118-700: WWE Evolution was a women's professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE . It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw , SmackDown , NXT , and NXT UK brand divisions . The event took place on October 28, 2018, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale , New York . It was the first and currently only WWE PPV and livestreaming event to consist solely of women's matches. The main card consisted of seven matches. Three of WWE's then-four women's championships were defended on
236-553: A Divas Championship match between Torres and Natalya on the February 14 episode of Raw . Following the match, they attacked Torres backstage before Gail Kim and Natalya stopped them. The next week on Raw , the twins defeated Torres and Kim in a tag team match. The following week on Raw , Nikki won a battle royal to become the number one contender for the Divas Championship and unsuccessfully challenged Torres for
354-519: A Winner Takes All triple threat match for the Raw and SmackDown Women's championships in what would be the first time that female superstars would main event WWE's flagship event. Nikki and Brie Bella, twin sisters who were inducted into WWEs Hall of Fame is 2021, came out of retirement for 2022 Women's Royal Rumble. Brie was the first to win a WWE Championship, but Nikki held the championship twice and held that reign longer than Brie. Promotions such as
472-591: A fractured tibia . Upon the debut of the Total Divas reality television program in July, The Bellas began a feud with their co-star on the show Natalya , with Brie and Natalya trading victories in singles competition on Raw and at SummerSlam on August 18. The cast of Total Divas then transitioned into a scripted feud with Divas Champion AJ Lee , who mocked the show and cast. At Night of Champions on September 15, Brie unsuccessfully challenged Lee for
590-521: A ten-woman tag team match . After losing to Becky Lynch at Evolution, Charlotte Flair received an offer from SmackDown General Manager Paige on the October 30 episode of SmackDown , being asked to captain Team SmackDown in the women's elimination match, only for Charlotte to turn down the offer. Charlotte instead became Lynch's replacement in a match against Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey at
708-595: A Cell match. At the 2017 Money in the Bank pay-per-view, the first-ever Women's Money in the Bank ladder match was held with the winner receiving a contract for a SmackDown Women's Championship match. The following month, WWE would hold a women's wrestling tournament called the Mae Young Classic , named after the late Mae Young . In 2018, the January Royal Rumble pay-per-view would feature
826-564: A Cell , Nikki defeated Brie in a match where the loser was forced to become the winner's personal assistant for 30 days. Nikki and Brie reunited at Survivor Series on November 23 when Nikki defeated AJ Lee with Brie's help to become a two-time Divas Champion. Nikki retained her championship in three separate occasions—against Lee in a rematch at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 14, against Naomi two days later on SmackDown and against Paige on February 22, 2015, at Fastlane . Paige and Lee then formed an alliance against
944-563: A WWE Slammy Award for Diva of The Year. Nicole and Brianna Garcia were born sixteen minutes apart on November 21, 1983, in Brawley, California and raised on a farm in the outskirts of Scottsdale, Arizona . They are of Mexican and Italian descent and played soccer in their youth. The twins graduated from Chaparral High School in 2002. They returned to San Diego for college, where Nicole continued playing soccer for Grossmont College , with both twins also working at Hooters. A year later,
1062-570: A brawl between the three teams. Nikki then lost to Charlotte in a tag team match on the August 3 episode of Raw and to Banks on the August 17 episode of Raw in a non-title match. On August 23, the three teams faced off at SummerSlam in a three team elimination match in which Team Bella first eliminated Team B.A.D. before Team PCB's win. On the September 14 episode of Raw , Nikki defended her title against Charlotte, who pinned Brie after
1180-538: A comment made by former WWE wrestler Mickie James in regards to the National Wrestling Alliance 's August 2021 all-female event, EmPowerrr , in which James served as an executive producer. James had said that she wanted the best female wrestlers in the world on the event regardless of contractual issues. Triple H said that from a business standpoint, that did not make sense and also gave his own opinion, stating that if female wrestlers wanted to face
1298-454: A distraction from Morrison and The Miz. On April 15, The Bella Twins were both drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 supplemental draft . On April 27, Brie made her Raw in-ring debut in an eight-Diva tag team match , which her team won. Nikki also made an appearance, reuniting with her twin, as she was under the ring to help Brie during the match. Nikki then made her in-ring debut for
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#17327975281031416-484: A junior heavyweight version of the NWA World Women's Championship (the predecessor to the original WWE Women's Championship ) in a tournament back in 1958, was recognized by most NWA promoters as champion by default. In WWE, female professional wrestlers are members of one of the promotion's four women's divisions who compete in both singles competition and tag teams . WWE has six active women's championships:
1534-422: A match between Alexa Bliss and Trish Stratus was scheduled for Evolution. Then, on September 3, a match between Lita and Mickie James was scheduled for the event; the two last faced each other back in 2006 at Survivor Series where James won the original WWE Women's Championship from Lita in the latter's retirement match. On the October 8 episode of Raw , a confrontation between the four women occurred. It
1652-407: A men's promotion, had a small women's division that competed with women wrestlers from other promotions. All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (est. 1968) was the dominant joshi puro organization from the 1970s to the 1990s. AJW's first major star was Mach Fumiake in 1974, followed in 1975 by Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda (the "Beauty Pair"). In the early 1980s, Jaguar Yokota and Devil Masami became
1770-466: A near-fall. In the climax, Nikki performed the " Rack Attack 2.0 " on Rousey for a nearfall. While Nikki was on the middle rope, Rousey performed a "Small Package driver" on Nikki and applied an armbar on Nikki, who submitted, to retain the title. The Last Woman Standing match received critical acclaim. WWE ranked the match at number 1 in their top 25 matches of 2018. It also ranked number #1 on IGN ' s top 10 matches of 2018. Dave Meltzer rated
