Rebranded: WWE ‘DIVAS’ to WWE ‘SUPERSTARS’

When I first heard the name WWE, the only thing I could think about was huge sweaty men in a ring cosplaying. Little did I know that the WWE universe was so much more. It’s a whole telenovela with twists and turns. Storylines behind every persona that enters that four sided ring. And behind all those big sweaty men lie the real stars of the show: the women of WWE. 

The empowerment these women have gotten throughout several years of fighting for change has clearly paid off. For example, women were referred to as “The Divas of WWE,” then seen as sex objects or simply eye candy to the male wrestlers. The term diva was introduced in 1990 referring to any woman regardless of their position working for WWE. That included women managers, backstage reporters, ring announcers, and last but not least the wrestlers.

This term that discriminated against women was hardly seen as derogatory and quite frankly had no attention brought to it for years. This all changed in February 2015 when a three hour episode of “Monday Night Raw” debuted a tag team match with the four most popular divas at the time. Fans were jumping out of their seats ready to see their favorite female wrestlers go head to head. The problem? The match lasted a total of 29 seconds.

Let that sink in. A 29 second match to end a three hour show. This exact moment was when fans realized the injustice that was given to the women of WWE. This started The Diva Revolution.

The revolution was passionately being taken on by the founders of NXT; also known as the next generation of the WWE universe or the rookies of the league to put it simply. They started featuring their very talented female wrestlers more and more. In October of 2015, NXT held their NXT Takeover: Respect — paper view — making the main event a match between Bayley and Sasha Banks, two of the most beloved women wrestlers at the time.

“I know that at ‘NXT TAKEOVER’ and the Fatal Four- Way we’ll definitely have people saying ‘Oh my god, those were not divas; those were superstars right there.” Sasha Banks stated at her backstage interview with WWE after her match.

This was the first time in WWE history that a match between two women wrestlers would be headlining. Fans were so excited to see that the “Give Divas A Chance” movement was finally paying off. 

This match got so much recognition that the petition to change calling the women of WWE divas into something less sexist was put in place because these so-called divas were doing the job of a male wrestler, some say, even better. 

The WWE Women’s Championship finally arrived in 2016. This is what the WWE universe had been waiting for. During the WrestleMania 32 pre show, WWE revealed the Women’s Championship belt signifying the change of the division. 

The showing of the belt also changed the women’s world of wrestling forever by finally changing the name people have called women wrestlers since the start.

After many years of fighting for respect women wrestlers finally went from divas to superstars. 

Now Women in the WWE universe are seen as idols to boys and girls all around the world. They’re respected and not put into bikini contests as their event. They can finally showcase their talents and everything they’re passionate about. Sure, there may be a few missing pieces into finally creating a completely fair universe, but we’re closer now than ever before.