Sunday, October 28^th, 2018, the WWE held their first ever all-women’s PPV, Evolution. It was an amazing event that was a long time coming, but how did we get here? Some attribute it to the WWE’s deal with kingdom of Saudi Arabia where women’s rights are restricted. Earlier this year, the WWE held their Greatest Royal Rumble event, where the women weren’t even allowed. Not soon after, Stephanie McMahon, her of the self-congratulatory McMahon’s, with the entire WWE roster on stage, announced the Evolution PPV. Some immediately saw this as make-up to them women for the Saudi even and future events. Literally not even a week after Evolution, the WWE will be going back to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel, where you guessed it, the women will not be participating.

So here we are with the “Divas Revolution”. It started it with a match on Monday Night Raw, February 23^rd, 2015, featuring Paige and Emma taking on the Bella Twins [1]. The women’s combined entrances in length lasted longer than the match itself. That night, the hashtag #GiveDivasaChance was trending. The WWE had no choice but to listen. The hashtag is made even more pertinent by the fact that Paige and Emma were known for having good to great matches in NXT. The Bellas? Not so much.

The Bellas were known more for being the true definition of “Divas” wrestling. Just look back on August 26^th, 2013, when then Divas Champion, AJ Lee, dropped her infamous #PipeBombshell [2]. She pretty much called out the entire Divas division, many which of were featured on Total Divas, the WWE’s reality show on the E! Network. Mind you, at this time, AJ Lee was by and far the most popular woman on the roster. The WWE tried their hardest to get her to be on the show, but she wasn’t having it. She wanted to be known for her in-ring prowess than being on another E! reality show.

AJ Lee’s promo was the unofficial start of the “Divas Revolution”. It was then followed up with Paige and Emma in NXT where they were putting on fantastic matches. Triple H, who is in charge of NXT, have allowed the women to showcase their talents. It was then elevated to another level with Sasha Banks and Bayley. The matches they had over their storied rivalry aren’t just some of the best women matches, but best in general. Then came Asuka and Ember Moon and Nikki Cross and all of the ruthless aggression that they brought [no pun intended].

The Divas Era wasn’t all Bra and Panties Matches and Bikini Contests. There were great women that were known for their skills more than anything, most notably Lita and Trish Stratus. We cannot forget about Ivory and Jazz and Victoria and Molly Holly and Mickie James and Chyna. They were most notably ahead of the curve when it came to women’s wrestling in the WWE. At the very least they had unique personality and skill, something that the WWE is still trying to figure out.

So here we are at the WWE’s first all-women’s PPV Evolution. This isn’t even close to being a unique event. All-women promotions like Shimmer and SHINE are obvious picks for these events. WWE’s biggest competitor, IMPACT Wrestling, formerly TNA Wrestling, have been putting on exclusively featuring women for years. Not only have they been doing it, but their women have been in everything from Ladder Matches to Falls Count Anywhere Matches to Last Woman Standing Matches and beyond. They’ve been doing this for awhile now with each and every woman on their roster, being distinctively different, good to great, and telling amazing stories. The WWE was and is just behind the curve.

Results
As for the Evolution event itself, it could not fail, but was it a success? The show opened with a dark match between NXT UK Women’s Champion, Rhea Ripley, defeating Dakota Kai. The first official match gave us two legends and former bitter rivals, teaming up, as Trish Stratus and Lita defeated Mickie James and Alicia, accompanied by Alexa Bliss. Bliss was originally supposed to be in the but suffered a concussion the previous weekend. Next up, Nia Jax, won the standard, let’s throw everyone in this match so we can get them on the card, match, the Battle Royal. This was actually one of the better Battle Royals as it was given time to breath and let the women enjoy themselves. With Nia Jax winning, she gets a future title opportunity against the Raw Women’s Champion. This match is notable for featuring Asuka, Carmella, and Naomi, women have in the last year been champions and would have never thought to be in a Battle Royal on the first-ever all-women’s PPV, especially Asuka.

Toni, the winner of the 2018 Mae Young Classic

The finals of the 2018 Mae Young Classic were next, as two of the best, Toni Storm and Io Shirai. The match was good and showed that these have an extremely bright future. We then witnessed a Six-Woman tag match between The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan) taking on the team of Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Natalya. This match was kind of thrown together as it really didn’t seem appropriate for both Sasha Banks and Bayley, two women at the forefront of the Revolution, to be thrown into the Battle Royal. Many would have had the two face each other because we know what they bring to the table. Sasha Banks won the match for her team by paying homage to her idol, Eddie Guerrero, with the Frog Splash.

Next was match number four in the long-standing rivalry between NXT Women’s Champion Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler. These two once again put on a top-quality match. They know each other so well. Kairi would not be intimidated by Shayna’s bully tactics. In the end, Shayna won by Technical Submission with an assist from her fellow Four Horsewomen, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke. Needless to say, this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Kairi and Shayna duking it out.

In my opinion, what followed, was the true main event of the show, Smackdown Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch, defending her championship against Charlotte Flair, in a Last Woman Standing Match. Now, the WWE will tell you it’s the first one Last Woman’s Standing Match in the company’s history, but it’s not. That honor goes to Nikki Cross and Asuka in which they had a very memorable encounter. Becky and Charlotte had THE best match on the entire card. They went at it for nearly thirty minutes and probably could’ve gone for another ten. Many did not want Becky to lose but there’s always the thought of Charlotte winning, well, because she’s Charlotte. She always wins. Needless to say, THE MAN, Becky Lynch won and retained her championship.

Finally, the show ended with the obvious main event of Raw Women’s Champion, Ronda Rousey, facing Nikki Bella, who was accompanied by her sister, Brie Bella. Why do I say this was the obvious main event? Well, it featured arguably the WWE’s two biggest mainstream, crossover stars. The outcome was never in question as there was no way Ronda would drop the title to Nikki. The match just had to be believable and it was. In the end, Ronda tapped out Nikki to the armbar.

Ultimately, the shows success is up to the WWE Universe. Not Vince. Not Stephanie. Not the Saudi deal. Will there be another Evolution next year? Will there be another all-female PPV in addition to Evolution? The Mae Young Classic is a success. That we know. Charlotte and Becky set the stage on fire. Shayna and Kairi once again did what they do best. Was this truly an Evolution? Only time will tell.

Becky Lynch standing tall after retaining her Championship