1888-650: A new WWE Women's Championship , which has a separate title history from the original. WWE then reintroduced the brand extension in July 2016 and the Women's Championship (now Raw Women's Championship) became exclusive to Raw. In August 2016, SmackDown created the SmackDown Women's Championship as a counterpart title. In WWE's NXT brand, women compete for the NXT Women's Championship, which was established in 2013. The NXT UK brand would create its counterpart title,
2006-609: A new chapter in their lives. They subsequently reintroduced themselves as The Garcia Twins as "Garcia" was their maiden name. Prior to working with WWE, the twins appeared on Meet My Folks . Both twins also appeared in the music video for " Right Side of the Bed " by the band Atreyu . They were regulars on the VH1 show Best Week Ever . The twins made a guest appearance on the MTV series Ridiculousness in October 2012. They also appeared in
2124-527: A rematch between the two for the title was scheduled for Evolution. At SummerSlam , Ronda Rousey won the Raw Women's Championship . Following her win, The Bella Twins (Nikki Bella and Brie Bella) celebrated with the new champion. At Super Show-Down , it was announced that a title defense for Rousey was scheduled for Evolution. At that same event, Rousey and The Bella Twins teamed up to defeat The Riott Squad ( Ruby Riott , Liv Morgan , and Sarah Logan ). On
2242-400: A second Evolution event was seen a "no brainer", with female talent pushing for it internally and tentative plans being made for the end of the year. In December 2020, Trish Stratus suggested that she had begun training for the rumored event, but that she had received no call from WWE, with no event taking place. In a conference call for June 2021's NXT TakeOver: In Your House event, Triple H
2360-567: A similar fashion, and the feud ended in September, when Nikki defeated Burchill on Superstars . On October 12, the Bellas were traded back to Raw as part of a tri-branded Divas trade, where they predominately appeared in backstages segments with the weekly guest stars and only occasionally competed in matches. In June 2010, they developed a feud with Jillian Hall , when Brie defeated her after switching places with Nikki. The following week, Nikki defeated Hall after switching with Brie. The feud
2478-402: A surge in ticket sales, WWE had sold 7,000 tickets, with 3,000 of those tickets belonging to scalpers. Women%27s professional wrestling Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling is a dramatic enactment of wrestling as a spectator sport . As is the norm for this sport, women's professional wrestling
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#17327975281032596-545: A team. The twins would only make occasional appearances in WWE in their last few years, but acted as ambassadors for the company until their contracts expired in 2023. Following this, they retired the "Bella" name and reintroduced themselves as The Garcia Twins as "Garcia" was their maiden name. In November 2015, Nikki was ranked No. 1 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated ' s Female 50 . In 2015, Nikki also won
2714-508: A unified division with a title: WWE , Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH), and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), in addition to a number of independent promotions with women's wrestling divisions and championships. TNA's female wrestlers are branded as the Knockouts , while ROH's female talent were formally known as the Women of Honor , and WWE's female talent were known as
2832-584: A villainess and establishing an alliance with Tamina. At Survivor Series, Jax was victorious for Team Raw as the lone survivor in the women's elimination match after pushing her teammate, Sasha Banks, into Asuka. On the November 19 episode of Raw , Jax's Raw Women's Championship match was confirmed for TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs . Also on Raw , Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Natalya teamed with Lita and Trish Stratus to defeat The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan), Alicia Fox, and Mickie James in
2950-516: A week. The following night on Raw , they competed in their last match with the WWE, failing to win back the Divas Championship from Layla in a triple threat match. Later that night, WWE announced on their website that the twins had been fired by Executive Administrator Eve Torres. On May 1, 2012, the twins appeared at their first independent wrestling show in Newburgh, New York at Northeast Wrestling. They later appeared for CTWE Pro Wrestling at
3068-590: A women's division. The top of the division is the CMLL World Women's Championship . Keiko "Bull" Nakano won the first CMLL championship in 1992. That same year, wrestling promoter Antonio Peña left the CMLL to form a new promotion called the Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA). In addition to the annual Reina de Reinas Championship (Queen of Queens Championship), AAA also organizes
3186-476: Is another one of Shimmer's sister promotions and was founded as a developmental program for the latter company. In 2018, they began a partnership with Impact Wrestling, which saw Impact talent compete at Rise events. Women's wrestling has maintained a recognized world champion since 1937, when Mildred Burke won the original World Women's title . She then formed the World Women's Wrestling Association in
3304-601: Is organized by wrestling federations called promotions . Some promotions are exclusively for women, while others have separate divisions for women. Among the nations that have women's professional wrestling are Australia , Bolivia , Canada , Japan , Mexico , the United Kingdom , and the United States . In the United States, there are currently four major professional wrestling promotions that have
3422-544: The Raw 25 Years special episode , The Bella Twins were honored as part of a segment involving women considered legends that contributed to the company's success. At the Royal Rumble on January 28, Brie and Nikki participated in the first ever women's Royal Rumble match at No. 28 and No. 27, respectively, making it into the final four with Asuka and Sasha Banks , with Nikki eliminating Brie before being eliminated herself by
3540-785: The 2016 Teen Choice Awards , The Bella Twins won Choice Female Athlete. Brie appeared alongside Paige , Natalya , and the Chrisley family on the 88th Academy Awards edition of E! Countdown to the Red Carpet in February 2016. The Bella Twins have appeared in twelve WWE video games , making their in-game debut at WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 and appearing in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 , WWE '12 ( DLC ), WWE '13 , WWE 2K14 (DLC), WWE 2K15 , WWE 2K16 , WWE 2K17 , WWE 2K18 , WWE 2K19 , WWE 2K20 , WWE 2K Battlegrounds and WWE 2K23 . Animated versions of
