A Woman’s Place Is at the Commentary Desk (And Anywhere Else)

Something hit me about WWE’s commentary desk while watching last week’s Smackdown Live.

It’s not that the team is unnecessarily overcrowded, or that it’s weird that JBL and Tom Phillips still on TV despite their controversies. It dawned on me during a segment where Lita and Trish Stratus were talking about Women’s History Month. The segment itself was similar to WWE’s commemorations of Black History and Hispanic Heritage Months, but not quite as groan-worthy. As he kicked to the video package from the desk Phillips used the word “females,” and that’s when it truly hit me.

Where the hell are the women on the commentary desk? I mean, Renee Young had a few brief stints in NXT as a commentator, but that’s about it.

Where are thewomen in the ring announcing or refereeing matches, for that matter? The only woman ring announcer that is regularly on TV now is Jojo on Raw, with Greg Hamilton and Mike Rome taking up Smackdown Live and NXT respectively, despite the fact that Charly Caruso and Dasha Fuentes have also been trained as ring announcers. As for referees, there hasn’t been a peep on the status of Big Japan Pro Wrestling referee Nikkan Lee since her WWE tryout last September where she refereed two matches at an NXT house show.

This isn’t just a problem for WWE. Across the wrestling world, there is a dearth of women in personnel roles both on and off screen. Lee is only one of two women referees in men’s wrestling in Japan. When it comes to the four most prominent promotions after WWE—New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground and TNA—there are only two women recently employed in announcing positions: Scarlett Bordeaux and Melissa Santos. WWE’s women wrestlers will occasionally sit in on commentary during their rivals’ matches, and woman managers and valets will occasionally sit in on commentary when one of their charges are in the ring, with some proving that they are more than qualified to do the job, but otherwise there haven’t been any women in prominent commentary positions, either. If we went into every independent promotion across the UK, Japan and the States, we’d be here all day counting needles in haystacks and putting asterisks next to the ones working specifically in women only promotions.

I’ve talked previously about Stephanie McMahon’s role in WWE as a heel commissioner and how it defines the portrayal of women in authority roles within the company, but this isn’t necessarily an issue of portrayal. Rather, it’s an issue of visibility. Winning the Women’s Revolution isn’t going to be done just by giving women more match time and storylines. It also has to allow women to be seen in other roles on TV. It has to give them an opportunity to break out from the backstage to interview wrestlers in the ring, to call the matches, and, yes, even the shots. Whether it’s backstage in gorilla, in the ring as the referee or the announcer, or at the commentary desk helping to tell the story of the match and getting the hell out of dodge when it comes time for a powerbomb, it’s time for women to have a larger and more visible role in the wrestling industry. Not just in WWE, but across all of the wrestling world.

Until then, may Renee Young keep calling out Jerry Lawler for his gross and rampant sexism.

Ashley Leckwold is a freelance writer based out of Atlanta who specializes in comic books, professional wrestling, and pop-punk music. Besides being regularly found at Graphic Policy and The Outhousers, you can find her at her blog and on Twitter @misskittyf.