Gimmicks based on a wrestler's looks and their beauty are one of wrestling’s oldest tropes. As the years have gone on, we’ve seen many male beauty gimmicks come and go. From wrestlers like Gorgeous George, Lex Luger, Shawn Michaels, and Rick Rude. Some have been more nuanced than others. But why is it a problem when women do it? And is it a tired cliche in 2021?

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The Male Gaze In Pro Wrestling

Wrestling is dependent on looks. With men, the bigger you are, the more opportunity for you to be in the main title scene. There’s a worthy reward for men when they achieve the fashionable look for their gimmicks. Sometimes, most of those men just need their looks and no talent. They will still receive a title shot even if the crowd doesn’t like them. However, with women, there’s more pressure to keep up with looks. From their hair, weight, chest size, and forced plastic surgery. The reward is the male gaze. To understand the male gaze, you need to recognize it. The most common examples in wrestling are storylines, certain valets, or themed matches whose main purpose is to feed the sexual interest or the agenda of the male wrestlers and viewers. You can argue that male wrestlers appeal to the female gaze. But in wrestling that’s just not the case. A clear example is in the commentary. When commentary discusses male bodies, it’s met with praise and almost pushes the viewers to achieve these looks. As opposed to the full-on sexual innuendo, derogatory and extremely sexist remarks for their female counterparts.

There are so many women who were smart to use these gimmicks for their advantage in the company. But others didn’t bother to learn and the higher-ups punished the opponents who harmed them. Take for instance: Sable and Trish Stratus.

Both Sable and Trish were beauty gimmicks that were extremely sexualized within their time. Both debuted in WWE as valets, so there was never a plan for them to wrestle at first. Sable’s pure purpose was attaining viewership by exploiting the male gaze, from the “grind” to the handprints. Although she was working for the most popular company filled with the best talent in the world, she had no interest in learning the art of wrestling. It was heavily relied on other trained wrestlers to carry her, with no reward or even a thank you on their end.

As documented on the hit show Dark Side of the Ring, Luna Vachon was the antithesis of the beauty gimmick. As such, she acted as the foil for Sable’s character and was often trusted to make Sable look good in the ring. Vachon was faced with constant pressure from management backstage. She had to perform at a high level, with someone who, frankly, wasn’t trained correctly. In addition to putting herself in a potentially harmful position by wrestling with a person lacking strong fundamentals, Luna was even threatened with termination if she put so much as a visible scratch on Sable. Whereas Trish Stratus took the time to learn the craft. Once in a storyline as Vince McMahon’s mistress, Stratus was forced to bark like a dog on national television in her underwear. She put in the work over the years to gain the respect of not only her peers but the male viewers as well. Thanks to the countless hours Trish devoted to honing her craft, she went on to have one of the greatest WrestleMania performances ever against Mickie James. A match that still holds up today, despite the more advanced wrestling we’ve seen within the last few years. Trish Stratus is the perfect example of taking back her sexuality within the “beauty” gimmick. Now, she is always in the conversation of being the one of greatest wrestlers in history, regardless of gender.

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DOUBLE STANDARDS WITH WOMEN IN WRESTLING

Women with beauty gimmicks will consistently put in the work but fans will still demonize their success. There’s definitely a double standard with women in wrestling, this is also the case with injuries. Daniel Bryan and Nikki Bella have had the misfortune of cutting their careers short due to serious neck injuries. Nikki Bella may not pair up to Daniel Bryan when it comes to skills in the ring, however, there is a significant comparison between the treatment of their injuries within the fandom. Daniel Bryan was met with an immense amount of empathy when he announced his retirement. Unfortunately, Nikki was not greeted by the same sympathy. When she announced her retirement due to injury while appearing on the Jimmy Fallon show, she received harsh criticism and overall backlash across social media. All while fans to this day will never admit that The Bella Twins broke the mainstream bubble on their own.

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How Women Are Changing Beauty Gimmicks In 2021

Safe to say a lot of the women faced pressure to perform. Over the years, many men have criticized beauty gimmicks relentlessly while praising male wrestlers who barely put in the work. However, beauty gimmicks aren’t harmful when women take back their sexuality. This is what Carmella is facing now. Carmella debuted as the princess of Staten Island. She wasn’t even from New York but they packaged her with Enzo and Cass at the time. Within time, the men of that stable were released and she kept the gimmick, despite not relating to it. During her “Fabulous” run, we watched her become the very first woman to win the Money in the Bank and later successfully cash it in after WrestleMania. On top of picking up notable victories against the likes of Charlotte and Asuka. Although this gimmick worked very well for her, Carmella was never happy with it. So she did what anyone would do, change her gimmick. It came out of left field because her previous character was working regardless of terrible booking. She addressed this on Talking Smack and said she was sick of her gimmick because it wasn’t her. She decided it would be in her best interest creatively to switch things up. Now her gimmick is based on her look, from her presentation to her ring gear. Which has recently found success after we watched her lay claim to the women’s tag team championships.

Many male viewers deem beauty gimmicks outdated or harmful in wrestling. However, beauty gimmicks aren’t harmful when women find empowerment with their sexuality. That’s the main issue men have. When women take back their roles as eye candy and become more than 2 dimensional in their gimmicks, that’s when men rage. Women are objectified every day and there is no exception with wrestling. Beauty gimmicks for women have come a long way from just being Vince McMahon’s play thing. Men will disrespect a beauty gimmick when it is no longer targeted for their sexual innuendo. Some gimmicks are not for everyone and that’s okay. But to call a gimmick surrounded by beauty a tired cliche is an insult to the art of pro wrestling.