3658-586: The 2019 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view . Impact's women's championship is the Knockouts World Championship , which debuted on October 14, 2007. Its inaugural champion was Gail Kim , who won the title at Bound for Glory 2007 . The promotion's tag team championship is known as the Knockouts World Tag Team Championship . The title was introduced at No Surrender 2009 and its inaugural champions were
WWE Evolution - Misplaced Pages Continue
3776-738: The Divas until 2016. Three notable women-only promotions are Shimmer Women Athletes (est. 2005) in Illinois ; the World Wrestling Network 's Shine Wrestling brand (est. 2012) in Florida , which is a sister to Shimmer; and Women of Wrestling (WOW) (est. 2000, 2012) in Los Angeles . Shimmer is recognized as the earliest and most prominent promotion to take women's wrestling more seriously. In addition to Shine, Rise Wrestling
3894-510: The NXT UK brand. The Fabulous Moolah is recognized as WWE 's first Women's Champion , with her reign beginning in 1956. In 2002, WWE began what was called the WWE brand extension , where wrestlers and championships became exclusive to one of WWE's brands. At first, the Women's Championship could be defended on any brand, but later that year, it became exclusive to the Raw brand. In 2008, WWE created
4012-550: The NXT UK Women's Championship , in 2018. The WWE Women's Tag Team Championship was announced on the December 24, 2018 edition of Monday Night Raw . The inaugural champions were The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (Sasha Banks & Bayley) who defeated The IIconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay), The Riot Squad (Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan), Nia Jax & Tamina, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville and Naomi & Carmella at
4130-603: The Naked Women's Wrestling League showcased nude females "battling" in the ring for titillation. The NWWL broadcast shows around the world, and its wrestlers were featured in magazines such as Penthouse , Playboy , and Maxim . In Japan, women's professional wrestling is called joshi puroresu ( 女子プロレス ) , or joshi puro for short. Women's wrestling is usually handled by promotions that specialize in joshi puroresu , rather than by divisions of otherwise male-dominated promotions. Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling ,
4248-543: The Pro Wrestling Women's Alliance (PWWA) in 2007. This independent promotion is affiliated with Pro Wrestling Alliance Australia , as well as with Shimmer Women Athletes . They also had affiliations with Global Force Wrestling of the United States while the latter was active. It is the only all-female wrestling promotion in Australia. In Bolivia , female wrestlers called Fighting Cholitas dress in
4366-469: The SmackDown Women's Championship . Becky Lynch would become the inaugural champion at Backlash after winning a Six-pack elimination challenge . The following month, at Hell in a Cell , Charlotte would face Sasha Banks in a match for the Raw Women's Championship in what would be the first time a women's match was the main event of a WWE pay-per-view, as well as the first-ever women's Hell in
4484-642: The WWE Divas Championship as a counterpart title for the SmackDown brand. The two titles were eventually unified in September 2010. The Women's Championship was then retired in favor of keeping the Divas Championship, which became briefly known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship. The brand extension ended in 2011. In April 2016 at WrestleMania 32 , the Divas Championship was retired and subsequently replaced with
4602-728: The WWE Raw Women's Championship (which is the successor to the WWE Divas Championship , which in turn succeeded the original WWE Women's Championship created in 1956) for the Raw brand, the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship for the SmackDown brand, the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship , the NXT Women's Championship and NXT Women's Tag Team Championship for the NXT brand, and the NXT UK Women's Championship for
4720-536: The Women of Honor banner, culminating in the creation of the Women of Honor World Championship in December 2017 and the announcement at Final Battle 2017 of a tournament to crown the first champion. Stars from Japan 's World Wonder Ring Stardom also participated in the tournament. Sumie Sakai became the inaugural Women of Honor Champion when she won the title at Supercard of Honor XII in 2018. In 2015, WWE revamped its women's divisions by hiring mainly independent wrestlers as opposed to models, initially known as
4838-589: The World Cup trophy. They were contestants in the 2006 "International Body Doubles twins search". They participated in the 2006 WWE Diva Search , but did not make the cut. The Bella Twins were signed to developmental contracts by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in June 2007 and were assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's then- developmental territory , in Tampa, Florida . On September 14,
WWE Evolution - Misplaced Pages Continue
4956-873: The World Mixed Tag Team Championship , in which tag teams of one woman and one man compete. In 2000, businessman Luciano Alberto Garcia de Luna started an all-woman promotion company called Lucha Libre Femenil (LLF) in Monterrey . Current notable independent promotions include Pro-Wrestling: EVE , Bellatrix Female Warriors , The British Bombshells, and Fierce Females. Notable British women wrestlers include: Lady Blossom , Xia Brookside , Nikki Cross , Blair Davenport , Sadie Gibbs , Jamie Hayter , Laura James , Jetta , Klondyke Kate , Katie Lea , Dani Luna , Millie McKenzie , Tegan Nox , Paige , Jemma Palmer , Kay Lee Ray , etc. Pro wrestler Madison Eagles and her husband Ryan co-founded
5074-553: The " 201 Facebreaker " on Natalya for a nearfall. Natalya then performed a powerbomb on Morgan, followed by a diving elbow drop from Bayley and a frog splash from Banks for the victory. Next, Kairi Sane defended the NXT Women's Championship against Shayna Baszler. During the match, as Sane attempted to perform an " Insane Elbow ", Baszler rolled out of the ring. Sane then performed a diving crossbody into Baszler and threw Baszler at her fellow and former MMA Four Horsewomen, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke , who were at ringside. In
5192-426: The " Diva's Revolution " and later known as the "Women's Revolution". NXT TakeOver: Respect , held on October 7, 2015, saw then- NXT Women's Champion Bayley defend her title against Sasha Banks in a 30–minute Iron Man match in the main event . This was the first women's match to headline a major WWE event, and the first time in WWE history that a women's match had this stipulation. A new WWE Women's Championship
