Today’s WWE fans will be used to a much high calibre of women’s wrestling, but WWE has not always been in a position to give its female athletes the best storylines. Often portrayed as managers or love interests for the male wrestlers over the years, it is rare when two or more women managed to wrestle the attention away for themselves.
There has, however, been the occasional personality that was simply too talented to remain in the background. WWE is in the reaction business, and sometimes the wisest thing for their creative team to do is follow what the audience is asking them to do, even if this means changing course and shining the spotlight elsewhere.
Here are 10 examples of when WWE women have put together memorable storylines to rival the men’s.
#1 Mickie James and Laycool
Wrestling’s most impactful storylines are often those that challenge the boundaries of acceptability in terms of what we find socially acceptable. We might not always like these kinds of feuds, and in the long run, we might look back on them as examples of where WWE Creative went too far, but at least they make an impression on us. With so many storylines blending into one most of the time, it is refreshing when we come across something that challenges us at our core.
This was very much the case with the rivalry involving Laycool and Mickie James from 2009. Mickie scored a pinfall victory over Layla shortly after being drafted to Smackdown, which prompted a stretch of time in which the heel pairing of Layla and Michelle McCool set about bullying James because of her supposed weight gain. They gave her the nickname ‘Piggy James’ and started coming to the ring in fat-guy suits dressed as Mickie before their matches.
They would also run video packages editing James’s face onto a pig and essentially went about breaking her down psychologically. The viewing audience was clearly uneasy, and while this angle did help garner a lot of babyface sympathy for James, nothing about it felt acceptable or right, especially considering the rumours that this was Vince McMahon’s non-kayfabe way of punishing James for not being in shape.
One thing to note about the rivalry was that it lasted through three of WWE’s signature PPVs, beginning with a women’s Survivor Series elimination match, a one-on-one bout between James and McCool, in which Mickie picked up her 5th Women’s Championship, and a 10 women tag match at Wrestlemania 26.
#2 Chyna vs. Marlena
This was a short rivalry that ultimately played second fiddle to a wider story involving Goldust and Hunter Hearst Helmsley back in 1997, but it did mark the debut of one of WWE’s most iconic female stars.
In an In Your House PPV early in 1997, in a match between Goldust and Triple H, a woman, seemingly from the audience, climbed over the barricade and started attacking Goldust’s wife, thus causing a distraction to allow Helmsley to pick up the win. JR and King, who were commentating on the match, did a great job of making the whole affair feel real. Two security guards came and wrestled Chyna away from Marlena and proceeded to carry her out of the building.
Chyna would, of course, go on to have bigger and better feuds, but this first rivalry with Marlena did an excellent job of introducing the WWF audience to the “Ninth Wonder of the World” and future DX founder. The contrast in size between the two ladies signalled that Chyna's introduction marked a real game changer in terms of how the company would be using their female stars going forward.
No longer would the majority of women be used as managers like Miss Elizabeth/Sensational Sherri, but they would now be introduced as part time in-ring competitors who would occasionally become deeply involved in the men’s roster.
Goldust did a lot for Triple H’s earlier career in WWF, but the same must also be said for Chyna and her ability to manhandle the other women in the company with sheer ease.
#3 Trish Stratus and Stephanie McMahon
Stephanie McMahon, despite her lack of talent inside the ring, has been involved with numerous high-profile angles over the years, owing mainly to the fact that her father likes to write himself and his family into storylines. One noticeable storyline involved the legendary Trish Stratus, during her time as Vince’s on-screen love interest.
Stephanie became angry at her father’s infidelity, continuously trying to break up the pair and attack Stratus as a way to exact revenge. This was typical WWE Attitude Era television, with the upset daughter somehow playing a heel role despite her father disrespecting her mother so publically. Stephanie and Trish’s rivalry almost came to physical blows a few times, but the WWE creative team always found ways to prevent the match from happening, perhaps as a way to hide Stephanie’s limited in-ring skills.
The feud turned ugly later on when it transpired that Stephanie and Vince were actually working together, and Trish was double crossed in their tag match on RAW. Vince then spent the next few weeks making Trish's life hell, making her strip and bark like a dog in the middle of the ring, and Stephanie pouring sewage over her.
Despite the uncomfortable lengths that this feud went to, having the number one women’s wrestler in the company face to face with the boss’s daughter was actually a great way to showcase the women’s division in WWE. They were not blessed with a deep roster, and it was clear the writers were not interested in coming up with feuds for them anyway. At least Stratus and Stephanie kept the women partially relevant in a time that was dominated by the male performers.
#4 Kaitlyn and AJ Lee
One of the rare positives to come out of the third season of NXT, where an all-female roster was subjected to pointless non-wrestling related tasks and promo scripts, was AJ Lee. Her presence in today’s product is sorely missed, and her contributions as a wrestler and talker would certainly fit in with what the company are trying to do with their female roster today.
Another NXT alumni from that season was Kaitlyn, who actually went on to win the series altogether. From the very start, she and AJ had great chemistry and had obviously formed a healthy friendship on and off air. The two were put together as a tag team after graduating to the main roster, feuding with the likes of Tamina, Alicia Fox and the Divas of Doom - Natalya and Beth Pheonix.
