The WWE Women's Evolution is a movement that changed the WWE's focus of their Women's Division to shift from sex appeal to true athleticism thanks to the likes of Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Asuka and many others.
The seeds were planted back in the Summer of 2012 when Triple H replaced John Laurinaitis as WWE's Head of Talents. At the time, most of the women on the roster were cookie-cutter swimsuit and fitness models with no character or personality whatsoever (A.J. Lee was a notable exception to the rule). It became very evident that Triple H wasn't a fan of the models as he wanted a more competitive women's division much like SHIMMER.
Phase one was to phase out most of the Divas as the likes of Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, Layla, Aksana and Maxine had all left the WWE. Phase two was to hire women from the indies which included Sara Del Rey as she would train the women just like the men.
With FCW being rebranded to NXT, the women would slowly start to have longer and much more exciting matches as opposed to the main roster being limited to two-minute catfights.
Things came to a head on the February 23rd, 2015 episode of RAW when the Bella Twins defeated Paige and Emma in a 30-second Tag Team Squash Match which led to the #GiveDivasAChance hashtag on Twitter. Less than five months later, Flair, Lynch and Banks made their main roster debuts.
It was also a time when fans viewed the term "Diva" as sexist, and finally at WrestleMania 32 on April 3rd, 2016 in Dallas, the term "Diva" and the Divas Championship were retired and the women are now called "Superstars" just like their male counterparts. These days, there are usually two or more women's matches on RAW, SmackDown, NXT and the pay-per-views.
Fans' attitudes towards women's wrestling have changed since the Divas days as they don't view women's matches as bathroom breaks or popcorn matches anymore, and at times the women's matches tend to outperform numerous men's matches.
The current WWE Women's Division consists of women of different body types, looks, and flavors and has unique characters.
Women's storylines have also changed as feuds have shifted from making fun of a babyface's looks and fighting over a male wrestler to straight competition with (if not pure hatred towards) each other. In addition, promos evolved from childish promos into serious trash-talking and catfights and hair-pulling have evolved into more brutal beatdowns and locker room brawls much like their male counterparts.
Times have changed when it comes to WWE's female talents as they are becoming a huge part of the WWE nowadays.
Tropes associated with the WWE Women's Evolution include:
- Aborted Arc: Eva Marie re-debuted after going back down to NXT to work on her training, and spent several weeks in 2016 having her in-ring return hyped up. Whenever she was about to have a match, she would have to back out of it due to Wardrobe Malfunction or something similar. Right before SummerSlam 2016, when she was scheduled to be the third woman on the heel side of a 6-woman tag, she was suspended for thirty days, and Put on a Bus, never to be seen again until a brief return in 2021.
- Affirmative Action Girl:
- Beforehand, there would usually just be one female segment per show (although sometimes there were secondary feuds) and sometimes they wouldn't even make the show at all. These days if a show doesn't have a women's segment, there's heavy backlash.
- The return of the brand extension in 2016 led to a second women's title being created again (they had previously had two from 2008-2010, the WWE Women's Championship and the WWE Divas Championship) and eventually tag team titles.
- Big Bad: Charlotte Flair has been the constant top Heel since her debut, being the obvious favorite of the company among the women.
- Breakout Character:
- Although Charlotte Flair was put over as the top star of the division when the transition was happening, the true breakout star of the era was definitely Becky Lynch. While she had been the first Smackdown Women's Champion, she lost the title relatively quickly and spent nearly two years not doing very much. A heel turn on Charlotte after losing a triple threat match for the title to her saw her being met with overwhelming babyface reactions that led to a Face/Heel Double-Turn and Becky eventually winning the first ever women's match to main event WrestleMania.
- Alexa Bliss arguably as well. Within a year of being called up to the main roster, she had already won both the Raw and Smackdown Women's Championships and competed at consecutive WrestleManias. While injuries meant she didn't become quite as big a star as Becky, it's undeniable that she was a huge part of the division.
- The Bus Came Back: This era would see many women from the past (including WWE Hall of Famers Trish Stratus and Lita) coming back to work angles with the current stars.
- Continuity Porn: The first ever Women's Royal Rumble in 2018 saw the return of many stars from previous eras - such as Trish Stratus, Lita, Beth Phoenix, Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool, the Bella Twins, Jacqueline, Molly Holly, and Torrie Wilson. Each appearance was accompanied by an acknowledgment of their history - Beth's partnership with Natalya in the Divas of Doom, Trish's legendary feud with Mickie James, etc.