5310-457: The " Figure-Eight Leglock " on Lynch, whose leg was wrapped around a ladder, but Lynch was able to escape by attacking Flair with a steel chair. After Lynch and Flair brawled in the crowd, Flair cleared off the German announce table, only for Lynch to hit her with the SmackDown Women's title belt. Lynch then performed a leg drop from a ladder on Flair through the announce table and buried her under
5428-402: The " Storm Zero " on Shirai to win the match and the trophy. After the match, an elated Storm was congratulated by Triple H , Stephanie McMahon, and Sara Amato . In the fourth match, Natalya teamed up with Bayley and Sasha Banks to face The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, and Sarah Logan). In the climax, Natalya applied a double sharpshooter on Riott and Logan, only for Morgan to perform
5546-402: The "junior heavyweight" class in men's wrestling. Arsion 's Sky High of Arsion Championship (est. 1999) and NEO Japan's High Speed Championship (est. 2009) are two such titles. In 2010, former Arsion and JDStar promoter Rossy Ogawa, retired wrestler Fuka Kakimoto , and veteran wrestler Nanae Takahashi started a new joshi puro promotion, World Wonder Ring Stardom . Stardom, considered
5664-738: The 12-man tag team match at WrestleMania XXVIII on April 1 whilst Nikki was rooting for Team Teddy , thus furthering their dissension. On the April 6 episode of SmackDown , Nikki defeated the Divas Champion Beth Phoenix in a non-title match after Kelly Kelly distracted Phoenix. On April 23, Nikki defeated Phoenix in a lumberjill match on Raw to win the Divas Championship for the first time. Brie lost Nikki's championship to Layla at Extreme Rules on April 29 after Twin Magic failed, ending her Divas Championship reign after only
5782-537: The 1990s include Manami Toyota , Bull Nakano , Akira Hokuto , Cutie Suzuki , Aja Kong , Megumi Kudo , Shinobu Kandori , Kyoko Inoue , Takako Inoue (who is unrelated to Kyoko), Dynamite Kansai , and Mayumi Ozaki . Some joshi have a high-flying style that precedes the X Division of men's wrestling in North America. Since, for cultural reasons, women wrestlers are not divided into weight classes , these wrestlers compete for special titles comparable to
5900-501: The 2014 independent film Confessions of a Womanizer and provided voices for the 2015 movie The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown! . Nikki appeared at the Miss USA 2013 pageant as one of the celebrity judges. They appeared at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards , where they presented the award for Best Female. The twins were both nominated for Choice Female Athlete at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards . The following year at
6018-474: The 2018 Mae Young Classic, and Shayna Baszler defeated Kairi Sane to become the first two-time NXT Women's Champion . On the July 23, 2018, episode of Monday Night Raw , WWE executive Stephanie McMahon announced that for the first time, WWE would hold an all-women's professional wrestling event , which was titled Evolution. It was scheduled to take place on October 28, 2018, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York , replacing
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#17327975281036136-400: The August 29 episode of SmackDown , Brianna debuted as Brie Bella and defeated Victoria . She had a series of matches with Victoria and Victoria's accomplice Natalya . In each match, Brie would roll out of the ring , slip underneath it, and emerge surprisingly revived to win the match. On the November 7 episode of SmackDown , Brie picked up a win against Victoria and then ran under
6254-570: The Bella Twins are former WWE Divas Champions . Brie was the first twin in WWE to win the title, while Nikki won it twice with her second reign of 301 days being the longest reign for the now defunct title. Both sisters signed with WWE in 2007 and were assigned to the developmental territory , Florida Championship Wrestling . Brie Bella was called up to the main roster in 2008. In early appearances, she surreptitiously switched places with her sister to win her matches. After some weeks, Nikki Bella
6372-691: The Bella Twins were included in WWE Network 's series Camp WWE . Both twins appeared on the WWE YouTube show The JBL & Cole Show . On November 21, 2016, Nikki and Brie unveiled their new YouTube channel which features daily fashion, beauty, travel, fitness, relationship and health videos along with daily video blogs , created by the twins themselves. The Bella Twins appeared in YouTuber iiSuperwomanii 's video "When Someone Tries to Steal Your BFF" on March 2, 2017. On April 16, 2020,
6490-413: The Bellas which led to a tag team match at WrestleMania 31 on March 29, which the Bellas lost. On April 20, 2015, at Monday Night Raw, the Bella Twins would briefly turn babyfaces. After Nikki retained her title over Naomi at Extreme Rules on April 26, Nikki started a feud with Naomi after she aligned with the returning Tamina to even the odds against Bellas. This led to a tag team match between
6608-458: The COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony took place the next year. On January 30, 2022, after a three-year break from wrestling, The Bella Twins participated in the 2022 Royal Rumble . On March 14, 2023, on their podcast The Nikki & Brie Show , Nikki and Brie announced that their contracts with WWE had expired, and it was mutually agreed to not renew their contracts, as the twins wanted to start
6726-626: The Divas Championship again at WrestleMania XXX in the Divas Invitational match, which was won by Lee. In April 2014, Brie became involved in her real-life husband Daniel Bryan 's ongoing storyline with Stephanie McMahon and Kane , whereas part of the storyline McMahon threatened to fire Brie if an injured Bryan did not relinquish the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Payback on June 1, which forced Brie to "quit" WWE before slapping McMahon in
6844-454: The Divas Championship in a four-way match, which also involved Natalya and Naomi. Continuing their feud into October, Brie and Lee faced off at Battleground and Hell in a Cell for the Divas Championship, but Brie was unsuccessful. Nikki returned to in-ring action on the October 25 episode of SmackDown , losing to Lee. At Survivor Series on November 24, the twins were part of the victorious Team Total Divas. On April 6, they failed to win
6962-570: The March 27 episode of Main Event after interference from Cody Rhodes. The Bella Twins were scheduled to participate in an eight-person tag team match with Team Rhodes Scholars against Tons of Funk (Clay and Tensai) and The Funkadactyls at WrestleMania 29 on April 7, but the match was canceled due to time restraints and instead took place the following night on Raw , where The Bella Twins and Team Rhodes Scholars were defeated. In June, Nikki suffered
