WWE Rumors: Women’s Tournament Latest, Including Launch Info And Competitors

WWE rumors concerning the planned WWE Network special women’s invitational tournament continued to make the rounds this week, as fans of female in-ring action clamor for more concrete details.

This single-elimination tourney – which is largely based on the success of the WWE Network’s 2016 men’s Cruiserweight Classic competition – was originally expected to be taking place early in 2017, presumably in January.

WWE rumors are now such that fans the world over might have to wait just a bit longer before they can see popular female talents such as the rumored Tessa Blanchard, Deonna Purrazzo, Kimber Lee, Heidi Lovelace, and Rachael Ellering be given a more extended spotlight than they have had to date on NXT.

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“The women’s tournament series network special is tentatively earmarked for a May start,” an anonymous WWE source recently told OneIndia. “The women’s tournament… at first was scheduled to start in January, [but was rescheduled] because of the decision to do the U.K. thing.”

This “U.K. thing,” of course, is WWE’s announcement that it would be holding a tournament this Saturday and Sunday on the WWE Network to crown a first-ever WWE U.K. Champion.

WWE rumors concerning the network’s United Kingdom Championship Tournament special has also been covered by the Inquisitr.

With regards specifically to the announcement of this tournament, several weeks back, some both in and out of the company initially feared that it meant WWE was backing off on doing an all-women’s version.

Despite this fear, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, also according to OneIndia, revealed that the show has been “postponed indefinitely” but certainly not scrapped.

A more common — and perhaps logical — fear is that WWE might back off of its extended scouting program with regards to taking a look at some of the non-contracted wrestlers it would otherwise use for the women’s WWE Network special.

WWE rumors seem to point to one specific reason for this disappointing cutback. The logic is believed to be that WWE officials consider the company’s roster to already be full-to-the-brim with female talent, both under WWE deals and on its extended radar. With separate existing women’s division for Raw, Smackdown Live, and NXT, in addition to other new signees such as independent standouts Kimber Lee and Heidi Lovelace, WWE would not likely be hiring a massive amount of new women following such a competition.

Plus, WWE’s current crop of female stars, such as the Bella twins, already do so much for the considerably smaller women’s roster. The fear would be watering that roster down given their existing limited television time.

It is also this reason, some speculate, that WWE has been hesitant to sign a large number of female talents to developmental deals in spite of the precedent being there for WWE to enlist their male peers from Ring of Honor, New Japan, TNA Impact, and Combat Zone Wrestling, among other promotions, to full-fledged television contracts.

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WWE rumors also swelled with anticipation in 2016 when this same program, on the men’s side of the company’s operations, opened the door for currently popular WWE stars such as Rich Swann, Drew Gulak, Tony Nese, and Cedric Alexander, among others, to enter the company despite having limited or no experience wrestling for WWE.

This extensive WWE program also recently opened the door for Esquire Network’s American Ninja Warrior competitor Kacy Catanzaro to come in and show off her own unique athletic abilities.

“The [initial] plans around the tournament were… exciting since it will bring out more female talents from all over the world,” added OneIndia. “[WWE would be able] to add a major boost to the female roster.”

WWE rumors and speculation, however, point to the plan being a success regardless.

Ultimately, whichever women are featured in such a one-off special, most feel that WWE will do its potential future stars a lot of justice by giving them the same platform to perform in which they did the male cruiserweight wrestlers last year.

And that aspect alone — WWE giving equal airtime to women to showcase their abilities — is what most feel makes the most difference anyway.

[Featured Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]