Changing the game: the impact of women in wrestling

For a long time, the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), as the leading wrestling promotion in the world, was dominated by male athletes. However, in the 1990s, the tide started to change and now we have more women wrestlers (called Divas) than ever before.

This is a guide to some of the most impactful female fighters that have changed the game of wrestling.

Bianca Belair

Some wrestlers and Divas are great fighters but don’t spark too much interest outside the ring. Others are super-amusing personalities but lack combat skills.

Bianca Belair is the best of both worlds; she’s an experienced and powerful fighter, and a fitness model that embellishes the front pages of sports magazines.

The dedication and impact she has on the entire WWE industry serve as an inspiration to the new generation of coming-of-age divas. What’s more, Bianca’s core wrestling abilities make her matches a real delicacy for both occasional viewers and fervent wrestling fans. Watching her match at WrestleMania is a safe bet you’ll see some great moves, have fun, and maybe even place a wager on her victory. In the latter case, you’ll need some cool odds, just like offshore sportsbooks provide.

Mercedes Moné

Better known for her WWE 2012-2022 stint as Sasha Banks, Mercedes Moné is an influential Diva and one of the most popular women who wrestled in the 2010s. She won several World Championships, including the NXT Women’s Championship in 2015. That same year she was added to the WWE main roster and went on to win five RAW Women’s Championships titles. Her dominance and appearance helped boost the RAW television ratings and make WWE even more popular with women.

For some time one of the main faces of WrestleMania, Sasha Banks also contributed significantly to the popularization of wrestling among younger audiences.

Since 2022, she’s been living in Japan, fighting within the New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion, where she has also won the IWGP Women’s Champion title.

Once she wins everything she can in Japan, perhaps we’ll see her again in one of the WrestleMania events. Her co-fighters and spectators would certainly be delighted to witness such a comeback.

AJ Lee

AJ Lee, born in 1987 as April Jeanette Mendez, started wrestling when she was 20 years old at a local New Jersey club. WWE signed her already in 2009 and let her polish her fighting skills in their Florida Championship Wrestling subsidy.

Having been promoted to the first team in 2011, AJ Lee started to gain more attention in 2012 with her specific in-ring performances. Her peak was between 2012 and 2015, when she took three Diva Championship titles and was given two Slammy Awards (2012 and 2014).

Her star could’ve shined a bit longer, as she was a fresh breeze in the WWE, but she decided to retire in 2015.

In the aftermath of her wrestling career, AJ Lee has remained a unique fighting figure and made an effort to additionally spread the wrestling word. For instance, she’s one of few published authors in this sport; in 2017, she published her insider book called Crazy Is My Superpower, which became a best-seller.

Cora Livingston

Now let’s go back to the times when women wrestlers were as rare as female voters: the year is 1889 and Cora Livingston was born in Buffalo, NY. This woman would become the first documented women wrestler in the world. Having started fighting at a circus when she was 16, Cora fought her first registered match in 1906.

After that, she kept participating in various wrestling matches, refining her skills and making herself the most prominent woman wrestler in the US.

She became the first officially acclaimed Women’s Wrestling World Champion in the world in 1910 and managed to defend her title until her retirement.

Interestingly enough, once she ended her career, she continued a regular lifestyle until her death in 1957. Since she married a professional male wrestler in 1913, she stayed tied to wrestling by helping him organize wrestling unions across New England.

Modern wrestlers should look up to Cora Livingston, because she was a trailblazer, and see what obstacles she had to overcome to become a recognized wrestler. Of course, all the other Divas on this list deserve a special thank-you, as all of them have paved the way for the current WWE women stars.