- Darker and Edgier: Prior to the Women's Evolution, most of the women on the roster were mainly clean-cut with the only body mods were either a belly-button piercing and a tattoo on either the lower back or the wrist (Lita, Paige and to a lesser extent, Ashley Massaro were notable exceptions to the rule). Nowadays, practically every woman on the roster has several tattoos and piercings which include various facial piercings and nipples and tattoos on their arms. In addition, most of the women have more edgier ring attire and can fight just like their male counterparts.
- A Day in the Limelight: The WWE Hall of Fame inductions began to highlight many past female wrestlers outside of the usual stars like Trish Stratus, Lita and Madusa. Jacqueline, Ivory and Molly Holly were inducted, as well as women who had not been champion but were definitely Ruthless Aggression Era stars like Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler.
- Decoy Protagonist: Paige and Emma (the former moreso) were the ones to kickstart the women's revolution, with both their finals match to crown the inaugural NXT Women's Champion and the infamous "#GiveDivasAChance" match being touted numerous times as catalysts for it. Thanks to a combination of wrongly timed injuries (Paige), poor booking (Emma) and bad luck (both), both women are ultimately overshadowed by the Four Horsewomen, and eventually the likes of Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Ronda Rousey, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley, as the major players of WWE's revitalized women's division.
- End of an Age: WrestleMania 32 marked the end to the Diva Era, with the Diva moniker being retired, the Divas' Championship swapping out for a new Women's Championship and an actual match at the PPV as opposed to a celebrity segment, a lumberjill match, a multi-woman tag match or even worse, the infamous Miss WrestleMania battle royal which was won by a man.
- Important Haircut: One of the most shocking transformations came when Bayley's heel turn was marked with a drastic haircut, and it saw her becoming an even bigger heel star than she had been as a face. Notable because women wrestlers beforehand rarely had short hair.
- Old Retainer: Several women held on from the Diva Era to compete in the new one - notably Natalya, Alicia Fox, and Naomi. Mickie James also made a return after a six year absence from WWE. Although Brie Bella retired as the transition was happening, Nikki Bella stayed around for the first two years or so until injuries forced her to retire too.
- Older Hero Versus Younger Villain: This era saw female stars from the past returning to have feuds with the current stars, such as Mickie James feuding with Asuka on NXT, Trish Stratus with Charlotte Flair, and her and Lita doing so with Alexa Bliss and Alicia Fox.
- Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Many a Take That! has been made to the Diva Era with effect like this, even with the storyline beginning as Paige trying to stop the Bellas from holding the division back. This has been met with many a criticism from the women of that era, who didn't appreciate their hard work being invalidated.
- Tamer and Chaster: The Women's Evolution has put an end to sexualized and objectionable match stipulations such as the Bra and Panties match, pillow fights, substance in a pool matches, bikini contests, costume matches and wet and wild matches. WWE's female talents are now allowed to compete in match stipulations that have been previously reserved for men as such the Royal Rumble match, the Hell in a Cell match, the Elimination Chamber match, the Money in the Bank ladder match, the TLC match, street fights and the Last Man Standing match.
- Tomboyness Upgrade: The Diva Era had been notable for forcing every female wrestler to be either a Ms. Fanservice or a more stereotypically feminine character. Here there is more variety in terms of tomboys and girly girls.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- The rebranding of the women's division focused on this - although there's nothing to say that the previous rosters couldn't have taken part in the stipulation matches or have longer amounts of time to work than before had they been given the chance.
- It's also worth noting that WWE's hiring practices still saw non-wrestlers from other backgrounds like fitness modeling, gymnastics, dancing and cheerleading even though most of the current WWE female talents came from the indies. But their training and use in matches saw them performing at different levels and being booked much better.
- Nikki Bella deserves special mention. During the Diva Era, she had an eight day championship reign, played Brie's Beta Bitch while she was champion and could usually only win via cheating. After returning from a shin injury in 2013, she began putting on muscle, developed a more power based moveset, and held the title for 301 days. She also competed in the likes of street fights and Falls Count Anywhere matches.
- World of Action Girls: The WWE Women's Division currently has wrestlers from Ireland, Scotland, China, Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States.
- You Go, Girl!:
- Downplayed. Intergender matches happened a couple of times, when that had been a rarity in the PG Era. Becky Lynch and James Ellsworth for instance.
- Played straight in the sense that women were now allowed to do gimmick matches such as Iron Man, Hell In A Cell, Last Woman Standing, Money in the Bank and the Royal Rumble. They also got to main event several PPVs, including WrestleMania 35.
