Original subtitles

(Disalin oleh TurboScribe. Tingkatkan ke Tanpa Batas untuk menghapus pesan ini.) In the early 2000s, a new era in sports entertainment was introduced to the world.

I've never in my life heard of a match like this.

An era from which greatness was born.

Hello, Kentucky and a welcome to Ohio Valley Wrestling.

An era that will go down in WWE history.

Check this out, check this out.

The effort, the heart, both women displayed.

An era that changed the game.

We are D-Generation X.

An era defined in two words, ruthless aggression.

We welcome you to WWF Raw.

At the turn of the millennium, WWE was enjoying a renewed surge in popularity.

Huffman or Jack, they are ready.

What a night this is going to be.

However, not everyone on the roster was able to enjoy the spoils of this extraordinary time.

We are going to go out there and tear the roof off of Madison Square Garden.

Terry, no.

You think we're going to let you go out there tonight?

The women in that era, they were in a really challenging position to want to compete with the boys, so to speak, but not really

given the opportunity to do that.

There wasn't really a women's division at the time.

Back then, there were six of us.

They scraped us together.

There wasn't really like, well, and this is the women's match.

If there was a women's match, it was probably only a few moments, and it probably involves some catfighting more than wrestling.

So it was an interesting landscape for the women at the time.

By March of 2001, as the women's division in WWE was struggling, a monumental shakeup in the world of sports entertainment would have a massive effect on

the roster.

I, Vince McMahon, bought my competition.

That's right.

I own WCW.

WWE had seemingly eliminated their opposition when the company purchased World Championship Wrestling.

However, this shift in the industry landscape created a different type of competition.

TV time is essentially currency in WWE.

Certain talents are thinking, I'm struggling to get on the show in general.

Now we're going to be bringing in 30 new talents?

How's that going to affect me?

With limited amount of television hours every week, some talent were going to be hurt.

The women were the most to suffer, and it was a shame because we had a tremendous amount of athletic talent below us.

They were blossoming at the time, and they just ran out of real estate.

Like a segment went long, oh, you can just cut a couple minutes off of the women's match because that's just there for pure entertainment purposes.

We always pushed for more time in the ring.

We would work on a match all day long.

And then right before we'd go out there, they'd say, go home as soon as you get out there.

And it was extremely frustrating.

It kind of felt like we were not as important.

In addition to their struggle for airtime, WWE's female performers faced an uphill battle when it came to performing

in the ring.

They were in a very tough position of being capable, but being told that's not what the audience

wants to see and that's not what we want you to do.

We had kind of a hard time with, you know, the puppies, puppies, puppies during our six and eight minute matches.

I kind of had this big, heavy weight on my shoulders of like, God, what are we doing wrong?

And how come they don't get behind our match like we want them to?

And I want to be as good as those guys out there.

I did not have resentment.

I just wanted an opportunity to do what I had worked so many years at developing my career.

I didn't want to be that girl on the side anymore.

I wanted to be that woman in the ring being a badass, getting her ass kicked and also kicking major ass.

And the first step towards changing hearts and minds would reveal itself in late 2001, when a well-respected veteran was given the task of overseeing the women's division.

I was brought in as an agent producer and then given the task of working with women, which

was really alien to me.

It was given to him as a joke to take on the divas.

And he said, yeah, you want me to get the divas?

I'm gonna make them as tough as they come.

I'm thinking it's sports entertainment.

I get that.

And this is entertaining.

But I also thought, why can they not do the same as the guys?

You can go from there.

You know, she's got you this way.

Got you there.

Grab her wrist.

Turn it towards you.

Hit her.

Bam.

Now you can shoot her off.

Right there.

Hit her with a clothesline.

I could see that they had talent.

I could see that they were athletic.

So there's no reason why they couldn't do this.

So it developed through then, just getting to know all the women and getting to know their characters and who they were, their personalities.

I had expressed my frustration a bit, like many times, instead of slapping her or pulling her hair.

Can I punch her?

Can I talk to her?

Because I can.

Like, I've done them.

I know I can do them.

Can I do them on TV?

Can I do them in my match?

And so we started to sort of do them a little bit under the radar.

Give me an elbow.

Put my head in.

Hard work and desire.

That's what you get when you put it all together.

Trish Stratus.

We just had this secret pact of having wrestling moves in and trying to show that they actually can do this.

Beautiful move by Victoria.

They prided themselves on their work.

And even people who weren't like traditional wrestlers like Stacey Keebler and Tori Wilson, they worked their asses off.

Many times where we felt like we're there to be sexy, we're there to, you know, put that little flair of girliness into the show.

And Fit really just, he really pushed for us to show that we're athletes.

He made us so tough.

You have no idea.

It was laid in and you're going to bump whether you like it or not.

He fought for me and said, okay, let's do this.

