I
have always been a fan of tournaments in professional wrestling.
They are full of suspense, possible dream match-ups, and a guaranteed
champion at the end. For me, all of these are the elements that keep
me glued to a tournament from beginning to end. In 1988, the WWF
World title was vacated as a result of a controversial title change
that saw Andre the Giant defeat Hulk Hogan and subsequently surrender
the championship to Ted DiBiase. On that same day in March, I was
riding shotgun with my cousin up and down the New Jersey turnpike
after dropping my sister off at Rutgers University. The Turnpike is
cool, but I would have much rather been at Trump Plaza to see a new
champion crowned. Eventually, I got back home to see Randy Savage
capture his first World championship.
Since
that day nearly 30 years ago, I’ve seen almost as many tournaments
as I’ve seen wrestling organizations. WCW hosted tournaments for
revived NWA singles and tag team World championships, The King of
Cable tournament and BattleBowl. The WWE World title was determined
in the “Deadly Game tournament” at the Survivor Series in the
Late 1990’s along with the tourney to crown the first-ever European
champion and its yearly King Of The Ring tournament. Today’s
wrestling fan has witnessed tourneys on various levels. Ring of
Honor crowned it’s first-ever Television champion a number of years
ago. New Japan came to these shores and crowned its very first
United States champion. And until its completion, Lucha Underground
will present its Cueto Cup tournament every Wednesday night on the El
Rey network.
WWE
has always been ahead of the game in so many ways. The same can be
same for its modern-day tournaments. It’s kind of weird, though.
WWE’s two most historic championships (the WWE World Heavyweight
and Intercontinental championships) were decided in apocryphal
tournaments in 1963 and 1977, respectively. Generations ago,
tournaments were meant to crown champions. But in the modern-day
WWE, they mean so much more. Both the Cruiserweight Classic and the
United Kingdom title tournamnet laid the groundwork for fledgling
brands. In that same spirit, the WWE has created the Mae Young
Classic. Mae Young was a true pioneer in professional wrestling.
She helped in increase the popularity of the sport after World War II
and won several championships in the National Wrestling Alliance in
the process. Her involvement in pro wrestling was not only
pioneering, but revolutionary.
WWE
has a rich history when it comes to women in wrestling. That history
was compromised with WWE’s ill-fated attempt to keep up with the
times by labelling their women as Divas. Things went so far that WWE
actually had a Divas championship. The original WWE Women’s title
had been unified with this championship and retired afterwards.
However, women in wrestling were much more than Divas and eye candy.
They were suddenly being recognized for what they have always been:
strong, fierce, intelligent, brave, determined, and a host of other
qualities that complement their amazing beauty. Being seen in a
different light saw women (not Divas) cause a revolution. The
culmination of this revolution would be the shelving of the
blinged-out butterfly eyesore of a Divas championship and the
creation of a brand-new WWE Women's champinship
The
WWE Women's division has been very successful. Women's championship
matches have not
only main-evented RAW, but have stolen the show at
WrestleMania a few years ago. The division has also split in two
with each brand having its own Women's division. A year and some
change later, we have two divisions and two seperate championships.
But let's face it: things in these divisions are getting very
repetitive. The champions of each division are fairly new champions.
SmackDown has Naomi as its queenpin while Alexa Bliss rules the
roost over on RAW. The pool of contenders consist of former
champions (Bayley, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Naomi) to successful
veterans who have climbed the mountain (Mickie James and Natalya) to
role players who deserve worlds better than they've gotten (Nia Jax)
to the criminally misused (Tamina Snuka). In wrestling, success or
time in the spotlight are fleeting. The corporate structure of most
American companies has always been to make as much money as you can
while cutting costs. Reducing your head count is an option. WWE
does have a reputation of trimming its roster from time to time and
women are no exception to the rule.
Once again, it's time to look at the
bigger picture. WWE remains the worldwide leader in
sports-entertainment. No one is sure of the exact formula when it
comes to getting in the door there. If that were the case, a lot of
your favorite middle-age indy wrestling veterans of 20 years of more
would have THAT as a career highlight as opposed to a fleeting
championship reign absolutely no one cares about (BANG), but that's
another story. WWE has grown tremendously over the past few decades
and continues to grow. Some call WWE “The Machine” and
rightfully so. But as Triple-H has said so many times over, their
most valuable resource – the one that fuels The Machine - is
talent. Sure, you can train someone to be better than they were at
the WWE Performance Center as long as you like. But honestly, is
there any better way to gauge a wrestler's talent than to put him
under the lights and watch he or she wrestle?
The experience of women competing
in the Mae Young Classic range from a few years to a decade and some
change. And while all of them want to be the eventual victor and win
the tournament, there may be so much more waiting for them on the
other side of a loss. Remember, no one is exempt when it comes to
roster cuts and creative changes in direction. The primary source
for revitalizing the Women's division has to be the Women of NXT.
It's almost a given that Asuka will make the main roster before long
and I'm certain she won't be coming alone. What better way to
repopulate a depleted NXT Women's division than with some new blood?
What's that old saying?
“It's not whether you win or lose.
It's how you play the game”
Well “The Game” is watching the way
you play.
Play on, ladies. Play on.
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