The two worked as a kind of big sister/little sister dynamic, with the stronger, larger Kaitlyn always looking out for her friend - a bit like a female Enzo and Cass.
This kind of pairing always paves the way for a split further down the road, and this is exactly what happened. Kaitlyn grew tired of constantly having AJ’s back and being on the receiving end of so many losses as a result. This helped AJ morph into her vulnerable, easily manipulated persona that Daniel Bryan would later take advantage of when the two of them started an on-screen relationship.
AJ and Kaitlyn would meet again further down the line, this time with AJ Lee as the manipulative, unhinged heel and Kaitlyn as the face. AJ became the number one contender for Kaitlyn's Divas Championship which started a feud in which Lee would play mind games with her adversary, convincing Big E to pretend he had a crush on the champ. All of this worked in AJ's favour as she became the Divas Champion for the first time.
The storyline continued with Lee managing to retain her title with the help of various people. It was not until a mix tag-team match at Summerslam 2013 where Kaitlyn would finally get her revenge, teaming up with Dolph Ziggler to defeat the team of AJ and Big E.
This feud was given a decent amount of time in comparison to most diva feuds of that era. It was occasionally able to mix in with other male feuds going on at the time, but was ultimately an example of how valuable these women were to the company. It’s a shame we no longer see these two on WWE television anymore, especially considering what they would be able to achieve with a deeper, more talented roster.
#5 Charlotte Vs. Sasha Banks
In a few years time when we’ve had the adequate space to be able to assess how successful the women’s revolution was for WWE, one storyline we will look back on with mixed thoughts will be Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks in 2016/17.
In many ways, these two are seen as the senior members of the Four Horsewomen faction that emerged from NXT at the beginning of the ‘Give Divas a Chance’ fan campaign. They were clearly the most gifted of the four and were the most believable as champions. When the two were put together to feud over the RAW Women’s Championship, many fans were understandably excited.
While some have spoken about this rivalry as a demonstration of ‘hot potato’ championship victories, in which the title seemingly changed hands every time they met, the matches they had were all pretty solid, some of them actually great. They competed in the first ever women’s hell in a cell match as well, which was another important stepping stone for the advancement of the WWE women’s roster.
The storyline was effective mostly because of its simplicity. There wasn’t much personal animosity with real life events being incorporated, the two just had a healthy competitive rivalry and, at least on Charlotte’s part, quite a lot of arrogance and self-imposed privilege.
The two women came out of the feud in much better positions compared with where they started, and helped kickstart the women’s division after the somewhat confused beginnings it had when Stephanie McMahon decided to put three teams together in random fashion.
#6 Sable and Luna
While the Chyna vs. Marlena storyline was an extension of the Goldust vs. Triple H feud from 1997, Sable and Luna, which originally started in the same way, actually became a far more interesting and fan-pleasing angle that delighted fans throughout the early days of the Attitude Era.
Goldust had originally associated himself with Luna after walking out on his wife, leading to one of the most bizarre series of segments we've ever seen. At some point along the way, Goldust became involved in a feud with Mark Mero, the on-screen boyfriend of Sable. Luna, who was playing a deranged psychotic character at the time, decided she didn't like the way Sable behaved, becoming jealous of the amount of fan reaction she got when she accompanied Mero to the ring.
The two women came to blows when Luna attacked Sable during a match between the two men. Because of the huge crowd reactions Sable was getting at the time, Luna was attracting a lot of heel heat, to the point where the men became largely irrelevant. The dynamics of this four-way feud also became a little irrelevant, as Mero was slowly turning heel, given his attempts to control Sable's appearance, leaving Sable as the only babyface amongst them.
The two women met for the first time at Wrestlemania 14 in a mixed tag match involving Goldust and Mero. Again, the focus was almost entirely on the two women as Sable ended up getting the pinfall victory over Luna after a ‘Sable Bomb’. This led to a one-on-one match between the two at In Your House where they competed in a bra and panties match. This tied in with the ongoing rivalry between Sable and Mero where Mero would not allow Sable to wear anything too revealing to the ring, much to the displeasure of the male audience.
This storyline helped Sable become one of the most popular superstars of the WWF, which in turn helped the company launch into its Attitude Era with more risque content, complete with raunchy female nudity. In many ways, Sable was a pioneer of the Attitude Era itself, and this wouldn’t have been possible without her involvement with Luna.
#7 Trish and Lita
Before the days of the women’s revolution, the WWF had Trish Stratus and Lita to represent them, and to their credit, we are still talking about them very highly in 2017, more than 15 years after their heyday. In a time when WWE was doing things that transcended pro wrestling, helping them to become culturally relevant in a big way, Lita and Trish were no exceptions, appearing on magazine covers and making celebrity appearances outside of the squared circle.
While the two enjoyed most of their success competing against each other, they did once team up during the Invasion angle to help WWE fight off WCW and ECW superstars such as Ivory and Mighty Molly.