7080-456: The October 29 episode of Raw , it was announced that Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey would face off against SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch at Survivor Series as part of the annual interbrand competition. Later that same evening, Nia Jax defeated Ember Moon after a distraction by Tamina, leading to a staredown between Tamina and Jax. After defeating Moon in a rematch the following week, Jax joined Tamina in attacking Moon, turning Jax into
7198-642: The Season Beatings pay-per-view on December 15, each accompanying a different wrestler to the ring. The Bella Twins returned to WWE on the March 11, 2013, episode of Raw in a backstage segment with Team Rhodes Scholars ( Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow ). On the March 15 episode of SmackDown , the twins attacked The Funkadactyls ( Cameron and Naomi ) and the following week interfered in matches between Team Rhodes Scholars and Brodus Clay and Tensai , but were attacked by The Funkadactyls. The twins made their in-ring return defeating The Funkadactyls on
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#17327975281037316-408: The SmackDown Women's Championship match 4.75 stars, which was the highest rated match of the night. The other matches were rated as follows: the main event received 3.75 stars, the 6-woman tag team, NXT Women's Championship, and the battle royal all received 3.25 stars. The Mae Young Classic Final received 3.5 stars, and the opening tag match received 2.25 stars, the lowest rated match of the night. On
7434-442: The all-female third season of NXT , mentoring Jamie. Jamie was the first rookie Diva eliminated on the October 5 episode of NXT . In November, the twins began a storyline with Daniel Bryan , when Brie accompanied him to the ring for his match. Following his win, Nikki ran out and the two fought over Bryan's affection, until Bryan broke it up and had them hug each other. They began to manage Bryan and frequently accompanied him to
7552-404: The best in the world, they should come to WWE. Before James' release from WWE in April 2021, she had pushed for the company to produce another all-female event as well as an all-female brand, but said she was "cut off at every opportunity." She claims an unnamed WWE official told her that "women's wrestling doesn't make money" and that Evolution was the company's "lowest-rated pay-per-view ever in
7670-520: The brand the following month in a battle royal, but was eliminated by Beth Phoenix . On June 29, they were both traded to the ECW brand. They debuted on ECW the following night on The Abraham Washington Show , as the special guests. They quickly developed a storyline feud with Katie Lea Burchill , when Nikki defeated her in a match by switching places with Brie behind the referee's back. The following week on Superstars , Brie defeated Burchill after
7788-537: The championship on March 7. On April 11, Brie defeated Torres to win the Divas Championship, marking the first time either twin had held a championship in WWE. On May 22, Brie went on to successfully defend the championship against Kelly Kelly at Over the Limit after switching places with Nikki. On a special "Power to the People" episode of Raw on June 20, Brie defended her WWE Divas Championship against Kelly (who
7906-433: The climax, Duke and Shafir distracted Sane which led to Baszler applying the " Kirifuda Clutch ". However, Sane was able to counter into a roll-up for a nearfall. Sane managed another pinning combination, but Baszler kicked out and sent Sane into a kick from Duke. Baszler then applied the "Kirifuda Clutch" on Sane, who passed out, thus Baszler won by technical submission and became the first two-time NXT Women's Champion. In
8024-450: The early 1950s and recognized herself as the first champion, although the championship would be vacated upon her retirement in 1956. The National Wrestling Alliance however, ceased to acknowledge Burke as their Women's World champion in 1954, and instead acknowledged June Byers as champion after a controversial finish to a high-profile match between Burke and Byers that year. Upon Byers' retirement in 1964, The Fabulous Moolah , who won
8142-556: The end, Lita performed a " Litasault " on both James and Fox, and Stratus performed a " Chick Kick " on James to win the match. Next was the 20-woman Battle Royal which started with various WWE legends eliminating both of The IIconics ( Peyton Royce and Billie Kay ) and reuniting against current women. In the end, thinking that she won the match, Zelina Vega , who had not actually been eliminated, began celebrating, not realizing that neither Nia Jax or Ember Moon were eliminated. After Jax eliminated Vega by throwing her at Tamina , who
8260-484: The event on August 17, which allowed McMahon to win the match. The next several weeks saw the twins fight in several backstage and in-ring segments, including a cameo appearance from Jerry Springer on Raw on September 8. As part of the storyline, McMahon declared Nikki the face of the WWE Divas division and granted her a match at Night of Champions for the Divas Championship, which she failed to win. At Hell in
8378-582: The event was intended to be as a counterpoint for Crown Jewel —a subsequent pay-per-view days later in Saudi Arabia that, per the country's women's rights policies , would not include WWE's female performers at the time. A documentary special entitled "Road to Evolution" was broadcast on the USA Network ahead of the event, as well as the E! Network following the premiere of the sixth episode of Total Divas ' eighth season. Internationally,
8496-434: The event, as Lynch suffered a legit injury just days prior to Survivor Series. On the November 7 episode of NXT , it was announced that Kairi Sane would be invoking her rematch clause and would face NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler in a two-out-of-three-falls match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames . Evolution was heavily featured across the fourth season of Total Bellas , which followed Nikki Bella and Brie Bella leading up to
8614-463: The event. On June 9, 2020, Evolution was broadcast on Fox Sports 1 , followed by a special all-female edition of WWE Backstage featuring Renee Young, Paige, Ember Moon, Beth Phoenix, and Sonya Deville. In a December 2019 interview with Talksport , Stephanie McMahon stated: "I'm hopeful to have an announcement on an Evolution 2, but there is nothing official to announce just yet." A report by Alex McCarthy of Sportskeeda in July 2020 stated that
