WWE used to be really, really odd. The 90s has been regarded as the golden era for the company with the likes of Stone-Cold Steve Austin, Mankind, and The Rock providing many an icon moment that instantly spring to mind when I think of wrestling.
However, while the 90s was a fun time to watch wrestling, it wasn’t the best time to be a female wrestler. It was pretty bad. From bra and panty matches, the chairman, Vince McMahon, have one of the women wrestler bark like a dog and much more, the 90s proved to be an incredible misogynist time for WWE.
Thankfully, the company has made some incredible progress in the last few years to help improve the state of women wrestling. The company’s developmental programme, NXT, has turned out some amazing wrestlers such as Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Paige. Paige, or her actual name Saraya-Jade Bevis, is one of the most important figures in the women’s division in WWE. Since her debut to the main roster in 2014, Paige debuted winning the Diva’s Championship, not only being the youngest champion of this title, but the first woman to hold both the Diva’s Championship and the NXT Women’s Championship at the same time.
However, the most important contribution to the women’s division is Paige’s role in the “Women’s Revolution”, starting in 2015. This led to many of the advancements such as the renaming of the championship from “Diva’s” to Women’s championship, the introduction of the Women’s Royal Rumble and the Woman’s championship being defended in the main event of Wrestlemania.
A new film is coming soon, Fighting with my Family, directed and written by Steven Merchant, will detail her journey from her beginnings as a wrestler in England to her rise to the top of WWE. Saraya will be played by Florence Pugh, while Nick Frost will play as her father. Dwanye Johnson will be playing himself in the film.
Aspects of Saraya’s life have been altered for the film. In the film her brother is in prison during her rise to the top which never actually happened, but there are many truths to the film, such as how she was trained under the NXT programme. Paige is an immensely talented wrestler yet, because this is a film after all, Paige struggles during the training, something that didn’t happen to the extent it is portrayed.
Fighting with my family was released in cinemas on Valentine’s day to good critical reception, being regarded as a very enjoyable, heart warming story of a young girl achieving her dreams.