10 Defining Moments in Women’s Wrestling History
By Dorathy Gass
3. First-Ever Women’s Royal Rumble
Anyone else get goosebumps that fateful Monday Night RAW on Dec.18, 2017 when Stephanie McMahon announced the first-ever all-women’s Royal Rumble?
The match itself offered some incredible storytelling, amazing surprise entrants, and an ending that left most of the WWE Universe quite pleased, when Asuka was crowned the first Women’s Royal Rumble winner (not to mention a shocking debut by Ronda Rousey).
Moreover, the match signified equality between the men and women’s divisions. Not only were fans getting two Royal Rumble’s in one PPV, but now the women of the WWE finally had a concrete path to a holy grail that at one point in time, seemed entirely impossible: a main event match on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
2. Main Eventing WrestleMania
All throughout 2018, there had been a tremendous amount of Internet rumblings around the idea that the WWE would finally have a women’s match close their flagship PPV, WrestleMania. Not only was that an interesting story in itself, the storyline being played onscreen between Ronda Rousey and “The Man” Becky Lynch, with special guest Charlotte Flair, was pretty incredible.
It was still so surreal for all wrestling fans worldwide, as all three women made their grand entrances on Sunday Apr. 8, 2019 (technically the 9th, after midnight), knowing that whether you are a man or woman, every WWE superstar now had a chance to a closing match on WWE’s biggest PPV of the year.
1. Natalya Vs. Lacey Evans
It can’t get any bigger than main eventing WrestleMania; however, the emotional story told in that squared circle on Oct. 31, 2019 at Saudi Arabia’s Crown Jewel event when Natalya and Lacey Evans locked up, was a big moment for women’s wrestling.
The fact that female superstars had been prohibited from performing in the past meant that Evans and Nattie were doing far more than just breaking barriers in wrestling, they were breaking barriers on how females were viewed on a worldwide scale.
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The match itself was pretty solid, the story these two women told in the ring was impactful; the tears shed from the WWE Universe was overwhelming. Proof once again that wrestling is so much more than just a “soap opera.”