February 24th 2015, AJ Lee responded to Stephanie McMahon’s Tweet praising Patricia Arquette for “having the courage to fight for Women’s Rights on such a grand platform” with the following:
This started after Paige, Emma and The Bella Twins had a match that was seconds long, and #GiveDivasAChance appeared on Twitter at the outrage of such a pitifully short match. Stephanie thanked AJ for her opinion, which many thought at a match between the two women would occur. It led Vince McMahon chiming into the hashtag by saying – “We hear you. Keep watching.” he also used #GiveDivasAChance in his Tweet. WWE kept pushing the hashtag but it took them a while to actually do something, and in that time, AJ Lee hung up her knee-high Converse and retired.
AJ Lee and Paige standing tall over The Bella Twins at WrestleMania 31
It took until July 13th for something to actually happen. For weeks, The Bella Twins teamed with Alicia Fox to take on every woman. Paige and Naomi needed some help and help they got. WWE called up three women from NXT (where women’s matches were already so much better) to help out the pair. Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch joined Paige to form PCB and Sasha Banks joined Naomi and Tamina Snuka to form Team B.A.D. the NXT women made an impact by putting Team Bella in their submission holds causing the crowd to go wild.
Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Alicia Fox in the Figure Eight, Banks Statement and the Dis-arm-her
For the rest of 2015, these women got a lot of prominence on RAW and SmackDown. In this time, Nikki Bella became the longest reigning Diva’s Champion at 301 days, Charlotte Flair became the final ever Diva’s Champion and down on NXT, Sasha Banks and Bayley tore everything up at TakeOver: Brooklyn in which Bayley came out on top. The following year at WrestleMania 32, Lita announced that the women would no longer be known as Diva’s, they would be called Superstars just like the men. This announcement was also proceeded by showing off the brand new (and totally gorgeous) RAW Women’s Championship.
Lita unveiling the new RAW Women’s Championship
Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch stole WrestleMania 32 by going after the brand new RAW Championship, Charlotte came out on top and was the first-ever RAW Women’s Championship. July 19th of the same year, saw the Brand Split occur and Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss and Caremlla were all called up to the Main Roster. Nia went to RAW, with Carmella and Alexa heading to SmackDown. With SmackDown now working as a separate brand, a SmackDown Woman’s Championship was bought in with Becky Lynch being the inaugural Champion. SummerSlam, also saw the return of Nikki Bella from her neck injury, join SmackDown and General Manager of RAW – Mick Foley called up Bayley to be a part of RAW.
Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Survivor Series ’16
2016, saw some firsts for the women. The first Hell In A Cell Match also being the first-ever Women’s PPV Main event, the second-ever Table Ladders and Chairs Match and a Falls Count Anywhere Match. Meanwhile, on NXT, Asuka was solidifying herself as unstoppable whilst being NXT Women’s Championship by not losing a single match and even beating a returning Mickie James. The following year, Mickie James joined SmackDown firstly as La Luchadora to help Alexa Bliss retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship in a rare (for women) Steel Cage Match.
Charlotte Flair vs Sasha Banks – Hell In A Cell
More firsts came for women, along with a Money In The Bank match featuring; Carmella, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Tamina and Natalya. Carmella’s valet – James Ellsworth caught it for her, however, she was stripped of it for not winning outright. General Manager, Daniel Bryan declared a rematch for the MITB briefcase, which Carmella won again this time, by herself. After an undefeated streak of 914 days and only dropping the Championship due to injury, Asuka made her debut on the main roster where she settled into RAW. Alexa Bliss became the first woman to hold both the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships though not simultaneously and Charlotte Flair became the first woman and only women to be NXT Women’s, Diva’s, Raw and SmackDown Champion.
Natalya, Carmella, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Tamina – Money In The Bank
2017, saw the first-ever Mae Young Classic, a tournament which saw women from NXT and non signed women to participate. Kairi Sane won and she; Dakota Kai, Bianca Belair, Lacey Evan, Reina González, Rhea Ripley, Sarah Logan, Taynara Conti, Vanessa Bourne, Xia Li and an injured Nixon Newell got contracts for NXT. Former MMA star, Shayna Baszler also signed with the company.
Mae Young Classic 2017
Paige returned to WWE after rehabbing her injured neck, she brought Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville (from NXT) with her to form Absolution on RAW, whilst over on SmackDown (also from NXT), Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan formed The Riott Squad. Stephanie McMahon announced that there was going to be the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match for the following January and the Mixed-Match Challenge, which put men and women tagging together was also announced, with legend Beth Phoenix on commentary.
Absolution and Riott Squad
2018 started with RAW 25 which saw former WWE women made a special appearance and all of the women from RAW 25 (bar Maryse, Maria Kanellis, Terry Runnels and Lillian Garcia) entered the Women’s Royal Rumble which Asuka won and her win was interrupted by a debuting Ronda Rousey. The following month, the first-ever Women’s Elimination Chamber happened and Alexa Bliss retained her RAW Women’s Championship and at WrestleMania Alexa Bliss vs Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair vs Asuka were the one on one title match Championship matches since the Women’s Evolution began, with Nia winning and Asuka’s undefeated streak ending. Also at WrestleMania, the first-ever WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal took place, which Naomi won. Paige announced her retirement due to back injury and became SmackDown General Manager. After 247 days as Miss Money In The Bank, Carmella cashed her briefcase in on Charlotte Flair.
On RAW July 23rd, Stephanie McMahon announced an all women’s PPV of Evolution with women from both RAW and SmackDown on the stage during the announcement. A second Mae Young Classic took place with the final match set for Evolution, not much of a build was set for Evolution, however, the event was still amazing, with legends coming back for matches and appearing in the battle royal. Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch at the event was also the first-ever Last Women Standing match which Becky Lynch retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship. At TLC, the first-ever TLC triple-threat women’s Championship match happened where Asuka became SmackDown Women’s Championship defeating Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch.
Becky Lynch won 2019’s Royal Rumble and at the Rumble, Nia Jax became the first women to take place in both the women’s and men’s Rumble in the same night. The following month, Sasha Banks and Bayley became the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions after campaigning to get them and at WrestleMania 35, not only did the women main event, but Becky Lynch became the first-ever dual RAW and SmackDown Champion. October 30th at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, Natalya and Lacey Evans had the first-ever women’s match in Saudi and in 2020, Bayley vs Naomi was the first-ever women’s Championship match in Saudi Arabia. Elimination Chamber decided the who would face Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 36 after Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair chose to face NXT’s Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania. Bayley and Sasha Banks winning the tag team Championship for the second time saw Bayley become the first Triple Crown and Grand Slam Champion for women.
Lacey Evans and Natalya making history at Crown Jewel
Gallery Of Women, matches and moments:
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