In 2018, WWE ran the Evolution Pay Per View from the Nassau Memorial Coliseum in New York (Long Island). The atmosphere in the arena appeared to be spectacular as fans bought into the hype of the WWE’s first ever all women’s event.

The show included all of the big female names in WWE at that time, which are largely the same people as today with the exception of Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey who have both had long absences. WWE also brought back female legends like Trish Stratus and Lita who wrestled in a tag match against Alicia Fox and one of Trish’s main rivals Micke James.

Nikki and Brie Bella had largely left wrestling at this time, but made a return to work the event. Their popularity outside the ring with Total Divas and Total Bellas exposed them to an entirely new audience. Nikki worked the main event against Ronda Rousey.

When you count the pre-show, Evolution included a women’s championship match from all four WWE brands (Raw, Smackdown, NXT, and NXT UK), a battle royal, and the finals of the popular Mae Young Classic women’s tournament.

I loved Evolution. Not necessarily because it was an all women’s show, but because it felt important. Stars from the past (legends) converged with stars from the present (Raw, Smackdown) and stars from the future (NXT, Mae Young Classic) to put on a completely unique show.

Stephanie McMahon hyped Evolution explaining that several years ago WWE took notice of the popular hashtag #GiveDivasAChance. From that point forward, the divas division transformed into the WWE Women’s division. It was an Evolution.

On the NXT media call this week, Paul “Triple H” Levesque was asked about whether WWE would do an all women’s show. He quickly responded with, “Haven’t we already done them” and then expanded to say that “Equality is equality. Equality is not I want my own show . . . If I told you that I was making an all men’s show and I didn’t want women on it, it would be criticized.” He also said, “If you want to wrestle the best women in the world, come to the WWE. That’s where they are.”

Half of the people reading the above quote from HHH will nod their head in agreement and the other half will shake their heads in disagreement. Some people will tell you that Evolution was actually an apology for the all men’s show in Saudia Arabia. Whichever camp you fall into, you will probably never convince the people outside your camp. That’s ok because there is plenty of room in wrestling for everyone. Watch what you love. Support what you love. Build wrestling up. Don’t tear it down.

WWE’s women’s division is exceptional. Nobody can question that point, and it took them (and the whole industry) a long time to get where they are today.

What’s interesting is that women’s wrestling was always super popular. Maybe it didn’t have the same popularity as Flair, Hogan, or Bruno. But I’m always wondering if that was function of women’s wrestling or a function of promotion. In fairness, it was probably a bit of both. Women were not promoted as main event stars and as such perhaps that prevented women that would have become stars from entering the business.

There was an unfortunately long period of time where women’s wrestling was not only absent from the main event, but it was ENTIRELY absent. That dynamic has thankfully shifted and women’s wrestling is flourishing today.

There is undoubtedly more work to do, but here are some newsworthy things that happened or are happening this week that I think progress the movement.

Ryan Joy

PS – Keep sending me your choice for topics to [email protected]

Daily Wrestling News Show

If you want to stay up to date on Pro Wrestling News, subscribe to the Daily Wrestling News Show – the podcast that sorts through all the BS in wrestling news to find you the truth.

Here are this week’s top stories:

• Episode 110 – SummerSlam heads to Vegas
• Episode 111 – Shingo Takagi wins the IWGP World Championship
• Episode 112 – NWA Announces an All Women’s PPV
• Episode 113 – Bret Hart A&E Biography

