Wrestling with gender: the female fight
- danielheraghty
- May 29, 2020
- 6 min read
Growing up with two older, WWE obsessed, brothers meant that I was by default, a child punching bag. The enjoyment of wrestling has always been puzzling to me for this reason. Who the hell wants to be turned upside down, hurled onto a dusty floor, flipped over and then ultimately sat on? Certainly not me!
However, for many, wrestling is seen as a showcase of physical empowerment mixed with a rush of performance entertainment loved by fans worldwide. The sport is one of the world's oldest and most popular. It originated in the late 1860s and 70's post-civil-war America where men fought to be the strongest and most entertaining, often in travelling circuses and village shows.
For women, in particular, the sport can be seen as a powerful and empowering way to express femininity and physical strength, while also breaking gender stereotypes. Over time, the hyper-sexual world of wrestling has always been discriminatory towards women who are historically known as props rather than real entities within the wrestling world.
Traditionally, females have been only recognised as glamorous ring girls competing in raunchy wet t-shirt competitions with many thinking they were trying to fit into a man’s world. When they finally did get the opportunity to show off their wrestling techniques, it was automatically seen as more of a sexy catfight for leering men objectifying females in the ringside audience, rather than a real display of strength and femininity.
Ayrshire born Piper Niven now competes for the WWE
Women's history within WWE has been just as rocky and didn’t do much to dispel the female stigma surrounding wrestling over the years. Female entertainers were known as Divas, which for many, is seen as a derogatory term towards women; the word diva often perceives a woman as being someone who expects special treatment and is temperamental. Many female wrestlers called for the name to be changed as they believed it set women in the industry back. It wasn't until as recently as 2016 that WWE decided to change the name Divas to Superstars and introduce the new WWE women's championship with a primary focus on talent.
Alongside the WWE, other entertainment wrestling companies such as AEW (All Elite Wrestling) have also adapted programmes to suit a more female inclusive roster and female orientated audience in recent times. Almost 100 years after male wrestling began, in 2004 The Olympics recognised female wrestling as a sport. This was seen as a major milestone for the competition and a huge breakthrough for women fighters.
Living in a generation of inclusion and equal opportunity also means that female wrestling is having a significant breakthrough within the media thanks to the Netflix show GLOW, which is loosely based on the story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling in the 1980's. The series has been a mammoth hit for the streaming giant; it has won 3 Emmys, has a massive cult viewership and has been welcomed by wrestling community titans such as WWE general manager Kurt Angle, who said the show is helping to bring attention to female wrestling through ability rather than looks.
The 2019 film, Fighting with my Family, was also a success. It brought the story of an aspiring female wrestler from Norwich, who became a WWE mega-star, to cinema screens worldwide. The movie was met by widespread critical and commercial success and is credited in bringing women's wrestling to the forefront of gyms and sports halls worldwide.
E! entertainments popular reality show Total Divas chronicled the talents and personal lives of WWE's most successful female entertainers, running for nine seasons it averaged over a million viewers per episode and made household names out of its stars including Brie and Nikki Bella who are credited in evolving and curating a more inclusive WWE.
Nikki and Brie Bella are the breakout stars from 'Total Divas'
The recent female wrestling phenomenon has clearly caught on, in 2019 WWE announced its first all-female Wrestlemania event headlined by Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Fair and Becky Lynch. It has also led to the WWE brand extension “NXT” which helped usher in the next generation of WWE to 21stcentury audiences with a more inclusive look at wrestling as a whole, the “NXT” brand have now dropped the term “Women” from its roster and will instead use “NXT Championship.”
Scotland, and in particular, Glasgow have been strong advocates of female wrestling both through international success (four Scottish female wrestlers currently compete in the WWE) and hometown triumphs where female wrestling shows are taking place more and more often.
Naveda Rose, co-owner of "Fierce Females", a Glasgow based female wrestling promotion, said "Women's wrestling is so good and it is so important that women get the platform to showcase their talents. There is such a huge amount of talent out there already coming up through wrestling schools."
The Fierce Females has become one of Britain's most notable independent female wrestling promotions since its inception in 2012. The troupe was set up by British championship wrestler Mikey Whiplash in a bid to showcase the talents of females whom he thought were being overlooked due to more significant promotions mainly aimed at males. With sponsorship from Insane Wrestling, it was important for Mikey to make sure inclusivity was critical to the success of Fierce Females, the first couple of shows featured a mix of burlesque acts and female wrestlers.
A promotional image for the Fierce Females most recent event
Over the years, Fierce Females has played a pivotal role in the careers of many professional wrestlers. Current WWE superstars Piper Niven, Nikki Cross, Kay Lee Rae and Isla Dawn all spent time in the Fierce Females ring where they gained wrestling experience to support a future professional career in the field.
After years of success, the Fierce Females went on hiatus due to Whiplash's commitment to other career openings (he began managing SOURCE wrestling school). Washington native, Rose was the driving force behind rebirthing Fierce Females thanks to her routes in the alternative entertainment world as well as discussions about lack of female representation with Whiplash.
She explained, "When I met Mikey, Fierce Females was something I was already pretty aware of, although it had been in hiatus for quite some time. I feel really strongly about women's roles and exposure in the arts in general, it was essential that Fierce Females got a chance to start running again, but Mikey was just so busy. It definitely took a lot of encouragement to get him to give it another go. Not because he doesn't not believe in it, but just because he's always so flat out busy with everything he is already doing in the wrestling world."
The Fierce Females were officially back in October 2017 with their "Don't call it a comeback" show at a new home of the Shed in Glasgow's Southside. The shows since have been a roaring success and have brought new legions of eclectic fans thanks to Rose's alternative edge on the production.
Fierce Females is Scotlands only all women wrestling promotion
When arriving at the Fierce Females most recent show in late January, one thing was clear; this crowd was certainly up for a fight. I had never seen a crowd so electric and raring to go. However, it was the turn of Glasgow local, Rosie Nyte that brought the ecstatic crowd to their feet.
Fan favourite Nyte, real name Roisin is small in stature yet big in personality and sheer talent. Watching her fight that night was a real thrill; it is obvious why she is so loved. Initially studying biomedical science at Strathclyde University, Nyte was inspired to go down the alternative career path thanks to her brother, who is also a professional wrestler. She said, "when I saw him doing it, I was pretty sure I could do it too if I set my mind to it, since then I have continuously loved it."
It is clear that Nyte is passionate about the evolution of female wrestling, she said, "The biggest judgement us as females get is that we cannot do what the boys can do, that is infuriating for a lot of female wrestlers because if you step in the ring with a female we are going to hit just as hard as a male. We are backlogged in many circumstances and are told we are not going to be as good as the boys, but in reality, a lot of female wrestlers can do more than what a boy can. Female wrestling is starting to progress, and it is going the way that us female wrestlers want it to go, we are starting to get the kind of recognition we deserve. From now, it can only get better for us."
Naveda Rose agreed, saying: "live shows are so important to evolving your craft. The more spaces women have to work on promotions of various sizes and to diverse crowds, the better. It is invaluable."
As in other promotions, the ladies of the Fierce Females are all different; they look different, they fight different, come from different places and have different backgrounds. However, they all have the same goal; bringing female wrestling to the forefront of entertainment arenas, sports halls and gyms around the world. How will they reach this goal? The only way they know how: fighting for it.
Take a look at Rosie in action as well as my sit down interview with her!
Be sure to follow Rosie Nyte on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosienyteuk/?hl=en
And check out the Fierce Females on all social media sites: https://www.instagram.com/fiercefemaleswrestling/?hl=en
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