Where is women’s wrestling?

By: Lekisha Oliver

Over the past several months, there have been disappearances occurring on the television screen each week.  First from TNA, then RAW and Smackdown.  The disappearances have occurred in the women’s division. 

I leave for a couple of months to work on my degree and each week another woman have either disappeared or the lack of use for women on television has declined.  Now I know that some will say, “We have seen women on the screen, what do you think Lita and Christy are?”  Well, I know that Lita can wrestle, she’s held the WWE women’s title to prove it, but Christy wrestle?  I mean, do not get me wrong I believe that she is a lovely person, but unless she is willing to train each and every day along with the rest of the locker room, she is only going to be a pretty face that dances at ringside.

I know that wrestling has it’s place for women at ringside because I am there every weekend, but the one thing that is missing is another woman that is willing to put it on the line and step into the ring.  There have been ladies that have passed through my area that put on the boots and take to the ring, but the ones on television are just not there.  The women’s division has dwindled so much, that not only has Molly Holly left the company, they would go through and cut nearly fifty percent of the roster.  I know this is old hashing, but with only Trish, Lita, and Victoria actively wrestling, at least when Lita’s off the shelf, what kind of matches can be had?  Only so many triple threat matches can happen. 

At least the WWE headquarters has realized their mistake and has brought in some new blood to the women’s pool.  Even though not all of these ladies have made it to the small screen just yet, there is new blood waiting in Louisville and ready to go.  With Melissa Coates gracing the screen during Backlash, she is one of the first to make it to the wrestling ring.  But she is not the only one.  Former Miss California, and current manager of MNM, Melina has taken it to the ring on many occasions and even made it to the cuts of Tough Enough.  She has the heart, the ability and the beauty to make it in the wrestling business.  Unless she is bumped over to RAW, she will be typecast as some of the ladies on Smackdown already are, just there and just another pretty face.   However, another way to look at it is that there is talent over on Smackdown.  Dawn Marie has wrestling talent, Torrie Wilson is getting better and some of the other divas have started to at least consider in-ring training: make another pool of female wrestlers on Smackdown.  Why not, they aren’t that big a novelty and it would give a lot of the ladies that risk their lives each week a new look towards the future and a hope that will have greater odds.

However, on the other side of the country, TNA has two main divas at this point, Tracy Brooks and Trinity.  While both of these ladies are incredible athletes, TNA consistently misuses their talent.  Both of these ladies have amazing athletic skills and there are plenty of ladies that have passed through the doors of TNA that could have been used with a women’s division.  TNA had Angel Williams and Alexis Laree waiting patiently for spots in the ring, but WWE saw the talent that TNA couldn’t and scooped them up and into developmental.  Other ladies, such as ODB, Valentina, and Seven Briggs were there and still overlooked.  But talent such as these ladies are continually overlooked or under judged.  So in the next few weeks, an interview with one of these lovely ladies will grace these pages and set some things straight. 

As for now, I will close with the thought of what would happen if there were no women at ringside or inside the ring?  What kind of questions would you the reader like to know about women in wrestling and the future of that division?  Email them to me at lekisha_oliver@yahoo.com or check out my website at www.belleofthebrawl.com

Be safe and make it to the Indies this weekend, who knows who you’ll meet…