Subscribe at www.DailyWrestlingNewsShow.com

• WWE announced that SummerSlam will take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
• Somebody robbed the WWE Thunderdome. The act was caught on camera and the person is being pursued by the police for Grand Theft.
• Peacock launched on Samsung TV’s earlier this week.
• The Drew McIntyre v. Bobby Lashley WWE Championship match will not be a Hell in a Cell Match.
• The Viking Raiders became number one contenders by winning a battle royal on Monday Night Raw. It was not announced when the match with AJ and Omos will occur.
• Mick Foley will be the next guest on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Session on 6/20
• Madison Square Garden (New York City) will open with full capacity on 6/20. The first event will be a Foo Fighters concert. It seems likely that WWE will run a show from MSG sometime soon.
• TED DIBIASE announced that the winner of this weekend’s Cameron Grimes v. LA Knight ladder match will become the new Million Dollar Champion.
• WWE abandoned their trademark pursuit for “The Collective.” Whether WWE had any plans for this or not, GCW fans were always annoyed that WWE even tried to trademark this phrase.
• WWE Stock hit a 52 Week High on 6/9 and ended the day at 64.48. That’s after being talked about on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum
• WWE is advertising the following wrestlers for their Supershows Next Month: Roman Reigns, Bobby Lashley, Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Drew McIntyre, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, Dominik Mysterio, AJ Styles, Omos, Sheamus, Riddle, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Bayley
• WWE continued to count down their Top 50 Tag Teams of all time
  • 35. Jeri-Show (Chris Jericho & Big Show)
  • 34. The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Tugboat/Typhoon)
  • 33. The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins)
  • 32. The Brisco Brothers (Jack & Gerald Brisco)
  • 31. Harper & Rowan
  • 30. Owen Hart & The British Bulldog
  • 29. The Miz & John Morrison – Second appearance for John
  • 28. The Bar (Cesaro & Sheamus)
  • 27. Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) – Second appearance for Kane
  • 26. Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik
  • 25. Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo Guerrero)
  • 24. The APA (Bradshaw & Faarooq)
  • 23. The Blackjacks (Blackjack Lanza & Blackjack Mulligan)
  • 22. The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose)
  • 21. D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels & Triple H)
• While not totally confirmed by WWE, it appears that the next In Your House will take place on 8/22. The location is currently believed to be the CWC, but that has also not been confirmed.
• Vice TV (the home of Dark Side of the Ring) will air Vice Versa: Chyna on June 17th at 9PM. This is the first documentary about Chyna.

• The Young Bucks defeat Pac and Penta El Zero Miedo – 09:26
• QT Marshall and Anthony Ogogo defeats Cody and Lee Johnson – 09:22
• Jungle Boy and Christian Cage defeats Private Party – 11:25
• Red Velvet defeats The Bunny – 07:03
• Dustin Rhodes defeats Nick Comoroto – Bull Rope Match – 10:05

AEW Dark Elevation Results from 6/7

AEW Dark Results from 6/8

• Lance Archer defeats Zicky Dice – 02:01
• Abadon defeats Willow Nightingale – 03:39
• Ceasar Bononi defeats Cyrus – 04:58
• Angelico defeats Matthew Justice – 03:51
• Tay Conti defeats Natalia Markova – 06:27
• Chaos Project defeats JP and Tommy Daily – 05:42
• Marko Stunt defeats Ariel Dominguez – 03:27
• Aaron Solow defeats Sonny Kiss – 03:06
• Nyla Rose defeats Missa Kate – 02:14
• QT Marshall defeats Bear Bronson – 07:38
• Thunder Rosa defeats Megan Bayne – 04:03
• Stu Grayson, Colt Cabana, Preston Vance defeat Kit Sackett, Dan Barry, Justin Law – 03:58
• Big Swole and KiLynn King defeat Sea Stars (Ashley Vox and Delmi Exo) – 03:54
• Matt Sydal defeats Dante Martin – 13:36

The Body Slam Brigade Newsletter comes out on Friday, but if you want news closer to real-time, Body Slam Brigade author Ryan Joy is hosting a new podcast called the Daily Wrestling News Show!

The show is live every day at 10 AM on Facebook and You Tube or you can subscribe to the audio version on Apple, Spotify, or pretty much anywhere else you get podcasts. Use the links below to find the show!

