As Wrestlemania is approaching I find myself just as uninterested as I have ever been. When one listens to the chatter from most podcasts or wrestling media outlets this has been the worst build for a Wrestlemania. Some are excited for the matches in and of themselves, but I will go out on a limb and claim that matches where the outcome is obvious, read Lesnar/Reigns, are of little interest. Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the women’s division in the WWE, but there again I am not excited. A Battle Royale, two championship matches, but have we been made to care?
The WWE has been famously bad at carrying women’s feuds over the years. They would have you believe that they are at the forefront of a women’s revolution, but everything they have done has been done before. Just look at Lucha Underground, Impact and Chikara even had Kimber Lee win the Grand Championship. Only Chyna has been able to do something along those lines and she has been acid washed from their past. The E also only seems to be able to carry on one feud at a time on either brand, rarely does one see a second match that isn’t a throwaway or a multiple talent gimmick.
Take a look at how Impact Wrestling has built Rosemary versus Taya Valkaryie instead. Here we get a fund which was on hiatus due to Taya not being able to travel to Canada for Bound for Glory. The angle was hot enough to be put on ice for several months. The heat was felt the instant Taya returned and the fire burned just as intensely. Taya burst on to the Impact scene to fill a void that was gaping wide open. Laurel van Ness was insane and Rosemary had long since turned Babyface. A strong and powerful heel was needed and Taya delivered in spades. The kind of power and intensity that Lucha Royalty brings to the ring is rarely seen in the WWE. That coupled with the fact that she is a seasoned veteran with experience in spades.
Rosemary has also been able to carve out quite the character for herself. The Goth figure among women is of course
not new, look at Winter, Daffney, and the latest Su Yung just to name those in Impact, but she has made the best of it and has created something so compelling that the fans have connected with her. She creates an interesting dichotomy to Taya’s clean, classy and powerful figure, the dark, twisted and damaged soul.
This is just one part of what gives the Valkaryie/Rosemary feud fuel. They have well-established background and gimmicks. They’re not just women who wrestle in awesome matches, many women do, but they tell a story as soon as they enter the ring. The juxtaposition between them is a tale which tells itself, nothing could be simpler.
Secondly one might highlight the fact that the feud has never been a one and done. After their first encounter and subsequent unsatisfactory end before Bound for Glory Impact have truly been playing the long game since then, not interested in ending the story too early, something other companies have a tendency to do. Their encounters have all been inconclusive, but with Rosemary getting taken down the road to Valhalla.
This takes us to the third reason this feud has been one of the most interesting women’s feuds in recent years. Rosemary, a tormented heel, to begin with, an unstoppable machine, has become the underdog, unable to get the better of Taya. Until last week when she threw herself from a building on her foe.
In the end, it is easy to get engaged in the story of Rosemary and Taya. A feud without a title on the line, a battle between light and dark where the definitions are not quite clear. When you talk about how companies are unable to book women, just think of Taya and Rosemary.
C. Marry Hultman
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