The ‘Divas Revolution’ Is Alive And Well, Just Not On WWE


The Divas Revolution kicked off for WWE when current champion Charlotte made the jump from NXT to the main roster in July 2015.

She was soon followed by Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, who were joining NXT alum Paige — four talented wrestlers, who single-handedly took the NXT Women’s Division to the next level.

To say expectations were high would be an understatement. However, the ladies ran into something of a roadblock with a little thing called WWE Creative.

Senseless tag matches and half-baked stories followed, and fans found themselves letting out a groan of disappointment at the wasted potential.

WWE is hoping to change that and bring back the Divas Revolution with a sure-to-be-incredible three-way match between Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky at WrestleMania 32.

However, try as they might, the booking is too hit-or-miss for the division to get any real momentum. It’s as if the Divas Revolution is all but dead. Except…

There is another wrestling product that you may have heard of called Lucha Underground over on the El Rey Network, and for two seasons and dozens of episodes, the organization has been getting women’s wrestling — at least a women’s wrestling product for the 21st Century — right. Here’s how they’ve done it.

1. They don’t call them divas.

If you have to get right down to it, that “Divas Revolution” banner means well, but it is actually regressive and demeaning to the women, who have shown they’re capable of rattling the rafters with 5-star matches week after week.

Unless you’re talking about opera singers, the definition for opera is “a woman regarded as temperamental or haughty.”

Temperamental means “liable to unreasonable changes of mood.” Haughty? “Arrogantly superior and disdainful.” You may have noticed that none of these are good things, but they reflect a disturbing trend in how WWE has treated its women performers since the Attitude Era.

The Sportster gives an overview of some of those travails in this piece detailing shocking accusations that have been made against Vince McMahon over the years.

Lucha Underground doesn’t distinguish their women wrestlers with degrading terms.

2. They treat their ‘Divas Revolution’ as more than just a mid-card attraction.

You could count on one hand the number of women-led main events that WWE has had in 24 seasons and almost 1,200 episodes.

While NXT is setting a higher standard, there appears to be no energy expended towards prepping the “divas” for a pay-per-view main event.

If WWE really cared about a revolution, this wouldn’t be something years in the making. It would be on the docket for the next 12 months.

On the other hand, Lucha Underground doesn’t just involve women in their main events, they place them right in the thick of the action with the guys. And that’s not all…

3. They actually have their women win and lose indiscriminately.

When WWE would place men and women against each other in intergender matches, it usually involved some kind of shenanigan finale. If the woman was playing heel, she might get the pin through outside interference thanks to a “superior” male wrestler with whom she had aligned.

If she won fair and square, it was typically because she was wrestling Jim Cornette or Jimmy Hart.

Women rarely lost, and on the rare occasion that they did, it was a clear cheat.

Now look at Lucha Underground. Women win and lose against the men in all kinds of ways. Both are important because it shows them as equals.

There aren’t men’s and women’s divisions. There is just competition, open to all, and you never know what is going to happen.

At the same time, some of the fiercest characters — Taya, Catrina, Ivelisse, The Mariposa — are women.

So if you want a Divas Revolution — at least one in the sense that I think WWE means it — first, stop saying “Divas Revolution”; then, get over to El Rey and watch some Lucha Underground. You’ll be glad you did.

[Image via WWE]

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