Opinion: What does Torrie Wilson's Hall of Fame Induction Mean For WWE's Women's Revolution

WWE announced yesterday that Torrie Wilson, who appeared in the company between 2001 and 2008 is the latest inductee into the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame.

Wilson's induction is a surprising one. She is not renowned as an influential wrestler such as Chyna, Aja Kong, Sable, Trish Stratus, Lita, or Sherri Martel.

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She is not remembered as a manager either as she rarely was employed in this capacity. She managed Tajiri for a short period but was not a major part of the shows during this time and neither was her charge.

So, one wonders then why Wilson and not Sable or Aja Kong or even the recently retired Paige have been chosen for induction into the Hall of Fame when she was neither a wrestler or valet.

In fact, Wilson's only memorable or rather infamous moments in her WWE career were her feud with her father's fiancee, Dawn Marie in late 2002 and early 2003.

This was a storyline which was rightly lambasted at the time for poor taste and even worse acting; especially when Wilson's father Al "died" whilst having sex with Marie on his wedding night.

Weirdly, the step-daughter versus step-mom feud then crossed the line into a lesbian storyline, which was quickly (and mercifully) shelved.

Her only other memorable contribution to WWE was her Playboy pictorial with on-screen rival turned ally, Sable in 2004, which was another Wilson storyline which also featured unnecessary lesbian overtones, which was bizarre considering WWE publicly acknowledged her real-life marriage to Billy Kidman on television.

In 2019, unwelcome sexual attention from anybody straight or gay would not be permitted to be aired on WWE screens.

Wilson is the epitome of "Diva" and a veteran of "Bra & Pantie" and "Lingerie Pillow Fight" matches and is everything that WWE has been seeking to distance itself from over the past few years, which makes her a baffling choice for induction in 2019.

What Wilson's induction does do is shine a light on the unpleasant way wrestling treated its female performers for years.

This is not Wilson's fault of course. It was the business in general, who portrayed female wrestlers as inferior to the male counterparts and in many cases as deceitful, disingenuous people who were always willing to manipulate their way to the top.

The Women's Revolution, which has seen talented all-round performers such as Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, Sasha Banks and many others main event pay per views, compete in their own Royal Rumble matches, Hell in a Cell bouts, Elimination Chamber encounters as well as host the first ever all-female WWE pay per view is a million miles away (thankfully) from the world in which Wilson inhabited in the first decade of the new millennium.

Wilson was famous for being a pretty face and very little more. She did not possess acting or in-ring skills. She was not an athlete and in a near decade long career never made money for the company except when she was posing for Playboy. Virtually every single female performer in WWE today, even those at the bottom of the card such as Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville or Liv Morgan has achieved more in their wrestling careers than Wilson has. Her induction is just jarring.

That being said, Wilson has commended the current crop of female performers and commented how she is amazed at how physical and talented they are, whilst subtlety acknowledging her own shortcomings.

Of Lynch, Wilson stated: “I remember watching Becky Lynch and then asking her after, ‘How are you going on? How are you doing matches after matches? Aren’t you hurting?’ And she is just tough as a nail.”

Wilson will likely be full of praise for the current female performers at the Hall of Fame ceremony during her speech as well.

Perhaps that will act as a "passing of the torch" moment from one era to another. However, as Wrestlemania 35 will be the first Wrestlemania event in history to be main evented by women, it can't help but feel strangely wrong for a "Diva" who never held a recognised title during her wrestling career to be inducted into the event's accompanying Hall of Fame class.

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