He saw the tiger in my eye and he just knew that like, okay, this one, this one's got it.

Times I would get my wrist slapped, I'd get phone calls and go, hey, Fit, the girls can't do this.

I'm like, okay.

So I'd back off for a week and then right back to it.

He was our best friend.

I mean, first person we would come back to say, Fit, what'd you think of the match?

German was nice.

Oh, no.

I'm not going to give up because I broke the nail.

It's ain't ballet.

With Fit Finley handling the in-ring training, a new onscreen authority figure was introduced in the summer of 2002.

Allow me to introduce you to the new general manager of SmackDown, Stephanie McMahon.

What?

It was good to see Stephanie in that role.

The women were being presented in a certain way in terms of the in-ring performers.

So Stephanie, being a GM, opened some doors.

Women in this business, their place is like mine, on top.

I think having Stephanie there helped our cause.

All right, congratulations.

And Stephanie is an awesome, awesome character on the show.

All the women knew that Steph was behind them and if Stephanie McMahon is in this, we're good.

To have any small part in their success is, it's just like the coolest thing in the world, but especially to be an authority figure.

And here I am working with our talent and our storylines and making it come to life.

It's just like the greatest thrill possible.

The right pieces were falling in place to ensure the success of the women in WWE.

It was like another rung on that evolution of where women get to be represented in the industry.

So we all just want to get out there and do our thing.

We thought, let's build this women's division.

Let's keep their attention.

Let's do something different with it because there was literally no women's division and now there is.

So let's see where we can go.

Once given the opportunity, Trish Stratus quickly became the face of WWE's women's division.

She loves to compete and she can get just as physical as any woman you'll ever see.

She had it all.

She had the looks.

She had the personality.

She had the athleticism.

She's just the total package.

And a rise in momentum yielded an expanded role for women on WWE programming.

There's a damn Victoria.

What the heck?

Look out!

Victoria and I actually go way back.

We actually both started in the fitness world.

Years ago, when Trish and I were fitness models, the WWE was interested in the both of us.

But Trish Stratus never let me get my chance.

The women, we didn't have this before.

You're now going to work a program together and you're going to work to this pay-per-view.

So it was really the first women's storyline that was like, okay, so you come from the fitness background and you're jealous because she's come up and done her thing.

You got left behind.

For Survivor Series, I have a challenge for Trish Stratus in a hardcore match.

We're getting hardcore matches.

It raised the bar on what the women could be doing in the ring.

Three years since the WWE sanctioned a hardcore rules women's title match.

Trish and I, we had a rule.

You say sorry later, we're going to kick each other's ass out in the ring.

Victoria, you know, she could kick your ass and you knew it.

In the hardcore match between Trish and Victoria, I go back and watch and go, wow, we're able to do this?

She got up there fast.

Right in the eyes.

That's the main thing.

The hook of her leg.

Did she get it?

She got it.

You've got to be kidding me.

Victoria is the new women's champion.

And whether you like her or not, she earned this championship, bloody nose and all.

We want to entertain the fans, truly.

Gosh, we put a lot of work into this and you can tell the women's division has stepped up.

Have you ever seen women in a steel cage match?

This is a first for Monday Night Raw.

The female superstars would continue to earn opportunities to prove themselves in the ring.

Women like Lita and Trish Stratus made the most of their chances as they were becoming marquee names in the WWE.

What a combination, Trish and Lita.

You're the most popular divas in the WWE.

And on the grand stage of WrestleMania, the upward momentum of the women's division would continue.

But not without a minor hurdle in route to the show of shows.

I was like, yes, this is like a dream come true to be at Madison Square Garden.

And I was told, oh, they're not going to have a women's championship match this year.

They're just going to have a pillow fight with some of the models.

I was like, oh, what if I shave my head?

Then can I be on the show?

Well, let's get this right.

Molly Holly is challenging for the women's championship.

If Molly does not win the title tonight, she gets her head shaved.

Oh, right in the face, power slam.

My God, what a powerbomb, what maneuver.

He's trying to execute the Widow's Beat.

Not going to work.

Oh, backslide, backslide by Victoria.

Oh, uh-oh, wait a minute.

You know what this means, don't you, JR?

Oh, no, get out of here.

Molly Holly and Victoria having a great match and having a story behind it where Molly Holly ended up having her head shaved.

What a humiliating, embarrassing moment for the former women's champion.

I think that is what people really wanted to see.

They wanted to see women with stories.

Story in terms of the Trish, Christian and Jericho thing.

Jericho was a bad guy.

The fans, they were like, no, don't go with the heel.

They hate this guy, they hate Jericho.

But they got so enamored by the storyline that was happening between these two characters.

They're like, but I kind of want to see them together.

I can't stop thinking about you.

Jericho and Trish, they have the chemistry tonight in this match, I'll tell you that.

It was just a real life storyline that I think a lot of people could relate to.