8732-409: The face of Brie. Nikki began to laugh at Brie's misfortune, and a fight broke out between the two, which led to Nikki leaving with The Miz and Morrison while Brie stayed with Primo and Carlito. Brie won her first match over Nikki in a six-person intergender tag team match on SmackDown the following week. On ECW on March 31, Nikki pinned Brie in their first singles match against each other after
8850-415: The face. After Brie "quit", McMahon put Nikki in several handicap matches as punishment. After a month absence, Brie returned to WWE television, appearing in the crowd on July 21 and starting a confrontation with McMahon who slapped Brie and was subsequently arrested. In order to have Brie drop the "charges", Brie was rehired and received a match against McMahon at SummerSlam . Nikki attacked Brie at
8968-524: The feud with Paige, Alicia Fox allied with them to form Team Bella. At The Beast in the East on July 4, Nikki retained the title against Paige and Tamina. After weeks of Team Bella outnumbering Paige, Naomi and Tamina, Stephanie McMahon called for a "revolution" in the WWE Divas division and introduced the debuting Charlotte and Becky Lynch as Paige's allies while NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks debuted as an ally to Naomi and Tamina, which led to
9086-489: The first-ever women's Royal Rumble match in the main event, which would be the longest women's match in WWE history. The following month, at the 2018 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view , the first-ever women's Elimination Chamber match took place. Later that year, WWE would present its first all-women's pay-per-view event: WWE Evolution . The Women's Evolution would culminate at WrestleMania 35 in 2019, where Charlotte Flair , Becky Lynch , and Ronda Rousey would compete in
9204-459: The following episode of Raw , Rousey and The Bella Twins defeated The Riott Squad in a rematch. Following the match, however, The Bella Twins attacked Rousey, turning heel . Later that night, a title match between Rousey and Nikki was scheduled for Evolution. At SummerSlam, Charlotte Flair defeated Becky Lynch and defending champion Carmella in a triple threat match to become a two-time SmackDown Women's Champion by pinning Lynch. Following
9322-588: The history of WWE pay-per-views." However, James rebuked this by saying the event was set up to fail, only being promoted on WWE programming a month prior to the event, with matches being announced a week or two before. Other WWE female performers, notably Sasha Banks, have also been in vocal support of another all-female event. In June 2021, former WWE wrestler Maria Kanellis also stated that former Head of WWE Talent Relations, Mark Carano, informed her that there would not be another all-female event. Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that whilst Evolution
9440-474: The main card; the fourth was defended in a dark match before the show. It also featured the final of the 2018 Mae Young Classic tournament. In the main event, Ronda Rousey defeated Nikki Bella by submission to retain the Raw Women's Championship . In the penultimate match, Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship . In other prominent matches, Toni Storm defeated Io Shirai to win
9558-492: The main event, Ronda Rousey defended the Raw Women's Championship against Nikki Bella (accompanied by Brie Bella). During the match, Nikki dominated Rousey for a majority of the match. On the outside of the ring, Brie shoved Rousey into the ring post whilst the referee was distracted. Rousey attempted a " Piper's Pit " on Nikki, only for Brie to interfere. Rousey then performed the modified Samoan Drop on both Nikki and Brie for
9676-519: The match, Lynch attacked Flair, turning heel. Lynch then defeated Flair to win the championship at Hell in a Cell . A rematch occurred at Super Show-Down where Flair won by disqualification after Lynch attacked her with the title belt, thus Lynch retained. The two faced each other in a rematch on the following episode of SmackDown , however, it ended in a double countout, resulting in Lynch retaining again. SmackDown General Manager Paige then announced that
9794-467: The music video for " Na Na " by Trey Songz in 2014. The twins guest starred on the television series Psych , in the 2014 episode "A Nightmare on State Street". Nikki and Brie are part of the main cast for the reality television show Total Divas , which began airing in July 2013. In April 2016, it was announced that Total Bellas , a spin-off of Total Divas starring the twins, would begin airing in fall 2016. Nikki and Brie co-starred in
9912-418: The penultimate match, Becky Lynch defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match. Lynch attacked Flair with a kendo stick and a chair. Lynch attempted a " Bexploder Suplex " on Flair, but Flair countered and delivered a Back Suplex to Lynch directly onto a pile of chairs. Flair performed a Senton following a Moonsault on Lynch through a table. Flair applied
10030-474: The premier joshi promotion in modern times, was purchased by New Japan Pro-Wrestling parent company Bushiroad in 2019. In April 2024, Rossy Ogawa (formerly of AJPW and Stardom) founded a new women's promotion called Dream Star Fighting Marigold or Marigold . In Mexico, professional wrestling is called lucha libre ("free fight"), and women wrestlers are called luchadoras . The Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), or World Wrestling Council, has
10148-449: The previously planned Clash of Champions . The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was livestreamed on the WWE Network . Tickets went on sale on August 24 through Ticketmaster . WWE Hall of Famers Lita , Trish Stratus , and Beth Phoenix were advertised as taking part in the event. It was also announced that the event would host the final of the 2018 Mae Young Classic and that all four of WWE's women's championships at
10266-413: The ring over the next two months. In January 2011, they discovered Bryan kissing Gail Kim backstage and assaulted her. They continued to attack Kim, both at the Royal Rumble on January 30 and the following night on Raw . On February 7, they teamed with Melina in a losing effort to Kim, Eve Torres and Tamina . The Bellas began feuding with Eve Torres after they appeared as lumberjills during
10384-427: The ring to escape Natalya and Victoria, but Victoria and Natalya both reached for Brie under the ring, resulting in both Nicole and Brie being pulled out. Nicole was then introduced as Nikki Bella . The twins had their first official match as a team on the November 21 episode of SmackDown , defeating Victoria and Natalya. They continued competing in tag team matches over the following months. Starting in November,
