12 Days of WWE’s Best: Evolution Perfectly Honored Women’s Wrestling

Today I start a countdown of twelve of my favorite things WWE had to offer us in the year 2018, which of course starts with the most phenomenal pay-per-view which I for sure cried during – the history-making and ground-breaking Evolution.

So, to preface this, hi, hello – this is my end of the year gift to you all (mostly just to myself). It’s the holiday season, and I would like to share with you the simple, unbridled joy that I’ve had thinking about my favorite things WWE presented us this year. To preface this secondly, yes I would like you to play “12 Days of Christmas” in the background as you read this to get the full effect. Not, mandatory, of course.

Now, when I think about WWE’s best in 2018, I’d like to pretend my mind had trouble discerning the top moments from the obviously very top moment, but it didn’t. Evolution was the best thing that happened in WWE according to this little lady, who sat on her couch clutching all the Trader Joe’s crackers I could fit in my hands, sobbing at my television screen as the women of WWE gave some of the best performances of the year.

To understand the value and the sheer kick-assery of Evolution, you really have to recognize that there were a lot of questionable circumstances surrounding the creation of Evolution. A lot of people were rightfully pissed off when WWE announced they would be doing their first Saudi Arabia pay-per-view Greatest Royal Rumble, which featured no women on the card.

Now, you, the WWE Universe, were by-and-far pretty annoyed that some of your favorite wrestlers were left off of that card solely based on their gander, and you should have been.

Thus, Evolution was born. and people kind of took that as WWE attempting to placate everyone who had that train of thought. Whether or not that’s for sure why WWE booked Evolution, I can obviously not say for sure. While I would love to think that, no, WWE decided the depth of talent in their women’s division was simply great enough to warrant its own PPV, I understand that may be naive.

Born from the ashes that was GRR fallout truly came the phoenix that was Evolution, to put it mythologically, and it wasn’t only because of the card, or the stipulations, or the returns. What was most amazing about Evolution was how the women of WWE rallied together to support each other and to support themselves and their own position in the company.

What was great about Evolution was the way we as fans rallied together on social media to share their love and support of women of wrestling’s past and present, the way that you could see the pride and the emotions plainly on the faces of the women who performed, and how when juxtaposed with its iffy inception, the women of WWE proved that they’ve always been able to take what they were given, even if it comes under less-than-desirable circumstances, and make the absolute most of it.

One of my favorite things about Evolution was that it really showed us just how well-rounded the women’s divisions became. We seldom get to see all of it, given there’s usually only one women’s match per Raw, SmackDown, PPV, etc., but the women’s division really has so much to offer.

Not only do these women have the ability to do the high-spot, hardcore, grueling matches, but they can be funny, they can be light-hearted, they can show emotion, they can be down-right sadistic (looking at you for this one Shayna, you go girl).

The women’s division quietly developed all the attributes needed to carry an entire pay-per-view as loudly as possible, and for that I’ll always be amazed and thankful for.

2018 was the Year of the Woman in WWE, and Evolution was only a semicolon in the essay of how women will continue to shine and progress in WWE. The passion behind every women in that locker room echoed throughout the Colosseum that night, and it continues to reverberate to this day.