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The first time I saw WWE superstar Charlotte do a moonsault off the top rope, I screamed.
Not because I was worried for her safety (though I am naturally a dag like that), but because seeing her soaring through the air, seemingly in slow motion, seemed to be the zenith of everything I had ever hoped for when it came to women in sport: a breathtaking display of grace, power, talent — and above all else, the ability to bring an entire stadium to its feet.
Yes, technically professional wrestling is "sports entertainment", but there's no denying it: after years in the chintzy, underappreciated wilderness, women wrestlers are making their mark on a global scale.
Just ask New Zealand's Dakota Kai, who is currently competing in WWE's inaugural Mae Young Classic, an invitational tournament featuring 32 of the world's top female wrestling talents.
"This tournament, in my eyes, capitalises on what women [wrestlers] have already done," she says via phone from Florida, where she's training at the WWE Performance Centre.
"We're in a great position right now. The more effort we put into making women's wrestling as good as it is and having it be taken seriously, the more people see it, and hopefully their mindset will change if they don't already think women can kick a lot of butt in the ring."
Kai, who spent the last few years wrestling in Australia as "Evie", certainly does kick butt; not for nothing is she the self-appointed captain of "Team Kick".
Wrestle 'like the guys'
But the rise of women's wrestling is more than just a marketing tool, and beyond the purview of the WWE, women wrestlers are rising through the ranks of independent promotions worldwide.
One such woman is London striker Bea Priestley, a former What Culture Pro Wrestling Women's Champion who has wrestled in Australia and will soon visit Japan.
Priestley's uncompromising in-ring style is the antithesis of the bad-old-days of "popcorn break" women's matches.
"Strikes are one of the most important things, as a woman wrestler these days, because we're supposed to wrestle 'like the guys' now," she says.
Priestley encourages young female recruits to unlearn their tendency to be too "nice" in the ring.
"You can hit people really hard, but in safe places; just don't be a dick for the sake of being a dick!"
If the idea of female wrestlers going hard on the canvas feels like an idea whose time has come, it wasn't ever thus, especially in WWE.
Challenging stereotypes
There were dark ages where women wrestlers had to portray sexy valets, psychopathic "managers", or wrestled in ho-hum matches treated as filler by crowds; at one point, the legendary Mae Young was reduced to featuring in a storyline where she gave birth to a hand.
Around the turn of the century, the women of WWE began to be referred to as "divas", and despite the efforts of trailblazers like Chyna, Lita and Trish Stratus, "bra and panties" matches and "pillow fights" were often still the order of the day.
In 2003 the company introduced its "Diva Search", a talent competition that sourced female stars, leaning heavily towards those from modelling backgrounds rather than women who'd paid their dues in independent wrestling.
Indeed, the inaugural winner, Jaime Koeppe, didn't even receive a contract to wrestle — just a photoshoot in WWE Magazine.
Somehow things got worse in 2008, when the WWE introduced the Divas Championship, a title whose belt featured a sparkly pink butterfly.
Despite this, female wrestlers persisted, slowly clawing back some of the respect long afforded their male peers.
Wrestling revolution
By the time a 2015 tag match between the Bella Twins and Paige and Emma lasted only 30 seconds, fans and wrestlers alike were fed up; a hashtag, #GiveDivasAChance, spread like wildfire.
The "Divas Revolution" became the "Women's Evolution", and soon enough women's wrestling was considered, as it should be, just wrestling. This has been mirrored by increasing respect paid to women wrestling on the independent circuit.
Kellyanne, a Melbourne wrestler who took part in a now-legendary feud with Dakota/Evie at Melbourne City Wrestling, is pleased to report that for the most part, retrograde ideas about women in wrestling are dying out.
"I've come across some trainers where they were telling me to do things differently, as a woman," she recalls.
"They'd say things like, 'Pull your hair — catfight!' Another well-known trainer told me how to look in pain, as a woman: 'You know... boobs out, chin up!' It blew my mind!
"Now it's actually about your talent, and I hope that women keep doing what we're doing."
As the Mae Young Classic steams towards its live grand final on 12 September, there will only be one inaugural winner, but one thing's for sure: this is just the beginning of a new ascendency in women's wrestling.
Clem Bastow is the co-host of Behind the Belt. Check out the season preview and episode 1, a focus on women's wrestling.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, human-interest, melbourne-3000, united-states