10502-612: The special was made available on the WWE Network. Evolution was promoted heavily by mainstream media outlets, which included The Bella Twins ( Nikki Bella and Brie Bella ) promoting the event on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon . The event comprised seven matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw , SmackDown , NXT , and NXT UK brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw , SmackDown Live , and NXT . On August 18,
10620-623: The stars of a second wave of women wrestlers who succeeded the glamor-oriented generation defined by the Beauty Pair. That decade later saw the rise of the " Crush Gals " Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka , a tag team who achieved a level of mainstream success as women wrestlers that not only was unprecedented in Japan, but unheard of in the history of women's professional wrestling. The Crush Gals' long-running feud with Kaoru "Dump" Matsumoto and her Gokuaku Domei ("Atrocious Alliance") stable
10738-501: The team of Sarita and Taylor Wilde . The titles were initially deactivated on the June 20, 2013 episode of Impact! , but their return was announced at Bound for Glory 2020 . At Hard To Kill , Fire N Flava ( Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz ) won a tournament to become the tag team champions. ROH's has sporadically featured women's wrestling matches at its shows, dating back to a former working relationship with Shimmer. By 2017, ROH had been regularly featuring women's wrestling under
10856-410: The time would be defended; however, the NXT UK Women's Championship match was later removed from the main card and occurred as a dark match before the show. WWE's executive vice president of talent, live events and creative Triple H explained that WWE's female performers "deserve[d] the opportunity" for a prominent showcase, and that it "was simply the right time for this to happen." He denied that
10974-515: The title in a rematch at Hell in a Cell on October 25. Shortly after, Nikki went on a hiatus from both television and in-ring competition due to a neck injury which would require surgery, but returned for one night on December 21 to accept the Slammy Award for Diva of the Year . During Nikki's absence, Brie continued to compete in singles competition and in tag team matches with Fox. Brie
11092-693: The traditional clothing of the Aymara people . They were the inspiration for the comic book Super Cholita , which premiered in 2007. NCW Femmes Fatales is an independent promotion founded in 2009; its headquarters are in Montreal . In 2023, wrestler Nikki Cross completed her master's degree in history; her dissertation was on the subject of women's wrestling. The Bella Twins The Bella Twins were an American professional wrestling tag team that performed in WWE and consisted of identical twin sisters Brie Bella and Nikki Bella . Each of
11210-557: The twins developed an on-screen relationship with The Colóns ( Carlito and Primo ). In February 2009, the storyline expanded to include John Morrison and The Miz , who flirted with the Bellas and took them on a date for Valentine's Day . The date provoked a rivalry between the teams of The Miz and Morrison and Primo and Carlito, with the four competing for the affection of the twins, who were seemingly unable to choose between them. On March 17 on ECW , Carlito and Primo, aiming for Morrison and The Miz, accidentally spat apples in
11328-407: The twins had switched places to win the match, but she retained the championship since the title cannot change hands by disqualification and in the process became the new longest reigning Divas Champion in history, surpassing AJ Lee's previous record of 295 days. On September 20, Nikki dropped the championship to Charlotte at Night of Champions , ending her reign at 301 days and failing to regain
11446-593: The twins made their in-ring debut defeating Nattie Neidhart and Krissy Vaine with Victoria Crawford as the special guest referee . As a part of their on-screen personas, they switched places behind the referee's back if one of them was hurt. This was called "Twin Magic". They also occasionally competed in mixed tag team matches , teaming with male wrestlers including Kofi Kingston and Robert Anthony . They also made some non-wrestling appearances on Heath Miller 's Happy Hour promo segment. Starting in December 2007, they managed Derrick Linkin, but this storyline
11564-612: The twins relocated to Los Angeles in pursuit of acting and modeling opportunities, making ends meet doing various gigs from marketing for a now defunct record label, to cocktail waitressing at the Mondrian Hotel . They then made their first national TV appearance on the Fox reality show Meet My Folks . Following this appearance, the twins were hired to be the World Cup Twins for Budweiser and were photographed holding
11682-530: The twins were featured on the hit YouTube channel " First We Feast ", appearing a Truth or Dab edition of Hot Ones . On August 21, 2017, Nikki and Brie launched their own wine label called Belle Radici in collaboration with Hill Family Estates and Gauge Branding. Later that year on November 1, 2017, Nikki and Brie launched Birdiebee, a lifestyle intimates and activewear brand. The line includes transitional intimates , activewear and loungewear aimed at " empowering and educating women through mirroring
11800-622: The twins' passion for life, strength, women's health and wellness, and fun". On January 28, 2019, Nikki and Brie launched Nicole + Brizee, a body and beauty line. On March 27, 2019, Nikki and Brie launched their own podcast. In March 2020, Nikki and Brie released their memoir Incomparable . In 2021, Nikki and Brie launched another wine label called Bonita Bonita Wine. In 2021, Nikki and Brie launched their own baby gear collection in partnership with Colugo. Nikki and Brie also announced that they joined Colugo as investors and creative advisors. On May 9, 2017, Brie gave birth to her first child,
11918-419: The two teams at Payback on May 17, which Naomi and Tamina won. At Elimination Chamber on May 31, Nikki retained her title against Naomi and Paige in a triple threat match , with Brie banned from ringside. In June, The Bella Twins became heels once again by employing Twin Magic , which helped Nikki retain the title against Paige on the June 1 episode of Raw and at Money in the Bank on June 14. During
12036-417: The two would have another rematch for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Evolution in a Last Woman Standing match , the first in WWE. On the October 15 episode of Raw , it was announced that a battle royal for a women's championship match would also take place at Evolution with various competitors announced to take part, including WWE legends and Hall of Famers. On the October 22 episode of Raw , it
12154-411: The weapons, but Flair stood at a nine count. Flair then retrieved another kendo stick and repeatedly struck Lynch with it before performing a " spear " on Lynch. In the end, Flair attempted a top-rope Moonsault on Lynch, who was lying on another table, only for Lynch to intercept Flair with a Powerbomb through the table. Flair was unable to make it to her feet before the ten count, thus Lynch retained. In
