Victoria’s final match this past Friday on Smackdown officially brings down the curtain on an era.
Her departure was the last of a group of women who collectively raised the bar in women’s wrestling. A time when of the core players that made up the women’s roster, 9 of them were champions, 6 of them becoming champion for the first time, second time, etc. During that time we saw the introduction of new characters and the reinvention of others, good guys and bad, each offering something different than the other – a flavor for everyone.
I guess the era formally began when the then defunct Women’s Championship (since the departure of Chyna saw the title and her reign as Women’s Champion come to an end) was brought back and put up for grabs at Survivor Series 2001. The match was called a 6-pack challenge and it involved almost all of the women on the current roster all of which were wrestlers. Sure, some were more seasoned than others, a few were even former champions, this match also featured the debut of a new woman to the roster – and that’s exactly what made it so interesting and entertaining.
Slowly from that moment on, we worked as a group to wiggle our way onto the show every week, even trying to grab a spot at the pay-per-views if we could. We used every chance we could to show the fans that we could do more in that ring than just flaunt ourselves – although we never forgot what brought us to the dance – it was all a carefully crafted balance. The annual Diva shoots that ended up producing the magazines, videos and TV specials gave us the assist when it came to delivering the T&A to our fans, while we got to focus on delivering another form of T&A to the fans – talent and ability.
Over time certain things started to fall into place for us that helped elevate our status on the show from novelty act to eventually being an integral part of it. Obvious things helped like the fewer occurrence of matches that involved substances like gravy, mud and 1 square metre of fabric and, the fact that we started to have matches that lasted longer than 3 minutes! Every bit helped, the storylines that we were given to develop our characters, the occasional opportunity to interact with the main players like Vince, The Rock, Kurt Angle, Triple H, Kane, Steiner and Austin - all helped to make the women officially part of cast – we were no longer just ‘extras’.
But at the end of the day, it still came down to delivering the goods; after all, it is a wrestling show. That’s where attention must be drawn to one of the biggest factors that made this era what is was. Dave ‘Fit’ Finlay – you know him by his famous line “I love to fight!” – Well, he made us love to fight and he made you love to watch us fight.
Originally assigned to the women’s matches as a rib from management, Fit took on the challenge and embraced it. He saw the opportunity to create something special, with a little TLC and a collective effort, Fit lead the charge on churning out some of the most exciting, innovative and entertaining matches ever seen from women in the WWE. He helped us develop stories in the ring that enhanced our storylines so that it would eventually culminate to a pay-per-view match – just like the guys. He brought out the best in us, paying close attention to the individuality of each character, reminding us constantly that ‘this ain’t ballet’ – so that we would go out there and bring it each and every time we were in the ring.
It is the most active time ever in the history of the Women’s Championship. Just as an example, from November 2001 until Lita’s retirement in 2006 the championship changed hands 18 times between 7 women – that’s a lot of action and a lot of women kicking butt! We saw a lot of firsts – a chair shot and a cage match - and a lot of things that normally didn’t involve women like going through a table and hardcore matches. We were even featured in the Main Event of Raw – a spot reserved for the biggest match-up of the night. Even the women who were not title contenders played an important role in forming this group that redefined the role of women in wrestling and who embodied the then newly-coined phrase ‘WWE Diva’.
Like Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman of the Chicago Bulls, or like Cindy, Naomi, Claudia, Christy and Linda were the ‘supermodels’ of the 90’s, I’m proud to have been part of a group that defined an era, a time that is hard to forget and even harder to duplicate.
And so goodbye and best wishes to Victoria. You were part of a special time that brought joy and entertainment to millions - a toast to the widow’s peak freak!
It was a great run … it was an honor to have run with you.