Their rivalry over the WWF Women’s Championship is now the stuff of legend. Initially beginning the feud in the aftermath of the ill-advised forced marriage and miscarriage angle involving Kane and Matt Hardy, Lita became obsessed with defeating Stratus after Trish continuously abused Lita verbally for her weight.
The two then fought over the title numerous times, even main eventing RAW in what is generally considered one of the best women’s matches in WWE history. This match is now used to train young female wrestlers and was put in a position previously unheard of for women’s wrestling as a whole.
The two women have remained good friends throughout their time together, culminating with Trish inducting Lita into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.
#8 Stephanie McMahon and Vickie Guerrero
Vickie Guerrero’s short-lived storyline with Stephanie McMahon a couple of years ago is memorable for one key reason – it gave Vickie the fan recognition she deserves. Vickie has been one of the most effective heel personas in the entire WWE for a good number of years now, receiving the perfect amount of heel heat any superstar can ask for.
WWE’s heels seem to fluctuate between ironic babyface cheers, such is the case with Kevin Owens for example, and X-Pac heat, where fans just don’t want to see you in TV fullstop, a bit like Stephanie McMahon’s reactions in 2017.
Vickie was somebody the WWE Universe loved to hate, which is what the company most needs from their heels. That’s why, when it becomes apparent that somebody like that is due to take some time off, fans should be able to suspend their pantomime hatred for the character and appreciate the person behind the mask. Stephanie McMahon, to her credit, gave Vickie Guerrero this exact kind of send-off back in 2015.
After Stephanie grew tired of Vickie constantly messing up her plans for Monday Night RAW, an actual feud broke out between the two. Vickie had allowed Roman Reigns a chance at competing for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after the Big Dog spiked a cup of coffee that Guerrero gave to McMahon.
While Stephanie and Triple H were away at the hospital, Reigns became the Number One Contender, leading to a match between Guerrero and McMahon. Vickie’s loss meant she had to leave the company, but not before throwing Stephanie into a pool of slime and dancing on stage to her late husband, Eddie Guerrero’s entrance music.
This was the first time since 2007 that Vickie was regarded as a face, and you could tell from the crowd reaction that despite her high pitch, annoying voice, Vickie had given so much of her life to the business that she deserved to be known as one of the main personalities the company has seen.
#9 Trish Stratus and Mickie James
Many fans normally associate WWE’s most controversial storylines with the Attitude Era, but the period just before the company went PG – often referred to as the ‘Ruthless Aggression Era’ threw up its fair share of controversy too. One of the more memorable angles from that time was undoubtedly Mickie James's obsession with Trish Stratus.
After teaming together for a number of months, the newcomer, Mickie James, started showing signs of being a little more than star-struck at the thought of working with such a WWE legend. Mickie became increasingly interested in being close to Trish, an obsession that was not reciprocated. This all culminated on an episode of RAW late in the year when James stole a kiss from the Women’s Champion under the mistletoe.
There has always been an undercurrent of interest in women’s wrestling from a certain section of the male audience, because after all, seeing women wrestle conjures up all sorts of images and fantasies for some. This storyline was an example of Vince McMahon catering to those fantasies, but in a distinctly WWE way, with the love struck James playing the heel throughout most of the feud.
In the midst of it all, the two women put on some great matches together, most notably at Wrestlemania 22 which saw Mickie end Trish’s lengthy Women’s Championship reign. While fans normally remember her onscreen time with Lita, Mickie James should also receive credit for giving Stratus a worthy opponent in a time when genuine female wrestling was thin on the ground.
#10 Sasha Banks and Bayley
For all of the weird and borderline offensive storylines WWE has put their female wrestlers through over the years, perhaps the one that has given women’s wrestling the most respect overall happened just a few years ago when Bayley and Sasha Banks wrestled for the NXT Women’s Championship.
While the main roster were busy trying to work out what a ‘Divas Revolution’ actually was, NXT had been slowly building up respect and prestige to its own female roster with the NXT Women’s division. It is widely assumed that the beginning of the NXT renaissance of women’s wrestling began when Charlotte defeated Natalya in a match for the vacant Championship at NXT Takeover.
Since then, we have seen the rise of the 'Four Horsewomen', the spiritual name given by fans to the foursome of Bayley, Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks who were all involved in the NXT Women's Championship picture in someway.
When Stephanie decided to inject some fresh talent into RAW's division, all of the women except Bayley were given their debuts. Bayley was left to headline the NXT women's division for a longer period and help some of the newer talent find their feet. The best way for Bayley to do this would be to finally prove herself worthy as champion. Sasha was the woman holding the belt at the time, and the storyline between the two revolved around whether Bayley had it in her to emerge victorious against The Boss.
Bayley and Sasha were superb during the series of matches they had, with Banks playing a villainous heel and Bayley the sympathetic face. Their match at Takeover Brooklyn almost stole the show from Kevin Owens and Finn Balor's main event, and the two would go on to main event the next Takeover show in a 30-minute Ironman match. This was a passing of the torch moment for the ages, an occasion made even more special when all four women came into the ring after the match and received a standing ovation from the audience.
While the women's divisions on RAW and Smackdown have lost their way slightly since then, nothing can take away just how good this rivalry was between Bayley and The Boss.
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