One of the most exciting things about WWE programming in the last decade is the women's revolution--more than the rise of NXT, the advent of the WWE network, or any returning superstar that might have shocked the audience. When the audience demanded a more competitive women's division, WWE listened and completely changed the way it presented its female performers.
Gone were dance contests, matches held in inflatable pools filled with gravy, and the term "Divas." Now the entire female division--rebranded simply as Superstars, just like the men--fight tooth-and-nail to secure the top championship titles on their brands. In doing so, women have now main evented pay-per-views, had their own Money in the Bank, Hell in a Cell, Elimination Chamber, and Royal Rumble matches, and proven they are just as worthy of the spotlight as any male WWE competitor. There is one goal they've yet to attain, though. Women have yet to occupy the main event slot of WWE's biggest annual show, Wrestlemania.
Now, however, the time has come. As WWE sets its sights on Wrestlemania 35, which will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and it's time for the women's division to own the main event. And it's not just the fans who think that, but WWE's male and female superstars themselves.
Speaking to GameSpot at the company's Emmy Awards For Your Consideration Event, which celebrated the WWE 24: Empowered special focused on the women's revolution, the stars of WWE were very clear that they believe women will stand tall on the grandest stage of them all soon.
"I hope right around the corner," Charlotte Flair, a 5-time WWE Women's Champion, tells GameSpot. "I hope New Jersey/New York. I don't know. When all this started, obviously the women's evolution has been going on for years but just in the last three years you've seen so many firsts from Hell in a Cell, from Money in the Bank, Elimination Chamber, Royal Rumble, main eventing Raw [and] Smackdown, I think the WWE Universe, when they hear, 'Oh, the women are main eventing,' they don't even think it's a big deal anymore because it's happened so much. So, I do think Wrestlemania is right around the corner."
Braun Strowman, who won the 2018 men's Money in the Bank ladder match, agrees. "These girls go out night after night and steal the show," he says. "They're put in high profile matches. and they're put on the spot. and they deliver time after time after time. And it's only a matter of time before we have a bill with having Ronda [Rousey] coming over and these girls, the Four Horsewomen, and Alexa [Bliss] and Nia [Jax]. Our women's roster is so stacked from top to bottom with phenomenal athletes from every corner of the globe, and it's just a matter of time before it's going to happen."
The addition of Rousey, who joined WWE in January after a career in the UFC, has definitely been a wild card for the women's division. After competing at Wrestlemania and challenging for the Raw Women's Championship at Money in the Bank, she's shown she can more than hold her own in the ring--and also elicit a massive response from the live audience. When the women finally make it to the main event, after she has more training and matches under her belt, Rousey may be an easy choice for the match. Then again, that can be said about many in the division.
For WWE Hall of Famer and four-time World Champion Shawn Michaels, though, the amount of talent on the women's roster is simply bursting at the seams. In fact, it's enough that he's already looking past an all women's Wrestlemania main event to the next milestone. "I was with Becky Lynch, we were doing the Marine 6 movie in London and I don't even know, it's just one of those things that I thought, 'How far could we be from an all women's pay-per-view?'" he remembers. "You know what I mean? I don't know, to me, I just don't know. I think the strides they've made in, gosh, just the last couple years has been unbelievable, and honestly, it's all due to those young ladies."
He continues, "You just got so many talented young ladies that I don't think we're far from a main event, for me even a full pay-per-view for heaven's sake."
Still, while a full women's pay-per-view may happen eventually, Wrestlemania is clearly the division's next step. And whoever ends up in the slot--which female superstar would turn down that opportunity?--is going to make history. However, this isn't something WWE should just throw together to make sure it happens. "I do think it's going to take the right story," Flair says. "It just can't say, 'Oh, the women are main eventing [Wrestlemania].'' It's got to be like, the ultimate good guy, the ultimate bad guy, and that big fight feel."
As for Flair, she's hoping to be the ultimate bad guy, when the time comes. "I miss being the dirtiest player in the game," she says with a smile.
