MLW Is Growing – Does It Need A Women’s Division Next?
Major League Wrestling is making waves all over the country and features some of the biggest power-players in today’s independent wrestling scene. The next step for them could be obvious – more women in the promotion.
Women’s wrestling in the United States is arguably bigger right now than at any point in recent memory. While women’s wrestling has always been there, obviously, it has undergone a renaissance thanks to the prevalence of streaming services and promotions like SHIMMER and SHINE in the US, STARDOM and Sendai Girls in Japan; and Pro Wrestling: EVE in the United Kingdom.
Promotions like CHIKARA, Fight Club: PRO and SMASH are just a few of the promotions who helped put intergender wrestling on the map over the past several years. As women’s wrestling continues to grow, the question for Major League Wrestling is clear – does MLW need a women’s division?
I have a lot of thoughts about WWE’s women’s evolution. Mainly, I’m surprised that Vince and family haven’t shattered their spines patting themselves on the back so heavily for the work they’ve done. They have taken what was a barely existent women’s division and allowed it to become something worth watching after the women in NXT blew up the scene and began outshining the men on the roster. Still, they seem to have trouble writing storylines for more than a couple of women at a time while dopey storylines for male wrestlers are a dime a dozen.
WWE isn’t doing, and hasn’t done, anything revolutionary or evolutionary with their treatment of women’s wrestling. In fact, they’re continuing to show that they are far behind the curve when compared to both women’s and intergender wrestling around the world. How they were able to squander the Bayley/Sasha Banks feud by stuffing them into a battle royal at WrestleMania rather than giving them the time to have a singles match is beyond me.
The way WWE promotes their women’s evolution is downright laughable when viewed through the same lens which also sees them accept bucketloads of money from Saudi Arabia for multiple shows. It’s mostly sizzle with very little ketchup-soaked steak from a company more focused on making it look like they’re doing something magical than actually doing something magical.
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When Kimber Lee became CHIKARA’s first-ever Grand Champion, the promotion didn’t throw themselves a parade or go on a media blitz and, despite her reign lasting just a week, Lucha Underground treated Sexy Star’s winning of their top championship without any more pomp and circumstance than that of their male champions. While promotions in Japan and the UK devoted to women’s wrestling were putting on incredible matches built on top of engaging storylines, where was WWE?
Women’s wrestling, in my view, is something that has always thrived on the US indies and foreign promotions – and while I understand the level of representation that comes with WWE promoting women’s wrestling as a bigger deal, they’re certainly not doing something that their contemporaries haven’t already been doing for years and years.
This all brings us to a promotion on the rise in its own right in the United States – Major League Wrestling. Since its return, MLW has steadily grown and built out its various divisions. They didn’t start by crowning all of their new champions on a single night. Rather, they slowly worked the World Heavyweight Title, World Tag Team Titles and World Middleweight Title into the picture so each could be highlighted on their own.
As MLW continues to grow, the question I find myself asking is, “Does MLW need a women’s division?” I’m not sure what the answer to that question is. On one hand, it’s easy to scream “YES! Of course they do!” and close the case – but would MLW be better suited for a full-on women’s division or for intergender wrestling which would see the women compete for the same titles as the men?
We’ve already seen that MLW won’t shy away from intergender wrestling with the recent MJF & Aria Blake vs Joey Ryan & Taya Valkyrie match, so could that be a sign of things to come? Or, are we perhaps on the verge of seeing MLW introduce a Women’s World Title for a division that has never existed at any point in the company’s history?
With those questions in mind, I set out to highlight five women working the US indies who could shake things up and step into the ring to compete with any member of the roster, male or female. While there is a ton of talent all over the world who could tear it up in MLW, I’m simply focusing on those competing regularly across North America as they seem more likely than wrestlers competing solely in Europe or Japan to make an appearance. On with the list!