The First Ever All-Women’s PLE is Returning
For the first time in seven years, WWE will once again host its all-women’s Premium Live Event, Evolution, on July 13th at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA. The announcement was made during tonight's 39th episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event. The first Evolution took place in 2018 and was a huge success, leaving fans hoping for another one. Over time, those hopes waned a bit, but after months of rumors, WWE has finally confirmed the return.
The 2018 Evolution was very different from what we see now. It was headlined by Ronda Rousey retaining her Raw Women’s Championship against Nikki Bella. The night also featured an incredible Last Woman Standing match with Becky Lynch retaining her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair. Shayna Baszler, then NXT’s most dominant star, regained her NXT Women’s Championship from Kairi Sane. Toni Storm won the Mae Young Classic Tournament by defeating Io Shirai. Today, Storm is the AEW Women’s World Champion, and Shirai, now known as Iyo Sky, holds the WWE Women’s World Championship. This shows how much the roster has changed since 2018. Back then, AEW did not even exist, and Rhea Ripley was defending the NXT UK Women’s Championship against Dakota Kai on the pre-show, a title that is now discontinued.
One concern about this summer's schedule is how packed it is. Fans are worried there might be too many WWE PLEs this summer. Here is the lineup: tonight’s episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event, tomorrow’s NXT Battleground, then Worlds Collide and Money in the Bank on June 7th, followed by Night of Champions on June 28th. The 40th episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event airs on July 12th, just a day before Evolution. After that, there’s a two-night SummerSlam on August 2nd and 3rd, and Clash in Paris on August 31st. That is a lot of wrestling in a short period, and fans might start to feel burned out. However, fans finally got the return of Evolution, but at what cost?
Even so, WWE’s women’s division is just as strong, if not stronger, than it was in 2018. Over the past seven years, the women’s division has achieved a lot, like maintaining multiple PLEs. For example, Rousey, Lynch, and Flair are the first women to headline WrestleMania 35. Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair followed suit on Night One of WrestleMania 37. They have had Royal Rumbles, Money in the Bank ladder matches, Hell in a Cell matches, and the list just keeps going on. The level of work and talent is now much higher, with stars like the current NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer, Giulia, Roxanne Perez, Jordynne Grace, current and first-ever Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria, and many others. The second Evolution show could outshine the original.
