In the year 2003, WrestleMania XIX hosted only one women\'s match on the card -- a triple threat for the WWE Women\'s Championship. Twenty years later, WrestleMania 39 will feature three, and possibly even more.
Over the course of two decades, women have made a multitude of strides in their television time, overall presentation, and fan perception, and now, they remain some of the most popular and prosperous figures in the company.
\"It\'s been wonderful to see how far the women\'s division has come over the years from being put on the show in bikini matches to main-eventing WrestleMania. It\'s just come so far,\" former RAW Women\'s Champion Rhea Ripley told Richard Deitsch on the Sports Media Podcast.
\"The women before us, they persevered and they pushed through and they tried so hard to get the recognition that they deserve as athletes, as performers. It\'s finally paying off,\" she continued. \"We\'re selling most of the merch. A lot of people, they stick around for the women\'s matches because they want to see us absolutely kill it. A lot of the times I feel like we go harder than the men as well.\"
Growth & Goals
Reflecting back on some of evident progressions, Ripley pinpointed the WrestleMania 37 contest between Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair -- the second WrestleMania main event for women in WWE history. The match itself has been widely praised as one of the best bouts of the modern era, but for Rhea Ripley, the match holds a deeper significance.
\"To watch Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks in the main event a couple of years ago -- I remember watching it and I was just like first of all, that\'s my friend out there. I was in NXT with Bianca and I\'ve watched how much crap she\'s gone through and how she\'s just pushed through everything. Then riding with her, hearing her backstory and like everything that she\'s gone through in life and overcome and to see her go out there and be the main event at WrestleMania with Sasha Banks, who I know has gone through everything as well, it\'s just really cool to see. Women are finally getting the spotlight and the opportunities we deserve,\" Ripley said.
Over the last year, Rhea Ripley herself has made enormous advancements in her career. Adopting the nickname of \"The Eradicator,\" Ripley aligned herself with one of WWE\'s most dominant factions -- The Judgement Day. Through her work with them, Ripley\'s confidence has blossomed, as she remains unafraid to square up with just about anyone, including her male counterparts.
\"I can only imagine how far we\'re going to drive this women\'s division in the future because to even just have me going out there and having a match with [Akira] Tozawa, picking up [Luke] Gallows, going out there, beating up the guys, beating up Rey Mysterio, beating up Edge. These are people that I watched as a kid and now me as a female, I get to go out there and punch them in the face. It\'s so cool to see how far we\'ve all come. I\'m so excited to see what the future holds because it\'s just going to go up and beyond from here.\"
Despite the many advancements, though, the fight for true equality is far from over. As Ripley asserts, she and the entire women\'s locker room want viewers to be \"fully invested\" in their characters, storylines, merchandise, and everything the division is doing. In the meantime, they will keep chipping away at the glass ceiling.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit with an h/t to SEScoops for the transcription.
