and Becky Lynch, but these women are rarely touted as sex symbols in the same way as Eva Marie or the Bellas and they certainly aren’t given the pushes they deserve. The WWE seems to have their women’s division split between role models and actual models. It’s confusing to tell young women that they should look to Female Wrestler A as an inspiration for strength, perseverance and important life decisions but look to Female Wrestler B for make-up and wardrobe tips.

This is what the WWE never understood about the Divas Revolution. It was never about the female wrestlers, but rather about what they represented. It was a genuine concern about these women not getting respect from the WWE and the lack of a hero for female fans to emulate. They wanted their own version of John Cena and one still has yet to arrive. A new belt and retirement of the moniker “Diva” are good first steps but there is still a lot of work to be done.

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WWE Still Doesn’t Understand Their Female Audience

By Josh.0 | Apr 14, 2016

A new belt and a rebranded Women’s Division are good first steps but continuing to promote their biggest female stars as sex objects means the WWE isn’t ready to commit.

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