Don't do this, Jericho, don't do this.

You know, Jericho and Christian had a great match, but I sure remember Trish.

Oh, Trish, she had to think that was Christian.

What the hell is, what?

Wait a minute.

And walking

up the ramp and looking back at him with that look, like I remember that look.

Somebody got to help me with this one.

I don't understand.

Oh my God.

Oh, for God's sakes.

The two top tangos, look, they are, look at that.

And she had just stolen the show.

WrestleMania 20, you know, I can't speak for everyone, but I think what people remember most from it is Molly Holly getting her head shaved.

Can you imagine how long it took her to grow that hair?

Trish turning on Jericho and leaving with Christian.

And then I don't even remember.

The first ever Playboy evening gown match.

A match needs to mean something in order for it to be memorable and not just be this cheap thrill.

The importance of female characters and stories was more evident than ever before.

And in the summer of 2004, WWE launched an innovative competition in an effort to cultivate even more superstars.

The first ever quarter of a million dollar Raw Diva search.

Once we have 10 finalists, then you, the Raw audience will vote off one potential Raw Diva each and every week until we finally have our

grand prize winner.

You know, the regional casting is going to begin this week in Chicago.

Some beautiful, beautiful young women.

Woo hoo.

What's up with the coach?

Who's the coach?

I want you to...

I want to be your best friend.

That's a question to ask at this juncture.

What?

Who I am.

WWE's inaugural Diva search was a weekly fixture of Monday Night Raw, where the competition on screen was mirrored backstage.

The most valuable thing you could have in WWE is airtime.

They were getting it every single week.

I basically came into wrestling as a model.

I realized very quickly, a model was not what was going to stand the test of time in wrestling.

I needed to be a wrestler.

I needed to understand.

Corey Wilson, top rope, cross body.

And so it was frustrating being in the locker room and all of these women coming in and out from the Diva search that were only there to just be on TV and

not necessarily wanting to show that they were an athlete.

Because if you can't, it's going to show and nobody's going to want you around.

If there was a Diva search when I was trying to get in, I would have done it.

It's anything to get that foot in the door, to be a part of what you love.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Diva Dodgeball.

It's SummerSlam 2004.

And when the Diva search contestants got a chance to show off their athletic prowess, one future WWE superstar made the most of her opportunity.

So they had the Diva search girls against the wrestlers and Michelle McCool kicked our...

Can you say asses?

I don't think I

made any friends that day, but it was hard because I respected the ladies so much that we were playing against.

I'm looking at Trish and Victoria and all these girls.

And also I'm super duper competitive, so I'm not going to hold back at all.

And I kind of felt bad, but it didn't feel bad for knocking several of them out.

I hit her right in the head.

That's why her hat came off.

And she meant to.

And I meant to, that's right.

But the whole time I'm thinking, is this going to put a target on my back?

Business-wise, you know, in the company, but look, if it's a competition, I just can't hold back.

All right, that is Team Dream.

Team Dream, winners of Diva Dodgeball.

While the unorthodox Diva search was adding fuel to the competitive fire of a growing roster, WWE's two most prominent women were about to elevate their division to

previously unforeseen heights.

Trish and I, our rivalry had been really heating up.

We had really good chemistry.

We both were pretty well into our careers at that point.

So we were pretty dialed in.

Oh, Lita, take it down, Trish.

It was like a Rock Austin thing where they're just completely different characters.

People were interested in seeing what would happen with Trish Stratus and Lita.

Because of you, I have to wear this fist.

Every ounce of pain and suffering welling up inside of me, Trish, I'm gonna take it all out on

you.

With their rivalry hitting a fever pitch, on December 6th, 2004, Lita and Trish broke new ground for women in sports entertainment.

We walked into the building one day and we saw on the board that we'd be, I mean, you walk in and there's a board here and all the matches are listed.

And we were listed as the main event.

I think we thought, wow, we have two characters who are super over with the crowd and they happen to be women.

We could put them in the main event and it will be a, you know, ratings-drunk main event because the audience cares about these two women.

Like a lot of things, you just do it and you don't even think about the historical implications of it.

I was so happy to hear that Trish and Lita were gonna main event Raw and it could not have happened to two better divas.

When we were informed that day that we were gonna be the main event on Raw, it meant a lot to us and I know that we were really excited, but it made sense.

We're like, yeah, we've done the work to get to this point today and like, let's rock it.

We have been waiting a long time for this opportunity and it's all about the title, but I think it's about a whole lot more.

These women are giving it everything they've got.

For women, it doesn't get any bigger than that, to be the main event, the main attraction of that show.

The stakes were high, they had really big expectations and they delivered.

A very intense match here.

A physical match.

I've never seen anything like this, De'Arth.

It wasn't just Trish and Lita, it was the whole division of girls.

It was for them.

That match was so magical for both of us.

