http://www.langara.bc.ca/voice/Sports.html
An article about female wrestlers on the indy circuit! OK, I’m quoted in the article, so sue me.
I’m actually cut down to one line there, but for the sake of some interesting discussion and full context, here’s my entire interview, conducted via e-mail by writer Ben Lypka:
1) How have the roles of women changed throughout your years of following wrestling?
Not much, in the grand scheme of things. Really, women have always been eye candy and managers, and that’s the role that the "Divas" of the WWE still inhabit today for the most part. Women’s matches in the 70s and 80s were mainly a time-killing post-intermission attraction on par with midget matches and battle royales, and today it’s not much different. Yes, the WWE puts forth the illusion of focusing more on individual women as characters rather than interchangeable sex objects, but they’ve taken several steps back in recent years with junk like the Diva Search and a return to lingerie matches and other freakshow attractions. Trish Stratus and Lita were truly the golden age of women’s wrestling because both women were not only given strong characters that could stand on their own, but they were also treated as athletes in the ring to be respected without needing a man to back them up. Although people like Candace Michelle and Melina are better than they were when they started, their matches are still on the level of something you’d see in a low-level indy promotion compared to the more polished men’s matches that surround them.
2) What do you think accounts for the move from eye candy to more of an emphasis
on athleticism and why did it happen (if you think it has)?
In fact I think it’s the opposite. If you’re talking in-ring product (which you seem to be), 70s and 80s women were selected on the basis of ability and probably wouldn’t even make it through of the door of a WWE tryout camp today because they didn’t look like bikini models. It was only with the rise of Sable in the 90s and Trish after her that the concept of "hot women who could wrestle" became something fans were willing to accept. Before that, the "glam" style of woman wrestler would usually end up in a David McClane promotion and be treated like a joke. Either way, Sable was the blueprint for that happy medium between Playboy model and woman wrestler and everyone who followed her has her to thank for it.
3) Do you think we will ever see a woman pushed as a main event star or a womans
storyline being the most important storyline?
3) Yes, and it’s already happened twice: Stephanie McMahon and Chyna have both wrestled in main event positions. Chyna, for a time in 1999, was one of the biggest stars in wrestling and only lost her place due to overexposure and bad booking. Do I think it’ll happen again? No, because the system as it works now keeps the women "in their place" as sideshow attractions and eye candy, putting them there to sell merchandise and occasionally pose for Playboy.
4) Would an all-women roster succeed in North America? Why or why not?
It’s been tried and failed several times. Wrestling is a male escapist soap opera, and the audience is primarily men who want to identify with larger-than-life superheroes. The dynamic simply doesn’t work if there’s no men.
5) With Dixie Carter running TNA and Stephanie McMahon poised to run the WWE, do
you think we will see a greater emphasis on women’s wrestling?
I honestly hope not because the quality of worker produced by WWE is really low at this point and as a fan I wouldn’t want to sit through anything featuring the Divas for longer than 5 minutes at a time. Overexposure killed Sable, Sunny and Chyna, and that’s one lesson they have learned very well. Less is often more.
6) What do you see as the future of womens wrestling in North America?
I think that the audience for wrestling has remained the same for a long time and I don’t see it changing, and women’s wrestling has always been merely a passing interest to that audience. Young males want to see women as eye candy and occasionally have a short match, and they simply won’t accept someone who clearly doesn’t look like a bodybuilder doing the same things that male wrestlers do.