12272-460: The winner Asuka. On the September 3 episode of Raw , The Bella Twins competed for the first time in three years, defeating The Riott Squad ( Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan ). The Bellas teamed with Ronda Rousey to defeat The Riott Squad at WWE Super Show-Down on October 6 and won the rematch two nights later on Raw . After the rematch, the Bellas attacked Rousey. Nikki received a title opportunity against Rousey at WWE Evolution on October 28, but
12390-405: Was already eliminated and was standing at ringside, Jax eliminated Moon to earn a future opportunity at the Raw Women's Championship. After that, Toni Storm fought Io Shirai in the tournament final of the 2018 Mae Young Classic . Shirai performed a dropkick on Storm from the top rope, followed by a moonsault at ringside. In the end, Storm countered a Moonsault by raising her knees and performed
12508-498: Was announced that The Riott Squad ( Ruby Riott , Liv Morgan , and Sarah Logan ) would face off against the team of Sasha Banks , Bayley , and Natalya . Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, a dark match took place in which Rhea Ripley defeated Dakota Kai to retain the NXT UK Women's Championship. The actual pay-per-view opened with Alicia Fox and Mickie James (with Alexa Bliss) facing Lita and Trish Stratus. In
12626-462: Was cut short when Linkin was released in January 2008. They then resumed their feud with Neidhart and Crawford, wrestling them throughout much of 2008. In FCW, the twins competed in bikini contests and wrestled against Katie Lea Burchill , Milena Roucka , and Nattie Neidhart . Their last FCW appearance was on September 2, when they competed in a Divas battle royal won by Miss Angela . On
12744-408: Was exacerbated when the Bellas acted as the special guest referees during one of Hall's matches. During the match, Hall attacked both twins, but lost the match when Nikki made a fast count, allowing her to be pinned by Gail Kim . The next week on Superstars , the twins defeated Hall and Maryse in a tag team match to end the storyline. On August 31, The Bella Twins announced they would be part of
12862-581: Was extremely popular in Japan; their televised matches were some of the highest-rated broadcasts in the history of Japanese television, and the promotion regularly filled arenas to capacity. In the 1990s, US wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer rated several joshi puroresu matches five stars —a rarely-awarded perfect score on the Cornette scale—in his periodical the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Prominent joshi wrestlers of
12980-415: Was not a commercial failure for WWE, and not the worst performing event of the year, it was still on the lower end of ticket sales despite its heavy marketing push compared to those similar to its size. Glenn Rubenstein of Wrestling Inc. reported that 90% of the seats were filled in the arena despite the reported sell-out. Prior to the announcement of the match between Nikki Bella and Ronda Rousey which saw
13098-548: Was officially called Team B.A.D. and Blonde), leading to a 10-woman tag team match on the WrestleMania 32 kickoff show on April 3, which Team Total Divas would win when Naomi submitted to Brie. After the match, Nikki returned and celebrated with her co-stars. On April 6, Brie confirmed that she would be taking an extended break from in-ring competition, citing family reasons while also stating that she will continue working for WWE as an ambassador . On January 22, 2018, on
13216-415: Was questioned on if WWE would ever hold another all-female event. He said it was possible, "but it's not a must-have at the moment." He also found it odd that people thought that doing more all-female events would mean equality for the women's division, but cited the contradiction in that WWE would be criticized if they would run an all-male event; essentially, separate does not mean equal. He also responded to
13334-531: Was revealed as her twin. During the next few years, they worked together as a team, as well as individually. Each sister won the WWE Divas Championship once before they were released in 2012. The Bella Twins made their return in 2013 and were featured in the reality show Total Divas before getting their own spin-off, Total Bellas . They were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021 as
13452-399: Was selected by voters), losing the title and ending her reign at 70 days. On July 17, Brie challenged Kelly for the championship in a rematch at Money in the Bank on July 17, but she failed to win. The Bellas began to show friction in March 2012 after both twins lost to AJ Lee in singles competition. After Brie's match with Lee, Nikki revealed that Brie was rooting for Team Johnny in
13570-483: Was then revealed that instead of the two singles matches, Bliss and James would face Stratus and Lita in a tag team match at Evolution. On October 26, however, Alicia Fox replaced Bliss due to injury, but it was revealed that she would be in James and Fox's corner for the match. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 , Kairi Sane defeated Shayna Baszler to win the NXT Women's Championship . On the September 26 episode of NXT ,
13688-519: Was unsuccessful in winning the Divas Championship at Fastlane on February 21 in a match against Charlotte. During that time, Team Bella quietly disbanded. In March 2016, Brie was placed in a feud with Lana , who argued that Brie's fans only supported her out of pity for having a "bad husband". Brie then aligned herself with fellow Total Divas cast members Alicia Fox , Natalya , Paige and Eva Marie while Lana aligned herself with Team B.A.D. ( Naomi and Tamina ), Summer Rae and Emma (which
13806-421: Was unsuccessful. In March 2019, both Bellas announced on Total Bellas that they had retired from in-ring competition with Brie making the announcement on the March 10 episode and Nikki announcing her retirement on the season finale on March 24. At February 21, 2020 edition of SmackDown , it was announced that both Bellas will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame , during A Moment of Bliss segment. Due to
13924-454: Was unveiled and contested at WrestleMania 32 on April 3, 2016, between then- Divas Champion Charlotte Flair , Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks in a triple threat match. After Wrestlemania, the Diva's Championship and the "Diva's" branding would be retired. Following the 2016 WWE Brand Extension , the new Women's Championship would become exclusive to the Raw brand, resulting in the creation of
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