PROFESSIONAL wrestling hasn’t always been the most progressive industry.

For years major companies presented women more as objects than athletes. Even five years ago, when the WWE had finally moved away from ‘bra and panties matches’, they weren’t called ‘Superstars’ like the men. They were ‘Divas’, fighting over a glittery pink butterfly-shaped championship belt.

But things are finally changing. And it’s a new generation of stars like Sasha Banks who have driven what the WWE calls its ‘women’s revolution’.

The 25-year-old was one of a group that grew out of the wrestling powerhouse’s developmental group called NXT. It’s where younger wrestlers from the WWE’s ‘Performance Center’ training base, as well as major stars from smaller companies, compete with less oversight from WWE head honcho Vince McMahon.

Instead since its beginnings in 2012, NXT has been the baby of Triple H, a tremendous wrestler himself in the WWE since the mid-1990s.

WWE superstar Sasha Banks. Source: Supplied

Banks came up in a class with women like Charlotte (the daughter of all-time great Ric Flair), the first NXT Women’s champion Paige as well as Melbourne’s own Emma.

It was at the first major NXT pay-per-view-style event, Arrival, where the latter two had a groundbreaking match in a number of ways.

“I remember they got time — and back then, it was so rare to get a match even longer than five minutes,” Banks told Fox Sports Australia.

Time can determine whether a wrestler even has a chance to be popular or not. Men’s main events at major shows will generally be given upwards of half an hour; as Banks says, women just weren’t given the opportunities.

“They had, what, 15 (minutes)? And I was so jealous, I was thinking, I want to prove I can do that,” she said.

“And I was watching that match and thinking hell yeah, I can do this and we can go somewhere. So then it was proving to Triple H that we can have these incredible matches, and be a woman, and perform.”

NXT became the hottest brand in wrestling not just off the back of exciting men’s matches, but terrific women’s wrestling as well.

Banks’ matches with Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Bayley were groundbreaking for WWE; her match with Bayley at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn in mid-2015 is regarded by most experts as one of the best women’s matches in US history — if not the best.

Then came the chance for the women to be elevated from NXT to the main WWE shows, Raw and Smackdown.

For Banks’ fellow wrestlers, this was a dream come true. But with the track record for those on the main roster sketchy compared to the success of NXT, she was unconvinced.

“I was so nervous. Becky (Lynch) and Charlotte were so excited to get called up but I was like, no, we have something so special down in NXT,” she said.

“We were so spoiled and the fans were just too good to us.”

The fears were warranted at first.

“I remember getting called up and we were still doing really short matches,” Banks said.

“And I didn’t even understand what the storyline was of having these random teams, and what were we fighting for?”

Banks flies in a match against Charlotte at SummerSlam. Source: Supplied

But all of this came at an important time for not just women’s wrestling, but women’s sport.

Ronda Rousey was becoming the biggest star in UFC; Serena Williams was continuing to be the greatest tennis player ever seen; and in the US the TV broadcasts of the nation’s victory in the Women’s World Cup rated their socks off.

Banks believes it was no coincidence then that the women of WWE were finally given their chance as the sporting world enjoyed the feats of those women.

“I think it’s all because of that connection. We have to go with what’s going on in the universe,” she said.

“I felt like if we just still doing what we were doing, ‘Divas’, I felt like it wouldn’t really relate and the fans would have been like, ‘well if other women in sports are doing it, why can’t they?’

“They’ve (women) just been taking over and we had to go with the times and evolve. And here we are in this women’s evolution.”

The powers that be — given the structure of the WWE, that essentially just means Vince McMahon — were eventually convinced to change things.

The Divas’ Championship became the Women’s Championship, with the belt design switching from the despised butterfly to a remixed edition of the men’s title. The division itself too was rechristened; no longer would they be Divas. Instead, they’re Superstars, just like the men.

“I remember Stephanie (McMahon) and Hunter (Triple H) told us ... the week before WrestleMania (32),” Banks revealed to Fox Sports Australia.

“And not only did they announce that we weren’t going to be ‘Divas’ any more, we were going to be ‘Superstars’, they introduced a brand new championship. And I was so blown away.

“I always knew they had to change it — I never wanted that butterfly title but I never thought they would change the whole division.

“They said, you’re not Divas, you’re Superstars, you don’t need your own little brand name. You’re equal.”

It didn’t stop there, with Banks, Charlotte and Lynch competing in a well-promoted triple threat match for the championship at WrestleMania 32 in Dallas.

Banks makes her entrance this past April at WrestleMania 33. Source: Supplied

Women’s matches have been high up on the card at WrestleMania before. But given they were often placed in the ‘cooldown’ spot between big men’s matches, or were spectacles used to promote issues of Playboy or ‘Jersey Shore’ ‘star’ ‘Snooki’, this was different.

“We were apart of the headline. We were front and centre on that stadium,” Banks said.

“And I remember seeing that and thinking, we’re really doing something special.”

Then came the chance for the women to headline a pay-per-view event — and in Banks’ hometown of Boston, no less.

She and Charlotte competed in the first ever women’s Hell in a Cell match — the stipulation made famous by Mick Foley and the Undertaker.

“I found out the night before (that we would be main eventing),” Banks said.

“And I was driving from New York with Bayley, and thank God she was there, because I got that phone call and I just started crying because I was so nervous.

“I couldn’t believe that not only was I going to be in the first women’s Hell in a Cell but to main event a WWE pay per view, and how incredibly big that is.

“I was so nervous, I had so much anxiety but knowing that it was in Boston, my home town with all of my family and friends, that crowd was amazing and we did something very special that night.”



It’s not as if there isn’t still room to grow, though. Recent reports suggest there are just a couple of female writers on WWE’s staff of dozens which script the week-to-week programming; in a male-dominated industry, a woman’s perspective is sometimes hard to come by.

Many use the Bechdel test to determine how even a piece of fiction is, in terms of gender, by seeing if it includes two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.

While an exhaustive study hasn’t been performed on wrestling, it would be safe to assume that before the last few years, it did not always pass this test.

But the WWE continues to grow. On June 14 the company began taping the Mae Young Classic, a 32-woman single elimination tournament named after one of the more well-known female wrestlers ever.

It features two Australians — Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm — as well as Japanese star Kairi Sane and former MMA fighter Shayna Baszler. Bazsler’s good friend Ronda Rousey was in attendance at the tapings.

The #MaeYoungClassic will celebrate and showcase female competitors from around the world. Great to have @RondaRousey join us tonight. pic.twitter.com/dQy9C1qFbH — Triple H (@TripleH) July 13, 2017

There’s still room for growth for women like Banks on the main roster, too. She dreams of main eventing WrestleMania, while rumblings of a potential women’s Royal Rumble also have her excited.

“I would be so down for that,” Banks said.

“Because I wanted to be in the first women’s Money in the Bank, but Smackdown had to get that, but I would love to have a women’s Royal Rumble.

“And I’d hope they’d bring in younger women, and older women from the past, I think that would be so cool.”

It only makes sense for WWE to do. Their male audience isn’t growing, but their female audience is; the improvements made have been noticed.

And it just so happens that with Banks, there is a heck of a woman for WWE to pin its hopes on.