Women's wrestling in America has come a long way in recent years. When I was a child in 1987, my parents took me to a WWE event at Madison Square Garden. One of the matches on the card was between WWE Women's Champion Sensational Sherri and Rockin' Robin. The fourth match on a nine-match card, Sherri vs. Robin was seven minutes long, as Robin provided tough competition for Sherri, with the champion successfully defending her championship in the end. However, many fans in attendance did not see this match, as they were away from their seats to buy beer and hot dogs or to check out the WWE merchandise that was for sale.
Today, the level of fan interest in women's wrestling is a different story, with the matches often either being in the main event or the match that fans are talking about the next day. Women wrestlers are now taking center stage in WWE, NXT, AEW, and Impact Wrestling. Also, Women Of Wrestling can attract a viewership of over 300,000 via syndication without having a prime-time cable slot.
The rise of social media has also given women wrestlers a platform to connect with fans, promote themselves, and build their brands. One of the best examples is Asuka, who introduces her daily life on her YouTube channel, KanaChanTV.
The impact of social media on women's wrestling has been significant, helping to raise its profile and giving women wrestlers more opportunities to showcase their talents.
As we move into the age of streaming, the future of women's wrestling looks even brighter. With the number of video streaming users worldwide expected to amount to 4.6 billion users by 2027, fans worldwide will have more access to women's wrestling presented by American promotions than ever before. This will help to grow the audience for women's wrestling and create new opportunities for women wrestlers, especially in promotions that focus on women's wrestling exclusively, such as WOW, SHINE (which can also be seen via DVD nationwide), Ultimate Women Of Wrestling, Women's Wrestling Army, Kitsune Women's Wrestling, Mission Pro Wrestling, and Title Match Network (via its, "Ladies Night Out" series).
Also, the industry is becoming more representative of the world outside of the wrestling business, as more and more women of color, different body types, and different backgrounds are showing what they can do in the ring, inspiring a young girl who is similar to them to become a wrestler themselves in the future.
Here are some of the rising stars in women's wrestling who are poised to make a big impact in the years to come:
Ray Lyn: A former OVW Women's Champion, Ray Lyn has also appeared in WWE and AEW. Since last year, she has been making appearances in WOW as Chantilly Chella.
Renegade Twins: Former NWA World Women's Tag Team Champions, the wrestling industry first began taking note of Charlette & Robyn when they began making appearances for AEW in 2021, both in singles and tag team matches.
Ruthless Lala: With 20 years of experience and being open to wrestling women or men, Ruthless Lala has much to offer a promotion. An independent wrestler, she has appeared in many promotions, including WSU and CZW. LaLa first began appearing in CZW last year, and her frequency of appearances in the promotion has increased this year.
Tracy Nyxx: Receiving positive feedback after an AEW tryout, Tracy Nyxx is definitely on their radar. She has wrestled for many independent promotions, including FIP and SHINE.
Savanna Stone : A former ZERO1 USA Women's Champion, Savanna Stone has appeared on WWE-TV and wrestled in many independent promotions, including CZW, IWA MS, WSU, and most often these days, the UWN.
Rahne Victoria: Another former ZERO1 USA Women's Champion, Rahne Victoria is the co-trainer of the promotion's school, as well as its booker. She has appeared in AEW and has wrestled for many independent promotions, which include IWA MS, SHINE, and WSU.
Valentina Rossi: Along with appearing in both WWE and AEW, Valentina Rossi has wrestled in SHINE and many other independent promotions. She has also made multiple appearances in WOW as Adriana Gambino.
Vicious Vicki: Along with having an AEW appearance and multiple independent promotions on her resume, Vicious Vicki currently holds the women's championships of three different independent promotions, including the BriiCombination Wrestling Women's Championship, which she recently successfully defended at a Capital Championship Wrestling event.
Morgan Mercy: Morgan Mercy took part in XCW Dentonpalooza last year. XCW was a promotion that was seen nationally on MAVTV, had a national DVD deal, and also had PPV events when it was regularly active. She has wrestled for many Texas-based independent promotions.
These are just some of the many rising stars in women's wrestling who can be expected to have big opportunities in the years to come.
With the rise in popularity of the women's wrestling divisions of WWE, NXT, AEW, and Impact Wrestling; the impact of social media, the growth of streaming services, and promotions that focus on women's wrestling exclusively, the possibilities for the future of women's wrestling in America are endless.
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