Annons
Annons
Charlotte, despite being the daughter of the legendary Ric Flair, hadn't spent any time in a wrestling ring before she joined NXT in the spring of 2012, right around the same time Sara was hired."She had succeeded at the highest level, and now she was paving the way as WWE's first female coach," Charlotte recalled. "I just wanted to work incredibly hard for her.""It's irrelevant to me that's she's a woman. What matters is that she can do her job extremely well." —Triple H
Annons
"You can have all the knowledge in the world, but it's useless if you can't explain it," said Paul "Triple H" Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President and the man behind NXT, in an interview with VICE. "That's what makes Sara special: She can feel it, but she's also able to articulate that feeling."It does help that Del Rey is a woman training other women. While plenty of female wrestlers, including Del Rey, have trained with men and succeeded, those I spoke with emphasized the impact that a like-minded trainer can have in the wrestling ring."I trained with guys' guys for years, but it was when I went to Japan and worked with a group of all females that my technique was really fine-tuned. There wasn't a safety net," said Del Rey. "I don't think [having a female trainer] is a necessity, but it's helpful."Related: The British Wrestler, our documentary on the underground UK wrestling scene"Working with a female trainer here is a big plus, because we are in a male-dominated business," explained Banks. "Having a female point of view when it comes to body movement has been so constructive. Sara is very understanding. Anything we need we're able to tell her. It's like having another mother here."Levesque is happy to admit that there's always going to be a slight disconnect when a man is training a woman, but he also views Del Rey as an all-around talent.At this year's WrestleMania, the WWE's Super Bowl, more than 40 wrestlers competed. Only four of them were women.
Annons
Annons
"It's not that the divas never had an advocate," Del Rey explained, "but it's something I gravitate toward as a fan. It's easy for me to speak up for them, because that's what I'm interested in."There are plenty of reasons why we don't see women in the main event spot on Raw like we do on NXT; it likely has more to do with business than anything else. But there's a lot of excitement surrounding this generation of women. Banks is on record saying that her personal goal is to someday headline a pay-per-view event, something that's never happened in the history of WWE.I asked Del Rey if she thinks we'll see women headline Raw in the next couple of years. Her response? "100 percent. There's no limit to what this generation of girls can do.""Do we feel the pressure? In a way, yes. Everyone is talking about us right now," said Sasha. "But we're doing what we love, and when you're doing what you love it comes easy. We're putting our heart out there, and the fans appreciate that. I believe that we're defining and changing women's wrestling. I hope little girls watch us and say 'Wow, I want to be a diva in the WWE because of these NXT girls.'Follow Luke Winkie on Twitter."There's no limit to what this generation of girls can do." —Sara Del Rey