Subscribe on Apple Podcast: Click Here
Subscribe Spotify: Click Here
Watch Live on Facebook: Click Here
Watch Live on You Tube: Click Here

Upcoming Show Lineups

Upcoming on New Japan Strong on 5/28

• Alex Coughlin vs Hikuleo
• Rocky Romero & Lio Rush vs Clark Connors & The DKC
• Misterioso & Jordan Clearwater vs Fred Yehi & Wheeler Yuta

Major Show Results –

New Japan Strong Results from 6/4

• TJP defeats Kevin Knight – 06:27
• Barret Brown defeats Adrian Quest – 10:36
• Karl Fredericks and Satoshi Kojima defeats JR Kratos and Danny Limelight – 10:43

New Japan Dominion from 6/7

• ELP, Ishimori, Chase Owens, Evil, Yujiro Takahashi defeat Yoh, Yohshi-Hashi, Ishii, Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi – 11:50
• Bushi, Sanada, Naito defeat Douki, Zack Sabre, Taichi – 11:31
• El Desperado defeats Yoh (Retains JR Championship) – 23:40
• Kota Ibushi defeats Jeff Cobb – 14:54
• Shingo Takagi defeats Kazuchika Okada – IWGP World Heavyweight Championship – 36:06 – Shingo is the new champion.

• Impact Slammiversary will have a limited number of fans. The premium seating sold out pretty quick.
• The Kenny Omega v. Moose match will take place at Daily’s Place, but it will broadcast on Against All Odds.
• The winner of this weekend’s Against All Odd’s Impact World Championship match will face Sami Callihan at Slammiversary.

Impact Against All Odds – 6/12

Essential Wrestling Podcast Episode 57 – Click Here

The Essential Wrestling Podcast airs every Tuesday at 6:00 PM. Join Al Karl, John D’Aconti, John Smith, Gary Mehafy, and Minutes to Bell Time’s Ryan Joy as they take you through the latest in Pro Wrestling. Find out and get the rationale behind who they think wins the week’s matches.

Upcoming on ROH Best in the World

• Brody King v. Jay Lethal
• Josh Woods v. Silas Young – Last Man Standing

Upcoming on ROH TV Episode 508

• ROH World Tag Team Title Pure Rules Match: Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus vs. Dragon Lee & Kenny King
• Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Dak Draper vs. Eli Isom

• Kamille won the NWA World Women’s Championship from Serena Deeb at the When Our Shadows Fall PPV.
• NWA announced the signing of Kylie Rae. Since Kylie Rae was signed to Impact, Impact and NWA worked together to make the signing possible.
• Billy Corgan announced that the NWA will run St. Louis from 8/28-8/31
• The 8/28 show from St. Louis will be called NWA in Power. This will be an All Women’s Show produced by Mickie James.
• The 8/29 show from St. Louis will be called NWA 73. The event will take place at the Chase Ballroom, which is a historic wrestling venue where former NWA President Sam Muchnick promoted from between 1959 to 1983
• The 8/30 and 8/31 events will be NWA Powerrr tapings.
• NWA When Our Shadows Fall Results for 6/6
  • LA REBELION (MECHA WOLF & BESTIA 666) defeat MARSHE ROCKETT & SLICE BOOGIE, THE END (ODINSON & PARROW), SAL RINAURO & RUDO W/ DANNY DEALS in a FATAL FOUR WAY MATCH – 08:41
  • Tyrus defeats Pope – Non Title – 10:30
  • TARYN TERRELL & KYLIE RAE defeat THUNDER ROSA & MELINA – 08:52
  • JTG defeats Fred Rosser – 09:29
  • Stevens and Kratos defeat The War Kings and Latimer and Adonis – 14:10
  • Kamille defeats Serena Deeb – New NWA World Women’s Champion – 14:17
  • Trevor Murdoch defeats Nick Aldis by disqualification – Aldis retains – 12:50
• NWA Powerrr Results for 5/25
  • The Pope defeats Luke Hawx – 05:20
  • TARYN TERRELL defeats LADY FROST – 02:05
  • THE END (ODINSON & PARROW) VS. LA REBELION (BASTIA 666 & MECHA WOLF) Ends in Double DQ – 04:02