I can't believe the effort, the heart both women displayed.

I'm getting emotional just thinking like I hadn't been back to that moment since it happened and what that meant for two women in the industry.

I was sitting ringside as a senior in high school.

Seeing history being made and me not realizing the future and that was something I wanted to do, that meant a lot to me.

Lita overcame every odd!

Lita's the new women's champion!

It was everything we worked for and also the turning point, I think, for us on when we were like, okay, we're off to the races.

Just one month after making history in the main event of RAW, an untimely injury would cut Lita's title reign short.

But the momentum of the women's division wouldn't miss a beat as Trish entered into an intricate storyline involving a new arrival to the roster.

Hi!

Hi!

Oh my God, I'm Mickie James.

I'm RAW's newest diva.

I get pulled aside one day and we're like, okay, Mickie James is starting and we've got this great idea.

She's going to come in as a superfan.

It's super nice to meet you.

I mean, I idolize you.

I love you, Trish.

I mean, I want to be just like you.

That's awesome, yeah!

Trish and Mickie was awesome.

We got to have an actual single white female-esque storyline.

It was great.

It was this beautiful magic because Trish and I, our personalities just bounced off each other so well.

Do you know what that is?

It's the mistletoe.

And I thought, okay, let's see where we're going to go with this.

Trish, what?

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it.

And it was so much fun.

You know, the shower scene where like, wow, Trish.

The amount of time that was dedicated to it and the audience's response to it, they like just sunk their teeth into it and it showed.

How often does any storyline, much less a female storyline, get six months to develop?

It got wacky.

Like there was some crazy stuff that we're doing and the fans were like, what the heck is going on here?

Mickie James just tip-kicked Trish Stratus' head off.

It was something I hadn't really seen before.

It kept them on their toes.

Each week was something different and it built up to our big WrestleMania match.

Sports entertainment extravaganza known as WrestleMania.

Watching backstage, we had no idea that they did a package before a match.

I'm Mickie James.

I'm Raw's newest diva.

I'm like your biggest fan.

I mean, I want to hug you.

I love you, Trish.

I mean, like, I want to be just like you.

Fit and I just looked at each other like, oh my God, like, we've arrived.

Like, we're part of the show.

That angle specifically was so compelling and new and was an actual women's story and they were both up to the task and then they knocked it out of the park.

Mickie trying to kill him.

Oh, oh!

This woman is a dangerous psychopath.

I mean, I don't want to brag, but I think we blew the roof off the place.

The fans were still behind us.

A lot of these fans are actually identifying with Mickie James.

It was real emotion.

People really felt one way or the other to the point where some people were even booing Trish and cheering me, which was like, what is happening here?

Boo me.

You work your whole career to, like, get to a moment like that where, like, they're that behind you.

And for a women's match to have that was, it wasn't, it wasn't done.

It was a huge moment for us.

And Mickie James now taking down Trish Stratus.

Will it be enough?

Yes, it is!

We've got a new champion!

And for me to win the women's championship at my first ever WrestleMania was a dream come true.

And Mickie James has won the women's title.

It really was kind of the peak, I think, of where the women's division got.

To have a WrestleMania moment, to have a WrestleMania match, and have a WrestleMania crowd behind us like that was incredible and a really high point for us women.

After years of knocking down doors, in 2006, Trish Stratus announced that she would be retiring from WWE at Unforgiven.

In front of her hometown crowd in Toronto, Trish had her farewell match against Leto.

It's a sharpshooter!

It's a sharpshooter!

The crowd's on their feet!

The crowd's going crazy!

And won out as champion.

It's over!

And Trish wins with a sharpshooter!

And just two months later at Survivor Series, Leto would follow suit, putting an exclamation point on a Hall of Fame career.

These pioneers laid the groundwork for the next crop of female superstars who would follow in their footsteps at the top of the WWE women's division.

And...

I wanna be a diva!

Despite its polarizing beginnings, the Diva Search provided several fresh faces for the future, with many going on to have long, successful careers.

Layla is your women's champion!

A former Diva Search winner now has the ultimate championship.

Maryse.

Oh, Maria.

We're the Bella Twins.

Kristy, Heavy.

Ali Torres.

Michelle McCool.

Real talk!

You people need help.

Laycool was one that I watched with my friends and tried to copy.

You're the champ.

No, you're the champ.

No, we're both champs.

We're both champs.

Go ahead.

You gotta get your foot in the door somehow.

And I think that's something that I hope people look at and think, hey, they were pretty good.

They were pretty entertaining.

With the Diva Search alumni accepted into the roster, along with the division's stalwarts, the women of WWE were now a regular fixture on the show.

The fun thing about that Ruthless Aggression era was, it just felt like there was a place for everyone.

Well, I'm grateful for the lessons that that whole era taught me.

Women are doing everything that the guys are doing.

And it's imperative.